“Still not sure if the date was for me or for her,” I add.
And then, when the second bottle is nearly empty, I lean forward, elbows on the table.
“Tell me something real,” I say. “Not a headline. Not a stat.”
He meets my eyes. “I like your thought process here.”
“Nope,” I say, wagging a finger. “No marketing answers. No branding. Just Nolan.”
He considers that, fingers tapping the table. “I’ve never had a one-night stand,” he says finally.
That earns a blink from me. “Seriously?”
He give me a shameless grin. “Not for lack of opportunity.”
I roll my eyes. “Of course not.”
“I don’t do surface-level. Even when I try to keep it light, I end up going deep. It’s annoying as hell.”
“You get attached?”
“I get curious. Then invested. Then stuck. And by that point, it’s not casual anymore. It’s complicated but with better lighting.”
I don’t know what to say to that. So I look at him.Reallylook at him.
“You know, I’ve got to admit.” I pick at varnish on the table. “I had you pegged as a full-blown fuckboy.”
His brow arches, but he stills, subtly. I’ve brushed a nerve he didn’t expect to feel.
“Big firm. Big ego. Bigger charm,” I add, flashing a saccharine smile.
He leans in, voice dipping low. “Is that your way of asking if something else might be... proportionate?”
The line hangs in the air—unapologetic, daring me to flinch.
I don’t. I refuse to let him see the heat his words ignite. My breathing does stop for half a second too long though.
“Well,” I say, biting my lip. “I figured all that confidence wascompensation. You know—great suits, chiseled jaw, big dick energy. Classic misdirect.”
He smiles, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes this time.
My body falls back against the booth. “You’ve surprised me, Rhodes. And that’s annoying.”
“Annoying?” he echoes, amused.
“Yes. Because now I can’t decide if I want to kiss you or keep you talking.”Holy shit I said that out lout. But, you know what? Fuck it.
“Why?” he asks, voice deeper than before.
“To see what other honest, messy, human thing you’ll admit next.”
That dimple reappears with his lazy smirk. It does things to my nether regions. Tickly things.
“Kiss me.” His voice is threaded with heat. “And you won’t hear another word. Not one.”
My stomach flips.
His dark eyes dark focus on my lips. “But keep me talking, Adams… and I’ll make youwantto kiss me.”
