Page 280 of Under Her Skin

“No, just the coffee, and like I said, I’ll get it myself.” We both reach out to pick up a large cup and our hands touch. She jerks hers back as if she was shocked or something. “I said, I’ll getit!”

“Sorry,” I say with a grin. “I want onetoo.”

“Oh, well, I didn’t realize that,” she says with the tiniest look of embarrassment on her sweet face. “You goahead.”

“Ladies first,” I say as I wait for her to get thecup.

She takes one and fills it up, then I do the same. We both reach for the sugar at the same time, bumping hands again. I laugh and she growls. “We seem to keep getting into each other’sway.”

“I’d like to think we think alike, not get into each other’s way.” I reach for the pumpkin-spice creamer and offer it to her first. “I’m putting this into my coffee. Would you likesome?”

She nods, but frowns. “I was about to use that one too.” She holds her cup of steaming coffee out, and I pour it in, stopping at the same time she says, “That’s enough. Oh, you stopped.Okay.”

“We do think alike,” I say as I drop a stir stick into hercup.

“Hardly,” she says. then walks away fromme.

I grab a donut from the case and follow her. I saw her eyeing them and know she wants one. Just as she gets to the counter, I slap a twenty on it. “I gotthis.”

She huffs, “Fine!”

The older woman who is behind the cash register gives her a shake of the head. “Not a very nice way to thank someone for a kind gesture, NurseRichards.”

“If you knew who this man was, you’d understand,” she says, then spins away fromme.

Why does she act like she hatesme?

Chapter6

DELANEY

His hand on my arm doesn’t slow me down one bit. “I’mbusy.”

“I know that,” his silky, smooth, deep voice says from beside me. Then he’s steering me to a booth and sliding me into it without me understanding how he’s doing it. When he slides in next to me, I find I’m trapped between his huge frame and the wall.Damnit!

“Look,Mister.”

His finger touches my lips, and I fight the urge to bite it. “Blaine. And you have something you want to say to me so badly that it’s making you act a little crazy. So, what is it? What have I ever done to you to make you form an instant opinion ofme?”

I drum my fingers on the table in an attempt to control my anger at the man who really does seem clueless to his evil ways. “Look, Blaine, your ways of doing business have left a trail of bankrupt people behind you on your road to success. You have climbed on top of their nearly-dead bodies to rise to the top of the business world. I, for one, do not care to hob-knob with a person such as yourself. Call me judgmental if you wantto.”

“Okay, I will,” he has the audacity to say tome.

“You ass! You ruined my parents’ tire business in Lockhart. Do you recall that at all? I bet you don’t. I bet you gave less than a flying fuck who you ran out of business when you opened that damn store there.” I sip my coffee to try to calm down. Something about this man has all my red flags waving atonce.

“I see now. So you are validated in your opinion of me. I can understand you a lot better now. You see, communication is the key to any happy relationship,” he says with a smile—a very nice smile that’s hovering on the edge of the best smile I’ve ever seen on a man in my life. Only, that smile is on the face of the most horrible man I’ve everencountered.

“Great. So let me out so I can go on about my life.” I pause and think about what he just said. “And the word ‘relationship’ has no place in thisconversation.”

“Oh, but I think it does. How about you let me take you out tonight? It could help make up for what my business has cost your family. And I don’t know if your parents ever told you everything about my business, but I always offer to buy out the inventory of the businesses I happen to tread on with my discountstores.”

“Yes, they did tell me. You offered them fifty thousand dollars for their inventory that was worth twice that amount. So kind of you, Damien,” I say with a smirk on mylips.

“Damien?” he asks, and his frown tells me he’s been called that before. “I am not the Anti-Christ. I have done some business dealings that I’m thinking more about now. I am a man who is in the beginning stages of changing my ways. Since my business has directly affected your life, I’d like very much if you would go out with me so we can talk and I can come to a better understanding of what I need tochange.”

“Change?” I ask with a huff. “You need to change everything. Close the damn stores down. That’s what you need todo.”

“That’s a bit drastic, and frankly, it would be very mean of me to suddenly end the employment of thousands of people. So some other suggestions would be appreciated, Delaney,” he says, then his damn hand is moving across my shoulders as he lays his arm on the back of theseat.