Table for Two-epub (2 page)

“Ava?” Liv said formally as she sat up straight.

“Yes, Olivia?” Ava answered just as formally.

“Can you please tell James he’s staring again?”

“Jimmy?” Ava turned to him.

“Yeah, Av?”

Damn it. The big lug didn’t even look at Ava when he answered. He just kept his gaze pinned on Olivia.

At least she felt less exposed now. Her body was adorned in jeans, a black bra, black camisole and black silk blouse, all of which left not a hint of naked flesh visible. Regardless of the clothes, James couldn’t seem to avert his eyes.

“Olivia says you’re staring again.”

He nodded and dropped his gaze to her covered cleavage. “There’s a lot to stare at.”

Ava turned to Olivia. “Jimmy says there’s a lot to stare at.” She quirked an eyebrow and fixed her gaze on Olivia’s chest. “There is? Since when?”

“Oh, great.” Now instead of just James sitting in a public restaurant, ogling her breasts, Ava was as well. “Can both of you look somewhere else? Please?”

“Don’t blame me,” Ava said quickly. “He’s the one staring. I’m just trying to see what he’s looking at.”

Liv rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Funny, ha-ha.” It was quite funny. Especially since Ava was the polar opposite of Liv. Short, dark, curvy and blessed with a generous pair, Ava was everything the tall, skinny, blond Liv was not.

Ava was incredibly proud of her girls and showed them off at every possible opportunity, with her tight shirts and low-cut necklines. At least, she used to. Since her marriage had come to an unexpected end, Ava hadn’t been up to displaying any of her numerous assets, choosing to cover herself in baggy, blah clothing instead.

It broke Liv’s heart that her once-vivacious friend was now a mere shadow of her former self. The only time she ever seemed to relax was when they were alone at home, or out at Dinner Club.

“Ava?” Again James addressed Ava but spoke to Liv, his gaze now back on her face.

“Yep, big guy?”

An apt name for the rugby player. James was massive. A hulking mass of ripped muscle and male flesh. He’d played club rugby for ten years, and with every game he loved the sport more.

“Could you please tell Liv I much preferred her earlier look? It suited her better than the plain black.”

Olivia didn’t wait for her flatmate to relay the message. “Ava, could you please ask James if by
look
he’s referring to the death glare I sent his way in my bedroom?” Not that glaring had done any good. James had simply stood his ground, rooted to her carpet and not moved an inch. He hadn’t looked away. The damn man hadn’t even blinked.

Ava pushed her chair back and stood. “How about if you, Liv, ask James directly, and you, Jimmy, answer Liv directly? I’ll just head on over to the bar and share a drink with my two best friends.”

Olivia glanced over to where two other members of the Dinner Club, Levi and Spencer, were sitting. Their location had surprised them all when they’d arrived at Chelsea’s, their favorite restaurant. Spence, a man of habit, was unfailingly the first to arrive. He was always already seated at the table when everyone else got there. Levi, on the other hand, was always the last one to take his standard place, next to Spence.

Now both men sat at the bar, drinks in hand, with no seeming intention to move. They’d just waved at Liv, Ava and James when they’d walked into the restaurant.

Spence and Levi moved over to make space for Ava, greeting her with kisses on the cheek and big smiles.

“I didn’t notice the death glare,” James said, drawing Liv’s attention back to the man sitting opposite her at the round table. “It was tough to focus on your face when there was so much more of you to discover.”

Liv shot him the death glare he’d missed earlier.

“It’s true, pretty one. You look hot in that shirt, but I much prefer you naked.”

“Arsenic, buddy.” She patted the handbag she’d slung over the back of her chair. “I’d be very cautious about the next words you choose.”

“Know what blows my mind?”

She eyed him warily. “No. But I suspect you’re about to tell me.”

“I’m still hard. Seriously, almost an hour later, and I’m still sporting an erection.”

Her chin dropped. “You did not just say that.”

“I swear, every time I close my eyes all I can see is you, standing there, beside that chest of drawers, naked as the day you were born.”

“You
did
say it. How about we change the subject? Talk about something else?” Anything else. Anything at all.

“You lost weight, Liv?”

She blinked, not sure whether James had changed the subject or not. “Why do you ask?”

