“I can imagine.”Her throat bobbed as she drank, and she set the glass down with a big exhale.“It’s hot in here.”
“Am I making you nervous?”It was then that I realized my hand had gravitated back toward her thigh.Oops.It felt so terribly at home there.
“No, no.”She waved off my concerns, leaning back and cozying up to me.“This is what we do, right?Just sit here and act cuddly and wait for something called tilefish.”
I caught her scent, something light and floral that I'd been thinking about since our dinner at her apartment."You're so beautiful, Clara."
I hadn’t meant to say it; the thought had just erupted.Because it was true.And I’d felt this way since the second she sauntered into that hotel bar four years ago, posing as a CEO.
"Nash," she said quietly, "she can't hear us from over there.We’re not wire-tapped.You don't have to go so over the top."
Her gentle admonishment helped me click back into reality.She was right.Even though she was wrong.The truth was, I hadn’t been performing.But maybe it was better if she didn’t know that.
I decided to change the subject, putting some distance between us while we chatted about anything innocuous that I could find.She was too easy to fall into, and something about her felt deliciously soft and familiar.
Our food arrived, and anything that came before was forgotten.Clara’s eyes lit up when she saw the big white bowl come out loaded with tilefish, royal red shrimp, and carrot-coconut sauce.Once she finished oohing and aahing over her plate, her gaze moved to my tender cuts of seared steak, topped with shallot sauce and paired with roasted Romanesco broccoli and parsnips.
Our meals disappeared in a blur of laughter, commentary, and sharing bites of our dishes.Lunch was fucking delightful.Once our plates were cleared and we were gazing at each other like we’d known each other for decades, a movement across the room caught my eye.
Haley Reeves.
"She's getting ready to leave," I murmured as Haley signaled for her check.An idea formed, urging me to push the envelope a bit.“And I think it’s time for us to leave too.”
“Don’t we have to pay?”Clara asked quietly.
“I have an account here,” I said with a wink.I stood, offering Clara my hand.We made our way toward the restaurant's entrance, timing it so we'd reach the foyer just as Haley was finishing up with her bill.The space was partially secluded, with decorative plants creating intimate alcoves.I slowed, turning toward Clara with a grin.
“What is it?”she asked slowly.“Why are you smiling like that?”
“I just think we should take a time-out,” I said, fingering the wisp of hair that framed her face.She drifted closer to me until our bodies came together.She tipped her head back, searching my face.
“Just a moment to digest after lunch before all the physical exertion of sitting in a car?”she joked.
I cupped her face in my hands.Jesus, this woman was beautiful.She was even more gorgeous up close, where I could see the flecks of amber in her eyes, the tiny laugh lines around her eyes, the natural ruddiness of her high cheeks.My gaze dropped to her full lips, and I ran my thumb across them.
“Jesus, Nash,” she breathed, her eyes fluttering shut.
“She’s going to come out here any second,” I said in a low voice, right at Clara’s ear.She shivered against me, which only ratcheted up my own desire.My heart thudded in my chest as I brushed my lips against her cheek.“We need to cap this off with something memorable.”
Clara's eyes fluttered shut, tilting her neck as though offering up the skin there for my lips to find.“Just make it good, whatever it is.”
That was the attitude I liked to see.Excellence in everything, even in faking a courtship.And it was all the permission I needed.
Since her neck was there for the taking, I swiped my tongue along it, gathering the salty heat against my lips, before taking a small bite.She inhaled sharply, a surprised laugh erupting from her.
“I thought you just ate lunch,” she said, swatting at my chest.But when I grinned down at her, I saw the way her nipples had formed two stiff peaks against her blouse.My cock twitched in my pants, and I couldn’t help myself.I traced the curve of her body through her blouse, my hand trailing dangerously close to those tits that I’d lavished so much care and attention on for one night a lifetime ago.
“I always have room for dessert,” I assured her, glancing over her shoulder.Haley was already here in the foyer with us, across the way, but not looking over.I hadn’t even seen her come in.Too distracted with this buxom honey blonde in my arms.
But Haley was here, and that was my cue.I smoothed my hand along the side of her face.Clara’s hazel eyes looked up at me with so much hunger, so much longing, that I couldn’t have stopped what came next if my life depended on it.
I dipped down, pressing my mouth to hers in a rough and hungry kiss.Clara didn’t hesitate for a moment, her hands fisting my shirt, pulling me closer.I held on to her like she might drift away or somehow decide to end the kiss.Not on my watch.Our kisses were thorough, deep, fucking passionate.I was rock hard by the time we finally broke apart.Clara’s chest heaved as she looked up at me, and I could see the confusion on her face as clearly as her lips were swollen from our kisses.
“I said make it good,” she finally whispered.“Not life changing.”
“You want another.”My cock throbbed as I pressed a kiss to her forehead, a hand drifting back toward her tit.I dragged my thumb across the stiff peak of her nipple.“I can tell.”
She arched her back, looking for more of that pressure.“I think you do, too.”
