She flinched. “Too fishy.”
“The cavatelli?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Too carby.”
“Uh…” He laughed. He couldn’t help it. It was a miracle he’d gotten her to walk out the door with him, at this rate. Hell, he almost hadn’t. “The farm salad?”
“Too—”
“Eggy?” he supplied.
Her cheeks heated, turning a bewitching shade of pink, and she fidgeted with the menu. “I’m sorry. I’m being annoying. If you want, we can call this whole thing off and—”
“You’re not being annoying at all.” He laid his hand over hers on the table, squeezing it. “I already told you, I’d wait all night for you, if need be. Take your time.”
She stared at him.
Just stared.
After a while, he shifted uncomfortably in his chair, and let go of her hand. “What is it now?”
“Do you say that to all the girls? That you’ll wait all night?”
“No.” He tapped his fingers on the table. “Honestly, if you were any other girl, I’d be out of here.”
She picked her menu up again. “Why stay, then?”
“Why not?” he countered.
Frowning at her menu, she stared at it some more, not answering him. He settled in for a longer wait, getting comfortable.
She shot him another look over the top of her menu.
The waiter brought their drinks, setting them down. As he bowed, he looked at Shelby, who was clearly still deciding, and walked away. His shoulders were stiff.
It had been thirty minutes, and all he’d gotten was their drink order.
Eric made a mental note to double the tip for the evening.
“I think I’ll start with the…the potato.” She smiled and set the menu down. “You?”
“Crab.” And then the duck, feta, and caramel apple soufflé. “It’s great.”
“As in, you’ve had it?”
“Once or twice, sure,” he answered.
“Do you bring all your dates here, then?” she asked, gesturing around them. “Is this your spiel?”
“I’ve brought one other woman here before, but she’s my sister, not a girl I’d bring on a date. If you really want to know, generally when I take a woman out, I opt for somewhere with less elegance and more heat. Something that lends itself to an easy seduction later on. I like to get my date relaxed, show them a good time, take them dancing, and maybe bring them home.”
She snorted. “Maybe?”
“Shelby…” he started, frowning.
“What?” She held her hands up, looking far too innocent for it to be real. “I’m just saying, we do live in the same building. I’ve seen a lot of women come through your place.”
“Clearly,” he muttered drily.
“Why not bring me to a seduction restaurant?” she asked, leaning forward. The way she sat pushed her breasts up, teasing him with a glimpse of cleavage that made his mouth water. “Why take me to the same place you bring your sister?”
He reached across the table, catching her chin. “Because I don’t want to seduce you, Shelby.”
“Wow.” For a second, she looked offended. “That’s—”
“I wasn’t finished. I have no intention of seeing you naked tonight, or on our next date, or even the next, if I’m lucky enough to get one. With you, I want it to be a slow burn. I’ll start with something so small you barely even notice me, and over time, the intensity will increase, until you’re breathless and witless and desperate for my touch. Then, and only then, will I let myself even think about having you. After I’ve earned it, and not a damn second before.”
She sucked in a breath, held it, and didn’t move.
He didn’t break eye contact. Neither did she.
After what felt like an eternity, the waiter came back, clearing his throat. “Sir? Ma’am? Are you ready to order? Or would you prefer to order course by course?”
She was the first one to look away.
“Y-Yes.” She tucked her hair behind her ear, and her hand trembled. “I’ll have the potato, the steak, and the feta. Also, the caramel apple for dessert.”
Eric frowned at her.
She’d said she hadn’t even looked yet.
Forcing his eyes off her, he glanced down at the menu to see the recommended wine pairing for the steak entrée she’d ordered. “I’ll have the crab, duck, feta, and caramel apple as well. Also, a bottle of cabernet with the second course.”
The waiter bowed and left with the menus, and Shelby cleared her throat, her cheeks flushed a bewitching pink. “Look, Eric—”
“You’re about to tell me to back off. I can see it. Did I come on too strong?” He crossed his arms. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. Like I said, I don’t play games.”
“I don’t, either, usually.”
He cocked a brow. “Usually?”
“I’m going to be honest. I’ve been trying to annoy you tonight. To make you not like me.” She winced, dropped the napkin, and then immediately picked it back up. “Actually, I needed you not to like me.”
He took a second to digest that. “Why? And what did you do to annoy me?”
“I know you hate waiting, and wasting time, and being late…”
“So you took your time with everything, and were late,” he said, since she seemed to have no intention of finishing her sentence. “That’s what you’re saying?”
“Yes. I’m normally quite fast at choosing my meal. And I was ready to leave before you even knocked on my door. I’m always punctual.”
“How long have you known what you wanted to eat, then?” he asked drily.
“Within thirty seconds of reading the menu.” She shot him an ashamed look. “I’m pretty quick at deciding what I want, just like you. I was just trying to annoy you.”
“It wasn’t annoying me…yet.”
“Oh, it would have. Eventually. If I’d stuck with it.”
He picked up his beer and took a sip. “Why the pretense in the first place? Why not just tell me you didn’t want to go out with me? I would’ve let it be. I would’ve dropped it.”
