Worth the Risk (2 page)

She dropped her gaze, the swing of her long, dark hair covering her face, ever the coy, subtle one, especially since they’d shared that kiss. But he knew she still felt it for him. Hell, the attraction between them was palpable. Like a living, breathing thing that bounced between them whenever they got close to each other. He didn’t know how anyone else hadn’t called them out on it yet.

Thank Christ they hadn’t. She would first panic and then push him away even further. The very last thing he wanted. His ultimate goal—besides teaching his precious niece how to say his name—was to bed Gracie Hayes.

Stupid, yep. Risky, oh hell yeah. But he was a man who liked to gamble. Safe, predictable, he left those traits up to Alex. As the oldest brother, that was his responsibility. Foolish and idiotic, well, Rhett wore those banners quite well.

But the charmer, the gambler…that was his role. One he wore proudly.

And tonight, he was banking on Gracie.

She finally looked at him again, offering him a quick little curve of her sensual mouth. He winked at her in return, and the smile grew, her gaze dropping once more. Just like that, his cock reacted. Gave a little twitch, let him know that it was more than ready to see a little Gracie action tonight.

Hunter shook his head. He sounded like a horny teenager in his head. Hell, he’d felt like an out-of-his-mind hormonal kid since those few minutes with Gracie in his arms. She had him so amped up he was practically out of his mind with it. And it had all happened over a month ago.

He hadn’t been with another woman since. No other would do. He wanted only Gracie.

But she didn’t want him. And wasn’t that just a bitch?

Yeah, he thought so.

She might be right. It was foolish to mess around with a co-worker. It was crazy even. But look at Alex and Tessa. She’d started out as his personal assistant and ended up his wife.

Talk about some personal assistance…

Silently chastising himself, he returned his focus on the happy, almost-married couple, who had just wrapped up their personal vows to each other. Perfect. It was almost over.

Feeling like an utter jackass for even thinking such a thing, he became solemn. Opened his ears and his eyes to what was being said. The beauty of love, the sanctity of marriage. Of two people becoming one, of pledging their love to one another until death did they part.

Ominous words to a bachelor like himself. He swore he felt Rhett’s full-body shudder behind him. Yeah, neither of them was going to fall for that trap. Let their brother be the sucker.

Hunter wasn’t interested in settling down.

Glancing out the corner of his eye, he caught Gracie watching him yet again, and triumph surged through him. The minute the reception started, he was going to work up the nerve to talk to her. Because yeah, even though they had an excellent professional relationship and had even shared a brief but intimate moment together, he had to work up his nerve to talk to the woman.

Something that had never, ever happened to him before. Women did not scare him, they did not intimidate him—with the exception of Gracie.

Odd. But he didn’t really spend much time reflecting on it. To think on it too much would make it even more confusing.

And for a man who liked to keep it simple, well, that was hard to deal with.

Easy, breezy Hunter, that was him. Keep it light, keep it simple and when things got too heavy, move on.

Move on, move on.

Chapter Two

“Care to dance?”

A quiver shot through Gracie at the sound of that deep, masculine voice. She’d heard it regularly for the past year, five days a week. Sometimes his voice haunted her memories, a memory she told herself she wanted to forget. Always whispering hot words of sensual promise just before he dragged his mouth down the side of her neck…

Not that she’d ever confess that particular bit of information to anyone.

Hunter stood before her, looking like Prince Charming in his impeccable tux. His big hand extended toward her, his expression hopeful. Not the usual look for her boss, that was for sure.

“Um…” She paused, not sure how to answer. To refuse him would be business suicide, and she liked her job, thank you very much. But to accept—to take his hand and have him lead her to the dance floor, pull her into his arms and hold her close?

That would be playing treachery with her heart. And she was always very careful when it came to the emotional stuff.

As in, she didn’t let her emotions come into play whatsoever.

A sharp elbow stabbed her in the ribs, and Gracie gave a little jump.

“Answer him,” Becky whispered out of the side of her mouth.

“Don’t leave me hanging, Gracie.” His velvety deep voice was laced with humor, but there was something in his eyes. A hint of disbelief at her potential refusal, mixed with a generous dose of invitation.

As if he wanted to dance with her, not because she was part of his much valued marketing team, but because he might be—attracted to her.

Okay, she knew he was attracted to her. And she was attracted to him.

But she didn’t want to go down that road again. No way, no how. She’d already made one mistake with her superior and she didn’t want to do it ever again.

No matter how good of a kisser he was.

“I—yes, I would, um.” She stumbled over her words, feeling like an absolute fool, and Becky jabbed her in the ribs yet again. With her luck she’d end up with a massive bruise from her so-called friend’s abusive encouragement.

Pressing her lips together, Gracie set her hand in Hunter’s, and his fingers tightened around hers as he pulled her to her feet. Tingles shot up her arm at his assured touch, sending an electric pulse throughout her body, and she tried to ignore it. Really, she did.

But her body responded as if it recognized him—which it most likely did. It was hard to forget the man who kissed her senseless that one drunken night.

She followed him onto the dance floor, gasping a little when he yanked her into his arms, close enough that his body heat wrapped all around her, setting her senses aflame. She settled her hand tentatively on his broad shoulder, marveling at the hard strength beneath her palm. He smelled delicious. A blend of woodsy spice and a mysterious scent that was uniquely Hunter. She inhaled him as discreetly as possible.

Just breathing him in made her dizzy. Being held in his arms? Thank goodness he had a firm grip on her or she’d melt into the floor.

“You’re quite the dancer, Hayes.” Amusement filled his voice as usual. He almost always called her by her last name, did so to the entire marketing team.

