Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty-Four

" T ell me more about that lease business you mentioned earlier," Ariel said, resisting the urge to poke Cooper in the chest as she slid into the booth opposite the chair he'd just vacated. She preferred the soft, comfy vinyl to the hard backed chairs. Not that his choice surprised her: hard chair for a hard-ass.

"Would you like a drink?" He sat opposite her with obvious reluctance. "And how did you find me? Is stalking another of your hidden talents?"

Ariel toyed with the cutlery in front of her, particularly the knife, and contemplated all sorts of delightful ways she could use it on the infuriating man in front of her.

"Everyone in the street knows me and when I asked if they'd seen a tall, uptight guy in a fancy suit, the old man from the Nepalese shop pointed me straight here." She smirked, as he frowned at her uptight dig. "And no thanks, I don't want a drink, I want answers."

To give him credit, Cooper's sombre expression didn't change. Most guys would've called her out for her outrageous behaviour—from sniffling tears to cocky demands in less than ten minutes—but he took it in his stride, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms, his blue-eyed gaze unwavering.

"All the answers are in the proposal you asked me to leave with you."

"I'd rather hear about it from you. Besides, I don't have time to read a lot of legalese that you've probably peppered through that doorstopper of a document you prepared."

She sounded ruder by the second but she couldn't help it. Nerves brought out her worst: defensive, obnoxious, and pushy. Having her home and livelihood potentially ripped away did that to a person.

His eyebrow arched at her snark. "You could've heard more if you hadn't booted me out of the gallery."

She ignored the challenging gleam in his eyes and the tiny thrill that here was a guy she could match wits with, who gave as good as he got.

She glared. "Could've, should've, would've, but didn't. How about you tell me everything you know about that lease now?"

So she could run straight to the council offices and see if she had an easel to stand on.

He folded his arms, a casual gesture of a confident guy rather than a defence mechanism, and met her stare straight on.

"The council has had a ninety-nine year lease on the land twice. The original owners, when the land was pastoral, leased it to the council who later bought the lease once the owners offered it to them for a hefty price. As I told you before, your Barb signed a twenty-five year lease with the council, which was extremely generous, and that's up for renewal. I've spoken to several people within council who are ready to negotiate a sale for the right price. If that happens, you get nothing, which is why it's in your best interests to vacate now, take what's on offer, and lease elsewhere. That about cover it?"

Ariel listened to every damning word, her heart sinking lower than Cooper's lousy offer. Could he be right about the council selling or was he toying with her like he had from the start?

Only one way to find out. Push him.

"The council won't sell." Her eyes narrowed, trying to get a read on him and failing, damn his impenetrable facade. "You're bluffing."

He leaned forward and rested his forearms on the table, drawing her attention to his long fingers that she'd noticed when painting him. Long fingers she'd fantasised about, skimming her body, bringing her pleasure…

"I'm not bluffing and I'd hate for you to find that out the hard way."

She wound a curl around her finger, meeting his unflinching stare while her insides quaked. He had to be wrong. She couldn't contemplate any other option. She'd made a promise to Barb, had a legend to upkeep, to continue the work Barb had started in the local community, and she couldn't let a guy like Cooper railroad her into making a decision out of fear.

"You've seen enough of this street to know the type of image the council wants to portray and the gallery is a vital part of the local colour," she said, sounding surprisingly calm while dread churned her stomach. "Besides, we do a lot to foster local talent, not to mention helping the street kids in the area."

"Street kids? What's your involvement with them?"

If his upper class lip had curled in derision, she wouldn't have been surprised. His incredulous tone said it all.

Heat surged into her cheeks, a potent combination of anger and resentment that a guy like him wouldn't understand the first thing about what it was like to be starving, cold, and desperate, and that he'd dare question her about it.

"Never mind, street kids aren't relevant to your business proposal , are they?"

By the sharp flare of awareness in his eyes, he registered her venom-loaded barb.

Shaking his head, he pushed back from the table. "This is getting us nowhere. I've answered your question about the lease, I've tried to lay out the offer as plainly as I can. The figures are in the document, so once you have a chance to think it over, I'm sure you'll make the right choice. I'll call by later to hear your decision."

"Don't bother."

She leaped to her feet as he stood, knowing she should shut up and get out before she said something she'd regret. But her defensive hackles were well and truly bristling and her thoughts transformed to words faster than she could stop them.

