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I appreciated his openness with me and he wanted to tell me how he felt. I also felt like he was telling me because he wanted me to know specifically. As I sat across from Mac and enjoyed what had to be one of the best meals of my life, I realized just how attracted I was to him. I allowed myself to see just how into me he was. I might not have dated much but I was smart enough to see and know when a man was interested in me. Sitting across from Mac as he smiled at me in the soft light and took my hand, I wondered how I could have ever missed it.
I chalked it up to the fact that I never would have thought someone like Mac would want to be with someone like me. I never allowed myself the chance to consider it, much less see it, but sitting across from him, I did, and then some. It made me feel special and, in a strange way, a little powerful. I never had a man look at me the way he was. And while I liked it, it also scared me a bit.
Mac was a gentleman, plain and simple. He believed that women and men were equal. He had shown that to me in how he talked to me when he was my mentor, I had heard him do the same thing with Morgan when they worked together, and I saw it firsthand with how he was when we were out to dinner. He wanted to know what I was thinking and feeling. He asked me questions that were engaging and open ended and it showed me just how much he cared about me.
Knowing the attraction was there made the evening even more special and it allowed me to relax. We caught each other up on some friends we both knew but had lost touch with and we laughed about the stories and the people that we had known when we were in school.
Each course was better than the last and I sipped the wine that was paired with each course. I have no idea how many there were but by the end of the night, I knew I was a little tipsy, but not drunk and I had eaten too much, so much so that I turned down dessert.
“You can’t do that. Miguel, the pastry chef, is a friend of JD’s. He’ll be hurt if we don’t have at least a bite,” Mac said.
He had insisted on having dessert, two of them, even though I had told him I didn’t want any.
“I’m so full. I don’t think I could eat another bite,” I said and rubbed my stomach.
“Please. I can’t eat it all on my own. If I do, I won’t be able to fit in my suit tomorrow.”
“I have a feeling it would take more than one amazing meal and what I can only assume is two decadent desserts to keep you from buttoning your pants.”
“Thank you, though I have to say, I’m more excited about you noticing my hunky figure and how I look in a pair of pants.”
I could tell that Mac was a bit tipsy too. I was sure he could hold his liquor well; he had been born and raised in the industry. Still, there had been a lot of wine drunk between us and I could tell it was even affecting him. It was cute and sexy. I don't think I’d ever seen Mac tipsy before.
“Mac? Are you flirting with me?” I teased.
“Since the moment we met,” he answered with a goofy grin.
While his voice was light and held that teasing tone I had come to know and love, there was still a definite seriousness under the surface. I couldn’t believe what he was saying. It didn’t make sense to me.
“You did not,” I said and hid my blush behind my wine glass.
“I guess I must not have been very good at it if you never noticed. Maybe I should have taken better tips from JD and Walker.”
“You don’t need any help from them. You’re doing just fine on your own. I never would have thoughttheMacKinlay Bennett would ever look once at me much less flirt with me,” I admitted.
Mac reached across and took my hand in his, running his fingers along the inside of my hand. The movement was so light, I barely felt it, but it was enough to send shivers of excitement down my body. I slowly lifted my head to look into his eyes and what I saw took my breath away.
“It was just one of the many things that I have thought about doing with you,” he stated.
His eyes were intent on mine as if he was trying to tell me with his eyes what his hand and mouth were telling me. He was leaving little doubt how much he wanted me and how the evening could end if I only wanted it to.
It took me half a second to realize that I did indeed want to sleep with Mac. If the evening ended with him coming back to my place and staying the night, it would be the perfect ending to a perfect date. It felt a little presumptuous of me considering this was technically our first date, but somehow it wasn’t. It certainly wasn’t the first time we had gone out together, spent time together. There was still so much I didn’t know about him, but I knew enough to know I wanted him tonight.
Though I had no idea how I would get up the courage to convince him of that.
It wasn’t like I’d ever seduced a man before, and certainly not someone as important in my life as Mac. He was my mentor, my friend, a confidant, I didn’t want to embarrass myself or him by doing something stupid. Not that Mac would ever laugh at me or make me feel foolish, but I would be mortified if the man said no to me if I asked him to come up to my apartment.
“Care to tell me what those are?” I asked.
“Maybe another night,” he said.
I could see him retreating from me and I didn’t like it and I certainly didn’t want him to.
“Why?” I asked.
It was a bold move, especially for me. I could be reading him all wrong and he was just teasing me with his comments. He might have never thought I would be so up front with him about his flirting and he actually didn’t mean it, but I didn’t think that was the case. I wasn’t going to back down. Now that I knew I wanted him, I didn’t want to wait and if he was backing away because he was trying to be gentlemanly, I didn’t want that either.
“We’ve both been drinking, more than we probably should to be having this conversation,” he said.
