Real Men Will

by Dahl, Victoria

  Beth. His hands were on Beth Cantrell. His brain flickered through panicked thoughts.

  Holy shit. His hands were on Beth Cantrell in his brewery.

  He felt her trying to step away, but somehow his hands tightened on her shoulders as he glanced at the doors behind him. Jamie was still in the kitchen. As long as he didn’t head out to the front room, everything would be fine. No harm, no foul. No reason to panic.

  Except, what the hell was she doing at the brewery? Had she come to see him?

  “Beth,” he started, just as she slipped away from his hold. The tingling in his fingertips faded slowly, but now it had progressed to his brain.

  If Jamie walked into the front room, Beth would be awfully surprised to meet him. Emphasis on awful.

  When she backed a few feet away, Eric followed, hoping they’d be unnoticeable in the hallway.

  “Hi,” she whispered.

  “Is everything okay?”

  “Yes. Absolutely.” She was just as stunning as she had been six months before. Just as gorgeous and sophisticated. Her dark hair wasn’t pinned up tonight, and it fell over her shoulders in soft waves. Her body, all long legs and generous hips, had mesmerized him the first time he’d laid eyes on her, and it was no different now. He drank in the sight of her curves until her dark gaze slipped past him.

  He looked behind himself again, but no one was there. If Jamie walked in, if someone said his name…

  God, maybe he should just tell her. Maybe it wouldn’t be that big of a deal. Funny thing, when you called me Jamie at the business expo…I should’ve corrected you. My name’s actually Eric. Crazy, huh? And then she’d laugh and shake her head and tell him it didn’t really matter because it had just been a one-night stand.

  Yeah. Sure. He’d be lucky if she didn’t murder him right there with one of her stiletto heels.

  Beyond the adrenaline pushing through his veins, Eric’s skin still prickled at the idea of being close to her again. Because he could still picture that night perfectly. Her body naked. Her lips parted on a moan. Her ass plump and firm, the muscles flexing as he fucked her from behind. Heat washed over him.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked.

  Heat seemed to wash over her, too. Her cheeks turned pink. Had she come to see him? As anxious as he was, Eric felt a sudden, ferocious hope. He wanted to touch her again. Wanted to feel those sparks. The lust. The need.

  He shifted closer, close enough to touch. When Beth closed her eyes, he clenched his hands to fists and stopped himself while he still could.

  BETH ALMOST CONVINCED herself she was just imagining him. He smelled the same. And he looked exactly the same: dark-haired and tall, his brow furrowed in worry, as if he never set his thoughts aside, no matter what month or week or time it was.

  “Beth?” he said again, and she suddenly felt as if she’d swallowed a heart that was way too big for her chest. She wanted him to touch her so she could turn to him. At the same time she wanted to edge around him and run away.

  She shook her head and opened her eyes.

  He stole another quick glance over his shoulder before turning back to her. “How are you?”

  “Good,” she managed to say. “Great. I’m actually here with a party.”

  “Oh.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “You know Faron?”

  “Yes! I…” She shifted her purse to the other hand, then back again. “Exactly. I know Faron.” It wasn’t quite a lie. They had friends in common. They’d been introduced a couple of times over the years.

  The hallway was too small, despite being five feet across. His shoulders were so wide, and her memories too big, and the space just kept getting tighter and tighter. He cleared his throat, and she saw that he was just as uncomfortable as she was.

  “I’m sorry,” Beth said. “I didn’t realize the party was here when I agreed to come. I honestly didn’t mean to…”

  “Of course not,” he said quickly. “Come by anytime.” But his gray-blue eyes darted nervously down the hall again. Maybe he had a girlfriend now. Maybe she was one of the servers.

  Beth wished the floor would open up and swallow her and her sickly thumping heart.

  “I was just leaving,” she finally said.

  Jamie stepped back. “Great. I mean, sure. Of course. That’s good. Have a nice night.”

  Mortified, she edged past him and hurried back to the party. “Welcome back!” her date said when she found him and hovered a foot away.

