Chapter 5

Monica had to stop her lips from turning up. Sure, she had been pissed at first. Who wouldn"t be? She had gone into last night thinking it would be a one-night fevered good time that she would file away. Instead, she was standing in front of the sexy man as he formally reintroduced himself, and tried to make up for what she assumed he perceived as an asshole move. Not that she was about to tell him differently, or go easy on him. She had a guard to keep up, after all. This was Rome and she lived nowhere close.

"It"s nice to meet you, Luke, but I"m not in the habit of telling strangers my name." She was sure Luke could see the twinkle in her eye, and like a good sport, he didn"t disappoint with his response.

"And what"s it going to take for us to no longer be strangers?"

They were close enough to the wall that Luke was able to lean back against it, crossing both of his arms and his feet. He might look relaxed, but she would bet if the situation called for it, he would be ready to go in an instant.

Before she answered, she took her time looking him over. She wasn"t sure which Luke she liked better; the dressed-up man from the night before, or the one in jeans standing across from her. She would make the decision once she got a look at the way his ass filled out the jeans. She already knew the front did very well.

She realized she"d kept quiet too long when he cleared his throat. "Like what you see, sweetheart?"

"Depends." She shrugged. "Some men know how to work the Wranglers. Not sure if you qualify as one of them or not."

The way his green eyes darkened told her he knew exactly what she was referring to. "I think you know exactly how much I qualify."

Damn, did she know. She remembered how his tight ass felt beneath her palms. So, yes, she could accurately say that, if she took one look at his ass, he would fill those jeans out nicely.

"Knowing how you look, and how you perform, doesn"t mean we still aren"t strangers, and other than your name, I know nothing about you."

But he knew her. Or at least, what he was able to learn from the internet, and when she thought about it, that wasn"t much. She was a workaholic with no social life. Especially now that both of her friends had moved to Texas. The only fun she'd had was when Ash and Trista convinced her it was time to get out and live a little.

"Okay, so let"s change that," he offered. "There"s a nice little restaurant right here in the hotel. I know for a fact that you didn"t eat your lunch, so let"s kill two birds with one stone. We get to know each other during our first date."

"First date? What makes you think you"ll get more than one?" And why did her heart skip a beat at just the thought of going out on a real date? Because it"s been over two years since you"ve been on one, that"s why.

"Oh, I"ll be getting more than one," he confidently told her.

She didn"t bother telling him she was only in town for one more night, or that her flight left early. She was going to take the few hours they had left and make the most of it. Make sure the hours counted for something good.

They grabbed a table inside the restaurant that she had fled less than an hour before. She was happy to see Alexander was nowhere in sight. With any luck, he got the memo and she could continue on with her life.

This time, instead of ordering the salad, she let herself get exactly what she wanted. With their orders placed and the server gone from the table, she turned her attention back to Luke.

"I must say, it"s refreshing when a woman orders a real meal," Luke remarked. "Not that I would ever judge based on food choices."

She let a real smile cross her face. She had chosen the burger and fries that she wished she could have gotten when she was stuck dining with Alexander. She might be forced to dress fancy and put on a performance with clients, but that wasn"t the real her. The real Monica enjoyed greasy food, comfy clothes, and inappropriate comments. While she played her CEO part well, it was just that: a part. An act she put on because that was expected of her. Very few people knew the real her. Actually, the number of people could be counted on one hand, and she was sad to report it didn"t even take the full five fingers.

"I order the salad when I"m looking to impress someone. Since you've already violated my privacy, there"s no need for me to try so hard." She gave him her sweetest smile. The soft chuckle he gave her said all she needed to know. He didn"t believe a word she said.

"I think you use it as an excuse not to let people close to you," he challenged.

How was he able to read her so well? She didn"t consider herself an easy person to read. And over the past few years, she had been forced to toughen up, to make that external shell of hers that much thicker. She was the boss now, after all, and her employees looked to her to lead them. She couldn"t do that if she was afraid.

"Maybe, but it"s not me we"re talking about. You already know a lot. So it"s your turn to tell me about you."

