Real Men Will Read online

  But when he got out, all he saw of Tessa’s car was the taillights fading into the night.

  “Hey!” Jamie shouted, running out into the rain after her. Once her taillights disappeared completely, Jamie stopped and stared after them.

  When he finally trudged back to the porch, Jamie was glaring at Eric as though he might be considering starting another fistfight.

  “What the hell is going on?” Eric demanded.

  “I have no fucking idea. Tessa drove me over here, going on and on about how we all needed to make up. But when I got out of the car, she locked the doors and wouldn’t let me back in.”

  “She locked you out?”

  “And now she just left me here!”

  “That little brat,” Eric growled. “She’s trying to force us to spend time together.”

  “I’ll call Olivia.”

  Eric rolled his eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’ll give you a ride. Surely we can stand to sit in the same car for five minutes.”

  “Or I could just walk,” Jamie muttered.

  Eric jerked his head toward the car. A few seconds later, Jamie finally gave in and headed into the garage. But when Eric got in, he didn’t start the car right away. Jamie shifted uneasily.

  “I’m sorry,” Eric said quietly. “I’m really sorry that I hit you.”

  Jamie sighed. “I know you are.”

  “I don’t know what came over me.”

  “I was being rude.”

  “You’ve been rude before, and I always managed to behave like a sane person.”

  Jamie shrugged and leaned back in the seat, so Eric started the car and pulled out of the garage. Jamie’s place was only a few miles away. If it hadn’t been raining, he probably would’ve walked home as soon as Tessa had locked him out.

  They were halfway there when Jamie spoke. “I can handle it, you know.”

  “You can handle what?” Eric asked.

  “All of it. All my duties at the brewery. I can handle them. So don’t worry.”

  “I’m not worried that you can’t handle it. I was honestly trying to help. You’ve got Olivia now, plus all the planning with the restaurant side…. That’s all I was thinking. That I wanted to help. That’s all I’m ever thinking.”

  Jamie didn’t respond, but a few seconds later, he nodded.

  And that was that. Everything was fine. Eric pulled up to Jamie’s house and Jamie said, “Thanks for the ride,” and opened the door. But he paused just before he got out. “Hey,” he said. “Everything else aside? She was totally hot.”

  “Who was?”

  “That woman who came to the bar. I would’ve been damned impressed if I hadn’t been so pissed. Way out of your league, man.”

  “Gee, thanks.”

  “I didn’t even know you had a league, frankly.”

  “Get out,” Eric ordered, but he was trying hard not to smile. Beth was hot. She was out of his league. And he was damned impressed with himself for even approaching her in the first place.

  He felt marginally better when he drove away. Back to his normal amount of tension instead of this new level of anger and regret. He’d made up with Jamie, and Beth was…well, she’d seemed fine when he’d left her on Monday. Though he couldn’t quite figure out how he’d ended up kissing her. And why she’d let him.

  Who the hell cared? He was smiling as he drove home, so if he could just avoid worrying about anything else until the morning, he’d take that and be happy.

  His phone rang, and Eric dug it out of his jacket, knowing exactly who it was. “We made up,” he said.

  “Yea!” Tessa squealed.

  “Good night.” He hung up, still smiling as he slowed to a stop at a red light. Tessa was a piece of work, but she always knew exactly the right thing to do. Maybe he should just turn his share of the brewery over to her and let her run with it.

  The phone rang again. “Everything’s great,” Eric said. “So just drop it while you’re ahead.”

  “Oh,” a female voice said. Then, “Drop what?”

  That wasn’t Tessa. Eric tipped the phone down to look at the display. Yep, the voice matched up with the name. “Beth?”

  “Hi.”

  “I’m sorry. I thought you were someone else.”

  “That’s a relief.”

  The light turned green, but Eric turned the corner and pulled over to the curb instead of driving on. He couldn’t drive and talk to Beth at the same time. She was way too distracting. “So. Beth Cantrell.”

  “That’s me.”

