The Rebound Guy (15 page)

Dex knew he wasn’t playing fair, but he didn’t give a damn about playing fair. The only thing he cared about at the moment was convincing Asia to let him seal his mouth to hers again.

When she looked up at him, her eyes held both accusation and confusion. But they also held something else: arousal. Her chest rose and fell rapidly with her short, quick breaths. Her toffee-brown skin was flushed, a dusky rose color burnishing her cheeks.

He wasn’t the only one standing in the middle of this crowded rooftop completely turned on. It was just harder for him to hide the evidence.

“Sorry if I caught you off guard,” Dex said, running his hands on his thighs so he wouldn’t be tempted to reach out and touch her again. “It’s all I could think of to make our story more credible.”
A lie.
That kiss had been pure selfishness on his part.

“Really, Asia, I’m sorry,” he lied again.

“Don’t be,” she said. The husky rasp in her voice lit his blood on fire. She glanced up at him, her eyes glazed with heat. “It’s all a part of the act, right?”

Then she sidestepped him and headed for the cabanas.

Dex remained standing there for several minutes, trying to get his body under control.

When Asia had insisted on a no-hands policy, he hadn’t anticipated it being a problem, because after nearly two years at this and nearly two dozen clients, he had never jeopardized his reputation for a simple kiss. If a client wanted hands off, he abided by her wishes.

Until tonight.

“Shit,” Dex whispered. He didn’t know what the hell had come over him.

Actually, he did know. What had come over him was sitting at a table just a few yards away, looking as shaken as he felt.

Pulling in a fortifying breath, he walked over to the yellow-and-white cabanas and took a seat alongside Asia.

Dexter wasn’t sure how he made it through dinner. He’d munched on beef sliders, Malaysian chicken wings, and crispy pineapple-flavored shrimp, but couldn’t recall how a single dish had tasted. All he could think about was the woman sitting next to him.

The tension radiating between them was so thick he could reach out and touch it. They both continued to play the part of the happy couple, but an undeniable cloud of disquiet hovered over them.

As tropical fruit sorbets in bright colors were served to end the meal, the bride-and-groom-to-be made the rounds, bidding the guests goodnight. Their dinner mates began to leave, but Asia remained seated, chatting with a woman she’d introduced to him, but whose name Dexter had immediately forgotten. He was so off his game tonight it wasn’t even funny.

He waited until Gillian Daniels had left the rooftop before heading to the restroom. When he left the facilities, Cortland was waiting just outside the door.

“Don’t think she’ll stay this attentive for long,” he said.

“Excuse me?”

A crooked smile twisted the other man’s lips. “Asia may seem like the perfect woman right now, but it won’t last. Give her a few days. She’ll get a call from some client who needs her to come in and save the day, and you’ll find yourself taking a backseat.”

“Making sure her clients are taken care of is her job, isn’t it?” Dex asked.

“To Asia, it’s more than her job. It’s her damn life. That phone will ring, and you’ll be on your own.”

“I’m a grown man, Cortland. I can take care of myself. I can also respect Asia’s work ethic. I’m surprised you’re not as understanding. You’re an attorney; I’m sure you find yourself working crazy hours.”

Cortland held his hands up. “I’m just giving you some advice, man to man. Don’t get used to this sweet, attentive Asia, because she won’t be around for long.”

Dex’s lips curled in an arrogant grin. “Thanks for the tip, but I have my own ways of holding her attention.”

He stepped around Cortland and started for the doors leading to the rooftop. He spotted Asia coming inside the bar.

“Are you ready to go?” Dex asked.

“Yes. Lizzie and Rodney only have the place reserved until ten.”

His hand at the small of her back, Dex guided her to the elevators, which took them twenty floors down to street level. Once outside, he raised his arm to hail her a cab, but Asia caught his arm. Dexter looked down at her, his heart reclaiming that wild beat that had possessed it as he’d kissed her.

“Do you have somewhere you need to be right now? I don’t want to go home just yet.”

“Okay.” He nodded and they began walking down Fifth Avenue toward Madison Square Park. Dexter put his hands in his pockets because, at the moment, touching her—even just an innocent hand on her spine—was too much for him to bear.

