Stars Over Castle Hill (On Dublin Street 6.6)

“Maybe. Maybe not.”

“Surely this gives me brownie points. I came last night too, but you weren’t working.”

“Was the intention to turn up every night until I appeared?”

“No.”

I raised an eyebrow.

He chuckled. “Why do that when it’s easier to ask one of your colleagues what nights you work?”

“Right.” I shot a look at Penny, throwing Braden and I curious looks. She was working last night. “They’re not supposed to give you those details.”

“I was very charming. Penny didn’t stand a chance.”

“Oh my God.” I hit him with a dish towel. “You are so full of yourself.”

The bastard laughed.

“You need to leave.”

“You don’t want me to leave. And I’m not. Not until you agree to go on a date with me.”

I stared at him, my emotions at war. The truth was when I was in that elevator with him, feeling the fear of the connection that had sprung almost immediately between us, I didn’t want anything to do with it.

And then I got home. Alone. And the minutes turned to hours turned to days in my small, empty apartment, and I started to wonder all over again about what I really wanted.

If I kept letting the old fear win, I might always regret it.

But if I tried to push past that fear and give a date with Braden a go, then surely more time with him would give me the answers I was looking for. I would know for certain what I wanted.

To be alone or not to be alone, that was the question.

He waited patiently.

“Braden.”

“Jocelyn.”

“I’ll go out on a date with you if you stop calling me that,” I bartered.

He shook his head, all sexy and serious. “No go.”

I wrinkled my nose in surprise. “Why?”

“Because when I picture us in bed together, it’s Jocelyn I hear myself saying when I come inside you. Not Joss.”

My lips parted in shock, while my whole body reacted to his words. I wondered how he’d sound as he climaxed, how he’d look, more importantly how he’d feel. I swallowed hard. “I can’t believe you said that to me.”

“I always—”

“And who said we’re sleeping together?” I cut him off, annoyed at how turned on he made me talking dirty to me. It was highly inappropriate to talk to a woman you hardly knew like that. “I said I’d go on a date with you, not sleep with you. And do you speak like that to all the women you’ve just met?” The thought angered me.

Braden shrugged. “No. I don’t. But you don’t feel like a woman I’ve just met. And I didn’t say we’d sleep together on the first date.”

“I didn’t agree to a second date. In fact, I don’t think I really agreed to a first date.”

He sighed, and the sudden seriousness in his expression made me still.

Our eyes locked in that way that made it impossible to look away. “Stop pretending to be offended, Jocelyn.”

“Stop being arrogant. Stop acting like you know me.”

“Stop denying this.”

“Fine.” I jutted my chin in haughty determination. “I’ll go out with you. But you have to stop the dirty talk and be a complete gentleman the whole night.”

He seemed surprised. “You really don’t like the dirty talk?”

I like the dirty talk too much. “No, I don’t.”

Braden studied me. And then he leaned over the bar to whisper in my ear. “Liar.”

I sucked in a breath as the scent of his deep, woodsy cologne and the heat from his body, his delicious voice so close to me, overwhelmed me. My nipples tightened and a pulse started between my legs.

Crappity shit fuck.

He pulled back a little, our faces close, our lips merely inches from each other. Staring soulfully into my eyes, he murmured, “I’ll be a complete gentleman, I promise. Just say yes.”

The blood whooshed in my ears, my heart was pounding so fast.

I nodded. “One date.”

Satisfaction flared in his eyes and I wondered, even hoped, if he’d kiss me.

But apparently he was taking his promise seriously because he pulled back, leaving me feeling somewhat bereft. He slid a card over the bar to me. “Write your number on the back.”

“Ever heard of the word ‘please’?”

He shook his head, grinning. “This whole being-a-gentleman thing is going to be hard when you keep handing me openings like that.”

I laughed and his eyes brightened with something like triumph. “Fine.” I pulled the pencil from behind my ear and wrote my number on the back of his business card.

“You know if you keep acting this excited about it, you might scare me off,” he teased and took the card back.

“I agreed to a date. You didn’t say I had to be enthusiastic about it.”

Amused, he sighed. “Jocelyn Butler, you’re going to be a hard nut to crack.”

“Hey,” I pointed my pencil at him, “there will be no cracking of this nut. Ever.”

“Now whose mind is in the gutter,” he taunted. And with a wink and a deep, sexy laugh that made me want to throttle him and at the same time kiss the life out of him, Braden walked away.

As I watched him leave the club with that confident swagger, I felt a rising panic.

“My God, you are such a lucky bitch,” Penny said.

I glanced at her. At some point she’s sidled up to me and was staring after Braden. When I returned my gaze to him, he was already gone. “You shouldn’t tell strangers what shifts I work. Or anybody else’s shifts, either.”

“What? You would have preferred me to ignore that delicious piece of male property? Did you see his suit? His watch? Joss … you’ve landed the dream with that one.”

I frowned. “He’s got more to him than his money.”

“Yeah. Charm, sex appeal, and I bet a beautifully sculpted arse.”

I grinned at her description despite myself. I bet everything about him was sculpted and beautiful. Oh to find out. “I have no intention of finding that out.”

She whipped me with her dish towel and laughed, “Liar!”

“Why does everyone keep saying that?”

***

The next day I was out at the supermarket getting groceries when my phone rang in my purse. My heart raced. What if it’s him?

I fumbled for my phone and sure enough, it was an unknown number. A wicked little flutter awakened butterflies in my belly.

“Hello,” I said, glad I sounded casual and not breathless.

“Jocelyn.”

The sound of Braden’s deep rumble in my ear made the butterflies go nuts. “Well, aren’t you eager?” I teased, grinning like an idiot as I walked through the cereal aisle.

“I waited twelve hours. I thought that showed restraint.”

I chuckled. “I guess.”

“I want to take you out tomorrow night,” he said, no bullshit, straight to the point.

I had to admit I liked that side of him. “Okay.”

“I’ll pick you up at seven. Wear something nice. A dress, perhaps.”

Hmm. I didn’t like that side of him so much. “I’ll wear what I want.”

He gave a huff of laughter. “We’re going somewhere formal.”

My interest was piqued. “Formal?”

“Yes. I’ll be wearing a suit.”

“Where are you taking me?”

“It’s a surprise, Jocelyn. Now give me your address.”

Shaking my head at his bossiness, I sighed. “You really haven’t heard of the word please.”

He was silent and I’d wondered if he’d gotten cut off. “Braden?”

“You told me to be a gentleman at all times with you.”

/> “And?”

“You keep giving me openings to be otherwise.”

I laughed. “It’s not my fault everything I say makes you think of sex.”

“Yes it is. You have the sexiest, huskiest fucking voice of any woman I’ve met.”