Malcolm walked away, their only recourse had been to focus on their own careers.
Not wanting to get lost in the melancholy that rose when she started to think about her father, she focused on Connor. He was talking about the direction he wanted to take Stewart Industries, but she scarcely heard him.
He was a truly beautiful man. His dark blond hair, smoothed back from his face, was tucked behind each ear and hung an inch above his collar. He had a strong, rugged jaw and a sexy dimple in his right cheek. And although she was often captivated by his straight white teeth, it was only because she was avoiding the intensity of his gorgeous pale blue eyes.
Whew. How did any woman in the office get any work done? Suddenly his lips quirked into a sly smirk and he gave her a knowing look. That’s when she realized her mistake.
He had stopped talking and was watching her…watch him.
Hating to feed the ego that a man that hot had to have, she struggled to save face.
“I’m sorry. I let myself get distracted there for a second. I was trying to remember if I renewed my car insurance. I know I wrote the check, but I can’t remember if I mailed it.”
Connor chuckled. He didn’t say a word but she could tell he had noticed her ogling him.
A stinging heat rushed up her neck and bloomed in her cheeks. Picking up her water glass, she fished out an ice cube and began to suck it for a moment before crunching it between her teeth. It was a nervous habit she’d had since childhood.
Anxious to force them past this awkward moment, she began to ramble about her Mercedes and how she should replace it with a hybrid, but loathed car shopping. As she talked, she continued to play with her ice, completely unaware of its effect on her dinner companion.
Connor quickly found the shoe on the other foot as he watched Shondra tease him with her ice cubes. Only moments ago, he’d been awash in masculine pride as he watched her open appreciation of him. He was used to women finding him attractive, and it pleased him in particular to know that Shondra wasn’t immune.
But his smug attitude didn’t last. In her fluster, she began a seductive game of pulling ice cubes from her glass with her neatly manicured nails, sucking them gently with her perfect plum lips, then plopping them into her mouth.
It was mesmerizing and his pants were becoming uncomfortably tight. He’d had women attempt seductions in a variety of ways, but there was never any challenge in that. Shondra’s unconscious act was more erotic to Connor than a thong-clad girl gyrating on a pole.
Connor watched Shondra with new appreciation. He’d found her attractive from the start. Wearing only a bit of eyeliner and lip gloss, she didn’t hide her beauty under a lot of makeup. Her glossy hair was parted slightly off-center and fell in brown-black curls past her shoulders. It was the perfect frame for her heart-shaped face. She was all cheeks and dimples, with a girlishly wide smile that belied her normally serious demeanor.
He was glad she’d worn a dress tonight. It was a simple dark pink tank dress that tied behind her neck, smoothed over her ribs and flared from her hips to her knees. It left plenty of her rich, cocoa-brown skin to gleam in the candlelight, making Connor long to find out if it was as soft as it looked.
Connor knew his father wouldn’t approve of his dating an SI employee. And until tonight, he’d found it easy to resist what few temptations he’d found at work. But after his flight back to Houston with Shondra, discussing business, politics and current affairs, he found himself wanting to look beyond her professional image.
Their easy flirtations were leading Connor to suspect he was in over his head. Her effect on him was more than just the thrill of breaking the rules.
The waiter appeared with their orders not a moment too soon for Connor. It gave him something other than Shondra to focus on, and it gave her something else to do besides frustrate him with those damn ice cubes.
He sliced into his porterhouse, cooked to a perfect medium-rare. “Ah, it looks like Chef Lerac has outdone himself. How is your swordfish?”
Shondra cut into her fish with her fork and tasted it. “Mmm, it’s delicious. Would you like to try some?”
“Only if you’ll take a bite of this.”
She shrugged. “Sure, I’m not morally opposed to eating beef. I just don’t have it very often.”
He held out a juicy pink cut of his steak. And instead of eating it off his fork, as he hoped, she traded utensils with him, offering him a tender slice of her swordfish.
Connor sampled what he was offered. The flavors were clean and simple, but he definitely preferred the savory spice of his steak. “It’s very good—”
He lost his breath watching Shondra chew the steak with her eyes closed. “Oh my God, that practically melted in my mouth.”
“Would you like another piece?”
She eyed his plate guiltily, as though she wanted more but didn’t want to ask. Without hesitation Connor cut a bigger chunk and placed it on her plate.
He’d only taken a couple more bites before he noticed that Shondra had finished what he’d given her and was eating her fish with much less enthusiasm than before.
He grinned wickedly. “Are you regretting your decision not to get the steak?”
Shondra smiled sheepishly. “Yes.”
Connor’s brows rose. He’d expected her to hold her pride by denying it. “An honest answer. For that you deserve a reward.”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
Connor picked up her plate and swapped it with his own.
“Oh, no!” She gasped. “I can’t let you do that.”
He waved her off. “Nonsense. You’d be doing me a favor. I probably eat too much red meat. After all, I’d hate to have open-heart surgery before the age of forty.”
Sacrificing his meal proved to be well worth it. Despite her reluctant acceptance, she treated him to a rapturous stream of “mmms” and “ahs” that raised his temperature.
After dinner, the valet pulled his car up to the curb. The young kid was grinning from ear to ear. “Here’s your car, Mr. Stewart. That was my first time in a Bugatti. She sure is powerful.”
“Yes, she is,” he said, handing the kid a tip.
As he steered Shondra toward the car, she commented, “It really is pretty. I guess it’s really fast, too?”
He typically brought the car along on first dates, because he typically dated women who knew exactly how rare and expensive a Bugatti Veyron was. Shondra, on the other hand, had only seemed mildly impressed that it was so “pretty.” And, strangely enough, that pleased Connor.
He knew, for a change, that her attraction to him had nothing to do with his bank account. And despite their exchange of heated looks, he knew their rapport was based on more than the physical. Until then, he hadn’t even known he was looking for more.
Shondra wanted to know if the car was fast. Connor
