Page 40 of Dirty Discipline, Vol. 2

She'd spent the afternoon trying to remember the details of what he looked like. It was a shame she had been in such a panic when she'd met Sean because all she seemed to remember clearly were his sexy grey eyes that matched the wisps of greying hair contrasted against his dark hair that she found herself wanting to touch for some reason.

The other clear memory she had was the unexpected warm throb deep in her core that his touch had stirred.

It had been a long time since she'd felt the zing of attraction to a man and it had surprised her enough that she'd hastily agreed to go on a date with someone she barely knew. She suspected her brother wouldn't be happy, considering she knew next to nothing about Sean. Yet, she justified that a luxury hotel like The Royal Oak wouldn't have an axe murder or serial rapist as their general manager.

As she observed from afar, she got a better look at his broad shoulders filling out his sports jacket. He'd changed to a pair of casual jeans and taken off his tie, opening his dress shirt collar to allow a peek of his dark chest hair. She was a sucker for a man with a sexy five o'clock shadow on his strong jaw. Something must be wrong with her, because in that moment, stranger or not, her only thought was of how that scruffy beard would burn her cheek when they cuddled later.

I've been reading way too many romance novels. I barely know the guy. I only said yes to avoid going to the conference dinner tonight.

When he spied her waiting, his face lit up with a broad smile—the kind of smile that made her grateful she'd said yes.

Sean disengaged from the group he was conversing with and walked towards her. A case of nerves had her grounded to the spot. Traci didn't know what to expect, so she was happily surprised when he reached to take both her hands in his, leaning in to give her two European style kisses, one to each of her cheeks.

"There you are. I was hoping you weren't having second thoughts and ditching me."

"Are you kidding me? I'm really looking forward to tonight, although I did have a moment of panic when I realized that we've pretty much spent about ten minutes with each other to date. I think that has to be a new record for me."

Traci linked her hand through his offered crooked right arm. She could feel his well-toned forearm through his jacket. She had to focus to keep her mind from slipping into daydreams of how hard that muscular arm might deliver a spanking.

"Oh, I don't believe that for a minute. A beautiful lady like you must have guys throughout Denver falling all over themselves to ask you out."

Traci didn't try to contain her chuckle. "Not quite. And..." She hesitated, realizing she'd been less than honest with him earlier. "I grew up in Denver, but I moved a couple of years ago to a small town nearby Denver and Boulder. Let's just say there isn't a lot of dating material for me back home."

He glanced at her as they walked out into the sunshine. "Well, I guess this is my lucky day then. I thought I'd take you to my favorite restaurant out on Navy Pier. Do you like sushi?"

"I love it. Our town might be small, but we have a great sushi place. I haven't made it to the Ginger Paddle for a while."

"Interesting name for a sushi place. Sounds like they do it spicy."

Traci's heart raced, knowing there were many double meanings for a restaurant named the Ginger Paddle in Eagle’s Pass. "Yes, I'd say. They like it hot." She tried to hide her sly grin. "We're less than a mile from the pier. The weather is great. I thought we'd walk."

"Sounds good, although we may need to take a cab back if my feet start to hurt. I didn't bring shoes to be out walking far."

He glanced down to see her three-inch high sandals. "So you're not as tall as I thought you were. I had you pegged for 5'9", only a couple inches shorter than me."

"Nope. I'm only 5'6" barefoot. Not too tall. Not too short."

"I think you're just right." The smile on his face seemed genuine and it eased her fluttering nerves.

The summer evening sun was at their back as they turned down the tree-lined city street towards the lake. They sauntered along, easily sharing typical small talk and stopping to window shop along the way.

After stopping to admire the wares at their third shoe store, Sean observed, "I see you're a connoisseur of shoes. Some kind of fetish I should know about?"

The comment was flirtatious and Traci's tummy flip-flopped when he turned his grin on her. It'd been a long time since she'd had a man making her the center of his attention. "You caught me. My brother, Troy, says I have an obsession. I prefer to think of it as a healthy admiration."

"Well, as long as you don't have to take a second mortgage to pay for them, I'd say you're probably okay. You just have the one brother?"

"Yep. We're a small family, although he just got married about a month ago, so I'm excited to have a sister. Hallie likes shoes even more than I do, so I'm at least no longer the focus of Troy's shoe scorn."

She liked the sound of his chuckle. It was deep and rich. Traci's heart beat faster as Sean reached to take her hand in his as they resumed their stroll. It was such a simple thing to hold hands. It certainly wasn't her first time, yet she couldn't shake the feeling that today felt different. She told herself she's just been feeling so alone lately that she's reading more into it than she should.

I can't let myself even consider this is anything more than a casual dinner with a man I'll never see again.

Traci had learned her lesson well the year before. She'd never regretted anything more in her life than her one-night stand with Robert. Even a year later, she still had trouble looking herself in the mirror when she thought about her error in judgment. Since Sean lived in Chicago and she lived in Eagle’s Pass, she needed to remember this date wasn't going anywhere other than a possible steamy goodnight kiss.

"So, you didn't mention your folks."

Traci tried to keep her response lighter than she felt. "Troy and I lost them twelve years ago. I'd just graduated from high school. Their plane went down in Central America. They loved to do mission work at a clinic every few years. Troy and I had even gone down with them once a few years before."

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