Ego Maniac(20)

“Come in.”

The door opened, but only slightly, just enough to fit an arm through. Which is exactly what appeared. Drew’s arm, waving something white around.

What is he waving? Are those…underwear?

I’d been carrying around a full load of angry all afternoon after our heated argument, and it was starting to weigh me down. His gesture brought some much-needed levity.

“Come in,” I said again.

He pushed the door open a few more inches. This time his head joined his white-flag-waving arm. “You’re not still pissed and planning to use your mad Krav Maga skills on me, are you?”

I laughed. “I should. You deserve a good ass-whipping. But I’ll hold back.”

Drew smiled and opened the door the rest of the way, staying in the doorway. “I guess I owe you an apology for some things I said today?”

I sat back in my chair. “You do.”

He hung his head. The action reminded me of a little boy who’d given his dog a bath—in red paint. It was cute. He was cute. But I was going to make him grovel anyway. His head was still slightly bowed as he looked up at me from beneath his dark lashes. “I’m sorry for today.”

“What exactly are you sorry for?”

He dropped his head back down. “You’re going to make this difficult, aren’t you?”

“Yep.”

“Fine. I’m sorry for calling you na?ve.”

“Anything else?”

I watched his face as the wheels spun in his head. “For listening to your conversation with your client.”

“Is that it?”

“Is there supposed to be more?” He looked a little nervous for a second.

“There’s more.”

After thirty more seconds of thought, he snapped his fingers as if he was proud of himself. “I’m sorry for looking at your ass.”

My brows drew down. “When did you look at my ass?”

He shrugged. “Every chance I get?”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Apology accepted.”

His shoulders dropped a bit and he looked relieved. The man had a tough exterior. But sometimes the ones who’d had it rough wore the thickest armor.

“How about I buy you a burger at Joey’s for dinner to make it up to you?” He winked. “I’ll buy the biggest one they have so you can get real full and take your skirt off for me again.”





Emerie

“Can I ask you something personal?”

“No.” Drew’s response was quick.

“No?” I crinkled up my face, confused. “You know, usually when two people are sitting around talking and eating, and one of them asks the other if they can ask something personal, the other generally says yes. It’s polite.”

“I have a rule. Whenever someone asks if they can ask something, I say no.”

“Why?”

“Because if you have to ask if you can ask, it’s probably something I don’t want to answer anyway.”

“But how do you know if you don’t even hear the question?”

Drew sat back in his chair. “What’s your question, Emerie?”

“Well, now I feel like I shouldn’t ask it.”

He shrugged and finished off the last of his beer. “Okay. So don’t.”

“Did something happen to you that made you bitter about relationships?”

“Thought you didn’t feel like you should ask?”

“I changed my mind.”

“You’re kind of a pain in the ass. You know that, right?”

“And you’re kind of a bitter jerk, so I’m curious what made you that way.”

Drew tried to hide it, but I saw the corner of his lip twitch toward a smile. “I’ll tell you why I’m a bitter jerk, if you tell me why you’re a pain in the ass.”

“But I don’t think I’m a pain in the ass.”

“Maybe you should see a therapist, help you figure that shit out.”

I crumpled up my napkin and threw it at his face. It hit him square in the nose.

“Very mature,” he said.

“I don’t think I’m a pain in the ass in general. I think you just bring out the ass in me.”

He smirked. “It’s a nice ass to bring out. Speaking of which, if you’re full, I could help you unzip to get comfortable.”

Jesus, he really was a smartass. “I’m never going to live down the night we met, am I?”

“Not a chance.”

I sipped my merlot, not wanting to waste it, but I was so full from the humongous burger Drew had ordered me. Honestly, I couldn’t wait to get home and unzip my skirt, although I wasn’t about to admit that to Drew.

“So, back to my original question. Why are you so bitter about relationships?”

“I deal with divorces all day long. It’s a little hard to have a positive outlook when all you see is cheating, lying, stealing, and people who started out in love getting off on hurting each other.”

“So it’s because of your line of work. You didn’t have a bad relationship that soured you?”

Drew stared at me for a while. His thumb went to rub at the center of his bottom full bottom lip as he deliberated over his answer, and my eyes followed. Damn, he has great lips. I bet they would devour my mouth.