Dr. Stud

“No!” she objects, her dark eyelashes fluttering wildly. “You don't understand, I'm not supposed to be with you!”

“What are we drinking?” Emmet asks, appearing suddenly between us. He pulls out a chair and unbuttons his coat before dropping into the third seat.

“Yamazaki for you also, Mr. Riordan?” asks the waiter, almost hiding his smirk.

He nods, distracted by Bella. His eyes slide up and down her bare arms, circling the pit of her throat where her pulse is vibrating.

“She just kissed me,” I shrug.

I feel her kick me under the table, but her shoe barely grazes my trousers.

“You're not very good at trying to damage my possessions,” I smile at her. “First the car, now the shoes? Maybe you should quit it.”

“Any good?” Emmet asks. “The kiss, I mean.”

“Oh, quite all right, for a first one.” I can’t keep the grin off of my face.

“Oh my God, stop it!” she hisses, trying to keep her voice low. I watch her eyes dart to every corner of the room as she tries to figure out how many people can see this. It's a lot.

Slowly I let my tongue drift over my bottom lip and then rake it with my upper teeth. I can still taste her. It’s sort of a vanilla flavor, like a piece of cake. Or a cookie.

“You know what, pretty good!” I have to admit. “I’ll need to try again to know for sure.”

“I didn't mean to!” she whispers urgently. “It was a mistake!”

“Actually, she practically sat in my lap,” I shrug.

“Stop it!” she snarls at me. Her eyes flash dangerously under those perfectly arched eyebrows. “I didn't… I mean, I thought he was you!”

“It's not a big deal,” Emmet shrugs. “Kiss him all you want. We like to share.”

“No!” she pushes herself back from the table.

I release her wrist since I figure I'll get it back again in a little while, and it's going to feel great. Her eyes dart back and forth between us. It looks like she's figuring out which one of us she wants to yell at. Her composure is wilting, dissolving around her like she’s becoming disrobed, layer by layer. I can’t look away.

“You were late!” she accuses Emmet.

“Hannah said eight o'clock.”

“It’s eight-twenty!”

“Close enough,” he replies.

“Hannah told you about our date?” I ask him, suddenly interested again. “Sounds like the old broad's loosening up a little, eh?”

“I thought she was talking about my date,” he smiles. He takes a slow breath and leans to the side to check out her legs under the table. “You're Bella, aren't you?”

“No!” she growls. Her hands go up, palms out, like she's going to push us both off a balcony or something. “I mean, yes… I'm Bella. But Hannah told me to go on a date with Emmet. Not Dillon! She's not loosening up anything!”

“But, Bella darling, you asked me out.”

“But,” her voice fades. She thinks back, piecing it together. “You were in the wrong parking spot.”

“I can park where I like.”

“No, I mean… you were in the parking spot that said Emmet Riordan,” she hisses, her voice urgent and frustrated.

I shrug. “Yeah well, you were in the spot that said Hannah Bonham. I didn’t assume you were her. And you dented my car.”