“I haven’t been to a place like this in a long time,” she admitted as she looked over the menu.
“Why not?”
She shrugged. “Time, mostly. No reason to go to such a nice place being another, but I also have a hard time spending so much on a meal.”
“I don’t.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m well aware of that. How much did today’s cuff links cost you?”
I glanced down at the curved onyx and clenched my jaw. “No comment.”
“Over a hundred?”
My lips thinned.
“Two hundred?”
Again, I remained silent.
“Five hundred?”
“They’re my vice, okay?”
She smiled at me, her eyes skimming the menu again. “You said there was an ulterior motive. Are you going to tell me?”
I leaned back, having already decided on the filet mignon. “Where did you go to college?”
“NYU. You?”
“Same. Siblings?”
She paused. “Younger sister. You?”
“Much younger brother. Wyatt is almost eleven years younger than me. He’s a senior at NYU right now.”
“Following in his big brother’s footsteps?”
I nodded. “Which is kind of strange, considering I moved out when he was seven.”
“He must idolize you.”
She hit the nail there. My little brother was a mini version of me. Definitely the Carthwright genes in play. “Where are you from?”
“I’m a New York girl. You?”
“North Carolina.”
Her head tilted in surprise. “Really?”
“Yes. Why?”
She shrugged. “You seem to have the city life ingrained in you.”
“After fourteen years, I would think so.”
She shook her head. “Then again, you did say you drive everywhere.”
The waitress came around for our orders, giving us a break.
“Twenty questions was the big motive driving you?” she asked when we were alone again. I nodded, engrossed in the smile that filled her face. “And here I was thinking by ulterior motive, you meant sex.”
It wasn’t meant to sound erotic, but somehow her offhand vocalization of such a small word had me shifting in my seat. Being close to her was an aphrodisiac in itself. The soft scent of roses and cherries tempted me, and it was taking a lot of self-restraint to keep from touching her. However, she was badly testing my weak hold.
“That is always on the table. Whenever, wherever. I wanted to get to know you, and you me. Maybe then you’ll let me take you out on a real date instead of tricking you into lunch.”
“I don’t know. You have that ‘I fuck a lot of women’ vibe.”
“It depends on what your definition of a lot is. Do I date? Occasionally. Does it last long? Not usually past a second date.”
“And that makes me wonder. Is it you, or them? If you sleep with them, do they get off as well, or are you just another selfish prick?”
I smirked at her and leaned closer. “I’m pretty sure you already know the answer to that one.”
Pink filled her cheeks, and I knew she was remembering all the ways I touched her. “True, I do have some experience with you in that area. But one time doesn’t make a good case study.”
She bit down on her bottom lip as she smiled, while I was struck stupid, my body rapidly rising to the challenge. That lip between her teeth was her biggest tell. I had a feeling she had no idea she did it every time the sexual tension rose between us, but I did.
I leaned closer, my voice low. “I’ll drag you to the bathroom right now and give you another entry for your data collection.”
“That’s some big talk, but back to the subject at hand. What’s wrong with you?”
I blinked at her, blindsided with the question. Weren’t we just talking about my cock deep inside her in the bathroom? She had me completely unhinged. “Nothing is wrong with me.”
“Then what is wrong with them?”
Oh, my exes. “It just didn’t work out. Incompatible or schedules didn’t mesh or no spark.”
“Am I just a casual occasion?”
“There’s only one way for us both to find out, but I’m fairly certain that the answer is no.”
“Hmm, I think I liked you better when I hated you, before I knew you were good in bed. Though technically I haven’t had you in bed, so I guess really you’re good on the wall.”
“I’d really like to add public bathroom to my list of places of accomplishment.”
“What if I said no?” she asked.
Everything in me begged her to say yes, and the idea of no hadn’t entered my mind. “Then I would back off, but I really hope to have you screaming yes very soon.”
“And then?”
“And then maybe you might say yes to an actual date.” Getting through to her was like breaking into Fort Knox—impossible. Yes, I wanted to fuck her. Lots. Yes, I wanted to take her out.
What was so hard for her to accept?
“You keep harping on this actual date thing.”
“Because there’s something keeping you from saying yes, and that annoys me, so I’ll continue asking until that word leaves your lips.” Her secrets annoyed the fuck out of me because I wanted to know them. It drove me crazy.
“Why did you kiss me in the elevator?”
I froze, the playful energy leaving me, and I felt that tightness in my chest reemerge. “Because I wanted to.”
“That’s not what your reaction to my question says.”
I nodded. The best thing for me to do was to tell the truth, but how much of that would satiate her curiosity? “I have the same issue as you. I don’t do well in situations like that.”
“Horror movies get you too?”
“Horror, yes. Movie, no,” I admitted.
“You didn’t seem like it was much of a problem for you.” Her words said one thing, but her expression told me another. Perhaps I didn’t do a good enough job stuffing down how affected I was.
“You don’t remember me trying to tear the doors open? I was panicking as well, but you needed help. Touching you grounded me, and I had hoped it would do the same to you. Once I started, I didn’t want to stop.”
My eyes met hers, and I reached out for her hand. She drew in a sharp breath when we touched, and that wonderful vibration passed between us again. That was my cue, my proof that Roe was something special.
Lunch was filled with our regular banter with sprinkles of getting to know you and more than a few innuendos, the latter happening when I flattened my tongue against the dessert spoon, then flicked the tip.
At the time I laughed at the way his jaw dropped, but that laughter died down when his hand gripped my thigh and slipped under my skirt. I swallowed hard and he leaned closer to whisper in my ear, “Keep playing innocent and I’ll have that tongue on my cock before we even make it back to the office.”
My heart sped up and a whimper left me when the tips of his fingers lightly ran across my clit before disappearing. He paid, and we walked in tense silence, every nerve acutely aware of how close he was.
There was a burning ache between my legs that only pulsed stronger with each minute he was near.