“Are you angry because I went to Paris without you?” he asked, reigning in his thoughts. She’d been quiet all evening.
“A.” Jessie broke a small loaf of sourdough bread and absently handed him a chunk. “I’m far too busy to go gallivanting off to Europe at the drop of a hat. B, I wouldn’t have gone even if you’d asked me.”
“Then why are you so annoyed?”
Her brown eyes were so dark they were almost black as she gave him a waspish glare. “You were gone for ten days.”
Joshua bit back a satisfied smile. “Not a lifetime, surely?”
There was a pregnant silence when she said, “I hate playing games,” and she suddenly looked frustratingly lost. Some of the heat left her eyes.
“You do it remarkably well,” he told her.
She stared up at him, her eyes huge. “I won’t sleep with you tonight.”
“A. I haven’t asked you to.” He smiled coldly. “And B, when we’re in bed, we won’t be sleeping.”
Jessie made a low growling sound. “The reason I agreed to meet you tonight was to tell you to go to h—” She paused to look up as a family settled themselves noisily at the table next to them.
“You were saying?” Joshua ground out over the child’s shrieks as its mother stuffed its flailing legs into the high chair their waiter had pulled up. “Jessica?”
She turned back, her expression dazed. “What?”
“You came here tonight to tell me to go…?” He knew damn well what the little shrew was going to say. He wanted to inform her he would go to hell after he had taken her to bed and made love to her until she couldn’t remember her name, let alone give him so much aggravation.
“To tell you…” She looked at him blankly, glanced back at the fussy baby, then in a split second recovered herself. She smiled. Lord, he had never seen anything more captivating than Jessie’s smile. “To tell you I missed you,” she said huskily.
The waiter must have been trained to wait for the most inconvenient moment. He chose right then to deliver their entrée, then fussed with salad and plates and refilled water glasses. Joshua sent him off with a glare.
Before he went to hell, before he was driven out of his mind, he was going to have to spend at least a week in bed with this infuriating woman. He didn’t like this sensation of not being quite in control. She smiled a sweet, gentle smile before picking up her fork.
Joshua had never experienced anything like this in his life. Not when two people’s desire for each other was so palpable. Jessie Adams was just as turned on by him as he was with her. And still she held him off.
Half of him was annoyed by her reticence. The other half admired her restraint. When they did finally have sex he’d better alert the fire department.
He glided his fingers up her thigh. Jessie shivered, then grabbed his hand and set it back on the table. For a split second, her eyes flashed. The child at the next table broke into a high-pitched babble capturing Jessie’s attention again for a moment. When she looked back at him she gave him a dulcet glance and picked up her water glass. Her cheeks were flushed.
She laid her napkin on her lap. A fraction of a second later, her eyes met his, a warm, soft smile touched the corners of her lips. A jolt of pure desire sizzled through him.
His heartbeat sped up as he said gruffly, “I want you very much, darling, so if you don’t stop looking at me like that—”
She laughed, that deep, throaty, sexy-as-hell laugh of hers. A couple of heads turned, people smiling reflexively with her. “Behave,” she told him sternly.
Her mouth, pale and free of lipstick, tempted him beyond endurance. Damn her. “Impossible. You wore that red dress expressly to make me crazy. It did its job. Now you have to pay up.”
He leaned forward for a brief taste of her smile, slanting his mouth over hers briefly. He felt the quick, unexpected flick of her tongue. Perhaps he’d better place busy restaurants on his dangerous locations list. Electricity shot through him and he jerked away from her potency. After a quick glance his way and a raised eyebrow, Jessie resumed eating.
Joshua enjoyed the delicate greed with which she consumed her meal. A silky strand of hair trailed down her shoulder. He was sorely tempted to pull out the rest of the pins and see how it would look tangled after their lovemaking. He grew harder just at the thought.
“Tell me about Paris,” Jessie demanded, leaning forward. “What you like about it. What you hate. What does the city smell like? Did you walk along the Seine in the rain? What’s the food like?”
Joshua laughed at her outpouring of questions. So Jessie. Having her focus her entire attention on him was intoxicating. In the flickering candlelight, her skin looked translucent and incredibly soft. Her long, elegant legs were hidden beneath the table, but he could feel the erotic brush of her foot against his calf.
Once the honeymoon part of the relationship ended, he wouldn’t have to invest as much time and energy into getting her into bed any time he wanted her. He didn’t like wasting the time thinking about sleeping with her. He wanted to do it, and then go back to concentrating on Falcon International.
He bought failing businesses, put a competent manager in place, and when the business was once again in the black, sold it off. Much like not having the emotional fortitude to bond with a woman, he didn’t form emotional attachments to the companies he purchased either. Everything about his life was controlled, planned and had a finite ending.
An ending of his own choosing.
It had been years since he had taken the time to slowly seduce a woman. It had been even longer since he had wanted a woman as much as he wanted Jessie. In fact, when he thought about it, he couldn’t remember ever wanting another woman as much as he wanted Jessie. Nor could he remember one who actually listened without trying to impress him—which might explain his excruciating patience.
And the fact that he was still around. And very aroused.
Over the past several weeks, and mostly during transatlantic phone calls, he’d discovered they had many things in common: old movies, Japanese and Italian food and skiing. Joshua had no interest in skydiving, bungee jumping or spelunking. Jessie’s love of dangerous sports appalled him. Not sure why, but wanting to understand this complicated woman better, he brought the topic up again.
“I don’t get the fascination,” he finally said, after she’d told him about a recent rock-climbing excursion. “What is it about the danger that turns you on?” Her skin looked soft, the bones in her slender hands almost fragile. He refrained from touching her. He wasn’t a hand holder. Had never even thought about it before. He frowned. Even the idea of just holding this woman’s hand had appeal.
“Everything.” Her eyes looked mysteriously dark in the shimmering light. Her gaze skittered to the table next to them and back. The toddler was banging a spoon on the high chair tray.
“I suspect it’s the same surge of adrenaline you get when you…when, you know, you’re going to attempt a merger. That heady rush that tells you you’re alive. That feeling of power can’t be duplicated. I feel invincible….” She shrugged one slender shoulder. “It’s hard to explain. Why don’t you come with me the next time I go?” She gave him that mysteriously limpid look he couldn’t fathom.
“Thanks,” Joshua said dryly, picking up his wineglass and taking a sip. “I’ll stick to mergers and acquisitions. At least I won’t have any broken bones.”
“Luckily, I haven’t had any of those. Believe me, I’m not into physical pain. Just the rush.”
“I don’t like you doing anything that has the distinct possibility of leaving you dead or paralyzed.” He didn’t like the thought a lot, he thought scowling.
“I’m