“Hannah, you’re good?” I lower my voice and lean into the back of her head.
She nods.
“Please enjoy yourself, Mr. Baldwin, and hands where I can see them. Maybe there’s a silver fork somewhere you think my ex deserves.”
Roarke’s eyes sparkle with mischief and I think there’s a high probability he’s envisioning her naked right now.
These two have some sort of weird chemistry.
Two men walk into the room and Hannah excuses herself to greet them. Roarke’s eyes watch her leave. I really hope Raegan isn’t invested in Roarke because I’m sure he has eyes for someone else.
“In the mood for Taco Bell?” Dean asks when we climb in the Uber.
“I’m in the mood for my bed.” I slip off my one heel, running my barefoot along my leg.
I’m not trying to be sexy, these new heels are killing me.
“Perfect. We’re still in sync.” He opens up his arms then pats his lap for me to put my foot there.
“Alone,” I add.
He continues to pat his leg. “Let me cop a feel before I drop you off?”
Reluctantly, I allow him to massage my feet. Maybe then he’ll realize he’s not into relationship stuff and he’ll skip along.
The minute his hands land on my foot though, my head falls to the glass window and my eyes close and a moan squeaks out of me.
“If you want me to act like a gentleman, stop with the noises.” He shifts my foot so I’m closer to his knee than his crotch and I wish the tingling sensation in my core would go away.
“You still a Sox fan?” he asks.
“Still a Cubs fan?”
“You mean the World Series champs? Hell yeah.” The smirk on his face invites me to bring on my best comeback.
“Yeah, that was two years ago.”
“This is their year again, I feel it.”
I roll my eyes. Whether it’s because of the foot rub or his words I’m not sure. “Rumor has it that the Sox are more likely to go farther.”
The Uber driver glances through the rearview mirror at us.
“Who are you listening to? WGN-AM?”
“Silly Cubs fans, baseball is for Sox fans.” I lean forward and pat his shoulder. It’s a nice shoulder.
He chuckles. “My company is having a party. Crosstown Classic. Would you like to join me?”
“Are you asking for another date?” His thumb digs into the arch of my foot and I swallow down the long moan that wants to roar out of me.
I hadn’t really thought this was it with us. I mean I only agreed to tonight, but the thought that our time was over did sadden me. Even though it shouldn’t. I forgot how easygoing Dean can be. No pressure, easy conversation, like not much can get under his skin. The entire night he mingled all while staying at my side. If I ventured off, he found someone to talk to. He didn’t spend the entire night hovering around the bar, he didn’t rush me out, and he didn’t brag about himself to anyone. Maybe Dean has turned over a new leaf. Or more likely he just had a good night.
“Think of it like a favor,” he says.
“A favor?”
“I don’t want to show up solo.”
He motions for my other foot and I oblige because I like to torture myself. He slips the heel from my foot, placing it down and goes to work on my other foot.
“You expect me to go to Wrigley Field?” I screw up my face.
“Technically, it’s rooftop. You don’t have to go in. If it helps, my boss is a ChiSox fan.”
“He knows you’re a Cubs fan?”
The conversation sounds juvenile, but honestly, jobs have been claimed, jobs have been lost, by what color you wear. In Chicago, if you’re a baseball fan, there’s no such thing as liking both teams. It’s one or the other. End of discussion.
“Yeah.”
“You think bringing a Sox fan will give you brownie points. Hence the favor?”
His gaze shifts off my feet to my eyes and it’s too dark to truly read his face, but his silence is deafening. “Yeah.”
It’s one simple word, but there’s a weight to it I don’t understand. I’m not even sure what made the shift in the conversation. Where did our usual banter go? I can’t help but think there’s another reason he wants me there and as usual, my curiosity gets the better of me.
“Okay. I’ll go,” I say.
“I’ll take you to the game at Cellular.”
“Well, how can I refuse then?”
He tickles my foot and I slide it back my way trying to get free.
The car slows, and I start to pull my legs toward me to put my heels back on, but Dean locks his arm across my shins, picking up each heel and sliding it on like he’s a shoe salesman and has done it millions of times.
Again, the energy shifts when he finishes and our eyes lock.
I turn away, grabbing my clutch and opening the door.
“Thank you,” I say to the driver and step to the concrete sidewalk in front of my apartment.
Dean slides to come out my side, but I hold my hand out in front of my chest. “I got it from here.”
A sly smile crosses his lips and he doesn’t stop, his foot landing between my legs as he pulls himself out of the car, leaving us chest to chest.
“You think you can get rid of me that easily?”
His hands grip my hips and he shuffles forward pushing me away from the car. While he’s busy shutting the door and telling the Uber guy to leave, I fiddle with my keys to get in my apartment complex.
In the small glass foyer, his chest hits my back and I’m not going to lie, a small part of me wants to turn around and smash my lips to his. My nipples peak in my bra and I suppress a shiver.
Willpower, Chels. You have a few minutes and then you can pop in Rambo and relive what it’s like to sleep with Dean Bennett.
The key finally fits, and I unlock the door, stepping toward the elevator.
“I can let you go here.” I look behind me.
He raises his hand up in the air, pointing to the ground and does a spinning motion. “Turn back around.”
“Really, Dean, I got it.”
“I’m walking you to your door.” He reaches past me, pressing the elevator button.
Someone has it out for me. Now I have to survive an elevator ride with him. Please, there are hundreds of people who live in this apartment complex, someone has to be coming home at the same time as us.
It arrives quickly because it’s late at night and most residents are probably asleep.
I step in, pressing my floor. Dean stands shoulder to shoulder with me.
When I spot a woman coming through the glass doors, she turns her key in the lock and smiles. I smile back.
My savior.
Dean reaches across the elevator and presses the close door button. For once it actually does what it should, and the doors slowly come together. The woman’s smile turns into a look of disgust and she flips Dean off.
My head swivels in his direction. “That wasn’t nice.”
“I don’t care.” His chest pushes into mine, his hands locking me on either side.
I have no idea how he did it, but my back is against the wall, his body looming over mine with lust filled eyes and lickable lips. I want to open my arms and tell him to take me.