He blinked at how quickly she’d come up with the solution. He knew she did this for a living and he wished this was out of the goodness of her heart but he knew Dre well enough. She didn’t do anything any other way than perfectly. “Okay and online ordering?”
“Same,” she shrugged. “You don’t use paper for orders, do you?”
He scowled and folded his arms.
Dre wasn’t intimidated. She never was. “Same thing. The order shoots to the slip in back with the name of the order so the kitchen can prep it and it can have a giant ‘To Go’ print on it so your people can separate the orders during expediting. Or you can get one printer just for online orders and get paper with a ‘To Go’ watermark. Up to you.”
“You’ve got an answer for everything.”
“Not my first rodeo. And restaurant people are always looking to pinch pennies. Going paperless is a good way to do that.”
Because heaven forbid you do it just to be nice. He knew that wasn’t fair but he didn’t feel very fair at the moment. Her professional efficiency, creativity and money saving should make him feel good, satisfied that she did damn good work. Instead he felt resentful. Angry. Petty. “Yeah, you’re an old pro,” he bit out with more sarcasm than he wanted to hear.
Her hazel gaze narrowed. “Problem?”
His gaze locked on hers, looking to see if he could find something, anything of the Dre he used to know in there. Somehow her light still managed to shine even though he could see it had dimmed considerably. Her eyes always seemed to have that trick of the light that made them gleam, and back then she’d been whole and that light had been blinding. Electrifying. Now the light could still be seen, yet there was something missing. Something I stole from her. “None.”
“Right,” she looked around at the early lunchers before turning back to Erick. “If you think of anything just email it.” She packed her electronics away except one and turned to go.
“Running again?”
“I only run for exercise.”
He wanted to laugh as much as he wanted to shake some sense into her. She was always on. Always prickly. Did she ever let anyone see her? The real her? “Then where are you going?”
She sighed like she was bored with the conversation. “I’m grabbing a table.”
“What’s wrong with the bar?”
“Bad company,” she growled.
Then he did laugh because everything about the answer was just so…Dre. “You meeting someone?”
“None of your business. I’ll have a Delirium Nocturnum.” She took a seat and seconds later the hostess approached from one end, Chad from the other. “Not you,” she held up a hand to him while explaining to the hostess she was on the list and gave her name. “No problem,” she said sweetly and sauntered off.
“Dude your chick is surly. Someone else has to deal with her even though she’s in my section.”
“I’ll do it. Keep an eye on the bar.” Popping the cap on the bottle along with a shot of tequila he went to her table. “There you go, Princess.”
“Yeah, thanks,” she muttered.
“Do you mind if I join you?” He braced himself. She’d been on a roll all morning and if she said no it wouldn’t be politely.
Her gaze searched his face, for what he didn’t know but he was grateful for the moment because she was too busy looking at him to notice how carefully he examined her. Her hazel gaze was unguarded for once and he caught a flashing of longing, wistfulness in her eyes. It was a welcome sight and when it was gone, he ached to see it again. “Not at all. Have a seat.”
Time. He just needed a few dozen moments like this and Dre would be his again.
Why am I doing this to myself? Dre was determined to hang on to her mad at Erick. It was the only way she could be sure she wouldn’t fall under his spell again. Yet she’d let him join her for lunch and without a fight. Agreeing so easily was bad enough, but talking to him. Allowing the walls between them to drop even temporarily, felt more dangerous than simply eating together. More intimate too. So how had she ended up talking about her time in Tokyo? “I fixed all the English on their menus and website in exchange for the spiciest noodle bowl they served. It was hot as hell but delicious and worth the pain.”
“Were you alone?”
“Yep.” She preferred to travel alone because she could do and see whatever she wanted without a long drawn out discussion.
“Doesn’t that get lonely?”
“Not for me. I enjoy my own company and if I want someone to talk to I can always find that.”
“Sounds very…solitary.”
Of course he would say that. She’d gone just a couple weeks without visiting and he’d fucked someone else. Knocked her up. Stop, she admonished. That was the past. Only it wasn’t. “Works for me. Plus I’m around people all day. I live and work in the same building.” Her staff were always coming and going so really she wasn’t ever alone until ten o’clock at night when she forced everyone to go home.
“So why do you vacation alone?”
“I like to make my own schedule, pick my own activities.”
“Is that the only reason?”
“It’s the main reason.” She looked at him, daring him to dig. To push.
His lips curled and she knew. He would push. “What are some of the other reasons?”
She thought about all the reasons she’d given over the years. She could tell him that she kept everyone at a distance, never letting them get close enough to forge those types of relationships. Tell him that seeing the sights of the world without him was bad enough that she didn’t need to bring someone else along to make miserable. She refused to say any of that so she just said, “I prefer my own company above all else.”
“What about dating?”
“I don’t date,” she answered simply, waiting for that fucking look. The sympathetic head tilt people gave you when you said you didn’t date or didn’t want children. Like there was something defective about you. Not them.
But the look never came. Just a flash of regret covered quickly by understanding. That almost hurt more. “Why not?”
