"It's not what I was expecting."
He lowered his hand for me to take. "I promise, Macy, I didn't bring you here to seduce you. Just dinner."
I wasn't sure if his words gave me a sense of relief or profound disappointment. After all, maybe it was time for a little seduction in my life. After all the time I'd wasted with Trevor, thinking we were both saving ourselves for that big explosion of passion that waited for us on our honeymoon, it had turned out that I was doing all the saving. And Trevor had been doing a heck of a lot of spending. I needed to get past the invisible chastity belt Trevor had buckled on so long ago. I was embarrassed as hell about my inexperience, and just maybe it was time to lose that innocence.
I placed my hand in his, and he helped me out of the car. Chase smiled down at me, his pleasant aftershave wafting to my nose as he leaned down and shut the door. Even in the shade of night, he was spectacular. And he oozed experience. I was sure he knew more about a woman's body than I knew myself. If it was time to climb out of the chaste hole I'd been pushed into, then I was happy to have Chase lend a hand.
Chapter Ten
Chase
I led Macy into the house and gave her a quick tour of the downstairs. Veronica, my dad's wife, the woman he met ten years ago when she rear-ended him as he drove out of the bank, had seen a flyer for the house and fell in love with it. She'd always wanted something old and historical, but since those were rare in this area, she decided a new house that looked old would do just fine. It had taken a good deal of argument to convince my dad to let me buy it for them, but with a lot of help from Veronica, he'd finally consented. It had felt unbelievably good to repay my dad, a man who had worked hard to raise us by himself. And as Macy had noted, he'd done a pretty good job.
"As you can see, Veronica, my stepmom, has a thing for antiques."
Macy's brown eyes swept the room. "I see that. Not sure how I feel about it. There's a lot of ornately carved wood in here. Sort of draws your eye in every direction."
"Yeah, I prefer a little less decor. Simpler."
"Spoken like a true bachelor."
I combed my hair back with my fingers. "Guess that's true."
I led Macy through the sitting room with its impractical, ornate furniture and out onto the terrace where Roland, the chef of the restaurant, had had someone set up a table that matched the white linen tablecloths, candles and place settings in his restaurant.
"Oh wow," Macy sighed, "it's beautiful."
I stayed back as she walked to the balcony, with its thick, carved balustrades. She was wearing a dress with a short hem and buttoned bodice that had given me a dozen different dirty ideas the second I saw her in it. The breeze floating across the balcony caused the flames on the candles to waver and the skirt on her dress to shift across the back of her thighs. I was going to have to work hard to extinguish and ignore the less than wholesome thoughts I had when I saw her in the dress. I planned to be on my best behavior, which probably wasn't a very high bar because even my best behavior wasn't all that great. The guys were right. I was incurable when it came to women. I loved them, everything about them, the way they laughed, the way they walked, the way they felt in my arms. But this woman in particular had piqued my interest and not just because she was pretty and smart and funny. There was something else that I still couldn't pinpoint, but I was determined to find out.
I walked to the table and opened the chilled bottle of wine Roland had left for us. I poured two glasses and carried them to the balcony to stand next to her.
She took a sip. "Hmm, that's a good one. At least it's way better than my usual bargain basement wine."
I laughed. "That's good to know."
I couldn't help but stare at her perfect profile as she gazed out at the view and sipped her wine.
"If there's one thing good money can buy, it's a spectacular view. I've never seen one like it."
I turned and leaned against the balcony railing as she faced out. She was wearing a necklace with a tiny glittering opal pendant. The thin gold chain framed the hollow at the base of her throat, and I briefly imagined myself running my tongue along that hollow. "You said you'd had a silver spoon man before. Didn't he have views like this? If he didn't, he was missing out on watching you stand on a breezy balcony with the city lights glittering in your eyes. It's a pretty damn great view too."
When she smiled, two lines creased the left side of her mouth. And it was worth making her smile just to see those two creases.
"Well played," she quipped. "Bringing the wonderful view full circle to a compliment about my eyes. And, at the same time, sneaking in a little inquiry about my past."
