“He couldn’t reach you on your cell.”
Damn, I had turned my phone to silent at the spa and hadn’t returned it to normal mode. I waited for Decker to continue, perhaps elaborate on what Bradley wanted. When he went back to eating his dinner like the conversation didn’t exist, I gave him a kick under the table with my foot.
“Ouch, what was that for?” His confusion was clearly evident.
Seriously? It just snapped my garters that a man could fade out of a conversation so easily. “Bradley? What did he want?”
“He didn’t say.” Decker shrugged. That exasperating male silence filled the room again.
“So, he just called, asked for me, and you said I was out and then he hung up?” Decker’s brow arched and I realized he was playing with me. Asshole, two could play at that game. “Did you tell him how awesome I was in bed?”
Decker just about spat his food across the table. He choked back a laugh, and when he finally found his composure again, he stared at me seriously. “Do you want me to die a slow and painful death?”
“You’re scared of Bradley?”
“Do you always answer a question with a question?”
“Do you?”
We grinned at each other. I watched Decker take a long drink from his bottle of water and I watched, my head falling into a haze of Decker lust. He was so ruggedly beautiful, so strong, so confident. Damn, he even made drinking into an art of erotic perfection.
“We didn’t talk long. He was more than a little surprised that I answered your phone. I told him you had an appointment and didn’t want to close the shop, so I offered to watch things for you. That had him speechless for a little while. Then he asked me if I was fucking you…” It was my turn to pause.
“Are you serious?” I said through my full mouth, completely outraged. It was none of Bradley’s damn business who I was sleeping with.
“I asked him what he thought, and he laughed. He said you knew I was a player and you wouldn’t touch me with a ten foot pole.”
Harsh! I actually winced. Bradley had always been a guy who told it how it was, which earned him both respect and haters. The silence that engulfed us this time was awkward.
Decker didn’t seem pissed off at Bradley’s insensitive remark, but that might have been because there was a lot of truth to it. Perhaps I shouldn’t have touched Decker, but I couldn’t help myself. He had a charm and energy that was magnetic. Decker leaned back in the chair and laced his hands behind his head. “I watched the book store so you could go to the spa, and you look,” he tilted his head to one side as he took in my appearance, “the same as when you left. Aren’t you supposed to come back from a spa different or something?” My gaze darted away from his nervously. When I braved up enough to look at him again, his eyes had widened with excitement. “Unless the changes are covered up.” His eyes followed a heated trail down to my breasts, unable to go any further with the table blocking their path. Suddenly the subtle shaping and daring addition of those frightening sparkles had me feeling incredibly nervous. “Stand up, Country,” Decker growled. I shook my head. My mouth was dry with apprehension. Decker stood and grabbed my hand, pulling me to my feet, pressing my back against the wall behind me. “Damn, you smell so good I could eat you,” he whispered in my ear. Then he pulled my dress up over my head and cast it over his shoulder where it settled on the floor somewhere behind him.
“What is it with you and throwing clothes around? Do you have any idea how long it took me to locate my bra the other morning?”
Decker ignored me as he flicked the front clasp of my bra open. “I love the ones that do up at the front.” I would have responded except his lips closed over my nipple and all rational thought fled the building. Decker Steele had officially turned Andi Jennings’ brain to dirt in less than a minute. I went to kick my boots off, but Decker stopped me. “No, keep them on.” He slowly sunk to his knees before me, his lips caressing my skin with a reverence that made my heart beat so loud it echoed in my ears. “I love these. I’m gonna be careful not to fling them too far,” he whispered, his fingers tracing my expensive soft pink, lace panties that fell into the shape of a butterfly at the front. Carefully, he pulled them down my legs, his eyes still on mine. Once I had stepped out of them, his gaze dropped. My usually neat triangle was shaped into a heart and around the top were some strategically placed, pink stick-on diamantes. After a short while, any traces of lust were quickly quelled under Decker’s long silence.