“What a trusting pair we are,” he said knowing it was the cop in him and the Krav Maga master in her that caused their mirrored actions. He moved both chairs so they were placed next to each other but faced the door and restaurant.
She took her seat next to him. “We’re not a pair.”
“How could you not be hungry? Just get something.” He was a whirlwind, always ignoring her comments. He grabbed the menu.
She eyed the saying on his t-shirt. "Mine eyes smell onions."- All's Well that Ends Well by William Shakespeare. She smirked and raised an eyebrow at the phrase when he looked at her.
He smiled back. “Janie gave it to me when I was in college.” Then he took a breath and looked back at the menu. “I’m totally gettin’ the biggest cheeseburger they have with two orders of fries. And I’m dying for a chocolate milkshake,” he murmured. “I hope they have ’em here.” He continued to peruse the menu then closed it with finality when he made his decision. Leaning forward onto his forearms, he turned to her and pinned her with his eyes. “What are you gonna get?”
There was something in the way he asked the question that caused a rush of arousal to slam between her thighs. He used a husky tone, almost whispering the words while looking at her lips then licking his own. Before she could respond, he leaned a little more to the side to get closer to her and continued speaking in a low voice.
“You have the sexiest, smokiest eyes I’ve ever seen on a woman. They fuckin’ grab me by the nuts every time and just pull me in. Whether you’re wearing your glasses or not.”
She still had her contacts in. She’d been told that she had beautiful eyes for as long as she could remember, but the comments had never seemed to give her quite the same reaction as his words did at that moment. She cleared her throat, leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest. Then she pulled her lightweight sweater a little closer around her feeling uncomfortably exposed.
“Are you cold?” he asked in a surprised tone.
“I’m always cold,” she mumbled.
He examined her, cocking his head to the side. “You don’t like it when men compliment you, do you?”
“Have I become your latest case to try to figure out, Detective?”
He continued staring at her and nodded. The side of his mouth kicked up into a semblance of a smile.
“I love how uncomfortable it makes you.”
“How lovely for you,” she said dryly.
“It’s like you don’t know what to do with it when a man tells you you’re a gorgeous woman with sexy bedroom eyes, a killer body, literally and figuratively, and smart and strong to boot.” He paused when she just blinked at him. “I find that interesting.”
She tried to ignore what his words did to her. “Do you?” She grabbed for her water and took a sip. She looked at the condensation on the glass.
Fucking you was like sticking my dick into a glass of cold water.
Emily took a deep breath dispelling the memory of her ex’s words and slowly kicked her leg that was crossed over the other, trying to appear nonchalant and unaffected by his statement.
“What are you thinking about?”
His question came out of the blue and caused her to stop moving her leg. She looked at him with a ‘huh?’ look on her face.
“A shadow passed over your face and your eyes shut down before you caught yourself.”
“How observant. Do I have this to look forward to every time we’re together? Being picked apart and analyzed?” She needed to control her facial expressions better.
He shrugged. “Are you okay?”
Why was he being so nice to her? She was being such a bitch, it was amazing that he even liked sitting with her. Nothing she said seemed to ruffle him.
“I’m fine.”
He nodded and continued watching her.
“How’s your aunt doing? You know, Jonathan’s mom. The one who had the heart attack.” He was sincerely asking.
“She’s good. Great, actually. You’re going to meet her on Monday at the barbeque.” She smiled, already looking forward to it.
“Yeah? Nice. They’re coming down to visit?”
“Yeah, to meet Ayanna’s parents.”
“No, shit. Huh. Good for them.” He thought for a moment. “They seem happy together. Jonathan and Ayanna, I mean.”
“Yup. New love’ll do that to you.”
“I wouldn’t know.” She raised an eyebrow waiting for an explanation, but he only smiled. “Though watching Jeremy and Ryann together certainly gives me an education.”
Jeremy and Ryann were very affectionate with each other. Sometimes she suspected it embarrassed Ryann but Jeremy didn’t care. He was always touching her like he was afraid she would disappear if he lost physical contact.
“Does it bother you? Your best friend and cousin snagged like that? Seeing him so huggy kissy with her when they’re in public?”
“Me? No way. I think it’s great. My parents are the same way in their relationship. Hell, I’m the same way. Very tactile. It runs in our DNA.” He looked at her intently. “I definitely like to touch.”
“Yes, I’m aware. Much to my annoyance,” she mumbled.
“You don’t like being touched?”
“Why are we having this conversation? And where the hell is our waitress?” Emily began to take off her sweater. It was suddenly becoming a little warm.
“Here, I’ll take that for you,” he smiled knowingly, brushing his hand over hers while snagging the sweater from her grasp and draping it over the back of his chair.
Like magic, the waitress appeared. Mike ordered his gargantuan sized meal and she ordered a chicken salad on a bagel, disgruntled though she was. So, maybe I’m a little hungry after all. Sue me.
“So,” Mike began after the waitress left, “this mentoring program is an awesome idea. I’ve heard of other programs like it, but have never been involved in one.”