  He frowned at the nervousness in her voice. “What’s up?”

  “Oh, I wanted to find out what happened with the detective.”

  Of course. His shoulders fell a little. “I let him know exactly what you told me. He made note of it. It might come up in the trial, but it won’t affect the investigation.”

  “I see. That makes sense.”

  “He said he’d get in touch with you if he needed to use your story.”

  “Great. Okay.”

  “Okay,” he repeated, aware of the awkwardness growing between them. A sign, maybe, that things were better left as they were. They were nothing alike. All they’d had was sex. But goddamn, it had been good sex.

  “Thanks—” he started, but Beth cut him off.

  “Would you like to come over?” she asked.

  Eric blinked, sure that he’d heard her wrong. She’d spoken quickly, after all, the words running together on one long breath. “I’m sorry?”

  “Would you…would you like to come over?”

  “Tonight?” He glanced at the dashboard clock. 10:30. “Yes.”

  He felt that he wasn’t quite grasping this. She couldn’t mean—

  “I know we had an agreement. So I understand if this is over the line.”

  “No,” he said. “No! There’s no line. Absolutely not.”

  “So…”

  “Yes.” Had he just said that? He wasn’t supposed to see her again. That had been the deal. One night. Nothing more.

  “Yes?” she asked, as if she were giving him a chance to change his mind.

  He should say no. But what the hell was he trying to protect? He wasn’t the same man he’d been six months ago. His family and his work…those were slipping away. And if there was one thing that was totally separate from those parts of his life, it was Beth Cantrell.

  “What’s your address?” he asked.

  He thought he heard a sigh of relief from the other end. Had she worried he’d say no? Jesus, he was already putting the car in gear. She gave him the address, and he was on the road. If this was a mistake, he didn’t want time to consider it. This was one mistake he was determined to make.

  CHAPTER TEN

  BETH CAREFULLY SLIPPED ON her favorite new panties, then added the matching bra. Strangely calm, she turned and looked at herself in the mirror, trying to see her body as Eric would see it.

  The midnight-blue silk looked amazing against her skin. She trailed her finger along the edge of the bra where her breasts pushed up into enticing mounds. Eric would like it just fine. And it was nice to think of being with him again. He already knew what she looked like. Too curvy for today’s standards of the feminine ideal, but just right for him, maybe. And he wouldn’t be surprised by her unadorned skin and unpierced erogenous zones. She was the same plain Beth she’d been the last time.

  She slipped on a black wrap dress that she loved but had worn only once before. She was always afraid the tie would come loose or the top would gape open, and there she’d be for all the world to see. If that happened tonight, it would only help things toward their natural end.

  Last, she put on her favorite black stilettos, trusting that Eric wouldn’t feel the need to lick them at any point during the night. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that,” she said to herself, sighing. Her whole career was based on giving people just what they wanted, after all. But that didn’t mean she had to extend the customer service to the bedroom.

  She�
�d jumped in the shower before calling him, so the last thing she needed was lip gloss and mascara, and she was done. Ready to see him. Ready to figure out the quickest way to get him to her bedroom.

  She kicked her workout clothes under the bed just as the doorbell rang.

  Wow, he hadn’t wasted any time. Which meant he wanted this, too, mistake or not. And who the hell cared if it was right? For once, she was looking forward to sex as if it were a treat instead of a test.

  She didn’t have to paste a smile on her face as she opened the door. In fact, she had to try hard not to grin like a crazy woman.

  Eric’s eyes swept down her body. “Hi,” he said to her legs.

  “Hello.” He was wearing a pale blue polo shirt tonight. Was there anything more delightfully preppy than that? She opened the door wide and stepped back. “Come in.”

  “Thanks.” He stopped just a few feet inside and shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “I realized on my way up the stairs that I should’ve brought something. A bottle of wine. Or maybe dinner?”

  “I’ve already eaten. And I have wine here. Would you like some?”

  “Yes,” he said quickly.

