The Tycoon's Defiant Southern Belle (7 page)

Even Jade could hear how ridiculous her analogy was becoming but he just made her
so furious! 

“How do you know I don’t savor my bottle of water?” he asked, merriment in his eyes
as he looked down at her.  His hands reached out and touched her hips, pulling her
closer.  “I might have found the most amazing bottle of water, one that could quench
my thirst for a long, long time.”

“You’re a tosser,” she argued back, her hands gripping his wrists but not pulling
them away.  She didn’t realize that she was tilting her head to the side so he could
nibble on her neck, but her eyes closed as the heavenly feeling set all of her nerve
endings tingling. 

“I think you should give us a chance.  You never know what might get tossed.” 

Jade knew he was referring to her dumping Dave but she took a deep breath and pushed
against his shoulders.  “Dave’s more like wine than water.”

Angelo pulled back, not sure what she was talking about now.  “Wine?”

She tried to pull out of his arms but he kept his hands on her hips, holding her close. 
“Yes.  He gets better with age.”

Angelo threw back his head and laughed.  He wasn’t sure what she was trying to tell
him, but she was delightful and he genuinely respected her loyalty now that he understood
that was what was holding her back. 

She huffed, irritated with his amusement even though she knew she’d gone out in left
field with that last one.  “Okay, so that one sounded ridiculous,” she glared up at
him.  “My point is, Dave was there for me all through high school and college.  He
was a good friend during those years and we’ve been dating long enough for each of
us to understand each other.  My mom loves him and she approves of him.” 

He chuckled.  “The implication being that your mother wouldn’t approve of me?” He
couldn’t help it.  Women had tried the most intricate schemes to get him to the altar
but this woman was rejecting him because she’d been dating a man she no longer felt
any attraction to and because her mother might not approve of him?  He was generally
considered a prime catch.  What more could a mother want for a son-in-law?  He had
a net worth in the billions, he not only owned his own company, that company was so
diversified that governments around the world paid him to move into their countries
and open up a branch just to provide good, high paying jobs.  He had five different
homes around the world not to mention an apartment in New York City, Paris and Tokyo
and yet Jade thought her mother might not like him?

“Why would your mother disapprove of me?” he asked, letting his curiosity get the
better of him. 

Jade was irritated by his arrogance.  She had no idea if her mother would approve
or not, but backtracking wouldn’t help her cause.  “First of all, you’re not from
around here.”

Angelo waited for the rest of it.  But when she simply stopped, he smiled.  “You’re
really going to try and convince me that your mother wouldn’t approve of me because
I don’t have generations of ancestors that have lived in this area?”

It sounded silly, but there it was. And it was all she could come up with at this
point.  “Well, yes.”

He smiled slightly at her outrageous and illogical argument.  “Jade, you haven’t lived
in this area for generations.  How can you or your mother apply a standard that even
you can’t achieve?”

Jade stepped out of his arms and crossed her arms over her chest.  “We’ve both embraced
the southern lifestyle.  And I like it down here.”  Her chin jutted out defiantly
as she dared him to deny her statement.

He took her hands, not surprised when her arms easily unwound from her body.  Holding
her fingers lightly in his larger hands, he pulled her close once again.  “Jade, I
can’t claim to be a southerner, but nor can you.  So I won’t let you ignore me simply
because I just moved here.  Besides, we’re neighbors.  Shouldn’t you be more neighborly?”

She pulled back, shaking her head but he wouldn’t let her pull out of his arms completely. 
“If I had my way, we never would have met.”

He chuckled but hid his amusement by kissing her neck again.  He figured it had worked
once to distract her so he could touch her, it would probably work again.  “Jasper
would never have come home that night.  He was pretty content to stay where he was.”

Jade sighed, her hands automatically moving up to his shoulders, bending her neck
so he had better access.  “Jasper is a traitor,” she sighed.

