Beg For Me: Chapter 9

The view is spectacular, the sushi is to die for, the crowd in the restaurant is why the phrase “beautiful people” was coined, but it’s all a pile of dog shit in comparison to Sophia.

I can’t look away.

“You’re staring,” she notes, dipping a translucent sliver of albacore into a tiny blue ceramic pot filled with ponzu sauce. I watch, mesmerized, as she lifts the piece of fish to her mouth with wooden chopsticks. It disappears between her full lips. She swallows, humming in pleasure at the taste.

I’ve never been jealous of a dead marine animal before now.

“Is it bothering you? Say no because I don’t think I can stop.”

“I wouldn’t say ‘bothering’ necessarily. It’s just hard to get used to.”

“I would’ve thought you’d be totally used to it, considering it must happen all the time.”

She smiles. “I’m nowhere near as pretty as you seem to think I am.”

“Heresy. You’re blindingly beautiful. Every woman in this restaurant hates your guts.”

“At least one does. Your hostess friend has been sending me the evil eye every chance she gets.”

I glance in the direction she’s looking. Through the big glass windows, I can see to the front of the restaurant by the door. Lana smiles and quickly looks away, turning to a customer, but not before catching my frown.

“I’ll have her fired.”

Sophia looks startled. “What?”

“I’m serious.”

“Don’t be silly.”

“It’s not silly that she made you upset.”

“I’m not upset, Carter, I’m amused.” She shakes her head, laughing. “My, what a little Rottweiler.”

She has no idea. The lengths I’d go for her…she has no idea at all.

Tactfully changing the subject, she says, “This is the best fish I’ve ever had.”

“You’ve never been here?”

“Yes. But never with you.”

Her smile now is almost shy. If I dropped dead at this moment, it would be as a happy man. “That’s the best compliment I’ve ever been given.”

“I was talking about the food.”

“No, you weren’t. But I’m a gentleman, so let’s change the subject. What should we talk about?”

She takes a sip of champagne, regarding me over the rim of her glass. “Let’s talk about you.”

“Me?” I shake my head. “I’m boring.”

“That’s the last word I’d use to describe you.”

“Oh? What’s the first one?”

She thinks for a moment. “Interesting.”

“Barf.”

“It’s a compliment.”

“You were supposed to say ‘brilliant’ or ‘charming’ or ‘devastatingly handsome,’ something like that. ‘Interesting’ makes me sound like a failed scientific experiment.”

“All right. Let me try again.” Tilting her head to one side, she gazes at me for a long, silent moment, a smile playing around the corners of her mouth. “Dangerous.”

I’m taken aback by that. “Not to you. Never to you.”

“Especially to me.”

I’m confused. Does she think I’m some kind of predator?

“Why?”

She sets her glass on the table and thoughtfully strokes her fingers down the stem. When she looks up at me again, her eyes are burning.

“Because you make me want things I shouldn’t.”

A jolt of lust leaves me electrified. I say breathlessly, “Oh God, yes, you should. You absolutely should. That was so fucking sexy, I’m about to fall out of this chair.”

Her laugh is throaty. “I have to admit, Carter, the way you talk is…”

“Is?” Gripping the edge of the table, I lean forward, heart pounding. “Is?”

Resting her hand on mine, she leans close and whispers into my ear, “Interesting.”

When I groan, she laughs and squeezes my hand. Looking pleased with herself, she sits back and shakes her head at my dismay.

“You’re adorable.”

I’m crushed by that. “Adorable? Like a kitten?”

She picks up another piece of fish with her chopsticks and says casually, “No. Like a good boy whose gorgeous face I want to see buried between my thighs.”

My heart stops. My entire body floods with heat. Scalding, throbbing heat. I stare at her, unable to speak because I’ve suddenly forgotten human language.

Holding my stunned gaze, she lifts the chopsticks to her lips and slowly pulls the fish into her mouth with soft suction and a quiet slurping sound that makes my dick feel as if it’s about to explode.

