Chapter 29

She tugged at the skirt, a frustrated breath huffing out to ruffle the hair she’d left hanging free. He’d wanted dinner out, someplace fancy no less and she had to play dress up. Wear something pretty. His voice still resounded inside of her memory just as his smirk had. He was going all out to collect on his bet.

Well she’d just have to go all out and find a way to answer without answering, or confuse him with feminine wiles.Hell what wiles do I have? She shook her head and pulled THE DRESS from her closet, the one he’d gotten all hot and bothered over the day they’d shopped. In for a penny, in for a pound.She reached for the last pair of glasses she'd managed to keep, then stopped, her hand hovering over the frames. No, I'll leave them off, he seems to dislike my glasses more than anything. One more thing to help me disarm the questions hopefully.

Giving herself one last cursory look as she straightened the ties and pleats she nodded at the completed look. Hopefully she could lessen the blow of her honesty, and if not, well she’d already packed.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening her bedroom door. Stepping down the hallway she slowly descended the stairs and for the briefest moment wanted her glasses to hide behind.Fuck.

Closing her eyes for a moment, she stopped on the bottom stair, looked into the living room and knew she'd be toast if he tried hard enough. God damn him, why'd he have to go and wear a leather suit? Is he psychic?

Plastering a smile on her face she coughed slightly, "well here I am."

The line of ruffles that snaked down her leg with each step she took had him buttoning his suit jacket. Goddamn it! Why did he want to take her in public?

Every part of him wanted to drag her back upstairs and see just where the ties started and the skin began.

"There you are, indeed." He brushed a hand down his belly to make sure the button stayed.

She stepped off the stair and made her way too him, the more fanciful part of herself feeling as if she were walking to her execution, while the more hormonal part of herself felt the knot in her belly doing a sudden slow burn.

Her brow arched as she caught a glance of his shirt, unbuttoned of course behind the jacket, its color a brilliant shade of purple. She bit back a groan and nodded. "You look nice for a semi suit."

He grinned. "Well, if you have to do a suit, it should be one you're comfortable in." He tried not to react to the long line of her neck or the curl of her hair along her breast. Tried not to notice the way it criss-crossed over her perfect handful of breasts.

He could feel the itch of her nipple in the center of his palm, remembered her under him, over him, arching into his touch. Not standing there like she was a block of ice. Touching him because she wanted to.

He shook that thought away and held out an arm. "Shall we?"

Her heart started hammering in her chest at the motion and knew if she wanted to make it through the night she'd have to give, at least a little. Sliding her arm through his she allowed herself a small moment to enjoy the heat and scent of him before speaking. "So where are we off too for dinner?"

"Ari's," he said simply. At her blank look, he laughed. "An old friend from the neighborhood actually opened up a shop about twenty minutes from here." His grin kicked up. "Seriously, the best Italian food you can ever have. When she leaned against him, he shrugged his shoulder to get her to face him, dropping a soft kiss on her surprised lips. "I'm going to ply you with wine and good food---then maybe I won't have to kill myself to learn everything there is to know about you tonight."

Her lip twisted into a semi smirk as she nodded. "Thanks for the warning."

At the arch of his brow she shrugged, "Maybe you'll end up disappointed, " and maybe I'll just stick to water.

He rubbed his thumb along her lower back. The day this woman disappointed him, was the day he stopped recording. "I kinda think that it's an impossibility. I don't care what's in your past, just that I get to see some of your future."

She shook her head as they stepped outside and he opened the car door for her. "You say that now."

Hell he didn't know, it was easy for him to say that now, but later? She was sure he'd be appalled, then try to make it better, men always did. They were fixer's the lot of them. But give them time, when they couldn't fix it, and they'd be gone. Knowing that, she'd figure a way to vanish before it happened. As it was, the parting was going to damn near kill her.

She stilled as she clicked the seat belt in place, her mind spinning at that very thought. When had he become that important to her? When had the thought of not seeing him made her tummy ache? Fuck.

"I mean it, Lex. If anyone has baggage, it's me." He leaned into her, when her breath hitched at his nearness he brushed his knuckles along her cheek. "Nothing you could say would make me turn away from you."

"Wanna bet on that one?"

He met her eyes. "Do you really want to lose another bet to me?"

She snorted then, "Never mind, I take it back. Once is enough thank you kindly."

She twisted in her seat and studied him a moment, the urge to lean into him overpowering in its intensity. "I don't think I could handle losing another bet to ya.” Lost enough to you already Mr. Sambora by losing my darned heart.

