Page 33 of The Spy Ring

“No. I guess I’ll take the check,” I grumbled and made a mental note to punch Greg if I ever see him walking down the street.

After the waiter left, I leaned back in my chair and I wondered if I had been spoiled with men. I met my husband in college; John wasn’t perfect but he was a good man—a wonderful and amazing dad, which was all that mattered.

I remember once I threatened divorce if he didn’t pick up his socks and put them in the hamper. But those were superficial problems. He was incredible where it counted, with his heart.

“The bill has been paid, ma’am,” the waiter said upon returning.

“It has? By whom?”

Maybe Greg redeemed himself a little by paying the bill before he ran off.

“The gentleman at the bar.” He pointed to the long bar that hugged the front of the restaurant.

When I gazed over, there was a fluttering in my heart. My hand cupped my chest, trying to push back the exhilaration. It was just a man after all. Someone I knew, but not a person that I should be having that reaction toward despite his simmering stare.

He stood, his eyes shone and homed in on me as he moved closer.

“Jagger. Thank you for dinner,” I said and only just noticed the waiter had left.

I thought it odd that I hadn’t even realized he was gone. My surprise at discovering Jagger here and staring too long at his hips as he walked over to me must have made me forget there were other people in the room.

“I felt obligated,” Jagger said as he pointed to Greg’s abandoned chair.

I nodded and he took a seat. He looked good, but Jagger always seemed to be wearing something that caught my eye. Tonight, it was a dark navy suit, and it fit him perfectly.

“For what?”

“For the show. I have to admit when I came here tonight to have a drink at the bar, I never expected there would be a comedy show.” The corner of his mouth ticked up.

I gasped and was about to let him have it but when I opened my mouth, laughter spilled out. And the more I laughed, the more his green eyes sparkled. Which finally killed my merriment, replacing it with a meandering heat that settled between my legs.

“I suppose you’re right. The mother and son show was ridiculous. That’s the last time I use the dating app Morgana suggested. I don’t care if it was, as she put it, ‘scary accurate’ when she used it.” I gave another chuckle.

“No, those apps can’t be trusted. In fact,” Jagger leaned closer, lowering his voice, “most men can’t be trusted.”

I angled near so his warm breath slipped down my neck causing my turquoise blouse to flutter around my chest. “Can you?”

His stare fell to my lips, and the ambient noise of the room dimmed to the point I wondered if we had floated away. It took a few moments but Jagger finally answered my question, “No.”

A shiver sparked by the heat of his breath and the chill of his voice ran down my body.

I watched him study me, perhaps memorizing my nose, my cheeks, and my lips. Knowing it was wiser and by his admittance, safer, to have pulled away but I didn’t.

There was something in him that seemed to heave open a door I bolted shut a long time ago. And I was having a terrible time trying to close it again.

“Then you’ll hurt me?” I asked. The anticipation of his answer had me wetting my lips with my tongue.

Jagger scooted forward so his cheek was only an inch away. His body heat became mine. When he tilted his head, I felt the scrape of his stubble.

“I would never hurt you, Tiffany. There are many things I dream of doing to you but nothing that would ever cause you pain.”

His breath was sharp, laced with whiskey, and when he pulled back just enough his lips hovered over mine. If I gasped or shuddered or did anything that caused my head to shift, I knew his lips would be on mine.

There was a tickle in the back of my chest that grew with each passing second. That itch turned into something I knew no amount of clawing from my fingers would appease. Having spent so much time alone and reading every article ever written on love, relationships, and dating, or at least it felt like every article, I understood what that thing in my chest meant. And how much it took to satisfy.

It made me uneasy to stare at his lips knowing they were the cure.

It’s with that thought I got up.

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