CHAPTER FIVE

The menu lowered again, because I couldn’t resist rolling my eyes at his comment.

“And?” If he thought he was a master of interrogation, he hadn’t seen anything yet. I raised an eyebrow as he took his time answering my question.

“I also like pretty girls.”

I couldn’t help a snort at that one. “Oh, please. You can do better than that.” If there was a touch of sarcasm in my voice, it was too bad.

“I think you’re emotionally damaged.”

His comment stole my breath away. How on earth had he been able to detect that from a half hour meeting? Looking at him steadily, without giving a clue as to my thoughts, I merely replied, “Aren’t we all?”

He looked thoughtful for a moment, then frowned.

“What happened?”

The menu shot up again, and it gave me a few precious seconds in order to compose myself. We were not talking about this here.

As words like ‘langoustines, oysters, lobster, and seafood bisque’ blurred in front of my eyes, I blinked away the tears and inhaled slowly.

“If you don’t tell me now, I’ll get it out of you in the scene, and that will be harder for you.”

I began to rise from my seat. “Are we having a scene, then? If so, I’ve had a lovely evening and I’ll see you…”

“Sit.”

James issued his commands with the kind of tone you did not ignore, and my body instantly obeyed, even though my mind rebelled. It was the story of my life.

“What happened?” His tone was softer now, as if coaxing me into thinking he wasn’t really a monster, but I already knew that for a lie.

This man was my worst nightmare and ultimate fantasy, all combined into one.

I lowered my hands slowly towards the edge of the table and let my fingers grip it tightly. He had my full attention. The tears were thankfully gone, but they had now been replaced by outright fury.

“Why do you care?”

“I don’t,” he said. “I’m curious, but you’re a stranger. You usually have to know someone in order to care.” He then closed his menu and placed it beside his wine glass. “I think I’ll have the king scallops with lime and coriander, followed by the lobster in garlic butter.”

“Thank goodness you don’t have sex on your mind.” I remarked, my eyes frantically scanning through the dishes for something that wouldn’t turn my stomach.

He laughed. “Garlic breath has never scared any of my dates away before. Would it scare you away, Lois?”

I didn’t want to go anywhere near that question. The man was already well aware of exactly how attractive he was. Getting women in his bed would require little more than a click of his fingers, and probably not even that.

Studying him openly, I considered the question. His chiselled jaw, high cheekbones, thick eyebrows, and a perfect Greek nose were all excellent features.

A flock of dark, wavy hair, artfully flicked away from his face, curled gently at his neck, and if that didn’t grab you, he now wore a day-old beard that screamed sex with around one hundred decibels of intent.

When you paired all of that with the piercing ice-blue eyes, he was drop dead gorgeous, and I would have run at least fifty miles in the other direction in order to avoid him.

Thankfully, I wasn’t after date material. I just wanted an afternoon and a stranger. I could pretend he was ugly for a few hours. My body might not listen, but that was too bad.

Finally, I looked up and smiled at him. “I don’t date men.”

His eyes shrank to narrow slits, and he was clearly sceptical with regards to my latest statement.

“You don’t date men, as in you like women, or you don’t date anyone?”

It amused me that he felt the need to clarify the point. A snort of laughter escaped my lips at the look on his face.

“I am not a lesbian, no.” I had probably just destroyed some of his wildest fantasies with that statement, but he waved his hand in the air, indicating I should continue.

“I don’t have the time or the inclination to date. There’s nothing more to say.” Zeroing in on the menu yet again, I decided on the miso soup to start, followed by the sea bream with lemon and chervil butter. My stomach would handle those without too much fuss.

“Do you like sex?” The expression upon his face was puzzled.

He was probably thinking, here’s a pretty girl who doesn’t like men. Some jerk’s done a number on her. Unfortunately for the male sex, it was usually the other way around, but I wasn’t about to tell him that.

“I like sex.” Fortunately, our waiter chose that moment to break up our scintillating conversation, and he briefly took our orders.

James also ordered a bottle of Sancerre to accompany our meal, and his cutlery was then reset, giving him all the necessary implements with which to destroy his crustacean. I was far happier with my simple knife and fork.

When we were alone again, James frowned upon my choice. “Don’t like getting your fingers dirty?”

“Isn’t that supposed to be your job?” I queried innocently. His eyes darkened, and he gave me a lazy smile in return.

“I haven’t decided. I know what I should do, and that’s tell you to go home and find someone else.” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully and sighed.

“You’ve gone to an awful lot of expense to do that,” I replied, as my eyes sparkled with humour. I couldn’t help it. What was he up to?

“You intrigue me,” he replied, pursing his lips. “And I feel the need to unravel you. That doesn’t mean I will, but you have my curiosity spiked.”