“Asia, I’m sorry again for what happened up there.”

She folded her arms across her chest, seeming to huddle in on herself. “There’s no need for you to apologize. You explained why you kissed me. I understand what you were doing.” She let out a tired sigh. “I’m just not sure what
I’m
doing anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

Her shoulders lifted in an indifferent shrug as the draft from a passing bus fluttered the hair at her neck.

“Is this still about getting revenge on Cortland? He hardly paid attention to me tonight.” She shook her head. “I knew this wouldn’t work. I never deluded myself into thinking I could really make him jealous. To be honest, I’m not sure Cortland cared enough about me to even become jealous.”

After his conversation with the asshole back at the restaurant, Dex wasn’t so sure if the other man was jealous, either. He’d seemed more interested in cautioning him against Asia’s hectic work schedule than anything else.

“What if Gillian had not believed you when you told her you and I were really dating?” Asia whispered. “I would have made a bigger fool of myself than Cortland ever did with his cheating. I’m not sure why I’m doing this anymore.”

Dex stopped walking. He took her soft hands and held them between his palms, rubbing lightly. “I want you to think about something for me,” he said. “Just bear with me, okay?”

She nodded.

“I want you to close your eyes and picture yourself walking into that dinner party alone.” A grimace flashed on her face. “Think about the mixer on Friday. How would it have felt if you’d been forced to attend it solo? Imagine standing in that room, surrounded by all of your co-workers, people who knew of your broken engagement. Think of how it would have felt to face Cortland and his new girlfriend alone. ”

“It would have been demoralizing,” she admitted, her eyes still closed.

“Do you think you would have enjoyed yourself at either event had you been there alone?”

“No. It would have been torture,” she said, opening her eyes. “Even if I didn’t have to face Cortland and Nina, I still wouldn’t have wanted to face everyone else alone. Having you there as a buffer made it easier.”

“That’s why I’m here,” he said. “You see, there’s something that you haven’t grasped yet, Asia. This isn’t about Cortland. This is about
you
. You told me he broke your confidence. You need to work on building it up.”

She looked up at him, her expressive eyes filled with uncertainty. “How do I even start?”

Dexter squeezed the hands between his palms, the hands she had not pulled away. “By letting me do what I do. I want to help you truly move past him.”

“But you are helping. Having you there tonight was enough —”

“I’m not helping as much as I could,” Dex broke in. He shook his head. “I’ve only known you for a week, Asia, but in that short amount of time I can see where you’ve allowed him to tear away pieces of you.”

“I have not,” she said. Now she slipped her hands from his hold.

“Wednesday night you automatically chose to meet at a Mexican restaurant and then admitted that you don’t eat Mexican food.”

“So I ate chips and salsa for dinner every now and then.” She threw her hands up in the air, then folded her arms defensively over her chest. “I was willing to make small concessions if it made Cortland happy. That’s what people in committed relationships do.”

“Did he ever return the favor?” Dex challenged. “Or did he just make you feel guilty? He accused you of putting everything else ahead of him, but what about the things he put ahead of you, Asia?”

Dex unfolded her arms gently and sandwiched her hands again between his palms. Closing the distance between them, he leaned forward, and lowered his forehead until it met hers.

“Let me help you, Asia. For the next few weeks, I would put you first,” he softly promised. “I would help you to remember all the things you loved to do before you met Stewart and lost yourself.”

She stared up at him for several long moments, a mixture of anticipation and uncertainty swimming in her eyes. When she spoke again, she caught him completely off guard.

“Do you like baseball?”

“Sure.”

“Cortland hates baseball, but I adore it. I haven’t been to a Yankees game in nearly four years. They’re playing the Blue Jays on Wednesday afternoon.”

A slow smile crept up the corners of Dex’s mouth. “Sounds like the perfect way to kick things off. I’ll try to score us a couple of tickets.”

“I have them already,” she said. “I’ve had season tickets since I moved to New York eight years ago. I went in with a couple of friends, but I’ve allowed them to use my tickets because Cortland never wanted to go. Two field-level tickets are just a phone call away.”

