Page 3 of Savage Seduction

“Let me get that for you.” Ben gets up and begins picking up everything that has slid past my table.

I shove everything I can back into the satchel and hold out my hand for the rest of it. Ben passes it to me but stops, his head cocked to the side. “Maximo Ulysses Salgado? Now that’s a mouthful.” He arches his eyebrows.

I laugh and take the license from him and shove it back into my wallet. I feel myself blush. No matter how many times my friends tell me to downsize the satchel before it throws my back out, I’ve never taken the time. “I carry my whole life in here these days.” I hold it up and shake it, the contents settling deeper inside the soft leather bag. “Too bad it wasn’t full of money.”

“That’d be a great problem to have, huh?”

I nod. “As for my name, it’s a family thing. My grandmother sounded like a queen every time she said her full name. Poor thing had to take a breath when she tried to say it all at once. God rest her soul.”

“I’m sorry. You must have been pretty close,” he says.

I nod. “We really were.” I go back to my seat, as does Ben. “Your turn.”

He smiles. “For what?”

“As important as I’m sure you are, Ben isn’t likely your only name. Let’s face it; Madonna, Cher, and Prince would be rare company to keep.”

“Benjamin Franklin Cooper.”

“Franklin? Wow, your parents are awesome.”

Ben blushes and looks away.Max, not everyone gets your humor. Be cool.

Ben gazes around the restaurant and shrugs. “I pass this place all the time and it always looks so good.” He looks at the stain on his shirt. “You know, in a laundry-emergency kind of way.” His charming smile and ability to take a ribbing and keep going draw me in further.

Now fully interested, I cock my head to the side and eye him a bit more. His hands are strong but clean. No crow’s feet, probably thirty, thirty-two tops. A diamond-shaped birthmark on the back of his right hand and a pencil eraser-sized beauty mark peeking out from his collar, the only visible blemishes in sight. “What made you decide to stop in tonight?” I ask, stealing a glance at his naked ring finger.

“I’m not sure,” Ben says, but he glances quickly up and catches my eye for a fleeting moment. Heat rises to my cheeks—could this guy be gay too?

“Were you headed home from work?”

He nods. “I work at the county hospital.”

“Doctor?”

“Yep. ER. You’d be surprised at the stuff I see coming through that door on a full moon.”

“That’s tonight, isn’t it?”

“Sure is.” He runs his fingers through his thick crop of hair before rubbing the back of his neck. He sighs, clearly exhausted.

“Yeah, full moon nights are crazy,” I say quietly. I find myself touching my abdomen over my black t-shirt, the raised scar tissue running from just below my left pec to two inches below my belly button. “Unpredictable.”

“Well,” Ben says, “I guess I stopped here to be a little more unpredictable myself.”

A silence settles over us, but there is nothing awkward about it. A few moments pass before Ben peeks under the napkin. “I don’t think I’m going to eat the rest.”

I look at my own plate and push it away. “Me neither.”

“Speaking of trying to be more unpredictable,” Ben says, “would you want to get out of here? Maybe we could go somewhere less…” He pushes the napkin down on the burrito and smiles as the grease soaks it, then looks up at me and grins.

Holy crap. Am I ready for this? I haven’t been on a date since I left the police force. Plus, I’m headed to work. Should I encourage him, maybe exchange numbers—or is it still too soon?

A screech of tires.

Ben spins toward the street-side window and his eyes widen.

A large, dark blue, four-door sedan slides sideways trying to avoid the collision, but the black SUV plows through the red light anyway. The sedan jumps the curb and slams sidelong into the light pole. Pedestrians scream as black smoke begins pouring out from under the hood, threatening to ignite.

---