Tall, Dark & Obnoxious

Episode Six

Pat

Leave it to Max to make Pat's one shot at a little payback backfire on her so epically. Pat knew he had her pegged as uptight and wound way too tight. It's why, when she noticed her sucking that first strawberry had messed with his focus, she decided to lay it on a little thicker. She figured, if he could relentlessly amuse himself at her expense, she could give him a harmless taste of his own medicine. Still, no matter how uptight he considered her, he had to know even the laxest of women would be feeling scandalized right about now. She'd dreamt of that damn smirk all night, and now it was taunting her in the worst way imaginable.

Gathering herself, she refused to comment on the elephant in the room. Mostly because she'd be damned if she'd admit to unwittingly asking for it. Lifting her chin, she turned back to the kitchen door and started marching her heated and likely bright red face right out of there. "I meant lunch, Max. But I'm thinking that's a bad idea now."

"What? I'm up, uh . . ." Unbelievably, she heard him chuckle. Of course, the shameless jerk was loving this. "Down for lunch."

They walked into the kitchen, and she headed for the fridge to put the strawberries away. Thankfully, by the time she turned around, he was standing behind the kitchen island, and it was high enough so she couldn't see below his waist. Following her lead, but still grinning unapologetically, Max went on ignoring the obvious. "Since you do owe me—your words not mine—I say I get to pick what we're having." Pat pressed her lips together, staring at that overly amused grin and braced herself. "How 'bout wings or baby back ribs?" Before she could figure out why this amused him so, he added the next part. "Anything I can watch you suck dry."

Unwilling to give him the upper hand and pissed that he'd managed to turn this so completely around, Pat refused to let him see her squirm. Standing her ground and looking him right in the eyes as unfazed as possible, she shrugged. "Up to you. Just be careful what you ask for. Might be too much for you to handle."

The offending grin started to go flat, and Pat felt a bit triumphant. Until he flashed those perfect teeth again. "That a challenge or a promise?"

Standing up a little straighter, in spite of how hot her face still felt, Pat was determined to not let him win, but this had gone too far. "Okay, ha, ha. Seriously, unless you want me to throw you out—

"Sweetheart," he said, holding his hand up. "I'm sorry, but you can't do or say shit like that and not expect a man to react."

"Do what?" Pat asked, feeling like a complete hypocrite. "Eat fruit? If I'd known it took so little to—"

"Oh, you have no idea."

Locked in his sultry gaze again for a moment, Pat managed to snap herself out of it and started back to the fridge.

"Alright," she said, annoyed that he'd be so utterly tickled by this instead of mortified as he should be. "Do you want lunch or not?"

"Got either of my requests?"

Glad she wasn't facing him anymore, she closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. "No, I don't actually. She turned around to face him when she had a thought. "But I can order a pizza."

"Yeah, that sounds good," he said thankfully, and just when she thought they'd finally moved on, he added, "Most pizza places have wings."

The verdict was in loud and clear. Pat had been debating from the moment Max drove away yesterday about whether having him over again was a good idea or not. She'd written several texts she'd talked herself out of sending. After her restless night of being haunted by those maddening grins, and then today, she knew this should end now. Knowing now how easily she could get this man going would only further the temptation of giving into something crazy.