Fire In His Eyes (Secrets & Seduction #1)(9)
Victor reached over to turn on the radio and music immediately filled the car. He dropped the volume a tad so we could talk. “I love music, you?” he asked, making polite conversation. I did, but I didn’t recognize this artist, it was up tempo with a lot of bass.
“Yes, I do. I am horrible with names though. I like whatever is on the radio, contemporary, rock, pop, whatever,” I told him rambling on as his hand was now on my leg stroking it; once again he was touching me and keeping me from any coherent thought.
“I love music, too.” He leaned over and gave me a quick, gentle kiss on the cheek, and then a lop-sided boyish grin as he straightened back into his seat and began to concentrate on driving. It was my first chance to really take him in tonight. He was so incredibly handsome, like a Greek god. He had classical features; a strong nose and chin, and chiseled cheekbones. And if what I felt beneath his shirt proved to be true, he was ripped and fit as well. I knew he ran, but he must also work out. I couldn’t wait to see his body later. His head was shaved closely and his facial hair was a little longer. He had what look liked a day of stubble. He looked good morning sexy. Incredible! The urge to bite him popped into my head. The sensations that his stubble had evoked as it swept along my neck and throat, had been purely erotic. The combination of that roughness and his soft smooth lips had me panting when we kissed earlier; it had been strangely titillating as well. He caught me admiring his profile and so took my hand in his and drew it to his lap while he drove one-handed with the other. He was using his thumb and fingers to caress me between each of my fingers and the top of my hand. God, even this was causing my heart to palpitate. It seemed he was always touching me somewhere, the contact sending bolts of electricity running through me. It kept me on edge, and most definitely kept me from thinking clearly.
“So Victor, are you in the military,” I asked, trying to clear my thoughts. He also knew what I did, and I wanted to learn more about him.
“Not anymore.” He offered no more than that for a little while looking pensively out the window focused on driving. “My friends, the ones you saw me with last night still are, but I am not in the military any more. I was for ten years and I loved it. I miss it and them, my friends. We still hang out though.” He paused again, and it seemed he was choosing his words carefully. “I am a contractor now in new construction.” I was about to ask another question, when he gazed at me sideways and said, “I saw a Chili’s not too far from here. Not fancy, but they make a great margarita? Is that okay with you?”
“Sure, I like Chili’s” I answered. There weren’t too many nice restaurants in Hudson, but Chili’s had great food, and Victor was right about the margaritas. They were delicious and used top shelf Cuervo rather than some bitter knock-off tequila.
In just another minute we were pulling into the parking lot of Chili’s. It was only a few miles from where I lived. Victor stilled me when I made to get out of the car, and he came around to open my door for me, giving me his hand to draw me out of the car, and with his hand on the small of my back he steered me towards the entrance. I wasn’t used to guys opening doors for me, being gallant. I like it, a lot. Even though I barely knew him, and I knew his focus tonight was on seduction, those little things, those touches, and his demeanor and actions made me feel safe, protected.
We were seated right away by the hostess when we walked in, and then a waitress who was right behind her asked if we would like to order a drink.
“Two margaritas, doubles,” Victor responded casually then glanced at the young waitress focusing his attention on her. I was a little bothered by the once over he was giving the adorable young blonde. My heart clenched when he took her arm and turned it to remark, “Hey, nice tattoo!” I had a bit of a hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach; it was a feeling I didn’t like, but his touching her bothered me. It made me feel a little insecure, a little jealous, frankly. I tried to put those feeling aside to reflect upon later, and then glanced at the young pretty blonde again, she couldn’t have been more than twenty. I might have taught her a few years ago, but did not recognize her or the name I read on the nametag, Nicole. She was very pretty, but the tattoo she had on her arm wasn’t anything remarkable, just some tribal bands with the words Hot! Hot! Hot! above them.
The girl giggled, batted her eyes and blushed to her roots at Victor’s attention. Forget, twenty, she was probably more like eighteen. I’ll admit, it made me a little jealous that he had noticed it and was holding her arm to admire it. The moment felt awkward to me. “Oh, that is just a temporary tattoo. All the waitresses are wearing them to promote our new spicy, bold menu items.”
“Yeah, I saw the hostess with one on her arm too, and I was curious about it. So the new menu items are hot, I do like things that are hot,” and then his gaze swept across to me, landed on me. He was staring hard. Those eyes. They tormented me, and when he looked at me like that I felt like the only woman in the room. I let out a shaky exhalation of relief; he was just being polite, making conversation I told myself. The girl turned and left us then, and we made casual conversation about the various menu items, work, and friends, but conversation with Victor always seemed to be anything but casual. They were filled with innuendos and suggestions. He had a way of making everything sound erotic, and naughty. It kept me on edge and disconcerted. He told me about the things he missed from his days in the military, the camaraderie of the enlisted, the travel to faraway places, the routine, and P.T. It turned out he was a real physical fitness buff. I was too, now. We had that in common. Check. We both ran every day. Check. He liked to run races, marathons, and had even done a few triathlons, something I had been thinking about training to do for a while now.