"Huh, I did all that? I sure as hell can be clever when I'm not really working at it."
Macy took another drink of wine and focused back on the view. I remained focused on Macy.
"Trevor and I dated for four years. He was my first and only real relationship." She shook her head. "Never mind, it's embarrassing. The more I think about it, the more ridiculous it gets."
"Now you've got my full attention."
She handed me her empty glass. I walked back to the table to fill it. It seemed I wasn't going to hear the story. We sat down and snacked on the basket of breadsticks Roland had left on the table.
Macy spread butter on a piece and took a bite. She sat forward. "Yum. Delicious. Your chef friend is a master." She finished the breadstick and the second glass of wine as we talked about the collection of plants and garden sculptures Veronica had placed around the balcony.
Then Macy grew quiet. She ran her fingers along the stem of the glass. "I caught him screwing my friend in the restaurant bathroom in the middle of our rehearsal dinner." She blurted the words fast, as if she just wanted to get them out there.
"He's an idiot."
"That he is." She held her glass for me to fill. "I don't usually drink so much, but this wine is amazing." She fanned her hand in front of her face. "And I think I'm starting to feel the effects of me gulping the stuff like its water." Even after mentioning that she was feeling drunk, she took a few hearty sips. "Finding him in the bathroom stall with one of my bridesmaids wasn't even the embarrassing part. For four years, the man insisted that we wait for marriage. We were like two well-behaved teenagers, never doing more than heavy kissing and a little of this and that. Even though there were times when I told him I wanted to have sex. But he insisted we wait. It will be extra special if we wait. Turns out, while I was waiting, he was having the time of his life satisfying what he claimed was a sex addiction. His excuse for it all was that he didn't want to scare me off. He thought if I knew what a ravenous appetite he had for sex, I wouldn't want to marry him. It's probably a good thing I found out about his insatiable carnal habits before we actually went through with it." She stopped to suck in a breath. "Wow, that just came out like bubbles in champagne. Guess the wine unpopped that cork good." She covered her mouth to stop the flow of words but then spoke through her fingers. "God, I sound like a pathetic, gullible nerd when I tell that story out loud."
I waited for a moment, to see if she was finished and to absorb the major 'ah ha' moment I had as she spoke. The mystery was solved, that intriguing piece to the puzzle finally in place. And that led me to my next stupid, but, for me, completely predictable remark. "You're a virgin?"
She laughed, but it sounded far more incredulous than filled with humor. "Out of that entire explosion of information about the worst moment in my life, the most important part you came out with was that I'm still a virgin." She placed her glass down and spoke again before I could offer an excuse, of which there was none. "I suppose you're looking at me like I'm some rare species of bird come back from extinction. Actually, that works. I'm a dodo bird, a fucking dodo bird, and I've had a lovely glass of wine on your very pretty balcony. But now I'd like to go home."
Fortunately for me, the crazy high tech latch on the sliding doors to the balcony stopped her quest for a fast exit.
She messed with the latch. "What the heck kind of door is this?" The slight waver in her voice made me want to kick myself.
I walked over to her but stopped short of touching her. And that was not easy. But I'd made a mess of things, and the last thing I deserved was a reward for being an insensitive jackass.
Macy spun to face me. A split second of something other than anger crossed her face, and I was sure I read something in her expression that said kiss me. But it passed quickly, and I convinced myself I'd been wrong. Macy was different. She wasn't overt and obvious with her flirting, something I wasn't used to, and it was throwing me off my game. Which might just have been a good thing. Aidan always loved telling me that I was never going to settle down with one woman until I found one who could knock me off my stride.
"Macy, that was stupid of me to ask. I know. You'll have to forgive me for being a typical asshole whose mind goes straight to sex in every topic. Especially when the words are coming out of lips that I've been dreaming about kissing all week. I love sex. Hell, I'm part owner of a business that sells products to enrich people's sex lives. But I'm not him. I'm not that idiot who messed up and who is no doubt kicking himself a hundred ways to hell right now because that sure as fuck is what I'd be doing if I lost a woman like you."