“What’s the point?”
Her shoulders sank in disappointment. He didn’t get it. “What do you mean what’s the point? Love, a relationship, a future. A family.”
“I have people I love,” she ticked a few names off her fingers. “I have companionship, relationships. My future is looking pretty bright, thanks.” Arms crossed she knew she gave all kinds of fuck off signs but so what?
“And family?”
“Overrated.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“Sure I do,” she shrugged and took a long pull from her beer. “A lot has changed over the years Erick. People change. Their wants and needs change.”
“That much?”
She nodded. “I get what I need from my life exactly the way it is. I don’t need to make any changes but if I feel the need to, I will.”
“I’m not judging Dre, just curious.”
“I know,” she said on a rushed breath. There was no reason to keep this from him, after all he was the architect of this life. “I don’t trust anyone enough to let them close. Eventually they get sick of earning my trust and either betray it or they walk away. I’m used to it.” It’s not like she didn’t know the truth of people’s nature so she kept things simple. Guys for sex and friends for the rest.
“You shouldn’t have to Dre.” His voice was insistent. Tortured.
“Maybe. Maybe not, but I choose to. I make sure all my needs are being met.”
“Is that what the other night was about? Scratching an itch?”
She knew it would come eventually. No way would Erick go this long without talking about it. She’d known that the minute she started the trip to Maverick’s. “To an extent yes. We were always attracted to one another. That was never the problem.” If he would have shut up about it thirty seconds ago she might have been game for another go at him, for a few hours at least.<
br />
“So you wouldn’t be opposed to doing it again?”
“Not at all,” she answered honestly. “You’re surprised.”
“Yeah, you shocked the hell out of me. I was bracing myself for a no.”
Her gaze narrowed and she rested her chin in her hand. “What’s your goal in all this?”
Erick leaned forward, eyes sparkling with challenge. Amusement. “Does it matter? If you’re confident you can resist everything but my body, nothing I do will matter. Definitely not my motivation.”
“That doesn’t mean I don’t want to know.”
“You’re a smart girl Dre. Figure it out.”
That was the problem. She didn’t want to figure it out because if she did then she would have to come up with a response. A decision she wasn’t prepared to make. So she would not figure it out. Dre, for once in her life, would let it be. “You free tonight?” Her gaze went right to that kissable mouth. The mouth that taught her everything she needed to know about kissing beckoned her.
“I was kind of hoping I would be.”
She smiled. “What time?”
“I get off at ten.”
“See you at ten thirty then.” She ignored the flash of lightning in her chest at his eager smile, left a few bills to cover lunch and stood. “Until later.”
Chapter Fifteen
“I’m not going into details with you, Ma.” Fresh from the shower, Erick had called his mother for reassurance thought now he was starting to wonder why.
“Fine,” she huffed out a sigh. “But if you think sex is the best way to lower her defenses where you’re concerned, I just want to say that I approve.”
“Ma,” he groaned and palmed his face, shaking his head. What other man his age had to listen to his own mother talk about sex?
“Oh come on, Erick. You think I didn’t know what you two were up to in your room for hours on end? Less than half of that was actual computer work. You couldn’t keep your hands off each other. Use it to your advantage.”
“Ma, please. If you love me at all, stop talking.”
Sarah only laughed. “I’m just saying that a woman like Andrea is used to getting her needs met, you need to keep her so happy she forgets how angry she still is at you. Let her get to know you again. Fall in love with you again.” She rolled her wrist for emphasis and smiled wider.
Dammit, that was exactly his plan. “Still not talking about this with you Ma. Thanks for watching Orchid tonight.” He stepped into a pair of basketball shorts and a cotton sleeveless t-shirt. Dre used to love his arms and he hoped she liked the new and improved ones even better.
“It’s no problem. Especially since you’re using your skills in the bedroom to get Andrea back. Pull out all the stops son, she won’t stay here forever without a good reason.”
“Ma! I will come by in the morning and make you breakfast okay? Good night,” he said without waiting for a response but one came anyway.
“Better night to you. Be sure to spend plenty of time on foreplay honey, women really love that. Really.”
“Love you, bye.” He just hung up before she started giving him pointers on oral. “Gross.” Reaching for his keys and the expensive bottle of tequila he’d been saving for a special occasion and made the five minute trip to Dre’s on foot. Why his body hummed with nerves, he had no idea only that butterflies flapped their wings to break free and his head buzzed with the high of arousal.
Lunch today with Dre had been a lot like it used to be. What it should have always been for them. Today had crystallized everything in his mind. He could see them together, visualize it all before him the way it could have been. Erick felt certainty that they belonged together. Forever. Just like they’d always planned.
And dammit Dre would just have to get on board.
“You gonna stand out there all night or knock and maybe come in,” she asked through the door.
“Maybe?” He gave her a look that said she was reaching on that one. “Just getting out of my own head.” Honesty had always worked with Dre and he figured there would be no point in lying now. She would see right through it and punish him further for that particular sin. Spine straight, he took a long fortifying breath and gave four sharp knocks.
