The Dare Collection September 2019. Stefanie London

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СКАЧАТЬ demanded then paused to chat, the group hanging on his every word.

      The woman waved at him as she passed, entering the building unmolested as the air filled with the sound of raucous teenage laughter.

      Then Mr Evans extricated himself from the crowd of youths, striding on to where I sat waiting for him in the limo.

      And all of a sudden my heartbeat accelerated, my pulse so loud it just about competed with the beats coming from the teenagers’ phones.

      Somehow I’d reduced him in my mind. Made him not so large, not so muscular. Not so powerful. Not so compelling. Certainly I’d turned down the burn on the intense energy that trailed along in his wake like his own personal force field.

      How could I have forgotten the sheer physical reality of him? How could I not have remembered how completely and utterly hot he was?

      I stared dumbly, my mouth dry as he came up to the limo, pulled the door open and got in.

      And when I looked in my rear-view mirror, there were those eyes. Those searing blue eyes.

      ‘You didn’t open the door for me,’ he said, his familiar, deep, gritty voice vibrating through me. ‘I really expected better service from you, Miss Little.’

      Oh, hell. I’d forgotten about the stupid door. I’d been too busy staring at him.

      I tried to find my usual laid-back, cheerful persona, but it had slipped away on me and all I managed to take hold of was anger. At him for being so ridiculously hot and at myself for being so susceptible.

      ‘Sorry, Mr Evans.’ I let a touch of acid tinge the words. ‘I wasn’t sure what temper you were going to be in this evening. Outright rude or merely mildly offensive.’

      His eyes gleamed, as if with appreciation. ‘Tonight I thought I might try pleasant.’

      ‘Pleasant? You?’

      ‘Drive, Miss Little. There’s a bar I want you to take us to.’

       Us?

      I opened my mouth to ask what he meant by that, then decided against it.

      Not my business. Just as it wasn’t my business to ask him why he’d chosen me to drive him for the night. Silence was probably the best response I could give.

      It was a resolve that lasted all of two seconds.

      ‘Interesting pick-up address,’ I said, unable to contain my curiosity. ‘Not your usual billionaire hang-out.’

      There was something about his expression in the mirror that fascinated me, similar to the savage satisfaction that had burned there the night after he’d come out of the club in Paris. The look of a man who’d beaten all comers to win.

      ‘Not usually,’ he said. ‘But it’s mine. I used to live there.’

      I blinked in surprise.

      So that was the dodgy council estate he’d grown up on. Interesting. Was that where he’d fought too? I could imagine that, him with his fists raised, blood on his face and on his knuckles, that savage look in his eyes...

       Hot.

      A shiver went through me. I had no idea why I found the idea of him as a street fighter so damn sexy, but I did.

      I glanced in the mirror. ‘Really?’

      ‘Yes. My mother still does.’ His hard mouth quirked in something that looked very close to a smile, sending another shiver of heat chasing across my skin. ‘I renovated a perfectly nice place in Chelsea for her but she refuses to move. Says she likes it there.’

      ‘Why?’

      ‘No idea. She’s a stubborn woman, my mother.’ His gaze caught mine. ‘Perhaps that’s why I like stubborn women.’

      Surely he wasn’t meaning...me?

      Irritation needled at me. If he was trying to angle for another encounter in the back seat he needed to think again.

      ‘Is there any reason you asked for me in particular tonight?’ I asked, sounding more belligerent than I’d meant to. ‘Because if you’re hoping to get me in the back seat again—’

      ‘No,’ he said, before I could finish. ‘Rest assured, that’s not what I want from you tonight.’

      ‘Then why?’ I demanded, annoyed by the fact that I felt disappointed, which I totally shouldn’t have.

      ‘You’ll see.’

      There was a hint of smugness to the words that needled me even further.

      I knew I shouldn’t let him get to me, that I should be thinking of this as another opportunity to talk to him about Australis, but the irritation and disappointment sat inside me all the same. And by the time I’d pulled up outside the Covent Garden address he’d given me, it wasn’t so much him who was in a foul temper, but me.

      The bar looked exactly like the kinds of bars he’d be used to, complete with a long line of beautifully dressed hopefuls outside, an ostentatious-looking bouncer, and a velvet rope to sort the aristocracy from the peasants.

      ‘Here we are,’ I said unnecessarily, trying to force my bad mood away with a cheerful smile. ‘Do you want me to get your door?’

      ‘No.’ Another gleam in those blue eyes. ‘I want you to come and have a drink with me.’

      ‘Excuse me?’ This time I actually turned around in my seat.

      The impact of his direct gaze was like a physical blow.

      ‘One drink, Miss Little,’ he murmured. ‘I have a proposition I want to put to you.’

      He sat there, dark and scarred and powerful, and so achingly compelling I couldn’t look anywhere but at him. And, God, he was incredible. I didn’t know how he managed to look so damn hot simply in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt—this time a dark blue one that somehow intensified the colour of his eyes—but he did.

      ‘A proposition?’ I echoed stupidly. ‘What proposition?’

      ‘Come and have a drink and you’ll find out.’

      Fighting the pull of his charisma, I gave him a narrow stare. ‘You’d better not be rude again. I haven’t bloody got time for that kind of carry-on.’

      Again, his hard mouth twitched. ‘I can’t guarantee there won’t be any “carry-on”. But I can guarantee it will be worth your time.’

      I didn’t want to accept, not just like that. It felt like giving in.

      ‘I’m supposed to be working,’ I said, prevaricating.

      ‘You are working. For me. Think of it as a business meeting.’

      Huh.

      I gave him a suspicious look. ‘About СКАЧАТЬ