“Whatever,” she responded drily.
For him it was more than just a whatever. He had never wanted a woman to the degree that he wanted Jules, which was a fact established months ago. What he was still having a hard time coming to terms with was her attitude toward him. She was so indifferent, although he knew she wanted him probably just as much as he wanted her. Yet she refused to budge. They’d kissed twice, and both times had been initiated by him. At first, he thought she was playing one of those feminine games, but now he wasn’t so sure. She was confusing the hell out of him, and a man who was supposed to know every single thing about women should not be confused. He was slowly discovering that lust could be fueled by something more potent than sexual desire, but for the life of him, he wasn’t sure what that component was.
“I suggest a glass of wine instead of coffee,” he said.
She looked across the table at him. “Why?”
He held her gaze. “Because tonight I’m in the mood to savor something. Slowly. Unhurriedly. Leisurely. And since I can’t savor you, the wine will have to do.” He watched the way her eyes darkened, the way her lips parted with a heated breath. Yes, she wanted him as much as he wanted her. But she was deliberately holding back.
“Why do you say such things?” she asked, her mouth now set in a petulant frown.
He shrugged. “I only say what I mean, Juliet.”
Her frown deepened. “I prefer Jules.”
“And I prefer a number of things. The first on my list is—”
“I can just imagine what’s first on your list,” she interrupted him.
“I doubt that you do. However, I will say it does involve you. But it’s not all about what we’ll be doing. It includes how we’ll be doing it.”
She placed her menu down. “You wanted to talk.”
He would allow her to change the subject, satisfied he’d given her enough to mull over. “No, I’m ready to listen. Evidently, you’re going to do whatever you want to do, so I assume you have a plan.”
They paused when a waiter came to take their order, and it just had to be the guy she’d given an extremely large hug to earlier. “I’d like a glass of Riesling,” Dalton said, not taking his eyes off her.
“I’ll have the same, please, Manning.”
Dalton raised a brow when the waiter walked off. “Manning? I thought you said Manning was your administrative assistant.”
“He is. I also said his parents owned this restaurant. He likes helping them out on the weekends.”
Dalton knew he should let it go but couldn’t. “Have the two of you ever dated?”
She smiled. “I was interested, but unfortunately, I don’t think his partner at the time would have appreciated it much.”
“Partner?”
“Yes.”
Dalton nodded. She didn’t need to say any more than that, but he was curious about something. “How did the two of you meet?”
“Manning and I went through the police academy together in Boston and have been good friends ever since. He was going through a bad breakup at the time I made the decision to move here from Boston with Dad. And when I told Manning I was opening my own PI firm, he volunteered to be my assistant. He’s good at what he does and makes my job a lot easier.”
Manning returned with their drinks, and when he left, Dalton watched Jules take a sip of hers as he sipped his. She even looked sexy sipping wine. At that moment, unadulterated pleasure warmed his blood at the thought of sipping her.
“Mmm,” she said, leaning back to get comfortable in her chair. “I needed that.”
He wouldn’t waste his time telling her what he needed since he was certain she knew. “So what is your plan?”
She shrugged beautiful shoulders. “I don’t have one. I plan to investigate your mother’s death the same way I do the other cases I handle. Thoroughly. I won’t leave a stone unturned. Everyone could be a suspect until I rule them out. When I get back from my trip next week, I plan to—”