The Guy Next Door - By Lori Foster, S Donovan, V Dahl Page 0,98
to have?”
“The Shiraz, but I’m no wine expert. You might want to—”
“I’ll have that, too.”
He gave her a helpless smile and shrugged. “Okay, two glasses of the Shiraz.” When the waitress disappeared, he leaned closer. “We should’ve gone somewhere with beer. I’d feel much more confident and manly while ordering.”
Beth couldn’t keep up her worried monologue when he was smiling so close to her. And she’d been right about him. He did smell good. Like starched cotton and soap. As though he should be on the cover of a Polo catalog. Beth’s heart shook with nervous joy. “You seem manly enough.”
“Oh, manly enough?”
“Maybe,” she answered with a grin. “Notice I qualified it with ‘seem.’”
“Ouch. I didn’t know you were into sadism.”
She laughed, but his smile slipped a little. “Um, you’re not into sadism, are you?”
“Oh, God,” she laughed, tears springing to her eyes in amused relief. He looked so worried. Did he only want her to be a normal girl? What a nice change. “No,” she finally said. “I am not a sadist. Or a masochist, if that’s your next question.”
“Good. I didn’t think you looked—I mean, not that people look a certain way. Or that I thought this was leading to a… That we would… Ah, shit.”
He leaned his head back against the cushion as Beth laughed until she couldn’t breathe.
“I’m sorry,” she gasped.
“Oh, no. I’m pretty sure I’m sorry.”
The waitress delivered their wine and he snatched his up with a muttered, “Thank God.”
If he was nervous, then maybe this was okay. Maybe she wasn’t a failure. Maybe this kind of sexual tension was supposed to make you nervous.
She suddenly felt so much better that she scooted a little closer while he wasn’t looking and clicked her glass against his. “Cheers.”
He opened his eyes and his gaze dipped to her mouth as she put the glass to her lips. “Cheers,” he murmured back.
“Mmm. It’s good. Your manhood is safe with me.”
He tasted the wine and his eyebrows rose. “That is good. How could you ever have doubted me?”
“I didn’t really. In fact, I’ve heard amazing things about you.”
“Oh.” A pink flush rose up his face.
“I’m sorry. Was that rude? It’s just that…”
“Beth—”
“Listen,” she interrupted. “I just…” She leaned even closer. Her arm brushed his, and the crisp hair on his forearm sent pleasure sizzling through her. “Jamie,” she whispered, “can I be completely honest with you?”
CHAPTER FOUR
ERIC WAS FILLED WITH a strange and arousing mixture of lust and guilt. Her arm slid along his, and a very interesting amount of cleavage was exposed when she leaned so close to him. She was the sexiest woman he’d ever met, and every time she said “Jamie” it was rubbing his conscience raw. Now she was offering complete honesty?
He would have stopped her if he hadn’t been so intent on hearing her thoughts.
“You know where I work.”
He nodded and watched her pink lips touch the edge of her glass. She drank, and when she lowered the wine, her lips were even pinker. Ruby-red and touched with dampness. Eric’s mouth went dry.
He felt hypnotized, and when her knee brushed his, he reached automatically to touch it. Beth inhaled sharply, and those ruby lips parted just the tiniest bit.
“Because of my job,” she continued, the words slightly breathless. “You might think…”
Fascinated by her response and drawn in by her soft skin, Eric rubbed his little finger along the inside of her knee. She edged her leg closer to his, parting her knees, giving him space. His mind tumbled over in a primal surge of victory.
“What I’m trying to say,” she whispered, “is that I don’t usually do this.”
“This?” he repeated. Her skin was so hot. He spread his fingers wider, edging them past her knee to her thigh.
“Yes,” she breathed. “This.” And her hand pressed atop his.
This was wrong. Because she didn’t know who he was. Because they were virtually strangers. Because they were in public. But wrong felt better than he’d imagined it could.
Wrong felt like the silky heat of her thigh as she dragged his hand higher. It felt like her skirt easing up as he slid beneath it. And it felt like her muscles trembling as she edged her legs farther apart.
Eric suddenly regretted that he’d spent his life doing the right thing. Instead, he wanted to do…this.
His fingers brushed the satiny fabric between her legs. Her breath caught in her throat, and Eric ceased breathing altogether. Her muscles tightened as she tried to spread her knees farther, but the material