“A dish,” he repeated, and I could tell he was grinning. “I like Candace. When can I meet her?”
“You’re so vain.” I laughed. “You?
??ll meet her soon. She and her girlfriend have these parties all the time, and I’ll take you to one if you like.”
“Great, great, but I’m not vain—though speaking of parties, there’s a work-related charity dinner I have to attend tonight. I wasn’t certain I could make it because I suspected my trip might be extended, but since I’m back, I’m gonna have to go.”
“So I won’t see you tonight?” I moaned in dismay.
“You will if you want to.” He chuckled. “Would you like to come with me?”
“To a charity dinner thingy?” I pretended to think about it. “Yeah, I think I might be able to fit it into my schedule, between my rereads of Mansfield Park and Jane Eyre.”
He laughed. “Now that’s not a bad way to spend an evening. You inspire me to want to go back to reading as much as I did when I was a teenager.”
“I want everybody to do that!” I exclaimed. “I want people to discover books again. That’s one of the reasons why I work in publishing. With each new book, you have a chance to convince someone who’d stopped reading fiction that it’s worth rediscovering, and sometimes, you get to introduce someone entirely new to the pleasure of words.”
“I love you,” he said quietly.
I smiled. “Because I like books?”
“Because you are unique, beautiful inside and out, you think of the world in terms that are greater than just yourself, plus…” He paused. “Your pussy feels like heaven around my dick.”
I choked on my laughter. “God!” I affected a scandalized voice. “How vulgar!”
“I know.” He was laughing. “See you tonight. I’ll pick you up around eight. Is that okay?”
“It’s perfect.”
I chose an ombre teal dress with a halter neckline and a deceptively long shark-bite hem that left most of my legs and thighs exposed, hidden only by the transparent, flowy material. I finished my makeup with red lipstick, chose dangling earrings, let my hair flow around my shoulders, and completed the outfit with silver heels and a cute glittery purse in the same color.
“What do you think?” I asked Amy when I emerged from my room.
She set down her laptop and mouthed a silent Wow!
“You look incredible,” she said.
“Thank you.” I did a small curtsey. “I try.”
“And slay.”
I grinned. “Jason should be here any minute.”
“You’re going to knock him out,” Amy promised.
Just then, the door-bird chirped, and I went to open the door.
Oh, my gorgeousness!
I took a minute just to take Jason in. His hair was gleaming, combed back but still wavy. There was a dark shadow around his chin, but it only made him look sexier, more dangerous somehow. He was wearing a perfectly fitted suit with a snowy white shirt, and he looked delicious. When he smiled down at me, I almost melted into a puddle of lust.
“You look…” He paused and thought for a moment, almost as if at a loss for words. “Amazing.”
“You look like temptation,” I replied, jaw still on the floor. “I’m going to be afraid to let you out of my sight all night.”
“I’m not letting you out of mine.” His eyes went to my legs under the thin material. The inner fabric stopped at the tops of my thighs, so everything else was visible. “This dress should be illegal,” he declared.
“Really?” I feigned innocence. “Why?”