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“What can I get you?” she asked breathily, bending forward to give him a clear view of her cleavage.
“Black, dark roast coffee for me,” he told her without looking up. “You want a refill, Natalie?”
Her crestfallen expression made
me laugh, considering she’d had the nerve to try to flirt with a guy who very well could have been my boyfriend for all she knew. “No thanks. Just the check please. I need to head back to the office.”
“Then I guess I’ll take mine to go since my reason for staying will be gone.”
The waitress sighed in disappointment and moved away. I waited until she was far enough away not to hear our conversation before asking the obvious question. “How could I be the reason you’d stay when you don’t even know me?”
“My plan was to grab a quick cup of coffee to go, but it flew out the window the second I spotted you sitting here.”
I would have found myself flattered except his answer came way too easily for him. “Why do I get the feeling you’re entirely too smooth for my own good?”
“It comes in handy in my line of work, but I promise I’ll be good to you.”
As a lawyer, I was adept at using words to my advantage, but I had a feeling I was in over my head with this guy. Between his good looks, deep voice, and charisma, I was finding it hard to concentrate on what I wanted to say. “What is your line of work, exactly? Sales? Advertising?”
“Have dinner with me tomorrow, and I’ll tell you.” His mouth said dinner, but his tone and eyes told me he wanted more than just a meal.
“I can’t.” Or, at least, I shouldn’t since I still had boxes to unpack and prep work to do if I was going to be ready for an early morning deposition the next day.
The waitress chose that moment to set his to-go cup of coffee on the table in front of him, along with his check. I couldn’t help but notice her name and phone number in red ink at the bottom. It was another reason not to go out to dinner with him since I had a feeling this kind of thing wasn’t unusual for him.
I flipped mine over and there was only the amount due circled in red. Before I’d had the chance to read the numbers, my check was yanked out of my hand, slapped on top of his, and handed back to the waitress along with a twenty-dollar bill.
“Keep the change,” he told her, making it clear to both of us that he had no interest in pocketing the ticket with her phone number on it. The move was well played, and I found myself relaxing a little—right up until the moment his dark eyes latched on to mine again and refused to let me go. “I’m not going to take no for an answer.”
His confidence was starting to grow on me, but that didn’t mean I was going to make it easy for him. “What if I’m married?”
His hand slid across the table, snagging mine, and he rubbed his thumb across my fingers. “No ring. It was the first thing I checked.”
“Boyfriend?”
He flipped my hand over and laced his fingers through mine. “I have a feeling you’re not the type of woman who would have looked at me the way you did if you were committed to someone else.”
The heat from his hand seared into my palm like a bolt of electricity. “And if I was?”
“For the first time in my life, I’m not sure that would be enough to keep me away from a woman. Not when it’s you.”
Holy shit, there went my panties, right along with my desire to say no to dinner with Jax.
“Dinner. Just dinner.” The reminder was for myself as much as it was him.
“Six o’clock?”
I thought of the stack of papers on my desk, along with the work I’d brought to lunch with me. Tomorrow’s work load wouldn’t be any better. “Can you do seven instead?”
He smiled, and I almost laughed at the triumphant gleam in his dark eyes. “Tell me where and when, and I’ll be there to pick you up.”
“I’ll meet you at the restaurant,” I corrected, pulling my hand from his and gathering up my paperwork to shove it into my briefcase.
Oddly enough, his eyes filled with approval. “Smart girl, not trusting me with your address yet.”
“It’s a moot point since I’ll be coming straight from work.”
“Sounds like a long day.”
“New job,” I explained.
He pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “Then I guess you’d better give me your phone number, just in case something comes up and you can’t make it.”
I cocked my head to the side and narrowed my eyes at him. “Wouldn’t that mean I’d need your number so I could call you and not the other way around?”
“I’ll send you mine as soon as you give me yours,” he smirked.
“Fine,” I huffed good-naturedly and rattled off my number. He typed it in, his fingers flying over the keys. My phone buzzed a moment later with a text message notification. Pulling it out of my purse, I was surprised by what he’d sent me.
See you at 7. Dinner at Charleston. Jax.
“I might be new to town, but from what I’ve heard Charleston is a special occasion kind of restaurant.”
I watched as he uncoiled from his chair and prowled around the table to pull mine back and help me up with his hand at my elbow. “It’s our first date.”