A beat later Dre pulled the oversized wooden door open dressed up in lavender lace that gave her skin a golden brown glow and highlighted the groups of freckles all over her skin. “Come on in.” A reluctant grin played her lips as she took a step back, enjoying his reaction. It was written all over her face.
“You look…damn Dre. Hot.” She looked more than hot. More like mouth-watering in the silky confection that somehow showed nothing while revealing nearly everything. Lacy and sexy as hell, his fingers itched to touch her again.
“Thanks,” she ran a hand around his shoulders and down his biceps. “And you’re looking pretty damn hot yourself.” Desire flared in her eyes and he took the last step. “What’s in the bag?”
“Things.”
She rolled her eyes but Erick grinned as he spotted the affectionate look she wore as she walked ahead, leaving him to follow and by follow he meant watch the seductive sway of her hips and sultry confident strides as she walked. Dre didn’t need sexy heels to give her back that sought after arch, even barefoot she exuded the kind of sensuality most women tried to fake. “What kinds of things?” Her voice pitched low, smooth like aged whiskey. Neat.
“Fancy tequila for starters.”
Hazel eyes went wide and rounded with surprise. “I already like what I see. What else?” She tried to reach her hand into the bag but he held it out of reach, flashing an amused smile at her pout.
When he held up a big box of condoms she laughed. “And these to add to your collection.” Two black and gold shot glasses with the Maverick’s logo to add to her collection from around the world.
“Let’s break them in then.” A quick rinse and she returned to the sofa, sitting right beside him, warm skin and fresh earthy scent enveloped him. “Should we toast or just drink?”
“Drink.” He poured liquid into each glass and they drank. He poured more and they drank again. “Good?”
Dre nodded and stood. “For now. Let’s go,” she told him and started down the hall. When her feet landed on the third step she turned to him. “Bring the tequila with you.”
Erick went back and got the bottle, running up the stairs after her. “Not so fast,” he murmured, looking through every door in search of her. “Dre?” He picked up a scrap of something on the floor and smiled. Lavender silk and lace. She wants to play.
“I guess I’ll just have to start without you.”
He caught her voice and followed it, letting out a long strangled groan when he caught sight of her in nothing but a small scrap of nearly transparent lace. Her mass of wild black curls fanned out around her and miles of smooth freckled skin naked to his gaze. “I don’t think so babe. I’m in charge tonight.”
“Oh yeah?”
He ate up the wooden floor between them, kneeling on the bed and taking her calf in hand and nodding. “Yeah.” She needed to see that she didn’t always have to be the one in charge. That he wouldn’t always let her be in charge, either. Dre didn’t need control all the time, she needed someone to wrest it from her once in a while. “Your pleasure is on me tonight.”
“And your pleasure?”
He kissed one ankle and then the other. “My pleasure has already begun.” He was satisfied by the way her breath caught and the way her skin flushed because he knew she wanted it too. Was just as affected by it. He could tell by the way her body trembled under his touch, under his lips. The way she couldn’t contain her pleasure and cried out. Erick took his time, touching and tasting every inch of her skin, playing along her skin until he reacquainted himself with every inch of her. Her mouth. Small round breasts, the flair of her hips. The spray of freckles on her left shoulder. Everywhere. “Coconut. You taste like coconut.”
“You like?” Her voice was low and breathless, full of plea
sure.
His response was simple and effective. Put his mouth on her and show her exactly how much he liked it. Liked her. Twice. “Yeah I like.”
That moment. That smile and the dreamy look she wore were why he was still here. Her sexual satisfaction was too great, her mind too fogged to remember to keep the walls up. Instead of disdain, indifference, open hostility, there was affection. Maybe even love. Definitely desire. Heat. “Erick,” she panted and he knew.
Knew she was ready for him. “Yes, Dre,” he whispered in her ear, pressing kisses to her neck and shoulders. He smiled at the shiver that ripped through her.
“Need you. Now.” Reaching between them she gripped him in her hand, stroking and guiding him where she needed him. Sliding him through her moisture until his cock was coated with it.
“Not yet.” He groaned when he sank just a little, into her. But the stubborn damn woman wouldn’t listen. Strong legs wrapped around his waist, heels in his back digging deep.
“Yes. Please.”
It was hearing that husky voice, that voice that always sounded so scathing and sharp, beg him that really got to him. Erick let go. Gave in to her cries. Her whimpers that slowly undid a little of his resolve as she tightened and clenched around him. She gasped and moaned when he was fully seated, tongue slicking against his skin. “You make me crazy.”
His pace stayed slow and intense, gaze locked with hers the same way they had the first time they made love. They were both different people now but that feeling, that thing that always crackled between them, was there and as strong as ever. “I know the feeling.”
It took him a second to remember what he’d said and he laughed.
“Oh.”
“Like that?”
“Yeah it hits that good spot.”
He brushed kisses along her jaw and moved his hips until that sexy smirk appeared again. “Then let’s see how many times I can hit that good spot,” he whispered and proceeded to drive them both out of their ever loving minds.
Best Of My Love: (Love in Emerald Creek) Page 14
