The Accidental Encore (24 page)

Who named their boy Jamie anyway? “Guy sounds like a prick,”
he told Blackjack and lifted his feet to the coffee table. “If she wants to go
out with Jamie, be seen around town with Jamie, have great sex with Jamie, what
do I care?”

The dog whimpered and rested his head on Craig's leg. “We
don't need a woman, do we, BJ?”

Blackjack shifted to give Craig better access for a tummy
rub. Craig obliged without thinking and took a long pull from his beer.

He should call her, he thought. Pretend he forgot about her
date and see what's up. No, too obvious. He flicked the channel to ESPN and
considered what would be a reason to call her. Leah? Nah, he tossed the idea
aside. Too complicated.

He tried to get into the game he'd looked forward to
watching, but couldn't bring himself to care who won the SEC matchup. It wasn't
like him not to care when it came to college football. He finished off the beer
and reached for the phone. Obvious or not, he didn't care.

Chapter 27

The restaurant was smaller than Allie had expected, but had
the ambiance of a country club with its dark wooden walls and white
tablecloths. Jamie had ordered the wine, a French Rhone that slid like butter
down her throat. She'd worried about the delightful little buzz she felt until
she'd been presented with the enormous ribeye she'd ordered on Craig's
suggestion. She'd have dinner for a week on what their server had boxed and
waiting for her to take home.

Something felt off. Allie had tried all night to shake the
nagging feeling that despite the seemingly perfect night, she couldn't focus on
her date and what they both assumed would be a big step in their relationship.
Jamie looked gorgeous in his blazer and open neck shirt. The way his expertly
gelled dark hair shone in the muted light had images of him primping in the
mirror zipping through Allie's mind. She couldn't imagine Craig primping.

Their fourth date in one week. They'd known about each other
for a long time, since college in fact. But did knowing someone existed in the
world for a decade and really knowing them mean the same thing? Did she want to
take this great big leap with a man who'd dazzled her, but that she'd really
only recently discovered? She felt a little like she was expected to play a
part in a role that had been written and performed many times over.

Dinner date, check.

Coffee date, check.

Movie date, check.

Expensive night out, check.

Sex...she wasn't so sure.

The waiter had just delivered the dark chocolate torte Jamie
ordered when Allie felt her phone vibrate in the clutch she'd set on her lap
after applying gloss to her lips. She stared at the screen and chewed her lip
when she saw Craig's name on the display.

“I’ve got to get this,” she said and stood up from the
table. “I’m sorry.” She rushed off to the bathroom to answer without a
backwards glance.

“Hey,” Craig said. “You won’t believe the date I had
tonight.”

“Really?” She opened the bathroom door, and when the noise
from inside was too loud, she scooted to the end corner of the hallway.

“Oh, yeah,” he went on. “You won’t believe what this girl
said to me.”

A loud noise from the adjacent kitchen stopped Craig
mid-sentence. “Are you out?”

“Yeah, I'm at Bones. With Jamie.”

“I’m sorry, Allie. I totally forgot. I’ll call you later.”

“No, no,” she found herself saying even though talking in
the cramped hallway, dodging disapproving stares from the servers, made her
feel as if she were going to get her cell phone taken away at any minute. “I’m
in the bathroom anyway. Tell me what happened.”

“Allie. Go enjoy your date. This can wait. I thought you’d
be at home.”

“You sure?” she asked. Why was she stalling? Jamie was
waiting at the table, he'd given her his undivided attention all night, and
Craig insisted his call wasn't important. For some idiotic reason, she didn't
want to hang up.

“Of course. Have a good time. One of us should.”

“Yeah. Okay. See you.”

She tucked the phone in her purse and made her way back to
the table where Jamie sat scrolling through his phone. When he saw her coming,
he sat back as his half lidded eyes took her in from head to toe.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“Yes. Sorry about that.”

“Hey, no worries. I got the pleasure of watching you walk
back to the table.” He picked up the bottle of wine and filled her glass while
his eyes never left hers. “You are so beautiful, Allie.”

Smile, she thought. That was a nice thing to say. But it was
hard to smile at someone who looked as though he wanted to eat her alive with
one very big bite. Was Craig right? Could a man who called her beautiful, a man
who openly admitted he liked to watch her walk, hear her? Really listen to her?

She reached for her water and gulped down a swallow as her
devious mind started playing tricks on her. Should she do it? she wondered.
Could she possibly lie to a man she'd spent all week with just to test him?

“So, you know how I was telling you about going back to school?”
she asked as her heart thundered in her chest. Deny it, she willed him. Tell me
I never said that.

“Um hum,” he said and lifted a bite of torte to her lips.

“I’m going to do it,” she said and pulled the fork from his
hand. “I’m going to stop teaching and go back to school.”

She took the bite as he watched the fork slide in and out of
her mouth.

“That's great, Allie.” He motioned for their server to bring
the check. “Are you ready to get out of here?” he asked.

Her heart and her spirits plummeted to the floor. How could
someone so eager to go out, so willing to twist his plans around to see her,
not listen to a word she said? “Yes,” she said. “I'm more than ready to get out
of here.”

***

Craig shouldn't have called. He'd have gotten up and drank
the rest of the six pack if he hadn't had a dog sprawled over his lap and a
nagging headache from the first four he'd quickly downed. It was stupid to
call. What had he accomplished? He'd heard her voice, confirmed she was in fact
at Bones with Jamie, and made her think he'd been on a date. What the hell good
had any of that done but piss him off?

