Chapter 14
FOURTEEN
SOMETHING TO LOOK AT
Beckett
Addison’s blush spread, and she licked her lips. She tilted her drink to her mouth, and I didn’t think I’d ever been jealous of a glass before. But fuck what I wouldn’t give to trade places with it.
“That’s not what I meant,” she whispered.
“I know, but it’s true. And I swear, Bubbles, if you don’t stop blushing like that, I’m not going to make it through dinner.”
Her laugh was short and sweet as she shook her head. “It’s not like I can control it.”
“I’m aware, but every time you do, I can’t help but remember where else you blush,” I said, dropping my voice and dipping my head next to her ear.
My words were only meant for her. “Or how pretty it is when it continues down your chest as you’re impaled on my cock and writhing in pleasure beneath me. ”
She adjusted in her seat, crossing her legs and ever so subtly leaning into me. She tilted her head, and her lips brushed my cheek.
“No one has ever spoken to me the way you do,” she said quietly. I leaned back just enough to find her green eyes. She blinked slowly and licked her lips. “And I never thought I would like it so much.”
I fought back a smile as I lifted my hand and brushed a lock of hair that had caught in her glossy lips. My thumb brushed against her cheek, and I reveled in her quick intake of breath, her exhale I felt against my mouth.
“But,” she continued, “if you keep talking like that, or looking at me like that, neither of us are going to make it through dinner. And I’m really hungry.”
All my base instincts were screaming at me to kiss her, but she was right. And her stomach growled on cue, like it was trying to prove her point.
So, I sat back and changed the subject. “I really like the pink,” I said, motioning to her hair. “What prompted the change?”
She took another long sip of her drink and rolled her lips, eyes darting around suspiciously. “It’s what many would call a ‘breakup haircut.’ I needed a change.”
“The crappy relationship that you were talking about the other day?”
She nodded, but I wanted to know more. I wanted to know anything and everything about her.
“Tell me about it.”
She jerked her head in my direction and let out a surprised laugh. “I thought previous relationship discussions were off-limits for the first date?”
I shrugged and twirled the whiskey around in my glass, letting my arm fall over the back of the booth once again. “Doesn’t bother me unless it bothers you. I’m fine with talking about anything else.”
She stared at me like she was waiting for me to say “psych.” She fidgeted with her napkin in her lap, and her leg bounced beneath the table.
“We broke up,” she said with a shrug. “I realized that it would never work. He was notorious for lying, and he didn’t make me a priority. And I know I want at least that much from a relationship. I want someone who isn’t going to lie and is going to prioritize me.”
“I don’t think that’s too much to ask for.
You should be a priority, Addison.” She shot me a quick smile, and I hated that she’d ever felt like anything but the most important person in the world.
And if she gave me the chance, I knew I would never make her feel that way again.
She would only ever be cherished. I would worship at her feet. “So, it ended badly?”
She tilted her head to the side, eyes scanning the restaurant as she chewed her slice of bread. “Not badly, but it wasn’t easy. I’ve cut off all contact—I even blocked his number, which he’s not a fan of, but we…uh…we lived together, so unraveling our lives was…rough.”
I hid my surprise with another sip of my drink.
The relationship wasn’t a surprise, but the fact that it had been serious enough that they’d lived together was somewhat of a shock.
And the fact that he likely wouldn’t leave her alone even after the relationship ended meant she had to block him.
What a fucking punk. I already wasn’t a fan.
“That part is always the hardest. No matter how much sense it makes.”
She peered at me out of the corner of her eye but smiled up at Jeremy, who refilled our waters and offered a second round. We took him up on his offer, and he promised our food would be out shortly.
“You sound like you’re speaking from experience,” Addison remarked as he walked away.
“Observant girl,” I said. As she’d said before, I didn’t usually bring up the topic of my previous engagement until at least a few dates in, but I’d opened the can of worms. I just hoped it would go over well. “I was engaged a long time ago.”
Her eyes briefly widened, and I had to laugh at her attempt to school her expression. She cleared her throat. “How long ago is a long time ago?”
“Almost a decade. She lives in Europe now and practices law. She’s also married with two kids, I think.”
“Wow,” she muttered.
Jeremy dropped our drinks off, and another waiter followed behind him with our dinner. He slid the ribeye in front of me and placed the pasta in front of Addison, offering her fresh parmesan.
The low background music subtly changed, and the pianist who set up at the piano by the bar began to play.
Addison twirled a healthy amount of pasta on her fork and took her first bite. I looked down at my steak and grabbed my knife but was quickly distracted by the groan from next to me.
Glancing over, Addison’s eyes were closed as she pulled the fork free from her mouth. My cock couldn’t tell the difference between a food-induced moan and a pleasure-filled one and immediately hardened behind the zipper of my jeans.
“Oh my gosh, this is amazing,” she said, glancing over at me.
I smiled, trying to ignore my erection, and nodded. “I’m so glad, baby girl.”
She waited for me to take my first bite of steak before she asked, “Okay, so you were engaged, but why did it end?”
I chewed and took the moment to gather my thoughts. It always felt so hard to explain when it wasn’t just one thing that had gone wrong, and it wasn’t something that either of us had done.
