A Private Affair. Donna Hill

constantly for the past few weeks. He took another swallow of his drink. Man, she looked damned good, just as if she belonged in a classy place like this. He didn’t want to stare, so he just kind of played it off, as if looking for somebody. He wondered if she was meeting her man here or something. Didn’t look like it. He blew it the last time he saw her, getting all tongue-tied and whatever. He wouldn’t let another opportunity to get to know her slip by.

      Damn, here he comes. What was she going to do now? Mmmm. How does he walk like that, like he’s floating on some cloud?

      “What if I joined you?” he asked as if he’d known her forever. “Would that be a problem?”

      She looked up into those blue-black eyes and tried to focus on what he’d just asked her and not on the body that needed to be on the centerfold in Playgirl. She shrugged and gave him a half smile. “Suit yourself.” What happened to the irresponsible actions she was going to launch into the next time a guy handed her a line? But this one sounded kind of good.

      She tried to ignore him by signaling the waitress.

      “Pepsi with lemon,” he said when the waitress appeared.

      Nikita looked at him, her eyebrow arched.

      “What…I pay attention to those kinda things.” He grinned. “Jack on the rocks,” he said without taking his eyes away from Nikita. She was even finer than he remembered. The slope of her eyes, the arch of her cheeks and that clingy little T-shirt…

      Dimples. She hadn’t noticed the dimples before. But he sure had them and they were sure pretty. “You’ve been watching me?” she asked, both thrilled and apprehensive.

      “Yeah, for a while.” He paused and scanned the room. “You’re not meetin’ anybody.”

      “How do you know that?”

      He watched her slender body adjust itself, ready to show she was indignant, and felt as if he were being pulled inside of her. “Because we’ve been waitin’ to meet each other for a long time. Our last run-in was just an appetizer. You don’t think I’d forget a woman like you, do you?” He took a sip of his drink and watched her over the rim of his glass. “And I know you didn’t forget me. Tell me I’m wrong, and I’m outta here.”

      If this was a come-on line, she didn’t care. There was just something about him. Something earthy and real, from the rich timbre of his voice, his don’t-give-a-damn attitude, to his inaccessibility. Not like the sophisticated, suit-and-tie, Ivy League men that she was accustomed to. She felt out of her league in his presence, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself from wanting more and had no intention of trying. She was about to take the leap of her life.

      “You’re right. I didn’t forget.”

      He took her hand as if he had all the right in the world. “Quinn.”

      When she looked down at the large, smooth hand that swallowed hers, then upward into his dark eyes, she was a ship at sea. Somewhere, deep inside, she knew he was her anchor. “Nikita.”

      “Nice. It fits you.”

      His smile was slow and easy, like a hot, lazy summer afternoon, with Mama serving cool lemonade on the porch, by the swings. You just wanted to take your time with it and make it last.

      “You from around here?”

      “No. I live on Long Island.” She hated how that sounded—all smug and above it all. But what else could she say?

      He leaned back in his seat, cocked his head to the side, and kind of rolled his eyes up and down her body. “No doubt. Never met nobody from Long Island. So, you one of them w-a-y uptown girls.”

      “What’s that supposed to mean?” She pulled her hand away and wrapped it around the cold glass to cool it.

      “Whatever you want it to mean. You want it to mean something that’s gonna piss you off, then it will. And from the look on you face, it does. Why’s that?”

      “It doesn’t piss me off, as you put it.” Defensive was not the sound she was striving for, but it came out, anyway. She took a sip of her Pepsi and tried again. “What I mean is, I like where I live. I didn’t intend to sound otherwise.”

      He looked at her for a long moment. “Hey, that’s cool. You’re a big girl. Feel any way you wanna.” He wanted to push her, to test her, test her sensibilities. Would she be put off by him? If he let her into his world, what would she do about what she saw?

      “How’s the apartment?”

      The question pulled him back from the turn of his thoughts. “Comin’ along. I’m settlin’ in.” He grinned. “Maybe you’ll get a chance to see it for yourself.”

      Her stomach fluttered and she had to wiggle her toes to shake off a tingling sensation. “Who said I wanted to?”

      He leaned closer across the table. “I know you do. Maybe not tonight, but you will.”

      “You sound awfully sure of yourself for someone who doesn’t know me from Adam.”

      And then he said the most startling thing, in clear, plain English, and she wondered for a second if he were a ventriloquist. “No, I’ve known you all my life, Nikita. We’ve just waited until now to make it official.”

      He was one smooth talker, there was no doubt about that. “Is that right?”

      “Yeah.”

      He grinned, and all those pretty white teeth sparkled against that good-enough-to-eat skin. Nikita was in creamy-black-chocolate heaven.

      “So, you got a last name to go with that first one?”

      Nikita laughed. “Yes. It’s Harrell.”

      “Hmmm.” Quinn nodded. “Nikita Harrell. Sounds important. You important?” His dark gaze probed her.

      “I hope so.”

      Echoes of countless conversations with Lacy danced through his head. How many times had she told him that your worth, your own importance, could never be measured by the make and model of your ride, or the size of the roll in your pocket, or how many people moved out of your way when you walked down the street? He hadn’t listened.

      “You hope so. That’s kinda lame, comin’ from a girl like you. Either you are, or you ain’t. Simple. Don’t think about it. If you don’t know, then who will?” She had that look again, like somebody’d just pinched her behind and she was rarin’ to slap ’em. But he didn’t even care.

      “You have a very interesting way of making my words turn into what you want to hear.”

      “I call ’em like I see ’em. Ain’t that what women look for in a man—honesty?”

      “A little diplomacy wouldn’t hurt your repertoire.”

      Quinn laughed, a deep hearty laugh, and Nikita struggled to keep the smile from her lips.

      “You know you wanna laugh.” He chuckled. “So why don’t you just let go and give in to how you feel? You ever done that before, Nikita Harrell, just gave in to how you was feelin’ without worryin’ about tomorrow?”

      Then, suddenly, his tone changed—softened—caressed. His eyes moved in on her and the world disappeared. It was just the two of them. His finger stroked her hand, setting off the electric currents.

      It’s getting hot in here. She opened her mouth to speak, but he just put that same finger to her lips. His mouth curved up on one side.

      “Don’t answer. Not now. I want that first to-hell-with-the-world experience to be with me.”

      She should have gotten up. She should have run as fast and as far away from this man as possible. But his presence held her there, as surely as if he’d tied her down.

      “There you are.” Parris bent down and pecked Nikita on the cheek, successfully snapping