“You don’t have to think about any of it now, cher.” Ford wrapped his arms around me and pressed a quick kiss to my head before rolling me on top of him.
I moved to straddle his hips, wedging his cock against my sex. I already liked this plan much better than the talking one. Putting my hands on his chest, I pushed up so I could gaze down at him, my hair falling in a curtain around us.
“If I’m not thinking, what do you want me to do?” I rocked until the head of his cock was at my opening and then slid down his length without taking him inside me.
His grip on my hips tightened, pausing the torturous slide. I felt his muscles tighten under my palms a fraction of a second before he curled to sitting, with me still straddling his lap. The man had some obsession-worthy abs.
“First, you’re going to come for me.” He slid his hands to my back, cradling me to his chest as he flipped me over, pinning my body with his. He pulled his hips back just enough to notch the head of his cock at my opening. “Then I’m going to teach you to make crawfish.”
MY PHONE VIBRATED WITH AN incoming message. I glanced at the screen and smiled when I saw Charlotte’s name. She’d been sending me messages with pictures of food. Gorgeous images of oysters, deconstructed gumbo, creamy pimento cheese grits, and the like. It felt deliciously frivolous and out of character for Charlotte. I loved it, especially if it meant she was considering the possibility of spending more time together. I opened her text and saw a picture of an alligator with a message.
––––––––
MAYBE WE SHOULD STEP UP OUR GAME.
––––––––
“Who is she?” Erik Jensen’s question intruded into my thoughts.
I snapped back to attention. I’d known the attorney casually for years. Despite outward appearances, New Orleans was a small city at heart. It was impossible to do business in the city and not cross paths with the same people over again. The familiarity added to the charm of the place, but I hadn’t really gotten to know Erik until he helped me with the acquisition of the Masterfeld property. He’d been invaluable on the deal—smart, wicked funny with a strong sense of decency that made me glad we’d moved from acquaintance to something closer to friends. That didn’t mean I was ready to talk tohim—or anyone else—about Charlotte.
“Don’t bother denying it. I know the look. She must be something.”
“It’s early days, but I think so.”
“I’m happy for you, but it makes my life more difficult.” Erik shook his head as he slipped the contracts we’d been going over into his folio.
“How can that be?” I waited, curious as hell, to see what my dating life had to do with him.
“My fiancée.” It was his turn to smile.
I’d never seen that expression on his face before. The less cynical part of me found it kind of heartwarming.
“She’s got a girlfriend she wants to set up. She’s been pushing me to find a suitable date. You were at the top of my possibles list.”
“You’re kidding.” I choked back a laugh. The idea of Erik playing matchmaker was too much to take seriously.
“I wish I was. I feel like a pimp.”
“If the shoe fits.”
“Fuck you.” Erik shook his head again. “Seriously, though. Alex is so happy. She wants everyone else to be happy too. I love her. Hell, more than I ever thought possible. I’d do anything to make her happy, including pimping out friends.”
“When you put it that way, it’s actually kind of sweet.” It was. He was so up front about his feelings for the woman he was marrying. He was all the way in love and not holding anything back. That kind of commitment might actually stand a chance. I had an unexpected twinge of something that could be mistaken for envy. I hadn’t thought I was interested in the one partner, settle down, build a life together kind of love yet. Apparently, I was. “Sorry I can’t help you out this time.”
“It’s okay. Charlotte is fantastic. Smart, gorgeous, and one of the best attorneys in the city. If she wanted someone for more than a casual date, she wouldn’t have trouble finding a man—men—willing to step up to fill the role.”
My chest constricted. I didn’t have to ask the next question to know the answer, but I did anyway.
“This Charlotte?” I showed him my screen saver—the picture of Charlotte I’d taken the night we met.
“Why do you have a picture of Charlotte on your phone?” Erik turned his attention to me.
I felt the full weight of the focus I imagined he used in the courtroom. I figured I had about three seconds to figure out how I wanted to play this before he got suspicious, and I lost any chance I had at evasion.Fuck it.Maybe I wanted to tell him. It wouldn’t hurt to have someone else’s advice on how to deal with Charlotte. Regardless of how counter it went to my natural inclinations. I was in uncharted waters. I’d never cared enough before for things like longevity to matter.
“She’s the one who just texted.” I motioned to my phone, feeling a little sick to my stomach. Or a lot, actually. If Charlotte hadn’t told her friend who was determined to fix her up about me, it meant one of two things. Either she didn’t consider our arrangement worth mentioning, even to get her friend off her back, or she wanted Erik’s fiancée to succeed at her matchmaking. Either of which meant we weren’t in the place I thought we’d been the last time we made love.Fuck me.
“The reason you were smiling?” Erik’s expression went from interested to concerned, as I imagined his thoughts followed a similar path to mine. “How did you meet her?”
