The ringing of the bell over the door announced Noah’s arrival beside her on the sidewalk. He carried two bags, one full of scores and the other holding the romance novels she’d left behind. “You didn’t need to get them for me,” she said.
“I’m starving. Let’s grab lunch,” he said, as though she hadn’t just behaved irrationally in a bookstore.
“I think Jamie’s restaurant is just around the corner.”
Noah narrowed his eyes. “Alright, but we are making sure they know you’re allergic to shellfish before we order a damn thing.”
She laughed. “Don’t worry. I’ve got a purse full of Benadryl just in case.”
∞∞∞
Noah watched Callie over the top of his menu and fought the urge to kiss her. The sun streaming in through the large windows glinted off her hair as she screwed her lips up to the side and considered her options. How should he behave with the woman he was pretending to date now that they were also sleeping together? Casual kissing over lunch didn’t seem quite right, even if he had already had his face between her legs.
“What are you guys doing here?” Jamie asked, appearing at their table. He wore his chef’s coat and his hair was tousled like he’d been pulling at it.
“Just having lunch,” Callie said, smiling up at him. “I didn’t get to try much of your food last time I was here.”
Jamie winced. “Again, I’m so sorry.”
Callie waved the apology away. “Don’t even start with that. I won’t take another apology. Iwilltake your recommendation for the best thing on the menu, however.”
Jamie smiled, a dimple popping out on his cheek, and Noah had the irrational impulse to punch him. He clutched the edges of his menu instead.What the hell was that?Noah had never thought of himself as the jealous or possessive type. Then again, it was hard to be jealous or possessive about women he only saw once.
“Tell you what,” Jamie said, plucking their menus from their hands, that stupid dimple still fixed in place. “Let me make you something special. Something off-menu. My treat.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Noah said.
“I’d like to. My last apology,” Jamie said, with a deferential head tilt towards Callie. “No shellfish involved. Any other allergies I should be aware of?” They both confirmed that they had none. “Great. Hold tight and I’ll send something out in just a minute.”
“That was nice of him,” Callie said, arranging her napkin in her lap.
“He was flirting with you.”
Callie paused, her eyes twinkling. “Why, Noah, are you jealous?” He clenched his jaw and reached for his water glass. Callie laughed. “He wasn’t flirting. He was being friendly. A man can have a friendly conversation with a woman without it being about sex, you know.”
“If you say so.”
“And it’s not like I’m really your girlfriend,” she said, lowering her voice.
A growl rose up in the back of his throat. “He doesn’t know that.”
Callie shrugged.
Infuriating woman.
He reached beneath the table and grasped her leg, high up on her thigh, his hand hidden by the tablecloth. He tightened his grip, just enough to make her eyes snap to his, her pupils already dilating. He slid his hand higher, dragged his thumb over the seam at the apex of her thighs.
“You’re mine now, remember?”
She let out a shaky breath. “For now.”
One more slow drag of his thumb, pressing harder just to see the surprise in her eyes when he hit the right spot. Then he dropped his hand, returned it to his water glass and took a sip before he said something stupid—like how she would always be his.
She was right; she was only hisfor now.He had nothing more thannowto offer, even if the idea that someone else might someday touch her made him want to flip the damn table. She watched him like she was waiting for his next move, but he had no idea what that next move should be. It wasn’t like he had planned on sticking his hand between her legs in the middle of a restaurant.
“Here we go. A little something to get you started,” Jamie said, returning to their table with a pristine white dish containing two pieces of what looked like very fancy, very small toast. “Waygu beef tenderloin crostini with horseradish chimichurri and a caramelized onion cream.” Noah didn’t understand half the words the man had just said.
“Caramelized onion cream?” Callie gasped, her face lighting up in a mix of surprise and delight.