  Beth couldn’t hold back the grin as she walked to the kitchen. This was fun. Last time, it had been her, making that long walk to his door. She’d been nervous, wondering what the hell she was doing. Did he feel the same way now? What would he say if she just dropped her dress and walked back into the living room? She pressed her hand to her mouth too late to stop the laugh.

  “Did you say something?” he called.

  “No, sorry. I just…dropped something.”

  She was just setting the corkscrew to the wine when she looked up and found him standing in the doorway of the small kitchen. “Did you just get off work?” he asked.

  “Yes. No. I mean, I worked until eight and then went out with a friend.”

  His eyebrows rose. “Oh?”

  He thought she’d been on a date, and wasn’t that what it had been? One more attempt to set Beth Cantrell up with a man who could push her stubborn buttons? She felt a sudden urge to tell Eric the truth, but she settled for just a tiny bit of it. “Can I be honest with you?”

  “Of course.”

  “There’s a man I’ve been on a couple of dates with. I saw him tonight.”

  He leaned against the archway with a frown. “Okay.”

  Just as she was about to let it out, the words dried in her mouth and worry started turning in her head. She couldn’t stop it.

  The cork popped free of the bottle, so she used that as an excuse to look down. “I’m sorry. I…” Her mind whirled. She grabbed on to the first thought that bounced forward. “Why did you come over?” she asked, wanting him to say it so she wouldn’t have to.

  “Because you asked me to.”

  “I know, but… We didn’t want to do this, right? We didn’t want to see each other again?”

  “We agreed it wouldn’t be a good idea.”

  “Right. Exactly. And it’s not a good idea.” She made herself look up, but as soon as she saw his dark frown, she chickened out one more time and reached for the cupboard to get glasses. “I’m sorry,” she murmured.

  “I don’t understand. Do you want me to go?”

  She loved that he’d asked her that. As if it would be no big deal to drive to a woman’s house in the middle of the night just to say hello and make small talk for a few seconds. The lack of pressure helped her mind settle, as if the molecules of her brain could stop bouncing off each other if only things weren’t so intense.

  She took a deep breath and handed him a glass, then she held on to hers with both hands, hoping it would hold her steady for the next few minutes.

  “I was out tonight, talking to this man, and thinking that it was time. You know?”

  Eric looked puzzled and sipped from his wine instead of answering.

  “It was time for that decision. Were we going to get physical? Did I want to? And all I kept thinking was that I hoped he was like you.”

  His confusion blanked to surprise. “Like me?”

  Beth took a steadying gulp of wine. “Yes. I realized that I was about to go home with this man, and I just wanted it to be what it had been with you.”

  “I still don’t understand. What was it with me?”

  Shaking her head, Beth let her eyes drift down to his wide chest. “It was good. Wasn’t it?”

  When he didn’t answer, she got a little nervous. When he still didn’t answer, she forced herself to meet his eyes. He looked shocked. “Yes,” he finally said. “It was good. Of course it was. For me, certainly.”

  God, she hoped he wasn’t just being polite. “It was good,” she repeated, as if she needed to convince him. “And simple. And easy.”

  “Easy?” His eyebrows rose at that.

  There was no way to explain that, so Beth didn’t try. “Tonight, I was wishing I could have that again. And then I realized I could. Or I could try, anyway.”

  He took another drink, watching her with wary eyes. “We agreed that it was too complicated.”

  “It doesn’t have to be.”

  His eyes traveled down again, as if he were pondering the simplicity of taking off her dress and fucking her. Her body tingled with awareness. “I thought you were pissed off,” he said.

  “I was. I am. And I don’t trust you. I won’t ever trust you.”

  His mouth flattened.

  “But you never told anyone about me, did you?”

  “No. Never.”

  “So you lied. And it hurt. And…maybe you owe me.”

  When he met her eyes, his gaze was dark and hot, and she knew he wanted this, too. “Owe you what?”

  Beth let the power of the moment wash over her. “You owe me the right to know the name of the man who’s inside me. Don’t you?”

