Then I drank down my bourbon.
“So you’re really not going to have a drink with me?” I asked, making a pouty expression.
She shook her head softly. “I was just playing you, Mr. Tate. I wanted to check to see if you were really carrying.”
“That’s too bad,” I said, a well of regret opening up inside me. Damn…
“I practically need toothpicks to keep my eyes open as it is,” she said and held a hand up in front of a yawn. “I’m going straight home to bed and to sleep. I have a morning shift and will be bartending all day tomorrow.”
“My loss,” I said, wracking my brain to think of some way to convince her. “What about tomorrow night?” I asked, since I could always stay an extra day.
She shook her head again, smiling. “Already have plans.”
I finished my drink and stood up, leaning on the bar so that my face was a few inches from hers.
“Last chance to reconsider,” I said. “You seemed to really enjoy that kiss.”
“Like I said, I wanted to see if that was really a gun,” she said with a guilty grin.
I sighed and gave in, smiling back at her. “Damn, woman. I had my hopes up so high…”
“Sorry,” she said. “I do appreciate the attention.”
“That’s something,” I said with a grin. “Well, I’m off, back to my very luxurious and very lonely hotel room. Alone…”
“Wish I could help you with that, but as I said, I’m not that girl.”
“My loss.”
I smiled one last time at her, wishing I could find some way of convincing her that I was not a threat. I was not dangerous. She was so pretty, so smart and funny…
I left Oceanside, but I decided that I’d go back when I held my staff retreat and I’d make sure I convinced her to have at least one drink with me. I was a tenacious bastard when I had a mind to be and I had a mind to get to know the lovely Mira Parker a bit more.
A lot more, if she were interested and I had a suspicion she was.
I went back to my bike and rode off into the dark night, feeling that although I hadn’t succeeded in getting Mira to have a drink with me, we had a nice back and forth between us. A nice vibe. I knew that if I could get her to relax a bit, she and I would have fun together. We both liked to laugh and could take and give it.
Someone like her was exactly what I needed.
I went back to my hotel room dejected but not defeated. I took off my clothes and watched the late news. When it was over, I turned off the lights and thought about Miranda Parker. She was beautiful, with her long auburn hair, doe eyes, and those freckles... They gave her this slightly impish look that contrasted with her beauty in a very nice way.
She was smart. You didn’t do a Master’s degree in forensic science without having a lot of brains. She was fun
ny and spunky. There was a quiet strength to her that suggested she was self-reliant and independent.
I really liked that in a woman.
I wanted her.
God, I wanted her. I hadn’t wanted a woman like that since… since Sue.
I thought back to our kiss, which was exactly the wrong thing to do if I wanted to get up early in the morning, go for a run, and then head back home. I needed to get at least seven hours of solid rack time.
So instead of thinking of the beautiful and curvaceous Mira Parker, how good her lips felt on mine, her tongue touching mine during our very deep kiss earlier in the back hallway of Oceanside, I should have been blanking my mind.
I should have, but memories of her delicious body and mouth would not be chased away by sheer willpower alone. My dick ached from the memory of her body pressed against mine.
At that moment, I wished that instead of being alone in the dark hotel room with my cock in my own hand, I was with Mira, the lights on so I could watch her.