Hot SEAL, Heartbreaker - Cat Johnson Page 0,57
with the song.
“Did you ask Shelly to get me here?” she asked, piecing it all together. Now that odd phone call made sense.
“Yes. Sorry.” He had the decency to look guilty about that fact. “I saw her here the other night. She was at some birthday party.”
So Brian was the mystery man Shelly had met. Her friend was an excellent liar. She’d have to remember that.
The song continued around her growing louder with each stanza. It brought back memories of her dad. But hearing a group sing it, in harmony, made it different.
The group effort added another layer. A sound her father, singing alone, or even with her accompanying him, couldn’t achieve. A richness that elevated the performance to impressive levels.
And Brian had organized it all.
He had to have remembered the sea shanty albums on her shelf. And her telling him about her father’s singing.
His attention to details, he effort to organize this, it was touching.
This guy. He wasn’t like other men.
Dammit, she had to admit that now. And accept it. And yes, maybe even give him, give them, a chance.
She found herself getting emotional and brushed aside the tears that hearing the song her father had sung for so many years of her childhood had caused.
“Do you want to come back to my place?” she asked Brian. She was ready to be out of the crowd and noise. Ready to be alone with this man.
A feral groan came from Brian as he leaned closer, then pulled away. “Yes. And no.”
“I don’t understand.” She laughed, confused.
“Yes, I want nothing more than to come back to your place. But not if it’s going to be like it was before. Just sex and then you send me packing right after.”
“You stayed over the whole night once.”
“Spending the night isn’t what I’m talking about. I want to date you. I want to take you out to dinner. Bring you here for drinks with the guys. Have vegan lasagna at your sister’s place.”
Wow. Even she didn’t want to do that last one.
“But you have to want that too.” He pinned her with a stare. “I want you to know, I’ve decided to be more like our mutual friend Andrew.”
She frowned. “Ugh. How? Why?”
“I’m going to be a man who doesn’t take no for an answer. From now on, I won’t accept no from you when I ask you out on a date. A real date. And that’s the only way I’ll agree to come back to your place for . . . the booty, as you call it.”
Alicia pressed her lips together and locked her gaze on his. “Those are your conditions?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He nodded somberly.
“No negotiations?” she asked.
“Nope. And no trial period either.”
It was impressive, his will power.
As impressive as the hard-on she felt pressed between them, proving how much he did want to come home with her. Yet, he was still sticking to his guns, so to speak.
She could have tortured him longer, but she was finished. She wanted to get out of there as much as he did. “Okay. I will agree to your terms.”
His eyes brightened. “You will?”
“Yes. Any man who goes to all the trouble of having an entire bar sing to me is worth taking a chance on.”
“To be perfectly honest, I was a little afraid I was going to fall flat on my face with this grand plan. But I guess it worked out.” Brian glanced around them where every man, and a lot of the women, were still singing the song he’d started.
“It wasn’t that much of a stretch. It is an Irish pub,” she said. “The Irish are famous for their singing.”
“True. And sailors have historically been known to sing,” he agreed.
“Drunks too,” she pointed out.
“Also true.” He nodded before focusing back completely on her. “So, I’ve got something to ask you.”
As loud as it was in there, talking at all was a challenge. And now he wanted to ask her a question?
It must important.
She wasn’t sure she was ready for important yet. She was only just wrapping her head around them being a couple.
Making light of it seemed the best way to go. “Is this your first question that you’re not going to accept a no to?”
“Yes. As a matter of fact, it is.” He nodded. “Ready?”
Her mind went to many places, some of them X-rated, but some of them not. Some of them serious. Too serious for her delicate state of balance.
As she wondered what he was about to lay on her, she