I turned it toward me and straddled the seat. Resting my arms across its back, I laid my chin on my forearms, my eyes lingering on her a bit longer than polite.
Fidgeting nervously under my scrutiny, she swiped at her mouth. “What?” she asked. “Do I have ketchup on me? I have a habit of getting things all over my face when I see you.”
Even though I knew she was talking about the day she’d accidentally rubbed lipstick samples all over her cheeks, I had to stifle a groan. The dirty, filthy visual she’d just called to mind had my dick jumping for joy.
“Oh god, I do, don’t I?” She turned and scrubbed at her cheeks with a wet sponge.
“Relax Sophie,” I told her when I heard her whisper, “fuck, fuck, fuck.” “You don’t have anything on your face.”
“Well, it took you long enough to say so.” She shot a dirty look over her shoulder, huffed, and grabbed a towel from the rack before coming back to the table to scowl down at me.
“What?” I asked innocently, shoulders and palms up.
“I feel like I’m eight years old again and you’re laughing at me.”
“I’m not laughing at you,” I assured her, the husky timbre of my voice belying the calm exterior I was trying to project. “I’m picturing something very, very serious. Something that would make me moan.”
She sucked in a short breath and looked away. When she bit the tip of her thumbnail, with my earlier thought still fresh, the sight of her lips pursed around her finger did very bad things to me. I shifted in my seat to ease ache, trying not to picture her pillowy lips wrapped snugly around my cock.
She turned back with a steel glint in her eye. “You can’t say those things to me,” she whispered, her words meant to be more forceful than they’d come out.
“What sort of things?”
I wanted to see if I could make her blush.
An image of her head thrown back, mouth open in ecstasy and her skin flushed as I pushed into her willing body popped into my head. It was a good thing I was sitting down because my cock stood at full attention now, pushing forcefully against my jeans, wanting desperately to come out and play. I shifted again and realized the back of the chair was open, slatted wood. All she had to do was glance down and she’d see the evidence of my arousal. I dropped my arms to rest over my thighs, my forearms covering the unmistakable bulge in my jeans.
“You know full well what sort of things,” she answered, interrupting my wayward thoughts.
“You’re right, but I want to hear you say it.”
“I don’t think so.” She laughed nervously and looked away.
The twist of her head provided a clear view of the graceful arch of her neck, of her pulse beating fast and hard.
“What are you doing tomorrow?”
Please don’t be busy, I prayed.
“Same thing I’ve done every day since I got here.”
I didn’t think I imagined the frustration that seeped into her answer.
“And you still haven’t left Ballycurra?”
She glanced away and let out a puff of air. “No.”
“You know I love it here as much as the next lad, but you’re missing out.”
“Things have been busy.”
“I don’t doubt that, but Sundays are slow. You should let me take you to the city.”
“I don’t know.”
“And you call yourself a travel blogger?” I questioned teasingly.
When her eyes flashed with ire, I knew I’d hit a nerve.
“Look, I don’t know anything about being a travel writer but you have sponsorships, which I do happen to know a thing or two about, and I can’t imagine they’re happy with your recent lack of content.”
She bristled but I kept on. “Let me show you my favorite parts of Dublin and you can put together a few posts like you did when you stayed in Edinburgh. Or,” I said, wondering if I was digging a hole I might not be able to climb out of, “you could even do a post about my favorite places in the city. It’d certainly get you new readers.”
I wasn’t boasting. There were people who’d read anything with my name in it and Sophie’s content was good enough to keep them coming back for more.
“Hmm,” she murmured, giving the idea some thought. “That’s not a terrible idea, actually, but I don’t know if I can get away.”
“Come on Sophie, you know you want to. Let me get you out of here for a day. I promise you’ll have a good time.”
“I’ll need to talk it over with my grandparents.”
“If I told you I could guarantee they’d happily give you the day off if it meant spending it with me, would that sound too arrogant?”
I couldn’t keep the confident grin from my face when I asked because we both knew it was true.
“Are you always this self-assured?”
I shrugged. “Pretty much.” And then with a touch of hope, I asked, “Do you like it?”
“I haven’t decided,” she responded and then after another pause added, “Cocky men aren’t usually something I’m into.”
“What about confident men?” I asked, leaning forward. “Because I should warn you, I’m very confident. In everything.”
When my eyes roved over her with greedy appreciation, her breath hitched and she turned her head away. I watched, fascinated, as her pulse thrummed heavily under her skin, the blush I’d hoped to see creeping slowly up her chest and infusing her cheeks with a dusty pink glow. She straightened her spine and turned back to me.
“Does this … approach … usually work for you?”
Her face was filled with mistrust and skepticism.
“Um …” I answered dumbly, because I hadn’t been prepared for that quick shift.
“Oh my god, it does!” She declared laughing. “Women love that shit, don’t they? I bet they fall all over themselves when you come on to them like that.”
