Page 29 of One Christmas Eve
Obviously, he’d been wrong, but now he’d have the chance to make it right.
He might not have the skills to compete with a romance novel hero when it came to pleasing a woman with his mouth, but it was going to be his great pleasure to try.
Chapter Nine
“You know you’re living large when there’s a separate wine list,” Zoe said, glancing at her incredibly sexy date over the top of the sheet mounted on a fancy cardboard backing.
Preston chuckled. “I can’t focus on wine lists with you in that dress in front of me.”
She practically melted under the intensity of his gaze. When he’d suggested they go to the fancy steak place in the city Noah had raved about, she’d gone through her closet and finally settled on a simple black jersey dress that hugged her body before flaring out from her hips, and it had a deep vee neckline that even she knew made her breasts look incredible. She’d obviously chosen well.
As had her dining companion. While she hadn’t given him the satisfaction of a reaction, the first thing she noticed when Preston pulled up to the curb in front of her building and got out to open her door was the mistletoe tie.
“And I’m having trouble concentrating on the wine list when you have that book set on the table,” she said, nodding at the plain and obviously very old hardcover book he’d brought into the restaurant with him and set next to his silverware. The binding was blue fabric, very tattered and had faint words stamped on it that she couldn’t read from her seat.
Maybe if she got him talking about the book, he wouldn’t notice her practically squirming in her chair every time she looked at him and that damn tie caught her attention.
“In good time.” He gave her that naughty smile that turned her on—as if she needed to be any moreontonight—and then turned his attention to the approaching server.
After a brief discussion, Preston ordered them a bottle of red wine and they chose salads to start with. He waited until they each had a glass and she’d taken her first sip before picking up the book.
“Some of my books are still boxed up and by the time I found this one, it was too late to do anything about the fact I don’t have any sticky notes at home.”
“You don’t have sticky notes?” She had sticky notes stashed everywhere. She was pretty sure there was a pad of them in the center console of her car, even.
“Not at home, but I found a small box of book darts, so the page is marked.” He handed her the book and then took a sip of his wine, watching her over the rim of the glass.
She turned the book to read the faded script on the spine.The Gentleman’s Guide to Golf.“Do you play golf?”
“No.” He laughed. “Well, I can, but really badly. That was my grandfather’s book.”
The old fabric suddenly felt more fragile in her hand, and she was careful as she parted the covers and found the book dart. It was marking a page toward the front and she gave him a questioning look, which got nothing but a smile in response, before opening the book. The dart was marking an introductory line set apart at the beginning of a chapter.
Success can be achieved through frequent and diligent application of skills, but true mastery lies in the gentleman’s enthusiastic passion for the endeavor.
Confused, she read the line again before looking up at him. “I don’t understand.”
His smile was now bordering on smug, and then he chuckled. “If you communicate with me by way of a book, it seems fair to respond in kind.”
It took her a few more seconds to understand what he was saying—what the message meant—and then heat flooded her body.
The last passage she’d marked in a book for him had been the rather graphic and extensive oral sex scene, with the note letting him know it was the thing that had ended her marriage. Not oral sex, of course. But the way Ben had made her feel when she asked him to try it, and the knowledge she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life censoring herself to avoid being shamed by him.
It didn’t appear Preston shared her ex-husband’s sentiments when it came to going down on a woman.
“Enthusiastic passion,” she read aloud, her voice slightly choked.
“I’m very enthusiastic when it comes to you, Zoe.”
Good lord, she was going to burst into flames right here in the restaurant and she hadn’t even ordered her steak yet. “You know, you haven’t seen my apartment yet.”
“I’ve noticed. We always end up at my place, despite your apartment being above both of our businesses.”
“I’m very protective of my personal space.”
“Maybe I’ll get lucky and you’ll invite me up for...a drink or something.”
Definitelyor something.She set the book carefully on the table and reached over to hold his hand. “I’m pretty much a sure thing.”