Dex couldn’t mask his disbelief.

“What?” She drew her hands from his. “So I like to spend weekends with my boyfriend. Is that so weird?”

“Are you really the same woman who tossed me out of her office last week?” He shook his head, both confounded and annoyed. “I think about how self-assured you were that day and cannot understand how that same woman could allow an asshole like Cortland to take so much of her. Why, Asia?”

She hunched her shoulder, her voice choking as she said, “I wanted to keep him happy.”

Dexter put a finger underneath her chin and lifted her face until she met his gaze. “There’s a difference between sacrificing for a partner and completely losing yourself to him. I want to help you find yourself again, Asia.”

Slowly, her soulful eyes brightened with cautious hope. “I’m ready to let you.”

As they stood in the middle of the sidewalk, the bustling city faded—the blazing neon lights, the blaring taxi horns, the annoyed pedestrians detouring around them. It was only the two of them, along with the current of electricity racing between them.

Dex was treading in dangerous waters. Each second he stood here staring into her exquisite face, he came closer and closer to drowning. But he couldn’t stop himself.

He didn’t want to stop.

Recapturing one of her hands, he pulled until she was flush against him. He lowered his forehead to hers again and said, “There’s just one thing.”

“What is it?” Asia asked.

“If we’re going to make this work, kissing has got to be a part of the equation.”

A hint of a smile graced her full lips. She reached her hand around his head and angled her face up.

Her warm breath rushed across his lips as she whispered, “Definitely.”

Chapter Ten

Asia pulled the bill of her Yankees cap lower to shield her eyes from the glaring sun. An early morning rain shower had cooled the air, but now the sun was back in full force, shining down on their seats just above the visitor’s dugout.

“This is my first time at the new stadium,” she said. “I thought I’d feel nostalgic about the old one, but I don’t. This is amazing.”

“I hadn’t been to either one,” Dexter said. “I’m a Braves fan. I usually just catch the games on television.”

“That’s right. You grew up in Atlanta.” She looked over at him. “You know, if you hadn’t said anything, I never would have known that you were not a native New Yorker. You don’t have a Southern accent.”

“Not everyone from the South has an accent.” Dexter chuckled.

She was getting very used to hearing his laugh. It was unwise to get used to anything about him. He was a temporary figure who would be out of her life almost as quickly as he’d come into it. But her brain chose to ignore the warning.

“How long have you been in New York?” she asked.

“I moved here about six years ago.” He tilted his head to the side as if thinking. “Actually, I guess it’s closer to seven now.”

“Were there not enough dogs to walk in Atlanta?”

The question triggered his laugh again. “The demand for professional dog walkers diminishes the further you are from a big city, but I was not always a dog walker.” He stared across the field, towards the Yankees’ bullpen. After a moment, he said, “I worked on Wall Street my first few years in New York.”

“Ah, that explains it,” Asia said.

“Explains what?”

“How you were able to hold your own at the GPPR mixer. Most spouses or significant others who aren’t in the industry spend the entire night trying to avoid those conversations, but you jumped right in. You were impressive.”

A grin surfaced. “Glad to know I impressed you.”

He did so much more than impress her. He stirred all kinds of things within her, sensations that had lain dormant for so long that Asia had forgotten they existed.

In the couple of weeks since Cortland’s departure, she had come to realize that their sex life had turned into a duty that she penciled in instead of something she looked forward to. Cortland had blamed it on her work schedule, but Asia was beginning to believe that it was something else entirely.

In reality, her sexual attraction to Cortland had never been as strong as she’d wanted it to be. She’d desired him well enough, and for the most part, he’d fit the bill, fulfilling the need when it arose. She’d told herself that Cortland suited her life in so many other ways that settling for a less than thrilling sex life wasn’t too much to ask.

Then along came Dexter Bryant.

Asia couldn’t deny that since the morning he’d walked into her office nearly two weeks ago, he’d had her thinking about what her previously understimulated libido had been settling for. When it came to sexual magnetism, on a scale of one to ten, Dexter was a two-hundred-eighty-five.