They walked back to the table, and Elena couldn’t make herself sit back down. She couldn’t continue this night any longer. She was feeling too weak at the moment. All she had to do was rebuild the walls on her heart, she convinced herself.
“It’s been a wonderful night, Tyler, but I’m beginning to get a headache. I think it best if I go home a little early.”
His eyes narrowed the tiniest bit, but then he recovered. Turning from her, without saying a word, he signaled for the waiter. It didn’t take long and then he escorted her from the restaurant. The cool night air felt good, so good. She would regroup, figure out her next move, and get this entire plan of hers — this plan, which didn’t seem quite so great anymore — out of the way.
“I’ll take you home,” he said, and it wasn’t a question.
“I can get home just fine,” she said right back.
“I always make sure my dates get home safely, Elena. I take you home or this thing between us is done.”
His words weren’t harsh, just matter-of-fact. She wanted to walk away, to tell him to go to hell. But she knew that if she did that, she’d never have her victory.
“Fine. You can take me home,” she said in a taut voice.
He walked her to his car and held open the door. She gave him her address, then sat back, fuming. This wasn’t going well — not well at all. And she’d thought she was so smart. Maybe she’d forgotten that revenge was a dish best served cold, and she was still too hot. Too hot with everything to do about Tyler Knight.
She knew she had to do something to salvage this situation, but how?
They pulled up to her apartment complex, hardly the best place in the city, but far from the worst. He parked and came around to the passenger side.
She allowed him to open her door and help her from the low-slung sports car. And then the two of them walked in more silence to her door.
She wheeled around before she inserted her key into the lock, and she smiled at him. “Thank you for dinner. The place was even better than I’d expected. I’ve wanted to go there for quite some time.”
“Thank you for accompanying me, Elena. I’ve had a wonderful evening.”
“Really?”
“Didn’t you enjoy yourself?” he asked, taking a step closer to her.
“Yes, but then, you know, the headache,” she said with a nervous giggle. Oh, no. A giggle. What had she become?
“Do I make you uncomfortable, Elena?” he asked before lifting a hand and running his fingers through her hair.
“No … no.” Was she stuttering? What an utter disaster. Just kill her now and get it over with.
“I think I do. I think that it scares the hell out of you.” He moved the last few inches forward.
“I think you’re awfully full of yourself,” she told him.
He leaned down and spoke against the corner of her mouth. “I am very sure of myself.”
She could push him away, tell him the night was over, but that wasn’t what a seductress would do. No, a woman who wanted a man to pant over her the rest of the night would grab him, initiate the kiss.
So that’s exactly what she did.
She took control of his mouth, easily gaining access as she kissed him with everything she had.
Soon, the kiss had her knees shaking, had her body on fire, and still she carried on. She was running her hands up the back of his head and pulling him even closer. This was so much more intimate than in the restaurant because she knew a nice comfortable bed was only a door, well, two doors, away.
She couldn’t think that! It was a game… She was forgetting that, though, the longer his lips caressed hers.
His fingers glided up and down her side before he moved them downward and cupped her bottom, and then pulled her up. He was so hard. The ache flaming inside her neglected body reminded her that it had been way too long since she’d felt something like satisfaction with a man – with this man.
The longer he touched her, the more she was reminded of that night in the limo. It had been amazing – that was, until he’d dismissed her.
This wasn’t good!
When he pulled back, his eyes dilated, his breathing heavy, she wondered whether she would be able to stop when the time came. What if they both came? That would ruin her plan.
“Good night, Elena.”
Tyler shocked her when he turned her key in her door, pushed her inside, shut the door and then walked away. She didn’t move for at least two minutes. Her breathing took that long to get under control.
If each meeting with Tyler left her this off balance, she really should abort her mission. Then again, Elena had never been a quitter.
Chapter Eleven
Do you want some company?”
Elena choked on the bite of sandwich she’d just taken as Tyler interrupted her. He quickly began patting her back, and she finally managed to swallow and then reached for her drink.
“What are you doing here, Tyler?”
“I was in the area and saw you sitting here,” he said. He joined her on the bench once he was assured he wasn’t going to have to give her the Heimlich maneuver.
“You were in the park on a Tuesday afternoon?”
Tyler smiled as he watched her trying to process why he was there. He wasn’t one to leave things in the air. It hadn’t taken him long to figure out Elena’s last name, and from there to figure out where she worked — and where she enjoyed eating her lunch.
They’d been seeing each other for three weeks now, and he had no doubt she was playing some sort of game. They’d only been on a few outings. Most of their relationship was through the phone, and she still shared nothing of herself with him. He knew he should cut his losses and walk away, but he couldn’t, and he was hardly happy about that.