She concealed her sense of triumph with an answering smile. “If you come near my Carolina Herrera dress with that sword, I’ll break it in half.”

He threw back his head and laughed. She sensed it was more to release his tension about the wedding than about her wit.

The car glided to a halt in front of Chloe’s house. Nathan muttered a curse under his breath. “Come to dinner with me tomorrow,” he said. “I want more than just an hour in the back of my car.”

She wanted it too, more desperately than he knew. “I’d love to.”

Surprise showed in the sudden lift of his brows. “That was easy. Why didn’t I ask you before this?”

“You were terrified of rejection?”

He pivoted and pinned her against the seat, bringing his mouth beside her ear as his hand slid between her legs to touch the most sensitive spot on her body. “If Grandmillie wasn’t timing how long it takes for the car door to open, I’d show you how I would overcome your rejection.”

As his finger sent spirals of heat through her, Chloe murmured, “I already said yes.”

“Damn,” he said, withdrawing his hand. “So you did. Have dinner with me Friday as well. There’s a Broadway premiere I want to take you to.”

“I can’t. I need to spend time with Grandmillie since I’ll be gone all day Saturday.”

He nodded but said nothing, watching her as though he were waiting for something more.

“What?” she asked, baffled.

“Invite me to spend the evening with Grandmillie too.”

Shock made her blurt out, “Seriously?”

“I can bring dinner so you don’t have to cook.” His expression turned intense. “Grandmillie doesn’t approve of me, so I need another chance to win her over.”

“Grandmillie likes you just fine. She calls you my ‘young man,’ which is hilarious.”

He looked offended. “Why?”

How did she explain that he was too brilliant, too rich, too sexy, and too powerful to be anyone’s young man? And after this weekend, he would never again be her young man. “It makes you sound like a prom date, and you are so far beyond that.”

That seemed to mollify him, because he smiled. “I have one thing in common with a prom date.”

“You do?”

“I think about nothing except getting you out of your clothes.”

Chloe gave him a light punch in the shoulder, grabbed her handbag, and hurtled out of the privacy of the Rolls.

Nathan exited the car behind her, lacing his fingers with hers as he accompanied her to the front door. “You didn’t invite me for dinner, but I’ll work on that tomorrow.” He leaned down to kiss her. “I’ll pick you up after work and you can change at my place. Would you wear the blue lace dress for me? As a favor.”

So she would have two incredibly expensive dresses hanging unused in her closet after this weekend. Chloe knew when she was being manipulated, but she couldn’t resist his request. “You are a devious and ruthless man, which is why I will wear the dress. Without any panties.”

Nathan’s look nearly set her on fire. “And you call me ruthless.”

Nathan frowned at the array of unread reports and memos running down the computer screen in his home office. Leaving work at five o’clock every day to see Chloe cut into his working time, and he needed to catch up. He read through one memo twice without taking in a word. Irritated with himself, he pushed his rolling chair away from his desk and swiveled to face the windows where the lights of Manhattan blazed.

Today’s encounter with Chloe had left him unsettled and restless. The sex had been great. It always was with her. When she’d said she wanted him for himself and no other reason, he’d believed her. Her emotion had been genuine, but there was a tinge of regret in it that made him uneasy. Instead of bringing them closer, her deeper feelings seemed to be putting a distance between them.

Then he’d spilled his guts about the family sword.

“Damn it.” He vaulted out of the chair and paced across the room.

The thought that his father might want to wear the sword had hit him as he described the wedding ceremony to Chloe, and the rest had just spilled out. Even Ben didn’t know he’d used the saber to slice bananas, the most disrespectful use he could think of for it.

He’d told her a shameful secret, but she wouldn’t let him have a meal with her beloved grandmother. What did that say about their relationship?

He wasn’t accustomed to feeling off balance with a woman. Chloe seemed so honest and straightforward, yet there were layers to her he hadn’t begun to understand. It frustrated him. He wanted to know everything about her.

Tapping his finger against his thigh, he stared unseeingly out the window. Knowing too much could get messy. He usually preferred to stay safely on the surface with the women he dated. Things hadn’t worked so well with Teresa because he’d allowed himself to hope for more.

He was falling into the same trap with Chloe. So why did it feel so good?

A buzzing sound came from his desk as his cell phone danced on the stainless-steel surface. The first word that sprang to his mind was Chloe, and he was across the floor in four long strides. But the name on the screen was “Luke Archer Cell.”

Surprise made him answer the phone.

“Trainor, I need a favor.” The quarterback’s Texas drawl was stronger on the phone. “I got talked into buying a table at a charity dinner tomorrow night, and I need to fill it up. Miller’s coming, so I’m asking you to come too. And bring a date.”