thing of all.
“Good point,” Mack said, and immediately beckoned for their waiter.
“Mack, don’t you dare,” Beth said.
“You’ll settle for the crème brulée?”
“I think that’s best,” she said, even though she was sorely tempted to throw caution to the wind and opt for the chocolate soufflé. “Otherwise we’re liable to start a riot.”
Mack grinned. “I guess it will be the crème brulée for dessert, John. Give us about twenty minutes, though, okay?”
“Sure thing, Mr. Carlton.” He leaned down to whisper conspiratorially. “Of course, if you’re on a tighttimetable, there’s a soufflé that should be ready in a half hour. I could put in another order for those diners and put this one in one of our takeout containers. Would that work?”
Mack glanced at Beth. “What do you say? Dessert at your desk?”
There were a lot of things in life that Beth could resist. Chocolate wasn’t one of them, and a warm chocolate soufflé just out of the oven had the power to smash her resistance to smithereens. There were many things she might not like about Mack, many more things about which she had serious reservations, but if he could get her that dessert, she was willing to forgive a lot.
Giving in to temptation, she said, “The chocolate, definitely.”
Mack regarded her with fascination as the waiter walked away. “Good to know,” he murmured, his gaze on her filled with heat.
“What?” she asked, her voice surprisingly shaky.
“That your weak spot is chocolate.”
“That’s one of them,” Beth agreed, since there seemed little point in denying the obvious, not when she’d just caved and renounced several of her scruples to get a soufflé for dessert.
Mack lifted his glass of water. “To discovering the rest,” he said, his tone soft and his gaze serious.
Beth returned his gaze and tried not to notice that her heart and her stomach were turning cartwheels. Sweet heaven, was there any female on the face of the earth who could remain immune to this man once he set out to be charming? She certainly prayed she’d turn out to be one of the rare ones, but right at this moment she didn’t give herself a chance in hell.
Chapter Five
M ack had absolutely no idea how his evening had taken such an unexpected shift the night before. One minute he’d been looking forward to his date with a woman who undoubtedly would never speak to him again now. The next minute he’d been irresistibly drawn to Beth’s office just for the simple pleasure of stealing a kiss. It didn’t make a lick of sense.
Something about her revelation that she’d hardly dated as a teenager had stirred some kind of purely male reaction in him. If he hadn’t known himself better, he might have thought it was some sort of weird attraction to the virginal nature of the admission, which was ridiculous. Not only had Beth not said anything at all about still being innocent, he definitely preferred women who knew the score.
But that hadn’t stopped him from hightailing it after her like some sort of overheated jerk intent on makinga conquest. He was damn lucky she hadn’t guessed all of the undercurrents behind that kiss and leveled him with some sort of sedative, the way a vet took care of an unruly animal.
Okay, he thought as he unintentionally snapped a pencil in two, that explained the kiss. The assessment wasn’t pretty, nor did it speak well of him, but it was honest. It did not, however, give him a clue about what had happened during and after the kiss.
The woman had made his supposedly rehabilitated knees weak. When in hell was the last time that had happened? Maybe never. He never lost control of a situation the way he had last night. From the minute his lips had touched Beth’s, he’d been transported to some other dimension, a place where he wanted to take risks and give pleasure, not in some casual, meaningless way, but something real and lasting.
Which was absurd. Totally and utterly absurd, he
“Good point,” Mack said, and immediately beckoned for their waiter.
“Mack, don’t you dare,” Beth said.
“You’ll settle for the crème brulée?”
“I think that’s best,” she said, even though she was sorely tempted to throw caution to the wind and opt for the chocolate soufflé. “Otherwise we’re liable to start a riot.”
Mack grinned. “I guess it will be the crème brulée for dessert, John. Give us about twenty minutes, though, okay?”
“Sure thing, Mr. Carlton.” He leaned down to whisper conspiratorially. “Of course, if you’re on a tighttimetable, there’s a soufflé that should be ready in a half hour. I could put in another order for those diners and put this one in one of our takeout containers. Would that work?”
Mack glanced at Beth. “What do you say? Dessert at your desk?”
There were a lot of things in life that Beth could resist. Chocolate wasn’t one of them, and a warm chocolate soufflé just out of the oven had the power to smash her resistance to smithereens. There were many things she might not like about Mack, many more things about which she had serious reservations, but if he could get her that dessert, she was willing to forgive a lot.
Giving in to temptation, she said, “The chocolate, definitely.”
Mack regarded her with fascination as the waiter walked away. “Good to know,” he murmured, his gaze on her filled with heat.
“What?” she asked, her voice surprisingly shaky.
“That your weak spot is chocolate.”
“That’s one of them,” Beth agreed, since there seemed little point in denying the obvious, not when she’d just caved and renounced several of her scruples to get a soufflé for dessert.
Mack lifted his glass of water. “To discovering the rest,” he said, his tone soft and his gaze serious.
Beth returned his gaze and tried not to notice that her heart and her stomach were turning cartwheels. Sweet heaven, was there any female on the face of the earth who could remain immune to this man once he set out to be charming? She certainly prayed she’d turn out to be one of the rare ones, but right at this moment she didn’t give herself a chance in hell.
Chapter Five
M ack had absolutely no idea how his evening had taken such an unexpected shift the night before. One minute he’d been looking forward to his date with a woman who undoubtedly would never speak to him again now. The next minute he’d been irresistibly drawn to Beth’s office just for the simple pleasure of stealing a kiss. It didn’t make a lick of sense.
Something about her revelation that she’d hardly dated as a teenager had stirred some kind of purely male reaction in him. If he hadn’t known himself better, he might have thought it was some sort of weird attraction to the virginal nature of the admission, which was ridiculous. Not only had Beth not said anything at all about still being innocent, he definitely preferred women who knew the score.
But that hadn’t stopped him from hightailing it after her like some sort of overheated jerk intent on makinga conquest. He was damn lucky she hadn’t guessed all of the undercurrents behind that kiss and leveled him with some sort of sedative, the way a vet took care of an unruly animal.
Okay, he thought as he unintentionally snapped a pencil in two, that explained the kiss. The assessment wasn’t pretty, nor did it speak well of him, but it was honest. It did not, however, give him a clue about what had happened during and after the kiss.
The woman had made his supposedly rehabilitated knees weak. When in hell was the last time that had happened? Maybe never. He never lost control of a situation the way he had last night. From the minute his lips had touched Beth’s, he’d been transported to some other dimension, a place where he wanted to take risks and give pleasure, not in some casual, meaningless way, but something real and lasting.
Which was absurd. Totally and utterly absurd, he
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