They were escorted to an elevated table with an excellent view of the stage, and soon their waiter brought them appetizers and drinks. The food placed before them — oysters, pasta, breads and cheeses — was too much for anyone to consume, unless you were a football player or an underpaid newspaper reporter. Of course when you never went without, the thought of wasting food didn’t even cross your mind. And she was sure that it wasn’t crossing his.
When the jazz band began to play and its soft music drifted around them, Elena knew why Tyler had chosen this restaurant. The entire scene was nothing more than foreplay, a place to prepare a date for a romantic night with sex on the menu for dessert. Romantic? She was old-fashioned enough to think that romance wasn’t quite so calculating or so cold.
He was good, very good. Smooth. But he couldn’t fool her so easily — she wouldn’t let him entrap her with all the moves she was sure he’d used a thousand times before.
“I can’t figure you out, Elena. One moment you laugh with me, flirt with me, open up, even. The next, you’re ducking your head, apparently thinking up a storm but showing nothing of what those thoughts are. What are you up to?”
Tyler picked up his wine glass and took a sip. She shifted in her seat. If he was this observant already, she would never be able to pull this off. She took a drink of her own wine before carefully choosing her response.
“I don’t date a whole lot,” she said. “To tell you the truth, it scares me a bit. I’m sorry if it appears that I’m not interested.” She hoped that her reply would throw him off the scent.
“I have no doubt that you’re interested,” he told her, making her want to smack him. “I can just see that you aren’t too happy about feeling that way.”
“What makes you think that you know me so well after we’ve seen each other only a few times?”
“I don’t know what it is about you, but there’s something familiar. Have we met before?”
That hit a way too close to home. She didn’t want him to know they’d been childhood friends, and she really didn’t want him to know about the men’s club. Not yet, she didn’t, maybe not ever. It was too humiliating.
“No. I would certainly remember meeting you, Tyler,” she told him with what she hoped was a saucy laugh.
“Still, I don’t know …” He trailed off, finally breaking their eye contact.
Good. She didn’t want to talk much. She just wanted to get this night over with. Maybe she should speed up her plan. He had seduction on the brain, so wouldn’t now be the perfect opportunity?
No. She wasn’t strong enough yet to carry through. And she didn’t think he was hooked on her enough to make an impact when she walked out on him. Before she could make a decision one way or the other, Tyler stood up and held out a hand.
“Let’s dance.”
The way he said the words, he might as well have been telling her to drop her pants and let him take her right there. Seduction was burned into every fiber of Tyler’s being. She didn’t say anything, but she suddenly found herself pulled from her chair and being led to the intimate dance area.
Tyler didn’t pause as he pulled her close, making her feel like it was only the two of them on the dance floor the moment his arms wound behind her back. The instant sizzle between the two of them should frighten her enough to pull away, but instead she found her hands drifting upward until they rested on the back of his neck.
“Do you come here often, Tyler?” She was only speaking to break the intensity of the moment. His next words didn’t help with that.
“While dancing, there should never be talking. It’s a prelude to things to come,” he whispered, his breath fanning against her ear as he pulled her a little bit closer.
“It’s just a dance,” she said, infusing laughter she didn’t feel into her voice.
“Pay close attention, Elena. You’ll soon see that it’s never just a dance.”
Then his arms tightened behind her back, one shifting lower as he pressed her forward, allowing her to feel his hardness against her. He tucked her head against him as he leaned down and softly ran his lips against the edge of her ear, his hot breath sending a shudder rippling through her.
His scent, his breath, his hardness all surrounded her, pressed into her, entrapped her in this moment where the rest of the world fell away and it was just the two of them.
Elena had to pull away now or else she feared she might not be able to. Leaning back, she was then looking right into Tyler’s eyes, and what was reflected back at her took her breath away.
Passion. Excitement. Hunger. So much hunger.
She didn’t know who moved first – him or her – but suddenly their lips were clasped together and she felt like a person lost in the dessert getting their first sip of water in days.
Her fingers tightened behind his neck as she greedily sipped from his lips, submerging herself in the passion that so easily flowed between them. For a brief moment in time Elena forgot that he was the enemy, forgot that she had an agenda. She forgot everything except for how he was making her feel.
When he broke away, she whimpered her disapproval, and the passion in his gaze leapt even higher.
“Let me take you home,” he said, his voice pure silk.
It took a moment for the words to process in Elena’s muddled brain, but when they did, she immediately tensed. There was no way she was ready for this, not yet, not after that scorching kiss.
“I…um…not tonight,” she finally said, and then pulled from him. She was almost surprised when he released her. What she didn’t understand was her disappointment at him doing so.