Remembrance: A Contemporary Erotic Romance (Iris Series Book 4) (8 page)

“I thought all guys had sex with women they went out with.”  Thinking of him having sex with Vanessa made her physically ill.

“I’m sure a lot of men do.  Do you have sex with every man you go out with?”  Luke continued.  He took the last bite of his food and leaned back in his chair, still chewing and watching her.  Once he swallowed, he said, “Do all
women
have sex with men they go out with?  Because theoretically, if all guys have sex with the women they go out with, doesn’t that mean all women do too?”

Janie just smiled at him.

“
Do
all women have sex with the men they go out with?” he asked again.

“I’m sure a lot of them do,” she repeated his words back to him, still smiling, knowing that he was going to try to get her to answer his previously asked question from the limo.

“Do
you
?” he asked quietly, his eyes gleaming.

She leaned back in her own chair and crossed her arms.  “You already said I was a lady.  And a lady doesn’t kiss and tell.”

He waited, making her squirm with his look.  “Why did you and Detective Gonzalez break up?”

“Fernandez,” she said, exasperated.  The corner of his mouth lifted and he shrugged.  “And I already told you why.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“I said it wasn’t a love connection.”

“That’s the only reason why?”

“Yes, Luke.  Stop reading into things.”

“Did you have sex with him?”

“Whoa there, Daniels.  That’s none of your business.”  She started to fidget.

“I’m curious.”  He continued looking at her.  Waiting.

“Well, you can just keep on being curious.  That doesn’t mean it’s any of your business.”

“I can’t imagine that he’d let you go so easily if you’d had sex with him.”

“Wow, you’ve really overrated my skills in the bedroom,” she said, throwing him a flirty smile.  He continued staring at her as if thinking.  She frowned trying to understand what it meant.  “What the hell are you thinking?”

He shrugged again.  “You’re too much of a good thing.  So either you two had sex, he screwed up in some way and then you ended it, or,” he paused, “your relationship didn’t reach the ultimate physical expression of your attraction for each other.” 

Holy shit.  How did his brain even figure this stuff out?

“And even though I wouldn’t put it past him to have screwed up, I would like to think my second guess is the truth rather than my first guess.”  He crossed his arms and waited.

She barked out a laugh.  The guy was
really something. 

“You’d rather believe I didn’t have sex with him?” she smiled.  “Why?”

“I didn’t like him.”

“Obviously.  Why?”

He looked off to the side, then looked back at her.  “He was a player.”

Luke was right.  Detective Fernandez was definitely a player.  But she knew that when he’d first asked her out.  She also knew the detective had been a little surprised that she hadn’t had sex with him, but given the fact that he worked with her older brother, her
much bigger
older brother, he’d let it end and they’d both gone their separate ways.

“That he was.  But some would probably say you’re a player,” she said cutely.  “Would you discourage me from dating someone like you?”

“I’m not a player.”  He continued watching her, ignoring her question.

“No?”

“Uh, uh,” he said, shaking his head.  “A player sleeps around, doesn’t necessarily care that he’s balancing multiple women at once.  He lies, cheats.  I am most certainly not a player.”  He leaned forward placing his forearms on the table so he was closer to her.  “I have the utmost love and respect for women, I don’t lie or cheat,” he said then shifted forward more, “and I prefer one woman.”

She was breathing deeply, mesmerized by his words and the conversation.  They’d never spoken so intimately before.  He was with Vanessa.  One woman.  She didn’t stand a chance against Vanessa.

“Vanessa’s your one woman,” she said quietly.

He blinked then frowned, finally leaning back into his chair.  “Janie, Vanessa and I –”

“Never mind,” she said waving her hand.  All of the sudden, hearing him talk about Vanessa made her want to cry.

“Wait.  Let me –” he began.

“No, never mind.  I don’t want to talk about Vanessa.  So, answer my question.”

He looked confused then remembered what she’d asked.  He looked her in the eye, looked away, then back again as if struggling. 

“Do you remember the question?” she prompted.

He nodded and she waited. 

He finally spoke.  “Did you have sex with Fernandez?”

Oh, so this was how he was going to play it?  Quid pro quo.  She wanted his answer so it looked like she would answer his question, but it didn’t go unnoticed by her that he’d finally gotten Fernandez’s name right.

“No, I didn’t have sex with Fernandez.”  She looked at him dryly, as if to say,
Your turn
.

He beamed at her answer.  “Good.”  He crossed his arms over his chest, nailing her with his look.  “And the answer to your question is I would definitely encourage you to date a man like me.”

The two of them stared into each other’s eyes, the moments passing until finally she dug deep for all of the courage she could muster.

“Well then.  I want you to introduce me to men like you at the party.  This way, it will get you off my back about my choice in men and then I’ll be guaranteed a ‘one woman’ man who respects me and isn’t a liar or a cheat.  How does that sound?”

He looked stumped for a second then he smiled, his wheels turning.  “I don’t know how easy it’ll be to find a man who can compare to me,” he said with a cocky glint in his eye.  “I mean, we only discussed the reasons why I wasn’t a player.  We didn’t discuss the
other
reasons why I’m such a chick magnet.  And I’m not about to ask guys how they are in the sack.”

She laughed at that and felt her sex clench at the thought of him in the sack.  She continued with her courageous flirtations.  Time to go for broke.  “Well, the only other option then is for me to date
you
, so it looks like you’re going to
have
to start asking guys how they are in the sack.”  Her voice turned husky and she leaned forward.  “Because I want him to be good, Luke.  Someone who fulfills my fantasies, who knows his way around a woman’s body.”  She leaned in closer and dropped her voice to an even more sexual tone.  “Someone who can make me scream.  And who can make my toes curl.”  She gave him a heated look and bit her lower lip.

