Revelation: A Contemporary Erotic Romance (Iris Series) (8 page)

“I’m famished.  Have lunch with me.”  He began helping her take off her helmet.  She batted his hands away.

“I got it.”  She pulled away from the look in his eyes and started working on her chin strap.  “I can walk from here,” she said as she took off the helmet. 

“Em.”

She stopped and looked at him.

“Have lunch with me.”  He continued not allowing her to respond.  “You owe me after pawing me for the last half hour.”  His mouth kicked up and he murmured, “Who knew you were so frisky?”

She rolled her eyes at him, her normal response.  “Please.  If that was pawing then you really are hurting for some female affection.”

“I am.  I told you it’s been a while.”  He stretched his arms up then scratched his stomach causing her to look at his stomach.  “Come on, GC.  I want to look at your beautiful, if not pissed off face while I eat.”  He reached into the back compartment to grab her purse then put her helmet in it, took her hand and led her into the coffee shop entrance a half a block away.

“This wasn’t part of the negotiation, and you don’t need to hold my hand, Dad.  I’ve been walking on my own since I turned two.”  She used her free hand to try to fluff up her hat head.

“I like holding your hand,” he turned to give her a humorous look.  “Besides, you can break your neck in those things.”  He directed his head to her high heeled sandals.  “Don’t get me wrong.  I hope you never take them off.  They’re sexy as hell.  I just don’t know how you walk in ’em.”

“Just one of those things they teach you when learning how to be a woman, I guess,” she responded.  “I seriously don’t need you to hold my hand and I’m really not hungry.”  Actually, she was starving.  She tried to remove her hand, but he held on tight.

“I know you don’t
need
me to hold it.  But it’s nice just the same.  That bit of human contact.  Knowing that another person wants to touch you.  It’s nice, don’t you think?”

She gave him a look.  “Who are you?  And don’t think for a second that I don’t know you have ulterior motives for holding my hand.”

He smacked his lips and led her into the restaurant, walking her to an empty two-top in the back.  “Deal with it, Counselor.”

Before removing his hand, he stroked his middle finger on the inside of her palm then offered her the seat whose back was to the front door so he could take the one with its back to the wall. 

Still flustered over the stroke of his finger, she finally let her self-defense training kick in.  She always took the seat facing the door so no one could sneak up behind her. She immediately went to take his seat instead.  They both awkwardly pulled for the same chair and when he looked at her, he shook his head and chuckled.

“What a trusting pair we are,” he said knowing it was the cop in him and the Krav Maga master in her that caused their mirrored actions.  He moved both chairs so they were placed next to each other but faced the door and restaurant.

She took her seat next to him.  “We’re not a pair.”

“How could you not be hungry?  Just get something.” He was a whirlwind, always ignoring her comments.  He grabbed the menu. 

She eyed the saying on his t-shirt.
"Mine eyes smell onions."- All's Well that Ends Well by William Shakespeare. 
She smirked and raised an eyebrow at the phrase when he looked at her. 

He smiled back.  “Janie gave it to me when I was in college.”  T
hen he took a breath and looked back at the menu.  “I’m totally gettin’ the biggest cheeseburger they have with two orders of fries.  And I’m dying for a chocolate milkshake,” he murmured.  “I hope they have ’em here.”  He continued to peruse the menu then closed it with finality when he made his decision.  Leaning forward onto his forearms, he turned to her and pinned her with his eyes.  “What are you gonna get?”

There was something in the way he asked the question that caused a rush of arousal to slam between her thighs.  He used a husky tone, almost whispering the words while looking at her lips then licking his own.  Before she could respond, he leaned a little more to the side to get closer to her and continued speaking in a low voice.

“You have the sexiest, smokiest eyes I’ve ever seen on a woman.  They fuckin’ grab me by the nuts every time and just pull me in.  Whether you’re wearing your glasses or not.”

She still had her contacts in.  She’d been told that she had beautiful eyes for as long as she could remember, but the comments had never seemed to give her quite the same reaction as his words did at that moment.  She cleared her throat, leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest.  Then she pulled her lightweight sweater a little closer around her feeling uncomfortably exposed.

“Are you cold?” he asked in a surprised tone.

“I’m always cold,” she mumbled.

He examined her, cocking his head to the side.  “You don’t like it when men compliment you, do you?”

“Have I become your latest case to try to figure out, Detective?” 

He continued staring at her and nodded.  The side of his mouth kicked up into a semblance of a smile. 

“I love how uncomfortable it makes you.”

“How lovely for you,” she said dryly.

“It’s like you don’t know what to do with it when a man tells you you’re a gorgeous woman with sexy bedroom eyes, a killer body, literally and figuratively, and smart and strong to boot.” 
He paused when she just blinked at him.  “I find that interesting.”

She tried to ignore what his words did to her.  “Do you?”  She grabbed for her water and took a sip.  She looked at the condensation on the glass.

Fucking you was like sticking my dick into a glass of cold water.

Emily took a deep breath dispelling the memory of her ex’s words and slowly kicked her leg that was crossed over the other, trying to appear nonchalant and unaffected by his statement.

“What are you thinking about?”

His question came out of the blue and caused her to stop moving her leg.  She looked at him with a ‘
huh?’
look on her face.

“A shadow passed over your face and your eyes shut down before you caught yourself.”

“How observant.  Do I have this to look forward to every time we’re together?  Being picked apart and analyzed?”  She needed to control her facial expressions better.

He shrugged.  “Are you okay?”

Why was he being so nice to her?  She was being such a bitch, it was amazing that he even liked sitting with her.  Nothing she said seemed to ruffle him.

“I’m fine.”

He nodded and continued watching her.

“How’s your aunt doing?  You know, Jonathan’s mom.  The one who had the heart attack.”  He was sincerely asking. 

