Not exactly ladylike.
‘I’m really pleased you decided to come,’ Xander said, flopping down next to her and almost catapulting her onto his lap. ‘I think we can both get something useful out of our time together.’
He gave her such a loaded smile she could do nothing but stare back at him.
‘Yes, I’m sure we can,’ she finally managed to mumble through lips that seemed to be malfunctioning under the force of his charisma.
He slowly dropped his gaze to her mouth and the intensity of the atmosphere stepped up another notch.
Focus, Jess, focus.
She took in a deep breath. ‘This is a wonderful room,’ she said, trying like mad not to go to pieces as the fresh and delicious citrusy scent of his aftershave hit her nostrils. My, he smelt good. Perhaps she was hungry, after all? Only not for food.
Give it a rest, Jess. You’re here to do a job, keep it professional. And he’s the personification of danger, remember, which is not something you need in your life right now.
Wriggling along the sofa away from him and swivelling her knees into the gap she’d left, she attempted to put a defensive barrier between them, only to watch him reposition himself, mirroring her action so that their knees were almost touching. Her breath caught in her throat at what appeared to be a deliberate move to unsettle her and she had to look away to gather her courage.
She was so out of her comfort zone here.
Rosa arrived with a couple of flutes of strawberry Bellini, Jess’s requested glass of water and a bowl of the most enormous olives Jess had ever seen, which she placed in front of them with a flourish.
‘Dinner will be served in ten minutes,’ she said, giving them both a gracious nod.
‘Thanks, Rosa,’ Xander replied, the deep smooth tone of his voice twisting through Jess’s head like music. No wonder women seemed to throw themselves at him wherever he went—all he had to do was speak and she was a gibbering wreck. Imagine the effect if he decided to talk dirty to her.
A deep, low throb began to pulse in the depths of her pelvis at the thought and her face flamed with heat. Good grief, what was wrong with her self-control? It seemed to have totally abandoned her.
Jess hurriedly picked up a Bellini and took a sip, grateful for the distraction from dealing with Xander’s overwhelming presence for a moment.
So much for her no-drinking rule.
But this was an emergency—she needed something to flatten out her nerves and lull her into a more relaxed state of mind if she was going to get through the evening with her sanity intact.
Turning back, she found he was studying her, a look of concentrated interest on his face. They stared at each other for a moment and Jess’s heart hammered in the pause.
Had it suddenly got hotter? She could swear they’d turned the heat up and were directing it straight at her. She was damp with perspiration under her long-sleeved blouse and even the underside of her knees was sweating.
Umm, attractive.
Thank goodness this wasn’t a real date because he’d have to swim to get close enough to kiss her at this rate.
‘You have the most expressive face I’ve ever seen,’ he murmured, a glint of mischief in his eyes. ‘I’m going to have a lot of fun drawing you.’
Jess cleared her throat and sat up taller in her seat, anxiety at the thought of having to model for him making her body hum with nerves.
‘So how exactly do these things go? Do I just sit around for a couple of hours and you produce some amazing piece of art?’
He smiled. ‘Not exactly. I prefer to hang out with my subjects for a bit until inspiration hits me. It can take a while to come up with the right idea and I like to play around with things for a while before committing paint to canvas. I’ll do some sketches over the next few days and see what works.’
‘The next few days? I wasn’t expecting to be here for that long. I thought we could get this all wrapped up in a day. Two max. In fact I’ve booked a return flight for two days’ time.’
He snorted. ‘A day? If only I could work that fast. No, I usually need at least three or four days of planning. But don’t worry, we can make it fun.’ He gave her a slow wink that made her insides flip.
‘What exactly do you mean by that?’ The question came out sounding curter than she’d intended, so she chased it with an awkward smile.
He snorted, the corner of his mouth twisting up in mirth. ‘Why are you so nervous, Jess?’
‘I’m not nervous,’ she said, the squeak in her voice totally giving her away.
He laughed, the sound rumbling low in his chest. ‘Is my reputation really that bad?’ He leant forward in a conspiratorial manner. ‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to rip your clothes off and ravish you—unless you ask me really nicely,’ he added with a flirtatious eyebrow raised.
Was he teasing her now? He was. He so was. And she had absolutely no idea how to handle it.
This was exactly why she usually avoided men like him. They rattled her so badly she could barely function.
Mercifully, Rosa returned to call them for dinner then so she didn’t have to scrabble around for an eloquent response to that little zinger.
‘After you.’ Xander gestured towards the other end of the hall.
‘Great,’ Jess said, already on her feet and making a move towards the doorway he’d motioned at, desperately trying not to skid in her shoes on the smooth marble floor. She could feel him behind her, as if he were giving off a pulse of sexual electricity that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand to attention.
Just as they reached the dining-room door her heel caught in a small hole in the marble and she stumbled forward, her arms flailing out at her sides as she tried to regain her balance.
Xander stopped her from falling flat on her face by darting forward and grabbing her arm and pulling her against his body for support.
Taking a hurried step away from the hard wall of his chest, she smoothed down her hair, then her skirt from where it had ridden up her legs, before flashing him a grateful smile. He watched her with an amused eyebrow raised. ‘You okay?’
‘Fine. Thank you.’ She gave him a friendly but controlled nod. ‘I’m not normally that clumsy, honestly.’
Xander laughed. ‘Don’t worry on my account. It’s not often I get to play the knight in shining armour. It’s usually me falling down drunk.’
‘I’m not drunk. I only had a couple of sips...’ she began to argue, horrified he’d think she was that much of a lightweight.
He held up a hand. ‘I’m joking, Jess. Jeez, I’ve never met anyone so bad at taking a joke.’
‘I c-can take a joke with the best of them,’ she stuttered, picking a rogue hair off the sleeve of her blouse before turning to stare him defiantly in the eye.
Xander shook his head and grinned back at her. ‘Do you think you can make it to the table without taking another tumble? I can give you a piggyback if you like.’
‘I’ll be fine, thank you,’ she said. ‘Wouldn’t want to be responsible for putting your back out.’
He laughed. ‘Never gonna happen. I’m as strong as an ox. See?’ He braced his arms in front of him, mimicking the stance of a bodybuilder.
Jess couldn’t help but laugh at him.
‘Yeah, okay, He-Man, but I’ll walk, thanks.’
He smiled back,