He slammed his eyes into hers with his own heated look, and three seconds passed in silence until he let out a long string of words in Spanish.  She had no idea what he’d said, but he didn’t look happy.

“Janie,” he growled and looked around before returning his eyes to her.  “
Cristo
, not only do you need a protector, you need someone to keep that mouth of yours in line.”  He ran his hand down his face then lifted it to get the waitress.  “I’ve been telling you forever your mouth was going to get you into trouble.”  He turned to glare at her then pointed at her with his finger, “Don’t talk to men like that.  Do you always talk to men like this?”  He let out another string of curses in Spanish.

She giggled and shrugged.  This was fun.  “I’m not talking to all
men like that.  Besides, it’s just you.”  She waited for his reaction.

“Newsflash, Janie.  I’m a
man
,” he nearly yelled.  A couple of people looked over at them then continued with their meals.  The waitress came over.  “We’re ready for the check, please,” he said to her.

“Of course.  How was everything today?” she asked, digging for the bill. 

“Great.  It was fine, thank you.”  He pulled out some money and said, “Keep the change.”  He got up and pulled Janie up from her chair before she even knew what was happening.

“I can pay for myself –”

“Don’t talk.  You’ve said enough.”  He pulled her along but even though his hold was gentle, his stride told her he wasn’t in the mood to wait. 

Not wanting to make a scene, she kept up with him as they headed
out the door where the same photographer lying in wait got off a couple more shots with his camera.  Kenneth took one look at Luke’s face and immediately opened the car door for them.  She heard Luke muttering under his breath, “Not all men, she says. Fuck.”

“Kenneth,” Janie said to the driver when they approached, “your boss is an absolute clod.”

“Janie, I swear,” Luke whispered, completely annoyed.  “Get in the damn car.  Right now.”

“Hey,” she said indignantly.  “Just because you can’t have an adult conversation –”

He practically threw her into the limo while she rolled her eyes at Kenneth.  The poor guy looked like he had no idea what to do.  She scooted into the back seat and Luke followed in right behind her.  The door closed behind him and he looked to make sure the privacy screen was up first before lighting into her.

“You shouldn’t be talking to
any
men like that.  Do you even know what you’re doing to a guy’s head,
both
heads, when you say things like that?”  He muttered again, “Of course you do.”

She began to interrupt him but he stopped her with a pointed look just as the limo started moving into traffic. 

“And I’m perfectly capable of having very adult conversations, Janie,” he said, his voice dangerously calm and low. “In fact, any time you want to sit down and hear the ways I can make a woman scream, I’m happy to give you the details –”

Holy.  Fucking.  Shit. 
 

“– I’m just not g
oing to have that very private conversation with you in the middle of a restaurant.” 

Seconds ticked by and their eyes battled with each other.  She knew her face was flushed and her eyes were glazed over with desire.  His own pinned her to the seat while the silence dragged on.  All she could think was,
Please tell me in vivid detail how you’d make me scream.  I’m begging you. 

She decided to call his bluff.

“Okay.  We’re not in the restaurant at the moment,” she said pointedly.  “Why don’t you tell me right now?  How do you make a woman scream?”  Her eyes glowed while she waited.  “Although, maybe we shouldn’t.  You did just tell me that a man can’t handle these conversations.”

He ran his tongue over his teeth then let a smug grin form slowly on his lips.  Shifting slightly and placing his arm casually on the back of her seat, his fingers could just touch her hair.  “You’d like that?  Me telling you in detail how I pleasure a woman?” he murmured with challenge.

She stilled then caught herself.  Trying to appear nonchalant, she nodded and bit her lip. 
Holyshitholyshitholyshit.
  It felt as hot as a sauna in the car, but she didn’t dare move for fear he wouldn’t continue.

He seemed to be thinking about how to respond.  “Well, it’s a good thing you know how to use that fire extinguisher you bragged so much about before,” he paused and touched a curl resting on her shoulder, “because you might have to use it on yourself.”  He made a show of looking around the limo.  “We don’t happen to have one in the car, Janie.  Are you sure you can handle it?  You might overheat.”

She chuckled deeply, thoroughly enjoying this.  “Oh, I know I can handle it.  The question is, can you?  You seemed to get pretty worked up when I simply stated what I wanted in a sexual partner.  I mean if you didn’t want people to know what we were talking about you shouldn’t have yelled about being a ‘man.’  Causing a scene,” she tsked, shaking her head.

He touched his finger to her bottom lip, only to remove it almost immediately.  His eyes, however, were still glued there.  “That mouth of yours,” he said, his eyes moving to hers, “is trouble.”

She shot one eyebrow up at his comment and bit her lip which was still tingling from his finger there.  “You have no idea,” she purred.

That innuendo seemed to push him over the edge because he continued watching her, then spoke.  “I’d start by taking off her clothes.  Her top first, so I can look at her, touch her breasts.  I’m definitely a breast man,” he murmured, looking her in the eye.

Oh dear Lord.
  He was really going to do this.  For some reason, she thought he wouldn’t go through with it.  Her breathing accelerated while she focused on his mouth as he spoke.
He was a breast man?

“Well, if I’m go
ing to be honest,” he said thoughtfully, almost playfully, “I’d probably tear the top off, followed by each article of clothing at a time.”  His finger picked up one of her curls and rubbed it.  “Then I’d push my hands up into her hair, pull it a little, angle her head just where it was perfect for me,” he murmured slowly.  “I’d lean down and take her bottom lip between my teeth and suck.”

She subconsciously licked her lips.  Her nipples burned and tingled.  The delicious throbbing between her legs made her adjust herself slightly in the seat.  She wanted to touch herself so badly.  But instead, she stayed focused on his mouth.