Page 25 of Love Bites
He just strode into the club and took a seat at the bar, chatting with a red-headed guy who'd come in along with him.
I was glad I wasn't holding anything, because I would have dropped it.
How could he be here?
How could he bereal?
At the same time as I was wondering this, though, meeting this man here seemed perfectly rational in a way I couldn't explain. Of course I hadn't made him up. That was what my subconscious had been trying to tell me all along, wasn't it?
Without thinking any more, I jumped up and made my way to the bar. Whoever this man was, he had to have some of the answers I was looking for.
And he's just as hot in real life as he is in your dreams.I chided myself for that thought. This was not the time to let my dick dictate my actions. Still, I was secretly glad that I'd gone through the effort to make myself look presentable before coming here. My eyes might not have glittered but the rest of me sure did.
He didn't seem to acknowledge my presence, though, even as I slid into the seat next to him. His attention was solely on the man who'd come in with him. Who was that? His boyfriend? I glared at the strange red-head, even though he wasn't looking my way. I just couldn't help but measure myself against him. I wasat leastas handsome as the red-head. Actually, the red-head was a little pale, so I definitely won. But then, the man of my dreams was also a little pale, only on him, the skin tone didn't look sickly, just...refined.I couldn't say why. He just had that air of importance about him.
"Hey," I said, trying to gain the attention of the scarred man. I made to poke him too, but stopped just short of touching him, because that would have been rude. I didn't know why I'd had that impulse in the first place.
Slowly, he turned to me. His eyes were cold. Like, really cold. Okay, this had been a bad idea. Before I could draw away, though, something in me rebelled. I didn't deserve to be treated this way. I hadn't done anything wrong.
And I looked a hell of a lot better than that red-head he'd been so enraptured with. "What?" I demanded. "Am I not hot enough for you or something?"
Yes, that was an incredibly stupid thing to say, but it actually worked. At least, in a way. The stranger's mask cracked and his expression thawed. It didn't last long, but he smiled. "I promise you that's not the issue at all." His eyes traveled down my body and I shivered.
I didn't know what to make of this guy, but I wasn't going to let him think that he'd turned me speechless. "What's the issue then?" I asked.
"It's simply that I'm not interested in any sort of affair right now. Also, I'm here with someone." He gestured at the other man, who promptly waved him off.
"Oh, don't let me stop you." The red-head grinned, and I suddenly liked him a whole lot better because he vacated his seat and vanished into the crowd of dancers on the floor.
I focused my attention back on the handsome man with the scars. "It's not like I talked to you because I wanted to hook up," I said, trying to convince myself just as much as I was trying to convince him.
Who was I kidding?
If this man gave any indication that he wanted to get in my pants I would have dropped them in an instant. In fact, I was already half-hard just from that assessing look he'd given me. It took a lot of effort for me not to fidget or adjust myself, but I didn't want to look any more ridiculous. I wanted to be taken seriously, damn it.
I sat up straight. "Where have we met before?"
The stranger raised an eyebrow at me. "You can stop trying pick-up lines on me, they're not going to work."
"It's not a pick-up line," I insisted, doing my best not to scowl like a toddler. "I know that we've met before." I'd been dreaming about him after all, and those dreams couldn't have come out of nowhere. That wasn't something I really wanted to tell him, though. Especially because it didn't make any sense. I knew him, but I didn't know his name? The harder I thought about it, the more my head hurt.
The stranger took a sip of his drink—red wine—and then regarded me with an expression of mild curiosity. "How do you come to that conclusion?"
"I remember you." That was a lie, but it had the desired effect. The stranger studied me more closely, his eyes narrowing.
"If that's so, then what's my name?"
He had me there. I resisted the urge to scratch my head.
Iknewhim. I did! His name was on the tip of my tongue.
But it wouldn't pass my lips.
"That's what I thought," the nameless stranger said.
"It starts with an R," I said quickly, both because I didn't want to lose this argument and because I was fairly sure that I was right. "It's Ron or Rory or Rodrick or..." I paused, examining him again. I had seen this face before, and I'd heard the name that went along with it. "It's Robert! You're Robert." Finally, I had it! I could tell by the way his mouth opened in surprised. He hadn't expected me to say that.
"That's not my name," he claimed, but I knew that he was full of shit. Before I could complain, though, he added, "At least, I haven't gone by that name for a very long time."
