He ignored her and began to pour another drink.
She reached over and grabbed the bottle out of his hand, and he glared at her. “You need to stop. This isn’t like you.”
Jonathan shook his head slowly, his messy hair sliding over his forehead. “How would you know, Violet? You haven’t seen me in ten years. Maybe I decided to drink after you left me.”
She carefully pried the glass out of his fingers. “You said it dulls the senses, and you don’t like yours dulled. I remember that.”
He shook his head, not looking at her. “I don’t want to remember anything right now.”
Another twinge of pity. Damn it. “Jonathan, just come on. Let’s get you back to your room and get you into your bed, all right?”
He simply put his head down on the table and morosely stared at one of the bottles.
“Do you need help, ma’am?” One of the waitstaff came over. “I can help you take him up to his room, if you like.”
“No, we’re fine,” she said with a small smile of appreciation. “Has he been like this the whole time?”
The man nodded. “When he’s not crying.”
“Crying?” Violet was horrified. She’d never seen Jonathan cry. She couldn’t even imagine it. Even when they’d fought, he’d just stared at her with those grim, smoldering eyes.
“Yeah. We figured someone died. Keeps saying he lost her.” The man shrugged. “You going to pay his bill? It’s a big one.”
Her heart twinged again. Someone had died. But Jonathan hadn’t cared about the baby . . . had he? She shook the thought off. “No, I’m going to get him out of here. He can pay his own bill. The girl at the front desk can add it to his room.” She pulled money out of her pocket and offered it to him as a tip. “Thank you for your help, though.”
The man nodded and took the twenty. “Let me know if you need anything else.”
He left as she knelt down next to Jonathan’s table. She studied him for a long moment, thinking about the man’s words. Crying as if he’d lost someone. Lost her. She reached out and stroked his arm with her hand, and her voice was softer this time. “Jonathan. Come on. Let’s get you up to your room, all right?”
Jonathan turned to her, propping his head up on his arm as he gazed in her direction. “You know I loved you, Violet?” His voice was soft.
“I know. But that was a long time ago.”
He shook his head, just a little. “Never changed for me,” he said, his words slurred thickly. “Never stopped. Too late now, though.”
Keeps saying he lost her.
Now she wanted to cry. She couldn’t bury ten years of festering hatred in a night, but she could pity a man who was clearly miserable. “If you love me, won’t you come up to your room?”
“Doesn’t matter if I love you or not,” he murmured. “Lost you anyhow.”
Violet thought for a moment. “If you go up to your room and get to bed, I’ll kiss you.”
Slowly, he sat up, and she felt the urge to laugh. So she’d found the carrot that would entice the donkey, had she? “But you hate me, Violet.”
“I hate you being drunk here more. The offer stands.” She got to her feet and extended him a hand. “You go up to your room and I’ll kiss you. If you don’t, you can just stay here with your bottles.”
Jonathan got up from the table so quickly he nearly knocked it over, the glassware rattling noisily. He wove unsteadily on his feet, but his intense gaze was back on her. “Come kiss me, then.”
“Uh uh,” she told him. “Up to your room, first.” When he started to slouch again, she put an arm around his waist and got a good whiff of his breath. “Up to your room, and after you have some mouthwash, that is.”
That got a drunk chuckle from him, and he wrapped his arms around her, dragging her against his front. He inhaled deeply, burying his nose in her hair. “Forgot how good you smell.” His words were almost a moan of pure joy, and it sent a shock wave through her body.
“You’re drunk,” she reminded him with a pat on the arm. “Now, let go and we’ll get you upstairs, okay?”
He leaned on her heavily as they made their way—slowly—toward the lobby elevator. The girl at the front desk gave her a grateful look as Violet passed by, and held the elevator open for them as Violet and her handsy, drunken companion continued to grab her and exclaim how wonderful her hair smelled. Eventually, though, she got him up to his room and managed to get the keycard out of his wallet and in the door.
“Almost there,” she encouraged.
“Almost to kissing?”
She stifled a laugh at the tipsy hope in his voice. “Almost.”
They wobbled their way across his suite to his bed, and he collapsed into it, flopping onto his back with a groan. Violet pulled back just in time before he dragged her down with him, though her chin-length hair went flying. “Ooof.”
“In bed,” he said, as proud as if he’d accomplished something. He raised his arms, clearly expecting her to leap into them.
She snorted. “Fat chance.” She glanced down at his legs and then gestured at his feet. “Let’s get those shoes off of you, okay?” Violet leaned in and bent over to untie his laces. For a billionaire with tons of money, he sure did have some grubby sneakers on.
“I don’t mind when you’re angry at me, you know.”
She continued to work on a knot in the laces. “That’s a good thing, then, because I’m angry at you a lot.”
“It’s when you ignore me I can’t stand it. When you give up on me and cut me out. It’s like you’re gone again, and I hate it.”
Damn it, she needed to stop feeling sorry for the man. Pulling viciously on his shoe, she managed to tug it off and tossed it to the floor. His sock followed a moment later. “Other foot now.”
“Miss you,” he said softly.
She ignored him, prying off his other shoe, then jerked off his sock. “There we go. You should probably take off your jacket, too. And that shirt is filthy. Come on.”
He sat up slowly, and she helped him remove his clothing. When his shirt came off, he groaned and fell back on the bed, scratching his chest. “Man, that’s good.”
She gazed down at his chest in surprise. She remembered a tall, lanky Jonathan with a lean, boyish chest and nary a chest hair. He’d filled out. His arms were tanned and brawny, ripped with muscle. His pectorals were furred with a light sprinkling of dark chest hair, and there was a trail down his abdomen that just begged to be followed. Violet felt the oddest urge to run her fingers along the cords of his muscles and see if they felt as hard as they looked. Oh, Jesus. He even had a super flat abdomen and little taut ridges down at his hips. Oh, that was sexy.