"Fair." He smiled. "You already know my name. I told you my friends and I co-own a business together. We mostly accept government contracts. Do the grunt work they don"t want to, or can"t do because of red tape. I mentioned seven of us own the company. Dominic, Nash, and Jayce are back in the States setting up our new office. We used to be more mobile, but we decided that we were getting too old to be constantly living out of suitcases, so we are opening up a permanent location."

The way he said "old" made her want to laugh. There wasn"t a single thing about Luke that could be considered old. He was the picture of male perfection. If she hadn"t thought it would be so weird, she would have asked to lick his damn abs last night.

"And where exactly in the States is this new venture taking place?" The question was out before she could stop it. She hadn"t wanted to know. It would be better to cut things off now before either of them learned too much. She was just about to suggest such a thing when he beat her to it by answering the question.

"Washington."

She attempted to hide the displeasure of his answer. Of course, his location would be in the nation"s capital. He had mentioned they took contracts from the government and it was probably easier for them to be so close.

"I can see you misunderstood," he said. "Not Washington, D.C. The state of Washington."

Was that a flicker of hope in her chest? What are the odds that he would be moving his business to the same state in which she currently resided? She had to remind herself Washington was large. There was a good chance he could be clear across the state from Seattle.

"That"s cool," she tried for nonchalant. "Any place I would know?"

She wasn"t native to Washington. When she had chosen to attend the University of Washington, she hadn"t known she would stay in the state forever. But meeting Ash had changed things. She had found a forever friend whom she couldn"t live without.

"Mill Creek."

She nearly fell out of her seat when he answered; a town she not only knew but one that was barely more than twenty miles from where she lived.

"Are you pulling my leg? How long has this plan been in the works?" Her suspicion was at an all-time high. What were the odds? Had he known about her for a while? Was their meeting last night really a coincidence?

"To answer all the questions I"m sure you have right now, no, I"m not pulling your leg. The plan has been in place for over a year, but we only purchased the office three months ago. I knew nothing about you at the time. In fact, I only learned your name this morning when Caden filled us in on the information he learned. The contract we received was strictly for Alexander Fletcher. We had no idea who he was meeting until we got to Rome or that he even had a meeting. We were hired when he resurfaced to see what his motivations were, so we came here. Surveillance only. When we found out he was here to meet someone, Caden was tasked with finding out who. I didn"t get that information until this morning."

She watched his face to gauge the validity of his statement, and what she found was sincere. She believed him when he said he hadn"t known who she was when they met last night.

"So, where do we go from here?" she asked.

Her life was still complicated; she had a career that required her focus and she had no idea if Alexander would heed her warning to back off.

"We enjoy lunch and then head our separate ways back to Washington. And I keep an eye on Alexander for you. Just to make sure he doesn"t give you any trouble."

Monica tried to hide her disappointment to his response. She didn"t have time for more than what he was offering. But it was insane that she didn"t want her one-night stand to end. She had lied to herself before. She had known it was more when it was hard to leave him sleeping.

"So that"s it? One date and then I"m nothing more than a job to you?"

"Oh no, that"s not all." He smirked. "Then we have that second date. And another after that. And another after that, until you either kick me to the curb or realize we have something amazing together. The choice is completely up to you."

She didn"t hide her smile this time. She let it spread across her entire face.

"And if I wanted to kick you to the curb the moment I stepped off the plane in Seattle? I have other friends who can watch over me."

She would never call them, but Luke didn"t need to know that. If he looked into her as much as his team said they did, then he knew she could easily have another team assigned to her in a heartbeat. Wes would probably even do it without much of an argument.

Okay, maybe not. Wes loved to argue.

"I would try to persuade you to give me that second date, but either way, I'll be in charge of protecting you. I"m not leaving that to someone else."

Butterflies took flight in her stomach at his declaration. Now she understood why Ash and Trista fell so hard. There was something to be said about a man who used that deep voice to tell her exactly how things would be.

Monica leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I think you just earned yourself that second date after all."

His sexy smile told her just how screwed she was. She didn"t have time for the complication a relationship would bring, but hell would freeze over before she let a man like Luke just walk out of her life without first seeing how things could go.