Page 12 of Sweet Temptation

I wandered forward, through the living room, watching, and the officer came with me; she put her hand on my arm, stopping me. The cops were fast, but the dog was faster. I watched as the man on the ground scrambled to his feet and tried to run.

For a split second, it felt like he looked right at me.

Then the dog tackled him against the sunroom wall. All I really saw of his face were the whites of his eyes, stricken with terror… But I recognized him.

I knew exactly who he was.

Chapter Three

Ronan

“It was nice meeting you,” I lied.

It was only polite.

The woman standing in front of me gazed up into my eyes, hers a little bleary from all the wine she’d drank and the late hour. It was well past three-thirty a.m., and I was definitely gonna regret this tomorrow.

I was meeting my trainer for a morning workout in like three hours.

“It was sooo nice meeting you,” she said, and as stone-cold sober as I was, I wondered if she was gonna puke later. She pulled her keys out of her purse, and I gauged her level of intoxication. She wasn’t wavering on her feet, and she wasn’t slurring. “Well, I guess I should say good night.” She smiled at me.

“Good night.”

Then she just stood there. Her gaze drifted down to my mouth, and her lips parted. She took a little breath and leaned in.

“Want me to get the door for you?”

That seemed to snap her out of it. “Oh. No, I’ll be fine.”

“Alright, then.”

Another awkward silence, as she seemed to be waiting for something. So, I offered her a handshake. She slipped her hand into mine.

Then she actually leaned in again.

“Take care,” I said, and released her so quick, she kinda stumbled back.

She hid her disappointment with a quick smile and went inside.

I sighed.

I waited until she was safely inside her house, then headed back to my car where my buddy Andre was, unfortunately, watching. He was reclined in the passenger seat, playing it cool. He’d put on Post Malone’s “rockstar” loudly enough to send the message that he was totally cool to hang out and wait, in case I wanted to duck inside the house for a quickie.

I’d given him a lift home, too. Seemed like the charitable thing to do, since he’d been drinking all night.

Maybe I’d also hoped his presence might kill any romantic notions this woman might’ve had about how the night was gonna end.

“Fuck off,” I said as I got into the car.

“Guy, I would laugh if that wasn’t so painful to watch.”

I started the car.

“She wanted a piece of that,” he informed me. “Bad.”

I backed us out of the woman’s driveway.

“I could wait,” he informed me. “No need to rush out of here on my account…” His words faded off as I shifted gears and we took off up the street. “Guess not. Dude, you are ice-cold.”

---