Page 49 of Hooked
“I think we better…” She let out a breath. “Wow, you are really good at that.”
Jeremy stood straight, gripped her waist, and spun her around. “Mm-hmm.” With his hands still on her waist, he urged her up to sit on the edge of the desk, then he stepped between her legs.
“We really shouldn’t—”
His kiss stopped her words. Jeremy played his tongue along the seam of her mouth until her lips opened and she tasted him. His strong hands gripped her hips, digging into the soft curves. Tayla was about to throw caution and all professional prospects with the Baylors out the window when Jeremy stepped back, licked his lips, and gave her a little smile.
“I couldn’t pass up the chance. You in this dress. The music.” He looked around. “The atmosphere…”
“Agreed.” She was breathless when she hopped off the desk. “But we now only have thirty-five minutes to solve this case, Mr. Allen.”
“Then we better get to work.”
Tayla’s stomachhurt from laughing. “No, you’re the one who spent like five minutes telling me the tissue box was a clue!”
“I’m just saying…” He shook his head and took another sip of his manhattan. “The pattern on the box was deceptive. It definitely looked like it meant something. Besides, you’re the one who insisted we had to look for a manual to tie a half-Windsor knot. You kept interrupting me. I had to just tie it and dangle it in front of your face.”
“Not every man would know how to do that.”
“Well, this one does.”
She sipped her martini. “I think you let me look in the file cabinet longer than I needed to.”
“You were bent over in that dress.” He leaned to the side to sneak a peek at her backside. “The view was too good for me to spoil it.”
She set her glass down. “We’ll get it next time.”
“It won’t be as fun though because we know most of the puzzles. We only missed it by a few minutes.”
“And if you hadn’t kept trying to convince me to join you on the sofa, we would have solved it.”
He shrugged. “I have no regrets.”
The words hit her with unexpected force.
No regrets.
No regrets for the time they were spending together. No regrets for the kisses they shared. Or the laughter. Or the chemistry.
No regrets.
She swallowed hard and played with her dessert spoon. “Did you get enough to eat?”
Jeremy stretched back and spread his arms. It truly was an impressive sight. “Plenty. PJ’s was the perfect end to the night.”
They’d left the escape room laughing, having not solved the murder of Detective Frank Cartwright but having had a blast solving the myriad puzzles and codes the escape room presented.
Jeff, their teenage chauffeur, drove them to PJ’s, a restaurant in the basement of the old courthouse on Main. It had an art deco theme and mixed great cocktails that it paired with small plates. Marinated short ribs with mushrooms, gourmet mac and cheese, wedge salads with green goddess dressing. The whole restaurant had a vintage feel with a beautifully restored bar.
They sipped cocktails, ate delicious food, and shared stories. Jeremy told her tales about living in LA for college, fresh from a small town, and Tayla horrified him with the worst of her prep school antics.
“The only positive aspect I can see for going to a Catholic prep school is the uniforms on the girls,” he said. “My teenage self would have had more than a few dreams about that.”
“But not your adult self, right?”
Jeremy nearly spit out his drink. He swallowed while shaking his head. “So over it. Very, very over it.” He narrowed his eyes. “Are there guys…?”
“Oh yeah. When I was living in San Francisco, if I told guys I’d gone to Saint Francis Prep, so many of them asked if I still had my uniform.” She shook her head. “As if. So weird.”
