“It’s my own special marinade,” I told her with pride.
“Yeah?” I nodded and she laughed. “Well now you’re just showing off, but again, you earned it. Go on and peacock a little more.”
“I’m good, thanks.” I took another sip of beer and wondered where we were headed next. This was very likely the second best date I’d ever had, and I was only mildly alarmed that it was with the same woman.
“So,” she said on a sigh. “What kind of compliments do women usually give you?”
I took in her green eyes to see if she was fishing about other women, or genuinely curious. The laughter in her eyes told me she genuinely wanted to know and would likely mock me for it.
“Seriously?”
“Yeah, why not? I told you I’m out of practice, maybe I could learn a thing or two from your women.”
“They aren’t my women. Obviously.” Tara wasn’t put off by my tone, she merely motioned for me to give her what she wanted. “Compliments are pretty basic, usually my looks or my skill as a writer.”
She sat up and gave me a wide-eyed stare. “You date fans? Like creepy fan girls, or women who know you’re a successful author?”
“Good question. It’s hard to say which is true, because on a date everyone wants to put their best foot forward, and since I don’t quiz them, they could all just be lying about how good a writer they think I am.” It was a worrying thought that I didn’t actually know. My ex hadn’t read one thing I wrote until we were divorced and my first book hit the bestseller list.
“Don’t stress yourself about it, Chris. You are a good writer and it has nothing to do with your handsome face. I’m not a big fan of Glockman, but that’s mostly because I’ve come across too many officers like him over the years, but the books I’ve read were highly engaging.”
I smiled at the unintended compliment. “Glockman is a bit of a dinosaur, isn’t he?”
“Don’t you mean wasn’t he? Or did I just get some sneak peek spoiler thing?” I might have been worried if she had that gleam in her eye that told me I should be, but Tara wasn’t that invested in the idea of celebrity.
“No spoiler, but I’ve been with him too long to ever really speak of him in the past tense.” Characters were like that, becoming part of you, especially when Glockman was so important to my career.
“Is he based on someone in particular, or just your idea of who his character needed to be?”
It was another excellent question, and I had bite back the smile before I forgot that this wasn’t a date, just two friends having dinner together. And a moonlight drink.
“A little of both I guess. I spoke to a detective who helped me with a lot of the procedural elements and parts of him are in there, but mostly the latter. You know, your questions are better than most interviews I’ve had.”
Tara shrugged off the compliment. “I passed my interrogation tactics course with flying colors, as they say.” Tara didn’t need to say she was proud, it was written all over her face. “Not that I’m interrogating you or anything.”
I gave her a look and she laughed.
“Okay, maybe a little. It’s the hazards of being friends with a police officer.”
“Xander doesn’t interrogate me.’
“Yeah well, maybe he’s just not that into you.”
I leaned forward, into her personal space. “Does that mean that you are into me?” I knew she was, just as the pounding of my heart and the way my blood heated as it slogged through my veins told me just how much I wanted her. But Tara was strong-willed and wouldn’t admit it easily.
If at all.
“It means you’re an all right guy. Sure.”
I barked out a laugh at that tepid response, and that moment I wanted a reaction from Tara that was more than lukewarm. A reaction that matched the heat burning in her green eyes.
“I bet I can take that ‘all right’ and raise it to…something more.”
“You think so, do ya?”
I nodded. “I do.”
“And that’s why you’re just an all right guy, Chris. Too cocky.” She smiled and finished off the beer she’d switched to after her second gin and tonic.
“Some would call it confidence.”
“That’s a charitable way to put it, sure. I prefer cocky because it’s an honest interpretation.”
“You prefer cocky, do you?” The words came out low and deep, thick with the arousal growing below the belt. “Well isn’t that fortuitous because a gorgeous woman just told me that I was cocky.”
Tara laughed just as I expected her to, and I took advantage of the moment to bridge the physical distance between us. It was only a few feet but in the moment it was too much. I pulled her lounger closer to mine until they touched and she gasped.