His Irresistible Darling by Sarah Randall Page B

dance
.’?” He fought to keep his lips from curving into a smile at her imitation of him.
    He leaned back over to her ear, pleased that the noisy environment gave him a perfect excuse to place his lips so close. “I said I don’t dance, not that I
can’t
dance.”
    She leaned back and propped her elbows on the bar, her eyes narrowing on his as if she was sizing him up for a new suit; he liked her attention on him. He caught the pissed-off look from the kid who looked like some bigger kid had just stolen his lunch money; James, however, was continuing to weigh him up as if for a fight until Melina sauntered up to him and handed him a bottle of beer.
    Pippa turned her body towards the kid and Jumal assumed his plan hadn’t worked until she turned back to James and Melina. “Take my place with Jake, you two. I’m off to show this old man how it’s done,” she quipped, grabbing his hand and dragging him towards the dance floor, before turning and smiling at him. “If he can keep up.”
    Bingo.
    “I’ll do my best, kiddo.”
    Do not look at her arse, do not look at her arse…
Jumal repeated the mantra in his head to no avail. The devil on his left shoulder encouraged him to sneak a peek as was the right of any red-blooded male; the angel on the right slapped him about the head and reminded him that the said pert arse belonged to his best friend’s baby sister…and his employee…
    She stumbled in her ridiculously high heels and Jumal reached forward to snag his spare hand around her waist and pull her close to him. Christ she felt good in his arms, which warranted a SLAP from the bloody angel as he held her a little longer than was strictly necessary.
    “Thanks,” she said, sheepishly. Jumal couldn’t chance speaking. He wasn’t entirely sure what would come out of his mouth.
    “Think I’d better get rid of these ankle breakers,” she conceded as she bent over straight in front of him. Jumal’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.
    Sod it
, he thought,
I’m already going to hell. May as well enjoy the trip and the view on the way down
… He figuratively flicked the angel from his shoulder.
    “Ah, that’s better, I’m ready now. You?”
    He nodded, still dumfounded. “Oh yeah…” Dumb dumb dumb, and now he sounded like a dirty old man.
    So this was to be his punishment, he mused as he raked a hand through his hair.
Fair enough.
    ***
    Pip was astounded, in fact
gobsmacked
, as Mrs H the housekeeper at Melville and her would-be mother would say, by the way Jumal moved his body. The man could move and didn’t that just shock her to the core—her very wet core.
    Her heightened senses and shortness of breath had nothing to do with the energy she was expending keeping up with ol’ snake hips but rather lingered from the earlier whispers into her ear when she was at the bar. She’d been laughing at some joke or other Jake had been telling her when she felt a presence move in close behind her. She’d wrongly assumed it was just another partygoer trying to get to the bar until she felt lips gently touching the shell of her ear and the deep, sexy timbre of Jumal’s voice which, for once, wasn’t yelling her name in anger or disappointment.
    Who knew
, Pippa, I really think it’s time I took you home,
could sound so sexy…especially when he really meant to take her home and it wasn’t code for anything else…not that she’d admit to wanting that from him of course. Urgggh, he was her brother’s friend and yes, she’d had a crush on him since she’d met him all those years ago but Christ, he was practically related to her…and he’d seen her wearing braces.
    Her body’s treacherous reaction to him had both scared and shocked her and she’d responded with her usual fail-safe defence of teasing aggression, but it hadn’t worked this time…
    The bastard had come in for seconds… When he’d whispered,
I changed my mind. I want to dance with you,
she’d practically melted—like the chocolate