Pursuit (4 page)

She took a ragged breath as her heart beat viciously in her chest.
"I wasn't expecting that."

His eyes shadowed.
"I didn't plan it."

Lauren saw the
truth of that statement in his eyes, and as they continued to stare at each other, the crowd jostled and Lauren felt a push from behind, and the moment was broken. Logan's arms clamped protectively around her as he looked over her head. His eyebrows came together and he swiveled her until she was standing away from the crowd and he blocked her with his body.

Lauren was just about to sit on a barstool when the hostess arrived and led them to their table. They were led all the way to the back of the restaurant, and Logan stood beside her while Lauren slid into the booth. She was kept totally off-balance when he slid in next to her instead of taking the seat across from hers.

The hostess gave them two menus and told them that their server would be there soon to take their order.

Logan opened his menu and began to scan it.
"What do you want to drink?"

Lauren glanced at the beer bottle he
'd carried with him from the bar. "Corona Light."

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye.
"Salt?"

"
Oh, yeah, definitely. Lime and extra salt."

Their server came and Lauren couldn
't help but notice that the girl couldn't keep her eyes off Logan. And who could blame her?

They placed their orders for food and drink and sat back. Logan didn
't delve into speech right away. He looked away from her, in the opposite direction, as he seemed to study the restaurant, but his hand slid under the table and Lauren almost jumped out of her skin as she felt his beefy hand on her thigh.

He must have felt her jump because he turned and looked down at her.
"You okay?"

Lauren unwrapped her utensils from the napkin to occupy her hands.
"Yeah."

His expression was hooded as he looked down at her.
"You're okay with my hand there?"

She exhaled a shaky breath.
"Do I have a choice?"
She didn't want a choice; she loved his hand there.

His look became thoughtful.
"You need to learn something about me right off the bat. You
always
have a choice." His eyes ran over her. "There's something about you," he said, as if to himself. He studied her intently with a hooded gaze. "If I push too hard, I want you to promise me right now that you'll let me know, okay?"

Lauren caught her breath. That sounded serious. Nothing like first date, getting-to-know-you kind of stuff.
"All right."

"
So, you're okay with my hand there?" He asked again as his fingers spread over her thigh and gripped her in a subtle caress.

She nodded her head.
"Mm-hmm."

He looked away again, but his hand stayed plastered to her thigh. Lauren wasn
't sure why he kept turning away from her but she knew instinctively that she still retained one hundred percent of his attention. His hand slid up and down her thigh and his voice was anything but casual as he asked, "If I tell you something, will you believe me and not think I'm just bullshitting you in a lame attempt to get you into bed?"

"
Yeah, sure," Lauren managed, bracing herself for what he might say.

He turned back toward her and his eyes swallowed hers whole. Seconds passed and the prolonged anticipation began to make her blood heat. For a moment Lauren thought he
'd changed his mind and wasn't going to say anything, but then he inhaled and said in a roughened voice, "You've
got to be
the sexiest woman I've ever come across in my entire
goddamned
life."

His words registered and a thousand points of light rushed through her system and attacked her with a need so strong that she felt light-headed. Even though she didn
't know him, not really, she somehow believed he was telling her the truth. His eyes never let hers go and she could only respond with the truth, although she could manage little more than a whisper. "You're pretty sexy yourself."

His eyes flared and his lips clenched as his hand slid up another inch on her thigh.
"How long do you think we'll be able to stay out of bed?" he asked in a rough, heated tone, almost as if he was as stunned by the depth of the chemistry between them as she was.

Lauren was saved from having to answer when their drinks arrived. But all she could think about was the question he
'd just asked and how she could distract them both from it. She moved her beer bottle forward and reached for the lime and carefully squeezed it into the bottle before dropping the entire wedge inside.

He watched the procedure intently.
"You're pretty good at that."

She flashed her eyes at him and tried to regain a little control over the situation.
"It's a fine art, you know."

"
Mm-hmm." He took a drink of his own beer and seemed to take his attention from her again, but Lauren felt his concentration never waver.

As he watched from the corner of his eye, Lauren lifted the bottle and took a tiny swipe of the salt with her tongue before lifting the beer and taking a sip.

He spluttered, slammed his bottle to the table and turned to her completely. "You did that on purpose," he accused.

She laughed and did it again, this time taking a bit more salt on her tongue.
"No, I didn't."

"
Yeah, you did." He reached out and knocked a grain of salt from her lip.

It was a definite turn-on, watching him watch her.
"It's the only way I can drink beer. I have to have lots of salt."

He looked dumbfounded.
"You don't like beer?"

She turned toward him with the bottle in her hand and took another sip.
"I hate it."

His face broke into amused creases as he studied her.
"Why did you order it?"

She smiled and tipped her head to the side.
"Because you're drinking and I want to drink with you, but I can't."

"
You can't?" His eyes turned into slits. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Lauren shrugged a single shoulder.
"It means I want a margarita, but I'm going to settle on a beer."

