Just One Night: Part 2 (6 page)

We never got our true ending. I need to see this thing through, all the way to the end. Plus, maybe the second time with him will suck and I’ll be able to move on without feeling so bereft. I mean, what are the chances that he’s really as amazing as he seemed on the first date? Probably zero. Zilch.

“Could be I’ll take you up on that dare,” I say, all nonchalant.

“Could be?”

“Depends.” Let him be the one to say what he means. I’m not going to assume anything.

“Now this is getting interesting.”

He puts his hand under the table, but I don’t feel it on me anywhere. It makes me breathe faster as I wait for his next move.

I shrug. “If you say so.” Yeah, that’s right. I am totally cool. I am pulling this off! Mia would be so proud. I look up at her to see if she’s admiring my awesomeness, but find that she’s too busy sipping wine and staring over her glass at Edward to pay me any mind.

Then his hand is at my knee, his fingers working their way under the edge of my dress. Slowly, slowly he inches it up.

“Would you care for something hot or something cold?” says the voice at my ear.

I jump nearly a mile when I realize a waiter is there and he’s offering me food.

“Something … hot?” I say, a little nervously. William hasn’t moved his hand down; in fact, he’s still moving it up. Thank goodness the tablecloth is too long for anyone to see. I break out in goosebumps as the soft material of my dress slithers across my heated skin.

Three small appetizers are placed on my plate by the waiter with tongs. After he leaves William his food, William leans towards me. “Would you please pass me the salt?” His fingers have reached my panties and his pinkie finger slides into the edge of them, lifting the material to give access to his other fingers. He strokes me gently with a middle finger as I reach for the shaker, and I begin pulsing with need. That’s all it takes is one little touch and I’m a mess.
Ugh
, I hate myself.

I hand him the salt, trying to act like I’m not sweating with desire. “Here you go. Salt for your food. Salt.” I drop it before it gets to the table, but he catches it in midair.

“Thank you,” he says, smiling slyly and putting it down gently.

“No, thank you,” I say under my breath.

His finger enters me and then comes out again to move around my wet folds. I squeeze my fork tightly to keep from moaning out loud. This is crazy. This is nuts!

“How’s your dinner so far?” asks Malcolm. He’s looking right at me.

“Good?” William’s hand stops moving.

“You look at little … under the weather. Are you sure it’s okay?”

William pulls his fingers out and his hand disappears from my lap.

Damn you, Malcolm! I hate you twice as much now, you killjoy. “Yes, I’m fine. Just um … need to add some salt.” I grab the shaker and go to town on my appetizers.

Mia stares at me with daggers in her eyes.

I put the shaker down and take a bite of my food. It’s so salty I feel like I’ve just swallowed sea water. I give Malcolm a thumbs up as he waits for my reaction. “Great stuff,” I say, smiling through the pain.

He turns to the person on his other side and talks low so I can’t hear him.

“Here. Try this,” William says, putting one of his pieces of food on my plate. “No need to add salt.”

“That was your fault,” you know, I say in a low growl.

“I take full responsibility. Here. Have another.” He puts more food on my plate.

It’s hard staying grouchy with a man who fingers me during the first course and then gives me his share when he’s done. “Thank you.”

“So what are the terms?” he asks, putting a bite of food in his mouth.

“Terms?” I take my wine glass and hide behind it. “Terms for what?”

He wipes his mouth off with his napkin. “For the rest of our evening. The one we missed last week.”

“I don’t know.” My ability to play it cool is gone. Wet panties equals fried brain. “What do you think they should be?”

“I’m free after dinner tonight.”

He went and said that. Just when I thought I’d at least have some time to figure things out, he said that.

“I’m going to a club with my friend Mia after.”

She hears her name and looks up, grinning. “You talking about me?”

“I was saying that you and I are going to a club after.”

Malcolm stops talking to the girl on his other side. “A club? What club?”

Mia wants to kill me, I know this, but she’s really good at acting like we’re all good. “We haven’t decided yet. We’re waiting on a call. From our dates.”

I nod. “Yep. Waiting on a call from our dates. That’s what we’re doing.” I lean in by William’s shoulder and whisper, “That’s a lie.”

