Page 30 of Impulse

“Do I really have lipstick on me?”he asked suspiciously.

She grinned without answering.

He groaned.“You’re going to make me pay for complaining about your kiss, aren’t you?”

“I’m not that petty,” she protested, “except this time.”

He threw his head back and laughed.The valets turned to look at them and nudged each other.She’d forgotten their presence and even Douglas’.The driver was gone, and the car wasn’t among those parked nearby.

“Come on,” Lex said, placing his hand on the small of her back.She could feel the heat from his hand warming its way through the clothes to her skin.Her bones turned fluid.She needed serious distance between her and this man.

The door opened before they could reach it, and a young lady welcomed them with a smile.Lex took Jillian’s hand and tucked it in his firm grip.She expected him to lead her to his mother, but she didn’t see a woman old enough to be Lex’s mother.

Had he challenged her to a kiss for nothing?“Was your mother really watching us?”

He angled his head.“What do you think?”

“I think you’re shameless and self-serving.”When he chuckled, she leaned closer and whispered, “If you pull that again, you might not like the consequences.”

“Maybe I’ll surprise you by loving every moment of it.”

Jillian shook her head.As far as men went, Lex was proving to be unpredictable.It was rather unsettling.Most men were easy to read, their responses easy to anticipate.Jillian forced herself to focus on her surroundings, which wasn’t easy since Lex tended to command all her attention.

The foyer was packed, but Jillian managed to see past the people—most of whom she knew or had seen around the studio—to the accented pillars around the room, a grand staircase curving to the second floor to her right, and to their left a den with stuffed chairs and shelves of books.By the den, a broad hallway with paintings and portraits on its wall slanted upward to another wing.She recognized a few paintings and vases behind glass-covered niches that should be in a museum, yet the room had that lived-in feeling.Maybe it was the laughter or the ambience the paneling gave the two-story room.

“You have a beautiful home,” she said.

“Thank you.It was the first house I remodeled after I finished college.”

“It’s both majestic and welcoming.”She was so busy trying not to gawk it took her a moment to realize they were the center of attention.

As Lex led her toward the back of the house, which seemed to be the center of the party, eyes followed them.Most were people she worked with.They whispered to their plus-ones, confirming they knew who Lex was.And from the way he held her arm, he left no doubt in anyone’s mind that he wanted her by his side.

Flushing, Jillian tried to wiggle her hand from his, but he tightened his grip.“What is it?”

“I want to say hi to my coworkers,” she whispered back.

“Why?”

“What kind of a question is that?”she asked and smiled at an assistant camera guy and his companion, a stunning red-head.“It’s the polite thing to do.”

“You don’t strike me as someone who always does the right thing,” he shot back.

She wasn’t.“That’s not true.You’re reading me wrong again.”

He chuckled as though he knew she was lying.“Will you introduce me as your boyfriend?”

She’d never consider him a boyfriend.The word was too juvenile to describe him.And she didn’t particularly care what her coworkers thought, except Chris.Greg didn’t approve of her new gig, insisting she was nuts.The fact that Chris hadn’t called her to talk about it meant they’d discussed it and he was on Greg’s side.

“I haven’t signed the contract,” she shot back.

Lex stopped right by the back entrance through which Jillian could see a pool and what looked like a tennis court to the far right.

“This way,” he said, turned to face the hallway they’d come from, and groaned.“Mother.”

“Darling,” a woman said.“I was sure you’d decided to leave us when I saw you take off a few minutes ago.”

“And miss your party?”