Angelo couldn’t argue that point because the cat personified finicky.  “He just needed
some attention.  Just like you, isn’t that right, Jade?”  His hand stroked down her
back and he smiled as she arched into his hand.  She was so responsive, it made him
want her even more.  He wanted to see her go up in flames just like she did every
time he kissed her.  “And you make the same noises sometimes,” he said, smiling at
the memory.

She took a deep, shuddering breath, trying to regain control of her senses but when
he was touching her, it was very difficult.  “I don’t make any noises,” she said,
trying to regain her dignity which was slipping fast with his arms around her.  “I’m
quiet as a mouse.”

Angelo stopped for a moment, listening to her soft, pretty voice purr as his hands
slid along her skin underneath her shirt.  She probably didn’t even realize that he’d
slipped them under the fabric, but he wasn’t going to stop.  Then he smiled and shook
his head as he looked down into her heated, beautiful features.  “I’ve never heard
a mouse make sounds like that,” he growled before his teeth latched onto her earlobe. 
He knew she’d be furious with his comment and braced for it. 

Had he really just said that?  She blinked, about to reprimand him for being so rude
but then his teeth nibbled along the shell of her ear and she was lost, leaning against
him as if she would melt down into the grass.  And it would have nothing to do with
the heat that was slowly dissipating from the earth as the sun went down over the
horizon and everything to do with the way he touched her, the way he used his whole
body to make love to her right here on the side lawn of her friend’s house. 

“Come home with me after the party, Jade,” Angelo coaxed.  “Forget about propriety
and all the rules you’ve wrapped around your life.  Just live for the moment.”

His words made sense, but they were wrong.  She couldn’t figure out why they were
wrong with his hands touching her waist like that, moving higher.  But not high enough. 
“Can’t do that,” she sighed and let her own hands move up his arms, touching his shoulders
while her fingers dove into his soft, black hair. 

“You can,” he argued softly and nibbled her collar bone.  “It’s only your mind telling
you that you won’t.  Just finish the argument with your mind and give in to what we
both want.  You need to stop being afraid.”

She heard her name being called from a distance and that was enough to break the sensuous
spell that Angelo continued to weave around the two of them whenever they were close. 
Jade pulled back, taking a deep breath to try and pull herself together.  As she looked
around, she realized that anyone could have come by and seen them in such a compromising
position.  She smoothed down her flowered skirt, straightened her white blouse and
adjusted the coordinating cardigan that was draped over her shoulder.  Hopefully,
she didn’t look like a woman who had just been kissing a man.  “I’m not afraid to
love a man,” she said defensively, but was unable to look up at him.  “But I’m not
afraid to shoot him either.”  She didn’t stop and wait for her angry words to sink
in with him.  She carefully stepped away, gently stepping through the grass so the
heels of her classic pumps didn’t get mud or grass stains on them. 

But she was gritting her teeth as she turned the corner, irritated that Angelo hadn’t
taken her threat seriously.  As she walked back to the other guests, she could still
hear his laughter but she simply picked up another wine glass and pretended like she
didn’t have any knowledge of what could have caused Angelo’s mirth. 

Looking around, she searched for someone she could talk to before Angelo rounded the
corner.  The idea was to appear as if she weren’t interested in anything he had to
say.  Unfortunately, some of the other guests were looking at her strangely. 

Her friend Deena came up to stand beside her.  “Were you just over there talking to
Mr. Donati?” she asked, craning her neck to see the man come around the side of the
house. 

Jade looked at her, eyes filled with innocence.  “Mr. Donati?  I can’t imagine what’s
gotten into him,” she said just as he stepped up onto the deck.  Angelo was instantly
surrounded by people.  The men vied to talk to him but the women were actually the
ones that really irritated her.  Molly Montgomery sidled up to Angelo, plastering
her breasts against his arm as she hugged him.  As if Molly and Angelo would ever
be good friends!  Pah!  Molly was a total fake. 

