After stopping halfway down the row, Treasure unlocked her office door and pushed it open. She walked around the desk and placed her briefcase on top of it. She pulled out the chair and motioned for him to take one of the ones on the other side.
Once he sat, she took out some papers from a desk drawer.
“So you still want to offer the full asking price and have a closing date for the end of this week?” she asked, all professional-like.
The woman who had passionately kissed him back at the penthouse was no longer there. In her place was one totally focused on the business at hand. Soren had no idea how Treasure did it. Just being near her had his blood heating.
“Yes,” he said. “My lawyer who will handle the closing can get it done by that time.
I haven’t changed my mind. Unless you’ve changed yours about going out to dinner with me?”
Treasure looked up from the papers in front of her, and for a split second, Soren saw a flash of desire in her dark-green eyes. Maybe she hadn’t been able to completely shut off the desire she felt. He must have gotten to her. Bad. Her scent had said so.
Her gaze flicked to his mouth before she met his. “No, I haven’t. I’ll finish filling out the offer, you can sign it and then I’ll call the owners about faxing it to them.”
Soren nodded, then watched as Treasure bent her head and concentrated on the papers on the desk. He couldn’t help tracing her features with his gaze as she worked.
At her lips, he remembered the feel of them moving under his. He wanted, no needed, to taste them again. Preferably in a place where he could explore the rest of her body.
Treasure took another pen from her desk drawer, then placed it in front of him as she turned the papers his way. He forced his gaze off her mouth and looked down at them. He gave it a cursory look before he signed and initialed where she indicated. That done, she took them back and added her own signature.
“Now to call the owners,” she said.
Soren sat back in the chair and watched her make the phone call. He listened as she spoke to the person on the other end. The conversation wasn’t very long.
She hung up and stood, taking the papers with her. “I’ll just be a few minutes while I go fax these.”
He nodded and she left the office. Alone, Soren looked around. With Treasure in the room, he hadn’t done much of that earlier. He’d been more interested in looking at her. The desk was a heavy piece of furniture found in any corporate office. She had a small file cabinet in the back corner. A desktop computer sat on one side of the desk. On the other, Soren noticed a framed picture. He leaned forward and picked it up to turn it his way. It was a picture of Treasure with an older couple, probably her parents. They stood on a dock on a lake. The picture could have been taken up north in Muskoka. He wondered if her family had a cottage up there.
Personally, he loved going to Muskoka to spend some weekends out of the summer at his parents’ lake house. He’d go wolf and take a run through the bush without having to worry about any mortals seeing him, since the nearest neighbor was over a mile away. Soren put the picture back.
A minute or so later, Treasure returned. She sat behind her desk before she spoke.
“We shouldn’t have too long of a wait to get an answer on your offer.”
Soren sat on the edge of the chair and reached across the desk to take Treasure’s hand. “Good. While we wait, we can decide where we’re going to eat.”
“I thought maybe we could go to a place on the Harbourfront, since it’s close by.
Maybe seafood or steak.”
“Or both,” Soren said. “Why don’t we go to that steak house restaurant? They serve seafood as well.”
“Okay.”
Silence fell between them. Soren stared at Treasure, wanting nothing more than to pull her on top of her desk and pick up where their earlier kiss had left off. The way she looked back at him, he didn’t think she’d refuse. He stroked the top of her hand with his thumb, caressing back and forth. Treasure breathed a little faster. Using their joined hands, he pulled her toward him as he slowly leaned farther over the desk.
Just before their lips had a chance to meet, the phone sitting next to the computer rang, causing them both to sit back in their chairs. Treasure let go of his hand and answered it.
Once she hung up, she said, “The owners have faxed the offer back. I’ll just go get it.”
Treasure left and Soren took a deep breath. His mating urge rode him hard, and it would only get worse the longer he held off claiming her as his mate. She returned and sat once more. The smile she gave him had to mean the fax was good news.
“They accepted my offer?” he asked.
She nodded. “Yes. The penthouse is yours. I just need you to pay the down payment and you’ll be well on your way to owning it.”
Soren fished his wallet out of his jeans back pocket and took out the blank check he’d put there before going to see the property. Treasure told him who to make it out to and then he passed it over once he signed it.
After giving it a final look, Treasure slipped the check into the file folder where she’d put the accepted offer. She held out her hand. “Congratulations, Soren. You’re now the almost proud owner of a penthouse.”
He wrapped his hand around hers and shook it. Before he released it, he brought her fingers to his mouth and kissed each one. Treasure’s breath quickened. “Thanks.
Now we can go celebrate.”
Gaining his feet, he gathered his copy of the offer together and picked up the sheets of paper. He then waited for Treasure to come around her desk and join him with briefcase in hand. He let her lead as they walked out of her office and past the reception area, through the double doors and to the bank of elevators.
They stepped into the car when it arrived, and Soren prepared for another assault of Treasure’s scent to his senses that would mess with his control. To try to distract himself, he asked, “Shall we take your car or mine?”
Treasure turned her head to look at him. “Actually, I’d prefer to drive my own. I already pay enough for parking as is. Plus it would be less of a hassle for me if I don’t have to come and get it later.”
“I wasn’t thinking about the parking,” he said.
Outside the building, they walked to the Green P parking. He ended up being in the lead as they drove to the restaurant. Since it was still on the early side for dinner, they were quickly seated. Their waitress came to take their drink order, and Soren would have had a beer, except Treasure ordered a tonic water, so he settled for an iced tea instead.
As if she’d sensed his reluctance in not ordering something alcoholic, Treasure said, “You could have had something else to drink. I don’t drink and drive.”
Being a werewolf, it took a shitload of alcohol to get him drunk. He actually had to really work at it. The last time he’d done that was almost a month ago when he’d gone to Niagara Falls with Kian for their gambling weekend at the Fallsview Casino Resort.
That was also the weekend Kian met his mate, Jorja.
“It’s okay,” he said. “I can have a drink anytime. It’s probably better if I don’t.”
Not that one drink would ever make him go over the limit. But he should keep a clear head, so he wouldn’t do something stupid like claim his mate without explaining anything about what it meant to be one to a werewolf. Kian had been pissed to the gills when he’d claimed Jorja, and he’d ended up suffering through the separation anxiety when she’d left once he’d fallen asleep.
After ordering their food and having it arrive, Soren ate his steak with relish as Treasure and he talked. He found out she’d been a real estate agent for the last five years, and had done well for herself from the start. He also learned she was an only child and was very close to her parents who also lived in the city. By the end of the meal, the professional woman was gone and he felt as if he knew Treasure a bit better.