Free Dating the Rebel Tycoon by Ally Blake Page B

storm.
    ‘Here we are again,’ she said.
    Mmm, there they were again.
    It took a moment for him to realise she was being literal. They’d reached the end of South Bank, and turning left would take them back to the Red Fox and their cars.
    He could do as he’d originally planned, kiss her cheek, thank her for a most enlightening night and get on with his life.
    Considering the awkward particulars she now knew about him, and perhaps even more importantly what he knew about her—that she was no more the easy, lighthearted-dalliance type than he was a court jester—that would be the smart thing to do.
    But it seemed tonight he’d left his smarts behind at the office.
    ‘Thirsty?’ His heart thundered harder than he could have anticipated as he awaited her answer.
    ‘What did you have in mind?’ she asked, the matching huskiness in her voice making him feel an inch taller.
    ‘The casino’s only two blocks away.’
    She looked up at him, all luminous eyes, wide lips, sparkle and street smarts, pluck and temptation. He wondered, and not for the first time, how he’d managed to get through high school without noticing her. He’d been seventeen. Maybe that was enough.
    Her nose creased; she nibbled at the inside of her bottom lip and picked at a fingernail, and took her sweet time deciding. He had the feeling she might be smart enough for the both of them.
    ‘So, what do you say to one more stop?’ he asked, promising himself it would be the last time.
    But then her wide, open eyes gave him his answer even before she said, ‘There’s a tiny corner lounge on the second floor of the casino where they make hot chocolate to die for.’

CHAPTER SIX

    R OSIE’S body clock told her it was some time after midnight by the time Cameron walked her from the beautiful old Treasury Casino to her car. Which meant that barring a cat nap in the afternoon, she’d been up for around twenty hours.
    No wonder she’d been delirious enough to agree to hot chocolate. Okay, so if he’d suggested they walk the city til they found a greasy kebab van she would have said yes.
    She unlocked her old runabout before Cameron reached down to open the driver’s side door.
    She threw her bag over to the passenger seat and turned to find him standing close, still holding her door, trapping her in the circle of his arms. Close enough so the street lights above created a glow around his dark hair and kept his face in shadow. But the determined gleam in his eyes could not be hidden by a mere lack of direct illumination.
    ‘Tonight was…fun,’ he said.
    ‘Which part? The stream of your friends interrupting dinner. Me annoying you so much you had to throw out half your gelato. Or the bit where I tripped on the stairs at the casino and almost broke your toe?’
    One dark eyebrow raised. ‘I saw the look on your face when you had that first sip of hot chocolate. You were having x-rated fun.’
    ‘Fine,’ she said. ‘The hot chocolate was heavenly. For that I will be forever in your debt.’
    That was the moment she should have waved goodbye, ducked into the car and hooned home. But, even though she felt her life complicating with every new glimmer of light that fractured the darkness within him, she couldn’t will herself to leave.
    Heck, after she’d let slip that both she and her mum had worked behind the scenes in restaurants, he’d surreptitiously left a crazy-monster tip for the guy who’d served them their hot chocolate when he’d thought she wasn’t looking. How was any girl supposed to just walk away from a guy like that?
    Wrong. How could Rosie not walk away?
    While her will played games, her body came to the rescue as she was forced to reach up and stifle a yawn. ‘I’m so sorry. I have no idea where that came from.’
    ‘It’s after two in the morning, that’s where.’
    ‘It can’t be!’
    He took her wrist, and turned it until the soft part underneath was facing upwards. A small frown appeared between his brows. ‘You