Page 28 of Cognac Secrets

I handed the phone to Sandrine after letting my eyes linger on the photo for a moment.

“Oh, wow,” she said, high spots of color forming on her cheeks. “I guess I should be flattered to be mistaken for someone as pretty as her.”

I cocked my head and regarded her, but the more her eyes lingered on Mia’s photo, the more she almost looked… embarrassed.

Not embarrassed… insecure, you idiot.

“You’re beautiful, too,” I said and then I took my phone back and hid behind the menu for a minute, internally cursing myself out for being such an awkward dumbass.

She stared at me a minute. I could feel her gaze intently on me, and I felt myself turn red. By the time I felt her scrutiny fade, our waiter had returned to take our orders. She ordered the cheapest thing on the menu and I stopped him.

“Are you ordering that because it’s what you want or because it’s the cheapest thing on the menu?” I asked her.

She blushed and muttered, “Busted.”

“Get what you want, Sandy.”

She sighed and looked over the menu and said, “The stuffed crab, please,” and handed the menu over.

“Good choice,” the waiter said and I ordered the same, because itwasa good choice.

He fucked off back in the direction of the kitchen and it was just me and her.

“I mean it,” I said. “You’re beautiful in your own right.”

She laughed a little uncomfortably and tried to make a joke, saying, “You trying to get into my pants?”

“Definitely wouldn’t mind it,” I said honestly. “I don’t know that I’m good if you’re looking for a boyfriend, but if you’re looking for a good time and not for a long time? Yeah. For sure. Count me in.”

She stared at me in wide-eyed silence for a full minute, mouth slightly agape in a way that I found incredibly sexy. I stared back, waiting her out and she didn’t disappoint. Her mouth open, she stared right back at me and asked, “Like a friend-with-benefits situation?”

She swallowed and she looked… scared.

“Why you say it like that?” I asked.

She looked away, her eyes sliding off to anywhere else in the room but me for a few moments while she collected her thoughts.

“I’m not sure what you mean,” she lied, and I smirked. She was trying like hell to buy herself some time.

“Like you want it but it scares the hell out of you,” I said.

Her gaze flicked right back to mine.

“Because it does,” she said.

I cocked my head.

“Why?”

She stared at me, and finally broke when I raised my eyebrows expectantly.

She let out a harsh breath and said, “I want it, but I’m tired of being used just for sex. Guys just want benefits and conveniently forget all about the friends’ part once they start getting their dick wet. It…” she cleared her throat. “It hurts my feelings, and I don’t like it.”

“Shit yeah, I wouldn’t like it either,” I said.

She looked at me.

“Really?”

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