Chapter 16 #2
“Well, he’s definitely trying to get me to make an exception. Somehow he got me to agree to twice-a-week meal sharing.”
“Meal sharing? Like a date?”
“Nope. Sharing a meal in a non-dating capacity?”
“Let me get this straight…you’re sharing a meal twice a week, alone with him?”
“That’s right. In a non-dating capacity.”
“Which means what? You won’t be fucking at the end of the night?”
I sipped my drink. “Exactly.”
Jules cracked up. “He talked you into this crap?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re dating him and don’t even know it. I might love this man.”
I wasn’t dating him. Was I? We were just sharing a meal twice a week. Getting to know each other. Not seeing other people. And thinking of each other while we took care of ourselves. OMG. I am dating him!
Jules sipped her drink and watched me, amused, as I came around to the same conclusion she’d gotten to in two seconds flat.
“Holy shit. Am I really this big of an idiot?”
“Sweetheart, I know you. You didn’t put up that wall to keep him out. You put it up to watch him break it down to get to you.”
I absolutely needed another drink. Make that a double.
For the next hour and a half, Jules and I took advantage of the free drinks.
We were in a fifteen-dollar-martini bar, and I was glad we didn’t have to pay the bill.
Sometime after midnight, we’d reached the giggle stage of our inebriation.
We were mid-way between sober and slurring, settling nicely into what I liked to call the confessional stage, where everything seemed crystal clear, and sharing it seemed liberating.
Jules’s well-hung bouncer hadn’t yet joined us, so we had frequent visitors offering to buy us drinks or asking us to dance. Two clean-cut guys stopped by our table.
“Can we buy you ladies a drink?” The broader one smiled confidently.
Dimples. Damn. I was pretty sure he didn’t get turned down often.
“Thanks, but our drinks are on the house tonight, and I have a massive crush on my boss.”
One eyebrow perked. “Lucky boss. How about a dance then?”
I looked to Jules.
“Not me,” she said. “I’ve been waiting fifteen years, remember? Christian is going to be off soon.”
Politely, I declined. “No, thanks. Not tonight.”
After they’d walked away, Jules said, “The tall one was hot. Why didn’t you dance with him?”
“What’s the point?” I brought my drink to my lips to sip, only to discover after tilting my head back that my glass was empty.
“Of dancing or of men in general? Because my answers would be pretty different.”
“Of dancing with him. I’m just going to compare.”
Jules gave me a funny smile. “Tell me what you like about Bossman.”
“He’s smart, cocky, hard, but sort of soft at the same time. Does that make sense?” I thought she was distracted looking for Christian when I caught her eyes over my head. “Are you even paying attention to me?”
“I am.” She tossed back the rest of the liquid in her fancy glass. “So what were you saying? You liked his persistence? That it was a turn-on?”
I hadn’t said that, but she wasn’t wrong. “I swear, if he pushed me up against the door of my office, I’d have no willpower. Him being the boss is why I’m keeping away from him, yet his bossiness totally does it for me.”
Jules was grinning like a Cheshire cat.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” When she just kept on smiling, I knew. I knew. “He’s standing right behind me, isn’t he?”
A warm hand touched my bare shoulder.
I closed my eyes and mumbled to my best friend, “I’m going to kill you.”
She shimmied out of the booth and kissed me on the cheek. “I should check and see if my Hulk is off work yet. Be back in a bit.” She wiggled her fingers in a cute wave. “Hey, Bossman.” Then she disappeared.
Chase didn’t even have the decency to feign modesty.
He slipped into the seat next to me, rather than sitting across the table as Jules had been.
God, I wanted to smack that cocky, full-of-himself smile off his face.
His gorgeous, perfectly chiseled, God, I want to kiss you even more now that I’m drunk face.
“What are you doing here, Chase?”
“Making your dreams come true, apparently.”
I turned, facing him head on for the first time, which was probably a mistake.
He was too good-looking for my sober thoughts; alcohol could only make things less bearable.
Tonight he wore a tuxedo. Or more properly described, he had on a crisp white shirt unbuttoned at the collar, and a bow tie hung loosely around his neck.
The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up, revealing tanned, toned forearms. He really had great forearms. I was a sucker for forearms. Had I said that already? Even if I had, it warranted repeating.
But the thing that did me in was, surprisingly, his hair.
Normally unruly, tonight it was parted dramatically at the side and slicked back.
Couple that with his flawless, tan skin, clean-shaven face, and a carved, masculine jawline, and he could have just walked out of The Great Gatsby. It totally threw me off.
“You look…so different.”
“Different bad or different good?”
I couldn’t lie. I’d had too much truth serum. “You look like an old-time movie star, very classically handsome. I like it.”
“I’ll be investing in additional hair gel first thing tomorrow morning.”
A little smile I’d tried to hold back escaped. Chase ran his thumb down my cheek, then traced the corner of my lips.
“Maybe a case, if it brings out that smile,” he added.
“What are you doing here?”
“You said you were coming here the other day.”
I had but… “Shouldn’t you be at the charity event?”
“It’s almost over. Besides, I couldn’t stop thinking about you all night.” His arm was slung casually over the back of the bench seat we shared, and his fingers began to caress the exposed skin of my shoulders. “I wasn’t sure if I should come, and now I’m glad I did.”
“Why is that?”
“You like my persistence. What was that you said? My bossiness turns you on?”
I rolled my eyes. “I need another drink.”
“Yes, let’s both. Triple Peppermint Schnapps?”
Chase flagged down the waitress and ordered us both drinks. Looking around the busy club, he asked, “So do you do this often? Go out clubbing with your friends?”
“Not much anymore. I like to dance, but it’s kind of a meat market.”
His finger stopped tracing. “Is that what you were doing tonight? Shopping for meat?”
“Nope. Just enjoying a night out with my friend.”
“Because if meat is what you’re looking for…”
I smacked his abs playfully, but I could feel how hard his body was underneath his shirt. Note to self, keep your hands at your sides at all times, for your own safety.
“Is this how you meet women? You go stalking at clubs looking all sexy at midnight?”
“Not generally. This is the first time I’ve been inside a club—unless it was for an event I had to attend—in years.”
“Where do you meet women then?”
“Various places.”
“That’s specific.” I lifted a brow.
“Okay. Let’s see... The last woman I went out with I met on a flight from California.”
“Was that Bridget?”
“No.”
“Where did you meet Bridget?”
“A party.”
“Work party?”
The waitress brought our drinks, and Chase gulped half his glass.
“Thirsty?”
“Just trying to take the edge off.”
“So…Bridget. What kind of a party?”
“I’d prefer not to talk about other women when I’m sitting here with you.”
“Okay. What would you like to talk about then?”
“Why don’t we start with all the things I thought about doing to you tonight?” His gaze slid down my face and took its time as it appreciated my body in the form-fitting little black dress I wore.
Watching him look at me with all that hunger weakened my resistance.
I swallowed. “Chase…”
He responded by lifting my hand and bringing it to his lips for a gentle kiss. “How much have you had to drink tonight?”
“Enough.”
“That’s a shame.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m not a man who takes advantage only because Peppermint Schnapps has relaxed a woman’s uncertainty.”
It was my turn to gulp from my glass. I was feeling lightheaded, and it had nothing to do with the alcohol. “So are you saying that no matter what I say or do, you won’t be sleeping with me tonight””
The heat in his eyes said otherwise. “That’s right.”
I smiled devilishly. “That sounds like a challenge. Dance with me.”