I was at a complete loss how to salvage this, had absolutely no idea how to woo her. And the fact that I’d thought a word like “woo” made we want vomit. I didn’t woo women. They came to me. I didn’t need to beg Sophie to give me a chance. I could walk out of this pub, hop in my car, and be buried balls deep in someone eager for my company in less than an hour.
Those days are behind you, I reminded myself, disgusted I’d even had the thought.
And besides, I didn’t want some nameless, faceless bird. The only woman I wanted was standing right in front of me. Taunting me, yes, but I’d just have to find a way around that.
Standing, I spun the chair back around and sat, planting my forearms on my thighs. I captured Sophie’s gaze and she went still. I nodded at her chair and she fell into it without putting up a fight. The easy way she’d followed my silent command sent a jolt through me. Maybe Colm was on to something earlier when he’d talked about taming her, because right now the idea of bringing Sophie to heel was intoxicating.
“Here’s the honest to God truth Sophie. I don’t pursue women. They come to me and we fuck before I send them on their merry way.”
She flinched, but I kept going. “I don’t date; do you understand?”
Numbly, she shook her head.
“Good. So you understand what a big fucking deal it is that I’m sitting in your grandparents’ kitchen trying to charm you into spending time with me.”
The room was so silent you could have heard a pin drop. I’d wanted to be honest but the second I started speaking things I hadn’t meant to say came barreling out of my mouth.
“Well, I’ll give you points for honesty,” she finally said. “But I’m going to deduct a point or two for reminding me why I shouldn’t get involved with you.”
“But—”
She held up her finger and I bit my tongue. I’d said enough anyhow.
“Here’s the deal,” she said, leaning forward to mimic my body language. “I’m leaving in a little over a month. I hadn’t wanted any distractions, but the truth is, Declan O’Shaughnessy, you’re quite the distraction.”
Her e
yes roved over my body, settling on my cock before she raised them back to my lips, then my own eyes. Electricity cracked between us and I was tempted to reach out and touch her. While I debated the wisdom of that, she stood and moved away.
Switching topics, as if she hadn’t just blatantly come on to me, she continued, “As much as it pains me to admit it, you bring up a good point about my sponsors wanting fresh content. So you’ve got yourself a deal: a day in Dublin for you to show me all your favorite haunts.”
The more she spoke, the faster my heart raced. I couldn’t believe I was going to get my day with her after all. And your night, the devil on my shoulder added hopefully. I pictured the little fucker rubbing his hands together with anticipatory glee.
I started to tell her about my favorite coffee shop since I knew it was the key to her soul, but she shut me up with a shake of her head and a narrowing of her eyes.
“But I have a few conditions.”
“Anything,” I answered.
I’d do whatever she wanted if it meant spending time with her away from Ballycurra and all its prying eyes. Even if that meant I’d go home at the end of the day with the bluest balls anyone had ever seen.
That’s when I knew I was in trouble.
She eyed me skeptically. “First of all, this is not a date.”
Shit.
“Agreed.”
“This is nothing but one friend showing another around town.”
Fuck.
“Fine.”
“Second, and this is non-negotiable, there will be no touching.”
And there it is folks, I thought, even as I’d guessed this is where her stipulations were leading.
“None at all?” I asked, wondering how I was going to handle the torture of being around her all day without touching her the way I wanted to.
Ever since I’d caressed her cheek outside the store, I couldn’t stop thinking about what the rest of her skin would feel like under my fingertips.
“None at all.”
“Say you stumble,” I said, offering up an unlikely scenario. “I can’t grab your hand to make sure you don’t fall?”
“I won’t stumble.”
“But say you do.”
“Then you’ll let me.”
“Okay,” I continued, pressing my luck. “What if we’re walking down the street and there’s a crowd and I get pushed into you?”
She raised her eyebrow as if to say, “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“I’m serious. Dublin’s a mad house. You can’t walk down the street without getting bumped about.”
I grinned and she cast me a dubious glare.
“Try.”
“Fine,” I muttered, mentally crossing my fingers. “On this non-date there will be no touching.”
“Good,” she answered, satisfied with my capitulation.
“But just to clarify, does this include no kissing you goodbye at the end of this non-date?”
“The no touching rule especially includes no kissing.”
She tried to fight the grin that exposed how much she enjoyed our banter but I’d seen it before she’d managed to hide it.
“Any other rules I should be aware of?” I asked, knowing she probably had a list a mile long she thought would keep our afternoon strictly platonic. That was fine though. I would abide by her rules and not call our date a date, but that wouldn’t stop me from treating her like it was one.
“I’m thinking,” she said, tapping the tip of her forefinger to her lips.
“Ahem …” I cleared my throat to get her attention.
“Yes?”
“If you don’t want me to think about kissing you senseless, you probably shouldn’t call attention to your mouth.”
She ripped her hand away and folded her fingers into a fist on her thigh. It nearly killed me when she bit her bottom lip and rolled it between her teeth. It was an unconscious reaction, but it was sexy as fuck.
“That too,” I remarked, staring ravenously at her mouth, my cock twitching in my jeans.
She sighed. “I don’t know if this is going to work.”
“What’s not going to work?” I asked, never taking my eyes off her luscious lips.
