“Why do you think I had to put down a three-hundred-dollar deposit just to take him for a walk?”
She graced him with a beatific smile. “Thank you for that.”
“You could change apartments, you know?”
“What?”
“If you wanted to buy him, that is. You could always move.”
“It’d be a big commitment,” she hedged.
“Yeah,” he said.
“I’m not ready to tackle such a long-term obligation.”
“If you were ready, what would you name him?”
“Something befitting his nobility. Duke, perhaps. That’s what I named the puppy that was mine for a weekend.”
“It suits him.” He nodded.
“Oh, look,” she said, “an ice-cream vendor. Want some?”
Without waiting for an answer, she and Duke took off toward the ice-cream vendor pushing his cart through the park. Liam tagged along, enjoying her enthusiasm.
She bought an orange push-up. Liam hadn’t seen one since he was a kid. It was orange-flavored ice cream on a stick wrapped up in a cardboard container festooned with cartoon characters. You were supposed to push up the ice cream as you ate it. The theory was the cardboard kept sticky confections off messy children.
“Mmm, wanna bite?” She pushed up the orange ice cream and offered it to him.
“No, that’s okay. You go ahead.”
“Come on. It’s great.” She waggled it under his nose. “I dare you.”
He smiled, shook his head.
“What? Are you afraid I’ll give you girl cooties?”
Cooties. Something else he hadn’t heard since childhood.
“I’m not afraid of girl cooties.”
“Prove it,” she goaded.
She had no idea of the craving ripping and clawing through him as he looked at her lips, dotted with a spot of ice cream, or she wouldn’t tempt him so glibly. If she had the slightest idea about the appetites he kept tightly leashed, the hunger that even now, in this park, in the bright light of the noonday sun, stressed every atom of his self-control, she would run for her life.
Liam didn’t want to eat ice cream. He wanted to eat her.
“Come on,” she cajoled.
Impulsively, he bit off a bite of her push-up. She was right. It tasted delicious.
He thought he might scare her with his abrupt about-face, the slippage of his control. But, no, she wasn’t the least bit fazed. Her tongue flicked out and she licked the part he’d just bitten into.
“Mmm.” She winked seductively. “Now I have boy cooties. Guess we’ll have cooties together.”
“I guess so,” he smiled, turned on by her antics.
Duke whimpered.
“Don’t worry,” Katie said, pushing up the remainder of the ice cream for the puppy to lick, “we haven’t forgotten you.”
A few minutes later, they rounded a corner and came upon a pond where a group of picnickers were feeding bread to a flock of hungry ducks.
The minute Duke caught scent of the waterfowl, he went berserk. The cocker spaniel jerked on the leash, almost yanking Katie off her feet.
Liam grabbed for her elbow but she was already gone, pulled toward the water by the feisty Duke, who no longer looked so regal with his teeth bared, issuing a bark so commanding it sounded as if it could have come from a Doberman.
The picnickers gawked.
The ducks scattered.
Katie tried pulling on the leash, but apparently Duke held an entrenched hatred of ducks. The mild tugging on his neck wasn’t enough to stop his forward motion.
Liam sprinted after them.
Duke hit the water with a loud smack.
Katie teetered on the bank, holding tightly to the leash.
“Let go,” Liam called.
But his warning came too late. The heel of her right boot was wedged between two pathway stones. She jerked backward in an attempt to extract herself, but the dog was swimming in the opposite direction.
The next thing Liam knew, a bootless Katie was tumbling headfirst into the water.
6
KATIE CAME UP sputtering. She shoved wet hair from her eyes and looked up to see Liam on the bank laughing his ass off.
“Very funny,” she growled.
“It’s kind of funny,” he said, but at least he made an effort to stop laughing.
“I’m soaking wet.”
She raised an arm. It was only then, as she watched Liam’s gaze hone in on her breasts, that she realized when wet, her sweater was practically transparent. Instantly, she crossed her arms over her chest, hiding her silhouetted breasts.
He held out a hand.
If she uncrossed her arms to take his hand, he would have an extremely good view of her nipples gone hard in the cold. Oh, why had she worn a camisole today instead of a bra?
“Take my hand,” he invited.
She didn’t want to, but it was going to be darn difficult getting out of the muck without a boost up. Reluctantly, she took his hand and tried not to notice when he watched her nipples pebble.
“Where’s Duke?” she asked, teeth chattering.
“You sit.” He led Katie to a park bench and draped his suit jacket around her. The now familiar scent of him surrounded her like a welcome hug.
He retrieved her boot from where she’d lost it, then got down on one knee and slipped it onto her foot. Talk about a Cinderella complex.
“Duke,” she repeated. “Three-hundred-dollar deposit.”
“I’ll go find him.”
He returned a few minutes later with a scraggly, squirming, soaking wet Duke tucked under his arm. Liam took one look at Katie and shook his head. “You can’t go back to work like that.”
“I’m blaming this on you.” She grinned at him, not the least bit mad.
“Me?”
“I would never have thought to rent Duke out for a walk. I guess I’m an all-or-nothing kind of woman.”
“Okay, I accept full responsibility. Let’s take Duke back to the pet shop and I’ll drive you to my apartment. It’s just a few blocks from here. I can send your clothes out to the one-hour dry cleaner in my building, while you take a shower. I’ll let Max know that we’ll need to postpone the meeting for another time.”
Katie could have told him that her own condo wasn’t far away, either, but she didn’t. Bad as it sounded, she wanted to see the inside of his apartment. In fact, her heart was thumping eagerly and quickly.
She soon found herself riding in the elevator with him up to the penthouse of James Towers. She might have come from old money, but overall, she’d lead a very sheltered life. Her parents had been quite strict when she and her sisters were growing up, and it was only since college that Katie had really stretched her wings. She’d never been to a penthouse apartment before, alone, with a man she barely knew.
Her stomach tightened, sending sexy messages shooting straight to the most feminine parts of her. She tried to ignore the sensations, but she knew she was in serious trouble.
Remember the new leaf? No more meaningless sex.
Yeah, but what about the Martini dare she’d drawn the night before?
You don’t have to do it.
But that was the thing. She wanted to do it.
When they stepped inside his living space and she got a bird’s-eye view of downtown Boston from his wide, curtainless window, Katie forgot to breathe.
Incredible.
“Bathroom’s down the hall, first door on your right,” Liam announced, tossing his car keys on a table in the foyer.
The penthouse was straight out of Architectural Digest. Sleek, modern and totally staged. The place was devoid of any personal touches. As far as she could tell, there wasn’t a bit of the real Liam here.
It made her feel a little sad to think he lived in such a sterile environment.
Katie slipped his jacket from her shoulders and draped it over a black leather couch. It was only then that she caught him watching her with heavily lidded eyes as he took in the way her damp clothes molded against her body.
Quickly, she turned and beat a hasty retreat, desperately searching for the bathroom and some small shred of self-control. She locked the bathroom door and sank against it with a shaky sigh.