Infatuated (5 page)

“I don’t know.” Did he have any? If they were there, then they were either hidden really well or were things I could easily overlook.

Definitely cocky. He rode the edge between conceited and confident, but somehow managed to stay just on the good side of it. Funny, with the easy way he could make me laugh and smile. A little on the overbearing side maybe, considering he’d approached an unknown man, for me, to try to help because I’d been frightened.

And sexy. Oh, man, definitely sexy. That, if anything, was his fatal flaw—for me. Because he stirred things inside me no one had before. He made me want things I never wanted, or at least made me consider my options way, way too soon. Yeah, he was dangerously sexy all right, in looks and personality.

It was a deadly combo.

CHAPTER 4

A
t work, time crawled. I could almost hear each second tick by, as if in slow motion. The good news: Earl never made an appearance. The bad news: I was almost done work and neither had Kale.

At midnight, when my shift finally ended, I found myself disappointed that Kale never showed up. I was sure he would, if for no other reason than to get his jacket back. Max suggested I leave the jacket at home, make him come with me to get it, then not let him leave until I jumped him. The idea had merit—for Max. Heck, the idea had merit for me, too, which was why I was dead-set against it. I didn’t sleep with guys I knew really well, let alone ones I hardly knew at all. Even if I liked him a lot (and I did, more than I thought I could after a single conversation), I couldn’t sleep with him. I wouldn’t.

But…I wanted to.

My thoughts had me fighting a frown as I said goodnight to Laura and left the bar, with Kale’s jacket thrown over my arm.

I heard a whistle and tensed when I turned to see where it’d come from. I was half-afraid it was Earl. It wasn’t. It was Kale. He was parked at the end of the building.

Smiling already, I walked over to him. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, since you never confirmed our plans for a date—”

“Your plans,” I corrected with a quick laugh.

He shrugged. “Same diff. Anyway, since you didn’t confirm them, I figured I’d bring a date to you.”

“You brought me a date?”

“I did,” he said, rocking back on his heels.

I eyed him, then made a show of looking around. “Is he cute?”

The sputtering fish look that crossed his face made me feel better than it should have. He recovered quickly and nodded. “I think he’s rather handsome. Kind of rugged. Blue eyes, dark hair.”

“With specs of green,” I said without thinking.

“In the hair?”

I laughed. “No, the eyes. They have to have specs of green. Like leaves.”

“Are you getting girly on me?”

“Getting? No.” I shook my head. “I was born that way.”

“Well played, Ally.”

I beamed.

“You’re lucky you’re cute and that I’m not lacking in the ego department, otherwise I’d hold your gift hostage.”

“You got me a present?”

“Maybe.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “If you deserve it.”

“I do.”

“Then turn around and close your eyes.” He rolled his own. “What kind of gift-receiver are you, anyway? Doesn’t even turn around,” he muttered.

Obediently, and grinning like a fool, I turned my back on him. My heart fluttered. “Can I have it now?”

“No magic word? You’re really bad at this, you know that?”

I giggled. “Please?”

A car door opened, closed, then I felt Kale behind me. He smelled like chocolate and citrus. I hadn’t realized it before, though that was probably because all I could smell on anyone from the bar was cigarettes and beer. Not tonight, though.

“Ready?”

I closed my eyes quickly. “Yes.”

His arm—or what I thought was his arm—brushed against mine. “Open your eyes.”

When I did, the first thing I saw was his face again. It had me smiling, even before I saw the flower in his hand. “You got me an orchid.”

He glanced at it and shrugged. “That’s what the flower lady said it was.”

I brought the flower up to my nose and sniffed. “How did you know they were my favorite?”

“Luck?”

“Laura. You asked her. Which is how you knew I got off work at midnight and why you didn’t show up until now.”

His smile was sly. “You were looking for me?”

I bit my lip. “Maybe.”

“Progress.” He nodded. “As for the flower… I may have made a simple inquiry and it may have been suggested that these were a particular favorite of yours.”

