“What?” The word came out almost like a gasp. Only moments before, her breathing was fine, her heart rate normal. But with every millimeter he came closer, the more she felt his pull. A wild, sensual demand to which she desperately wanted to surrender.
“What are we doing?” He spoke the words softly, but they felt cold and harsh to her.
“What do you mean?” she asked, her heart pounding with trepidation.
“Just what I asked. I want to know what we’re doing. What this means.” He drew a breath and straightened, and those wonderfully dark eyes and his overnight beard stubble only seemed to underscore the words and the tone.
But she still didn’t get the meaning.
“Are we done?” he asked flatly, the idea making her cringe. “Was the point of last night to get it out of our systems? Or is this something we want to repeat?”
She licked her lips. “Yes, please.”
“Why?”
Her brows furrowed as she frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I want to know what we have here. Or, at least, what path we’re on. Are we fuck buddies?” he asked, the words making her cringe. “Or are we more?”
She looked up, her eyes meeting his, then drew in a shaky breath. “More.”
“How much more?” His voice was low. Intense.
“As much as I can get,” she said honestly. “I—I think we have something between us. Something real.”
She held her breath as he nodded slowly, waiting to hear if he agreed or if he was going to let her down slowly.
“Good,” he said, moving closer, then taking her hands in his. “I think so, too.”
She exhaled, laughing as she did, the relief so palpable it was almost painful. “Thank God.”
“Ditto,” he said, and they both laughed even harder. But a moment later, the laughter faded, and they were simply standing there, looking in each other’s eyes. He moved toward her, and so gently it brought tears to her eyes, he kissed her.
When they broke apart, she sighed, then looked at the clock. “We slept late.”
“And yet we got so little sleep.”
She giggled—something very unlike her—but she couldn’t disagree. “Have you got eggs? I could make breakfast.”
“How about I take you out for lunch? We could go to The Fix. See who’s hanging around.”
“Oh. We could.” She often ate there when she was downtown, but there was a strange edge to his voice that she couldn’t dismiss. “Why?”
His wide smile erased all her worries. “Maybe I want to show you off. Or maybe I want to show us off.”
Her heart about burst in her chest. “In that case, I’ll grab my purse.”
* * *
At two in the afternoon,The Fix was almost empty. The bar had recently started opening at eleven so that they could cater to the downtown lunch crowd, but past one, most customers were back in their offices.
Today, when Griffin held the door for Beverly and followed her inside, he saw only a half dozen unfamiliar people at three tables, and then a few familiar faces scattered along the bar.
“Bar or table?” Griffin asked as he took her hand.
“Bar,” she said firmly, as he followed her gaze to where Mina was chatting with Cam as he stood behind the bar. At the far end, Brent and Reece huddled over something that looked like a ledger, and behind them, in the doorway, Jenna leaned against the doorjamb with her hand on her belly as she talked with Tyree and his fiancée, Eva.
“Hey, you guys,” Cam said in greeting. “You here for working, eating, or both.”