Page 24 of Every Bit As Perfect
I sighed.My foolish, romantic heart seemed to have missed the memo from my brain.I huffed out a breath.I needed a mental spanking.
Daire Newman is not for you.
Wait…was he into spanking?
He dipped his mouth to my ear.“Relax.I do know how to show a girl a good time.”
“Oh,” I snorted.“I’m sure you do.”
He drew back, eyebrows raised, and appraised me seriously.“Somebody’s been telling tales.”
So, there was at least some truth to my suspicions.
“Maybe it’s an educated guess.”
He nodded his head, his face blank.“Interesting.”
Interesting?What the hell did ‘interesting’ mean?
Pulling open the heavy door to the Beaver Dam, he ushered me through like the gentleman he pretended to be.
His hand rested at the small of my back.Not lightly as you would expect, but firmly.As if it belonged there.As if I belonged with him.
To him?
Was he the possessive type?There was no hint of hesitation in his touch, his presence solid behind me.
Without a single cell of self-preservation in my body, I leaned back into his hand.
And instead of removing it, he flattened his palm more firmly, splaying his fingers across my back.
I jerked away immediately and excused myself to the washroom in hopes Max would show before I returned.It may have been the coward’s way out, but my heart hadn’t yet healed from Paul.And I’d be damned if I allowed that misled and misguided organ to get the wrong idea about Daire.
However, the bathroom ploy required a fine balance.
I couldn’t stay in so long that Daire presumed food poisoning, but I needed as many minutes as I could steal to gather myself together.And give Max time to get here.
Of course, I groused, my teenage crush had to glow up the way he did.
I didn’t have to pee, but I went through all the motions.
I carefully covered the toilet seat with paper.I was not a hoverer.You cannot properly hover when your legs are a mere four inches long.Besides, women who hovered and left piss all over the toilet seat should just use the damn men’s room.
I sat down.Counted to thirty.Pulled up my pants and washed my hands.Catching my reflection in the mirror, I realized I needed some armor and pulled out my power lipstick.Not for Daire’s benefit, I assured myself, but for mine.
And the sake of the extra twenty seconds it afforded me.
I smacked my lips together, patted my own ass, and sailed out the door.
Daire waved me over to a booth, and I breathed a sigh of relief that Max had arrived.
Rounding the side of the booth, my smile faltered.Because the other side of the booth was empty.
Daire sat back with a small smile on his face, a bottle of beer on the table in front of him, and my favorite flavor wine cooler waiting for me.
This man was, by far, too observant.
“You going to sit down or find something else to do to avoid me?”
