smile curling her lips. “It was a pleasure, Mr. Nolan.”
“Derek,” he murmured.
“Derek. It was nice meeting you.”
He knew he had to find some way to keep her with him. But she was late for her engagement party. What could he possibly say to convince her to spend the evening with him? “You don’t have to go upstairs. You could stay here with me.”
“Right here?” she asked.
“Here. The bar. My suite.” He paused. “Or we could always run away.”
She drew in a deep breath and to his surprise, he watched her consider his invitation. It was clear from the confusion etching her features that she wasn’t thrilled with what awaited her upstairs. “I don’t expect anything,” he assured. “I just want to get out of here and I’d like you to come along. It’ll be an adventure, I promise.”
“Why me?” she said.
“I don’t know. I like the sound of your voice. It relaxes me. And I don’t want to go without you.”
“Where will we go?”
“I don’t know. We’ll figure it out.”
She smiled, then nodded. “All right. Yes, I’ll go with you.”
Derek grinned. “All right.” He pushed open the door to the stairwell. “We’re going up,” he said. “It’s going to be a hike.” Pointing to her shoes, he shook his head. “And those are going to kill you.” He turned his back to her. “Hop on.”
“You’re going to carry me up the stairs?”
“Yes,” Derek said. “You don’t think I can do it?”
“I’m perfectly capable of walking.” She kicked off her shoes, picked them up and handed them to him. “I bet I can beat you to the top.” With a laugh, she started up the stairs. Tess was already on the first landing before he’d even moved.
Derek chuckled to himself. Now, this was going to be fun—a woman as beautiful as Tess challenging him to a race in her party dress and bare feet in a hotel stairwell. Either she’d had too much scotch or she was the most charming creature he’d ever met. He intended to spend the rest of the evening figuring out which it was.
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