Chapter 5
She rolled her eyes again. “Come on, Stud, admit it. I’m not exactly your usual date.”
He’d gotten the nickname at the agency long before Beth had come and it had never bothered him before. There was something about the way that she said it that made him feel as if she was mocking him though. The moniker Stud simply did not sound like a compliment when it rolled off of her acerbic little tongue.
“You’re an unusual woman, period.”
“I don’t think so.”
The waiter arrived again with a basket of fresh bread and the salad, then disappeared again just as quickly.
Ethan served her and then himself from the large bowl. “You’re wrong, Sunshine. You are different than most women in this town and yet you were born and raised here.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”
“You’re fresh and sweet, and a man can’t help wondering how you maintained such an aura of innocence in a city so filled with anything but.”
“Are you saying I lack city sophistication?”
He looked her over, letting his gaze linger extra seconds on the parts his body craved to touch. Her little black dress was perfect and the last word in sophistication, not to mention sexy as hell. The way she’d styled her hair was both tantalizing and chic…her makeup was neither too gaudy nor underdone. Nothing about the individual elements lacked the polish he would expect of her mother’s daughter, but Beth still managed to project an innocence that challenged the predator in him to teach her the depths of her own passion.
“No. You don’t lack anything, but you don’t fit this city either. Not like your mom does.”
“Or the women you actually date.”
He shrugged, not sure what to say. It occurred to him that another woman might be justifiably offended by his comments, but Beth was only looking at him with curious speculation.
She sighed. “If you want the truth, I’ve never felt like I fit. Not my family. Not this city. Not any of it.”
“So, why do you stay?”
“I love my parents even if I don’t always get them and vice versa. Besides, D.C. is all I know. I’ve thought of moving…I just wonder if I’d fit in any better someplace else.”
“So, why take a job with the agency?”
“There were a lot of reasons. It was time to make some changes and that felt like the right one. I was also bored out of my mind doing investment counseling.”
“You got a degree in finance.”
“And didn’t realize until too late how much making money bored me. I love what I do for the agency…the way I get to be involved in so many different things and people’s lives.” She buttered a piece of warm bread and put it on his plate.
“Thanks.” He took a bite, his hunger warring with his need to know more about this surprisingly enigmatic woman. “But you don’t live the adventure yourself.”
“Until now.”
But that hadn’t been her idea and he was sure she would have refused if she could see another way around the problem. “What are you afraid of?”
“Who said I was afraid of anything?” She ate a bite of salad, her eyes closing in apparent bliss. She moaned. “This is good. The dressing is perfect.”
“Everything here is perfect.”
Her eyes opened and she smiled. “Good. I’m starving.”
He was, too, but the food was not as alluring as the woman sitting across from him. Or her secrets. “You like touching the pulse of a project, but you’ve never wanted to be out there where the blood is really pounding. I’m wondering what about life scares you so much you don’t want to live it.”
Her brow furrowed. “I never said I didn’t.”
“You read about what you want to do sexually. You don’t do it.” She hadn’t confirmed that, but he was almost positive it was the case. “You hide sexy lingerie beneath conservative business attire,” he said, taking another guess.
Her hand stilled with a forkful of salad halfway to her mouth. “You said you hadn’t gone through my drawers.”
“I haven’t…yet. I saw the top of your stockings when you got into the car.”
“Oh.” Her Madonna-like features blushed. “Conservative attire is appropriate for the office.”
“Maybe…but the more I think about it, the more I realize you hide your natural sensuality.”
“So, now you’re a mind reader and a pop psychologist?”
“No, just a man who knows a lot about women.”
“Now that I believe, but you don’t know as much about this one as you think you do.”
“I’m going to remedy that.”
“So you say.”
“It’s necessary. For the case.”
“What a convenient excuse to sate your overactive curiosity.”
“Isn’t it?”
She ignored that and tucked into her salad.
He let her eat in peace until she finished it and then said, “I still think you’re afraid to live.”
“Are you goading me for a reason?”
Was he? He guessed he was. He wanted to push her past her control and get to the real woman under the put-together, sunny exterior. “You don’t date agents…”
“That merely shows my intelligence, not some deep-seated fear of really living.”
“Why, Beth? What is so smart about refusing to date men who fascinate you?”
“You think agents fascinate me? Brother, you are so wrong.”
“I don’t think so.”
Her dark eyes snapped with irritation. “Stop being a prick.”
“Whoa…that’s a pretty strong reaction for what is essentially a harmless conversation. I must have struck a nerve.” And that interested him. A lot.
“Why don’t we dissect you and see how much you like it?”
“Go ahead, Beth. What you see is what you get.” He put his palms out in an open gesture. “I left my family behind in Texas when I realized I wanted more from life than I could find following in my daddy’s footsteps as a cattleman. So, I left that for my sister and both she and Daddy are happier for it. I like to test my limits with extreme sports and my job, which makes me a little more primitive than your average Washington politician, but that’s not something I’m ashamed of. I’m nowhere near ready to settle down, no matter what my mama might like, and I have very few sexual inhibitions.”
He didn’t know why he added that last bit-like a challenge-except he couldn’t get the image of those hot-pink handcuffs out of his head.
“Which is exactly why I don’t date agents.”
“Because of the lack of sexual inhibitions? I’d say that would be a benefit considering your leanings in that direction.”
“Because agents aren’t good long-term relationship material.”
“You said you weren’t interested in getting married.” And he’d about convinced himself to believe her because doing so would mean he could go after those pretty pink handcuffs with a clear conscience.
After the assignment.
If he made it that long.
“I’m not, but things happen. If you date a man, you can fall in love with him and end up married to him against your better judgment. My mother once told me never to date a man I wouldn’t want to end up married to.”
“That doesn’t sound like your mother. She seems like the type that would encourage dating whoever got you the connections most beneficial to her.”
“She’s not that much of a barracuda. Now if it were my Aunt Connie…”
“Your mom’s sister who is an actual politician, not someone who likes to play behind the scenes like your mom?”
“That’s the one. She makes my mom seem positively June Cleaver maternal by comparison.”
“So, your mom told you not to date agents,” he said, going back to the topic that interested him.
“She told me not to date a man I wouldn’t want to end up married to, and agents make lousy family men.”
Considering the fact her dad had been one, that said a lot about how Beth felt about him as a parent. “You don’t think agents should get married? At all? That’s pretty extreme, don’t you think?”
“I didn’t say that. You’re really into twisting my words tonight. I merely said that agents make lousy family men and that I have no desire to end up married to one. Ever.”