Jameson planted a hand on the wall by my head, then slowly trailed his fingers down the lapel of my coat. I held my breath in anticipation as he gently pushed my coat aside. Then he hooked his fingers under my suspenders like he had inside, and I let my breath out in a shaky rush.
How was it that the same move from earlier felt so much more personal out here? So much more dangerous in the darkness of night?
Jameson lowered his gaze to his fingers, then said in a voice that made my knees weak, “You need to go home. You’re too soft around the edges for someone like me.”
I blinked as I stared into his sinfully attractive face, wondering what exactly he meant by that—because news flash, there was nothing soft about me right now. Especially with how close he was standing.
“You didn’t seem to think so back in the bar.”
“Yeah, I did. But you needed help.”
And that was the exact reason I’d thrown all caution to the wind and followed him out here. If there was one thing I couldn’t resist, it was a man with a protective side. “So let me thank you. You saved me back there. Like my very own knight in shining armor.”
I’d meant it as a compliment, but the second it left my lips, Jameson let me go abruptly and took a step back.
“Don’t call me that.”
“But—”
“I’m nobody’s knight, and you need to get the hell out of here.”
Before I could even begin to comprehend what had just happened, Jameson turned on his heel and marched back to his motorcycle. He climbed on and then gunned the engine, and as he tore off down the street and the light of his headlight faded from view, Jameson disappeared from my life just as quickly as he’d entered it.
Chapter 4
Ryan
“ARE YOU SURE you’re not pissed about leaving early with me?” I looked at Jude whose fingers were busily moving across his phone, his face illuminated by the screen.
“Are you serious?” He glanced my way. “I’m more pissed that you let some drunk bother you for so long. You should’ve come and gotten me sooner.”
“You were trying to relax, remember? I wasn’t going to ruin that.”
“Oh, come on, you know better than that.”
I did, but unless it was an emergency, I would not cut his night short—and this hadn’t been an emergency, per se.
“Okay, how about this? The next time some drunk sleazes all over me, I’ll come and get you.”
Jude pursed his lips, thinking that over. “Well, let’s not go crazy. If you come get me every time some drunk hits on you, I’ll never get laid again.”
I chuckled as the Uber headed downtown toward my apartment. “Okay, you’re right, I’ll come get you if a drunk hits on me in an attempt to steal my wallet.”
“There, much better.”
“Good. I’m glad we could clear up the finer details.”
Jude looked back at his phone and hit send on whatever he’d been texting, then pocketed the cell. “So, you never did say, how did you finally get away from Mr. Sleazeball?”
Yeah, I’d kind of avoided that when I texted him that I wanted to leave because I still hadn’t quite figured out the whole Jameson angle yet. One minute he’d been pretending to be my fake boyfriend—very convincingly, I might add—and the next he was doing his best to get rid of me.
I’d never had someone try so hard not to be interested in me before, and for that reason alone, I couldn’t seem to shake him from my mind.
“Um, it was some guy, actually.”
“Some guy?” Jude grabbed my arm and squeezed. “Are you holding out on me, Ryan Carrigan? What guy? Was he cute? Does he have a name?”
A flash of broody eyes and an unsmiling mouth came to mind, and I frowned. “I wouldn’t exactly call him…cute.”
“Okaaay, then what would you call him—exactly?”
I thought about the dark clothes, the leather, the wicked-hot ride Jameson had straddled in the side alley, and licked my lips.
“Smokin’ hot.” I grinned, and Jude’s mouth fell wide. “He was smokin’ fuckin’ hot.”
Jude gave me a hard shove in the arm. “Get out of here.”
“It’s true.” I chuckled. “I have no idea where he came from. But one minute I was running through the list of ways to get rid of Mr. Sleazeball, and the next Jameson was playing with my suspenders.”
“The guy’s name was Jameson? Even that’s hot.”
“Right?”
“Definitely. And he was playing with your suspenders? How? Like pulling them out and letting them snap back?”
Jude went to demonstrate, and I slapped his hand away. “No. He was sliding his fingers up and down them. Kind of, I don’t know, flirting with them.”
“And you, by the sounds of it.”
I screwed my nose up. “See, I don’t think so.”
The Uber pulled to a stop in front of my building, and we climbed out.
“What do you mean? You said he was playing with your clothes. Flirting with them.”
“Right, but only to help me. As soon as Mitch—”
“Who’s Mitch?”
“Mr. Sleazeball.”
“Oh, right.”
“As soon as he left, Jameson basically ran out of the place like it was on fire. I didn’t even get a chance to thank him.”
I pulled open the door to my lobby and headed to the elevator, where I hit the button for the tenth floor.
“Did you at least get his number?” Jude asked.
“No.”
“His last name?”
“Didn’t get that either.”
“Have I taught you nothing?” Jude shook his head like a disappointed teacher.
“I’m older than you, have you forgotten that? So no, you haven’t taught me anything.”
Jude rolled his eyes. “You’re older by, like, a year, and don’t change the subject. How could you let him leave without getting his name or his number?”
“I got his name.”
“Not his full name?”
“And I didn’t let him leave.” I fished my keys out of my coat pocket and unlocked my door. “I chased after him.”
“We-e-ell, why didn’t you say so?”
As the door shut behind us, we shrugged our coats off and headed into the kitchen.
“Because it doesn’t change all that much.”
“Why not? Was he already gone?”
“No. He…” I thought about our encounter in the side street and the conflicting messages I’d gotten from him. “I don’t think he really likes me.”
“What?” Jude laughed and took a seat on one of the barstools surrounding my kitchen island. “Everyone likes you.”
“I don’t know. He seemed almost annoyed by the whole thing? Told me I was out of my element being there.” I went to the freezer and grabbed a bottle of Smirnoff, then held it up. “Shots?”
“Count me in.”
I slid the bottle over to Jude, grabbed a couple of shot glasses, then took the seat beside him. “I mean, we did stand out like sore thumbs there.”