  “Thanks.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine!” She smiled and he handed her the beer she’d left behind. When she saw the way her hand was shaking, Beth took a seat at the nearest table and carefully set the beer down.

  When he joined her, she hid a cringe. Was Jamie watching? She took a sip of beer to try to wet her parched mouth.

  Beth glanced toward the bar, but didn’t spy Jamie anywhere. “I’m sorry,” she managed to say, then hesitated over his name again. “I…”

  Davis! That was his name. Not David, but Davis, after Miles Davis, because this man had been cool since the day his parents had named him.

  Beth felt guilty for her snarky thought, but her guilt vanished in an instant when she heard a girl cry out, “Hi, Jamie!”

  Beth’s head snapped up so quickly that Davis’s voice cut off as if she’d sliced his words with a knife.

  “Beth? Are you sure everything is okay?”

  Definitely not. She scanned the crowded area near the bar, but she didn’t see him. While she watched, a cute blond guy in a brewery T-shirt waved toward someone. A girl broke free of the group and gave him a big hug.

  “Listen, maybe a going-away party packed with people you don’t know isn’t an ideal first date.”

  “No, it’s not that.” She tried to think of something witty to say. Tried to concentrate on this man. Yes, he was hip and overeducated, but he was also a nice guy. And his smile could melt butter on a cold day. In fact, the moment she’d met him, she’d thought she might actually enjoy herself on this date. That she might actually look forward to touching this man, to kissing him.

  For the first time in six months, Beth had thought maybe she’d finally found another man who could turn her on. And like an evil genie summoned by the thought, Jamie Donovan had popped back into her life, reminding her what it had been like with him.

  Yeah, she hadn’t had to wonder about whether sex with Jamie would be good. He’d turned her on just by feeding her dessert. The way he’d watched her, his gaze glued to her mouth as her lips parted. She’d wished—

  Davis put his hand over hers for a brief moment. “I’ll say goodbye to Faron, and then we’ll go.”

  “No. I’m sorry! I don’t want to cut the party short for you.”

  “No big deal. Come on. Let’s find Faron.”

  Davis took her hand again and led her through the packed room to the tiny woman standing at the edge of a large group of people. Beth wondered how tall she was without the perfectly round Afro, because even with it, she wasn’t bigger than five foot two. A skinny guy with long hair had his arm draped over her shoulder, a proprietary smile on his face. Faron wasn’t smiling when they walked up, but her sweet face broke into a grin when she saw Davis.

  She hugged Davis and then Beth before they said their goodbyes. Faron’s husband had taken a job in Santa Barbara, but no one wanted to see her go. Nobody seemed that broken up about her husband, though.

  “Ready?” Davis asked.

  “Yes,” Beth answered, realizing it was the most honest thing she’d said all night. As she walked through the door, she dared one look back, but Jamie was nowhere to be seen.

  The sharp cold of raindrops on her face startled her from her thoughts.

  “Run!” Davis said, tugging her along. Beth ran, and by the time they reached his car, she was laughing so hard with relief that she couldn’t draw a breath. Davis reached to open the door, then shut it behind her before dashing around to the other side.

&nb
sp; “My feet are soaked!” she gasped, stomping her heels against the carpet. “I think one of those puddles was more like a pond.”

  “Your everything is soaked,” he corrected. He touched her cheek, sliding a wet strand of hair toward her temple. A drop of icy water trickled down to her jaw, and then he leaned close and kissed her.

  Beth inhaled sharply and felt him smile against her mouth. When his lips brushed hers again, Beth told herself to relax, to enjoy it.

  And there was no reason she shouldn’t. He smelled good. His lips parted just enough to encourage hers to part, as well. And his hand was a sweet touch on her jaw. Beth sighed and refused to think about Jamie Donovan. He hadn’t wanted to see her any more than she had him.

  But then Davis pulled back and the kiss was over before she’d had a chance to make herself enjoy it.

  “I’m really glad Cairo introduced us,” he said softly.

