Intimate Seduction - Brenda Jackson [32]
At that moment the back door flew open and they quickly pulled apart and glanced over at the intruder. One of the cooks stood in the doorway with an apologetic look on his face. “Oops. Sorry. I just wanted to come out here to grab a smoke.” And then just as quickly as he had appeared, he was gone back inside.
But his appearance had given her just enough time to clear her head and make her take a step back. She glanced up at Donovan, met his gaze and swallowed deeply. He had desire in his eyes, deep, dark, seductive, and she knew if she wasn’t careful she would be falling under his spell.
“We need to go back inside, as well,” she managed to say. “And I won’t be going home with you tonight, Donovan.” There, she’d said his first name. To call him Mr. Steele now wouldn’t make much sense, especially after the torrid kiss they had just shared. So much for keeping things on a professional level. All she could do at this point was make sure things between them didn’t escalate any further.
“Well, at least you’re not calling me Mr. Steele anymore,” he said, mimicking her very thoughts. “And you’re sure you don’t want to go home with me?”
She tilted up her chin, met his gaze. “Positive. I know when and where to draw the line.”
A smile touched the corners of his mouth, and it was so magnetic she almost felt her lips being pulled in its direction. “And I know when and where to turn up the heat, Natalie,” he countered.
There was no doubt in her mind that he did. Nor did she doubt that he would. “Donovan,” she said, hearing his name a second time and trying to downplay how much she liked saying it. “I think we need to make some decisions.”
He lifted a brow. “About what?”
“Whether I should remain your housekeeper. Like I said on Monday, we have a number of other ladies who can—”
“No. And if you’re basing your suggestion on the kiss we’ve shared, forget it.”
She glared up at him. “You’re being difficult.”
He raised what she thought was an arrogant brow and said, “Sweetheart, you’ve never met a Steele at a time when he’s being difficult, and trust me, you wouldn’t want to. What I’m being is realistic. I know what I want, just like I know what you want. If I didn’t before, I do now. Your kiss said it all. Stroke for stroke. Lick for lick.”
She tilted her head back and she knew that defiance—in all its glory—was shining in her eyes. Fine! So she’d never met a Steele being difficult. Well, he was about to meet a Ford when she was. “I’m not one to act mainly on physical attraction. I will not be pushed into an affair with you.”
He chuckled. “I don’t plan to push, Natalie. I plan to seduce, and when I do, babe, you won’t stand a chance.”
Natalie inhaled a deep breath. In all her twenty-six years, she had never met a man quite like him. He actually thought he was all that. He figured all he had to do was snap his fingers and they would go tumbling between the sheets. Maybe that was how easy it had been for the other women he’d encountered, but he would see that she was cut from a totally different mold. Because of her mother’s wild and reckless ways, she’d grown up with a very sensible mind. She’d done without sex for over five years and could very well do without for another five—even ten or twenty if she had to.
She was about to open her mouth to give him the dressing down that he deserved when he said, “No more arguing tonight, Natalie. Come on, let’s go back inside.”
A moment of indecision raced through her. Should she not argue anymore with him tonight and let him have the last word, or should she give a blistering retort? She had a feeling any type of rejoinder from her would fall on deaf ears. Besides, her aunt always said that with some people you have to show them rather than tell them. “Fine, let’s go inside.”
And without waiting for him to say anything, she headed for the