Page 3 of Untouchable

It made him smile. When his dog lay down with the Frisbee, panting blissfully, the man started walking toward him, evidently expecting Kelly to fall into step with him. “I know a little about you. I know you paint pet portraits. I know you’re wearing vegan sandals and are reluctant to cut your hair. And I know you have on your bracelet various charms of dogs, cats, birds, and flowers.” He arched his eyebrows. “I think I’ve got a pretty clear sense of you.”

The bracelet was stupid, but her clients always liked it, and her hair was indeed very long, hanging down to the small of her back. But this arrogant man couldn’t be more wrong.

He might be eerily observant, but he knew nothing.

“Is that right?” she replied with arched eyebrows of her own. “You might be surprised by me. But there’s no way I’d be surprised by you. I’d know your type in my sleep.”

“Blossom, youcouldknow my type in your sleep, if you asked nicely.”

She felt another tingle of excitement at his hot tone but ignored it. “You wear a suit to work every day, don’t you?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Nothing. It’s just your type. You’re one of those guys who wears a business suit like armor—going through the world as if the nameplate on your office entitles you to whatever you want. As if your bank account makes you superior.”

The words weren’t particularly gentle, but he looked interested rather than offended. “What makes you think I have anything impressive in my bank account?”

“Please. I know roughly how much that watch you’re wearing costs.”

Because of the Watsons, her adoptive parents, Kelly was in good shape financially, but not even her car cost as much as the watch he was wearing.

“And I bet you’re wondering why I would spend money on something so superficial when I could be donating it to all the homeless animals in the world.” Again he was teasing in that intimate way, as if he really did know her.

“I’m not like that.”

“Sure you aren’t.” He flashed her a grin. “What happened to your client anyway?”

Kelly had actually forgotten about her client, so absorbed in the conversation had she been. She gave a little jerk and turned back to scan the park, focusing on the entrance, but there was no sign of another man with a German shepherd. “I think I’ve been stood up. It happens sometimes.”

Just then her phone chirped with another text, so she reached in to pull it out of her bag. “Maybe that’s him.”

It wasn’t her client.Are you sure? I’d make it worth your while. Promise.

She sighed. Jesse. Why the hell wouldn’t he just give up?

“Not your client,” the man beside her said.

She glanced up. “How do you know?”

“I can read expressions. Who is it? Your boyfriend being annoying?”

His guess was actually quite close. Impressive, given that they were strangers. “No. Just a guy who won’t take no for an answer.”

“He has my sympathy.”

She sucked in a breath. “Why should he have your sympathy?”

He had that smug, heated amusement in his eyes again. “To get a taste of a hot little thing like you—and then get the door slammed in his face? Can’t help but feel sorry for him.”

“I didn’t slam the door in his face. I was nothing but honest with him. He’s the idiot who ignored what I told him and keeps bumbling on toward something he already knows he can’t have.”

The man chuckled and reached out to run his fingers gently down a long strand of her hair. “It doesn’t matter what you tell him, Blossom. You’ve got this gorgeous, untouched sweetness about you. It’s a promise and a challenge.”

Her whole body went hot at the texture of his words, at the tension and power she could feel in his hand, his shoulders, his gaze.

She knew what he was referring to. She’d been born with clear creamy skin, pink cheeks, big blue eyes, and a heart-shaped face that gave the impression of innocence. There was no way she could dress that would change her natural look even though she’d desperately tried as a teenager.

“Don’t assume the way I look is really me.” Her pulse started to throb in her wrists and her throat. She knew how to recognize the look in this guy’s eyes.