Big Easy Temptation (The Perfect Gentlemen #3)(17)
“There it is.” Courtney sat back with a shake of her head. “Damn. I was hoping that was all one sided, but it’s plain to see you like him, too. I don’t have a date with him. I just wanted to see your reaction.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the fact that once the man found out you and I are friends, he very subtly tried to get as much information out of me as possible. Give me the scoop because if you don’t want Captain Spencer, I’ll go after him.”
The idea of Courtney—gorgeous, fun Courtney—with Dax made her flush all over again and it wasn’t with embarrassment. She was angry. Holland forced herself to calm down, but Courtney was making her think. She wouldn’t be so irrationally angry if she didn’t care at least a little. “We never had a relationship, but I do have some feelings for him. I can’t seem to help it.”
“I think he likes you, too. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to resist the girls.” She thrust her chest out. “They were on full display today and I got nothing out of him. Not even a lingering glance, just questions about how I met you and what we do in New Orleans. So he got to hear about our hairdresser and our favorite spa. No man listens to spa stories if he isn’t interested.”
Holland sipped her beer. He’d left her a message today, asking for a meeting to discuss the case when she had the time. She’d called back and gotten his voice mail. It wasn’t so surprising. They were both busy professionals. The next few days were fairly packed, and so she’d offered him a meeting on Friday. In her office. In the morning after breakfast, but not so close to lunch that he could persuade her to join him.
She was feeling weak where Dax was concerned and she didn’t dare tempt fate.
“I walked away from him once before,” Holland admitted. “He wanted to move past friendship, but I couldn’t do it.”
Her friend blinked. “You know you’re insane, right? That is the hottest man I’ve ever seen. How could you sleep with him and not want to be with him?”
“I didn’t sleep with him. Like I said, we didn’t move past being friends.”
Courtney waved her off. “I sleep with lots of my friends. How am I supposed to figure out if I want to be more than friends if I don’t take a test drive, so to speak? The last thing I want to do is get all emotionally invested in some dude who can’t find my clitoris.”
“Dax Spencer? Bad in bed?”
“He could be,” Courtney said with a shrug. “I mean some guys who are that good looking and have that much money don’t even need to try. Women fall into their beds. They get lazy.”
“Somehow I doubt a man whose penis has its own Twitter account is bad in bed.”
Courtney snorted. “That’s not Dax. That’s Maddox Crawford.”
“Well, I’m sure they’ll all have them soon. He kisses like he would be good in bed.”
“So you’ve kissed him. What was that like? Too much tongue? Not enough?”
“There was exactly the right amount of tongue. Why are we talking about this?”
“Because we’re girls and that’s what we do. Also because you haven’t slept with anyone interesting in the last couple of years, so I’m all kinds of on board for you jumping into bed with the captain. I have the biggest crush on him, but I know the girl code. Thou shalt not sink your well-manicured claws into your best friend’s dream guy.”
Holland opened her mouth to dispute that claim and then sighed. “I like him a lot. But his lifestyle . . . God only knows how many women that man has gone through.”
“It’s a lot according to Star. They have a timeline and everything,” Courtney supplied helpfully. “They also tend to exaggerate. He’s a Naval officer. He’s working most of the time. I think you’re damning him for his misspent youth. The last few years the man has been doing his best to protect his country. That should count for something.”
It did. “Any woman who dates him is going to have to deal with his past and the press.”
“You’ve dealt with shit before. Listen, if you’re seriously not interested I would like to take a shot with the guy. He’s gorgeous and kind and really smart and funny. I know this might make me a bitch, but I’m not going to stand back and let him go if you’re too scared to even try.”
Once again hot anger filled her. “Can I have a couple of days to settle into seeing him again before you jump him?”
Courtney nodded. “You may. And again, I point out that I’ve never seen you get this emotional about a guy you were actually dating, so maybe you should think about taking a chance for once in your life. I know you think I take too many of them.”
She thought Courtney might jump into bed with guys way too soon, but it didn’t make her a bad person. “I think you get hurt a lot.”
“But one day it’s going to pay off. One day the right guy is going to make me an offer and I won’t refuse it. I won’t stand back because I’m scared I’ll get hurt or it won’t work out. I’ll jump in with both feet and never look back. It looks like I won’t be doing that with Captain Awesome. The good news is he’s got two friends in town.”
She shuddered to think about who was here. She prayed it was Connor. Connor was levelheaded, if a bit dark. Gabe Bond was nice. If Maddox Crawford was in town, then she should really alert the authorities because that man was trouble. “I’ve got more problems than his lifestyle. He wants me to reopen his dad’s case.”