The Seduction Game

“Kate,” he prompted. “Do you want me to move? Does my sitting here next to you bother you?”

“It bothers me, yes,” she spluttered, finally finding her voice. “You’re trying to buy my building.”

He nodded slowly but made no move to go back to his side of the table and Kate couldn’t shift further along because she had a horrible suspicion that if she did he would realize why. Instead, she grabbed the taco—completely ignoring the fact she was full and her appetite had gone the way of the dodo—and stared in any direction but his.

“So, let’s just get right down to that,” Will said softly. “Get it out of the way. Name your price. I’m a rich man, Kate. I’ll give you as much as is fair.”

Did his thigh press a little closer or was she imagining it? “It isn’t about the money.”

“Then what? Your place isn’t exactly a palace. It’s tiny. It used to be part of a larger building, you know. That’s why it’s so narrow.”

“I am aware of the history of my building.”

“You could buy somewhere much bigger with the money I’m offering.”

“That proves my point exactly.”

“What does that even mean?”

“It means you have no idea what you’re talking about, Thornton,” she hissed, anger taking over from the embarrassment. “It’s not about the size, it’s about—”

“What you do with it?”

Oh God. Kate wasn’t sure if her heart could actually thud any harder. Worse, she was almost positive that her skin was bright red. Will had to see it. She wasn’t sure which was more shameful. The fact he was making her feel this way, or him realizing that he was.

“If you’re going to make smutty comments, I’m leaving.”

He threw back his head and laughed. Kate couldn’t help but watch him, the taco almost crushed in her hand. “I wasn’t being smutty,” he finally said. “And I don’t think I’ve heard that word in years. In fact, it may well have been my gran who last used it.”

“I know what you’re doing.”

“And that is?”

“You’re trying to fluster me. To confuse me.”

He shook his head and smiled. A sort of tender smile that made Kate swallow hard. “I’m not, Kate. I’m trying to make you see sense.”

“Your sense, you mean. Just like with the food, you’re being deliberately shocking so that I get flustered and do what you want.”

“So I’m flustering you?”

Yes, her mind screamed, but of course, she didn’t dare say as much.

“I like the idea of flustering you,” he said and his voice held something that made her want to run back to K.I.T. as fast as physically possible. “I like it very much.”

“I didn’t say you flustered me. I just…” Kate dropped the crushed bit of taco on her plate. “You are so infuriating. So full of yourself.”

“But I was right about the food.” He nodded down to her plate where the squished bit of taco sat. “You scoffed that right down,” he said. “You were hungry.”

“For the taco yes, but that’s enough. I don’t need the rest you tried to heap on my plate.”

“I bet you’d eat it if I hadn’t ordered it.”

“What? That makes no sense. Did you not hear me?”

“I did and I don’t believe you. Tell me that the guacamole does not taste amazing and you’re an absolute liar.”

“Urgh, no wonder everyone says yes to you. They just want to shut you up.”

Will laughed again, the sound echoing in the space around them, and since Kate had no taco to crush, she could do nothing but clench her fists.

“Not everyone says yes. You are a case in point.”

“All the other store owners said yes. Even Mr. Kawoski.”

Will shrugged. “I understand he was ready to retire. I talked with him on the phone and he was happy to sell.”

“He’d had that store for thirty-plus years.”

“Exactly. And how long have you been in your place, Kate?”

“A few years.”

“So maybe it’s time for a change. A new location. A new place. Think about some of the new properties on the river. They have amazing views, all sorts of facilities close by. You can get everything you could possibly need just strolling around. Nice restaurants. Good shops. You like the movies?”

“Sometimes.”

“They would be within walking distance.” He paused and then, in a way that was far too casual, continued, “I could take you to look at some?”

She snorted, more to try and ignore the invite than anything else, because he was just being manipulative. She must not forget that. “Millionaires’ row? I doubt you’re offering me quite that much.”

“Not all the properties are for millionaires. There are some more reasonably priced.”

“And you would know that how?”

“Property is my thing.”

Kate took a swig of her water, the coldness soothing her parched throat. “It’s not just about what facilities a place has, Will. A building can be about more than just the bricks and mortar. They hold memories. They’re places that can make you feel.”

“You think I don’t know this?” he replied. “I’ve been working with property for a good long while. But it’s about more than just one person’s emotions sometimes, Kate. It’s about what is best for the area. For the people in it.”

“And for your wallet.”

“Is that really what you think?” he asked and there was no mistaking the anger in his voice.

Kate stared into the last of her drink, almost like it might hold the answers to the questions beating around in her brain. Just this morning she would have said that Will was a cold-hearted swine with his eye on the bottom line, but now? Well, in all honesty, she was finding it hard to reconcile the image she’d built of him in her head with the man sitting right freaking next to her. Oh, she didn’t doubt he was manipulating her. Trying to “make her see sense” as he put it. But being confronted with an actual person versus a preconceived image was making it hard for her to marshal her thoughts. It didn’t help either that he was affecting her in a way that no man had ever affected her before. For sure, the heart pounding and the panic were not helping her situation at all.

“I’m sure you don’t develop out of the goodness of your heart,” she said carefully.

“No,” he agreed. “You’re right. But believe it or not, Kate, I don’t do it because I need to fill my bank account. I have more money than I’m ever likely to spend in my lifetime.”

“Then why?”

“Because I have a staff that depends on me,” he said. “If I decided to shut up shop tomorrow, what would happen to them?”

“I don’t—”

“They’d be out of a job is what. People need their wages, Kate. I don’t have the luxury of walking away. That means I need to keep my developments moving forward.”

She shot him a look, unsurprised to find his gaze directly on her, unwavering. His eyes were a brighter blue than hers and little crinkles radiated outward from the corners. Kate rarely held eye contact with anyone long enough to get a bead on their emotions, but with Will she couldn’t seem to help herself. What she saw made her feel hot, twitchy, and she spoke quickly in an effort to dispel the feeling, “And I’m holding you up.”