“I just saw you naked, pretty one. I kinda noticed.”

Okay, so no. Not really a subject change. Liv shrugged, not willing to tackle the answer head-on. She had lost weight. Three kilos in two weeks, thanks to the ridiculous amount of stress she’d been living with. “Maybe a bit.”

“A lot. Too much.” James narrowed his eyes, looking concerned. “You’re skin and bones.”

“Hardly.”

“Not hardly. You need to order a double portion of waffles tonight. Pack a bit of meat on your bones.”

The thought of the waffles—hands down the most delicious item on any menu in Sydney, and the reason Liv loved coming back to Chelsea’s so regularly—made her stomach churn. Food was not high on her agenda. She didn’t think she could stomach much of anything solid. “I’ll make sure and keep that in mind when I’m ordering.”

“Know what I’d like to order tonight?”

She eyed him with suspicion. “Do I want to know?”

“You. Served up on a single platter, hold the sides.”

Liv bit back a smirk of amusement and rolled her eyes. “You don’t honestly use that line to pick up women?”

James didn’t answer.

“Oh, God. You do.” She cringed. “You need a better line. Fast.”

“Never thought I’d say that, Liv. Usually I prefer a…much larger portion, but I suspect you’d satisfy every one of my taste buds.”

The devil had the cheek to lick his lips.

Devil? Horny bastard, more like it.

“Put your tongue away,” she warned. “You’ve got more of a chance of taking a bite out of Zoey than me.” Zoey was another member of the Dinner Club and the faithful wife of the seventh member, Theo. “Just so we’re clear on that.”

“I have no interest in biting Zoey. You, on the other hand, I’d like to suck, lick, nibble and bite—from head to toe. I’d savor every inch.”

“FYI? Friends don’t speak like that to other friends.”

“I adore you, Liv. You’re a great friend. Always have been.” His eyes danced. “But friendship is about the last thing on my mind.”

“I understand.” Liv took a good, long sip of gin and tonic. The icy drink slid down her throat and settled in a warm pool in her stomach. Food might not be a high priority, but Liv suspected she’d make her way through a fair number of G&Ts before the evening was through. “Your mind’s too full of rugby to think about anything else.” It always was, and his unapologetic passion for the game was part of what made James so endearing.

He smirked at her. “Haven’t thought about the sport since I stepped into your room.”

That was surprising. He lived, breathed and slept rugby. “You should never have stepped into my room.”

“Maybe. But you know what I noticed that was interesting?”

“Besides my breasts?” Which, based on how much time he’d spent staring at them, he’d found fascinating.

“Your breasts aren’t interesting.” His pupils dilated, turning his brown eyes the color of dark chocolate. “They’re fucking hot. But yeah, besides your breasts.”

“Tell me.” Before he could, she quickly added, “And try saying it without making reference to any other of my body parts.”

He grinned at her. A mischievous grin, the likes of which she’d never seen aimed at her. Not from James, anyway. In that grin, she saw what made him so attractive to other women. James was a good-looking guy—tall, built, and he walked with a confident swagger that drew female gazes from across the room. But it was none of those features that sent a dart of awareness through her. Neither was it the thick, light brown hair, or his sensuous, full lips—lips that Olivia had only just noticed were sensuous and full.

It was his smile. There was something intensely sexual about it. Magnetic, even. Against her better judgment, she found herself grinning back.

God, it felt good to smile for a change. These last few weeks hadn’t given her very much reason to smile. For that alone, she could have kissed James.

“The most interesting thing about the entire encounter—body parts aside—was the fact that not once, in all the time I spent in your room, did you attempt to cover up.”

Olivia blinked.

“You didn’t wrap your arms around your body or grab the towel off the bed, like most women would.”

She blinked again, and her face grew hot. He was right.

“You just stood there, all naked and delicious-looking, making me harder and hornier by the second.” He shifted in his seat. “I’m still hard and horny.”

She narrowed her eyes. “I’m sure there’s something you can take for that. We’ll ask Dr. Zoey when she gets here. I bet she’ll have just the right treatment for you.”

“I already know the perfect cure, and believe me, Zoey is not the woman I want treating me for this particular ailment.”

