“You did this all for me?” Her voice squeaked, and she felt her cheeks heat. Embarrassment flooded her that he would think of her like this and yet she had treated him shabbily.
“Yes.” He pushed the hair away from her shoulder, his fingers lingering on her bare skin. “We haven’t spent much time together. I wanted to make tonight special.”
“Thank you.” She went to him, stood on tiptoe and brushed a lingering kiss to his lips. “I’m starved.”
His eyes sparkled with interest. “I’ll bring dinner out.”
He waited on her, bringing out plate after plate of steaming food, all of their favorites and she figured he must’ve spent a fortune. The food was excellent, she spent the first ten minutes just consuming food, no time to talk. She couldn’t remember the last time they had ordered from Chan’s.
Austin acted like the perfect gentleman, asking her about work, and she poured her heart out, giving him all the details of the last two weeks. She couldn’t believe she’d kept all of this from him, had avoided him for so long. She’d done it out of fear, afraid that things would be forever changed between them and though they were, they still had this easy comfortableness together.
Yet she was aware of him as a man. A rather sexy man. The way his fingers wrapped around his glass, long and tapered, smoothing up and down. Reminding her of how they had touched her, glided over her skin, sunk deep inside her.
So not smart to go there. She squirmed in her chair, her panties growing damper by the minute, and he caught her staring, his gaze snagging hers, a knowing look on his face.
“I’ve missed you, Michaela.” His voice was soft, husky. “But it sounds like things are crazy at work.”
“They are.” She paused and looked down, drawing her fork across her plate, playing with the leftover rice. “I’ve been avoiding you, though. It’s not all been work.”
“I know.”
Michaela watched him, the way he slouched in his chair, his forearms resting on the edge of the table. He looked delectable. He always did, no matter what. “You didn?
??t have to do all of this for me.”
“I wanted to.” He sat up straighter, his expression going serious. “We need to talk.”
Oh, God, here we go. She should tell him how she really felt. It would be easiest now, with the table as some sort of barrier between them. She could spit it out and be done with it.
She only hoped he was receptive.
“We do need to talk,” she said. “What happened between us at that club, it was crazy, you know? And it kind of freaked me out, that we took it that far.”
“I figured.” His expression was pained, as if he was prepared for the worst and the sight of it tugged at her heartstrings.
“The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized that it was exactly what I wanted. I enjoyed it. And I want to do something like that again. Soon.” She bit her lower lip so hard it stung. “With you.”
He blinked, so slow she watched the long sweep of his lashes, could see the startled look in his eyes. He looked completely natural tonight, his usually styled hair mussed, not a hint of the smudged eyeliner he liked wearing when they went out, no jewelry, flashy clothing. Just him.
She liked it. She wanted to crawl into his lap, unbutton his shirt and press her lips to the center of his chest. Smell him, taste him, absorb him, feel his arms close around her.
“You want to do something like that again soon with me? What do you mean, like go to another club?”
“Another club, or maybe Tom’s again. Or maybe we can experiment at home with um, someone else.” She could not believe she just said that. And here she believed she was comfortable with her newfound sexuality.
Her hot cheeks told her otherwise.
He cocked a dark brow. “Do you have someone in mind?”
If her skin could burst into flame, it would right at this very moment. “No.”
“Liar.” His murmured accusation was familiar, he’d said it to her before. And he was right.
She shrugged, dropped her fork onto the plate with a loud clink. “I don’t think you’d go for it.”
His brow rose even higher if that was possible. “That’s intriguing. Now I have to know.”
“It’s, um, Brad.” Michaela ducked her head, not even wanting to look at him. “Do you think Brad would like to?”