“Even her boobs are probably fake,” Deena said, echoing Jade’s thoughts.

Jade couldn’t help it.  The moment Deena said that, Jade had just taken a sip of her
wine.  It turned out to be a competition between the unexpected laughter versus the
sip of wine and she wasn’t sure which won.  By the time she got it pulled together,
several people were looking at her strangely.  But the only person that caught her
own eye was Angelo and she mentally cursed him when he stood there, leaning against
the railing and looking so sexy and all-knowing.  There was no way he could know what
Deena had just said to her.  Could he? 

Jade turned around, fanning her face as she apologized to the group standing nearby,
then glared at her friend.  Deena simply shrugged her shoulders with a secret smile
on her face as she handed Jade a plate.  “Dinner is ready,” she said more brightly
than was needed. 

Jade took the plate, looking around for Dave.  But when she couldn’t find him, Jade
simply assumed he was inside with the other men.  She heard the television going but
didn’t recognize which sport was being watched.  She hated television anyway so she
meandered over to the food table and surveyed the options. 

“Oh Jade!  I made your favorite,” Patricia said.  “Grits!  Just like you prefer them,
right?  Butter, no cream or sugar.”

Jade smiled brightly and took the spoon from the bowl, adding a dab of grits that
were swimming in butter to her plate.  Keeping her face completely blank, she moved
on down the table, grabbing a little of this, a bit of that and then moving off. 
Again, she looked around for Dave, wondering where he might be.  It was odd for him
to miss food, especially since he’d been talking about how hungry he was.  She took
a seat on a bench, making sure there would be enough space for Deena and started eating
until a large, male form sat next to her. 

Jade had to move over to make room for his large body, but even when she did so, he
still moved so that he was touching her.  “There are plenty of other chairs around,”
Jade glared up Angelo as he sat next to her. 

“I don’t want to sit anywhere else.  And you don’t want me to either,” he said, winking
at her before digging into his food. 

She debated long and hard mentally about arguing with him because she just knew he
would say something irritating back at her, but she couldn’t contain the effort. 
Turning slightly so she was facing him, she asked, “Who says I don’t want you sitting
somewhere else?” she countered, thinking he could just move over slightly so that
his thigh wasn’t plastered against hers.  She shifted her legs slightly, trying to
put some space between them but he just shifted again, touching her in more places
than simply her legs. 

He reached over and scooped up a bite of her grits.  “I saw the way you looked at
me when your friend started flirting.  You didn’t like it.  So I won’t go near her
again, even though I can promise you that I’m not interested in her in any way.”

Jade started to say something, but Molly was just turning around from the food table,
obviously looking for Angelo.  When she realized that there weren’t any other seats
near him, her face looked crestfallen but she moseyed over to another area where there
were some empty chairs and found some other people to chat with. 

Jade absolutely hated the relief she felt when the blond woman was foiled in her plans
to continue to flirt with Angelo.  She had no right to feel proprietary around him. 
She couldn’t have him, why shouldn’t he find other female companionship? 

“I don’t care what you do,” Jade said, secretly relieved that he wasn’t sitting next
to the artificially bodacious Molly. 

Angelo only chuckled at her response.  “Want me to finish eating your grits?” he asked
as he leaned close to her ear so only she could hear his question.  He didn’t wait
for her answer but scooped up another bite. 

Jade looked up at him, startled when she realized that he’d already eaten half of
the amount she’d put on her plate.  “Why would I want you to eat my grits?” she asked,
but didn’t try and stop him when he took yet another bite.

Angelo’s eyebrows went up.  “Because you obviously don’t like them.”

“Every self-respecting southerner loves grits.  Of course I love grits,” she argued,
but she needed to brace herself to take a bite of the chewy, butter-sodden concoction
and at that moment, she just couldn’t do it.  She actually hated grits.  She disliked
the texture and the bland taste and she really hated grits when they were swimming
in butter like this.