“Maybe we’ll follow you over,” Malcolm says. “I haven’t been dancing in a long time.”

Several heads around the table are bobbing up and down.

Great. Now everything is ruined. Mia’s going to kill me and I’m not going to get laid. Double penalty.

“I’ll let you know where we’re going as soon as I know,” Mia assures him. Then she goes back to talking with Edward while shooting me hard looks from time to time.

“Do you have a date later?” William asks me.

“No. I’m supposed to get Mia away from her boss after dinner. That’s it.”

“Hmmm … that could present a problem as it relates to my plan.”

“Your plan?”

“Yes. My plan to ravish you tonight.”

I can’t help but giggle. “Ravish me? Are we in a Jane Austen novel now?”

“Oh, role play. Brilliant. I’m game if you are.”

I nudge him with my elbow. “Stop.” My face is back to pink now. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. He removes all sense of sophistication from my person when he’s around.

“How late do you normally stay out with your friend?”

“Depends. If she’s having a good time, we can stay out until three in the morning. If she’s tired or not having fun, we could be done by midnight.”

“Then I suppose I will have to manufacture some sort of disaster so that she will give up early and leave you to your own devices.”

I look over at my friend. “Actually, you could just tell Edward to take her out and that would solve all our problems.” I can tell she’s into him by her body language. She’s completely ignoring Malcolm and oblivious to his annoyance over it.

“I wouldn’t do that to a friend of yours,” William says, his expression darkening.

“Why would you say that? He’s your brother.”

“Only by the grace of biology and some rotten luck. He’s incorrigible. You can ask anyone.”

“Mia likes incorrigible.”

“Does she like having her heart torn in two? Because my brother has a string of broken hearts behind him. Believe me when I say he’s not her type.”

Mia glares at me and then motions that she’s texting something. I reach into my purse and pull out my phone to read the message waiting for me. I show it to William.

Double date dancing, English style?

“What does this mean?” he asks.

“She wants to go to the club with you guys.”

William takes his time responding, finishing his food and wiping his lips off with the napkin. I know I’m staring at him as he does it, but I can still remember the feel of his mouth on mine, on my body, on my breasts. I want to feel that again.

“I will go on one condition.”

I hold my phone in my lap as I wait to hear it. I haven’t typed out my answer yet.

“That you warn your friend about my brother first. I cannot have her misery on my conscience.”

“Fine. Done.” I tap away before either of us can change our minds.

He glances at me once and smiles before going back to paying attention to his food. “You’re not a very good negotiator.”

I smile back and I press
Send
. “Maybe I’m an excellent negotiator.”

“How is that possible? You gave me exactly what I wanted without a fight.”

I look up as I put my phone back in my purse. “No point in fighting when I’m getting exactly what I want too, right?”

CHAPTER SIX

William

SHE IS A SLY ONE, this Jennifer No-Last-Name. One minute she’s blushing like an innocent princess and the next she’s bringing me down a peg with her hidden promises and skilled negotiating, making me think she’s the one running the show. I find I quite like the dichotomy. It’s sexy.

All I need to do is get through this dinner and we’re off to end the adventure that only really just got started. Yes, it’s only for the remainder of one night, but that should be just good enough. We still will have no commitments, no strings to get tangled amongst, and no complications, while at the same time having another few moments to enjoy each other’s company. A simple continuation of a night with some debauchery thrown in for good measure and then we’re through. Done. End of the road and that is that.

That’s the plan anyway. I have this little thought niggling the back of my mind, telling me that this is a tremendously daft idea, but I’ve chosen to ignore the inconvenience my conscience presents. It’s not like I’m taking advantage of her. She’s an adult woman; she knows what she’s getting into. And I know what I’m getting into. Her. Her lovely, hot, slippery wet body that I have not been able to forget, try as I may, try as I might.

I keep staring at her hands. It’s not just the pale, silky softness that I see and remember that draws my attention. It’s the image my brain has conjured of those same lovely, delicate fingers wrapped around my cock. I would love to see that with her mouth on the tip, my cock moving in and out as my ballsack seizes up in ecstasy.

