Free The Virgin's Revenge by Dee Tenorio Page B

can I get your jalapeño poppers on the side?”
    “You sure, honey?” May Belle leaned down as if being conspiratorial worked in this building. “Most girls like to get a little less to eat on a date.”
    “It’s okay,” Amanda reassured with a teasing flick of her eyes his way. “He already knows every secret I have. Isn’t that right, Cole?”
    The horror must have showed on his face, because May Belle just snickered, “’Atta girl.”
    “May Belle’s crazy,” Amanda said into the dumbfounded silence a minute later, looking out at the rest of the people there like a girl at her first theater experience. “But wouldn’t it be funny if they all thought we were out on a date too?”
    Oh sure. Hilarious.
    She made a face before rolling her eyes at him. “Oh, come on, Cole. Lighten up. It’s not like anyone would seriously think that. Look at us.”
    Affront he shouldn’t be feeling rose out of nowhere. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “Nothing, really. It’s just, you’re you and I’m… me .”
    “Is that supposed to make sense?”
    Her sigh should have knocked over the building, and unless his hearing was damaged, she muttered, “So oblivious.”
    He leaned back against the tall wall dividing the booths and crossed his arms.
    “Okay, I’ll spell it out to you. Do you ever bring dates to Shaky Jake’s?”
    Hell, no. “Not lately.”
    “Not ever ,” she corrected, sounding like one of his grade-school teachers. “I’d have heard about it. Because you know everyone and their grandma would be talking about it next day. Bringing a girl to Shaky Jake’s is like taking one to a wedding as your date—might as well just put a ring on her finger because you just announced to everyone that you’re serious about her. Right?”
    He wasn’t going to agree with her. She’d like that too much.
    “Now, let’s look at me. I don’t date. Everyone here knows it. Look, there’s Susie over there at the bar.” She waved to her friend and boss.
    The leggy brunette caught her gesture and apart from her blue eyes going wide for a second, all she did was raise her shot glass in response.
    Amanda turned back to him, her mouth flat. “If Susie thought I was on a date, she’d be over here in a heartbeat, dragging me to the women’s restroom, fixing my hair and slapping makeup on my face with a paint roller.”
    “What’s wrong with your hair?” He had to question the most glaring part of her diatribe. It looked silky as always. Gleaming with health and all those streaks of cream.
    “Nothing that a determined chemist can’t fix.” She rolled her eyes. “The point is, unless I tackle you to the table and have sex with you right here in the booth, no one is going to think it remotely possible that you’re doing anything but having dinner with your sister.”
    It was tempting to be relieved. Very, very tempting. If she didn’t sound that tiniest touch hurt, if she didn’t sound as if she were talking to herself instead of him…
    It was that note, he decided, that did him in.
    I’m so going to hell for this…
    “Amanda?”
    She snapped out of her reverie just as he was getting to his feet. He reached for her hand, waiting to see if she took it. One last chance to keep himself from this stupid impulse.
    She looked at him like he was crazy, but she took his hand before he could change his damn fool mind. She even let him pull her to her feet so she could stand right in front of him, all kinds of questions in her blue-gray eyes. Eyes he finally let himself drown in for a few seconds. Just a few.
    Then he kissed her.
     
    Oh. My. God.
    Amanda’s hand settled over Cole’s chest, every sound from the busy bar completely disappearing. Her senses only had room for him.
    His lips slid over hers, warm and smooth. She breathed him in, lifting her mouth closer. Wanting more. For a second, he hovered, as if he were going to end it before she even fully realized what he was doing. Then, with a hiss of his