“We just grew apart, and it ended. She also had the opportunity to go overseas for a job, and I always knew I wanted to take over our family firm. There wasn’t any bad blood in the end.”
“Hmm,” she hummed.
“Hmm?” I asked, unsure what the sound meant, and for once, I was unable to read her expression as she took a sip of her drink.
She set her glass back down on the table as a quiet round of applause filtered through the dining room and the pianist began another song. Tucking her hair behind her ear, she picked her fork back up.
“It’s a green flag that you ended things amicably. Any other relationships that didn’t end so well?”
I’d been dating for a while, but my history was boring.
“No,” I said. “My engagement was my longest relationship, and all the other ones since have ended fairly well. I mean, ending a relationship is never easy, but they all went as well as they could have.”
Our conversation continued as we finished our entrées, and with every moment that passed, Addison grew more comfortable. Each smile was contagious, and her laughter made my chest tighten every time I was rewarded with the sound.
We’d spent almost two hours talking on Halloween night before we made it up to the room, so I knew the chemistry was there. Or at least I’d hoped that it was still there, and the high from being in a sex club wasn’t the only thing going for us.
“But the residents are always getting up to something. The other day, Mr. Rogers started a poker game in the game room. It got so rowdy, we had other residents complain. When I walked in, a few of them were about to throw hands.”
“You have a resident named Mr. Rogers?” I asked with a disbelieving chuckle.
Nodding, she couldn’t stop laughing, but I immediately sobered when her hand landed on my thigh. It was the first time she’d voluntarily touched me, and fuck, it felt good to have her hands on me again.
“Yeah, we do,” she finally managed to say. “But he’s nothing like the children’s TV show host.”
Looking down at her hand and her light-painted nails against my dark jeans, I realized I’d missed something in that split second.
Her smile had dropped, and she was suddenly nervous, straightening in her seat and glancing down at the table.
She went to remove her hand from my leg, but I couldn’t let it happen.
My hand covered hers, and she looked back up at me, turmoil gathered behind her eyes.
“What’s wrong? What did I miss?” She shook her head and bit her bottom lip again. When she didn’t answer, I tried again. “Tell me so I can fix it.”
She sighed and her eyes flashed quickly to the table across from us. Several feet away was another booth similar to ours and another couple. I caught the eyes of the woman who was staring in our direction. She had the good sense to look away sheepishly when she caught my gaze.
Addison sighed. “She just keeps staring,” she said quietly.
A fierce wave of protectiveness swept through me.
I had a feeling the woman was being judgmental just based on the way she quickly averted her attention when she realized I’d noticed, but I couldn’t be sure it was malicious.
All I knew was that it was making Addison uncomfortable, and that was enough for me.
But I wasn’t going to let her know that.
“Probably because you are without a doubt the most beautiful woman in this room.”
Addison barked out a disbelieving laugh and rolled her eyes. “I appreciate that, but it’s not likely. I have three guesses why she’s staring, and none of them have to do with beauty.”
“Okay, what do you think then?”
She raised her hand and started ticking off the reasons on her fingers. “Because of my hair. Because of my birthmark. Or because of our age difference. She looked like she might be trying to do the math in her head.”
I glanced at the other table one more time out of the corner of my eye and confirmed that both of them had gone back to eating their food and hiding behind their drinks.
Good.
Lifting my hand, I cupped Addison’s cheek, grazing the slightly raised skin of her birthmark with the tips of my fingers.
“Well, if they’re going to stare, we might as well give them something to look at.”
She considered my words, and in a second, her eyes lit with mischievous desire. She licked her lips, and her attention bounced to mine. Yes, we were thinking the exact same thing.
I leaned forward and slowly pressed our lips together.
And the rest of the world disappeared. Especially when I slipped my tongue against her slightly parted lips.
She gasped, and I took the opportunity to taste her.
She so willingly let me lead the kiss, like it was second nature to do so, and I craved every soft brush of her lips and quiet moans.
Her hands fisted in the lapels of my jacket, and she scooted across the seat like she was eager to be closer.
Although it felt like it was just her and me, that wasn’t actually the case.
The restaurant erupted into more soft applause as the pianist finished another song and drew us back to the present. We reluctantly separated, and I gazed down at her to see her lips still parted and wet.
“How do you do that?” she whispered, barely loud enough to be heard over the music and quiet chatter around us. She was eyeing my lips like she was fighting the urge to taste them again.
“Do what, baby girl?”
“Make me feel so much with just a freaking kiss.”
I hummed low in my throat and swallowed down the glee, knowing she felt it, too. She’d been fighting her feelings so hard, I worried she would never come to terms with it.
“It’s how it’s supposed to feel.”
“So, you feel it, too?”
I nodded, and her eyes slid to mine. My hand still cupping her cheek, I ran my thumb along her soft skin and faint blush. I could see the question in her eyes, and I stayed quiet, hoping she would speak it.
It took her a moment, an internal war playing out over her features, before she asked, “Have you felt it before?”
It wasn’t the question I expected, and it took me a moment to consider my answer. But I knew I couldn’t hesitate too long. I just had to decide which answer would scare her the least. I could lie and tell her that I had, or I could muster the courage to tell the truth.
I chose the latter.
“Never.”