James’s fingers tightened around hers, but he didn’t say anything else.
Chapter Eleven
After parting ways with Lyssa and her family in front of their apartment building, James headed home. He’d planned on getting some work done that evening, but given the day’s events, he couldn’t bring himself to focus on it. His cavernous apartment with its spectacular city view had every comfort he could possibly desire, but tonight it just seemed empty. So that was how he found himself inside a cab, headed down to his younger brother Sam’s favorite haunt in the West Village. He didn’t bother calling Sam first. If he wasn’t there, James would just have a few drinks alone.
At half past eight o’clock, he stepped through the double doors into Beringer’s Pub. The place was bustling, as could be expected on a Saturday night, but he found his brother right away. Sam was seated at his usual spot at the bar, chatting with the beautiful brunette on the other side. Zoey and her twin brother Zachary were Sam’s best friends and owners of Beringer’s Pub, though it was more of a side business. Much to the dismay of her parents, Zoey liked to tend bar when she wasn’t busy with the family’s real estate empire.
The seats at the counter were all taken, so James slid into the empty space right beside Sam’s stool and clapped him on the back. Sam whirled on his stool to face him just as Zoey’s eyes landed on him. She gave him a wide smile. “Well, look what the cat dragged in.”
“Wow,” Sam said. “This is a surprise.”
James frowned. “It’s not that surprising. I do go out occasionally.”
“It’s been a while, though,” Zoey commented. “I figured Andrew had chained you to your desk.”
She turned around and grabbed a glass and a bottle of his favorite whiskey.
Sam gave him an assessing glance. “You look troubled.”
Leave it to Sam to take note of that right away.
The guy next to him rose from his stool, so James grabbed it and scooted closer to Sam.
“Here.” Zoey plunked a full glass of whiskey in front of James. “You look like you could use this.”
“Thanks.” He accepted the glass gratefully, and Zoey lifted the whiskey bottle to pour Sam a refill.
“I’m glad you’re here. It’s crazy busy tonight and Sam kept distracting me.” Zoey winked at James. “Now you can babysit him.”
Sam snorted out a laugh. “You’re the one who needs a keeper, at least according to your brother.”
Zoey scowled and flipped him the bird before moving on to take some orders.
“So what’s up?” Sam asked, rolling the bottom his glass around on the bar top.
Sighing, James considered how much he wanted to tell his brother. In the end, he decided to spill it all. “I met someone a few days ago.”
One of Sam’s brows lifted. “And?”
“And I like her. I like her a lot.”
“You said it twice, so it must be true,” Sam teased.
When James shot him a dirty look, Sam sobered. “Wait, you mean as in, more than a fuck buddy?”
“Yes.” As an afterthought, James added, “Also, you know I hate that term, dumbass.”
“Wow.” Sam scratched his chin. “So, what’s the problem?”
“We’re both competing for Martin Freeman’s investment.”
When Sam blinked, James explained the whole sordid mess, capping off with everything he’d learned earlier that day.
“Oh, man.” Sam winced. “That’s tough, bro. I feel for you.”
“Yeah.” James lifted his glass and took a healthy swallow. The liquid burned its way down his throat. “What would you do if you were me?”
His brother chuckled. “Do you even need to ask that?”
“Guess not,” James said dryly.
Sam’s forehead furrowed and he rolled his glass between his hands. “Seriously, though. I know you feel indebted to Andrew. Hell, I do, too. He was there for us when mom died.”
“Yup.”
Sam inhaled a breath. “But even if this expansion didn’t happen, we’d recover. The board would be pissed, sure, and we might even suffer financially for it, but we’d still be okay.”
“Yeah. You’re probably right.” Which was what made this so difficult.
Sam’s blue gaze met his. “Do you think she’d accept money from you, to help with her mother’s care?”
He’d already considered that. It would certainly be the easiest solution. Or even offer to invest in her company himself. But every time he thought about suggesting it, he considered what her response would be.
No matter which way he cut it, she’d be offended. Probably accuse him of trying to buy her out. He’d only known her a few days, but he already knew Lyssa was proud. She wanted to do this on her own.
“Not in a million years,” he said to Sam.
“Bummer.”
A long, heavy pause passed before Sam reached out to clap his back. “You’ll figure it out. You always do.”
He hoped so.
Only half joking, James said, “Maybe the whiskey will help.” He lifted his glass to his lips.
“Here’s to solving all the world’s problems.” Sam saluted him and took a huge gulp from his own glass.
The next few hours passed by there at the bar. Sam did a good job of keeping his mind occupied, regaling him with horror stories of his last trip to Cabo San Lucas with a girl he’d only met the night before they flew out. By the time he left and slipped into the back of a taxicab, James was more than a little intoxicated.
He rattled the address to his apartment building to the driver and sat back. Now that he was alone again, thoughts of Lyssa invaded his mind. He couldn’t stop thinking about her. What she was going through.
Worse, he couldn’t stop wanting her. Dreaming of being inside her again.
