The Seduction Game

“Do you have your own computer life?” he asked, mentally batting the image away.

Kate fidgeted and the movement made her tee stretch across her breasts. Will swore, or maybe just hoped, he could see her nipples beneath the thin fabric. “Well I—”

“Yes…” He moved forward, closing the distance between them before he even realized he was planning to, his erection pointing the way. He couldn’t seem to help himself. “I bet you do. I can see you as the mistress of an army of male slaves. They would devote themselves to your every need and you’d have to command them to lavish their attentions on you.”

She went bright pink. “It’s not that sort of game.”

“I confess I would put myself forward to join their ranks.”

And pinker. “Will!”

He grinned and took her hand. Her skin was so soft and her hand was so tiny, he completely enveloped it in his own. Hell, he would surround her entirely were she beneath him. Would be able to pick her up and have her wrap her legs around his waist…

“You know I’m just teasing,” he said, and even he heard the hitch in his voice.

“Of course.” She tugged the hand back. He did the sensible thing and let her. “But we’re digressing. I’m sure you don’t want to hear about my hobbies.”

“I’m actually quite fascinated.”

“You were going to give me this tour?”

“That I was.”





Chapter Nine


They started the tour at the furthest point from Kate’s store. There had once been a bunch of clothing shops there, with a number of studios directly above, but now the stores had been practically demolished. Kate’s gaze swept across the area, and still feeling shaky from Will’s teasing, her stomach tightened. She remembered Mina, one of the shop assistants who had worked at Bridal Boutique, worrying about what she was going to do for work once the store closed down. She had two small children and her baby daddy had skipped out, leaving her to raise them by herself. The owner of the store had decided to take the money Will was offering and retire in Florida, leaving Mina in the proverbial shit. She’d been a mess and Meg had spent countless hours consoling the poor woman. Kate shifted uncomfortably as she realized that she’d never found out if Mina had managed to find another job. She hoped so, and wondered if maybe Meg had heard anything. She would ask her later.

“So here will be a number of office spaces,” Will was saying. “There aren’t a whole lot available on this side of the city, and we’re planning to do something special with them. We already have some tech firms interested and by the time the development is finished we should have them full.”

“Tech firms?”

Will smiled, a ridiculously cute sort of smile that made his eyes crinkle a little and his very firm jaw seem less intimidating. Smiling suits him. And I like seeing it. Look away, look away…

“Your kind of area, huh?” he said, snapping her thoughts back into place. “Lots of geeks.”

“And will there be living space above the offices?” she asked.

Will shook his head. “No. Not many people like to live above their business. We work on the basis that the residential properties and the businesses are split. So we’ve earmarked the other side of the complex, by your store, as affordable housing units.”

“I see.”

“Split aside, though,” Will continued, “in the end it will all be intermixed. We’ll have a thriving little hub. If say, you lived here, you’d be able to step out in the morning, grab a coffee, some groceries, and maybe even a new outfit.”

“We could’ve done that before,” Kate pointed out. “It was always a mix of businesses and residential.”

“Yes, but look at the state of some of these buildings.” He waved a hand around at what was left of the area and despite herself, Kate had to admit that Will did have a point. The area was old. It had seen better times, and for sure the crime rate had been on the rise. “I’ll go over the drawings with you when we get back to the other side,” he added. “You can see how different it’s going to be. The whole area will be getting a major face-lift. We’re planning a park on the far end. Open spaces always bring up property and rental prices.”

“But that’ll out price people like me.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“It’s what you meant.”

He sighed. “The rents here have always been low because of how badly the area was neglected. And think about it, it won’t just raise the prices here, the developments close to us will start to gentrify, too. Before you know it, we’ll see a Whole Foods, a Starbucks, some bakeries. It will spread out and lots of people will benefit from that.”

Yes, lots of people will benefit, but not me.

They moved on and Will continued to point out various buildings and the plans he had for them. The old Italian restaurant that had been a favorite of hers was apparently going to be another restaurant—a well-known chain that Kate loathed. The stretch of open space where she and Meg used to sit with their laptops was going to be turned into a large fountain, complete with benches and picnic spots.

It did all sound amazing and there was no mistaking the passion in Will’s voice. He had big plans, impressive plans…and she was in the way of it all. Kate’s confidence wavered a little. For the first time since she’d received the initial letter from Will’s lawyers, she began to wonder if maybe she was in the wrong. That perhaps she was being stupid. Hanging on to something when everyone else had been eager to let it go.

She considered all the people who had left. Oh, she hadn’t known them all, certainly the turnover in the studio apartments was high enough that she’d never been able to get to know everyone, but she’d known a lot, especially the ones on her street. Was it possible that they’d seen something she hadn’t? Meg had asked her to look at everything with an unbiased eye and she was. Except, the more she did, the more uncomfortable she felt. Jobs were needed in the area. Mina was proof of that. If what Will was suggesting was going to create lots of jobs, was it right for her to stand in the way? Before meeting Will she would have said yes. No way was she going to budge for a millionaire with too much money, who was too used to getting his own way…only now…

People need jobs.

His words from when they had gone to Coleido’s shot through her mind and Kate shifted uncomfortably. That was a fact. Inescapable.

“Kate?”

Will was saying something and she turned to him, giving herself a little shake as she did so. “Sorry, I missed that.”

He beamed, flashing that dazzling smile of his, and Kate was suddenly ever so slightly dizzy. Will’s presence alone was enough to confuse her, but his voice, his teasing, the whole of it? Well, it was just not adding up to a good situation for her, and Kate couldn’t help but wonder how she would be feeling about everything if it wasn’t Will trying to talk her round.

Only she already knew that, didn’t she? After all, Chris had tried and look how that had turned out. It had been very different. And the more Kate considered it, the more worried she became that she was allowing the feelings Will stirred in her to influence her decisions.

He thinks I’m pretty.