Page 6 of One Night Only

A full-body flush overtakes me. At least, she isn’t holding my earlier behavior against me. “That’s a challenge if I’ve ever heard one, Ms. Rao. You’re provoking me into making an ass of myself once again.”

She laughs. It’s a deep, hearty sound that steals under my skin, into my sinew, taking residence deep in my heart. Her front two teeth overlap, but her smile is brighter than the domed lights hanging over us.

“You’re exquisite.” I breathe out, desire coating each word but unable to keep it out.

Fuck, what if she thinks I’m an old, perverted creep who preys on a young woman like her? How do I tell her I’ve never, ever, done this? Jesus, the lastdateI’ve been on was six years ago.

She meets my gaze. And there’s that thread of desire again in hers. “Thank you. You’re kind, especially given my current state.”

I follow her gaze down to the bodice of the sequin dress clinging to her tits. I want to run my palm over those scratchy things, feel her heart beating underneath. See how she reacts to my touch.

“I’m not kind at all.” I need to be honest with her from the get-go, my gut tells me. And I listen to it. “If anything, I’m being the opposite of kind.”

Her pert nose scrunches adorably. “Which is what?”

I tap the table with my knuckles, weighing how far I should go. Tension thrums through me as if I’m a tightrope walker at a carnival. I haven’t been this worried even when cutting into a patient in a long while. “Selfish, I guess.”

“Oh.” The color in her cheeks deepens. “Selfish how?” she says, as if she wants to make sure we’re on the same page.

“I’ll answer that if you allow me one question.”

Her gaze skids to my mouth for one infinitesimal second and jerks away. The smooth swells of her tits thrust up from the neckline as her chest rises and falls.

“The man you dressed up for… why isn’t he checking up on you?” I try to clear my voice of judgment. And fail, badly. “There’s a storm brewing outside, and it’s late.”

“He texted me earlier. I told him to leave me alone.” She stares at her phone, flicking the screen on and off.

I stay silent, aware of the fact that she’s weighing how much to tell me, how much to trust the connection that crackles between us.

My stomach rolls as she looks up, decision made. “He and I have been wrong together from the beginning.”

Relief floods me in powerful waves. I hide my shaking hands in my lap. She sounds sad about it, like she should have recognized it sooner. But not heartbroken.

I can work with that.

Picking up her phone, she softly slams it face down. Her chin lifts, and I can clock the exact moment she decides to pursue this.To pursue me.“I answered your question.” When I stay silent, she prompts, “How are you being selfish?”

As if I need the reminder.

“I want to spend the night getting to know you. In fact, I want to take you back to my hotel suite.”

Her eyes glitter with dawning understanding. To give her credit, she’s not surprised, nor does she fake it to play coy. I like her even better for that.

She simply holds my gaze. As if she understands the heaviness of the moment, of the very air around us.

“I said no excuses,” I say, shaking my head ruefully. “And I hate that whole ‘boys pull girls’ braids because they like them’ bullshit. But I was thrown by my physical reaction to you. Then, to discover that you’re the one Mom praises endlessly, the one I trust implicitly, was a shock. Of the ‘shake the foundations of my life’ kind.”

She gives me her full attention, and that makes me take another step.

“This might sound completely nuts, but I feel like we’re already in a relationship, Ms. Rao. But we’re doing things out of order, and the meet-cute is the only thing left.”

Her eyes widen, and she grins. “You know what a meet-cute is.”

I chuckle. “I’m forty-three, not decrepit. And my son’s a closet romance reader.”

“Jonah?” she says, sounding delighted by the concept.

I nod. “It felt like I was losing you before realizing I could have you. Why I acted so rudely.” The words come pouring out of me. “I have never asked a woman to come home with me like this. Not even during my college days.”

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