He pressed circles against her clit, feeling the satin grow wet under his touch, feeling her thighs tremble. He didn’t pause even when a group of people passed by, their voices filling the booth for a moment.

She choked on a gasp, but no one could see past the front of the table. Eric had made sure of that, in the interest of privacy, but he hadn’t anticipated they’d need it quite this much.

As her breathing grew more ragged, her fingers dug into his thigh. She stared straight ahead, her expression caught somewhere between pleasure and worry.

Was she an exhibitionist? Was that her thing? Eric didn’t give a damn as long as she kept making those soft, whimpering sounds. As long as she clutched his thigh as if he was anchoring her to the earth.

“Oh, my God,” she whispered.

He didn’t move in to kiss her. He didn’t dare get any closer. As it was, if the waitress reappeared, she would see nothing more than a man turned slightly toward a woman as they talked. So instead of kissing her, Eric watched her face closely. Redness touched her cheeks like rouge. Her pulse beat hard in her throat. He increased the pressure against her clit, and the skin around her eyes tightened as her pupils went wider.

Someone spoke loudly in the booth next to theirs. Laughter echoed through the booth.

“Oh, God,” she moaned. “I…”

Her hips twitched, pushing up against his hand. Her thighs shook around him as her muscles spasmed. She was coming. Right here. Right now. His other hand tightened into a fist that he pressed mercilessly against the table. His cock grew so hard that it hurt.

She bowed her head and he could barely hear her strangled cry as she jerked against him.

Eric stared at the fall of her hair, utterly shocked at what he’d just done. He’d made this woman come. He’d stroked her to climax in a public place and he hadn’t even kissed her yet.

He was going to have to be bad more often.

THIS WAS SEXUAL LIBERATION. This was embracing a fantasy. This was also a little bit awkward as he eased his hand out from between her thighs.

Beth raised her head. She didn’t look at him, but she could see that his wineglass wasn’t quite steady as he raised it for a drink. She pressed her thighs together and savored the last little spasms of pleasure that took her.

Were they supposed to talk now? Discuss the latest movies? Beth couldn’t begin to think at this point.

“Will you excuse me for a moment?” she whispered before smoothing down her skirt and sliding out of the booth.

“Of course,” he said, his words following her toward the dark hallway.

She found the women’s room and pushed through the door, immediately meeting her own eyes in the mirror. She looked dazed. And flushed. She looked like a woman who’d just done something wicked.

Covering her mouth, she whispered, “Wow.” She pressed her hand harder, trying to stop the grin that was starting. But she couldn’t stop it. She’d just done something totally insane. In public. “Oh, wow,” she said again, the words dissolving into laughter.

Her panties were soaking wet. Her thighs weak and shaky. And he was still at the table, waiting for her.

The door whooshed open behind her, and Beth pressed her lips together to stifle her grin as she reached for the faucet so she’d look less conspicuous. She couldn’t just stand there grinning at herself, even if she was the most awesome woman in the building.

As soon as she heard the stall door close behind her, Beth smiled at herself again. She dried her hands and smoothed her hair. She didn’t need to touch up her makeup. Her lips were flushed deep red and her eyes sparkled. Hell, yeah.

Beth undid one more button on her shirt and opened the door. She was going to take this man home tonight. Preferably within the next quarter hour.

Three steps outside of the bathroom she ran straight into disaster.

“Beth!” Cairo squealed as she reached out to grab Beth’s shoulders. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh!” Beth yelped. “Cairo! I…” She looked past Cairo’s head and saw Jamie watching their little reunion. Crap. “I’m meeting with a, um, an accountant. From the accounting seminar. About tax…strategy.”

“Well, come here. I want you to meet Harrison.”

“Who?” Beth asked, dumbfounded by shock.

“Harrison, my boyfriend. He’s a bartender here.”

Oh, Jesus. Why hadn’t she paid closer attention to Cairo’s stories? Harrison was the newer of her two boyfriends, and Beth belatedly remembered that he worked nearby. Unfortunately, she hadn’t registered the useful details. “I can’t, I need to finish this meeting.”

Cairo tugged on her arm. “Come on. It’ll only take a second.”

Beth had to follow her, but she threw a wide-eyed look at Jamie over her shoulder. She held up one finger in the hopes he’d take the message and stay put. Though he frowned, he leaned back in his seat. Thank God.

