CHAPTER THREE
The man from the hotel lobby had changed into a burgundy sports coat, deep-blue shirt, and well-tailored pants that frankly put his earlier jeans and shirt to shame and his hair was even more sexily mussed than ever before. She noticed, for the first time, that he had incredibly red lips and ridiculously long lashes, the combination of which should have given him a feminine air, but, somehow, managed to make him look even sexier and more masculine. Beneath the soft play of the dim lights in the room, his features seemed more sharply chiseled, even more ruggedly handsome and an unwelcome coil of desire began to tighten in Sage’s heart. She could have sworn she also felt a spurt of wetness between her thighs.
“Sorry I took so long to bring the car around,” he said innocently, unaware of his effect on Sage as he flicked a smiling glance at her.
Her throat dried up completely and she wished heartily that he wouldn’t smile at her. That kind of grin, given its sheer potency, should be outlawed! It did strange things to a woman’s temperature, and it wasn’t just her. The three ladies had gone from being protective hens to looking like fatuous Cheshire cats with identical come-hither grins while their men were rapidly beginning to look threatened.
“Um, what?” she asked, certain she had misheard.
“Come on honey, don’t keep Cedric waiting in the limo. Who knows what mischief he could get up to,” he said, placing a firm hand beneath her elbow and pulling her gently to her feet.
Every nerve in her body went on immediate alert, sensation skittering from the point where he touched her to spread all over her body until her nipples were hardening into little points beneath her gown.
“Ladies? Gentlemen? Sorry for the interruption. Do have a good evening,” he said politely and then he inexorably escorted Sage towards the door.
“Where do you think you’re taking me to?” Sage whispered through gritted teeth.
“Out to the streets where you belong,” he informed her implacably. “I don’t need your kind on my premises,” he said quietly.
His premises?
“My kind?” she asked, voicing the more urgent question.
He had escorted her right past the table where her friends were sitting, stupidly gaping at the pair of them with their mouths hanging open like jellyfish, and then straight out onto the street in front of the restaurant.
She turned to face him, one eyebrow raised as she waited for a response.
He simply deposited her in front of the restaurant and turned to leave.
She detained him with a firm hand on his elbow. “Wait. What did you mean ‘my kind’?”
“You flashed me a boob in front of the Presidential hotel and then less than thirty minutes later, I found you making out with the waiter and then hitting up a couple of guys. You do the math. I know what you’re up to lady, but this is an exclusive restaurant and not for your type. I’m sorry, you’ll have to…ply your trade elsewhere.”
There it was again; she didn’t have to be a Brainiac to know what he meant by her type. This time, she let fly with her fist and slapped him as hard as she could, the force of the slap flinging his head back. Red welts immediately appeared on his smoothly shaven cheek and Sage determinedly squelched the surge of guilt that threatened to swamp her. She would not apologize, especially when he totally deserved it.
He stared down at her, his eyes as hard as ice chips in his angular face, and then he enunciated coolly, “I suppose some men find that a turn on, perhaps among your clientele; but I assure you, inflicting pain won’t get you anywhere with me.”
“You are just determined to be a jerk,” she cried, stamping her foot in frustration.
“I won’t ask you again, please make yourself scarce, Senorita,” he said, pinning her with a level look that told her he meant business.
Sage rolled her eyes. “I’m not a prostitute, okay? I had a dare with my friends, for crying out loud. Everyone does something crazy like that every now and then. You would know that if you were not some uptight country bumpkin without any exposure whatsoever.”
His lips twitched a little at that one and Sage glared murderously at him; she was on a roll and he thought something was funny? Was he laughing at her?
“If you so much as lay one more depraved finger on me, I’ll slam a lawsuit on you so fast, it will make your ancestors dizzy,” she promised furiously.
