“Ah, I see. Not exactly your passion, huh?”
“No, but it’s not the worst job in the world either. I can’t complain.”
When she lifted her glass to her lips, Reilly stopped her with a hand on her arm. “Easy, there.”
Her face heated. “I’m a little nervous.”
“Why?”
Did she dare tell him that she was interested in him? That she’d been interested in him for months? “I’m…attracted to you.” She decided to keep the fact that the attraction hadn’t started up tonight, but years ago.
His grin was just this side of sinful when he said, “Ditto.”
An electric jolt zipped along her spine. He was so close, it rattled her. God, he was intoxicating. “Ditto?”
“Yep. In fact, it’s all I can do to be good right now.”
“What would you do if you had permission to be bad?”
“This,” he groaned. He dipped his head forward and fastened his mouth to hers, angling his head as if for a deeper taste. He opened his mouth and stroked his tongue against her bottom lip. Lucy trembled as if he were the only man who had ever kissed her.
He lifted up and stared down at her. Her lips still tingled from his touch. “Cherries.”
She blinked, unsure what he’d said. “Huh?”
“Your lip gloss,” he explained. “It’s cherry flavored.” His voice sounded rough and uneven. “I wondered.”
She touched a finger to her lips. “Oh.”
Lucy forgot all about a singing job at the bar and grill. Sarah’s dilemma got pushed to the side too. Even the drunken idiot took a backseat. Everything had vanished the moment Reilly’s lips met hers.
“I want to be alone with you. To get to know you better. Come home with me, Lucy.”
Oh boy. She so didn’t trust men. Her ex-husband David and his cheating, user ways had ensured that. But as Reilly smoothed a palm over her back, her defenses began to crumble. She’d gone too long; that was the problem. There’d been no one since David. The divorce had been final a year ago last month. Lucy had tried to act as if it hadn’t affected her when the end had come, but it had. She’d been left with plenty of emotional scars thanks to the whole debacle. Wasn’t she due for a little excitement? A little fun? To be treated to a night of decadence at the hands of a man who knew how to treat a woman?
On the other hand, even though she’d admired him from afar and he’d come to her rescue tonight, Reilly may as well be a stranger. Did she dare?
“I don’t know,” she said, afraid to take a chance. Lucy looked out at the dance floor and saw her friend engaged in a conversation with a well-dressed, dark-haired man. Reilly had a wilder edge about him, with his shaggy, dark brown hair and the dare in his gaze. The man holding Sarah’s attention had neat, close-cropped, midnight-black hair, a crisp white dress shirt and black slacks. Had Brodix finally shown up?
“He came in a few moments ago,” Reilly said, answering her unspoken question. “For a second, I thought there was going to be bloodshed.”
As Lucy watched, the man Sarah had been dancing with stepped back, allowing Brodix to take over. For a few minutes, Lucy couldn’t take her gaze off the pair of lovers. The way Brodix looked at Sarah turned Lucy’s heart to mush. When had a man ever looked at her with so much love and devotion? Easy—never. When Sarah turned and gave her the nod, indicating she’d be leaving with Brodix, Lucy turned her attention back to Reilly. “Should I worry about Sarah?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know Sarah well, but from what I’ve gathered, your friend is pretty strong-minded. She can hold her own with my brother, believe me.”
“Fine,” she said, knowing it was the truth. “But he better not hurt her.”
“Nah, Brodix cares about Sarah. He might not be happy about the article, but he’s fallen damn hard for her.” Before Lucy could reply, Reilly took her chin in his palm and murmured, “Why the indecision about coming home with me? I don’t have any expectations. There isn’t a more sinister plan, I promise. Just you and me alone with a glass of wine and each other’s company.”
Lucy’s mouth went dry at the intensity in Reilly’s eyes. He had the look of a tiger about to pounce. “I don’t even know you,” she explained. “We only just met.”
“I know, and it’s crazy,” he bit out. “This will sound like a line, but I want to get to know you.”
As his touch drifted over her cheek and the heat from his gaze burned her up, a crack formed in the wall around Lucy’s heart. “I don’t believe in things like instant attraction,” she blurted out, frustrated that she couldn’t make sense out of what was happening between them. “Two strangers meeting and falling for each other in a crowded room. That sort of thing is for romantic comedies and fairy tales.” Another thought struck her. “Besides, don’t you need to be here for the grand reopening?”
“It’s only a few hours until closing, and there are five of us, not including the staff. They can manage without me.”
“But—”