“You. Me. Us.”
“I thought there was no us,” I corrected, my heartbeat accelerating.
“There isn’t.”
“You just said there is.”
I raised my eyes from her lips and captured her gaze, saw her lust reflected back at me.
She swallowed and took a deep breath.
“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” she breathed out.
“Do I?”
Our chemistry was explosive and if she just let herself explore it, she wouldn’t be talking about there not being an “us.” I wasn’t looking for a promise of forever; I only wanted to be with her while she was here. Why couldn’t she just enjoy our attraction? Enjoy me?
I angled my head and roved my eyes over her body like she’d done to me.
After a few beats, I said, “Okay, no touching, no kissing. But you can’t stop me from wanting those things, and I think deep down you want them too. So I won’t break your rules but you can guarantee I’m going to try like hell to get you to break them instead.”
I stood, putting the bulge in my pants on display. I glanced down, admired it for a moment, and then looked up to find her staring at my package.
Satisfied this attraction was a two-way street, I smiled smugly and asked, “What time should I pick you up?”
Her head shot up for a moment before her eyes flicked back down and studied me greedily.
Finally she dragged them back up, taking her time. When she came to my face, she lingered over my lips a few moments before meeting my stare.
Oh, she wanted me all right.
“Ten o’clock sound good?”
“Ten it is,” I answered with a nod. “Dress warm.”
“See you tomorrow then,” she said, her voice breathy with desire.
Chapter Eighteen
Sophie
Despite my decision not to play his game, Declan had gotten to me and I was afraid of how I reacted when I was around him—how my body responded to his very presence, that voice. None of it was logical. If my attraction to other men throughout my life had been a soft spring rain, what I felt when I was near him was a gale-force hurricane.
When he’d told me he’d never pursued a woman before, that I was the first, some strange combination of feminine power and pride had sparked in me. But as heady as it had been, I couldn’t fool myself into thinking I’d be the last.
I told myself if I did this thing, if I continued down this path, I was doing womankind a favor. Someday, somewhere, someone would silently thank whoever had taught Declan what it meant to treat a woman with respect and adoration. I told myself I could walk away knowing I’d played a vital role in his education.
You’re lying to yourself and you know it.
Yeah, I did. And that’s what worried me.
At the crack of dawn, I woke with a start, my mind frazzled. It felt like a live wire ran straight from my brain to my heart as it thumped painfully in my chest. I’d never had a panic attack before, but Katie had suffered through them for years and had once described in gruesome detail what it felt like so I was pretty sure that’s what was happening right now. Unable to get my breathing under control, I flipped on the bedside lamp and watched as my hands trembled in front of me. I took three deep breaths and exhaled slowly, focused on regulating my heartbeat and steadying my nerves.
This was ludicrous. Even though I was afraid of heights, I’d jumped out of a plane at 14,000 feet and hadn’t been this distressed. And spending the day with Declan was nothing compared to sailing a small catamaran through a freak tropical storm. And yet I hadn’t been paralyzed with fear either of those times the way I was now.
You are being ridiculous, I told myself. Yet knowing that was true and being able to stop were two very different things. Because here I was,
almost an hour later, still panicking. When a scalding hot shower proved incapable of steadying my nerves, I was tempted to cancel on him.
You’re being a coward.
Yes, I am.
You’ve never been a coward.
There’s a first time for everything.
Man up Sophie.
Shut up!
And now I was having a bitchy conversation with myself! I’d well and truly lost my mind. And all because I was going on a non-date with a man who made me feel things I’d never felt before. A man who as a boy I’d imagined hundreds—thousands?—of times being eaten alive by jackals. A man I had absolutely no future with.
What are you afraid of then? that damn nagging voice taunted.
Yeah, what exactly was I afraid of?
I plopped down on my bed to give the question some serious consideration and what I concluded was more complicated than I would have thought.
I hadn’t wanted to like Declan, and the fact that I did—quite a lot—made me feel like I’d lost control. Even more troubling was my illogical and unsettling reaction to his nearness. I’d never lost the thread of a conversation because I was imagining writhing naked under someone or wondering what it would feel like to have that man’s mouth on my body. The things he made me feel without even touching me, the pure want that came over me when I was near him, was something I craved.
I needed more of that feeling in my life.
Which led to my next realization.
I’d planned to stay in Ballycurra for a couple of weeks, but here I was, weeks later, and I had no idea what came next. I had nowhere to be, no one to go home to. With a start I realized I was no longer satisfied living such a solitary, nomadic existence. I wanted someone to call my own and I wanted a permanent home. Which was precisely why I couldn’t lose myself to Declan. If I wasn’t careful I might start to think of him in those terms I couldn’t let that happen because that’s not the type of man he was.
Somehow, this mind-bending conclusion helped steady my nerves about spending time with him. Because if I needed to be panicked about anything, the question of my future was where I should be focusing my energies, not on what I was sure would amount to a temporary, meaningless fling.
Trying Sophie: A Dublin Rugby Romance Page 16