Page 84 of Nefarious
“I’m not. But for some reason, my imagination is vast when it comes to things I want you to do to me.”
“What else?”
“Did you bring any ties?”
He raised an eyebrow and went to his closet, producing a purple silk tie, one of his most expensive. Her wicked smile made him instantly hard again. He really could fall in love with this girl.
Room service woke them late in the morning. They’d slept, some. Mostly, they’d explored every inch of each other and whispered their secret fantasies, but when they were spent and lying beside each other, they'd confessed their hearts’ desires. Dane tipped the bellhop, then set a plate before Noelle. She tucked in like she hadn’t eaten in weeks.
Dane smiled, watching her. “We should stay here.”
Noelle wiped the corner of her mouth. “You don’t want to go to the conference?”
“Oh, that. No, I don’t want to share you with any of those bastards downstairs. But that’s not what I meant.”
“Oh?”
“I mean, we shouldn’t go back to Fleetwood. We should just stay here.”
“Run away, Dane? If you want to make this thing work, you can’t just keep me in a tower, hidden. And you can’t go and create a brand-new life.”
“But we don’t need Fleetwood.” For the first time in years, Dane finally didn’t care what happened between him and Val. He could let go of his anger. He could forget his obligations. He wanted to take this girl and run. “Wouldn’t you like to create a brand-new life? We could go anywhere.”
“Where would we go, Dane? We have a life. We have jobs.”
Dane shook his head. “Noelle, I don’t have a job. I have a distraction.” He forked a sausage and waggled it in the air, giggling at the image. “Do you want my sausage?”
“Seriously, Dane. We should probably go mingle, get some fresh air, feel like civilized people for a few hours.”
“Or we could pack our bags and be in Key West by tonight.”
“Key West? What would we do there?”
“At first, we’d relax, enjoy the weather, each other.” He laid down his fork so he could reach over and stroke her fingers, show her he was being serious. “But I know you want to do more than that with your brains. So we’d start a company together.”
“A company? Wall Street of Florida?”
“No finance. I’m done with finance.” Before he’d met Val, he’d never had any interest in finance. “I’m thinking we could get into gaming. You know, I used to be heavily into all that, a long time ago.”
“I remember. You used to wear T-shirts withWorld of Warcraftstuff on them.”
Dane raised an eyebrow, impressed. “You remember that?”
“Of course. I used to game until I had to buckle down and get real.”
“See? It’s meant to be. Maybe we’ll hire that kid Anthony. He’s got promise.”
“And so you’ve planned out our entire lives? You’re not impetuous, are you?”
“It’s not impetuous. I’ve been dreaming of moving there for years. I’ve never had sufficient motivation to leave everything behind. But if you came with me, it could be paradise.”
She narrowed an eye. “That sounds wonderful, Dane. You’ll forgive me if I want to give this day-old relationship some time before I throw away a career I’ve spent my life building.”
“So you’re not saying no? Just not right now?”
She squeezed his hand. “We’ll see what the future holds, okay? I would love for us to spend the rest of our lives growing old in Key West, running a gaming company together. But you know you’re a complete rake, Dane. You have a terrible reputation.”
He ran a hand through his hair. “I do. I’m a scoundrel, Noelle.”