“Do you think we should have more champagne? I think we should. Excellent choice, by the way. This is delicious.”

She pulls the bottle from the ice bucket and pours more bubbly into both our glasses, serenely smiling and obviously enjoying the stupor she’s put me into.

And she says I’m dangerous.

“You’re playing with me.” There. I found it again, the ability to form words.

“Only a little.”

“So did you mean it or not?”

Her smile grows wider. “I guess you’ll just have to wait and see.”

When I narrow my eyes, she bursts out in laughter.

“And now you’re laughing at me!”

“With you, handsome. With you. Here, I’ll pay you another compliment to make you feel better: I admire your car collection.”

I grumble, “I’m not sure you know the actual meaning of a compliment.”

“Not good enough?”

“Not even close. Try again. And make it personal.”

She’s trying very hard not to laugh again. Her eyes sparkle, her lips are pressed together, and her shoulders shake. My glower must not be very convincing, because she covers her eyes with one hand and bites her lip.

“Ha-ha, very funny. Let’s all watch poor Carter twist in the wind. I’m sulking, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

“I had. And it’s adorable.”

“Adorable again? This is a disaster. Next, you’ll be telling me I’m cute.”

“Why would that be so terrible?”

“No man wants to be told he’s cute.”

“What if I said it while your face was between my legs?”

Smiling, she watches me suck in a breath. I’m sure my cheeks are lobster red.

“Oh, you’re evil.”

“No, I’m leveling the playing field. You can’t always be the one being sexy.”

I think for a moment. “I’m pretty sure there’s a compliment in there somewhere.”

Leaning an arm over the back of her chair, she regards me with the exact look I’d like to see on her face after I make her come. Her eyes are soft, her smile is wide, and she’s just so…everything.

I can’t fuck this up.

But that’s what I do. I fuck things up. I break things. Even knowing why doesn’t help, I still do it.

“Hey. Handsome.”

“Yeah.”

“Where did you just go?”

I look away, then back into her eyes. “Truth?”

“Yes. Always.”

“I was thinking I don’t want to fuck this up with you.”

She considers me for a thoughtful moment. “You’re worried you will.”

My heart thudding, I moisten my lips, then nod.

“Is that something that usually happens in your relationships?”

She seems curious, not judgmental, so I take a risk and keep talking, though my blood pressure is going through the roof from nerves. “I don’t really have relationships. I date a lot, but I keep things superficial. I don’t ever get serious. I never let anyone in.”

She studies me in silence, her gaze uncomfortably keen. “And it’s deliberate, this arm’s-length distance you keep. It’s not because you don’t know how to be emotionally intimate. It’s because you don’t want to.”

“Right.”

“Because you’re afraid if they know the real you, they’ll no longer be interested.”

Ashamed she can see through me so easily, I look down at my hands. I shouldn’t have brought it up.

“So the king-of-Earth act you mentioned you do. That’s what it’s about.”

I nod.

“Well, Carter, I have to tell you…”

When she doesn’t continue, I look up to see her smiling gently at me.

“I admire your self-awareness.”

A little seed of hope sprouts inside my chest. “You do?”

“Yes. Most people have no idea why they act the way they do. I also appreciate that you’re willing to admit something unflattering about yourself. It makes me feel like I can trust you.”

“In that case, I’ve got about ninety thousand awful things I can tell you about myself right now.”

She laughs at how forcefully I said that. “There can’t be that many.”

“There are probably more. It could be in the millions. If telling you makes you trust me, I’ll start blabbing.”

“That won’t be necessary. And I’d say you’re adorable again, but I don’t want to insult you. Will wonderful work?”

“Yes,” I say grinning. “Wonderful works.”

“Okay, then. You’re wonderful. Thank you for another great dinner.”

“You’re welcome. I’m so glad you asked me out on this date.”

After a beat, she starts laughing again. She doesn’t stop when I take her hand and kiss it, and I’ve found my new favorite thing in the world.

Making Sophia laugh.

The only thing that could beat it is making her come.

I’m going to make that happen as soon as she’ll let me.