Knowing this was his one chance to make her listen, he said quietly, “Cherry, I promise to stop teasing, all right? I just want to talk.” For now. Later…
She looked dubiously at him.
“Just sit and talk, Cherry, that’s all.” Releasing her hand, Rick sat back, his gaze holding hers. “Please.”
She chewed that lush bottom lip, making desire shoot straight through him, but he manfully pushed the desire away, tamping it down where his lust simmered, and maintained a friendly façade. Picking up his glass, he took a sip of the iced coffee. “A cold drink after a hard days work. Just spare me a few minutes and tell me what’s on your mind. I promise not to interrupt.”
Slowly she sat down and he breathed a silent sigh of relief. Picking up the glass, she took a sip of the iced chocolate and a brief flash of pleasure crossed her face. He vowed then and there to always keep a carton of iced chocolate in his ‘fridge for her.
“Nice.” She took another sip before placing the glass back on the table.
“I think so.” He waited, silently amused when she suddenly didn’t seem to know what to say or how to proceed.
Then she chewed that lush bottom lip again and he thought his dick might explode from behind the jeans zipper. Okay, that was an exaggeration, but it wasn’t far off the truth. Manfully dragging his thoughts from that titillating thought, he took a much bigger mouthful of iced coffee and continued to politely wait for Cherry to start speaking. Personally, he now felt like dragging her off to bed, but he’d made a promise and he prided himself on keeping promises. Afterwards, however…
Cherry cleared her throat and he waited, mentally tamping down yet another surge of desire. Cripes, he should get a medal for all this tamping of his passion.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to see each other,” she finally said.
This he expected. “Why?”
“Because I don’t like being made a fool of.”
“Okay, this he didn’t expect. “I don’t understand. What have I done to make you think that?”
Those blue eyes narrowed a little. “I saw you with Annabelle Forbes.”
“Annabelle? She means nothing to me.”
“Oh, really? I saw you together, her hand on your face, you holding her hand. It didn’t look like nothing to me.” Her chin lifted, which he immediately thought was adorable.
“I can explain that.”
“That’s the corniest line I’ve ever heard.”
Rick actually blanked out for a second. “What?”
“I’m sure that particular line has been in just about every romance book I’ve ever read.”
“You read romance books?” Spicy? Erotic? He was dying to know.
“None of your business.”
“You sure?”
Her lips tightened.
Remembering how flighty his little Cherry was, Rick quickly returned to the original topic. “I met Annabelle in the street and told her that our dinner date was not going to happen. She tried to change my mind, I tried to let her down gently.” He frowned a little at the memory, then shrugged. “She didn’t take it too well, but you obviously didn’t wait around to see that part.”
“What did she do?” Cherry immediately bit her lip. “Forget it, I don’t want to know.”
“She wanted to know why, I told her I had met someone, and she, well, let’s not go into it. Suffice it to say that any hope she had of us getting together is over.”
Her gaze dropping to the glass on the table, Cherry was silent for several long seconds before murmuring, “That someone else you met, that someone you broke up with her over…”
“Is you.” When she remained silent, Rick reached over the table to lay one hand over hers. “We were never an item, love. She wanted it, I didn’t. It was a dinner date she forced on me, so breaking it wasn’t a problem. You, however…” She didn’t look up but when she went to withdraw her hand he tightened his hold, preventing her from sliding away. “You, I’m deadly serious about. I want us to be an item. I want to have dinner with you, I want you to get to know me.” When she didn’t respond, he squeezed her hand gently. “Cherry, look at me. Tell me what’s wrong.”
Her sigh was accompanied by a slumping of her shoulders, and when she lifted those thick, black lashes so her gaze could meet his, he was struck by the sadness in them. “Don’t play me for a fool, Rick.”
“I’m not playing you for a fool.”
“Men like you don’t go out with girls like me.” Tugging her hand from his, she stood up. “I’m not that desperate that I’d fall for this. Goodbye.” Turning on her heel, she strode for the door.