had to back away.
“While it’s hard to say no,” he admitted with a groan as her teeth nipped his earlobe, “I think we shouldn’t do this right now.”
“Why not? I think we’ve said all we need to say for the moment,” she said with a sexy smile.
“It’s not that I don’t want you, believe me. I want you constantly, but I don’t want us always turning to sex to solve our problems.”
She smiled. “You just have no idea how good makeup sex can be.”
“Can we find out later? We were going to go out on a date, and I think we should.”
She blinked. “You still want to go out?”
“Sure. Why don’t you get dressed and I’ll make some new reservations. We’ll go out, talk, and maybe we can come up with some solutions to this problem together?”
She nodded, then readjusted his tie. “Okay. We’ll go out. As long as you let me take this tie off later, and put it to some very interesting use.”
His cock turned hard and her wiggling against him didn’t help. He swatted her backside playfully. “It’s a deal. Get off me, vixen, and go get dressed.”
She was smiling, too, as she headed off to the shower.
Dan pursed his lips, an idea forming. After he called the restaurant for new reservations, he looked up another number. There was a man he’d worked on a project with a while ago—a hush-hush corporate security kind of thing—who might be able to help them.
“Hi, Kevin, Dan Ellison here.”
“Hey Dan, this is a surprise. Calling to take me up on the job offer?”
“Afraid not, but if I ever get tired of academia, which could happen anytime—” they both laughed at that “—then you’d be first on my list. I was wondering if I could talk to you about a problem I have….”
“Sure, shoot.”
Dan gave him the outline about being blackmailed, and the two men talked about it. Dan heard Jodie’s shower shut off and by that time, he had his solution.
Now he just had to see if she was up for it, too.
JODIE COULDN’T BELIEVE that only a few hours had passed since she was alone in her apartment planning to end things with Dan and feeling like crap. Now, on a warm autumn night, she was in her favorite blue dress and heels, sitting at an outdoor tapas café that provided a great view of the river and city streets. She and Dan fed each other bits of tomato and watermelon salad. Next, they’d be trying succulent meats and cheeses from the plates they had ordered. Jodie loved tapas for the variety. You never had to choose just one thing for dinner, but could make a meal of several different kinds of foods.
She’d felt the same way about her love life, really, until just this minute. Dan filled her up and, as he pushed a piece of tuna tartare through her lips, she sucked the tip of his finger in with it and loved how his eyes darkened in reaction.
He’d said he loved her. She hadn’t said it back.
She wanted to, but she couldn’t bring herself to say it. Not yet. She knew once she said that to Dan, there would be no turning back. Other people seemed to fall in and out of love like they caught colds, but she’d never said that to anyone, not in the serious, romantic sense. She didn’t know how to be sure that this was really love and not something else. Something that might slip away.
Thankfully, Dan seemed willing to wait.
Until then, she could try to show him how she felt for him in every way she could.
“Do you want dessert?” Dan asked as he paid the check. Jodie offered to split, but Dan had simply glared at her. She let him pick up the check, enjoying his traditional bent.
“Maybe after a walk? I know a late-night place that does great espresso and chocolate cake.”
He smiled, taking her hand as they walked out to the sidewalk, heading across the street to walk along the river. “Sounds like that could keep us awake all night? What will we do?”
“Oh, I’m sure we’ll think of something,” she answered in the same teasing tone, tugging at his tie. She squeezed his hand. “Thank you for talking me into going out. This was perfect.”
“You’re more than welcome. We should make a habit of it. You look beautiful, by the way, if I had failed to mention it earlier. Everything about you is perfect, Jodie,” he said