“Knowing what your cure would be, it’s probably a good thing you don’t ask Zoey. Theo wouldn’t appreciate it.”

“You’re avoiding my question.”

“What question?”

“The one about your not making any attempt to cover up.”

“That was a question? I thought you were just commenting on something you’d found interesting.” And yes, she was avoiding it, seeing as she had no way of responding.

“I did find it interesting. I still do. And I’m pretty sure when I’m home tonight and lying on my bed, tending to this erection, I’ll find it intensely interesting all over again.”

“Oh, God.” She stared at him, appalled. “You didn’t suggest what I think you just suggested.”

He looked back at her with hooded eyes, the sexy grin back in place. “What do you think I suggested?”

“You’re going to jerk off to thoughts of me naked?” Okay, maybe she wasn’t really appalled. Maybe she was a little amused and a little…something else as well.

Exactly what else, she wasn’t sure, but something else.

“Not if you’re there with me when I’m lying in bed. Preferably naked.”

“I’m not going home with you. I’m not going to bed with you, and I’m not getting naked with you.”

“Yet when you were naked with me, you never tried to cover up.”

“We’re back to this?”

“You never answered my question.”

“You never asked a question. Haven’t we been through this?”

“You stayed naked. You let me see every inch of your body.”

“I didn’t let you do any such thing. You took the liberty of scrutinizing it all of your own free will.”

James lifted his Toohey’s New and took a slow sip. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed.

It was only after he’d replaced the beer on the table that he fixed his hooded gaze back on her face. “I’d like to take the liberty of scrutinizing your body again. From a little bit closer next time.”

“There isn’t going to be a next time.”

“Why didn’t you cover up, pretty one?” James seemed to have slipped into using that new nickname easily enough.

“It never occurred to me.” She’d been so absorbed in thoughts about work and so shocked to find him in her room, the idea hadn’t crossed her mind.

“You had an aroused, adult man in your room, and it never occurred to you to pick up a towel?”

“It would have been a little pointless. You’d already seen everything there was to see.”

“Not everything.”

“You took your sweet time looking me up and down. You saw whatever there was to see.”

His grin was naughty, sexy and irresistible, and it left Liv flailing.

James was flirting. Full-on, one-hundred-percent flirting. Feeding her line after line, and she’d be damned if she wasn’t eating the attention up.

“I never got a look at your ass,” he said. “But it’s okay. Nothing we can’t correct. Just come home with me after dinner, and I’ll make sure to look my fill.”

“I’m not coming home with you.”

“No worries. I’ll come home with you. That way you can get naked in the comfort of your own room.”

“I plan to do just that.”

James looked up to the ceiling. “Thank you, God, for answering every one of my prayers.”

“Hold off on your thanks. I’m going home alone.”

He let a couple of seconds pass before he spoke again. This time there was no hint of the sexy grin or the mischief that had lit his face, but his eyes were still hooded, and his voice was husky. “I think you liked it.”

Just like she’d responded to his smile, she responded to the sensual tone. Her belly clenched in a way it never had when James spoke to her. “Liked what?”

“Having me in your room, watching you.”

“Yeah. Definitely. Because that’s just like me. You know how much I love spectator sports.”

“I think you liked it so much you consciously chose not to cover up.”

Olivia leaned forward. “I think you’re delirious.” Or maybe she’d been delirious earlier?

“Know what gave you away?”

She shook her head but couldn’t look away. It was like that husky voice had hypnotized her.

“Your nipples.”

“My…nipples?” Was she seriously discussing them with James?

“Yeah, pretty one. Your nipples.” His gaze dropped to the body parts in question. “I got a real good look at those little dusky pink buds on your incredibly hot breasts.”

“If I was sitting any closer, I’d kick you in the shin.”

“They tightened. Got all pointy and hard—while I watched.”

Olivia had been well aware of how the tips of her breasts had beaded and firmed, and how goose bumps had covered her skin—while he watched. “Did it ever occur to you that your being in the room had nothing to do with my nipple stand?”

His gaze was still pinned to her chest. “Never.”

“That’s because you’re thinking with your dick, not your head.”

“Hard to think at all when you’re staring at a hot pair of tits.”