“And that makes it a special occasion?” When his hand slid around to my lower back, my voice came out shaky.
We’d made it to the front door, and when his free hand reached out, I expected him to open it. Instead, he tugged on my shoulder and pulled me into him. His head dropped down, his mouth covering mine in a kiss. My lips parted in surprise, and he took full advantage. My thoughts scattered as his tongue swirled slowly in my mouth. Just as my legs began to shake, he lifted his head and stared down at me. “What do you think, sweetheart?”
It was going to be way more than just dinner if I wasn’t careful, that’s what I thought.
2
Jax
I’d been told my whole life that I was born a smooth talker. I coaxed a kiss out of Jenny Palmer in kindergarten, even though she swore she hated boys. As a teenager, charming my way out of trouble was common place. In college, I was king of the campus. Women wanted to fuck me and men wanted to be my best friend.
I realized how arrogant that sounded, but it wasn’t like I was a manwhore (well, maybe in high-school, but you have to cut my over-active teenage libido some slack) or used my talents to blur the lines between right and wrong. It was simply fact. A fact that made me a damn good lawyer. One who’d only lost a handful of cases in the decade I’d been practicing law.
When I met Natalie, for the first time in a long while, I changed the focus of my charm from judges, juries, and opposing counsel, to a beautiful woman. With her long, honey-blonde hair in some kind of twist, her elegant neck was exposed and immediately I had a craving to run my tongue along every line. Her eyes were hidden by adorable, small, rectangular, black-framed glasses, perched on her small, upturned nose. High cheek bones and luscious lips that were pink from being chewed on as she stared hard at the paperwork in front of her. All attached to a modest but mouthwatering pair of breasts, pressing against her white silk blouse, a tiny waist, and endless, tan legs that stretched out from her thigh length skirt.
I’d managed to tap into my talents to procure her phone number and a date. When she entered the restaurant, she took my breath away and for a moment, I worried that I’d lost my powers. But, I was drawn to her like a magnet seeking its other half and as I met her at the door, I felt my confidence return. Thank fuck. Though, it was a close call when she finally looked up, and I momentarily lost all ability to think or even breathe as I drowned in the most beautiful green eyes I’d ever seen.
Natalie Gardner. Even her name was sexy. We spent the night getting to know each other. I wasn’t really surprised, but definitely happy to find that she was as sweet and beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside. Her wry sense of humor had me laughing, while her body had me on the edge of coming far too often.
Learning we shared the same profession only made everything seem so much more perfect. It didn’t take long for me to be convinced. Natalie was the woman I didn’t know I’d been waiting for. I hadn’t recognized the void in my life until it was suddenly filled by her.
There was a moment of panic when she mention
ed what law firm she’d recently started at. Smith, Yates, and Warren. Fuck. I’d spent my early career with them, back when it was only Smith and Yates. Things went south, and I ended up leaving to start my own firm. Circumstances being what they were, I took most of my clients with me, so there was a lot of bad blood between us.
With less than twenty-four hours under my belt, I couldn’t stomach the thought of scaring Natalie away with the shitty details of that situation. I needed more time with her, so when I finally told her, she would trust my side of the story. It wasn’t like we’d find ourselves facing off in court. Junior associates rarely made it there unless is was smaller cases, like housing court.
I realized the jeopardy I was putting myself in by holding back, the possibility that I would come off looking like a complete asshole. But, I found justification in my reasoning, enough to put it off one more night anyway.
Treading carefully and not wanting to push too hard, at the end of the evening, I walked her to her car and then gathered her into my arms. My mouth crashed down onto hers. A soft moan escaped her mouth, giving me the perfect opening to plunge my tongue inside and fully taste her. Peaches. Just like last time, she tasted like fucking peaches. My favorite.
At last, I pulled back and smirked with satisfaction at the flushed state of her skin and the desire swirling in her eyes.
“I need to see you again tomorrow, sweetheart,” I rasped.
She shook her head, seeming to clear away the fog. Biting her plump lip, making me so jealous of the thing, she stared at me with indecision. “I don’t know. Work is so crazy right now. I really don’t have time—”
Kissing her again, I swallowed her protests and only retreated when I knew I was almost to the point of no return. “That wasn’t a request, Natalie,” I growled. “Tomorrow.”