"
Why can't you have a margarita?"

"
Because I'm driving and I'm a lightweight. I'll only drink about half this beer, a few sips will take the edge off but I'll be able to drive."

He watched her for the count of three seconds before answering,
"That's the craziest shit I've ever heard."

"
But you don't doubt that I'm telling the truth, right?"

"
Oh, I believe you're telling the truth." He took another sip of his beer before continuing, "It's too insane to be anything
but
the truth."

She smiled but remained silent and he continued in a lower voice,
"So, you need to take the edge off?"

He was watching her intently and a sensuous light passed between them.
"Yeah," she admitted.

His gaze sharpened on her.
"Why?"

When his eyes fell to her breasts, the truth came tumbling from her lips.
"Because you make me nervous?"

He raised his eyes back to her face.
"Was that a statement or a question?" he asked.

She took a deep breath.
"It was a statement; you make me nervous."

His expression turned serious, his gaze riveted on her as a look came down over his countenance that she couldn
't identify. "Sweetheart, if it makes you feel any better, you scare the shit out of me."

Lauren
's heart jolted and she felt a tingling in the pit of her stomach. She tried to form words but she couldn't and just then, Logan's eyes were forced to leave hers as their food arrived.

They ate in a silence, almost companionable but not quite, as a current of electricity circled over them and kept her on edge.

He questioned her between bites. "How old are you?"

"
Twenty-four."

"
Where you from? You're not from Texas."

"
Ohio." She studied the brackets around his mouth. "How old are you?"

He sent her a look and she asked,
"What? You asked me first."

"
I'm twenty-eight."

"
What do you do for a living?"

"
I'm an architect."

"
Really? That sounds interesting. Incredibly hard, but interesting."

"
I like it," he answered succinctly. "I'm in the process of opening up my own firm. What do you do?"

Her mouth twisted.
"I sit in a cubicle all day and look at numbers."

"
An accountant of some kind?"

"
Yeah, sort of. I do some accounting, but my job title is financial analyst. And it's
not
interesting. It's extremely tedious and boring."

"
Why do you do it?" he questioned.

"
I got my bachelor's in finance. Don't ask me why. I was good at math and didn't know what I wanted to do. But it's a good job and it pays the bills."

His eyes traveled over her face and searched her expression.
"Can't ask for more than that, I suppose."

Lauren took the last bite she could possibly manage and set her fork down. She recognized a maddening hint of arrogance in his questions, and yet it didn
't upset her. But it certainly kept her on her toes. He was extremely attractive; and she was in no way blind to that attraction.

After a few moments he finished his meal as well and washed it down with half of the iced water that sat in front of him.

The server came and with precise, economical movements, cleared the table, left the bill and then turned and walked away. As Logan picked up the check, Lauren made a move for her purse.

He raised a single eyebrow and annoyance crossed his features.
"Don't do that."

"
Why not?" She asked as casually as she could manage.

"
I asked
you
out," he replied succinctly.

"
Does that mean if I ask you out, you'll let me pay?" she enquired innocently.

"
No,"
he snapped.

Lauren wasn
't trying to argue; she was just curious. "Why not?"

"
What are you expecting me to say here, Lauren? Me, Tarzan . . . you Jane?"

Her heart started a heavy beat. Was it from apprehension or excitement?
Oh, excitement,
definitely. "Is that the way you feel?" she questioned.

"
You don't really want to know how I feel," he said off-handedly as he placed a large denomination note in the folder and slid to his feet.

A quiver of dangerous warmth hit her belly at his ominous assertion.
"I don't?"

He held his hand out to her and Lauren took it, standing shakily to her feet.

Ignoring her question as if the subject was closed, he put one arm around her and tipped her chin up with the other. "Are you going out with me tomorrow night?"

A hot rush of delirium mingled with a bit of relief infiltrated her system.
"Okay," she agreed. She tried not to smile but she couldn't control the slight lift of her lips.

His eyes roved over her and lazily appraised her, even as his arm tightened around her waist.
"I'll pick you up so you can have a margarita."

"
All right," she agreed again. With his arm like a steel band around her waist and his heady, masculine scent swirling around her senses, Lauren had the insane thought that she might agree to anything he suggested. Thank God he wasn't a scientist or an astronaut or something crazy like that; she could just see herself blithely agreeing to a one-way mission to colonize Mars with the intent of propagating the species as his mate.

Thankfully, he couldn
't read her thoughts or tell how fast her pulse was racing. He dropped an abbreviated kiss on her lips and walked her out of the restaurant. They strolled hand in hand toward her car and when she stopped he asked, "Is this it?"

"
Yes."

He looked at her four-door sedan and then around the darkened parking lot with a frown.
"Why did you park so far back here?"

"
I had no choice. I was lucky to get this spot."

He grimaced.
"My fault. We should have met earlier."