“Um, thank you.” His compliment surprised her, and she wondered if he was just being nice. Feeling suddenly shy, she thought it best if she kept her gaze trained on his chest. Bet if she tilted her head back and looked into his blue eyes, they would be sparkling with humor.

He was always full of effortless charm, though it had dimmed some temporarily after the events of last year, when he’d found out the vice president of marketing, the man he trusted above all else with the exception of his brothers, had been selling business secrets to Worth Luxury’s direct competitors.

Anyone would have a tough time recovering from that.

Lately though, and especially tonight, he was more like his old self. Smiling and laughing and full of flirtatious banter, drop-dead gorgeous in the tuxedo he wore. He was the perfect best man to stand beside his brother.

She’d never been to such an extravagant reception before. The wedding of the season, the society pages called the marriage between Alex and his former assistant Tessa Crawford.

The ceremony had been lovely. Simple and quiet with sweetly worded vows and the couple shooting each other such heated looks of love, Gracie was surprised the altar hadn’t burst into flame.

They danced in each other’s arms now, Tessa and Alex. Swaying to the music, Tessa’s head resting on her husband’s shoulder, her bare arms looped around his neck. Alex held her just as possessively, his hands splayed across Tessa’s back, his fingers stroking her exposed skin. They looked like they couldn’t get enough of each other.

A wistful thread of longing wound itself around Gracie’s heart yet again, and she sighed. To be loved so completely was something she’d foolishly wished for when she was a young girl. She’d never really had anyone close to her in her life and people always wanted what they couldn’t have.

Now she was too scared to let anyone get close enough.

“Are you all right?” he asked.
 

She wondered if he’d heard her sigh. Great.

Nodding, she finally dared to look up at him. What she saw took her breath away.

It was bad enough working with Hunter day in and day out. That one moment in his arms lingered in her mind, always popping up at the most inappropriate times. Being this close to him again, seeing his cheeks faintly shadowed with stubble, the faded scar on his chin, those firm yet sensuous lips that knew just how to stun her silent, it was too much. His nearness immobilized her.

Which promptly caused him to step directly on her foot.

Wincing, she pressed her lips together and saw the realization dawn across his handsome face. “Shit, I’m sorry, Gracie.”

“It’s all right. No big deal.” She smiled bravely, though it felt more like a gritting of teeth. What else could she do? Curse out her boss for nearly breaking her toes? Her feet were already killing her from the super-high stilettos she wore. From the new Worthwhile line, they were a sparkly gold that her inner girly-princess couldn’t resist. Employee discounts were the best.

Luckily enough, she had some restraint or she’d be flat broke but dressed in style.

Did she wear the shoes to impress him? He was, after all, a leg man. She knew this because he’d confessed it during their brief interlude. One hand buried in her hair, the other halfway up her skirt, his hot breath giving her the shivers as he murmured in her ear.

Your legs drive me wild.

The memory popped up at the most inappropriate times.

He smiled, a flash of white teeth that dazzled her. “You’d never say anything bad to me, would you, Hayes? I swear, I could tell you you’re fired and you’d take it with a smile. Probably thank me for it when it was over too.”

Her heart sank. So he thought she was a pushover, huh? This is what happened when a woman was stupid enough to let her boss kiss her. It didn’t matter that they were both drunk and both at fault; he automatically thought she was the slut. “You’re so right. All I’ve ever wanted was to please the boss. I’m sure you’ll ask for a blowjob next and think I’ll magically give in. Heaven forbid I’d offend Hunter Worth, right? I mean, you already had your way with me once.”

His smile faded. “I didn’t mean it like that…”

“Yeah, well, that’s how it sounded. I’m not that easy, despite what you think. I’ve worked hard to get where I’m at. I’m not about to let you believe I’m some sort of suck up who’ll say whatever you want to hear.”

“I was just making a joke, Gracie.” His expression was solemn as he led her about the dance floor with an effortless grace that made her insanely jealous, ridiculous as that was. “I didn’t mean to offend you. I’m sorry.”

His immediate and sincere apology was a balm to her heated mood. Had she overreacted? Probably. But damn it, she couldn’t help it. She was sensitive to this sort of stuff. She’d been accused of one thing or another since she was a teen. No one in her corner, no one to defend her, it had always been her against the world.

Always.

“Maybe we should forget we ever had this conversation.” She looked away, her gaze locked on the table where she’d just been sitting. Becky still sat there, watching them dance. Eyebrows raised, her lips pursed. As if she knew something was going down.

Great. Gracie loved Becky. She was one of Gracie’s closest friends, one of her
only
friends. But Gracie knew she’d have some explaining to do later.

She didn’t want to talk about Hunter Worth with anyone, especially Becky. Her friend was perceptive enough that she might finally figure out Gracie had a major crush on her boss.

And she didn’t want
anyone
knowing that.

“Sounds good to me. I think you and I are pretty skilled at the avoiding thing, right?” He paused, his hot gaze locked with hers. She forcibly looked away. If he kept looking at her like that, there was no way they could avoid what had been brewing between them since that one night when everything changed. “So how about I buy you a drink to make up for all of my mistakes?”

She glanced back up at him in surprise. “The reception is open bar.”

There was that grin again. It made certain parts of her body way too happy every time he flashed it. “Then I should have no problem getting you a drink, right? What’s your poison?” His voice lowered. “Butterscotch martinis? Isn’t that what you were drinking—last time?”

You.
He was her poison. A gorgeous devil bent on seducing her. Looking at him, being close to him was as heady as any alcohol. “I’m not a big drinker,” she said weakly. It was the truth. It always went straight to her head.