“A simple inquiry, huh? You made my night. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. My inquiry also led me to the discovery that you don’t have any classes tomorrow and your shift doesn’t start until six, so…the night doesn’t have to end here, does it?”

“No. I suppose it doesn’t.”

“Good. Now, for the rest of the date…” His gaze flickered over my shoulder. “I intended to try for breakfast in bed, but seeing as breakfast is passed—or not here yet, depending on your point of view—and you’re not in bed, I went for something else.” He paused when I raised an eyebrow and held up his hands. “Okay, that sounded a lot worse than I intended. I’m not
that
forward. I mean, not that I’d mind that, it’s just—shit.”

The fact that he was now blushing and rambling had me fighting a grin. I could picture him giving himself a mental head slap. “I think I get what you meant.”

“Ignore my sudden creepiness and please just wait here.”

Quickly, he turned away, like he was afraid I’d object. He went back to his SUV and pulled a basket from the passenger seat. A picnic basket. “You brought a picnic…to a bar…at midnight.”

“I brought a dinner, in a picnic basket, to the woman who just got off work from a bar at midnight. It’s worth noting the slight difference, similar though they are.”

“You’re either the sweetest guy I’ve met or the weirdest. I haven’t decided which yet.”

“Why limit what I can be? I choose both.”

“Done. You’re officially the sweetest weird guy I know. Happy now?”

“Marginally. Now follow me, madam,” he said in a bad French accent as he held out his arm. I took it and followed him to the rear of the Explorer where he opened the back. The backseat was missing, and in its place, a big blanket with two piles of pillows.

“You brought a bed, too? You planning a sleepover?”

“No, you pervert. Is sex the only thing you think about?” He waggled his eyebrows at me. “I figured you might be opposed to inviting me to your place—officially—or going to my place, so…comfort. Mostly. I haven’t actually tested it yet, but it has to be better than sitting on the ground. I thought about an actual picnic, out in the woods or something. Romantic, you know? But then I thought, who in their right mind thinks getting attacked by mosquitoes is romantic?”

I bit back a laugh. “You didn’t talk this much last night.”

“Because I didn’t want to scare you away. But now you’ve had a night to adjust and if I scare you off, then it wasn’t meant to be.”

“You don’t believe in kismet, remember?”

“True, but it doesn’t mean I don’t think it exists.”

“Actually, I think that’s exactly what it means.”

“Hey, I delivered the date, I get to make the rules.”

He made my head spin, but in a good way. A confusing way that I could hardly keep up with at times—like now. It was a good thing I didn’t mind a little confusion in a man. Or at least I didn’t mind it in him.

I shook my head and smiled. “So is that how this works? Your date, your rules?”

“Exactly.”

“Then wouldn’t it be
my
date since you brought it
to
me?”

He gave me a hard stare. “You didn’t warn me you were a thinker.”

“You should have asked.” I put my hands on my hips. “So is that a good thing or a bad thing? Do I lose points for not living up to the dumb blonde stereotype?”

“You’re a blonde? I thought you were a redhead.” He shook his head sadly. “Damn bar lightning.”

“I’m gonna remember that one.”

He shot me a wicked grin that made my heart flutter. “I’ll make it up to you, don’t worry.”

“Mhmm.”

“Hey, I keep my word.” His eyes smoldered. “Trust me, it’ll be my pleasure to make it up to you.”

My heart raced, even as I laughed. “I’ll bet.”

“Besides, some of the smartest women I know are blondes, so that stereotype has already been blown out of the water.” He jerked a thumb toward the blankets. “So. You getting in so we can start our date or what?”

“You going to be a gentleman and help me in or what?” I didn’t actually need help getting in, but two could play the game.

He took the single step it took to get to me and placed his hands on my hips. “An excuse to get my hands on you? I’ll take it.” He was stronger than he looked, lifting me easily. But instead of setting me in the truck, he brought me against his body, holding me there. The hard lines of his chest pressed against mine.