This time, he was definitely laughing at her. His eyes twinkled as he boldly stepped closer to her, his dark gaze searching hers. “Allow me to make amends. Please. I was obviously very wrong in my assessment of your person because I put one and one together and came up with eleven. Let me make amends, please.”
He was so earnest, sincere and eager; or at least he seemed that way, and Sage felt her anger give way, draining out slowly until she was weak with the loss of all that energy.
“What’s your name?” he asked, still fighting a grin as he watched her deflate like a balloon.
“Sage. Sage Ta Talbot,” she supplied, watching him, amazed at the transformation in his features now that he had stopped glaring at her. She didn’t think it would be terribly wise to tell this stranger her real name.
“Will you do me the honor of having dinner with me, Sage?” he invited, his dark eyes boring into hers.
“II’m already having dinner with my friends,” she told him. “Besides, you’re a stranger”
“I would like to change that. Please. I could never sleep with this on my conscience,” he added dramatically, splaying one large palm over his heart.
Sage giggled. He was a rogue all right. “Okay, fine. But my friends may not really enjoy one more person at our table.”
As if! Her friends would probably slobber all over him at dinner, she thought with an inward chuckle.
“Have you ever been to Spain? Taken in the sights at night? Let me give you a tour without your friends,” he cajoled softly.
Was it her imagination or did his eyes light up with that gleam men got when they wanted to have hot and heavy sex? Well, lobby guy hadn’t seemed interested in her before, so why the sudden interest, she wondered, all alarm bells ringing in her ear.
She stared at him speechlessly.
As though he had read her mind, he said softly, “I know, given how we met, you’re wondering just how safe you are with me. Smart.”
“Smart?” she asked, frowning up at him.
“Yes smart, because I can’t promise not to bite,” he told her, his dark gaze flicking from her face to her lips, stroking down her firm, rounded breasts, her waist cinched with a belt that emphasized her hourglass figure, and her generous hips before scanning her long silky legs exposed by the knee-length gown.
His meaning was as clear as the nose on her face. She waited for her affronted sensibilities to arise but all she felt was a quickening of her pulse.
“I don’t even know your name,” she protested weakly, her pulse hammering at the base of her throat so wildly that she was half-afraid he could hear it.
He grinned, a triumphant smile that was pure male and told her, without words, that he knew her protest was a mere formality. “I’m Raven. Raven Hawthorne,” he told her, watching her carefully as though he expected her to recognize the name.
He relaxed imperceptibly when she obviously didn’t.
She looked over at Eden and Sage; they had given up all pretense of eating and were almost falling out of their seats as they craned to see Sage and the stranger. He followed the direction of her gaze and hid a grin.
“I have to tell them I am going with you,” Sage whispered.
What was she doing? This was crazy! He was a stranger and
Slowly, he reached up a hand and caressed her cheek with the back of his hand. “I was so aggressive when I saw you earlier because, from the moment I saw you in that lobby, I wanted you with every fiber of my being,” he enunciated carefully. “I wasn’t really fighting you, I was fighting myself.”
He meant it, she realized. This was a man who said what he meant and meant what he said, no games!
“So you can tell them you’ll be back safe and sound in the morning, unless you don’t want what I’m offering.”
“Which is?” she asked. If he made the mistake of saying sex, she would run faster than a frightened rabbit, she decided.
He stared at her, his dark eyes tracing her features and then he said slowly as though in pain, “I’m offering you one night of excitement and anonymity. You’re on vacation, aren’t you? If you don’t do something absolutely crazy now, when will you?”
She bit her lip, thinking, and then nodded as she made up her mind and turned away to tell the girls and pick up her purse.
“Oh, and Sage?” he called, making her pause mid-stride and turn to look back at him. His dark eyes trailed sinuously, lingeringly down her generous curves, paused on her naked back daringly exposed by the cut-away of her leopard print dress, before rising sleepily to meet hers. “As to biting, I can’t wait!” he whispered wickedly.
Her entire body tightened and almost convulsed with pleasure right there.