Suzanne Brockmann - Tall, Dark and Daring - The Admiral's Bride

He couldn’t hide his frustration. “There’s more we need to discuss.”

Zoe started for the door. “Load the jukebox with quarters, then buy another round for your friends. As soon as there’s a lull, ask me to dance. Hal doesn’t mind if the waitresses dance with the paying customers. We can talk more on the dance floor. Just make sure the songs you pick are ballads.” She paused, her hand on the door. “I know this is distasteful for you, but I can’t think of any other way for us to have a private conversation.”

“Zoe—”

She closed the door behind her and hurried to the bar.

JAKE MADE A QUICK SWEEP of the room as he headed for the jukebox. The bar wasn’t filled to capacity, but compared to when he’d first come in, it was hopping.

A tall man with long, greasy salt-and-pepper hair and a droopy mustache was behind the bar with Zoe and the bartender. He had to be Hal Francke. Sure enough, he didn’t move past Zoe in the crowded space without touching her in some way.

So bring me there and make love to me .

Jake shook his head to exorcise Zoe’s husky voice. She’d been serious. He’d seen it in her eyes. She would have had sex with him, in front of those cameras, to boot, in order to get this job done.

He stared sightlessly at the listing of songs on the old-fashioned jukebox, wishing he had some of her recklessness, her impetuousness, her careless youth. Wishing he could break away from everything that held him to the past, but knowing that even if he could forget for one night, for one hour , even if he could lose himself completely in this woman’s sweet arms, he’d wake up and be right back where he’d started in the morning.

Or maybe even in a worse place.

I know this is distasteful for you…. Zoe had said that as she walked out the door. He had to set her straight. He couldn’t have her continue to believe that. There was a lot about this assignment that was distasteful, but being with her was not.

Like he’d told her nearly five weeks ago—he liked kissing her. Too much. And even after all this time apart, he still liked it. Still much too much. He’d thought the distance would be good, that it would give him some perspective, some sense of reality. But all those weeks he’d dreamed about her in ways that were outrageously inappropriate.

He’d started out dreaming of Daisy, erotic, sensuous dreams of lovemaking filled with heat and light and such vivid sensations. But his dream would shift and change, the way dreams often do, and then Zoe would become the woman in his arms, her body wrapped around him.

He’d wake up, dizzy and out of breath and achingly, painfully alone.

Jake forced himself to focus and fed the jukebox dollar bills, punching in all the slow romantic ballads he could identify. He’d just picked a LeAnn Rimes song when he saw Christopher Vincent approach, his image shimmery but unmistakable in the curved glass.

He felt himself tense and worked hard to keep the smile on his face a pleasant one. God, when Christopher had grabbed Zoe, Jake had had to physically restrain himself. He’d come damn close to picking the man up and throwing him across the room.

“I guess our new little waitress likes you,” Christopher said.

Jake pushed the buttons for a Garth Brooks song, not even looking up. “Oh, is she new here?”

“She came into town a few weeks ago. Hal met her at some party. Don’t worry. I’ve checked her out. She’s exactly what she says she is.”

“Well, that’s good to know.” Jake smiled at Chris. “But no real surprise. I mean, she doesn’t come across as some kind of rocket scientist or—I don’t know—some kind of biochemical engineer. Can you imagine her in a lab coat?”

Christopher laughed, and Jake laughed, too, knowing that the real joke was on the CRO leader. God, it was going to be so good to nail this guy ….

“Yeah,” Chris said, “I can imagine her wearing only a lab coat.” He laughed again. “She is some hot ticket.”

Jake turned to the jukebox, uncomfortable with Christopher’s openly lascivious appraisal of Zoe, not wanting to be a part of it in any way.

“I’ve seen her counting on her fingers,” Chris continued, “but with a body like that, it’s almost better that she’s not too bright.” He looked at the bar, watching Zoe as she poured another pitcher of beer. “Oh, yeah. She’s choice.”

As if she were a cut of meat. Jake felt his smile turning even more brittle and he stared at the jukebox, reminding himself why he couldn’t simply beat the hell out of Christopher Vincent right here and right now.

“Just so you know not to get your hopes up too high,” Christopher told him before he walked away, “she’s holding out for marriage, our little Zoe is. You’d have better luck with Carol.”

Jake glanced at the bar, but Zoe was gone. He quickly scanned the room, found her making the rounds of tables, double-checking that everyone had all the beer and liquor they needed to get them through the next few minutes.

She looked up, caught him gazing at her, and for a fraction of a second, he saw a glimmer of uncertainty in her eyes. Distasteful. Did she honestly think he found this part of the set up distasteful?

But just like that the uncertainty was gone and she smiled.

It was a very inviting, very warm smile, complete with a very slow, very appreciative up-and-down look that was totally lacking in subtlety. It was a look he might’ve gotten back in high school, and his body responded in a way far more appropriate for a seventeen-year-old than a fifty-something grown man.

Jake moved toward her as surely as she made her way toward him. It was as if they both were magnetized, as if they couldn’t have stayed apart from one another even if they’d tried.

Zoe set her tray on top of an empty table.

He slipped his hands into the back pockets of his jeans, afraid if he didn’t he wouldn’t be able to keep himself from reaching for her.

“I didn’t buy another round yet,” he told her. “When I came out, someone else had just—”

“It’s okay.” She looked away, as if suddenly shy. “You know, if you don’t want to dance, we could try sitting at a table toward the back. But Gus and Hal might—”

He took his hands out of his back pockets, and just like that, he had her by her hand and was pulling her toward the dimly lit dance floor next to the jukebox. Just like that she was in his arms and swaying gently in time to the music.

“You should talk fast,” she told him. “I don’t know how long I’ll have before Gus needs me.”

He pulled her closer. “This is not distasteful,” he murmured into her ear. “Let’s start with that, all right?”

Zoe shook her head. “Jake, you don’t have to—”

“It’s just …” He searched to find the words that would explain. “It’s very … weird for me. I was with only one woman for nearly thirty years—nearly your entire lifetime. Can you even imagine that?”

Silently, she shook her head.

“I’m going to make everyone in this bar believe that I’ve got a major thing for you,” he told her. “And doing that will not be distasteful. I’d be lying if I told you I haven’t spent the past weeks looking forward to this. Looking forward to it, and dreading it, all at the same time. You’re a great kid, Zoe, and a beautiful woman and … And I’m sorry if I can’t be as blasé about any of this as you, and I’m sorry in advance if I somehow make you feel bad. Holding you, even dancing like this, hurts a little bit. But it feels good, too. Really good. Which in turns hurts a little bit more. Does that make any sense at all?”