Perfect for You

reached out and ran his thumb along her lower lip. She inhaled sharply, feeling the touch down to her toes.
    Something inside her unfurled. The noise from the restaurant faded as she met his gaze. She got caught there, in the heat and desire she saw.
    It made her breathless.
    He wanted to kiss her. It was there in his too blue eyes.
    "Stop," she said, hearing the weakness in her voice.
    He looked sincerely contrite, as if he knew he went too far. "I'm sorry I crossed your boundaries. It won't happen again, I promise."
    "Good."
    "The next time you'll be dying for my touch."
    No way in hell. She was going to find someone appropriate through her ad, and then she wouldn't be so desperate she was tempted by a lawyer.
    She folded her napkin and dropped it on the table. "I have to get home."
    "I'll walk you." He signaled for the waitress, who came running the second she saw he wanted something from her.
    "I'm paying for myself," she said firmly. This wasn't a date.
    Cavanaugh paused and looked up from cleaning his hands. He studied her for all of two seconds before he said, "Okay."
    "That was easy. I expected more of a struggle."
    "No, I understand." He pulled some cash out of his wallet and handed her the bill. "This was just our first date and you want to keep your boundaries in place."
    "That's not it at all." She frowned as she pulled on her coat. She let him guide her out the restaurant before she continued. "If we were on a date, even a first date, and you had asked me out, I would've expected you to pay."
    "Ah." Greg nodded as he tucked her hand into the crook of his arm, impersonal enough that she didn't mind. "So because you asked me to join you we obviously were going dutch?"
    "I didn't ask you to join me. You barged in on my dinner. I'm saying this wasn't a date."
    "It wasn't?"
    "Of course not. An outing has to meet several criteria before it can be called a date."
    His mouth curved into one of those smiles that could make a female corpse sit up and do a jig. "What type of criteria?"
    "You mean aside from one party actually wanting to spend time with the other?" she asked pointedly.
    "Aside from that minor detail."
    She frowned as she really thought about it. She should have known he'd actually ask her. "I guess there are three ingredients to a date. Anticipation, sharing, and a kiss. Without any one of those, it's just a casual get together."
    His eyebrows flattened, which she recognized as a sign of him thinking. "What do you mean by anticipation?"
    "Butterflies in the stomach, the mad scrambling to look pretty. That kind of thing."
    His lips twitched. "What about a spontaneous, spur of the moment date? Anticipation isn't possible then."
    "There's still a sort of anticipation. Like where he's going to take you and what you're going to do. Or for a kiss maybe."
    He nodded. "Okay, I concede that point."
    "Thank you." They turned the corner onto their street.
    "And the sharing?"
    She heaved a sigh. "You have to dissect this, don't you?"
    "I just want to understand your point of view."
    Freya couldn't tell if he was teasing her or being serious. He seemed serious, but why would he? She humored him anyway. "Sharing. An exchange. A give and take."
    "Like dinner," he said in an aggravatingly lawyer-like way.
    "We didn't share dinner," she said quickly. "You crashed mine."
    "And then we shared." He cocked his eyebrow, daring her to deny it before continuing like the relentless lawyer he was. "And you have to admit, sharing food is one of the ultimate sensual activities."
    "Yes, but it wasn't sensual." She tried to pry her arm loose as she marched up the steps but he wouldn't let her go.
    "Are you sure about that?" He stopped her at the top of the stairs. He stood on one lower, and it put his eyes level with hers. Unfortunately, his lips were also right there, and they looked capable. Very capable. Especially when it came to nibbling. And maybe even sucking.
    She cleared her throat. "Forget dinner. It doesn't change the fact that there was no anticipation and definitely no kissing."
    "Not yet."
    "Don't even try it. I don't want your lips anywhere near mine," she lied, her gaze dropping to his mouth.
    "You sure?"
    His voice was sex-laden and for a second she was tempted to let him light her fire. He'd be able to unleash the sexy goddess locked inside. She could use him for sex and cast him aside when she was done with her design.
    Except something told her he wouldn't let her dismiss him so easily. Something told her he