but you weren’t.”
The flicker of the small candle on the table between them brought out the highlights of golden red in her auburn hair, fascinating him. “That doesn’t mean I don’t remember your singing at my graduation.”
“Oh, dear,” she said, her cheeks coloring a pretty pink. “You remember that?”
“It was quite an honor for a freshman to be asked to sing a solo at another class’s graduation,” he said, nodding.
He’d anticipated her wanting to know what he remembered about her and he’d done his homework in advance. Besides thumbing through his high-school annual, Blake had spent several hours trying to think of all the times their paths had crossed during his last year of school.
The color on her cheeks deepened. “Having to perform in front of all those people made me a nervous wreck. That’s when I decided to limit my singing to the shower.”
“That’s a shame. You have a beautiful voice and did a wonderful job with the song.” Reaching across the table, he took her hand in his. “I’d like to hear you sing again sometime, sweetheart.” He smiled and before he could stop himself, he added, “My shower has great acoustics.”
Her eyes widened a moment before anger filled their green depths. “I don’t think so.”
“Never say never, Sasha.”
She pulled her hand from his and, pushing her chair back, rose to her feet. “I don’t know what you’re up to, Blake Fortune. But it’s not going to work.”
Rising to face her, he didn’t think twice about taking her into his arms and drawing her to him. “I’m not up to anything more than having dinner with a beautiful woman that for years, I’ve wanted to get to know better.”
He heard the hitch in her breath a moment before she trembled against him. “Why now? Why after all these years are you—”
“Hush, Sasha.”
Before she had the chance to question him further, Blake lowered his mouth to hers and at the first contact, he felt as if he’d been hit by a bolt of lightning. Nothing could have prepared him for his reaction to the softness of her perfect lips, yielding to the demands of his.
But it was her response that had him hard in less than two seconds flat and forgetting all about slowing things down. Resistant at first, when she melted against him, her fingers curled into the front of his shirt as if she needed to hold on to him to keep from falling at his feet.
As he tightened his arms around her and continued kissing her, a tiny moan escaped her slightly parted lips and he took advantage of her acquiescence to slip his tongue inside. Blake acquainted himself with her tender inner recesses, exploring her thoroughly, savoring the sweetness that was uniquely Sasha.
He slid his hands from her back, up along her sides to the underside of her breasts, but stopped just short of cupping the soft mounds. He sensed that too much, too soon would only scare her away. And that was the last thing he wanted to do.
Reluctant to completely break contact with her, he held her slender body close as he eased away from the kiss. Neither spoke, but he could tell that he’d accomplished two of his goals. He’d managed to stop her from arguing with him, as well as establishing the direction he intended for their friendship to go.
Three
As Sasha sat, staring at Blake across the elegantly arranged table, she had no idea what she was eating or how it tasted. After that kiss, she was lucky to remember her own name, let alone take notice of the food on her plate.
When she’d been a teenager, she’d fantasized about him holding her, kissing her. But she’d never thought the dream would come true. Nor could she have imagined eleven years ago how his kiss would affect her. It had been at least fifteen minutes since they’d sat back down for dinner and she still felt as if every cell in her body tingled.
“How is your steak?” he asked, pointing to her plate.
She stared at the filet mignon, amazed that she’d eaten almost half of it without recalling a single bite. “Uh … very good.”
His pleased smile caused a little flutter deep down in the most secret part of her. “I had the new chef I hired for Fortune’s Gold prepare the meal for us. I intend to include an intimate dinner for two as part of the high-end package I’ll be offering and wanted your opinion on ways to improve it.”
Glancing at the table, Sasha shook her head. “I can’t think of anything to improve on this. The food is delicious and the use of fine china, instead of the heavier restaurant plates, is a wonderful idea. I also think the sterling-silver candle holders add an elegant touch. I’m sure this will be quite popular with honeymooning couples.”
“Or lovers wanting a romantic weekend getaway,” he said, lowering his voice as he placed his hand atop hers where it rested on the pristine tablecloth.
The suggestive sound of his smooth voice and the promising look in his dark-blue eyes set her pulse racing and caused a delicious little shiver to slide up her spine. Everything she thought she’d wanted at the age of fifteen was coming true. Blake Fortune had not only noticed her, it appeared that he intended to sweep her off her feet.
But she was finding it extremely difficult to believe that the object of her adolescent dreams had finally noticed her. “What do you really want from me, Blake?” she asked as she carefully placed her fork on the edge of the delicate china plate.
“I told you, sweetheart. I need your help with the ad campaign.” He gave her a smile that made her feel warm all over. “And I’m using it as an excuse to get to know you better. Something I should have done a long time ago.”
He seemed sincere enough, but Creed’s warning that Blake couldn’t be trusted continued to whisper at the back of her mind. Had her friend been right about his brother? Could Blake be up to something underhanded?
But it made no sense. What would he possibly stand to gain? She certainly couldn’t give him any information about Dakota Fortune that he didn’t already have access to.
The feel of his palm gently caressing the back of her hand sent the fluttering in the pit of her stomach into overdrive and ended all speculation about his possible ulterior motives. “I … um, think I’d … uh, better go back to my room,” she said, extricating her hand from his. She suddenly found it extremely hard to form a coherent thought and she needed to put some distance between them in order to regain her equilibrium. “I’m really tired and I think it’s time for me to call it a night.”
She could tell by the expression on his handsome face that he wasn’t buying her excuse for a minute, but scooting his chair away from the table, he rose to his feet and offered her his hand. “I’ll walk you back to your suite.”
“Th-that won’t be necessary.” His much larger hand enveloping hers as she stood up made her feel as if the temperature in the room had gone up a good ten degrees. “I’m pretty sure I can find my way to the other end of the hall.”
Putting his arm around her shoulders, he shook his head as they walked to the door. “If there was one thing that Nash Fortune taught his boys, it was proper date etiquette.”
“D-date?”
