Dirty Distractions (Afternoon Delight 1)

Before she had a chance to take another bite, he started buttering the next slice. She had to laugh as he set the second on her plate. “What’re you doing?”

“If keeping you in bread will get you to moan like that again, you’re going into a carb coma tonight.”

She shook her head, smiling. “Are you really single?”

“Yes, I’m single,” Michael said finally, drawing her attention to how long it had taken him to reply. That probably wasn’t a good sign.

So far he was potentially coupled up, could be underage despite his assertions to the contrary and potentially inexperienced if his defense of virgins meant anything. A trifecta of drama if she’d ever encountered one. Which begged the question: why was she still leaning toward him across the table, unintentionally revealing her cleavage thanks to her snug V-neck sweater?

“Sure about that?” she asked.

“I’m sure.” After swallowing another mouthful of soup, he set down his spoon and reached for his untouched bread. He pulled off the crust in a neat ring, unaware that she’d stopped nibbling hers to watch him. “I’ve been single for more than a year. Before, the person I was with…it was complicated.”

“How?”

For a moment, she didn’t think he would answer. “Rochelle and I had an unusual relationship.”

“She was into freaky shit?” Kim nodded sympathetically and lifted her soup-laden spoon.

Narrowly, she managed to resist moaning again as the spices, tender meat and warm broth flowed over her tongue. It was a chilly November night, and man, did the soup hit the spot. One of them anyway. With the low lights of the diner glowing against the windows and chasing the rain away, she almost felt cozy.

Now if she could find her way to being comfortable with her dinner guest, she’d count the evening a success.

“No. Not at all.” He laughed and tilted his head, sending a hank of his unruly hair into his eyes. “But it sounds like you’ve been there yourself.”

“Oh you have no idea.”

“Like what?” Clearly fascinated, he leaned forward. “Tell me.”

She waved her free hand without letting go of her spoon. The soup was going to be gone in thirty seconds or less with the way she was sucking it down. “If you can imagine it, some guy has suggested it.” She grinned. “Or I have.”

“Tease.”

“It’s not teasing if you intend to put out.” His eyes lit. “Eventually,” she added, laughing as he pulled off a hunk of bread and shoved it toward her lips. She bit down, deliberately dragging her lips and teeth over his forefinger.

His eyes narrowed, thick lashes framing irises rimmed with gold. They were black. “I may hold you to that.”

“I meant verbally, shy guy. I wasn’t referring to physical affection with a near stranger. What kind of girl do you think I am?” She flung a bit of her own bread at him. It landed in his soup with a plop.

“An intriguing one,” he said quietly, bypassing all of the usual flattery in favor of something that sounded an awful lot like the truth.

Just like that, she melted. Rain dripped down the pane of glass at her side, and her good intentions puddled beneath her feet. She’d believed she had irreversible immunity to any game he threw at her—other than the game she chose to respond to—but she hadn’t expected honesty or anything real to transpire between them. The steadfast expression on his face put a lie to that assumption.

“I’m not that fascinating.” Partially to distract herself, she trapped a chunk of carrot against the side of her bowl and flipped it over the edge onto her napkin, then wrapped it up and tucked it next to her unused fork.

When she looked up, he was grinning. He seemed to get a charge out of watching her, which should’ve been creepy instead of charming. Maybe she’d mellowed.

Maybe she should ask for the check and get the hell out of there.

“Yes, you are.” He inched forward on his bench seat and reached across the table to grab a feather off her shoulder. “Like this. What’s this all about? Do you own a bird?”

“Actually I sort of own twenty of them.”

She enjoyed the way his normally sultry eyes bugged out. “Seriously?”

A laugh escaped before she could stop it. “I work at Fairdale Bird Sanctuary.”

“No fuckin’ way. That’s so cool. You get to work with all the rare and exotic birds?”