The sad part was that she wouldn’t mind reenacting a few of those moments here and now. The thought killed her appetite. Hoping that Blake wouldn’t notice and maybe guess why she was so rattled, she moved food around on her plate.
He noticed. “You’ve lost weight, Jewell. Please don’t let my presence stop you from eating. You obviously need the calories.”
When she didn’t look up, she heard movement and then his fingers were beneath her chin, tilting it up to force their eyes to meet.
“I think I may have a bug or something,” she said. It was the only excuse she could think of on the spur of the moment.
“Do lies roll so easily off your tongue that you don’t even notice it when you tell them now?” he asked her.
“I think that was very rude,” she replied.
“I think you get offended far too easily, Jewell.”
“Maybe because I just don’t know what to expect next from you.” That was about as honest as it got for her.
“I’ve laid my cards out on the table, Jewell. If I haven’t told you that I want something, I’m not expecting it.”
“Did you talk to Tyler?” she blurted out. She couldn’t take the waiting anymore.
Blake said nothing for a few heartbeats, showed no expression, and then he got up from the table and she wondered if he was going to simply leave without saying a word. She didn’t know what she would do if that happened.
He grabbed dessert from the sideboard and sat back down with a smile. “I can think of other more tasty desserts,” he said.
“Is that what you want, Blake — me on the table?”
“I always want you, Jewell,” he said, but he didn’t lean forward, didn’t capture her lips, didn’t follow through on his words.
“Don’t you own me, Blake? Isn’t that what you paid for?” Damn. Her voice was just a little too breathless to carry off the sarcasm she hoped to infuse into her words.
“There’s plenty of time for me to sample your body, Jewell,” he said as he released her gaze and then set one piece of pie on her plate and one on his own. He started digging in, leaving her mouth hanging open.
She’d given him the green light and he hadn’t taken it. Why?
“Please just tell me if you spoke with your brother,” she said.
“I don’t want to have that discussion right now,” he replied calmly.
“Why? Is this just another way for you to assert your control?”
“Maybe,” he replied before sighing. “Look, I’m not demanding answers from you tonight, am I? I asked you to marry me, and I’m not quizzing you on that, so you can show me the same respect and not quiz me.”
“Who are you and what have you done with Blake Knight?”
“You know who I am — who I’ve always been. I’m the man who wants you.” Blake rose and looked down at her with one of his patented unreadable expressions. “Elsa’s dinner was wonderful, Jewell. Your company was even better.” And he headed toward the front door.
She had no idea what to think now. Was this a bluff? Did he want her to beg him to stay? The front door opened, and before she could think, let alone talk, he was out the door and it was closing behind him.
She stood next to the table stunned. He hadn’t tried to kiss her; hell, he’d barely touched her. He also hadn’t answered a single question she’d thrown at him. What did it all mean? After disappearing for three days, he’d showed up unexpectedly, talked about trivial things, and walked away again.
And she still had no answers.
Chapter Fifteen
Silence.
That’s what Jewell experienced for the next few days after Blake’s strange dinner visit and even stranger exit. After three days passed and she heard not a single word from him, she began to wonder if he’d finally decided that one night of great sex more than a week ago was enough. But he was more playing a game with her, trying to drive her insane. He would make her so crazy she would just collapse in a puddle at his feet and beg to do his bidding.
Jewell woke up each morning with her body tense but this morning something was really off. She could feel it, and she was terrified of opening her eyes. Lately, she’d so often been delighted to wake up, to leave behind the disturbing dreams that seemed to fill her mind every night, but this morning she wished she were still asleep, because she knew she wasn’t alone.
“You might as well open your eyes, Jewell. I can tell you’re awake.”
Her body went instantly from tense to a stiff as a board. That voice had been in her dreams, in her thoughts, every minute of every day for months — ever since she’d met him.
She kept her eyes closed and shifted restlessly on the bed, but after a minute she gave up and spoke. “What are you doing here, Blake?”
“I have given you enough time to think, Jewell. More than enough. I’m done waiting.”
Jewell finally opened her eyes and found him leaning over her.
“You can’t just walk into somebody’s home, especially their bedroom, while they are sleeping,” she said. She was sure she looked terrible, with her hair a mess and dark circles under her eyes. This wasn’t exactly the time to entertain company.
“But I own this apartment, Jewell.”
“You don’t own me,” she retorted before clapping her hand over her mouth. Of course he did, and he didn’t hesitate to remind her of that unhappy fact.
“You can say that all you want — but I do own you, Jewell,” he whispered. “And you’ve even admitted it on occasion.” Then, as if to prove his ownership, he slipped his hand beneath her covers and cupped her breast on the outside of her nightshirt.
Her traitorous body instantly responded to him, her nipple hardening, her stomach quivering, and her breath hitching. And there was no hiding those reactions.
“Just because you can make my body respond, it doesn’t mean that I want you.”
Blake’s pupils dilated. “I think that’s exactly what it means, darling Jewell,” he said. “You can either get up and come out with me for the day, or we can just spend it right here — in this nice warm bed.”
While he spoke, he withdrew his hand from her breast, making her want to scream and tell him to put it right back where it had been, but then she felt his warm palm slip under her shirt and travel upward until his fingers were on her bare breast.
When he squeezed her nipple between his thumb and forefinger, she whimpered, much to her distress and shame. Yes, he turned her on, and yes, he knew it.