“Because you would have still liked me, and you would still have been all flirty, and I would have still liked you.”
He frowned. “And?”
“And…that would have been bad. I mean, look at you.” She gestured toward him and drank her peach martini. After she swallowed, she continued. “You’re gorgeous, and you know full well how effective that smolder you’ve got going on is.”
He choked on a laugh. “My smolder? I don’t have a—”
“Yes, you do.”
“I—” He broke off and shrugged. “Okay. Fine. What about it?”
“It’s going to take me down, if I let it. I lost everything, and almost gave up, because of a man like you.” She pressed her red lips together. “I refuse to fall for another guy who could have the power to destroy me. You’re too much like him. I need to be smarter this time. I can’t fall into the same traps I did with him.”
He shook his head. “I wouldn’t destroy you like that. Why the hell would I?”
“Look. I want things. Things I won’t get by staying here.”
He leaned in. “What kind of things?”
“I want a job in a small town, away from all of this, and I want a life that’s completely of my choosing. I can’t control everything. I can’t even control half of the things I wish I could.” She lifted a shoulder. “But I can control how I react to situations, and what I do with them, and I refuse to let myself fall for you. I refuse to lose myself in you. I’m not that girl.”
“You want to leave Atlanta,” he said, his voice level even though the idea of her leaving just after he’d found her made him feel ill.
“Desperately.” She picked up her drink again. “I’ve applied to a few places, even.”
“Where?”
“Everywhere. Tennessee. Virginia. Texas.” She smiled faintly. “I’m open to wherever, as long as it’s a
small town, away from cities like this.”
“I…see.” He blinked, not sure why it bothered him so much that she was planning on leaving. But it fucking did. “I grew up in a small town. It had your last name. Jefferson. Everyone knows one another’s business. Everyone knows everyone else’s secrets. People know what you did before you’re even done doing it.” He paused. “I absolutely hated it.”
“I miss it.” She closed her eyes for a second. “I grew up in a small town, too. I thought I wanted to be in a city, but I was wrong. I’m not a city girl at all. As soon as I find a job, I’m out of here, and I’m never coming back.”
Well, shit. “I don’t see what I have to do with that, adversely or otherwise. If you want to leave, then leave, but that doesn’t mean we can’t go on a date.”
“I tried telling myself that. I did. But you see, like I said, I came here for a guy. He was a smooth talker, like you, and he always said all the right things at all the right times, like you. I trusted him. Loved him. Changed my whole life for him.” She hesitated, then added, “I could see myself doing that for you, too. Changing myself.”
He held a hand up. “I’m not asking for you to love me, Shel. I just want to be your friend, and maybe make you come a few times in my bedroom. I’m not asking for a relationship, or anything serious. As a matter of fact, I don’t do relationships at all. Ever.”
“I…” She stared at him, her jaw hanging open at his honesty. “Hypothetically, if I let you work your magic on me, and do that whole slow burn thing you were talking about…which was really sexy, by the way…then, again hypothetically, I’m going to fall for you. I’m sure I would. It would be easy to fall for you…hypothetically. I see that now.”
“You’re worried I’ll make you fall for me, and change your mind about leaving.” He held up a finger when she opened her mouth. “Hypothetically.”
She nodded once. “Yes.”
“I would never try to keep you here. And I don’t want you to fall for me like that.” He forced a smile. “In fact, I’d prefer it if you didn’t. It just complicates things when I walk away.”
Again, she looked at him in surprise. “But I might want to stay. Because of you. And if I did, I’d grow to resent that choice over time.”
He laughed. “You’re writing out our whole story before we even finish our first date, Shel. Who says I won’t be so bad in bed that you run in the opposite direction?”
She leaned in. “Tell me you haven’t thought of where this is going, or what you want. I know how your mind works. You’ve played out all the scenarios, too.”
He could deny it. Pretend he hadn’t. But he wasn’t a liar. So he nodded. “In my mind, it ends with us naked in bed and you looking pretty damn happy. That’s as far as I’ve gotten.”
“Look, I like you. You seem like you’re a good guy. You did it—you showed me you’re not the guy I thought you were. We could probably even be friends.” She looked up from her drink. “But that’s all this could ever be. I can’t fall for you. I can’t sleep with you. You can’t make me come in your bed or mine. You’re too much of a risk, and I don’t take those anymore.”
He heard every damn word she said, and he even understood it.
If he were her, he’d be saying the same damn thing.
But he wasn’t ready to give up yet.
If she didn’t want to be with him, and all she could offer was friendship, then fine. So be it. They’d be friends. He’d never been friends with a woman before, let alone one he wanted, but he’d be willing to give it a shot for her. He swallowed. “Consider this a dinner between two friends, enjoying one another’s company, with no sexual tension between them, then.”
She blinked. “You still want to be my friend?”
“Of course I do.” He tapped a finger on the white tablecloth. “I wasn’t only here because I wanted to fuck you, Shel. Yes, I want to. And yes, I’m attracted to you, and I think that since you don’t want a relationship and I don’t either, we could have some fun…but I respect that you don’t want that. I want to get to know you, in any capacity you’re willing to allow.”
She bit down on her lip. “You always say the perfect things.”
