Hush?”
She seemed surprised that he hadn’t jumped on her profession. But they were nothing if not discreet here at Hush, where they hosted celebrities and movie stars all the time, and she guessed he wouldn’t bring it up again unless she did.
“Yes, I’m enjoying myself,” she said. “It’s very lovely here.”
At the word pleasure, her tongue darted out again and nervously licked her lips. “Business.”
“That’s a shame.”
She laughed, a little nervously now. “Yes.”
It should have given him pause that he’d flustered her, but instead, it excited him. He was thinking of all the ways he could fluster her some more when she spoke again.
“I’m here to find the next new reality TV star.”
Reality TV. The genre appealed to him about as much as a trip to the dentist. “Hmm.”
“You don’t like reality TV?” she asked.
“Actually, I’m not into any kind of TV,” he admitted. “Not my thing.”
“What about if you could be on it?” she asked. She was watching him carefully. “On your own show.”
“Sounds like a nightmare.”
“Oh.” She looked at him for a long moment, assessing for God knew what. Speculating on the mysteries of the female mind was always a bit like tiptoeing through a minefield. “Tell me something,” she said. “Do you kiss every strange woman you meet in the elevator?”
“Ah.” He’d been waiting for her to broach the subject. “That.”
“You must have known we’d have to talk about it.”
He lifted a shoulder.
“What if I’d been married?” she asked. “Or attached?”
“Are you?”
“No.”
“Then no harm, no foul.”
“Is that a life motto for you?”
“Pretty much.” He smiled.
She returned it, but he could still see the wheels spinning. Her eyes were clear on his, such a mossy, pretty green. The rest of her was pretty, too. Shoulder-length brown wavy hair with long choppy bangs that she kept shoving out of her eyes, a narrow strong face, with a most lovely mouth, as he had reason to know. She had good height on her-another bonus for him at six foot four-and plenty of curves, he was happy to note. He didn’t approve of skinny.
“Why did you do it?” she asked, taking another bite of the s’mores, which meant that while she might be a tad shy, she went after what she wanted. He liked that. “Why did you kiss me?” she pressed.
“Because I wanted to.”
She laughed, and took another bite. “Do you always do whatever you want?”
He thought about that. “Mostly.”
“There was another reason you kissed me,” she insisted.
“Okay, yes.”
She waited, a brow raised.
“You see, I have these two extremely nosy, bossy, interfering people in my life,” he admitted. “They’re very annoying.”
“Then why are they in your life?”
He sighed. “They’re my friends.”
That wrangled a laugh out of her. “Okay, I’ll buy that. I have two of those myself.”
“They think because I’m single that I need to be fixed. In their mind, that fixing requires a woman.”
“So? You’re a big boy. Say no.”
He smiled. “Tell me something, Emmaline.”
“Em,” she said softly, staring at his mouth as if maybe she liked his smile.
He hoped so, because he liked hers, very much. “Em, then.” Yeah, that suited her even better. Em was even softer, more feminine. It fit her to a tee. Which didn’t explain why he wanted to sit here with her all night. “You ever successfully say no to the people in your life?”
“I’m a sucker when it comes to the people I care about.”
Why the hell
She was still shaking her head. “You’re no one’s sucker, Jacob Hill.”
“No, I’m not. But I still care about my friends.”
Her eyes softened. “That’s very sweet.”
“Actually, I’m the furthest thing from sweet you’ve ever met.”
Her gaze searched his for a long moment, while all around them the restaurant continued to buzz with life- talking, laughing, music. There were a few celebrities here tonight, as well: a big movie star, and also a national newscaster, both being left alone thanks to his discreet staff. There was also a rock star at the center table,
Emmaline kept her gaze locked on Jacob’s. “Something’s not adding up.”
“What?”
“Why would you need to be set up?” The moment the words left her mouth, she looked embarrassed. “It’s just that you don’t look like you’d need any help in that area.”
“Thank you.”
“Actually, I didn’t mean it as a compliment.”
He grinned. Yeah, he liked her. “My friend Pru, the sommelier who helped you pick out your wine, she thinks I need to experience a ‘real’ relationship. That’s because hers have all been so important to her-she’s convinced I’m missing out by not experiencing that.”
Em shook her head. “See, now this should be in the friendship handbook. When you fall in love, you should be required to contain your happiness and not try to spread it around.”
“No one’s in love.”
“Your friend…”
He was shaking his head.
“What was she doing in
“Having lots of sex, I imagine.”
Her brows vanished beneath her bangs. “So you both have something against love?”
“I didn’t say I did.”
“You didn’t have to. It was in your tone.”
He just eyed her while she smiled at him, seeming quite amused at his expression. “So we’ve just discovered something you
A shocked laugh escaped him. How long had it been since someone challenged him? Too long, if this was giving him a thrill. “I have a thing against the way people fling the love word around,” he said, knowing this area was a deal breaker for most women, who wholeheartedly bought into the love myth, to the point that it tainted their every date.
Not him. There wasn’t a single dab of naivete or innocence left in him, and he hadn’t believed in something as elusive and unattainable as the Easter Bunny or love since he was four years old. Truth was truth. Love was nothing but a big, fat pain in the ass. “I’ll tell you one thing,” he said.
“And what’s that?”
“The night’s too good to waste it philosophizing on some emotion that may or may not exist.”
“True enough.”
