After a beat?—
She took it.
Her palm fit against his like it belonged there. She told herself it was easier to walk than to argue in the middle of the dining room.
The fireplace on the patio crackled, throwing sparks into the crisp night. Eleanor turned toward him, determined. “I am not doing this. I will not be a plot point in someone’s podcast.
Reid didn't argue. He stepped into her space. He was close—close enough that the scent of cedar and expensive bourbon clouded her logic.
“You’re doing it right now,” he said, his voice dropping into a low, private register. “Trying to litigate your way out of a feeling.”
He lifted a hand, his fingers brushing her cheek, his skin slightly rough and devastatingly steady. “You are extraordinarily beautiful, Eleanor.”
“Reid—”
“And you’re attracted to me.”
The words weren't a question. They were a cold, hard fact laid out on the table like a piece of evidence she couldn't suppress. Eleanor looked away. The directness of it made her skin flush, a heat that had nothing to do with the fire at her back.
“That is irrelevant,” she managed to whisper, though her voice lacked any of its usual courtroom steel.
“Is it?” He stepped even closer, crowding her until she had to tilt her head back to keep his eyes in view. He was so close she could feel the heat of his body through the thin silk of her dress. “Because from where I’m standing, you’re not thinking about the podcast. You’re thinking about how much you want me to stop talking.”
The sheer arrogance of it should have made her walk away. Instead, it sent heat sliding low in her belly, her pulse thrumming in places that had nothing to do with her throat.
“Reid.”
His thumb slid down, grazing her cheek before hooking beneath her chin. Then, he moved that thumb to her bottom lip. He traced the curve of it, slow and deliberate, his eyes darkening as he watched her mouth part.
“Tell me I’m wrong,” he murmured, leaning in until his lips were a fraction of an inch from hers. “Tell me you don’t want this, and I’ll walk you to the car right now.”
She couldn't say it. The lie died in her throat.
“I didn't think so.”
He didn't rush the kiss. He waited until she leaned in that final, desperate inch. When his mouth finally claimed hers, it was a total takeover. It was deep, hungry, and certain.
Then his tongue brushed her bottom lip—testing the boundary she’d tried so hard to maintain—before sliding against hers. The sensation was electric, a slow, hot slide that made her head light and her fingers curl fully into his lapels. He didn’t just kiss her; he took his time, slow and certain, a possessive rhythm that stripped every "rational" reason to say no right out of her head.
He framed her face with his hands, his thumbs tracing the line of her cheekbones with a heat that forced her closer. She made a soft, broken sound into his mouth, her eyes fluttering shut as the world narrowed down to the taste of him.
When he finally pulled back—enough to let her breathe—he stayed right there, thumb resting at her throat, eyes searching her face like she was the only evidence that mattered. Under that focus, her cheeks went hot.
“Now,” he rasped, his voice rough with the same want that was currently dismantling her. “What were you saying about a one-time dinner?”
A faint dark amusement lit his eyes, his expression hovering just on the edge of a smirk. He watched her with the steady patience of a man who had just dismantled a foolproof case and enjoyed every second of it.
The Jaguar eased down the curve. Cool night air swept through the open top. His jacket rested over her bare shoulders; it was heavy with his scent, feeling more like a shield than her blazer ever had.
“That was not part of my one-time dinner plan,” she said finally.
“That so?” His tone was mild. Amused.
“You’re very certain of yourself tonight.”
“I’m certain of you,” he replied. He reached over, not taking his eyes off the road, and laced his fingers through hers. His thumb stroked the back of her hand in a rhythmic, soothing motion.
“I noticed you day one, Eleanor. In the back. Watching a woman walk into a room full of men who didn’t expect her to win.”
