“Damn,” she muttered, when she saw the text from McKenna. Are you alive??? Or are you otherwise occupied? I need to know if I should call the cops or congratulate you.
Julia grinned at the note. Clay raised his eyebrows in question.
“My sister,” she explained, tapping a quick reply. “I told her I’d text her when I landed. She worries about me.”
“So much that it brings out that naughty grin on your face?” he asked, swiping his thumb across her lips, and it was both sexy, but also skeptical.
As if he didn’t quite believe her.
But this time she was telling the truth.
Chapter Four
The Red Line gave new meaning to the word Lilliputian. The restaurant was one long narrow hallway, as if it had been wedged in between the shops on each side. There was a long bar, and a few tables, and they sat at the far end near the restrooms. Clay had been here a few times; it was a popular neighborhood place on a cobblestoned street in the Village and typified what he loved about this eclectic neighborhood – it was thoroughly New York, but it had an individual feel to it from the black and white pictures of steam engines on the walls to the dark red counter to the hip hop playing faintly overhead, R. Kelly’s Ignition.
Julia had finished texting with her sister, and he was glad of that. He had nothing against cell phones, but the sight of one in a woman’s hands while he was with her didn’t sit well with him, and he had his ex Sabrina to thank for that. She’d kept her twitchy little fingers far too busy on the touch screen of her phone, then lied, lied and lied some more about what she’d been doing. She’d been involved in some bad shit, and had dragged him deep down into her troubles too. It had taken him longer than he wanted to untangle himself from those tall tales Sabrina had spun, and the damage she’d done to him. Since then, he’d vowed to stay away from that kind of woman since.
Julia’s phone was tucked away in her purse again, where it belonged. They’d placed their order and she was nibbling on appetizers. She plucked an olive from a small plate, bit it away from the seed sexily, then said, “Do you realize I don’t even know where you’re from?”
“Do you want to know where I’m from?”
“Obviously. I’m asking. I want to get to know you better. Much better,” she said.
“And I want you to get to know me much better. Where do you think I’m from?” he asked, taking a drink of his scotch.
“Chicago.”
He shook his head. “Try again.”
“Ooh. Is this another game? You like games, don’t you? First Mad Libs. Now I get to guess where you’re from. What do I win if I’m right?”
He leaned in close to her, swept her hair from her ear, and spoke in a low rumble. “You can pick the next position. But I know you won’t win.”
“So you’re saying you’re setting me up to fail so you can choose how to take me?”
“You think I’d choose badly? You think I’d pick a position you wouldn’t like?”
She shook her head. “No,” she said softly, and she seemed to let down her guard for a second or two. “I like everything you do.”
He couldn’t resist her, especially not when she dropped the snark, though he loved that about her too. But when she revealed her vulnerable side, he found himself wanting to be even closer to her. “I like doing everything to you,” he said, looking her in the eyes, then brushing his thumb gently over her cheek, before he kissed her softly, drawing out the sexiest little whimper from her gorgeous lips.
She reached for his collar gently, holding on as she kissed back, and it was a kiss that held the promise of so much more. So much of their contact was hard and rough, and they both liked it that way, but this was tender and sweet, and he wanted this side of her too. Judging from how she kissed him, she wanted it too.
Soon, she broke the kiss, and brushed one hand against the other, in a most business-like gesture. “Now that that’s settled, let the games begin.” She studied his face curiously. “California?” She shook her head before he could answer. “No, you’re not happy enough to be from California.”
“I’m very happy,” he said defensively.
“Sure, but California people smile all the time. There’s this thing called sunshine that makes us all dopey and happy.”
“Then how do we account for your sarcasm, Miss California?”
“I’m an outlier,” she said, as a waiter brought them water glasses.
“Water for both of you. And the kitchen is working on your orders. They should be out in about five minutes.”
“Thank you very much,” Clay said, then returned his attention to the beautiful woman by his side who wore no underwear. “I’m not from California.”
“Arizona? Nah. Somehow I don’t think they make them so kinky in Arizona.”
He couldn’t help but smile. “You never know. Arizona could be an incredibly kinky state. There could be entire colonies of kink in Phoenix.”
“If there are colonies, perhaps we should go exploring. But no, you’re not from Arizona, and you’re not from Oregon or Washington either. You’d be crunchy or have more of a penchant for plaid if either were the case.”
“I enjoy your process of elimination,” he said, leaning casually back in his bar chair, crossing his arms. No one ever guessed where he was from because it was the kind of place you weren’t usually from.
She pressed her fingers to her lips, then pointed at him. “And you’re not from Boston because you don’t have an accent, and that’s also why you’re not from the South. Or Texas, even though you feel very Texas,” she said, placing her palm against his shirt, spreading her fingers across his chest, tapping lightly with her fingertips. He was hard instantly from her touch. Damn this woman; everything she did was a direct line to his dick.
“So is there a guess coming, Julia?”
She shrugged happily, held her hands out in an I give up admission. “Salt Lake City,” she said with a smirk, and he laughed at her guess, so intentionally wrong.
“Vegas, baby.”
Her features registered no reaction at first. She was simply silent. then she laughed. Maybe in disbelief. “Really?”
“Yep.”
“No one is from Vegas. Vegas is where you go. Not where you’re from.”
“Born and raised there.”
She held her hand as low to the ground as she could from where she sat. “Like back when you were little?”