The Tycoon's Defiant Southern Belle Page 0,38

possible before she sighed and pulled her eyes back to the present. Looking around, she noticed several people coming out of the drugstore with curious expressions on their faces and she was shocked to realize that she had actually kissed Angelo right here where anyone, and probably everyone, could see them.

Goodness the gossips were going to have a field day with this one!

Had Angelo done that on purpose? Probably, she thought with a secret smile. Did she care? Not really. Not anymore. She wanted to understand him better, but she couldn’t help but feel more for him than she wanted to. The man was a powerful force!

She started walking home and, because of her latest chocolate binge and inadequate nutrition, she didn’t have the energy right now to worry about Angelo or his extended departure. It made her too sad so she shifted her mind to something different. Something that made her feel strong and powerful. For the first time, she let herself really think about Dave and what he’d done.

No, she wasn’t hurt. She was angry more than any other emotion. What did his actions say about her? What did it say about all the years she’d been with him while they’d dated? Had he been with other women all the time? What did that say about who she was as a person? As a woman?

She didn’t like the conclusions she was coming to. Was she the kind of woman that let a man be so….heartless? Was she the “good girl” that he was going to marry all the while cheating on her? Was she destined to be the kind of woman to whom men would be unfaithful?

She didn’t want to be that woman. But she couldn’t be anything other than who she was. How did she break herself out of this issue?

Could she even trust herself to date again?

Her mind instantly conjured up the image of Angelo but she pushed it aside. Angelo wasn’t the long-term kind of guy. He wasn’t the marrying kind and she was.

So what was she to do? She’d never even considered an intimate, physical intimacy with Dave. He’d tried several times, but she’d ignored his pleading, finding it more of a turnoff than anything else.

She went through the motions for the rest of the day, but the whole time, her mind was reeling with her revelations about herself as a woman.

Chapter 8

“You’re back early!” Jade gasped when she spotted Angelo stepping out of that sexy, powerful car. He was supposed to be gone for another two days. Why was he here now?

Angelo watched as her eyes lit up the closer he came. She could deny it all she wanted, but her attraction to him was always there in her eyes. And in the way her body moved, shifting closer to him, always turning towards him. “Didn’t my assistant tell you that I was coming in today?” he asked, stopping when he was less than an inch from her.

Jade was completely flustered. She’d been busy all week, pushing to get more things finished by the time he came back. The workers had done a fabulous job and they were well ahead of schedule, but she’d meant to rush home and clean up before he arrived, maybe put on a pretty dress and do her hair.

But here he was, looking fabulous in a gorgeous business suit and sexy tie while she wore khaki pants and a plain, white shirt. Her hair was pulled back into a pony tail and she barely had any makeup on.

“Yes. Denise is very helpful,” she said, referring to Angelo’s extremely efficient administrative assistant. “I was just hoping…” she floundered, not wanting to sound silly. “I just wanted to look more presentable.”

Angelo was touched, but looking at her with her fresh, clean and beautiful face staring up at him with those pretty, anxious eyes and all he wanted to do was kiss her until she was clinging to him once again. Damn, he wanted this woman painfully.

“I think you look stunning,” he came back, his hands in his pockets to keep himself from grabbing her and kissing her senseless. He wasn’t sure if he would be able to stop if he started. He had planned to wine and dine her tonight, show her that he wasn’t such a horrible man. He probably had to prove it to himself a bit, he thought, knowing that Jade was everything he wanted in a woman, and everything he wasn’t. She was fresh and alive,