Actual Stop (Agent O’Connor #1)(54)
Getting ready, I’d been grateful that we were still between summer and autumn when warm temperatures weren’t unexpected, so I wouldn’t need to go home to retrieve a warmer outfit or, worse, don work clothes. Now, however, I felt silly and a little exposed. Normally, I thought nothing of dressing up a little when I went out after work—I was a girl, after all, and occasionally I did like to doll up—but today I was afraid it might seem like I was trying too hard.
I drew in a tumultuous breath and swallowed as I waved to Allison. As I leaned over to open the door for her from the inside of the cab, my heart stopped beating when I glanced up and noticed her eyes flickering to what she could see of the tops of my breasts. A blaze ignited beneath my skin, but that couldn’t compare to the heat that rose in my cheeks when she lifted her eyes back up to mine and I recognized the flash of desire in them.
Allison held my stare as she slid into the seat next to me and then allowed her eyes to travel the length of my body. I felt that visual exploration as keenly as I would a physical caress, and it sparked an involuntary hum of arousal in me.
“Wow, Ryan. You look beautiful.”
That declaration robbed me of the ability to inhale, and I had to clear my throat. “I was actually just thinking the same thing about you.”
It was Allison’s turn to flush, as much as she was able with her complexion. “I feel somewhat underdressed.”
“You’re perfect,” I told her honestly. An all-encompassing need to kiss her suddenly seized me, an ache that throbbed dully in every cell of my body. Disregarding that impulse would be like ignoring the desire to breathe. Fortunately, she distracted me by speaking.
“Do you have a curfew tonight?”
“Nope.”
“Your better half isn’t expecting you?”
I grimaced in response to a searing stab of pain and managed to swallow the bile rising in the back of my throat. “I’m flying solo these days.”
Understanding flooded Allison’s expression, tinged with a hint of sympathy and something else I couldn’t readily identify. “So it was more than just a fight.”
“Yup.” I really didn’t want to get into this right now and hoped my short answer would discourage further discussion.
“Is it something that can be fixed?”
“No.”
“You okay?”
“Mmm-hmm.” Aside from the fact that the girl I was seeing slept with someone else and then broke up with me under the pretense that she thought I cheated on her, but I can’t stop thinking about you, and I still feel like an * because of it, I’m just dandy.
Allison shook her head, which caused stray locks of her hair to tumble down across her forehead. “Liar.”
I reached out before I knew what I was going to do and gently brushed those tresses out of her eyes, reveling in the slide of her silken skin beneath my fingertips. Allison blinked, obviously startled, but she didn’t appear upset.
The cab driver slammed on the brakes and screamed loudly, shattering the moment and catapulting me back into my senses. I jerked my hand from Allison’s face as though I’d been burned. What the hell was I doing? I really needed to get a freaking grip. Never mind the fact that I shouldn’t be touching Allison at all. Now was definitely not the time.
“So, where are you taking me?” Allison’s voice was light, her tone nonchalant, and I was instantly jealous. My own emotions were careening wildly out of my control, and I could’ve used a dash of nonchalance. Hell, even a pinch would have felt like a lot.
“Piper’s.”
Allison grinned. “You guys still go there for your wheels-up parties?”
“Of course. They take really good care of us. Oh, but I should warn you. I got a call from the thundering horde while I was on my way here. They sounded like they’d been at it for a bit. I can’t imagine they can maintain that pace much longer.”
“Good.”
Surely I imagined that Allison’s tone contained an undercurrent of satisfaction mixed with desire. Right? It had to be. It was a classic case of seeing—or in this case hearing—what I so desperately wanted.
I forced myself to focus on paying our accommodating, if slightly suicidal, driver and deliberately avoided Allison’s intense gaze. But the fire burning in my cheeks spoke volumes.
A slight tug on my arm forced me to stop my trek to the pub’s entrance, and I turned to face my captor with a vague wringing sensation just below my rib cage.
Allison’s eyes were bottomless as she stared at me, and I felt myself falling. I glanced down to my feet to make sure the pavement was still solid beneath me. Allison recaptured my attention by resting a hand on my shoulder, making me return to myself and fly apart all at once.
“I’m going to make sure you forget everything tonight.”
Promises, promises.
Chapter Eighteen
The place had a good-sized crowd considering it was a Monday night, but Allison and I didn’t have much trouble making our way to the bar. I’d predicted correctly that the guys were all well and truly in their cups, so I wasn’t surprised that the bartender, Sean, spotted me first.
“What’ll it be, Ryan? The usual?” His voice still held a trace of a true Irish brogue, though he’d been in the States for years, and his smile could charm a leprechaun out of his pot of gold. “I hear you’ve something to celebrate.”