He turned the volume down on the game and laid his head back
against the couch. How had he gotten to this place in his life where a woman,
one woman, could wreak havoc on his life? Hadn't he sworn off the species for
anything more than an occasional tension reliever? He'd been damn happy the way
his life was going before she'd barged—or banged—right into him and
changed everything.

He didn't want to care about someone. He didn't want to risk
giving any control over to another person. He'd vowed he'd never be that
vulnerable again. So how, in the span of a couple of months, had Allie come to
mean so damn much? How was it that he couldn't get through a day, or hell, an hour,
without thinking of her and wondering where she was or what she was doing? How
had he let himself slip so far down the slope that nearly killed him before?

His head bolted up at the banging on the door. Blackjack,
now fully awake and ready to battle whoever stood on the opposite side, bolted
out of his lap to bark furiously at his late night visitor. Craig hushed him
with a simple command and opened the door to find a furiously gorgeous woman on
his stoop.

Oh no. “Allie?”

Chapter 28

 
“What are you
doing here?” Craig asked. He wore faded blue jeans and an old App State
sweatshirt. His feet were bare. How dare he look so casual, so innocent, when
he'd ruined everything? “I thought you had a date.”

 
She stepped
inside the foyer, not waiting for an invitation. “I did. I’d probably still be
out with him if it weren’t for you.”

“I shouldn’t have called.” He closed the door and then just
stood there, his hands in his front pockets. “I’m sorry.”

“You think it was the call? You seriously think it was your
phone call that ended the date?” She pushed past him into the den. He had some
football game on the television and it annoyed her to hear someone, anyone
enjoying themselves when she felt so upset.

He followed her into the room and faced her where she stood
in the middle of the den. “Ahhhh, how much did you have to drink tonight?”

“Not nearly enough.”

“Okay, I get that you’re pissed, but what I don’t get is
why.”

“You ruined everything! You told me all this stuff about how
men think and what they want. I never would have noticed that he wasn’t
listening to me. I never would have been offended because he called me
beautiful. I would’ve gone home with him, I would’ve been having pretty
excellent sex right now if his kissing was any indication of his skill in that
department. But no. Nope. Now I’m testing him, asking questions of him, making
sure that he’s listening to me and not just seeing me. And you know what?” She
threw her hands in the air. “He wasn’t listening at all. Not one little bit.
And it’s all your fault.”

“I take it your date didn’t go so well.”

“It was. It should have. He’s never been married. He’s an
investment banker. No kids, no bitter attitude about women. He knows wine and
sports and he even took piano when he was a kid. He should have been perfect.”

“If you were building a man online, I’d say he was perfect.”

“He didn’t hear a word I said and it wasn’t because of my
girls.” She pointed to her chest, nicely hidden under her long wool coat and
behind her conservative, yet sexy black cocktail dress. “Men don’t hear me.”

He cocked his head to the side and the look of pity on his
face made her want to scratch his eyes out. “Not all men, Allie.”

“No, you’re right.” She started forward, inching toward him
as a look of sheer panic crossed over his face. “You hear me, don’t you,
Craig?”

He nodded and seemed more than a little unnerved at having
to admit the truth.

“Why do you hear me?”

He shrugged. “I listen.”

“You listen all right.” She stopped within a foot of where
he stood. She felt powerful, wicked, and just a little bit crazed. “When you
called, I was sitting at the table with him. I left him right in the middle of
dessert so I could hear your voice. And that doesn’t make any sense because I
shouldn't even like you. You’re rude and you’re insensitive, and you’re so damn
honest that you make me feel exposed and not in a good way. But you're kind and
you're loyal and all the goodness in you is all the more sweet because you
don't want any part of it.”

He stood there, straight as a board, not squirming, not
denying, just staring at her as she emptied her soul at his feet. “And you
never tell me I’m beautiful. Everyone tells me I’m beautiful, but not you.”

“I don’t like to state the obvious.”

“You think I’m shallow.”

“Of course I don’t think you’re shallow. You shouldn’t care
what I think. You shouldn’t care what anyone thinks.”

“I care, okay? Not about everyone, not even about most
people, but I care what you think. I can’t help it.”

“You don’t want to know what I think.”

“Urrrgh,” she groaned. “You see? This is exactly what I’m
talking about! Why can’t you be rude and insensitive and honest when I ask you
a direct question?”

“If I thought you really wanted to know the answer, I’d tell
you.”

“Oh, never mind,” she said and pushed past him. She yanked
open the door and was almost through when he grabbed her arm and spun her
around and crushed her against his chest.

“You want to know what I think? You want me to be honest?”
He was so angry, his teeth were clenched. “I think you’re the most beautiful
woman I’ve ever known and I’m not just talking about what I see when I look at
you. You’re soft, and vulnerable, and funny, and ridiculously kind. And if
those jack legs you go out with don’t listen to you, it’s their problem, not
yours.”

He let her go as abruptly as he’d pulled her to him and she
had to reach out and grab his sweatshirt to keep from falling. Her head was
spinning from the words he'd just spoken and the musky scent of his skin. “Oh.”

“I think you should go,” he said and pushed his hands into
his pockets. “You need to go.”

Every nerve in her body felt alive and tingling as if a
charge ran between them. “Is this you being honest, or is this you running from
something that might involve actual feelings?”

“I’m not running from anything. I’m saving you from doing
something we’ll both regret.”

“The only thing I’ll regret is if I do go. You’re so good at
self-protection. You can’t get hurt if you never let anybody in, right? But
it’s too late for that. I’m already in, and I'm not leaving unless you kick me
out.” She put her hands on her hips and stared straight into those misty blue
eyes. “Your choice, Craig. Kick me to the curb or take me to bed.”