He gripped the back of her neck and dragged her in. The fact that she barely resisted told him how much she wanted a taste of him. He forced himself to keep the kiss as close to controlled as possible, but her taste exploded on his tongue. He dragged his mouth across her cheek into her sweet smelling hair until he found her ear. "If I have to win every bet I can think of, I will get to know you, Lex. I just wish you would let me in."

Pulling away from the kiss she managed a nod, her brain already short circuiting from his nearness. She turned to watch the ocean through the car window and murmured, "Maybe I'm afraid to. Losing someone like you would be a mighty big blow ya know."

She softened the murmur with a half smile, and let it sound teasing, but she knew to the core of her being how truthful it was. Nothing she'd lost so far in her life was going sting like losing him would.

He sat back in his seat. "You say it like it's a forgone conclusion." If anyone should be running it was her. He was a train wreck. Oh he'd started back on a reasonably safe route, but there wasn't a guarantee on his schedule.

She quieted as he pulled into the parking lot of Ari's and forced back the tendrils of dread that were starting to build in her belly. It was now or never, do or die. "I'll do the best I can to let you in. You’re a good guy, for all your mistaken belief in being bad news. I just hope you think fondly of me after you get what you wish for."

Resisting the urge to slam his door he rounded the car. "It's that defeatist attitude that pisses me off. I just want to be with you. The only one who's stopping this is you." He cupped her face, tracing his thumb over her cheek. "I'm the one that should worry about you running, not the other way around."

She slid from the car, a slight laugh escaping her. "Just protecting a very nice man from disappointment Mr. Sambora." She winked his way before looping her arm through his. "Shall we?"

The dinner was delicious and the talk was as light as Ari's cream sauce. She finally let him into her world--even if it was only a small corner of it. She even managed to laugh her way through the first two courses.

He allowed her to pretend and even encouraged her to give him the surface stories of the clients she'd worked with over the years. But there was a tension around her eyes that even her distracting belly laugh and length of her exquisite neck couldn't hide. She was trying too hard to steer the conversation into safe topics.

"So tell me about this father figure I'll have to contend with?"

She blinked as the direction of the questions took a sudden turn. The easy part was over with, she could tell it by the gleam of his eye, the way he had suddenly leaned in to her. Reaching for her wine, she took a quick swallow, more to settle nerves than enjoy its taste.

"Nothing to worry about there. They died, quite a while back really."

His hand crossed the table, covering hers. "God, I'm sorry. I lost my dad recently. It never gets any easier."

"She shook her head a moment, a half sad smile creeping onto her lips. "After twenty five years, I barely remember them. Sometimes, even looking at photos I have to stop and remind myself, that was mom or that was dad. Terrible of me huh?"

Like a Rubics cube a few of her colors finally made sense. She was used to being alone. God, at such a young age.

"No, not terrible. That's the beauty of photographs. We'll never quite forget."

Her head tilted, "Photo's are so one dimensional though. You're a lucky guy, you still can remember a laugh or a frown, a particular saying. Sometimes I try to do that and it's just not there for me."

She glanced down then, her finger playing in the water circle left by her glass. "Made me strong though, so I guess it was a good thing. In its own way."

"Making memories isn't just for those you're related to," he said quietly. "What if I want you to make some memories with me." He met her shifting gaze. "What if I want them to be longer than just a few weeks?"

Her attention was pulled from the water circles to his face, the intensity there alternately thrilling and scaring the living shit out of her. "No one stays around that long. Not after."

"What if I was different?" He leaned into her space covering both her hands. "Would it be so bad to trust someone again?"

She studied him as everything about him, each memory, each word he’d spoken flitting through her mind. What if he was different? Could she risk that knowing how he felt about his daughter and kids?

There was no easy answer. She trusted him, and in knowing all she did about him she trusted she'd get herself hurt in the doing of what he asked. Pushing the thought away she managed a brief smile. "I do trust you actually." Trust you to do just what any man who loves kids to do when it all comes out.

"I wish I could believe you," he said gently. He lifted her wrist to his mouth, kissing the side. "Maybe I can convince you tonight."

She felt the thrill of his touch winding through her dread. No matter what, his touch always managed to drive away the demons, at least for a moment or two.

Her voice grew whispery and intense as she offered up a single sudden prayer for this one time to be different, for her not to end up alone. "Maybe you will be. You'll be the first if so. They always leave in the end."