“That’s him,” Cairo whispered, waving toward a young man at the other side of the room. He was slim and of average height, but that was the only average thing about him. His hair was a close buzz cut, bleached so blond it was nearly white. It offered a stark contrast against his bronze skin and black tattoos. He was pierced and studded in multiple places on his face, and Beth knew for a fact that the ornamentation continued down his body.

He stopped before them with a wide, welcoming smile.

“This is Beth,” Cairo said. “My boss.”

“I’m Harrison. Nice to meet you.” He reached across the bar to shake her hand and slid a wine list toward her with the other. “Let me buy you a drink.”

“Oh. I’d better…” She darted a look toward the booth.

“No, stay!” Cairo said. “It’ll be fun. You said you were almost done with the meeting, right? We never hang out anymore.”

Beth couldn’t believe this was happening. She thought of Jamie waiting in the booth like some clean-cut sex god. She looked at Cairo’s bleach-blond alternative toy with a sense of hopelessness.

“Wait a minute,” Cairo said. “Are you sure you’re only here for a business meeting?”

“What? Of course, it’s just a meeting. Ha! I’ll go finish up and I’ll be right back. You order for me, Harrison.”

She was being ridiculous. She had nothing to be ashamed of. Yes, Jamie looked a lot like an off-duty stockbroker, but Beth didn’t have anything to prove. She should just stand up and take it like a woman.

Still, she’d taken a big step today. Best to put off any more growth until tomorrow. Anything more might break her.

She slid into the booth next to Jamie and grabbed her purse. “I’m really, really sorry, but you have to go,” she said in rush.

“Excuse me?” Jamie asked, still relaxed against the seat back.

“I know it’s awful. Unforgivable really, leaving you like this. After you… But there’s somebody here, and—”

He sat straight up. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

“No! It’s not that, it’s just…”

His confused frown darkened to suspicion. “What?”

“This is hard to explain. And after what we…um… There’s someone here from my shop. One of my employees, and…”

“And?”

“And I have an image to maintain.”

“I’ll sit on the other side of the table. We’ll be perfectly respectable.”

Heat burned in her face. “That’s not what I mean.”

“Beth.” He raised his hands in helpless question. “I’m trying hard to understand, but I’m missing something here.”

She snuck a look around the banquette to be sure Cairo was still at the bar before offering a longer explanation. “Okay, listen. The White Orchid is Annabelle Mendez’s dream. It’s an extension of her. Sophisticated, edgy, daring. Cool and hip and modern. The shop is Annabelle, and I’m committed to maintaining everything she is. Every single person I hire is open-minded and forward-thinking. Invested in women’s sexual freedom. And I am too. It’s just that…”

He leaned forward.

“On occasion, I find myself attracted to a man like you.”

“Like me?” He sounded caught halfway between insult and pride.

“Traditional. Sort of…old-fashioned.”

“Old-fashioned?”

She waved a hand, her mind searching desperately for a better descriptor. “You’ve got a country-club vibe, you know?”

His mouth opened as if he meant to repeat her words again, but then he only shook his head. He looked…traumatized? “I run a brewery,” he rasped.

Beth pressed her hands to her eyes to give herself a chance to gather up the courage she’d sat down with. “I’m sorry.” When she opened her eyes, he looked a little less confused, but maybe she’d only pressed her eyeballs too hard. “I’m sorry,” she repeated. “I’d heard of you and I kind of thought… Well, considering your reputation, I thought maybe you were a no-strings-attached kind of guy. And, obviously, I’d want a no-strings-attached kind of, um, encounter. Not a date. Not in public.”

“You mean you…? You’d want to…”

“Oh, God. I’m sorry. This is so wrong, especially after what just happened. Jamie, I really like you, but I don’t know what I was thinking. I can’t get involved with a guy like you.”

He took a deep breath. “You… Jesus. ‘A guy like me?’ All this talk about being open-minded, but you seem pretty damn narrow-minded about me.”

“Oh, there you go,” she said, relieved that her ridiculousness had removed any chance he’d like her. “Yet another problem! I’ve exposed myself as a hypocrite, another good reason not to get involved.” She was nodding, but Jamie was shaking his head in what appeared to be utter shock.