  She’d thought she’d seen lust in his eyes before, but now it blazed like a fire. His jaw tightened to steel. Eric wanted inside her. Badly.

  “And don’t you want to hear your own name?”

  “Yes,” he growled, his teeth still clenched together.

  The word shivered through her body, tightening her nipples. Beth took another sip of wine and started to walk past him. “You look more like an Eric, anyway,” she said.

  His hand closed around her arm. “You said that before.”

  He pulled her back until she was standing right in front of him, their bodies separated by only a few inches. She looked into his gray-blue eyes. “You do,” she whispered, and it was true. He would never be a Jamie. James, maybe. But Eric sounded clipped and cool. It suited him perfectly.

  “Good,” he growled. He set his glass on the counter and took hers, as well. When he shaped his hand to her jaw, she thought he meant to kiss her, but he kept his distance. She held her breath as his other hand spread over her shoulder. “So you think I owe you?” he asked softly.

  She nodded, but he wasn’t looking at her. His fingers were trailing slowly down, following the path of her neckline, and Eric watched his progress with vicious focus.

  “Yes,” she breathed.

  His fingertips dipped lower, pulling the soft fabric out of line. She felt his touch against the sensitive skin along the edge of her bra. His fingertips sneaked just under the silk, still slipping down. Beth shuddered and he looked up.

  “I’ll give you anything you want,” he said.

  Yes. That was what she wanted. Anything.

  “What were you thinking about while you were out with this other man?”

  She shook her head. His fingertips left her skin, but he followed the line of the fabric down lower still, all the way to her waist. She felt the slow friction of him pulling the tie that held her dress together.

  “You were going to do this with him,” he said softly.

  “Maybe.”

  “So tell me what you wanted.”

  “I wanted…” Beth swallowed hard. “I wanted to feel like this.”

  He pulled the tie with a
gonizing slowness.

  Beth couldn’t quite catch her breath. “I wanted to shiver when he touched me.”

  The tension of the fabric wrapped around her body suddenly loosened. She closed her eyes as he eased the dress open. His fingers brushed the naked skin of her stomach. She shivered again.

  “Like you’re shivering now?” Eric asked.

  “Yes.” She’d forgotten. She’d forgotten this feeling of being seduced. She’d meant to seduce him tonight. To untie her dress and drop it to the floor just to shock him. But in this game between them, he was the one who did the undressing. Just like last time.

  And just like last time, she was wet already, her arousal soaking the expensive silk between her legs.

  He still didn’t kiss her. She felt his whole hand curve around her waist, the edge of his hand resting on the curve of her hip, his thumb fanning slowly across her ribs. She opened her eyes to see him still watching his hand.

  “You left too quickly last time.”

  “I know,” she whispered.

  “I wanted more.” His hand tightened on her hip, and he finally moved forward, but he guided her back.

  Beth stepped backward. One step. Two. Her dress fell open. Her back touched the doorway. He loomed above her. “I wanted more,” he said again, and then he finally kissed her.

  This was nothing like that brief whisper of a kiss in the parking lot of the White Orchid. This felt…angry. Rough. Deep. She matched it with her own anger and frustration, pressing into his mouth, tasting him as he slid his tongue along hers. Both his hands were around her waist now, holding her against the wall as he devoured her.

  She wanted him so much it felt almost like hate. Why did it have to be him? Why couldn’t it be this good with someone else? Someone who’d never lied? Who’d never made a fool out of her?

  He pushed the dress off her shoulders, and Beth let it drop before tangling her fingers in his hair. He had her trapped against the wall, surrounded by his body, but she still needed to hold him, to be sure he didn’t change his mind and slip away.

  His hands slid down to her hips, and he held her tight as he rocked his body into her.

  Oh, God, yes. He was already hard and big, and she was already lost. Instead of turning, her mind was spiraling down into a place where she couldn’t hear her own thoughts. All she knew was the way his tongue slid over hers and his fingers pressed her flesh. All she could think was that she wanted him inside her.