“Seeing the hottest woman I’ve ever laid eyes on at a bar and not being the guy sitting next to her.”
“Mm. Tough life.”
His eyes glinted with amusement. “It was a trying time but it’s over with,” he laughed as our drinks came up
“Cheers to that.”
“Cheers.” His eyes remained intent on me as our Manhattans clinked. “So, are you meeting someone here?”
I smiled. “Is this your subtle way of asking if I have a boyfriend?”
“Yes. Do you?”
I swallowed, realizing that it was my time to jump and truly commit to this night. “No,” I finally answered. Just a fiancé. “And yourself – a girlfriend?” When he shook his head, I raised my brows with surprise.
“What?”
“I guess that’s just… hard for me to believe.”
“Yeah? And why’s that?”
I laughed, half-sheepish. “You can’t guess? Haven’t you ever looked at yourself in the mirror?”
“Let’s pretend I haven’t so I can force you to spell out for me what it is you’re trying to say,” he smirked.
Cheeks burning, I bit back my giggle. “You want me to recite for you all the ways that I find you physically attractive?”
“Absolutely. I have a feeling that’d be a huge turn-on for me,” he grinned.
“I don’t even know your name yet.”
“Nor do I know yours. What is it?”
Umm. I opened my mouth but nothing came out. “It’s… Tara.” A slight modification.
His laugh was skeptical. “Is it?”
“No.”
“Alright. In that case my name is Max.”
“Is it?”
“No.”
Works for me, I giggled, watching Max’s eyes dip to my braless breasts as I shrugged, causing a slight jiggle underneath my gauzy sundress. Unconsciously, I’d done that on purpose. I loved giving Jackson leg massages after he came back from the gym, pretending not to notice as he watched my breasts shake while I vigorously rubbed his thighs. It was hot, letting him get torturously hard as a rock before I got on my knees and relieved him. Except you shouldn’t be thinking about Jackson right now, I told myself. Eyeing Max, I smirked, letting him know that I’d caught him looking.
“Sorry about that.”
“Mm-hm, you look very sorry.”
His laugh was something low and painfully sexy. “Fine, I’m not. That was… easily the hottest two seconds of my life.”
“And that was with my dress still on,” I smirked, surprising myself. Oops. Guess the Manhattans are kicking in. Max lifted his eyebrows, his green eyes trying to read me. A slow smile curled his lips as he shook his head.
“Yeah. You’re good at torturing guys, aren’t you?”
“How am I torturing you?”