  “Me, too.” And she was. When she wasn’t thinking about Jamie, she could imagine this man being her lover. She knew from experience that a first kiss said a lot about how a man would perform in bed. For example, that guy two years ago who’d immediately thrust his tongue down her throat…that had been his level of restraint and subtlety during sex, as well. Foreplay had been something along the lines of “Brace yourself, I’m coming in!”

  But Davis…he might be quite lovely.

  “I admit, though…” He started the car and glanced at her. “You weren’t quite what I was expecting.”

  Her warm thoughts froze. “What do you mean?”

  “Well, with the store and the advice column, and…you know. Cairo and the rest of her friends are…”

  Beth knew exactly where this was going. She smoothed a hand down her skirt and hid a resigned smile.

  “I just haven’t dated a woman with no tattoos in quite a while. You’re kind of a rarity here in Boulder.”

  She managed a genuine laugh at that. He was straightforward, at least. She turned her gaze on him and let it slide over his body. He was older than most of Cairo’s friends, and a little alternative without being sloppy. Dark jeans and an expensive-looking T-shirt under a tailored leather jacket. And though she could see the edges of a few tattoos peaking past his clothing, not even his ears were pierced. Though there were always hidden spots.

  “I get that a lot,” she finally said, offering him the same honesty he’d given her. “I’m not what anyone expects, I guess.” Even though she said it with a flirtatious smile, the words still squeezed her heart with a painful grip.

  “I don’t mind being surprised,” Davis answered.

  It was the right answer, and she liked him, but as he pulled away from the parking lot of the bar and turned toward Beth’s part of town, her heart sank. She wasn’t what he’d expected. She never was. And she could already see how this would end. He liked her well enough. He was intrigued by her. After all, she was the manager of the White Orchid, a high-end erotic boutique. She might look like any other professional businesswoman, but she spent her days selling sex toys and expensive lingerie. And she spent her evenings giving sex education classes and writing a new advice column as a sex expert.

  On the surface, she was fascinating. But underneath it all…

  Beth wrapped her hands tight around her purse and tried not to think. She always thought too much. The only time she’d ever been able to turn her brain off had been with…him.

  It had been easy to dismiss her thoughts of him on previous dates. She hadn’t been attracted to any of those men, so naturally, she’d thought of Jamie. But now he was haunting her good dates, too, and she was beginning to feel a little hopeless.

  “I’m glad I didn’t pick you up on the bike tonight,” Davis said. “Running through the rain is one thing, but it can be brutal on a bike.”

  She pictured Davis in his leather coat, leaning close against a motorcycle, her arms wrapped around his waist. The picture should leave her shivery. It would any other red-blooded woman.

  Davis pulled into her driveway and shut off the car to come around and open her door. He might have been raised by hipster Boulderites, but he had been taught the niceties of dating. There was nothing wrong with this man. And there was definitely nothing wrong with the way he kissed her once they were safe beneath the shelter of her patio. “You’re all wet again,” he murmured, his mouth sliding against the rain on her lips. Maybe she could be, if she let herself give in. So when his mouth urged hers to open, Beth touched her tongue to his. And what a nice tongue it was. Warm and slow against hers.

  Beth kissed him and thought of inviting him in. He tasted so good. He was tall and cute and, as far as she could tell, he’d look great naked. His hand touched her hip, his fingers spreading along her curves as he deepened the kiss.

  Yes, she could let him touch her. She’d enjoy it. And probably he’d enjoy it, too. But she wasn’t a girl with tattoos. And she had no hidden piercings. And despite what she wrote in her columns, the things she liked to do in bed were just as vanilla as everything else about her.

  So he’d enjoy it, but he’d also be secretly puzzled. They all were. Wasn’t the manager of an erotic boutique supposed to be…erotic? Wasn’t she supposed to be a little freaky in bed? Or even better…a lot freaky? Shouldn’t she be better than other women?

  Beth clenched her eyes shut and tried to turn off her brain, but it didn’t work. It never did. She was too aware. Aware of the way his fingers tightened a bit on her hip. He was getting into this. Getting aroused. And she was just…thinking. Again.

