Her snark caused a grin. “True… but then you wouldn’t be there for dessert.”
“Aren’t you presumptuous.”
“Is that a question?”
Our eyes held for a long moment before she turned away and headed for the elevator. “You’re insatiable,” she conceded.
“Guilty.”
As we stepped into the lift, and she punched the floor indicator, she gave me an unexpected smile. “Thanks for a lovely weekend. I surprisingly had a great time.” She raised the small bouquet of roses up to her nose and inhaled. “Even the humiliation of catching this was fun.”
“Thanks for coming with me… and reminding me my brother is a dead man.”
“Thankfully I had on underwear,” she countered, just as the doors opened on her floor.
“That’s not funny.” Her smile became devilish when she sashayed her sweet ass down the hall and stopped at her apartment. I stood close, watching her slide the key into the dead bolt, flipping the lock and pushing the door open. As she tossed her keys on the small table, without invite, I squeezed past her and dropped our bags just inside the apartment before joining her in removing our jackets. When she headed for her kitchen with her bouquet, I headed for her couch.
“I’m in the mood for sushi.”
“Bossy much?” An amused smirk lifted the corners of her lips. She then filled a small vase for her flowers, hastily arranged them, and grabbed a laptop from where it rested on her island before coming and sitting beside me.
“What are you doing?”
“Your appetite needs to wait. I have stuff to take care of.”
I took the opportunity to slide over, and in a shameless attempt to get her on the same page, nibbled the smooth skin below her ear. But when my persuasion fell flat as her fingers began flying over the keyboard, I asked, “What stuff? Like a sex scene?”
“No, not a sex scene.”
“Too bad. I can help motivate you for that,” I bragged, skimming the back of my hand over her already pebbled nipple.
“As tempting as that sounds, I need to write down some notes while they’re fresh in my head.”
“What notes?”
“From the wedding, things I observed. It’s so rare that I can witness real love between two people; when I do see it, I tend to use it for inspiration.” She paused as her eyes cut to mine, bringing our faces to within an inch of each other’s. “A touch, a look, an undeniable spark.” The way she stared at me dead on caused my heart to constrict.
“You’ve witnessed love plenty,” I replied, my eyes holding hers. “My brother and Jade are nauseating.”
“I’d have to agree.” Her focus returned to the screen, but her fingers remained still. “But besides them, it’s rare in my life.”
“You had said your parents were in love. Seems that would influence your view on the subject.”
“Why are you being all lawyerish?”
She was right. Why was I arguing this like a court case?
“I could argue that your parents were in love as well,” she continued, “and that didn’t stop you from being a hater.”
“Touché,” I said with a dip of my head. “I guess it was how my mom lost Dad at an early age that jaded me,” I admitted in an attempt to explain myself better.
“Same with me. After Dad died, my mother became a mess, and in a way, I lost her too. And then I did fall in love, and he broke my heart. So, I use others’ relationships as inspiration.”
My mouth flapped open, only to close without saying a word. Sensing my unease, she resumed her typing.
This was getting into a sticky area. I wasn’t such an asshole that I believed no one deserved the fairy tale. But doing what I did, seeing the many failed marriages over the years, made me a glass-half-empty kind of man when it came to true love.
Still, I wished I could comfort her, tell her that she was an amazing, brilliant, gorgeous woman who would find love one day. She deserved the kind of love we witnessed this weekend. Any man would be a lucky bastard to have that with her.
A flash of regret hit that it couldn’t be with me. Until now, I meant it when I said we were a lot alike. Maybe we weren’t cut from the same cloth after all. And if the longing in her expression meant that she did want something more, that only caused a flash of panic to also hit me, because our differences on the subject were sure to set us up for failure.
For the first time in a very long time, after last night I felt as though this woman now had a two-handed grip on my heart. The emotion was so foreign I dismissed it. I truly didn’t know if it was because we were in a romantic bed-and-breakfast or if it was because we had sex in a bed while face-to-face. Something had caused our connection to manifest in a new way.
It was a mindfuck to say the least. And then I felt it again when we lay side by side afterward, our hands under our heads in mirrored positions, staring at one another until we fell asleep. Every hour I spent with this woman made me crave more… something that shouldn’t play a part in a typical fuck-lationship.
Something that shouldn’t be happening with a guy like me.
I practically sighed from relief when she placed the laptop on the table and walked away. “Want something to drink?” she asked. I now knew her well enough to know this was her way of slapping the heaviness away as though a pesky mosquito had landed on her. It was her way to conceal a freak-out.
“I’ll take a beer.” I could’ve easily freaked out as well, made an excuse to leave, and pushed it all under my own proverbial rug. But again, I couldn’t bring myself to do that.
My eyes remained glued to her when she opened her fridge and bent down to grab my request. Meanwhile, I resorted to my tried-and-true method… licentious sarcasm. “Sushi may have to wait, because your ass looks amazing in those jeans, and it’s taunting me.”
She straightened and fisted her hip with a glare fixed on that gorgeous face. “You’re assuming I’d allow you near my ass.”
I feigned shock. “You, the erotic author, are an ass virgin?”
“Did I say that?” she countered.
Well, fuck.
Her innuendo caused my cock to stiffen, and the awkwardness that had hung in the air a few minutes ago dissipated, proving that was what we did. The back and forth, it was more our vibe. It had been since day one, and it was how we made sense.
And just to be sure we were truly back to normal, I barked, “While you’re there, grab the sushi menu.”
Phones ringing outside my door meant it was close to nine and the workday had begun for my staff. Whereas, like every other day, I had already put in a few hours after my crack-of-dawn workout.
It’d been a long week filled with twelve-plus-hour days, new clients, old clients, irate clients, all making me want to rip my hair out at times. Funny thing, I never considered any of that a burden, because I loved what I did. I loved the satisfaction that came with building a practice from the ground up and watching it thrive. I answered to no one and wouldn’t want it any other way.
But… having said that, it was Friday, and even though it looked as though I’d have to stay at the office until midnight, come tomorrow a certain feisty brunette would be occupying my time.