Out of the corner of his eye, he could have sworn he saw Brooke pretending to fall asleep at the dull conversation.
“Also good,” Nadia said. “My brother’s in town. He was my date for the evening, actually. Just left to catch a cab back uptown to his hotel. And Maya? She’s good?”
Seth’s eyes flicked toward Brooke long enough to see her cracking up into her cocktail glass. He couldn’t blame her. This was getting downright painful.
“She’s—great,” he said, catching himself before he could utter the word good again. “Getting married, actually.”
“Ah, so Grant finally pulled his head out of his ass, huh? Gotta give him credit—he works fast.”
Seth stared at her. “She’s not marrying Grant.”
“Oh!” Nadia’s eyes went wide in the first bit of expression she’d shown since crashing his date. “I just assumed. He’s always been so hung up on her.”
“Told you,” Brooke muttered.
Nadia glanced at Brooke, this time looking a bit closer. “You’ve met Grant? And Maya?”
“I’m Maya’s wedding planner,” Brooke explained with a smile.
“Oh. So this is a business dinner,” Nadia said in a bored tone.
“No,” Seth said, just as Brooke replied, “Yes.”
He gave her a sharp look.
“Well, it was really nice seeing you,” his ex said in the same tone he expected she gave her dentist when she told him she’d be back again in six months.
“Likewise.” He kissed her cheek once more, registering how cool it felt, noting that her perfume was familiar and yet also completely unappealing to him.
Seth resumed his spot at the table just as Brooke reached across the table and picked up his glass of wine since her own drink was now empty.
“Well, that was fun,” she said.
“Sorry about that. Shitty timing, seeing as we were just talking about Nadia, and how . . .”
Her eyebrows lifted. “How I sort of wanted to scratch her eyes out?”
Seth reached out, slowly taking the glass back from her, letting his fingers brush against hers, lingering against their softness.
“Feeling possessive, are we?” he said, his voice coming out as a low growl.
He noted the way she watched his mouth as he sipped his wine. The tip of her tongue flicked slowly across her lower lip, and he felt his cock stir. Goddamn, he wanted this woman.
“I may have changed my mind about dessert,” she said, her voice lower than usual.
“Really?” he said, enjoying the game they were playing. “Because I was just starting to warm to the idea of watching you purr while you ate that chocolate soufflé.”
She pursed her lips and leaned forward slightly, further lowering her voice. “How about you watch me purr with my lips wrapped around your cock instead?”
Seth gripped the glass so hard he was surprised it didn’t shatter. “Yeah, okay. You win, Baldwin.”
She grinned in victory, and two minutes later, they were out the door.
Chapter Twenty-Five
DEX HAD BARELY CLOSED the car door behind them before Seth reached for her. His fingers slid into her hair, his big hand palming her head as he drew her face to his.
Brooke closed her eyes, desperate for his kiss, but he paused, brushing his lips against her cheek. “I like you.”
Her eyes flew open at the simple, unexpected admission, and she pulled back slightly to meet his gaze. “Why do you sound so surprised?”
The corner of his mouth turned up, his eyes locked on the spot where his thumb and forefinger rubbed against a strand of her hair. “I wasn’t supposed to.”
“You weren’t supposed to like me?”
Blue eyes latched onto hers. “I wasn’t even supposed to meet you. You weren’t in my plans, and I like my plans.”
“I’m shocked,” she said teasingly. “Absolutely shocked.”
Brooke placed both palms against his face and drew him down to her, their lips meeting softly as they kissed sweet and slow.
His free arm wrapped around her back, pulling her close as his head tilted, deepening the kiss. She gave a small sigh, leaning all the way into the kiss. Every time he got closer to her, her breath caught, her pulse quickened, and she wanted. This kiss was no different. If anything it was even more dangerous to her. The passion was still there, hot and furious in the way their fingers clawed at each other, in the way they couldn’t get close enough. But this time there was another layer to this kiss that made it all the more intoxicating.
I like you, he’d said.
She smiled into the kiss, her hands sliding up to his hair, even as her fingers longed for the moment that they were out of this car so she could tear off his ever-present tie, run her hands over his perfect chest . . .
Brooke pulled back and blinked up at him. “Where are we going?”
“My place?” he said, his lips sliding along her jaw.
Brooke’s neck fell back helplessly as she struggled to hold on to her thoughts.
“Wait, no,” she said, pushing him back slightly. “Can we go to my place?”
“Ah . . . sure? If you want.”