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So, what had just happened? An experiment?
Yes, that probably made sense.
“Right. Too many carbs and too much sugar, not to mention, the chocolate, was the result of…that…what just happened.” She spoke and stepped back at the same time.
Tim heard her words and his anger increased. Why was she stammering? Why couldn’t she get the words out? And what the hell was she saying? Chocolate didn’t make one kiss someone! The very thought was insane!
Stepping back, Tim shoved his hands into his pockets and stared at her, trying to contain his frustration. It was just a damn kiss!
“Exactly,” he lied. “We can pretend that was an experiment.”
She blinked up at him and…was that a flash of pain? Had he hurt her? But why? Wasn’t he simply agreeing with her comment?
“I should get back to work,” Raven mumbled and turned, fumbling with her keys. Thankfully, the lock popped and her car door opened quickly and she was able to slide inside. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to take a breath because Tim-the-Emotionless-Ogre stood there, watching her as if he had to ensure she drove away safely.
Chapter 5
“Come on in!” Raven called out, pouring more red wine into the humongous pitcher of sangria. A moment later, Clarissa, Kennedi, Bailey, and Mandy stepped into her kitchen.
“You’re here?” she gasped, hugging Mandy closely. “I can’t believe that you’re here in the states! Don’t you have some important gala you need to attend in Sidrina?” she teased.
Mandy laughed, hugging Raven back. “Zahir is here as well. He’s speaking at some conference. He told me what it was about, but the subject was too tedious for me to absorb. Something about building materials and solar something or other.” As the wife of a powerful sheik, Mandy ran her forensic accounting business from the palace now instead of from her office in downtown Philadelphia. But she traveled to Philly regularly to check in with her staff members. Their reputation for accounting excellence was growing and more clients than ever were vying for her firm’s services.
Raven laughed, then moved to hug Clarissa. “How’s Levi?”
Clarissa smiled. Levi, her husband, was a billionaire who’d had the responsibility of helping Clarissa maneuver her way through the social complexities after inheriting her father’s fortunes. Levi, as well as Mandy, helped to stop her father’s accountants from stealing her inheritance.
“Levi is at the club, bothering Matteo and his brother.”
“Good!” Raven laughed. Turning to Kennedi, she grinned. “Did you bring Declan?”
“Nope! He’s with Sean at the club as well,” Kennedi replied, referring to her son and her husband. They’d met in Georgia when Sean, the bastard son of an Irish earl, had bought up a brewery, unaware of how the purchase would foil the earl’s efforts to expand his sex-trafficking business.
“You’re going to bring him to one of these gatherings soon, right?”
Kennedi shook her head. “Sean doesn’t want Declan to discover all of our secrets before he figures them out.”
Mandy had already moved into the apartment’s family room and started pouring sangria. “He’s a smart man!”
All the ladies laughed, accepting a glass of the potent brew. Bailey accepted her glass while also reaching out to hug Raven. “Matteo is with his brother. They might also be at the club, but I didn’t ask. I rushed out of the house so that he couldn’t…” she waved a hand, blushing and not finishing that sentence.
But all the ladies knew exactly what she hadn’t said and laughed, nodding their heads in agreement.
Raven was silent, her mind flitting back to the kiss yesterday.
As if her mind hadn’t been there already, she mentally grumbled.
“What’s wrong?” Kennedi asked, eyeing Raven speculatively.
Startled, she pulled herself back to the present. “Nothing,” she replied, taking a glass of sangria as well as the plate filled with decadent treats that Clarissa offered her.
“It’s something,” Clarissa replied, her eyes narrowed as she surveyed Raven. “How’s the new project going?”
Raven’s lips compressed and she knew she should just say something along the lines of, “It’s going great!” Or maybe, “There are challenges, but I can figure them out.”
But did she say something benign like that?
Nope!
