Lace (Just This Once 4)
“There’s a wine bar a few blocks from here. It’s quiet.” I take my fate into my own hands. We can share a drink, maybe a first kiss, but getting naked with this man tonight isn’t going to happen.
My body wants it, but it’s too soon. Regret will crawl into bed with me the moment he rolls out of it.
His jaw flexes. “Lead the way, Olivia.”
***
“You were serious when you said this place is quiet.” Alexander shrugs out of his jacket and hangs it over the back of a chair. “How in the hell is a place like this not packed on a Friday night?”
It’s a good question that I don’t have an answer to.
Kate and I stumbled on this wine bar months ago after we exited a movie theater. We stopped in to have a glass of chardonnay, and it’s now become one of our favorite haunts in this part of the city.
It’s quaint, quiet and the selection of wine is extensive.
A few of the stools next to the massive bar are occupied, and two of the square wooden tables are surrounded by groups of people, but this corner where we situated ourselves is unoccupied if you don’t count the couple who are staring into each other’s eyes, oblivious to everyone around them.
I took a seat at a table diagonal from where they are. Alexander didn’t say a word as he held the back of my chair when I sat down. He was considerate enough to help me with my trench coat as I slipped it off my shoulders. After carefully folding it in two, he laid it over the back of the same chair where he just placed his tuxedo jacket.
Alexander’s mouth quirks when he sees a server approaching our table. “You’ll order for us both, Olivia.”
I don’t hesitate in telling the server what I’m in the mood for. I listen to her recommendations. Not one of them fits the bill of what my palate is craving.
I can feel Alexander’s eyes on me when I finally suggest two glasses of a dark red that Kate and I sampled a few weeks ago.
“You know your wine,” he says when the server walks away. “I’m impressed.”
“That I drink a lot of wine?” I lean back in the chair.
He shakes his head and glances down at where I’ve placed my hands on the edge of the table. “I have a question.”
“Ask away.”
His eyes narrow. “Are you involved with anyone?”
The question catches me off-guard although it shouldn’t. He doesn’t know my relationship status. He’s never asked and I don’t think Trey would be quick to offer up a detail about me that’s so personal.
“If I’ve overstepped,” he continues, his lips inching up into a smile. “You’ll forgive me.”
He’s so confident. I’d find that annoying if he weren’t sexy-as-sin.
“I’m not involved,” I say directly. “Are you?”
He holds my gaze before he answers. “No.”
I’m tempted to ask him about the woman in the red dress that I saw him with at the cocktail reception, but I won’t. That was a private moment between him and someone else.
“You’ll come home with me tonight, Olivia.”
My brows pop as I replay the words in my mind. There wasn’t a question mark at the end of that sentence. He’s assuming that I’m going home with him.
He looks calm and controlled as he stares at me across the table.
“No. I won’t, Alexander.”
His jaw clenches. “Have I misread the energy between us?”
I suppose it’s a better response than why, although it’s just logistics. He wants an explanation for why I’m not willing to jump into his bed tonight.