“Not angry enough to attack you like that. To do it in front of everyone at my ball.”
His spiteful tone surprised her. If she didn’t know better, she’d say he sounded protective of her.
Though the clothes she wore were as comfortable as they could get, she suddenly felt tight. Truth threatened to leak from her lips, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to hold it in.
Ella focused on the tree behind Hawk. “She thinks I stole her boyfriend a few years ago, and she’s still pretty resentful about it. So she takes whatever chance she can get to rub it in.”
Hawk’s attention was reflective. Ella brought herself to meet it and was surprised to find a glint of mirth rather than displeasure. He was amused by this?
“Did you steal him?” Hawk asked.
His enjoyment was contagious, lightening the tension inside of her.
“I’m no thief.” She smirked, allowing her stiffness to dissipate.
He raised his brows and exhaled. “If you looked at him the way you’re looking at me now, I can see you stealing hearts.”
She pivoted, keeping a hand on the back of the leather chair. His direct gaze arrested her, making movement impossible. It was all she could do to voice the question. “And how am I looking at you?”
Gaze sultry, lips tugged upward at the corners, he inched closer to her. “Like you want to dance with me.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The moment quietened. The music shifted to something more gentle and intimate. Without another word, Hawk slipped his hand around her waist once more.
“May I have this dance?”
She forced her reply. “Now you’re asking?”
He shrugged. “I figured it wouldn’t hurt.”
He pulled her close, securing her to him again and severing the connection of her brain stem to the rest of her body. They moved in a small circle, in soft, gentle time. Was this really happening?
Christmas speckled the air around them via the soft music he had playing. It also permeated her attention, the way she saw only him, the way he gazed solely at her, and the way he held her, so carefully yet so deliberately.
“You know,” Hawk said, “I haven’t stopped thinking about you since we were in that elevator together.”
“Me neither,” she said.
“Won’t you tell me your last name? Or which of my departments you work for?”
“I never said I worked for you.” Her grin was coy and flirtatious.
A divot appeared between his brows. “But you were in my building just getting off from work. And you were at the ball. And I thought I saw you slip an employee badge in your purse.”
“It still doesn’t mean I work for you.”
His head angled. “You become more and more of a mystery the longer we talk.”
“What is it that’s such a mystery?” she asked. She couldn’t admit where she really worked. Not now.
He lifted a hand, guiding her out in a turn before drawing her back to him. “You. Everything about you.”
Ella burned under the heat of his attention. Not only the physical aspects of touch and sight, though those were enough to undo her. But his verbal interest, the sincerity in his statement. He wanted to know her.
She sifted through her mind and picked the first random thing she could think of. “My birthday is in December,” she said. “It makes Christmas hard, and it’s been harder since my mom died.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. When did she die?”
Ella cursed herself. She hadn’t meant to share something so tragic. Then again, she had mentioned it in the elevator too, and Hawk didn’t seem to mind. “Ten years ago, when I was fifteen. My dad got remarried and—”
“Hence the stepsister.”
“Two, actually,” she said.
“Two’s company. Look at us.” He beamed at her.
“What about you?” she asked. “What makes Christmas for you?”
“This is by far the best one I’ve had yet,” he said, stroking her spine with tender fingertips. “Stressful, but best too.”
“What has made it stressful?”
He exhaled. “Trying to expand my company. Our fiscal year is the same as a regular one, so my department heads wanted to get things moving for the New Year. It’s been good, just really hectic.”
“And what has made it the best?” she asked.
His expression shifted to something playful and unruly. “Hasn’t happened yet.”
“Oh? Is it something you’ve been wishing for?”
His jaw ticked. His attention focused. “I didn’t realize how much until this moment.”
Intuition tickled up her spine. She put her hands on his chest. “Hawk Danielson, if you’re referring to kissing me—”
He grinned, tightening his hold, not letting her go. “I can’t even return the chastising tone without knowing your last name.”
“Embers,” Ella said breathlessly, succumbing to the moment. “It’s Embers.”
“Ella Embers,” he said, slowing so they stood flush with one another before the tree’s glinting majesty. With the delayed motion and her name on his lips, the rest of the world disappeared. She pulsated, hyper-aware of her body, of him. She was safe with him. Safe and whole, in a way she never wanted to end.
“Are you inviting me to kiss you?” he asked.
Her mouth went dry. His office, the tree, the floor, faded. “I don’t know what to say to that. No one has ever asked me.”
He lured her closer. “I’ve never asked a woman before I kiss her either. I figure, since you claim you’re no thief, I thought I’d prove I wasn’t either.”
“If you wanted to kiss me, Hawk, you wouldn’t have to steal one.”
“So you are inviting me to kiss you.”
Feeling bolder than she ever had before, Ella pressed her chest to his. She tilted her chin upward just enough for his breath to stroke her skin. “Aren’t stolen kisses the best kind?”
She captured his gaze long enough to feel his heart pound against hers before detaching herself and turning away. Hawk didn’t let her. He snared her hand and reeled her to him.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
His