“She’s good.  Great, actually.  You’re going to meet her on Monday at the barbeque.”  She smiled, already looking forward to it.

“Yeah?  Nice.  They’re coming down to visit?”

“Yeah, to meet Ayanna’s parents.”

“No, shit.  Huh.  Good for them.”  He thought for a moment.  “They seem happy together.  Jonathan and Ayanna, I mean.”

“Yup.  New love’ll do that to you.”

“I wouldn’t know.”  She raised an eyebrow waiting for an explanation, but he only smiled.  “Though watching Jeremy and Ryann together certainly gives me an education.”

Jeremy and Ryann were very affectionate with each other.  Sometimes she suspected it embarrassed Ryann but Jeremy didn’t care.  He was always touching her like he was afraid she would disappear if he lost physical contact.

“Does it bother you?  Your best friend and cousin snagged like that?  Seeing him so huggy kissy with her when they’re in public?”

“Me?  No way.  I think it’s great.  My parents are the same way in their relationship.  Hell,
I’m
the same way.  Very tactile.  It runs in our DNA.”  He looked at her intently.  “I definitely like to touch.”

“Yes, I’m aware.  Much to my annoyance,” she mumbled.

“You don’t like being touched?”

“Why are we having this conversation?  And where the hell is our waitress?”  Emily began to take off her sweater.  It was suddenly becoming a little warm.

“Here, I’ll take that for you,” he smiled knowingly, brushing his hand over hers while snagging the sweater from her grasp and draping it over the back of his chair.

Like magic, the waitress appeared.  Mike ordered his gargantuan sized meal and she ordered a chicken salad on a bagel, disgruntled though she was. 
So, maybe I’m a little hungry after all.  Sue me.

“So,” Mike began after the waitress left, “this mentoring program is an awesome idea.  I’ve heard of other programs like it, but have never been involved in one.”

She nodded. 

“You impress me, Emily White.”  He leaned back and looked at her proudly.

A warmth bloomed inside her, but she only acknowledged his comment with a hint of a smile and another nod.

“I like that whole philosophy of men being more proactive.  I know from my schooling how abuse against women really is a societal problem that starts with the breakdown of teaching guys how to be more responsible.  I’ve always believed that on the peripheral, but until you said that women were the ones who were always called upon to deal with it by always having to be
re
active, rather than the men being
pro
active, it kind of hit me differently,” he said.  “We’ve been looking at the problem all wrong.”  

“We women are forever being taught how to be more aware and cautious, how to protect ourselves.  But no one ever stops and says maybe the guys just need to start learning how to be men and get their shit together so we women don’t always have to be the ones on the receiving end of it.  I think women have been shit on enough.  I’m not an idealist.  I know the program isn’t gonna solve everything, but it’s a start.  And if I can impact my little part of the world and help in my own little microcosm of society, then I feel like I should.  When practically my whole high school turned on Taylor because of something that wasn’t her fault, it stuck with me.  I guess that injustice fueled me to follow up with the idea.”  He knew about Taylor and what had happened to her from previous conversations she’d had with him.

“You’re a warrior.” 

He scrutinized her with his warm gaze.  His description of her caused her to pause.  She wasn’t sure if being thought of as a warrior was a good thing.  Men didn’t want a warrior.  They wanted damsels in distress, didn’t they?  Isn’t that precisely why men didn’t want her?  He continued with his thoughts.

“Your strength and confidence are very attractive qualities,” he murmured, staring at her.

She blinked disbelievingly, uncomfortable.  She looked down and played with her napkin, shrugging away his compliment. 

“Most people would’ve stewed over their thoughts and continued to complain about the unfairness of society, but you actually did something about it.  You should be very proud of yourself.  How’s Taylor now?”

“She’s great.  Like you heard earlier, she’ll be starting the program at her school this fall.  She’s worked through what’s happened to her.  She’s had to in order to become a guidance counselor who focuses on rape prevention.  She’s an incredible woman.”

“I would love to meet her sometime.”

“I’m sure she’ll come down to visit one of these days.  Maybe Columbus Day weekend when they have off school.”  Strangely, Emily couldn’t wait for Taylor to meet the detective.  She knew Taylor would like him.  His personality was similar to that of her cousin Mark, who Taylor always enjoyed.  In fact, she’d suspected Taylor had had a crush on Mark for ages.

“Good.  We’ll have to get a group together if she comes down.  But seriously.  I’m looking forward to being a part of the program.”

“I’m glad.  I knew you would be perfect for it.”

He cocked his head.  “I’m touched,” he smirked.  “I didn’t think you thought that highly of me.” 

“Don’t get too excited, Detective,” she smiled.  “My thoughts about you continue to be what they’ve always been,” she said dryly.  That wasn’t exactly a lie.

He examined her, not letting her get away with the compliment before causing her to squirm.  “Yeah?  Well that sounds promising.  What other thoughts have you been holding out on?  That you think I’m the hottest, sexiest man on the planet and you can’t wait to get into my pants?”

She smiled.  “Keep dreaming, buddy.”

“Trust me, baby, I am.  You’ve been playing the starring role in my dreams for a while now.  In fact, I’m having a very enjoyable one right now with my eyes open.  Wanna hear about it?”

She shook her head at his antics and looked for their waitress.  He chuckled at her discomfiture. 

“I must admit, though.  I was hoping you’d wanna do something a little more
physical
when you had me all to yourself for an hour.”

“I’d just spent the last 45 minutes kicking your ass again.  What other physical activity did you think I’d actually do with you, Detective?”  She knew what his answer to the question would be and she desperately wanted to hear it from his mouth.

“Are you flirting with me, Emily?”

She licked her lips and smiled.  He continued.