She nodded.
“You impress me, Emily White.” He leaned back and looked at her proudly.
A warmth bloomed inside her, but she only acknowledged his comment with a hint of a smile and another nod.
“I like that whole philosophy of men being more proactive. I know from my schooling how abuse against women really is a societal problem that starts with the breakdown of teaching guys how to be more responsible. I’ve always believed that on the peripheral, but until you said that women were the ones who were always called upon to deal with it by always having to be reactive, rather than the men being proactive, it kind of hit me differently,” he said. “We’ve been looking at the problem all wrong.”
“We women are forever being taught how to be more aware and cautious, how to protect ourselves. But no one ever stops and says maybe the guys just need to start learning how to be men and get their shit together so we women don’t always have to be the ones on the receiving end of it. I think women have been shit on enough. I’m not an idealist. I know the program isn’t gonna solve everything, but it’s a start. And if I can impact my little part of the world and help in my own little microcosm of society, then I feel like I should. When practically my whole high school turned on Taylor because of something that wasn’t her fault, it stuck with me. I guess that injustice fueled me to follow up with the idea.” He knew about Taylor and what had happened to her from previous conversations she’d had with him.
“You’re a warrior.”
He scrutinized her with his warm gaze. His description of her caused her to pause. She wasn’t sure if being thought of as a warrior was a good thing. Men didn’t want a warrior. They wanted damsels in distress, didn’t they? Isn’t that precisely why men didn’t want her? He continued with his thoughts.
“Your strength and confidence are very attractive qualities,” he murmured, staring at her.
She blinked disbelievingly, uncomfortable. She looked down and played with her napkin, shrugging away his compliment.
“Most people would’ve stewed over their thoughts and continued to c
omplain about the unfairness of society, but you actually did something about it. You should be very proud of yourself. How’s Taylor now?”
“She’s great. Like you heard earlier, she’ll be starting the program at her school this fall. She’s worked through what’s happened to her. She’s had to in order to become a guidance counselor who focuses on rape prevention. She’s an incredible woman.”
“I would love to meet her sometime.”
“I’m sure she’ll come down to visit one of these days. Maybe Columbus Day weekend when they have off school.” Strangely, Emily couldn’t wait for Taylor to meet the detective. She knew Taylor would like him. His personality was similar to that of her cousin Mark, who Taylor always enjoyed. In fact, she’d suspected Taylor had had a crush on Mark for ages.
“Good. We’ll have to get a group together if she comes down. But seriously. I’m looking forward to being a part of the program.”
“I’m glad. I knew you would be perfect for it.”
He cocked his head. “I’m touched,” he smirked. “I didn’t think you thought that highly of me.”
“Don’t get too excited, Detective,” she smiled. “My thoughts about you continue to be what they’ve always been,” she said dryly. That wasn’t exactly a lie.
He examined her, not letting her get away with the compliment before causing her to squirm. “Yeah? Well that sounds promising. What other thoughts have you been holding out on? That you think I’m the hottest, sexiest man on the planet and you can’t wait to get into my pants?”
She smiled. “Keep dreaming, buddy.”
“Trust me, baby, I am. You’ve been playing the starring role in my dreams for a while now. In fact, I’m having a very enjoyable one right now with my eyes open. Wanna hear about it?”
She shook her head at his antics and looked for their waitress. He chuckled at her discomfiture.
“I must admit, though. I was hoping you’d wanna do something a little more physical when you had me all to yourself for an hour.”
“I’d just spent the last 45 minutes kicking your ass again. What other physical activity did you think I’d actually do with you, Detective?” She knew what his answer to the question would be and she desperately wanted to hear it from his mouth.
“Are you flirting with me, Emily?”
She licked her lips and smiled. He continued.
“Well, since you asked, I was hoping it would be something that required no clothes, a bottle of massage oil, and my king sized bed.” He licked his lips and pinned her with his eyes, watching for her reaction. “Maybe my handcuffs,” he murmured.
She swallowed. God, could it get any hotter in this damn restaurant? She felt like her body was about to go up in flames. She continued schooling her features, but grabbed her water glass to take another huge gulp. Michael, in his typical devil may care way kept talking as if he hadn’t just painted the most erotic picture she’d ever seen in her mind’s eye.
“Were you gonna ask some of the guys if they’d be interested in helping out?”
By ‘guys’ she assumed he meant Jeremy and Luke, maybe even Dr. Drew, the doctor who’d patched up Ryann after she’d been shot. She nodded. “And maybe a guy or two from work.”
“Yeah?” He continued looking at her. “Which guys from work?”
She looked back, a smile lightly touching her lips. “Just some guys.”
“That guy you brought to the art show a few weeks ago. I can’t remember his name –”
“Ollie.”
“You asking him?”
“Yeah. I’m sure there are some boys who can relate to him. He’s not always socially comfortable, but he’s a genius on a computer.”
Mike nodded and continued looking at her. “What’s going on between you two?”
She raised an eyebrow and tried not to chuckle. There was absolutely nothing going on between her and Ollie, but Mike didn’t know that.
