Do You Take This Man (34)

I shoved the tablet in my bag. “I would think you, of all people, would appreciate me dotting is and crossing ts.” I hadn’t even been planning to remind her, so I didn’t know why I was getting into this with her, except that her sniping at me was normal and I liked it.

She leveled me with a stare.

“Anyway, now that’s squared away. Do you maybe want to get a drink or something?”

RJ’s cocked eyebrow was a work of art—a somehow perfect mix of sexy and derisive. “So you can give me more reminders?”

My instinct was to apologize and wait for her to bring it up, but I reminded myself my instincts had led to a lot of regret in California. I stepped closer to RJ and ghosted a finger down her bare biceps. “I could remind you of the other night.”

Her arched eyebrow lowered, and her full lips tipped to the side. “To remember my phone and avoid back roads in the rain?” Her voice was always a challenge, a push, like every verbal exchange was a match to win.

I could play that game, though, and I dropped my lips to her ear, enjoying the hitch in her breath. “About you telling me not to stop.”

I bit the inside of my cheek and waited for her to volley back. RJ would.

She didn’t move closer, but she didn’t move away. “You know I don’t leave things to chance.”

“Neither do I. Get a drink with me.” I wished I had a wall to lean against or could shove my hands into my pockets. I was pulling off the impression of a confident, collected guy, but not well. “Please.”

She tipped her chin up. Her eyes were so deep, a brown I could get lost in. Focus. This was RJ, so letting my guard down would be a mistake. We just stood there for a beat, then two, but when she spoke, they weren’t the words I wanted. “I don’t drink before going into work.”

I glanced at my watch. “Dinner, then? Unless you’re planning another meal of coffee and donuts.”

The eyebrow returned, and her words sent a shot straight to my groin. “Danish. And what I put in my mouth is none of your concern.”

“It’s not a concern,” I said, grazing her soft skin again, the backs of my fingers sliding over her arm. “Just a recent interest.”

I expected that to land one of a few ways. While her pulling me into a supply closet for a repeat performance was unlikely, I thought her slapping me or agreeing to a drink had roughly the same odds. I didn’t expect her to laugh.

“That’s the line you’re going with, huh?” She stepped back and so did I, but when she looked up, she held her fingers in air quotes. “?‘Recent interest in your mouth,’?” she mocked. “Your game has to be stronger than that, Campbell. I expected more.”

“It was a perfectly good line,” I said, crossing my arms. “Who goes back to work at eight on a Friday night?”

“You realize you’re at work, right now?”

“Good point. Forget I asked, RJ.” I grabbed my bag and pushed the taste of her from my memory. “No problem.”

“Hey,” she said, her laughter subsiding. She wrapped her delicate fingers around my forearm, her touch warm and more gentle than I expected. She met my eyes. “I’m the type of person who is going back into work. I don’t have time for drinks or dinner or any other seduction techniques you have in mind. I don’t have time to date.”

“Message received,” I said, heat moving up my spine. So much for that plan. “Loud and clear.” I didn’t want to date her, anyway. I didn’t want to date anyone.

“So,” she said, smoothing down her dress, “if there’s a back room or something, let’s get to it.”

A record screeched in my head and I had no smartass response. “What?”

RJ’s features were set, the slight tip of the edge of her lip the only crack in the wall. “Your sad lines aside, you have some skills I’d like to partake of.”

I uncrossed my arms and straightened my shoulders. “Is that lawyer speak for ‘I want you in my pants’?”

“It’s lawyer speak for ‘This will go better if you don’t say anything.’?”

“What’s RJ for ‘It doesn’t cost me anything to be nice to people’?”

She grinned, her white teeth showing behind her dark lipstick. “I don’t have a phrase for that.”

I couldn’t help but return her smile. It was just so jarring to see a real, unguarded one from her. “So, you want my skills but not to spend any time with me outside of being naked?”

“Oh, there won’t always be time to get naked.” Her eyebrow was up again, and it felt like a challenge. “I can be very efficient with the right partner.”

I thought back to the night in her apartment and how she’d reacted to me, how she’d responded to my touch. “Fair enough. Like, friends with benefits or something?”

She tucked her phone into her bag and stepped closer, resting her palm on my chest. She smelled faintly of cocoa butter and cherries. “We’re not friends.”

I rolled my eyes. “Enemies with benefits, then?”

She patted my chest. “You’re smarter than you look.”

The dip of her waist was a perfect fit for my hand. “You’re meaner than you taste.”