"I'm not interested in anything you have to offer, now or ever. I know you've been hanging around me, acting nice, doing the buddy-buddy thing to soften me up, but it hasn't worked, so you storm into the gallery today doing your intimidation act. Which, I hate to tell you, hasn't been successful either. So why don't you quit while you're behind and leave me alone?"

To her amazement, he laughed, a hollow sound devoid of amusement. "Does this mean you won't have dinner with me tonight so I can get your final answer?"

She clenched her hands, wondering if they were too far apart for her to take a swing at his patrician nose, knowing she abhorred violence and would never do it, but it was nice to dream when a big-mouthed, big shot deserved it.

"It means I don't want to ever see you again."

She turned on her heel, hoping her worn flip-flips wouldn't send her sprawling and spoil her attempt at a dignified exit.

"That's going to be hard, considering I've been invited to Chelsea Lynch's showing tomorrow and I'm all for supporting new talent."

She stiffened as he brushed past her, waving a flyer in her face with a smug smile as he held open the door. She didn't respond. She couldn't, considering it took all her concentration to walk past the guy who, while he couldn't take no for an answer and it annoyed the heck out of her, stood up to her like no one ever had.

And a small part of her admired him for it.

She liked this guy. Against her better judgement, with every instinct screaming they were worlds apart, and he spelled trouble with a capital T, she liked him.

Considering she didn't want to see his smug face ever again, what would she do about it?

"Ariel, wait."

If she had half a brain, she would've ignored him and kept going. Instead, something in his tone, a softening, made her stop.

"What do you want now?"

He broached the short distance between them and took hold of her upper arms, the warmth of his palms against her skin meaning she couldn't have bolted if she tried. "Why did you follow me?"

"Because I'm insane," she muttered, wriggling to get free.

It wasn't his probing question that had her wanting to flee as much as his touch, his firm hands scorching her with his particular brand of heat. The type of heat that made her lose her mind. Her arms tingling wasn't enough. She wanted that heat to spread through her body, to have his hands all over her, exploring, caressing, stroking. Every last inch…

"You listened to me in there where you wouldn't back at the gallery. What changed your mind?"

Damn him for being so observant, so persistent.

She stopped wriggling, her glare ferocious. A lesser man would've backed down. Cooper didn't flinch. "Fine, you want to hear the truth? I always keep a promise. Simple as that. I felt bad for reneging on my part of the deal when you'd been pretty good about posing so I could finish the portrait. That's it. You happy?"

She expected him to smirk or tease her for being such a sap. Instead, his blue eyes blazed with tenderness and before she knew what was happening, he'd enveloped her in hug.

"I am now," he murmured, his hands sliding around her waist, moulding her to him, sending her pulse into overdrive and her belly into free-fall. "I'm not the enemy, you know."

"Says who?"

She tried to pull back but his arms tightened, pinning her against him, and while logic told her to make a run for it, desire flowed through her body and made her wish he'd drag her back to the gallery this second so they could have sex.

Maybe once they got rid of all their pent up tension, Ariel might be able to steel herself against Cooper once and for all?

Or maybe she was making lousy excuses for wanting to get naked with the hottest guy she'd ever known?

"I can prove it to you," he said, tilting her chin up to gaze into her eyes, his blue eyes boring into her with an intensity she couldn't fathom.

"Prove what?" She'd lost track of the conversation the second her mind put the two of them together naked.

"Prove I'm not the enemy."

"And how are you going to do that? By schmoozing me?"

"Don't tempt me." His gaze focussed on her lips and her breath hitched.

Her lips parted as his head descended, blocking out the brilliant sunshine streaming down on them and she held her breath, her hands splayed on his chest, craving the feel of bare skin rather than expensive cotton.

Her eyelids fluttered shut and she tilted her head a fraction, craving the touch of his lips more than she'd craved anything in her entire life.

"I'll call you," he said against the corner of her mouth, his lips brushing hers in the briefest of almost-there kisses before pulling away.

What the?

Her eyes snapped open and she reeled from the disappointment of not locking lips with the most infuriating guy she'd ever met.

He stepped away and she steadied, knowing if she swayed towards him he'd know how truly pathetic she was. One minute she was telling him to get lost, the next she was offering herself to him. Sheesh. The sooner she dated again, the better.

It had been way too long since she'd been held by a guy let alone had sex. Her excuse for her irrational behaviour and she was sticking to it.

"Whatever," she said, brushing an errant curl out of her face, turning the gesture into a casual wave as he smiled before walking away.

However, there was nothing remotely casual about the blood pounding through her body or how much she wanted the guy who had the potential to ruin her.