“Ladies,” Jensen said, a seductive grin stealing over his unfairly gorgeous features.
Good god, his accent. He’d grown up in London and that accent of his was a deadly weapon. I wondered how he managed to get it through customs.
Sweet-talked the customs agents, probably.
I nudged Sophie with my elbow. She was practically drooling.
“You remember Everly and Hazel,” Nora said, gesturing to the two of us. “And this is our friend Sophie.”
He took Everly’s hand and lifted it to his lips, kissing the backs of her fingers. “Everly, darling, the ring on your finger both wounds and delights me. Congratulations to the man who gets the pleasure of you for the rest of his life.”
There had been a time when that dramatic, yet admittedly swoony, speech and kiss would have left Everly blushing and fumbling for words. But perhaps marriage—or maybe simply Shepherd—had rendered her immune to Jensen’s considerable charm. She smiled, as if he was a normal person, not a walking sex god dripping pheromones. “Thank you, Jensen. It’s nice to see you again.”
Jensen blinked at her, like he was surprised by her response, or lack thereof. But he quickly recovered, turning his attention to me. “Hazel, you look ravishing as always. What I wouldn’t give to be the man who gets to rip that proper blouse right off you.”
Nora groaned.
His gaze warmed me from the inside, but I was pleased to realize he wasn’t reducing me to a senseless mute. I held out my hand with a smile and even when he brought it to his lips, I didn’t feel as if I were melting into a puddle beneath the table.
“Hello, Jensen. What brings you to Seattle?”
He hesitated for a second, my hand still perched in his, his smile faltering. “Business, naturally. And the chance to see my wonderful sister and her friends, of course.”
Nora sighed.
Sophie squeaked when he turned to her.
“Be strong,” I whispered. “You can do it.”
“Well, hello,” Jensen said, a predator sizing up potential new prey. “Aren’t you delicious. Sophie, is it?”
She nodded, her eyes wide.
“Lovely to meet you.” He took her hand and kissed the backs of her fingers. “How would you like to come with me and—”
“No.” Nora smacked his shoulder. “You are not taking her anywhere.”
He rolled his eyes and smoothly slipped into a chair between Nora and Sophie. “I was merely going to suggest we go to the bar and ask for drink menus.”
“No you weren’t.”
He grinned again. “Maybe not.”
“Behave yourself.”
“Well, that’s bloody boring.”
The server came and took our orders—martinis for the girls and a scotch on the rocks for Jensen. Everly told us a bit about her honeymoon. Sophie chatted about work, in between giggling glances at Jensen. Nora was working on a new series about high-end spa treatments for her column. Jensen said he was in town for business but didn’t elaborate. He seemed to mostly enjoy irritating his sister by trying to flirt with Sophie.
“Can we discuss the important issue, here?” Everly asked, looking at me. “What’s happening with Corban?”
“Very good question.” Nora raised her eyebrows and folded her hands.
“This sounds juicy.” Jensen rested his arm on the table and leaned forward. “Who’s Corban?”
“The guy she’s been hate-fucking,” Nora said.
His mouth hooked in a grin. “I’m proud of you, darling. I love a good hate-fuck.”
I pushed my glasses up my nose. “I don’t think that’s accurate anymore, nor can I continue calling him my nemesis.”
“Is his dick game that good?” Nora asked.
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. “It’s not just that, although our physical encounters have been…”
“Satisfying?” Sophie offered.
“Exciting?” Every asked.
“Mind-numbingly hot?” Nora said.
“Yes, all three.”
Nora’s lips curled in a smile. “Good for you, sweetie.”
“But you don’t hate him anymore?” Sophie asked.
I sighed. “No. Not at all.”
Nora clicked her tongue and shook her head. “There goes another one.”
“I haven’t gone anywhere, and certainly not the way of dating, engagement, and marriage, as your tone suggests. We’re no longer enemies—in fact, we work quite well as a team—and yes, we’ve slept together. Several times. But that’s all.”
“So no more hate-fucking,” Nora said. “Now you’re friends with benefits?”
I thought about that for a second. Was that an accurate descriptor of our current relationship? “Yes. I think so. Maybe.”
“It should be quite easy to tell,” Jensen said. “Are you friends?”
“Yes, I’d say we are now.”
“And you’re having sex?”
I nodded.
“But you’re not dating,” he said.
“We did have dinner together the other night. But it wasn’t a date.” I paused again, my mixed feelings—and confusion—over Corban swirling to the surface. “Actually, it might have been a date. I’m not entirely sure. These things are so much easier to determine when you’re observing the behavior of others instead of experiencing them yourself.”
“Well, tell us about dinner,” Everly said. “Did you just happen to eat together because it was convenient and then it started to feel like a date? Or did he ask you to dinner but you’re still not sure if he meant it as a date?”
“Neither. I invited him to my apartment and cooked him dinner.”
“Sounds pretty date-like,” Sophie said.
Jensen lifted a shoulder. “Maybe. Or it was a booty call with the added bonus of a meal. After all, he didn’t ask you out, but the other way around.”
Nora rolled her eyes again. “Since when does the man have to be the one to ask for it to count as a date?”
“He doesn’t.” He took a sip of his drink and I nudged Sophie under the table. She was staring at him again. “But if he’d asked her to dinner, it would undoubtedly have been a date. A man looking for no-strings sex isn’t going to feed her first. And if she’d asked him out, but they’d gone to a restaurant, that’s also clearly a date.”
“But since she invited him over to her place, dinner could have been her excuse to get him there for sex,” Nora said. “I hate to admit it, but you have a point.”
“Really?” Everly asked. “A booty-call dinner?”
“Certainly.” Jensen raised his glass. “And cheers, darling—if you’re feeding him and fucking him without commitment, he’s earned my envy.”
“Did he think it was a date?” Sophie asked.
“I’m not entirely clear on that, but I don’t think so.”
“And he’s never asked you out, has he?” Everly asked. “So you don’t have reason to believe he wants to get serious?”
I thought about his invitation to lunch with his sister and Paisley. That wouldn’t have been a date by anyone’s definition. He’d only asked me to join them because I happened to be in his office at the time.