Heat radiated from every inch of him, like being wrapped in one of those blankets. Warm, encompassing, enveloping. Being held by him, this close, should have made me feel trapped.

It made me feel free.

He stared into my eyes and the flecks of green shimmered like emeralds.

Oh, hell. I am getting girly.

He sat me on the tailgate. “You’re frowning.”

“Not at you. Directly, anyway.”

“Not following.”

“Nothing.” I shook my head. “It’s me.”

“Tell me.”

“Trust me, you don’t want to know.”

He put his knuckles under my chin and tilted my head up. “I asked, didn’t I?”

“Seriously, it’s nothing. Nothing bad, anyway. Well, not bad for you. Or maybe it’s especially bad for you?” I frowned. “Hell, I don’t even know.”

“Confusing women aren’t supposed to be sexy, but damned if you aren’t. That little burrow you get when you frown,” he said, tapping a spot between my eyes, “is sexy as hell. But what is/isn’t/might be bad for me?”

I laughed at myself and shook my head again. “When you were looking at me, I mentally compared the green in your eyes to emeralds, further proving your point that I’m girly.”

“Ah, so you’ve moved on to getting poetic on me. Nice. I didn’t expect that until at least the fourth date. You’re getting a little ahead of schedule, but that’s okay, though. I don’t mind fast women.”

“You’re incredible.” I didn’t know if it was a curse or a compliment.

“Believe it or not, I hear that a lot.”

“I haven’t decided if it’s a good thing or a bad thing yet.”

“I hear that one, too.” He hopped into the back, lay on his side, and then patted the space in front of him. “It’s getting chilly and your date is waiting.”

I felt a little foolish crawling into the back of his SUV, but I felt alive, too. Adventurous. Something I wasn’t. I lay in front of him and studied his face, the easy-going smile, the sexy eyes. “You put a lot of thought into bringing people dates,” I said, resting my head on my hand.

“I do, and it’s a lot of work.” He heaved out an exaggerated sigh, making his chest rise and fall.

My gaze automatically went to it and I could picture—almost in vivid, full HD color—what he’d look like without his shirt on and what it’d feel like to run my hands over his chest. I glanced up and found him grinning down at me.

“You’re staring at my chest. I feel like I should put on more clothes, or maybe use one of these pillows or blankets to cover myself.”

“Well, your chest is right there,” I said.

“And if you’re going to keep undressing me with your eyes, that’s just what I’m going to do.” He wiggled one of the pillows out from underneath my head and I laughed as he covered himself with it.

“You’re adorably crazy.”

“And you’re smiling again.”

“That happens when you’re around.”

“Sounds like an invitation, Ally Cat.” With his thumb, he traced my lips. “This,” he said, tone husky as his hand went behind my head, “is definitely behind schedule.”

Smoothly, he rolled so he was on top of me with one of his legs between mine. One hand went beneath my head, the other to my hip. He paused, for a single heartbeat, and then his mouth closed over mine.

It wasn’t teasing like last night, but it was just as slow. Just as maddening.

My hand went behind his neck, drawing him in for more. He still tasted like chocolate—rich, smooth, forbidden—with the faintest hint of strawberries. Chocolate wasn’t on my diet, but Kale…he was definitely there, right at the top.

His tongue slid over mine. Teasing. Tempting. I ran my fingers over the taut muscles of his arms and shoulders, loving the curves I felt under the shirt. His tongue dipped once, twice, then he pulled away. The hand at my hip tightened, pulling me closer to his body. “You might be the death of me,” he said with a growl to his tone. He bit my lower lip when I blinked up at him. “But if I have to die, I’ll go out a happy man.”

I gazed up at him and just stared, wondering how we’d gotten to this point in so little time. Barely twenty-four hours. I said and did things I never did so quickly with anyone else—like making out in a bar with only knowing him for a few minutes and now in the back of his SUV. “How did we get here?”