Her eyes ballooned. “You’re kidding, right?”
I shook my head.
Her eyes rolled up to the ceiling. “You’re a Townsend, you’re former special forces, and now you pull people out of fires for a living,” she began ticking off each item on her fingers. “And to top it all off, you’re the only man in a very long time who’s had the ability to make me go against my instincts.”
“How so?”
“I’m here with you.” She held out her hands. “I promised myself my only focuses would be my son and my career. And now here I am, falling in … dating you.” She hesitated, clearing her throat.
“That’s a bad thing?” I grinned across the table, knowing she’d almost slipped up and admitted to falling in love with me. Nothing else she could say would matter more than that.
She sighed. “Just don’t hurt me.”
Her eyes penetrated mine and I could feel the depths of her fears.
“Sugar, I’d much rather cut out my own heart and feed it to the sharks. Hurting you isn’t even an option for me.”
She nodded and reached across the table, bringing her half-empty wine glass to her lips. I swallowed at the same time she did, watching the minute movements of her jaw and neck as the wine moved down her throat.
“I want you to meet some people.” I stood, and held my hand out for her. I clasped hers tightly when she accepted, and pulled out her chair for her to stand.
“You’re not taking me to another rooftop, are you?”
“If memory serves, you had fun on the last rooftop I took you on.”
My cock jolted in my jeans when her usually caramel cheeks brightened a little with redness as she dipped her head.
I placed a few bills on the table to take care of the check, and then put my hand at the small of her back to walk us both to the door.
“No rooftops tonight. We’re going toCharlie’s,” I explained.
We made it to the bar in under twenty minutes, and lady luck must’ve been on my side because it was easy enough to find a parking space right outside of the bar.
“You said your squad member’s wife owns this place?” Michelle questioned, looking at the bar through the window as she took off her seatbelt.
“Yeah, Angela,” I replied, and got out of the car to open the door for her.
“And your entire squad is in there?”
“Most of ’em.” I looked back at her, clasping her hand in mine. She ran her teeth along her lower lip. “You’re nervous?”
“No,” she shook her head, “but meeting your squad isn’t the definition of going slow that I had in mind.”
I stopped us right in front of the door of the bar, cupping her face in my hands.
“Excuse us, buddy.”
I shifted to see over Michelle’s head and glared at the asshole who’d just interrupted us. “Wait a fucking minute,” I growled.
Michelle’s fingers wrapping around my wrists brought my attention back to her.
“Anyway.” I quickly glanced at the jackass waiting impatiently but quietly now, behind Michelle. “I’d thought I made it clear to you, this is going slow enough. Besides, you’ve met all my squad before.”
“Yeah, but that was different. It wasn’t us socializing together.”
“Dating,” I corrected. “We’re not justsocializing.We’re dating.”
Her smile grew and I licked my own lips at the sight of it.