The feelings bubbling within him built to a crescendo until he could finally take no more. James dug his cell phone out of his pocket and scrolled through to the number he’d input earlier, right before he’d left the park. When he’d asked for Lyssa’s cell phone number, she’d hesitated a fraction of a second before giving it to him. In that moment, he knew. Though she too was fighting their attraction, she felt it just as much as he did.
He’d always known, he supposed. There was no way he could be so strongly attracted to her and she not feel the same way.
But could he give up everything his family had worked toward, just for her?
While he didn’t have the answer to that, he did know one thing. He had to see her again.
Taking a breath, he hit the dial button, then held the phone to his ear.
She answered on the third ring, her voice low and sleepy. “Hello?”
“Did I wake you?” He imagined her sleeping in her bed, nude and glorious, and grew uncomfortably hard right there in the backseat of the cab.
“James,” she all but sighed.
“Have dinner with me tomorrow.”
“Oh, James,” she whispered. “That’s probably not a good idea.”
“Come on,” he prodded, his desperation increasing. “There’s an amazing restaurant on East Eighty-Third. I’ll have a car pick you up and take you back home.”
“I don’t know…”
“It’s just one dinner. You have to eat, right? I promise I’ll keep my hands to myself.”
Unless you ask me not to.
She was silent for a long time. Finally, she exhaled. “Okay.”
The tension in his chest eased. “Good. Can you be ready at seven?”
“I will,” she whispered.
“Oh, and Lyssa?”
“Yes?”
He grinned into the phone. “Dream of me.”
With those words, he hung up. He already knew he’d be dreaming of her. All night long.
***
The next day passed with excruciating slowness, which figured. Time never went that slowly when he actually wanted it to.
James forced himself to concentrate on work for several hours, b
ut when Andrew and Hailey unexpectedly popped by his place, he let them drag him out for a late lunch. Might as well eat, because he didn’t know if he’d be able to that night. It would take every ounce of his energy to keep his hands off Lyssa.
Finally, the day gave way to the evening. He dressed in a midnight blue suit with a crisp light blue dress shirt beneath it, before climbing into the backseat of the rented car. The driver closed the door for him and slid behind the wheel, beginning their trek over the Brooklyn Bridge. The whole time, James pondered what he was going to say. What he was going to do.
Martin had promised them a decision tomorrow. The deadline loomed in front of him like a death knell. Everything was going to be different after tonight.
Last week, his objective had seemed so obvious: get the investor and complete the expansion. But now, after Lyssa…he didn’t know what he wanted.
After what seemed like an eternity, the car pulled up in front of Lyssa’s building.
“I’ve got it,” James said before the driver could exit the car. He opened his door and slid out, striding toward the building. He only got a few steps before the front doors opened and Lyssa came rushing out.
Damn. His bones went liquid at the sight of her. She wore a long black coat that belted at her waist and ended at mid-calf. Her hair was styled into a soft, elegant updo that left several strands floating around her face. Dressy black sandals were strapped to her feet and her luscious legs were bare.
He couldn’t help but ponder what she wore beneath that coat. Surely the answer wasn’t nothing at all, but that was the only image his dirty imagination could conjure up.
A flush crept to Lyssa’s cheeks as he looked her up and down, taking note of every delicious detail.
“Hi,” she said.
He fought to temper the tide of desire that had rushed up in her presence. “How’d you get down here so quickly?”
Her cheeks grew even pinker. “I’ve been waiting down in the lobby for ten minutes. I figured it’d be easier that way, with Carlos and all. He might not have let you leave if you came upstairs.”
Good point. He hadn’t considered that.
“You look amazing.” He didn’t even bother trying to fight the husky tone in his voice.
“Thanks.” Her eyes moved down his body, then back up. “So do you. I’m glad I wore a dress now.”
The thought of there being no barrier between him and her silky thighs made him fight to hold back a groan. He motioned toward the car. “Shall we?”
James opened the back door for her, then strode around to the opposite side of the car and slid into the seat beside her. The driver immediately took off toward the address James had given him earlier.
“I thought about you all day today,” he murmured to her. No point in pretending otherwise.
“Oh, James.” She bit her lip and averted her gaze. Something about that little bit of shyness, when he already knew what she felt like from the inside, drove him absolutely wild. Even though several feet separated them, her cherry blossom scent floated through the space, making him instantly hard.
Shit. That wouldn’t do. He’d promised her he would behave.
Shifting in his spot to alleviate the tension, he tried to get his mind out of the gutter. “I really enjoyed meeting Carlos yesterday. He’s a great kid.”
“Yeah.”
Lyssa crossed her legs, bumping her knee against his. That simple act sent a blaze of longing coursing through his body.
How the hell was he going to honor his promise?
Lyssa’s big, dark eyes landed on him and she whispered, “What are we doing here, James?”
“Having dinner.” Unable to help himself, he reached across the space and clasped her hand. Ran his thumb along her silky smooth skin.
Her breath gave an audible hitch, but she didn’t comment. Her gaze slid down to their clasped hands, and silence filled the car as they stayed there, palms locked in place. Visible tension filtered the space between them, filling his pores with her scent. When her nostrils flared, he couldn’t help but wonder if she were as aroused as he was.
