Sassy in Lingerie (Lingerie 8)

“You never like it slow.”

He pressed his mouth to my ear and breathed into my canal, his hot breaths showing his arousal. “I do with you.”

Bones asked me to dinner, so we got dressed up and went to a nice place down the road.

Going out for a meal wasn’t really our thing.

But since we weren’t hiding anymore, there was no reason why we couldn’t.

I wore a little black dress, and he wore black slacks with a dark blue collared shirt. He hardly dressed up, so when he did, he looked delicious. His broad shoulders looked even wider in the fitted fabric, and seeing his shirt tucked into his tight slacks showed off the firmness and hardness of his physique.

There was one drawback to going out.

I couldn’t stop staring at him—but that was true for everyone else too.

We both had a glass of wine with dinner, and instead of scanning the people in the restaurant, Bones stared at me with his soulful blue eyes. Head slightly tilted and his fingers on his glass, he looked at me like we were completely alone inside that restaurant.

I was used to the look, but I never got tired of it. “Why do we go out if we do the exact same thing at home?”

“I like to show you off.”

“You hate it when men stare at me.”

“But I like watching them turn away when they see me with you.” Innately arrogant, he lifted the corner of his mouth in a smile. “Besides, it’s nice not to cook once in a while.”

“Is that a jab at me?” I asked.

“It wouldn’t kill you to open a cookbook.”

My eyes narrowed, but I didn’t glare at him because I knew he was being playful. “I’m an artist, not a chef.”

“And I’m a killer, but I manage to do both.”

It shocked me he made that confession out loud in a public place. He really wasn’t scared of anyone. I sipped my wine and watched the waiter set our dishes in front of us. Bones always ordered something boring, like fish and greens. I got pasta because there was nothing better in the world than hot noodles, sauce, and cheese. “My parents haven’t called me, and it’s been over a week. I guess I should call them tomorrow.” Bones and I hadn’t talked about that day since it happened. We spent our time pretending there was nothing wrong.

He dropped his look and drank from his glass.

I caught the movement. “Why do I feel like you know something?”

He shrugged and returned his wine to the table. “Maybe I do.”

“And what would that be?”

He held my gaze for a long time before he answered. “Your father called me the other night. We went to Bellissima and had a good talk.”

I almost dropped my glass. “Where was I?”

“Asleep.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this until now?”

“There’s really nothing to talk about.”

“Uh, I disagree. I want to know everything.”

Like this was completely casual, he picked up his fork and dug into his salad. “It was a conversation between men, baby. He asked me a lot of questions, drilled into me like an enemy, and we parted ways with the same mutual dislike.”

My heart fell into my stomach even though his words weren’t the least bit surprising. “So, he’s made no progress in accepting you?”

“No, not really.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and sighed.

“And this is why I didn’t want to mention it.”

Now our evening together was ruined, and I didn’t have an appetite. A delicious meal was placed in front of me, but all I could think about was the tense conversation my father had with the man I loved.

Bones glanced down at my food. “Eat. Otherwise, you’re just going to watch me eat.” He stuck his fork into his salmon and took a bite, his angular jaw moving as he chewed. There was nothing he did that wasn’t sexy. Every movement he made exuded masculinity.

I wasn’t going to let this delicious dinner go to waste, so I stuck my fork into the pasta and forced myself to eat. Once the cheese and sauce hit my tongue, my appetite returned. I hadn’t been exercising as much since I’d shacked up with Bones so now I had a bit of a tummy, but the food was so good I didn’t care. And Bones didn’t seem to mind the weight I’d put on. “He told me he would try…” I should change the subject, but I couldn’t.

“He said the same to me.”

“Does it seem like he is?”

Bones chewed his food thoroughly before he swallowed. “Yes. He wouldn’t have talked to me for an hour otherwise.”

“What did he ask you?”

He kept eating his dinner, taking his time as if I hadn’t just asked him a question. “How we met. How our relationship started. Things like that.”

“And did you tell him…?”