“Sorry.” He smiled. “It’s a horrible habit of mine.”
She smiled. “Deplorable.”
“I’ll try to stop.”
She nodded. “Please do. I can’t accept your insufferable need to be so frigging perfect. It’s exhausting to watch.”
A laugh burst out of him, and for the first time, he wasn’t surprised. He wasn’t much of a laughing guy, but with her, he was. And he liked it. Go figure.
So, yeah, he’d be her friend.
Only her friend.
But if she gave him even the slightest hint that she wanted more than that, if she so much as leaned in for a damn kiss, then it was go time.
Chapter Six
Last night had been a complete disaster.
Even worse than that?
It had been the perfect date.
After she’d come clean to Eric about her antics, he’d behaved exactly the same as he had before she told him he had no chance of getting laid. He’d been charming. Funny. Patient. Kind. Everything she wanted in a guy and more. And that’s why it had been a disaster.
He’d been perfect.
Even worse?
She wanted him. Bad.
Sliding her purse over her shoulder, she grabbed her muffin, opened her door, and stepped into the hallway. As soon as she turned around, she spotted him standing against the wall again.
With two cups of coffee.
Damn it.
He smiled immediately. “Grande vanilla chai latte, right?”
“How…?” She walked toward him. “How did you know my drink?”
“I asked around.” He gave her an uneven grin that was way too sexy for her safety and held out a cup. “Good morning, Shel.”
She took the drink, her pulse picking up speed when his fingers touched hers, and stared at him. She was happy to see him this morning. Too happy. “Good morning.”
After she had her latte firmly in hand, he walked toward the elevator, talking as he went. “I have an early case this morning, so I wasn’t sure if you’d be out in time. But then I realized you were on that case, too, so you’d be leaving when I did, if you really did like to be on time like you said last night, so I decided to risk it.” He checked the time. “And it paid off. Right on schedule. I like this new version of you. It’s very punctual.”
She snorted. “It’s not new. It’s just me.”
The elevator opened, and he gestured her inside first. He was always the perfect gentleman. Was he a gentleman in bed, too? Did he ask permission before touching? Or was he dirty in bed? Something instinctual told her he was. Her temperature rose, and her legs shook as she walked past him, picturing him doing very dirty things to her.
Her arm brushed against his chest, and she bit back a moan.
God, she was out of control.
But, really, was it so bad to want to sleep with him? That’s what he did. Slept with people and moved on. He never fell for any of the girls he took home, and if she was careful to keep this just about sex, couldn’t she have a little fun with him before she turned the page to the next chapter of her life? As long as she remembered she couldn’t fall for him…
But could she trust herself not to?
She wasn’t sure.
That was the problem.
She took a big bite out of her muffin, staring at his abs. They looked so hard. She’d bet if he took his shirt off, she could count each and every—
“Are you okay?” he asked, eyeing her curiously as the door shut behind them.
She couldn’t answer because the muffin was dry and she had—oh the irony—bitten off more than she could chew. By the time she swallowed, she’d been sure she was going to choke to death right in front of the man she wanted to have sex with. They could put it on her obituary. Choked on a muffin, because she was too much
of a coward to tell a guy she wanted him. “Yes. Of course. Why do you ask?”
“You were staring at me weird.”
Her cheeks heated. “Sorry. I was lost in thought.”
That cocky brow of his shot up, and he stared at her with blue-gray eyes that had haunted her last night after he dropped her off at her door and shook her hand. He didn’t even try to kiss her but had stuck to his promise to be her friend, if that was all she wanted.
God, she wanted more.
She just didn’t want to want more.
“About…?” he finally asked.
She took another bite of her muffin. Say it. Tell him you rethought your stance, and maybe he had a point last night after all. That their situation was ideal, and no one would get attached, and a little bit of casual, fun sex was just what the doctor ordered for some sound sleep.
Because, God, she was horny, and he was her wet dream.
After she’d swallowed, she took a sip of coffee, and followed him into the lobby. “Nothing. I just…”
She didn’t finish the thought.
He opened the door for her. “You just…?”
“Nothing,” she said, avoiding his gaze.
“Okay.” He eyed her a little weirdly. “Would you like a ride to work?”
Alone in the car with him? Hell no. But…she was late, and not having to fight for a spot on the bus was a pretty welcoming thought. “If you don’t mind?”
“Not at all.” He led her to a black Ferrari, because of course he had a Ferrari, and opened her door for her. “Should I drop you off at the courthouse, or somewhere else?”
“Courthouse, please.” She slid in and frowned at him. “Why would you drop me off somewhere else?”
He shut the door, came around the back, and opened his own. Once he was settled into the driver’s seat, he gave her his full attention. She wished he hadn’t. “It occurred to me, I don’t know if you have an office outside of the courthouse, or if you just report there in the morning.”
“No office. Just the courthouse. I clock in in the back.” She took another bite of her muffin as he pulled out of the parking garage and onto the street. “Where’s your office?”
“It’s in an old Victorian building.” He turned left on Sycamore. “Do you like to paint?”
Romancing the Bachelor (A Hamilton Family Series) Page 4
