A Vow Of Seduction: Hot Night in the Hamptons / Seduced Before Sunrise - Nana Malone

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just going to make a quick coffee run. Anyone need anything?”

      Willow called out, “I’ll take my usual from the coffee cart off Porter.”

      Delilah called, “The same.”

      She didn’t really expect Gabe to have a coffee order. She also didn’t expect that he would come with her. “I’ll just go and help carry it all back. Plus, the least I can do is buy you guys coffee.”

      Shit. She moved faster. It didn’t matter that she was trying to avoid him; he caught up to her quickly enough. “You don’t have to follow me. Why don’t you just go back to the office and I’ll bring you whatever you need.”

      Gabe kept his voice low as she stormed onto the downtown streets. “You are what I need right now, or at least, an answer. Did you know you abandoned me?”

      “I didn’t abandon you. I had to catch the jitney back to the city.” Mostly true.

      “Are you serious right now?” He glared at her.

      Okay, that was a flimsy excuse. But it was all she had at the moment. There was no way she was telling him she ran because she couldn’t handle the connection she’d felt. “Look, these things happen.”

      He sputtered. “These things happen? Not to me they don’t.”

      “What are you doing here?” she spat. “In case you didn’t know, when you hook up with someone, they’re not supposed to turn up the next day. That’s like a rule or something. Or it should be.”

      “Maybe you should stop having random nights out with random dudes.”

      “Don’t do that.”

      “Do what?” Exasperated, he threw his hands up.

      She stiffened her spine, turning back and marching towards Delilah’s favorite coffee cart. “Look, what happened, happened. The best we can do is to pretend it didn’t. We’re gonna go back and act like we don’t know each other, because we don’t when you think about it.”

      He blinked at her. “That’s what you seriously want?”

      “Maybe you don’t know Delilah, but she has a full-disclosure policy and she doesn’t mess around with it. From what I just heard in there, you need her. If she finds out that we slept together, she’ll drop you, given your reputation.”

      “What will she do to you?”

      Elina didn’t want to think about that. “Well, then I can just kiss the career I worked so hard for goodbye. You need your film and I need my job. So we don’t know each other.”

      He pulled her into an alley by the coffee cart. “You can do that? Pretend? That Saturday night never happened?”

      She tilted her chin up. “Yeah, and given your rep, I know you can.”

      His brows snapped down. And then before she knew it, his lips were on hers. Harsh and firm and demanding. His tongue delved into her mouth and demanded she respond. Traitor that her body was, she melted as if today was a continuation of Saturday night and Sunday morning. She knew that when it came to him, she was weak. She wouldn’t be able to stop.

      Gabe pulled back. “Still want to pretend we don’t know each other?”

      Elina scowled and pushed his broad shoulders back. “Yes. As far as you and I are concerned, we’ve never met.” Now all she needed was to tell her body that.

       Chapter 8

      After a week of working with Gabe, Elina was ready to lose her mind. Normally clients didn’t post up in the office, but given the urgency to get him in some festivals, he had camped out.

      Plus, he had this whole thing about proving his commitment. Willow and Delilah seemed impressed; she, however...was not.

      Every time she turned around, he was there. She said his name more times in a day than she said her own. Over the last week, she called all the studio reps in Delilah’s contacts to set up meetings with him. She sent out scripts. She got him coffee. She worked with managers to determine cast availability. Next on her list for tomorrow was to call the film festivals to create some buzz around his project. The closest ones coming were Montreal, Toronto and Sundance.

      Sundance was so competitive these days it would be difficult to get into that one, but Montreal and Toronto were good bets.

      Long after Delilah and Willow left for the night, she finally snapped her laptop shut only to discover that Gabe was still in the meeting lounge on a call with the West Coast. Damn it, she couldn’t leave without him. She had to close up. She ended up lurking around for another thirty minutes before he was done.

      He looked up with an apologetic smile. “Hey, sorry about that. Delilah said I should go ahead and finish the calls here.”

      She bit her tongue. “No, it’s fine. Let’s go and I’ll lock up.”

      They’d managed to pretend they didn’t know each other well enough. She didn’t think Willow or Delilah had any suspicions. But as the firm’s investigator, Willow had her ways of finding things out, so they needed to be extra careful around her.

      They walked out of the building, and Gabe shoved his hands in his jeans and rocked onto his heels while she secured the front door. “So, how do you think we did this week?”

      She sighed. “I think it’s fine. Willow is tricky, though. We’ll just have to keep from being too familiar.”

      Never mind that instinctual need to reach out and brush his hair or straighten his tie. Which was ridiculous, because she didn’t know him like that. Let’s face it, you like touching him. Yeah, that was the problem. A week ago, she’d been caressing him all over. That won’t help you. Don’t think about that.

      Gabe nodded. “Are you getting a cab or taking the subway?”

      “Oh, don’t worry. I live about ten blocks that way, in the Village. I’ll be fine. It’s pretty safe.”

      He frowned. “You realize you just used the word safe in reference to New York City?”

      “Yes, because it is. I make this walk all the time. The trans-hookers three blocks over know me by name.”

      He sputtered a laugh. “I’m not sure that’s a good thing.”

      “Okay, maybe not, but it’s fine. You don’t have to walk me home or anything. You can check your chivalry card off for the night.”

      “Well, it looks like my card will have to remain unchecked for a bit longer as I also live in the Village, on Tenth.”

      Seriously? Of course he would live four blocks away from her. Though his place was no doubt more posh than hers. Her apartment was actually Willow’s old apartment. Thanks to the rent-control, she could actually afford it. “I guess you’re going my way, then.”

      He chuckled. “Don’t look so happy about it.”

      This was harder than she thought. “Look, it’s not that I’m unhappy, I just didn’t expect to see you again, so it’s been a long week. And having to pretend doesn’t make it any easier.”

      “You think it’s easy for me to go along with this charade? When all I keep thinking about is how you taste?”

      She stopped and glared at him. “You know you can’t say that to me right?”

      “Yes, Elina, I know.” He rolled his eyes. They walked in silence for a block before he asked, “Can I ask you a question, though?”

      “Why do I get the feeling I’m going to regret this question?”

      “It’s a simple question.”

      “Okay, shoot.”

      “Why

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