Page 13 of Seducing Cinderella

A teeny snort escaped, but she quickly composed herself. Clearing her throat, she said, “So what exactly am I supposed to do? Flip my hair and giggle in a high-pitched voice at everything he says?”

“Only if you’re looking to attract the captain of the high school football team.”

She gave him her best evil eye, hoping he’d drop this whole ridiculous notion. Fat chance.

He leaned in, resting his forearms on the table and clasping his hands in front of him. “It’s easy, Lu. Carry on the conversation like you would normally, but add in subtle things. Make eye contact with him and hold it. When your eyes dart around, it tells people you’re nervous or uncomfortable. You want to show confidence.”

“That’s all? Eye contact? I can do that.”

“Not quite. You need to draw his attention to all those beautiful assets you have.” She rolled her eyes, but he ignored her and continued. “To draw attention to your eyes, you hold his gaze or give him quick glances from under your lashes. Guys go nuts when a woman plays coy.”

Lucie thought about all the times she’d seen women do that exact thing when talking to Stephen and how he’d smile back as though they were somehow having sex in their brains. She’d never attributed anything to the actual body language, though. Since she’d always been an intellectual, she’d assumed it was what they were discussing that forged that connection.

She barely restrained from slapping herself in the forehead. She’d been such an idiot. But no longer. Sure, it kind of irked her that she had to resort to using physical wiles to get a man’s attention. After all, it was the intellectual things she appreciated about Stephen, and she’d hoped it would be the same for him. But once she got his attention and he felt that spark with her, the rest would surely fall into place. The idea of learning how to make that connection with Stephen was starting to excite her.

“Coy, got it. What else?”

“Draw his attention to your mouth by smiling, eating, drinking, nibbling on your lip, licking your lips…actually it’s not real hard to get him to focus there since one of the first things a guy thinks of is what a girl’s mouth will look like around his—”

“Reid!”

He leaned back and laughed, a rich, throaty sound that didn’t do anything to help cool her down. She mentally added “laughing” as a way of drawing attention to one’s mouth as her eyes transfixed on his full lips framing those perfectly straight, white teeth. And staring at his mouth only served to remind her of the searing kiss he gave her at the store, which then made the temperature in the room escalate another few degrees.Crap!

“Okay, here comes your boy with our drinks. He’ll wait for you to approve the wine. I want you to channel Jessica Rabbit and give him a show.”

Her jaw dropped. “You want me to channel a cartoon character fromWho Framed Roger Rabbit?”

Reid’s expression said he couldn’t believe her incredulity. “She’s sex on heels.Everydude wants to bang Jessica Rabbit.”

He was utterly insane; that’s all there was to it. Her knee-jerk reaction to argue with him was cut short by the arrival of their waiter. He set Reid’s drink in front of him without so much as a glance in his direction. Then he presented the bottle of wine to Lucie, rattling off the year and vineyard as if she’d know the difference between that and the stuff that came out of a box, and poured a small amount for her to taste in her glass.

Okay, I can do this.I can. Jessica Rabbit…slow, deliberate movements, bedroom eyes…no sweat. Oh, God, I’m sweating.

Trying her best to ignore the drop of perspiration she felt slide between her breasts, she slowly picked up the glass, held the waiter’s gaze, and tipped the wine to her lips to take a small sip. The sweet wine flowed over her tongue and spread its warmth down her throat and into her belly. She let her lids drift closed and emitted a satisfactory moan before pulling the glass away. Opening her eyes again, she smiled and asked, “I’m sorry, what was your name again?”

“Daniel.” He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat. “My name is Daniel.”

She toyed with the ends of a section of her hair and threw him what she hoped was a dazzling smile. “Well, Daniel, the wine is lovely, thank you. Though he’s usually fairly clumsy, I’m certain my brother will be able to refill my glass while you take care of your other customers. We’ll be needing just a few more minutes to decide.”

Daniel performed a shallow bend at the waist, returning her smile. “Of course. I’ll be back shortly to take your order. And please, if there’s anything I can do for you, don’t hesitate to ask.”

As soon as he left, Lucie downed the rest of the wine in her glass in one shot. Meanwhile, Reid was giving her a subdued slow clap. “Brava, sweetheart. You could’ve asked him to lick your shoes and he’d have thanked you for the opportunity. How did that feel?”

“Awful,” she grumbled while he refilled her glass.

“Come on. I know it’s not your comfort zone but be honest with me.” He leaned forward, forearms crossed on the table. “Be honest with yourself.”

She treated herself to a few more gulps of wine and welcomed the feeling of it swirling in her veins, easing the tension in her body. Placing the glass on the table, she met his gaze and thought about what he said.

He was right. She wasn’t being honest.

“It was…flattering. Empowering.”

“Exactly. Remember, even when you land a date with the doc, there’s nothing wrong with a little outside flirting to remind him he’s not the only fish in the sea. Now, let’s get your boy toy back over here because I’m starving.”

The rest of the evening passed with great conversation and secret chuckles at Daniel’s continued state of enamor with Lucie. When he gave Reid the check, he slipped her one of the restaurant’s business cards with his number scrawled on the back. As silly as it sounded, a rush of giddy excitement flowed through her. It was the first time anyone had blatantly hit on her.

She would’ve kept the card, possibly laminated it and tucked it into the frame of her bedroom mirror, but Reid confiscated it, tore it in quarters, and left it on his plate. She was about to object when he said, “We’re fishing for orthopedic surgeons, remember? Little ones like waiters, we throw back in. Besides, he didn’t pass big brother’s inspection.”

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