pleasure more than your own.”
“It’s a habit.”
“It’s a bad one.” He’s no longer smiling. “Here’s the deal, Cris. We’re not done. We’re not remotely done. We’re not only going to do it again, we’re going to push this to the edge of what you can take. To the pinnacle of what you really want. I’m not saying you have to sleep with me, but I am saying you have to allow yourself to take and take until you can’t take any more. It’s no less than you deserve.”
I’m staring at him, my latte cooling in my hand. He’s staring at me, unblinking. The waitress sets our plates in front of us. I blink first.
“Anything else?” the young girl asks, having no idea what she walked into.
“Do you want anything else, Cris?” Benji raises his thick eyebrows. “Are you brave enough to ask for it if you do?”
His challenge is about more than breakfast accoutrements and we both know it. The waitress doesn’t, offering to bring hot sauce or their specialty house tomatillo salsa for our eggs.
“It’s up to the lady,” Benji says, his eyes glued to mine.
“You were the one laying down the law a second ago.” I fiddle with the saltshaker.
He dips his chin into a barely-there nod, and then addresses the waitress. “We’ll take both. And anything else to put this breakfast over the top. We’ve never been here before.” Eyes back on mine, his voice dips low and seductive. “We don’t want to miss a thing.”
The waitress leaves. I wrestle my gaze from Benji and take in the crowded restaurant. Not exactly the most private place for a discussion of this magnitude.
A second later he stands and moves to my side of the booth. His hip bumps mine as he scoots me over. He folds his hands on the tabletop, tips his head, and watches me. Up close he’s glorious. Perfect golden skin almost bronze in color. Dark hair I intimately know the feel of between my fingers. Eyes so expressive I’m held captive by them. Those half-open lids fringed with a million black lashes. I’ll never forget him. Never. Even if we burn our friendship to ash and I never work in this town again.
I doubt either of those things will happen, but I justify he would be worth it. One orgasm at his hand was already worth it. Touching him once more would be worth it…
“Do you know what I saw when I was on my knees in front of you yesterday?” His voice is a low rumble. Seductive. Husky.
I shake my head. Paralyzed by his intensity.
“Numbers never lie. So I’ll give you the numbers.”
I’m not sure I follow, but I’m riveted.
“Four. That’s how many seconds passed between your yes and the moment I slid my hand into your panties. One. How many fingers it took to take you there. Six. The number of times your eyelids fluttered when you came on my hand. Three. How many times you moaned while you were coming.” He’s leaning close, talking quiet. My breathing has escalated like I’m jogging instead of sitting still.
“Two,” he murmurs next. “How many fast breaths you just took. Kiss me, Firecracker. No one’s paying attention.”
I can’t resist so I do as he asks, my eyes closed, my lips parted. He’s proven wrong a moment later when our waitress interrupts. She loudly settles a plate filled with ramekins onto the table. In those ramekins are sauces in an array of colors.
“Here you go,” she announces, before asking if there is anything else. There’s not, so she moves away from our table.
Benji dips a finger into a creamy aioli and sucks it clean. He’s smiling when he asks, “What do you say, Cris? Should we try a bit of everything?”
I swallow thickly. And then smile as I nod.
Yes. Hell yes.
Chapter Eleven
Cris
By the end of the week I’m fairly certain the conversation at the restaurant was a vivid hallucination.
I could have sworn Benji’s offer meant he’d be in hot pursuit, but he backed off. We left Grand Marin after breakfast, which was delicious once I committed to eating instead of melting into a puddle of hormonal goo at his feet, and then we returned to the office. Other than a few teasing winks, which I thought (and hoped) would lead to more, nothing physical happened between us. The only other time he touched me that day was when he gripped my hips to slide me to one side and open the refrigerator while I waited for