Page 31 of Purrfectly Trapped

“Good enough,” he said, nodding and signaling for the waitress.

No one had ever said anything like that to Gretchen before. She watched him, frowning a little as he continued to glance over the selections. What was she supposed to do with this information? With the knowledge that this stunning specimen of man had just confessed to wanting her.

She closed her eyes for a second and took a fortifying breath. A levelheaded woman most of the time, she’d never been one to rush into things, but Gretchen already knew where this night was headed. She couldn’t wait. Wanting him was as natural as breathing, and she did, so very much.

He ordered a bunch of appetizers which they shared, then went for king-sized cuts of rare prime rib with au jus. He added creamed spinach and potatoes au gratin on the side, looking at her for confirmation. She simply nodded.

“This way we can share everything, if you like,” he said, and she just nodded in agreement.

Gretchen loved sharing food, but she was still reeling from his little speech. The man had rendered her mute with that lengthy confession.

“Did I make you uncomfortable? I am so sorry, I’m not the best speaker in the world,” he started, but she shook her head.

“It’s not that, it’s just no one ever said those things to me before.”

“Good,” he told her. “I’d hate to have to start a kill list on our first date,” he said teasing her some more.

“Yeah, that's second date stuff.”

After that, she felt relieved. Reg was surprisingly easy to talk to and she shared some of the day’s goings ons.

“I am so proud of you,” he said, and she felt her cheeks heat. “I am sorry if that sounds strange, but I can’t help it. You are one fierce woman, Gretchen Kaepernick. I mean moving and starting a business in the same week? Holy hell,shona, you blow me away.”

“Thank you,” she murmured, ridiculously pleased by his praise.

The food started to arrive, and their conversation lapsed as they ate, andoohedandaaaahedover the dishes. The shrimp cocktail and raw oysters were superb. By the time their entrees arrived, she was almost too full to eat.

Reg solved that problem by placing his fork at her mouth. He fed her a bite of this and that, and before she knew it, she’d tried everything.

At first, Gretchen chewed her food slowly and thoroughly, scared to death she was going to choke from her nerves alone. As the night progressed, she felt her anxiety lessen. Reg was gorgeous, but he was levelheaded and down to earth.

They talked about every subject from politics, and religion, to mundane chatter about reality TV and what books they liked to read. It seemed he preferred fiction, mainly horror, while she enjoyed biographies and the occasional gooey romance.

“You know, you’ve got a lot more to you than meets the eye, Reginald Cray.”

“Reginald? What happened to Reggie?”

“Reggie,” she replied, and scrunched her nose playfully.

After his very forward and panty-melting confession, she had to admit to having a little bit of trouble concentrating. Her senses were going haywire. Whenever he laughed at something she said, and each time she caught him staring at her, Gretchen’s pulse sped up like crazy.

After the waitress took their dishes, she came back with coffee and dessert. Gretchen shook her head. Really, she was so full, but Reg fed her a forkful of chocolate cheesecake dripping caramel sauce from his plate. Gretchen moaned in pleasure at the sinfully sweet taste.

“Wow, you look gorgeous when you eat cheesecake,shona,” he murmured.

“That’s a ridiculous thing to say,” she replied, opening her mouth for another bite.

Gretchen purposefully used her tongue to lick the fork clean and the smoldering look he gave her was reward enough for that. Reg moved closer to her, his big body touching hers, one arm around her back as he fed her another, then a third bite. She lifted her fork, giving him a taste, but he declined.

“I’d rather taste it from your lips,” he said, leaning down and brushing his mouth against hers.

Gretchen swooned then. Like really swooned. Reg’s big body pressed against hers as he groaned into her mouth. His lips, impossibly soft, moved against hers, until she moaned, giving him the opening he needed.

Then his tongue was there, pressing into her mouth, tasting every inch of the hot wet cavern, until Gretchen thought she was going to come from just a kiss alone. It was enough to make her panties damp and her pulse race.

Holy fuck.

There was no going back. She wanted him. Hell, more than that.

---