Yes, it’s true, I’m afraid to admit it, but every man fantasizes about fellatio, even when the girl he’s imagining it with is the kind that can refuse to do it and never hear a word about it, and even when the man who’s doing the fantasizing should be above such things.

“Hello? Anyone in there?”

She’s caught me lost in fellatio-land. A quick recovery is my only hope. Luckily, a few words from her recent conversation have filtered into my brain. “Right. You were saying you like to dance.”

She giggles. “No, I wasn’t. I was saying that when we go to the club, don’t expect me to dance.”

“Not even one dance?” I do my best imitation of a pout. My brother catches me and frowns in confusion, so I immediately cease that ridiculousness. I don’t know what came over me.

“They don’t exactly do waltzing at club Monster or whatever it’s called.”

“My repertoire is not limited to the waltz, I’ll have you know. I can cut a rug with the best of them.”

“Cut a rug? Now you’re scaring me.”

I rest my fork against my plate and turn to face her. “Did I steer you wrong the last time we danced?”

It takes her so long to answer I’m forced to lift an eyebrow.

Her smile is sad. “No. You didn’t steer me wrong.”

I want to reach out and touch her chin, to tell her there’s no reason to look so lost. But I don’t because we’re at a dinner table and there are too many people here who would not understand that I’m merely being friendly. “Well then, you can put your trust in me.”

“I do trust you. So far you’ve done an excellent job of living up to your agreements.”

“And why do I get the feeling that you’ve just insulted me?” Something is happening here, but I’m not sure what it is.

“No, not at all. You’re honest and straightforward. You don’t play games.”

“I’ve no time for games.”

“Me neither.”

“Then you and I suit.” I smile. “Are you ready for dinner?” I look over her shoulder at the waiter standing behind her.

She moves to the side so he can access her plate and replace it with another that has a full meal on it.

“What’s this?” she asks.

“Salmon with champagne cream sauce,” the waiter responds.

She looks at me at the same time as I look at her.

“Should I worry about an allergic reaction and an emergency trip to the dry cleaners?” I ask, smiling as the memory of her champagne disaster comes to mind.

“I sure hope not.” She lifts her fork and brings it to the plate.

I miss her first bite as I’m drawn into a conversation about investments in wine by Malcolm. I can feel Jennifer’s leg up against mine, which makes me think that she’s opened her legs for me in an effort to feel me and maybe even dream of me being inside her. The words our host is saying go in one ear and directly out of the other. I believe I’m nodding in all the right places, but it’s about all I can do to coordinate my hand and mouth to eat. I’m not tasting a single thing on my plate even though I am consuming it all.

“So you’ll come by and view our latest collection?” Malcolm asks.

“Yes, we will,” says Edward. “Just name the date and time.”

I clear my throat to try and focus my energies. Edward is committing us to something that sounds like a bad idea. “Actually, it would be better if you contacted my assistant and cleared it with my calendar.”

Edward shakes his head. “Never fails.”

I’m not interested in airing our dirty laundry here at this table of strangers, so I ignore him and the smile that comes across Jennifer’s friend’s face. Hopefully she’ll take my warning seriously and avoid my brother like the plague.

Jennifer takes her napkin and puts it on the table. I pause my eating to watch her rise from her seat.

“I’m just stepping out to the restroom.”

“Oh, I’m coming with you,” says her friend, getting to her feet and taking her small handbag from the back of her chair.

“Warn her,” I say calmly as I wipe my mouth with my napkin. “About Edward. You promised.”

Jennifer smiles. “I will. But you should probably do the same for your brother.”

I watch her pixie-like friend come around the table. “I hardly think that’s necessary.”

“Don’t let looks be deceiving. She’s way more than he’s bargaining for, I can promise you that.”

I cannot stop the words that demand to come. “Birds of a feather?”

She frowns at me confused, but doesn’t have time to ask me for an explanation before her friend is taking her away.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Jennifer

“HE SAYS I NEED TO warn you.”

“What? Warn me about what? Edward?” Mia is putting on lipgloss, admiring the way it makes her lips appear fuller. I hope she’s not using that stuff that has snake venom in it. She did that once and it made her look like a prize fighter.