I went through the rest of inventory feeling like the hand that brushed Clay's coffee beans, and that he held in his own was on fire. It tingled, and it burned a little, and I was no doubt completely fucking insane. I felt someone's eyes on me, but I refused to look up from the fucking clipboard. It could be Clay, sure, but it could also be the girlfriend who looks like she could crack walnuts, or my fucking head with her thighs. So let me think about that- No thanks.
I told Keli I was heading into the office to send the order, and I grabbed a bottle of juice and a scone wrapped in a napkin and headed back with my clipboard. Laptop open, clipboard beside me, I opened my juice and took a sip when I heard it. The soft knock and I nearly spewed my fucking juice all over my laptop screen. No, he wouldn't.
"Come in," I offered, thinking that the one time I ignored a knock it would be Keli or Mary coming back to ask a question. But no, I didn't ignore it and it was HIM. Fuck.
"Thought I'd come in and see if you had any harder problems, Charlotte." I shut my eyes and prayed to God, Satan, and hell probably all the saints and half the demons for strength. For what, I didn't know, but I felt I needed strength. "See, I came just in time, your eyes are closed, how hard is it this time?" God-fucking-damn it.
"Are you a test of some sort?" I met his eyes where he'd taken a seat for once in front of my desk. "Like is there a hidden camera somewhere and sooner or later someone's going to jump out and scream 'Punk'd' or something ruder, right?" He was studying me like I was the best entertainment he'd ever experienced. Guess I'm better than a fire. I sighed. "Can I help you with something?"
"Is it weird that I just like talking to you, Charlotte?" His eyes were twinkling, I swear, and his dimples were deep with happiness.
"Char," I offered. And his eyebrow raised. "My FRIENDS call me Char, not Charlotte." Why am I doing this? He was temptation on legs with a GIRLFRIEND hovering somewhere nearby no doubt. "And I don't know if it's weird or not, Clay, I don't know you."
He nodded his assent to the fact. "Then go to dinner with me." Wait, what? Jesus, was this another pity date? "It's not a pity date, Char," he tested out my nickname and smiled. "Let's go to dinner, and get to know one another."
I squinted at him. "The last time I went to dinner with one of you, I became the most visited on our local police department's roster. Am I going to come home to find the building next door in cinders?" He laughed and shook his head.
"No, we'll go to dinner and come home to no flames, no smoke, no fire." Then he gave me another flash of heat. "At least not in the streets, I can't promise that your bed won't be hotter than usual." What the literal fuck?
"Not to be a party pooper to your flaming bed idea, but aren't you and Asha-" another shake of his head, but his grin still didn't drop. "Does Asha know that you aren't?"
"Ai- Asha isn't with us now, and she and I were-" he was thinking of the appropriate designation for whatever they were. "Temporary. We both knew it, and now-" he spread his hands apart.
"I'm the consolation prize?" I asked, staring at him, but not blinking this time. "Fun, so not a pity date, but a 'any port in the storm' type of hookup." I shook my head and ripped a bite off my scone, biting into it, I stared him dead in the eye. "Pass."
His eyes widened. Apparently Clay didn't get a lot of rejection. "Pass?" I nodded, chewing carefully and then taking a sip from my juice. "You pass on dinner and-"
"Yep." I nodded again. "I pass on 'you'll do in a pinch' sex. I may not have offers a plenty, but even JJ/Jen or whatever his name is made me feel special. I mean, special like having a stalker special, but he made it feel like our dinner was something he wanted, even if you did ORDER him to do it." I realized that my lack of love life was getting worse the more I talked. "Regardless, I'll pass on this half assed offer. I'm sure you can throw a rock and find another port in the storm." It was a dismissal, but I had rendered him completely immobile. Huh, that might have come in handy to save that building.
I watched him process my words and then he tilted his head. "Out of what I said," I shrugged, and he went on. "You got that I only want to go out with you because Ai-Asha isn't here, and you're the runner up?" I nodded, chewing another bite of my scone. He shook his head and stood up, making me feel like I could finally get my mind back on work, but instead of walking toward the door he stalked around my desk. Before I could make sense of what he was doing, I was on my feet and his mouth was on mine. Thank God I'd swallowed that bite because his tongue met mine and I nearly fell over. Choking would have sucked and ruined the moment.
What could have been a violent kiss wasn't, not even a tiny little bit. His arms were around me and then I was sitting on my desk, his tongue tasting mine and my hands sliding through his hair. I felt a lump under my ass, but shrugged it off, until it kept creeping into my enjoyment of Clay's mouth on mine, his hands holding me tight, and I had to pull away.
He was staring down at me in a haze of lust and confusion, but I leaned over and sighed. Fuck. "You just squished my scone with my ass," and that made us both laugh, long and hard. Shit.
After a kiss like that, I kind of had to agree to dinner. And I also had to excuse myself to run up to my apartment and change my fucking pants since I had icing and crumbs all over the seam of my pants. Clay's lips brushed against mine before he released me to go upstairs, telling me he'd let one of my employees know that I had to get something from my apartment.
Upstairs, I took a look into the mirror as I switched my bottoms and I was surprised how normal I looked. I mean, bright eyes, flushed cheeks, but NORMAL. As though a sexy as fuck, arsonist/murderer hadn't just kissed the breath out of me. I sat down on the bed as the reality of who Clay MIGHT be rushed back into the forefront of my mind. Fucking hell. How the hell did I forget?
