He let out a long, masculine sigh. “As a matter of fact, I have a rather large amount of work to accomplish myself. But I’m afraid that my laptop isn’t as intriguing as you are right now. Care to satisfy my curiosity so I can concentrate on my own work?”
“No,” I answered sharply. I decided to keep things simple. “I’m tired. My business in London was a failure, and I’d prefer a silent plane ride back home to contemplate my utter humiliation, if you don’t mind.”
I had no idea why I’d decided to tell him that my London venture had been a gigantic fail. Maybe I was hoping it would make him mind his own business.
“You know you want to talk about it,” he said persuasively—in that damnably sexy British accent. “I’m a stranger, right? You’ll never see me again. Why not vent to somebody you don’t know, and will never see again?”
Ugh! Didn’t this guy have an Off switch attached to those sensual lips of his? “Has it occurred to you at all that maybe I just don’t like you? You were reading my text messages, for God’s sake. It’s nearly impossible to like or confide in a disturbed individual who does something like that.”
I hoped that comment would offend him just a little, that he’d…Just. Stop. Talking.
Oddly, I seemed to have absolutely no filter when it came to my frustrating seatmate. Usually, I could ignore what was going on around me, especially when I was working, but I couldn’t seem to keep my own mouth shut at the moment.
When I heard a low rumble of laughter next to me, it was pretty annoying to admit to myself that my tactic to silence him had been completely unsuccessful.
Hadn’t he just said he almost always got what he wanted?
The obnoxious man obviously wasn’t going to give me the peace I now craved until he was satisfied.
I sighed. He was right about one thing. Underneath my anger, I really did want to vent about what happened at Lancaster International because I wanted to make sense out of why a perfectly intelligent woman had managed to screw up a presentation that meant so much.
I just didn’t want to do it with a guy who got a kick out of using me as a source of entertainment.
Maybe, if he was a decent guy, I would have spilled my guts to Mr. Orgasm. The fact that I’d never see him again made the prospect pretty damn tempting.
If only he wasn’t the most annoying guy I’d ever met.
CHAPTER 3
Damian
IF THIS WOMAN had done some kind of business with Lancaster International, I was surprised that she didn’t recognize me.
Even stranger, I’d never seen her before, and I never forgot a face.
Granted, I wouldn’t recognize every one of my employees since Lancaster International had hundreds of thousands of them around the world. However, she’d obviously just come from my headquarters in London, and I was familiar with every upper-level executive who had an office there. I made it a point to know their business because it was ultimately my business, too, and I’d never seen this gorgeous blonde American woman strolling around the executive floors to meet with any of them.
I definitely would have remembered her.
So here I was, in a position that should have been awkward, but it really wasn’t. Not for me, anyway. It was just…different. The woman had no idea who I was, nor did she seem to care about getting to know me.
To her, I was just some totally random, unpleasant guy who was sitting next to her on an airplane.
Not that I blamed her for having that initial impression of me. Reading her text messages had been way out of line, and obnoxiously intrusive, but she was so damn intriguing that it had been impossible to resist finding out why she’d looked so defeated when I’d taken the seat next to hers.
My actions had been so out of character for me that I was still trying to figure out why I’d invaded her privacy.
I’d never felt like I had to solve all the world’s problems like my brother, Leo.
Normally, I never had any desire to carry on a conversation with a stranger when I was traveling. Like her, I preferred to keep to myself on the rare occasions I flew commercial.
I should be satisfied that no one had recognized me, and eager to pull out my laptop so I could get to work. I could knock out a significant number of things that had piled up on a long flight like this one.
I was nothing if not disciplined, to keep my focus on Lancaster International at all times.
I’d never been distracted from my single-minded purpose…until I’d taken my seat next to the most intriguing female I’d ever met.
This time, for some unknown reason, all I wanted to do was watch her.
Damned if I knew where that beautiful comment she’d disliked so much had come from, or why I’d said it. I wasn’t exactly a slick operator. Dylan had always been the charming one. And me? I’d always been the quiet, keep-to-myself Lancaster who followed a meticulous schedule that left little or no time for anything else but my obsession to make Lancaster International stand out from any of my competition. My twin had been the one who could lavish people with outrageous flattery without making it sound insincere or cheesy.
Honestly, I hadn’t meant to flatter the female next to me, exactly. She was, in fact, beautiful, and it was incredibly provocative that she didn’t seem to know it.
I was a big man who appreciated a statuesque, curvy female like her, so I’d noticed her from the first moment I’d sat down in the seat next to her.
Generally, I could blow off a mild attraction and get back to whatever business was at hand.
I didn’t have time to flirt. I’d never even had the inclination.
I didn’t push anyone for any kind of conversation because I wasn’t exactly a talker myself.
I used my available time wisely, which meant I focused on Lancaster International.
Normally, I didn’t even notice who occupied the seat next to me on one of my rare commercial flights.
But things weren’t exactly normal this time. Not with her sitting next to me. Something about this particular female completely fascinated me. I felt like she’d curled those elegant fingers around my balls the second I’d found my seat, and now she refused to let go.
I wanted to know more about her.
And hell, yes, I wanted to know what kind of idiots she’d dated who had been unable to satisfy her.
No orgasm? Ever? Not once?
My cock had immediately stood up for the challenge. Literally.
It didn’t seem to matter that she’d just professed not to like me.
In fact, her attempt to dissuade me had completely backfired.
There were very few people in the world who would actually call out Damian Lancaster for anything, and I was discovering that I actually…liked it.
I wanted to know how she was connected to Lancaster International. It was my company, after all.
Granted, her sex life was probably none of my business, but I wasn’t going to be satisfied until I knew why she’d dated so many wankers.
I cleared my throat. Since I’d never had to ask twice for much of anything, I wasn’t exactly sure how to be more persuasive. “You’ll like me more once you start talking. Tell me about Lancaster. What business did you have with them? But before you start, tell me your name.”
My dick twitched as she folded her arms across a pair of very ample breasts.