Images flashed in his head of that night at the hotel. The mind-blowing taste of her desire. The starved look in her eyes as she waited for him to cover her body with his. The tight, clenching heat of her womb sucking his cock in deep.
Fuck.
By the time they pulled up to the restaurant, a trendy steakhouse just a few blocks from his apartment building, James was wound so tight he feared the slightest hint of encouragement would make him fall on Lyssa like a slavering beast. When the driver moved to open Lyssa’s door for her, James took the opportunity to calm himself down. It took imagery of guys in banana hammocks, his grandmother in a bathing suit, and a bucket of wriggling worms, but finally he got his hard-on to subside just enough that he didn’t embarrass himself escorting Lyssa into the restaurant.
Arm in arm, they stepped into the dark, lavish interior of the restaurant. Lyssa glanced around and whispered, “This is nice.”
“The food is great, too.”
He nodded to the host, who brought him straight to his favorite spot near the back. The regal older gentleman took Lyssa’s coat, and James almost swallowed his tongue when he saw what she wore beneath. Oh, the black dress was demure enough, with long sleeves and a hem that hit a few inches above the knee. But the silky fabric clung to all her curves, and the low V-neck displayed a tantalizing hint of cleavage. Just enough to drive him absolutely crazy with need.
Then his eyes moved to the fabric at her breasts and he saw the outline of her hard nipples beneath the silk.
Hell, was she even wearing a bra?
Breathing hard, he forced his gaze from her breasts to her face. Clearly he had to focus on that area. Anything else was bound to get him in trouble, and he was determined to honor his vow if it killed him.
The host seated them across from each other at a small, romantic round table. Then, with the speedy efficiency he loved about the place, the server arrived and took their wine order, then returned with two glasses and the bottle.
He waited until the server left to reach across the table and clasp Lyssa’s hand once more. Her silky skin was so soft and supple that he didn’t think he’d ever get tired of touching it. “Tell me about your childhood. About growing up.”
She looked surprised, but she did as he asked, recounting stories of her upbringing with her super strict parents and mischievous older brother. By the time their food order arrived—filet mignon for her and porterhouse for him, he’d already learned a great deal about her family. He knew that her mother tended to be hypercritical, that her brother had gotten into so much trouble as a teenager that their parents all but forced him to enlist in the army, and that she was determined to be the good girl her parents had raised her to be. It was utterly adorable.
His food lay all but forgotten in front of him as he watched her cut her steak into tiny little bite-sized pieces, then chew on each slowly. Every time she slid a bite between her plump, glossy lips, he had to stifle a groan. Occasionally, her hand would rise to the bare expanse of skin between her breasts, and her fingers would brush there in a soft caress.
Did she even realize how badly he wanted to be doing that?
Lyssa took another bite of food and her eyes closed on a moan. “It’s so delicious.”
“Yeah,” he murmured hoarsely without taking his eyes off her.
She glanced at his plate and frowned. “Is yours okay? It doesn’t look like you ate much.”
“I’m not very hungry.”
“Oh. Make sure you take it home for later, at least.”
“I don’t do leftovers. You can take it if you want,” he said without thinking.
She gave him a small smile and shrugged. “Sure. My mom loves steak. Although…”
When her smile suddenly died, he found himself anxious to know what she’d been about to say. “Although what?”
Lyssa forced another trembling smile to her face, though it
didn’t match up with the sadness in her eyes. She lifted her wineglass to her lips and took a deep swallow. “She doesn’t have much of an appetite lately.”
That was right. How could he have forgotten even for a second about her mother’s chemo?
Frustration boiled up within him, and he suddenly realized the truth.
He couldn’t take Martin from her. Not when the consequences could be so potentially dire. If his company didn’t complete their expansion, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. Her failure to grow her firm, however…
James snatched his napkin off his lap and dropped it onto the table. “He’s yours.”
She sat back in her chair, her eyes glinting with confusion. “Huh?”
“Martin. I’m going to let him know tomorrow morning that he should choose your firm to invest in.”
Her eyes widened. “James—”
“You deserve it, Lyssa.” He leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table. “Any fool can see the potential in your firm. You’re exactly the sort of company Martin should be investing in. I’m sure he knows it already, but I plan on reminding him of that fact just in case he’s forgotten.”
“But…” She slid forward in her chair, her chest rising and falling in quick, short breaths. “Your company, James. The expansion.”
He shrugged. “We’ll manage. We’ll find another investor. It might take some time, and the board might be pissed, but they’ll get over it. We can wait.”
Not exactly true, but he could hope.
“James.” An ecstatic grin swept over her face and she jumped up from her chair, racing across the table to wrap her arms around his shoulders. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
Her arms felt so good around him, her breasts were so close to his face that he didn’t think twice. He slid his chair far enough back that he could pull her down onto his lap. Smoothing the soft strands of hair back from her face, he grinned down at her. “You’re welcome.”
Lost in her excitement, she pressed a hasty kiss to his lips.
That little, innocent gesture was enough to make his self-control break without warning. He closed his arms around her waist and pulled her in tight, sliding his tongue past the barrier of her lips and turning her kiss into a spine-tingling melding of their mouths.
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