The Reluctant Romantics Box Set (The Fall, The Mind, The Heart)

“So I’m guessing you’re a glass-half-empty kind of girl?”

“I’m a bit of a realist these days,” I admitted truthfully.

“It’s just like I thought. You need me in your life,” he whispered, his elbows still on the table as he leaned in.

I lifted a brow. “For?”

“Because I’m a glass-half-full type of guy. So let’s take work off the table tonight, okay?”

I lifted my chin. “Well, we won’t have much to discuss since my life is the center.”

“There’s more to life than what you do,” he said, leaning back in his seat, peeling at the label of his beer.

“Not really. Sorry, what you see is what you get.” I lifted my hands, palms up.

He leaned over again, his eyes smoldering. “But you just told me I couldn’t have you.”

“I… never said that.”

His brows knit together in confusion. “You said you don’t date.” I stared at him, a little entranced. The more he spoke, the more in tune I was with just how much effect he had on me.

“I don’t date,” I said open ended.

“Exactly.” He froze for a solid beat as he looked at me with a slow, sexy smile. “Wait… did you just proposition me?”

You just propositioned him!

“No, I didn’t, but come on, Jack. A man with your good looks? I’m sure if I had propositioned you, it wouldn’t be the first time.”

I saw his jaw harden a bit before he spoke. “I’m looking at the only woman I’m interested in.”

The air shifted dangerously around us, and every single hair on my head stood at attention. His eyes told me everything I needed to know. Jack would probably deliver on every single dirty thought I’d had about him in the last couple of days and more. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his to admire the full plates as they were set in front of us. I was hungry but not for the beautiful cut of meat sizzling in front of me.

“Can I get you two anything else?”

Jack and I were quickly brought back from our unspoken standoff. I shook my head no as Jack thanked her. I should have been happy to feel this way. To feel the long forgotten sparks of recognition shooting through me, to be relieved that they still existed. Instead, I was fighting fear. Could I really go through with it? Jack looked over my rapidly rising and falling chest before bringing his eyes back to mine.

“I’m attracted to you, and I think I’ve made that clear. But I can’t lay a hand on you, Rose, out of respect for your father. And from what I can tell, you aren’t exactly ready to back up what’s going through that beautiful head of yours.”

Slight hurt and a little embarrassment stung me as I attempted to hide my disappointment. “Please don’t pretend to know what’s going on in my head.”

Jack moved his chair audibly as he leaned in close.

“I’m betting I could manage to take those lips that I’ve been thinking about tasting for the last three days and put my hands all over you without your protest. But I’m going to have to stick to flirting with you on principal.”

My libido took a nosedive as I looked at him in question, but I didn’t trust myself enough to speak.

Jack pushed back in his seat, readjusting himself to the table. “Like I said—” he continued cutting into his steak “—Seth is a good friend of mine, and I’m pretty sure that would no longer be the case if he had any idea of what I was thinking about doing to his daughter. Besides, I’m into dating the women I sleep with. You don’t date, that’s a problem.”

“I’m too busy for anything personal.”

“That’s a shame,” he said absently.

I rolled my eyes as he chewed a bite of the tender meat. He was openly toying with me now as if he’d be doing me a favor.

“Well, I’m glad you made that decision for both of us, Jack. You know, I think you’re right,” I said coyly. “I’m thinking letting you do what’s going through that handsome head of yours could only end in disaster. And like I said earlier, I wasn’t propositioning you.”

“Of course you weren’t,” he said way too confidently.