More Than a Mission - Caridad Pineiro [29]
He flexed his hips beneath her, right where she was busy straddling him in a very intimate position, she suddenly realized. “And a very good morning it is. Now,” he teased.
“You’re no gentleman,” she said, freed him and rose, grabbing a towel from inside an open locker.
He was reaching out for her again, but she batted his arm away, disliking his assumption that one kiss gave him the right to touch. “Don’t,” she warned.
“Like to play rough?” he questioned playfully and as if to test how far he could push, extended his hand toward her once more.
As she had done before, she batted it away, but he teasingly repeated the gesture. Tossing down the towel with which she had been drying off, she once again flung away his arm and took a step toward him. “Mister, if you want to learn about rough, I’m game.”
“Oooh. Big tough chef—”
He didn’t get a chance to finish the statement as she dropped and swept his legs out from under him. He went down onto the mat in an ignominious sprawl.
He leaned up on his elbows and grinned at her. Damn him, she thought, but stayed out of his reach since she suspected he would be more than capable of taking her down. “Pretty nice moves. Where did you learn them?”
He was just full of questions, it seemed. Kate had told her that he had been by her shop on Saturday, prying into her private life. She wasn’t about to satisfy his curiosity. She didn’t trust him enough yet to tell him anything. “Let’s just say a girl needs to know how to defend herself.”
A moment of hesitation played across his face, which afterward, grew serious. “On account of what happened to your parents?”
She knew Kate had spilled the beans about her family history. Despite that, she had not been prepared for him to raise the subject. There wasn’t anything really personal going on between them. Yet, the daring little voice in her head tacked on.
Walking back to the locker, she picked up the towel from the floor and began collecting her things, intent on going ahead with her normal Monday routine.
Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Aidan stood and dusted himself off. He took a step toward her, then seemed to reconsider the wisdom of that. Grasping his hands in front of him tightly, he said, “Could we start over?”
Juggling her bag and towel in her hand, she half turned and said, “Meaning?”
“Good morning, Elizabeth. Would you care to have breakfast?” he asked in that husky bedroom voice of his.
She picked up her chin a defiant notch, determined not to let his charm affect her. “Sorry, but breakfast was two hours ago.”
He glanced at his watch and with a carefree tone said, “How about lunch then?”
Determined, she would give him that. Smiling, she replied, “That’s not for another three hours. Maybe four since I had a nice big breakfast.”
In response, his stomach growled. He rubbed his hand over his midsection to silence it. “So what do you plan to do in the meantime? It is your day off after all.”
“There’s never a day off,” she replied and walked to the stairs.
Aidan was immediately there, following her. Was it her imagination that he shot an inquisitive look at the safe and lockers? she wondered, but then realized that his gaze was securely fixed to her Lycra-clad backside.
With a roll of her eyes, and a little extra swing to her hips, she went up the stairs, advising him as she did so, “I plan on shopping.”
“Shopping?” he croaked and shot a glance up at her face to see if she was serious. When he realized that she was, he said, “Shopping, huh. Well, I guess I’m game if it includes taking you to lunch.”
She paused on the top step and examined his face. He was clearly sincere with his response. She told herself not to be too flattered that he’d risk shopping in exchange for lunch with her. Some men would do anything to impress a girl and Aidan definitely seemed to be that kind of man. Despite her awareness of that, she didn’t feel like turning him down. He intrigued her too much, as dangerous as she knew that might be.
“It’s a deal. Come back in half an hour. I need to shower.”
“I’ll just hang in the