None of them were her.
Her smile. Her scent. How her lush, curvy body had responded to his touch, his mouth, his cock. She’d been an experience he had thought to put behind him but… He couldn’t.
She’d left him—and for the first time, he hadn’t been the one to ask. She’d gone without ever telling him her name, not that he’d asked for it. As far as he was concerned, in the beginning of their encounter, he hadn’t wanted the complication of making things as personal as first names. He’d wanted to be as anonymous as possible, though he doubted she hadn’t seen his handsome face on a magazine cover. But, after he’d sunk into her warm, giving body, he’d wanted to know all there was to know about her. He’d learned nothing, save that he’d never known such intense pleasure before. And now he was stuck wondering about her; who she was, if she was from New York, if she had dreamt of him as he had dreamt of her…
Fuck.
He was doing it again; thinking about a woman he had no time nor business wondering about. She was gone. Never to see or touch or tease or taste again.
What the hell was wrong with him? Still lingering in the fresh hell that was the aftermath of Rinna, he refused to allow any woman that kind of hold over him. A burning sick settled in his belly—lies, manipulation, greed, and more lies. Women were all alike, doing whatever it took to get what they wanted. Money. Security. Social standing. Sex. The latter of which he was more than happy to give, without the mess of the other three. No more. He’d never again allow a woman close enough to him that she thought herself safe from his vengeance. That was Rinna’s mistake; she assumed that because she wore his ring she could do as she wished without consequence. She’d been wrong, and now she would pay the price.
“David,” Rick’s greeting sounded over the blood pounding in David’s ears. He glanced in his direction. He was standing beside a table set for two near the back of the dining room.
Reaching Rick, they enveloped each other in a tight embrace before taking their seats. A waitress arrived just then, her appreciative gaze moving between Rick and David, but remaining on David. Her smile was wide, her teeth straight, and the expression on her face as easy to read as the menu she handed him.
“Good afternoon, gentlemen. I am Alicia, and I would be glad to provide you with anything you’d like to eat.”
David nearly choked on her obvious come on, but he didn’t. Instead, he replied, “I’ll have a whiskey, neat.”
Rick pinned Alicia with a cold, disapproving glance before saying, “I’ll have the same.”
A flush rising into her cheeks at Rick’s look, Alicia snapped upright, her body tense, as she nodded then turned to get their drinks.
“Does that happen to you often?” Rick asked, his lips pulling back in distaste.
David shrugged. “I don’t know. I rarely pay attention.” And that was the truth. He knew his looks were eye-catching, but he’d grown so used to the leering and eye-fucking that it had become like background noise.
Rick grunted before dropping his gaze to the lunch menu.
“So, what was the news you wished to share with me,” David inquired, eager to hear if the last connection to Rinna had been severed.
Rick leaned back, abandoning his menu.
“She wants to settle,” Rick announced, his smile showing his perfect white teeth, which shone as sharp and deadly as any predator David had ever seen.
Relief flooded him, his chest constricting as realization hit. Soon after, a blast of triumph lit him up from within, and he returned Rick’s grin.
“She’s agreed to pay the amount I demanded?” Of course, she did. She’d fallen into a pit of her own making, and now she was desperate to climb out, her life intact—as much of it as she had left now that word of her lies and machinations had spread.
Rick nodded. “She did.”
“Where do I sign?” David wanted that shit over with as soon as possible. He wanted to rip those pages from his book and burn them, never to think of them again.
For the first time in a long time, a flush pinkened Rick’s cheeks. The man was blushing? “In my rush to leave, I left the documents on my desk. I’m having one of my paralegals bring them by.”
“Oh? I hope it’s no trouble,” David remarked, not that he really minded that someone who worked for Rick had to go out of their way to actually do their job.
He shook his head. “She has an appointment a few blocks from here, so she said it wouldn’t be a problem to drop them by on her way.” He stiffened, tipping his chin as he peered over David’s shoulder toward the door. “Speak of the devil.”
It was her scent David noticed first. Warm peaches. He closed his eyes, the urge to take a deep breath nearly stole his control, but he refused. Just barely. He stiffened, the sensation of eyes burning into his back making the hairs on his neck reach out toward her.
Rick pushed his chair back and stood, smoothing his coat, and David followed suit.
He turned to greet their visitor, easing an expression of practiced indifference over his face. It wouldn’t do to see her again and encourage any lasting feelings she might have toward him after their night together.
Cocky bastard. You know you want her to want a repeat. You’ve been gagging for it!
He shut that thought down quickly. It wouldn’t be the first time a woman sought out a reunion, a repeat performance in his bed, but he didn’t do repeat performances.
No matter how earth shattering the orgasms.
Wide, emerald