“Why, Detective?”
“Just curious.”
“Ollie’s a sweetheart. He’s one of our IT guys.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“I know,” she smirked, taking another sip of her water.
“Are you sleeping with him?”
She choked on her water. Now he was the one smirking.
“Like that’s any of your business,” she sputtered wiping her mouth.
He ignored her. “No, the more I think about it I don’t think you’d ever be fucking a guy like Ollie. Unless of course you were trying to give the poor guy a heart attack. You’re way too much woman for him. You need a man who could be your equal in the bedroom.”
He was right. That was exactly what she needed. What she craved. A man who was her equal and maybe even stronger. Someone she could lean on when she needed to.
He waited, looking at her while the silence played out.
“Am I supposed to respond to that statement?” she asked.
“You know what else I think?” He had a dirty habit of ignoring her questions. He continued leaning in. “When –”
They were interrupted by the waitress with their food. Once she set it down and refilled their water glasses, she disappeared.
Emily couldn’t even think of eating. All she wanted to know was what he’d been about to say before their food had arrived. He, however, dug right in and took a huge bite of his burger.
Trying not to appear anxious, she took a bite of her own lunch. They ate in silence for a couple of minutes except for the sounds of pleasure coming from Mike while enjoying his meal.
She just knew that’s what he would sound like when he was deep inside a woman. She took a bite of her sandwich trying to calm her racing heart and butterflies.
“I think you like having the control during sex, am I right?”
She was choking again, this time on a piece of bagel lodged in her throat. He pounded lightly on her back and kept going.
“You don’t like talking about sex?”
“We’re not talking about sex. You are.”
“I think you like control,” again ignoring her, “but I also sense you need to let go. Have someone else to take control every once in a while.” He took another bite of his burger, like they were talking about the weather.
“Why the hell are we talking about this?” she muttered then grabbed her water again to buy some time.
“Because I’m gonna be that guy.” Then without a care in the world, he shoved a couple of fries into his mouth.
She swallowed the water hard and put the glass down even harder, sloshing water onto the table. She couldn’t stop staring at him. “You’re gonna be what guy?” Her body was humming with sexual arousal. He was the most arrogant man she had ever met, and she’d thought her cousin Mark was bad.
All she wanted to do was crawl into his lap, bite on his neck and pull on his hair while he fucked her right where he sat. She had to look down so he couldn’t read it in her eyes.
He waved a fry in the air with a flourish and said as if speaking to a child, “The guy who’s gonna give you the control you need in the bedroom but who’s also going to teach you how to let go and have fun. Show you how to let loose at the same time.”
“Are you seriously for real?” She finally looked back at him.
He smiled charmingly. “Of course.”
“You think you and I are going to be having sex?” Yes, please.
“You can take one word out of that statement.”
“Which word? Sex?”
He rolled his eyes.
She growled.
“And that, Em,” he whispered, “is the sound I’m looking forward to hearing from the back of your throat when we’re fucking each other’s brains out until we can’t see straight.” He popped another fry into his mouth then pushed his plate away. After wiping his hands on his napkin, he took her hand in his before she could stop him then began playing with her fingers.
“Emily, look at me.”
She did, but with exasperation.
“With each other?”
He chuckled. “Yes, Emily. With each other. So it’s time to wrap your pretty little head around that fact.”
She removed her hand from his and leaned back, crossing her arms over her chest. She smiled when saying, “You’re just so confident, aren’t you, Detective? Don’t you know the more you push me, the more I’m going to pull away?”
“But see, that’s what adds to the excitement. The push and pull.”
“That’s what adds to the excitement for a time, Detective.” She was purposely not using his first name. She needed to create some distance from him until she could figure out how to play the situation. “Then, like every other man in the world, when the challenge is over, you’ll move on.” She realized too late that she’d shown too many of her cards. Her statement implied that she’d experienced it before and that she wouldn’t want a man to ‘move on’. That she wanted a man to stay.
“You don’t know that will happen,” he said quietly, watching her.
“Let’s be honest with each other, okay?” She leaned forward. “You’re a lover of women. Pure and simple. You’re looking for a good time and when you’re done with your good time, you’ll move on to the next one. That’s all fine and dandy, Detective Callahan, if you want to live your life that way, but I’m not interested in being a notch on the bedpost, if you catch my drift.”
“Again, you’re making assumptions and as a lawyer I’m surprised you would do that.”
She rolled her eyes. “My assumptions are based on very astute observations. Come on. You’re an outrageous flirt with every female I’ve ever seen you around.”
He waved that away. “That’s just my way. It means nothing. I do love women. I love their minds and how they reason and talk, I love laughing with them, fighting with them, and yes, I love fucking them. But that doesn’t mean I fuck any woman on the street. I do have some scruples, Em,” he finished with a cute pout.
She huffed out an exasperated sigh. “My point is you’re a good time kinda guy. You’re not serious in relationships –”
Revelation: A Contemporary Erotic Romance (Iris Series) Page 6