  She broke the kiss and drew in a deep breath. “Thank you, Davis. I really had a nice time.”

  His hand stayed on her hip. “Me, too.” He waited one heartbeat, then two, giving her a chance to invite him in.

  She couldn’t do it. Not tonight, with the thought of Jamie so close at hand. There was no doubt how it would turn out. She’d be thinking the whole time, comparing him to Jamie, comparing herself to who she’d been that night six months ago.

  She had to find that again, but it wasn’t going to happen tonight. Not with Davis. “Thanks,” she said again.

  His hand finally slid away and Davis stepped back, looking only slightly disappointed. “I’ll call you. Maybe we’ll dare more next time. Dinner?”

  “Maybe,” she said coyly, offering a quick kiss on his cheek before she escaped into her apartment.

  Beth set her purse on the table, then hung up her coat in the hall closet. Her apartment was so quiet and so palpably solitary, that she was already regretting sending Davis away as she walked to the kitchen to pour a glass of wine. She’d lied to him about that. One glass of beer hadn’t been enough. She should have had three, and then maybe she would have been brave enough to let him in. She could’ve tried to lose herself. It wasn’t impossible.

  It was in her somewhere, and it couldn’t just be about one man. Beth wouldn’t let it be.

  CHAPTER TWO

  BY THE NEXT DAY, BETH WAS thoroughly pissed at herself. One minute with him, one glimpse, one touch, and she couldn’t get the man out of her mind. And the worst part was, it was becoming more and more obvious to her that he’d been desperate to get her out of there. First, he’d edged her farther down the hall, then he’d jumped at the chance to say goodbye as quickly as possible.

  He was in a relationship. Which was fine. But what if he was married? What if he’d been married then?

  Her heart thumped so hard at the thought that she had to press her palm to her chest. That would explain everything, wouldn’t it?

  She tried to put it from her mind as she walked into the shop and waved to Cairo. She tried not to think about it as she unboxed the newest toys and put them on display. But as she unboxed the high-tech vibrator and showed Cairo how it plugged into an MP3 player to thump in time to one’s favorite music, Beth couldn’t stop the thoughts swarming through her head.

  “Cairo?”

  Cairo was busy scrolling through songs on her phone, trying to find something with just the right beat.
“Yeah?”

  “I was at Donovan Brothers last night and—”

  “Oh!” Cairo looked up with a big smile on her face. “I forgot to ask how your date went.”

  “My date?”

  “With Davis!”

  “Oh. Great!” Beth nodded with too much enthusiasm. “Yeah, it was wonderful!”

  Cairo’s brown eyes lit up. “Wonderful? Oh, yeah? Do I detect a little dirty morning-after tone to those words?”

  “You do not. But Davis was really nice.”

  “And hot, right?” Cairo pressed, smiling as if Beth was hiding something. “How’d you like that dragon tattoo on his stomach?”

  Beth raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t see his stomach, Cairo.”

  The girl laughed, her glossy black bob swinging forward to frame her pretty face. “I know. I already talked to him this morning.”

  “He called you?”

  “No, I saw him at yoga. Which is how I know about the dragon tattoo, and why I fixed you two up in the first place. If I didn’t have two men already, I’d hit that so hard he’d never recover.”

  Beth rolled her eyes. “It was a nice date. Though I’m not sure about a man who’d tell you whether he spent the night or not.”

  “He didn’t say anything about that, but I figured a guy wouldn’t need to show up for an 8:00 a.m. yoga class if he’d spent the night in your bed. Good sex is way more relaxing.”

  Well, that would be an interesting test of Beth’s abilities. Let Davis spend the night, then see if he went to yoga the next day.

  “By the way…” Cairo said with a familiar twinkle in her eye. “You really, really want to see that tattoo. It’s done by the best artist in Colorado. And it follows the muscles in his abdomen all the way past his waistband. His very low waistband. I’m pretty sure he waxes. Everything.”

  Beth must have winced.