The Seduction Game

“You gonna answer that?” Meg prompted, as the doorbell rang again.

Taking a deep breath, Kate nodded, moved over to the intercom, and pressed the button. “Yes,” she asked, her voice coming out far more breathy than she would have liked.

“Kate, it’s Will. I’m outside for our tour.”

Why did his voice make her so angry and yet so heated? Why was the panic back again? “I’ll be right down.”

She grabbed the keys from the small table next to her door, made sure her Android was in the pocket of her long tee—yep it was bumping against her hip—and shot Meg a look. “Wish me luck?”

“You don’t need luck,” Meg said. “Just be honest with yourself and do whatever feels right for you. You know I’m here for you. You know I will be, no matter what you decide—about the building or about hottie Thornton.”

“I know.”

Before Kate could change her mind, she opened the door and began to make her way down the narrow stairs. It was hot as Hades in the confined space, the long summer continuing to stretch its fingers into fall, and it was worse now because the heat was muggy with dust. Will’s fault. Everything was Will’s fault—well maybe not the weather—but certainly her scratchy feelings and all-around confusion.

But then…maybe she wouldn’t be embarrassed when she saw him today? Maybe it had been a low-level virus or something that had made her feel so hot and panicky? Or maybe food poisoning? Yes, she’d heard people say they felt weird after a skeezy meal. Maybe today would be completely different and she would see him as nothing more than the man who wanted to evict her? Maybe…

“Hello, Kate.”

Maybe not.





Chapter Eight


Even though Will had spent the last two days thinking about Kate far more than he was comfortable with, the reality was far from the memory. Her hair was scraped back into the sort of braids Jen gave the girls, only on Kate they were far from childish. They showed off her very delicate bone structure and made her eyes look huge behind her spectacles. She was, Will realized all over again, unbelievably cute. Worse, it was a sexy cuteness, and he’d spent the better part of last night tossing and turning in his too-big bed, debating the merits of his plan as well as thinking of exactly what he would like to do with her smart mouth.

In depth.

Those thoughts came to him again and Will had to give himself an inward shake before stepping forward and saying hello.

“Hi,” she whispered back, and yep, there were the bright red cheeks again. “It’s very hot.”

Random, but Will nodded, even as his gaze traveled up and down her body. She was wearing a clingy green tee shirt that reached her knees and outlined her shape perfectly. Will could see, quite clearly, the curve of her small breasts and the flare of her hips. Both made his fingers twitch to reach forward and run a finger along those contours, but he could well imagine what Kate would say if he dared.

“It is at that,” he said after a moment. “So how have you been?”

“Since you saw me the day before last?”

“Yes.”

She shot him a look he couldn’t quite decipher as she fell into step beside him. “Fine, thank you. I’ve been busy working, as usual.”

He frowned a little at the stiffness of her words but plunged on regardless. “Me, too. There’s been a lot to catch up on since I got back. It’s ridiculous to think about how much I’ve missed even though I was working nonstop while I was away.”

“Back? Did you go somewhere?”

He nodded, surprised to realize that he’d never mentioned he’d been away, and that she’d never asked why he hadn’t bothered to come and introduce himself sooner. “I’ve been in London for a while,” he explained, “a few months, in fact, working on what I hope will be the beginning of a new project. It’s why I haven’t come to see you before now. If I’d been in the country at the beginning we could have sorted this mess out before it got to this point.”

“This mess?” Her voice was suddenly deadly and she halted in the middle of the road, arms crossed over her chest.

“I meant this situation,” Will said, backtracking quickly.

“Maybe you shouldn’t say anything,” she said, glare still in place. “Just get this stupid tour I agreed to—due to your manipulative tactics, I might add—over, and then we’ll see just how much of a mess it all is.”

“Kate—”

“Because it’s easy for you to think of it as a mess that needs cleaning up,” she continued. “To just ignore the fact that this is my life you are actually messing with, Thornton. That it’s my livelihood, my home!”

Anger at his stupidity thrummed through Will. Hadn’t he resolved to treat Kate with kid gloves? To charm her? To woo her, if need be? He was hardly getting off to a good fucking start.

“I didn’t mean it to sound like that,” he said softly, stepping a little closer, crowding her on purpose. That tactic had worked in the shop. “You know I just want to get everything sorted out.”

She took a step back. “I’ll bet. Sorted out to your best interests.”

Deep breath. This was always going to be tricky.“ You’ll see that is not the case when I show you around.”

“Then let’s just do that and be done with it.” She strode forward, heading for Mr. Kawoski’s. Will had no choice but to follow, frantically thinking of a way to get their conversation back on track. He did, for just a moment, consider simply wrapping an arm around her waist, pulling her to him, and kissing her until the glare disappeared. But he suspected that she would not respond in quite the way he hoped. Not yet, at least.

“Let me start over?” he asked, placing a hand on her bare arm and having to be content with that measly bit of contact. She glanced down at it and bit her lip.

“Let’s just get the tour done.”

“Not if we’re going to spend it with you glaring at me and wishing me to Hades.”

She shrugged his hand off and turned to look up at him. It occurred to Will that she was so tiny he could quite easily fling her over his shoulder and carry her wherever he wanted. The thought was unbelievably tempting.

“I don’t,” she whispered after a moment.

“Don’t what?” he asked, still stuck imagining Kate’s lithe body being that close to his. Hell, this tour was going to be harder than he had realized.

“Wish you to Hades,” she said. “Well, not all the way. Maybe we could just stick you on the boat and let the tiller row you around forever.”

“You’d miss me.”

“I barely know you.”

“But that is going to change, Kate.”

“Because of The Risings.”

It was a statement rather than a question, but Will answered it anyway, and he answered it honestly—from the heart, with none of his feelings about the development clouding it. “No, because you, Kate Kelly, are very, very pretty.”

She gasped. Her eyes widened. And once again she colored all the way from her braids right down, he suspected, to the toes inside her heavy boots. Satisfaction filled him and although Will hadn’t intended to make his interest known quite so soon, he was glad all the same. He took her by the elbow and led her across the rest of the road, that small contact enough to start his heart thudding. It wasn’t just Kate who was feeling the heat. But she wasn’t shrieking at him, he realized. Perhaps in the future, that was the way to shut her up, say something outrageous and watch her scramble around in confusion, regardless of the effect it had on him.