Vice(27)

"Maybe you should just assume that's always how I'm going to refer to  you." He started walking backward, flashing me a sunny grin. "Told  you-been wanting to say it for a while so I think I'm going to say it as  often as I can."

"You're an idiot." I laughed and shook my head, lingering by his door as  he opened it and slid into the driver seat. "I'll see you Friday."

"Wear a dress."

"Why?" I held fast to the door when he tried to close it. "Abraham-why?"

"You'll see." He nipped at my fingers, laughing when I jerked away. "Trust me, Jeannie Jackson."





CHAPTER EIGHTEEN





I was probably twenty shades of stupid but I did what he asked and wore a  dress to the steakhouse which, it turned out, was officially called  Morton's. Who the hell Morton was and why he'd been important enough for  somebody in Cotton Creek to name a restaurant after him was a question  for another day. At the moment, I was wondering where Abraham was and  why he'd been so insistent on me wearing a dress.

I was also wondering why one of my new hires thought I was honestly  going to let her write a piece on ways to get free food from  restaurants. I was going to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume  this was a one-off bout of stupidity. If it happened again... well,  there was a reason I always insisted on a sixty-day trial period.

"Hey, there, Jeannie." Lynn's too bright tone was forced and strained  enough to break through the daze I tended to descend in to when working  and I glanced up, frowning. She smiled, saccharine sweet, and I mentally  resigned myself for whatever supposedly cutting remark she was  preparing to deliver "You should know, we're not hiring right now. All  full up for the season."

"First of all, Cotton Creek isn't some sort of tourist mecca so there  really isn't a ‘season', Lynn." I turned my attention back to my phone,  already finished with the conversation. "Second, I haven't needed to  bust my ass waiting tables in a good number of years. Nothing wrong with  it, mind you, but I'm past that point in my life."

"I didn't know you were a server." Abraham crossed the tiny lobby,  dropping down next to me on the bench before leaning over and pressing a  quick kiss to my cheek. "Did you have to wear one of those kitschy  uniforms with a frilly apron and heels?"

"I was a server, not a cocktail server." I saved the email draft on my  phone, shutting off the device and sliding it in my purse before turning  to face him. "When you're working in a place that does close to two  hundred guests in one hour and you've got eight tables, the last thing  you want to do is hobble around in heels."

"I suppose the blisters would take away from the cute factor." He  grinned, taking my chin in one hand and tilting my face up to his. The  kiss this time was longer and just intimate enough to make me hope  nobody other than Lynn was watching us. Drawing back, he murmured,  "Missed you."

"We spent two hours on the phone last night." Which had started with me  complaining about the photos for the center spread on food trucks not  being colorful enough and ending with some of the dirtiest phone sex I'd  ever had. If I was being honest, it was really the only phone sex I'd  ever had but I didn't think Abraham needed to know that. He was already  far too proud of his sexual prowess. No need to build up his ego any  higher. Turning my face to the side, I whispered in his ear, "Are you  going to tell me why I'm wearing a dress?"

"Because you're beautiful and you have amazing legs and looking at them  makes me happy." He stood, pulling me up with him, his smile fading as  he glanced at Lynn. "Two, please. Somewhere private."

"Of course." Lynn ground the words out between teeth clenched so tight  my own jaw ached in sympathy. Pausing at the hostess stand to grab two  menus, she led us through the dining room straight to a booth in the  back corner, tucked out of sight from the rest of the room. Setting the  menus down and stepping back, she clasped her hands at her waist and  said, "Your server will be right with you. In the meantime, can I-."

"No, thank you." Abraham nudged me in ahead of him, dismissing Lynn without so much as a glance. "We're fine for the moment."

I waited until Lynn stalked off before saying, "Do you remember the  conversation we had about not treating the wait staff like second-class  citizens?"

"I do and I hope you remember I was perfectly cordial to every server we  encountered during our little jaunt to Savannah. But not Lynn." He  pulled something out of his pocket, keeping his hand under the  tablecloth and out of sight. "Trust me when I say I'm rude to her not  because she's a server but because she's... well, her."         

     



 

"Still." I frowned at him when he slipped his hand between my knees,  working his way up my thighs while still managing to keep the hem of my  dress in place. "What are you doing?"

"In a minute." He nodded at the server winding her way through the empty  tables, fresh-faced and bright and shiny as a new penny. Shooting her a  smile guaranteed to melt all but the coldest heart, he said, "Well, hey  there, Joanne. You ready for school to start next week?"

"Oh, uh. Um." Joanne looked more than a little dazzled and I couldn't  blame her. I was certain I'd become all but immune to his charm but I  was feeling a little light-headed myself at the moment. Fumbling with  her pen and notepad, she said, "Uh, yes, Mr. Hansom, I, uh, yes."

"I've told you to call me ‘Abraham', Joanne." His smile widened and he  glanced at me. "We're cousins of some sort, second or third, I believe."

"Abraham." I reached over and patted his cheek. "Dial back the charm,  will you? You're embarrassing the poor girl." I shifted my attention to  Joanne, her face flushed with bright red color. "Don't worry, honey. I  have the same reaction when he catches me off guard. I'll take a sweet  tea, please."

"I'll do the same and we'll both have the filet, medium rare, baked  potato, and green beans." Abraham continued to beam at her, which only  served to make me more suspicious. "Thanks so much, Joanne."

As soon as she stumbled out of earshot, I said, "What was that?"

"Me ordering for both of us? Probably a little presumptuous but I know you eat all those things."

"Yes, but I generally don't eat steak at lunch, especially when I have  work to do." I groaned, already anticipating the food coma I'd find  myself in after a few hours. "And I have so much work to do, both for  the magazine and for the move."

"So you'll take a nap and then straighten out whatever problem you're  having with the magazine and spend the evening cleaning out dresser  drawers or whatever you do when you move." He nudged my thighs open  wider and I realized he still had the mysterious object in his hand.  "And I'll spend the afternoon and evening pouring drinks and doing  paperwork and trying to book a band for next Friday night because  parents always want to go out and get wasted after the first week of  school."

"Abraham." I sucked in a short, sharp breath when he brushed his  fingertips over the folds of my cunt. It took only a few seconds of  careful, deliberate manipulation before I was wet and aching. Exhaling  in one long, slow breath, I said, "Do you really think this is the best  place to do that?"

"No." He pressed his palm flat against me, using his fingers to push  something small and oval shaped inside me. Sliding his hand out from  under my dress and resting it on my knee, he said, "I do, however, think  it's the best place to do this."

Before I could ask what he meant, the object inside me started to pulse, soft and slow, almost like a heartbeat.

Leaning in and propping my chin on his shoulder, I whispered, "A remote control vibrator? Really?"

"What?" His smile was bright and innocent but the look in his eyes...  well, it might not tempt an angel but I had a feeling a saint or two  would fall if he turned it on them. "I told you there were things I  wanted to show you. This is one of them."

"I hate to break it to you, this is far from the first vibrator I've had  inside me." True, I preferred actual dick, but I'd been in plenty of  towns where it would have taken far more than a few shots to make me  willing enough to fuck anybody there. I'd have had to subject myself to  alcohol poisoning. I did my best to return his smile although I was sure  mine was a .little tight around the edges. "Sorry, darling-not  impressed."

"Oh, I'm sure you've had experience with toys before." He cocked his  head, the expression on his face turning more cherubic even as his eyes  darkened with desire. "Still, I don't think your experience is of the  public kind. And I'm also certain you're not familiar with edging."