She laughed. “I don’t know about that. Using all that complicated math seems pretty hard to me. I’m lucky I can balance my checkbook.”
He chuckled, the sound a deep, sexy rumble that made her feel warm all over. “What about you? What kind of work do you do?”
“I work for an advertising agency in Seattle,” she said.
“You live in Seattle, too? Small world. Are you in the marketing side of advertising or do you work in the art department?”
“Marketing.”
“Do you like it?”
Her lips curved into a smile. “Most days.”
Kate supposed talking about their respective careers wasn’t very high up on the list of ways to seduce a man, but as Dawson told her about the current project he was working on while they had dinner, she discovered she liked listening to his voice too much to care. Besides, she still found plenty of ways to flirt with him while they talked, like lightly touching his arm or brushing her leg against his underneath the table.
It was then that Kate realized she was no longer thinking in the abstract about having sex with Dawson. Damn, she really wanted to get him into bed. After the initial shock of that stunner wore off, another thought occurred to her. If she was trying to let Dawson know she wanted to sleep with him, she was doing a really crappy job of it. While he certainly seemed to enjoy talking to her, she didn’t think he was picking up on any of her come-get-me signals. If she was serious about wanting this guy to take her to bed, then she was going to have to be a little bit more obvious with her desires.
Taking a deep breath, she slipped her hand underneath the table and rested it lightly on his upper thigh. Then she licked her lips seductively and gave him her best sultry look as she told him about the latest ad campaign she was working on. From the way his eyebrow rose, she could tell Dawson had finally picked up on what she was trying to tell him. He leaned in a little closer and slipped his own hand under the table to run his fingers up and down her bare thigh. His touch immediately sent electric sparks dancing along her leg. She smiled.
By the time Rachel and Bob announced they were going to call it a night, Kate was getting a lot more forward than she ever had in her life. As they talked, she let her fingers trail all the way up Dawson ’s leg until they were dangerously close to his cock before moving back down to his knee and doing it all over again. From the look in his eye, she had no doubt he was enjoying their foreplay just as much as she was.
“And remember,” Rachel added as she pushed in her chair. “Croquet starts promptly at noon tomorrow on the back lawn, so don’t be late.”
Around the table, the other couples began pushing their chairs back and getting to their feet as well. Kate reluctantly did the same. She would have rather stayed there at the table with Dawson and seen where their wandering hands would lead. Their friends were all leaving to go to their rooms, though, and it would look odd if she and Dawson sat there alone. So if she wanted to continue getting frisky with him, she was going to have to find another place to do it.
She was reaching for her purse as Rachel came up to her.
“You and Dawson certainly hit it off,” the other girl said. “I knew you would.”
Kate looked around for Dawson, worried he might overhear and think Rachel was trying to set them up, but he was standing a few feet away talking to Bob. “You were right,” she told Rachel, trying to make her voice sound as casual as possible. “He’s very nice.”
“Nice. Uh-huh. Don’t think I didn’t see where your hand was going during dessert. You are so busted, girl.” Rachel reached into her purse and dug around. A moment later, she pressed something into Kate’s hand. “Here. You might need this.”
Kate looked down to find a condom packet in her hand. Afraid Dawson might see it, she quickly closed her fingers around it. She gave her friend an incredulous look. “You carry these around in your purse?”
Rachel grinned. “I’m like the boy scouts, I’m always prepared. And now you are, too.”
Kate shook her head. “I won’t need it.”
Rachel shrugged. “Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it. And trust me, I think you’re going to need it.”
Kate opened her mouth to reply, but her friend had already turned away. Short of running after the other girl and shoving the condom in her hand, Kate had no choice but to put it in her purse.
Rachel looped her arm through her fiance’s. “Ready to go have mad monkey sex?” she asked teasingly.
Bob’s blue eyes danced with amusement. “Race you to the elevator.”
Though Kate couldn’t help but laugh as the couple practically ran from the restaurant, her gaze was wistful as she followed them. She’d never been that eager to be alone with any of the men she dated.
Dawson walked over to stand beside her. “Do you want to go to the bar for a drink?”
Kate hesitated. The bar was certainly much more intimate than the restaurant, so it would be the perfect place to carry on what they’d been doing underneath the table earlier. That would certainly be fun, but if she was really going to do this, why waste time in the bar? She caught her lower lip between her teeth, then tilted her head a little to the side and gave him what she hoped was a sexy look.
“Or we could just go up to your room and raid the minibar instead,” she suggested softly.
Dawson ’s golden eyes went molten. “Even better.”
Holy crap, she’d done it. She’d just propositioned a guy for sex. Okay, maybe it wasn’t quite that blatant, but it was obvious Dawson knew exactly what she meant. She felt so proud of herself she almost did a little cheer right there.
His room was on the fourth floor just like hers, but because the elevator stopped on every floor in between to let people on and off, it seemed to take forever to get there. Now that Kate had made the decision to sleep with him, she was impatient to get his clothes off and see if he was as well built as she thought. Being in the close confines of the elevator only made her hotter for him. By the time they got to his floor, she was ready to push him up against the wall and get busy right there. She actually might have done it, too, if she wasn’t afraid they’d get arrested for public indecency. She almost laughed. Wow, she was better at being naughty than she’d thought.
His hotel room was an exact replica of hers, right down to the fireplace and hot tub. It was the king-size bed against the wall that caught and held her attention, however. As she took in the fluffy pillows and white goose down comforter, she pictured herself rolling around on it with Dawson, their naked bodies entwined as they engaged in hot, sweaty sex. Just the idea started a really nice purr between her legs.
“The minibar is probably pretty limited, but I’m sure we can find something,” Dawson said as he tossed his key card on the dresser. “What can I get you?”
Images of her and Dawson still running through her head, Kate turned to face him. She couldn’t believe she was actually going to go through with this. Before she could change her mind, she set her purse down on the bedside table and walked over to loop her arms around his neck. She hadn’t realized how tall he was downstairs, but now she had to tilt her head back to look up at him.
“Maybe we should forget about having a drink and test out the mattress instead,” she suggested softly. “I hear they’re very comfortable.”
Surprise flickered in his eyes for a moment, but he rested his hands lightly on her hips all the same. “Kate Gentry, are you seducing me?”
“I might be,” she admitted. “But only if it’s working.”
He chuckled. “Oh, it’s definitely working.”
She smiled up at him. “Then in that case, I’m definitely seducing you. I figured since we’re both obviously attracted to each other, we should hook up for the weekend.”
She tried to make the words sound casual, but inside, her heart was pounding like crazy. She didn’t know if it was from excitement or nerves, though. Maybe it was a little of both. She’d never actually seduced a man like this. And the words “hook up for the weekend” had certainly never, ever come out of her mouth before.
He lifted a brow. “Hook up? As in casual sex, no strings attached?”
Clearly he was way more familiar with this type of thing than she was. She nodded. “Exactly. Once the weekend is over, we get on the ferry and go our separate ways. No muss, no fuss.”
He pulled her closer, his mouth curving into a sexy grin. “That works for me.”
She should have tried this whole seduction thing long before this. She was better at it than she’d thought. Kate
