Dinner was wonderful and Declan looked at her in approval when she ate almost every bite of the mouthwatering steak he had grilled for them. He hadn’t even cringed when she knocked over her full wine glass and drenched the table and the floor beneath it. They cleared the table and loaded the dishwasher like an old married couple. She couldn’t believe that she was so comfortable being alone with a man in his apartment. This was Declan though. They had spent so much time talking at the office that she was almost as comfortable around him as she was with Beth.

They carried their glasses of wine back into the living room and, with a knowing smirk, Declan casually dropped a towel beside her glass. “Okay, did we decide on my award-winning movie selection of Sleepless in Seattle or your action-packed movie Lethal Weapon which is filled with a lot of amusing, gratuitous violence?”

Pursing her lips, Ella said, “Hmmm, well, you make a strong case for both movies. I feel that choosing the first movie would just make me into a stereotypical girlie girl who lives and breathes for a good chick-flick. Therefore, I feel that I must choose the second movie just to break out of the restraints that society has placed upon the female sex.”

As Declan started to applaud, she was proud of herself until he said, “Oh Ellie, I bet that was a fine speech, but I completely shut down when you said restraints and sex in the same sentence!”

Ella started blushing as images of those two things flashed through her head. “Um . . . that could have been a poor choice of words, well, unless you’re into that. Are you . . . into that?” Did I really just ask him if he wants to tie me up during sex?

She was happy to see that she wasn’t the only one completely thrown by that train of thought.

Declan fumbled so much with the movie cases that he was beginning to look like he was practicing his juggling routine. Clearing his throat he said, “Well . . . I’ve tried it before, yes,” then he quickly added, “But you don’t need to worry about that Ellie. I would never ask you to do something that you didn’t want to do.”

Giving it some thought, Ella finally said, “I’ll just have to try it and see if I like it. Do you do the whole spanking thing with it or is that something else?” She was alarmed to see that he had turned white as a ghost and seemed to just be staring at her in a daze. “Are you feeling okay? You’re sweating and you look like you might pass out.” Jumping up, Ella started to the kitchen to get him a glass of water.

“No,” he managed to croak out. “I’m fine. You just . . . distracted me for a minute there with all of the spanking talk. Before you even ask, yes . . . I have tried that as well, and no, I’m not doing that to you. At least, no time soon. Ellie . . . baby, can we please not talk about anything else below the belt tonight? This would be a bad time to figure out that I have a heart condition.”

Ella looked down to find that things below his belt line had gotten a bit more noticeable than they had been. The realization dawned on her that without even trying, she had turned him on in quite a big way. Really big. She couldn’t help but feel proud of herself. She had been wondering how she could get to Declan and apparently just talking about restraints, sex, and spankings did the trick. When he settled beside her on the couch, she curled into his side and after a brief hesitation; he wrapped his arms around her and settled her head under his chin. If it felt this good to be in his arms fully clothed, Ella could only imagine how it would feel to be skin to skin with him.

***

Declan pulled back the covers and settled in his king-size bed alone. He found that he longed for the day when Ella would cuddle beside him. It was damn near killing him to take things slow. She made it pure torture to do the right thing. He had almost stroked out tonight when she asked him if he was into spankings or tying her up. WTF! He had been constantly trying to shift his cock around during the movie without her noticing. It was hard enough to be that close to her without ripping her clothes off. It went to almost impossible when she wiggled her little bottom and draped herself all over him to watch her damn movie.

He had never met a woman who was full of so many contradictions. He knew from their conversations at the office that she wasn’t an uptight prude, but truthfully, he wasn’t prepared for who Ella was emerging to be. Come on, who would have thought that the church girl was an action-movie junkie? She wasn’t just pretending to be to impress him either. She had quoted line after line from Lethal Weapon tonight, before it even happened on screen. After that, she had talked with great affection about the next movies in the series and how they tied in with the first one. He had a bad feeling that if Mel Gibson ever visited Myrtle Beach, he would be dumped like yesterday’s news.

It was getting harder and harder, both literally and figuratively to walk away from her door after a goodnight kiss. My God, she was enthusiastic. He was still trying to figure out how she had managed to wrap her legs around his waist tonight without his help. One minute he had been starting to pull away and the next minute her legs were around him and his cock was nestled against her crotch. That had ensured another five minutes of near torture as he tried desperately to talk himself out of ripping her panties off and taking her right there where all her neighbors could see. Clearly what Ella lacked in experience, she more than made up for in enthusiasm. She had tried to urge him inside of her apartment for some privacy, but he knew if he crossed that threshold, there was nothing stopping him from finally taking her.

The lines were getting blurred with her. He had made no promises in the beginning and now after only a few dates, even he was thinking crazy shit. He was a soldier, for God’s sake, where was his control? He had exercised it his whole life, even before the military, so why was it deserting him now? Maybe it had just been too long between women. He could go out now and take care of it. There had been no talk of exclusivity. But he knew in his heart that Ella would be destroyed if she found out that he had slept with another woman and even he wasn’t that big of a bastard. He had lain in a damn wet ditch in Afghanistan for hours without making a move. Surely, he had the willpower to keep his dick in his pants for another few weeks until Ella was ready. With that thought, he resorted to doing something he hadn’t in quite some time . . . he took matters into his own hands while thinking about the woman who was slowly driving him out of his mind.

Chapter Nine

Ella wondered not for the first time, why she had called this lunch meeting. After another couple of weeks of never getting Declan off her doorstep and into her apartment at the end of the evening, she was beginning to think there was something wrong with her. She had to bite the bullet, and went straight to Suzy for advice. Unfortunately, Suzy was busy and told her to get everyone together for lunch. So instead of just one person looking at her as if she were a failure, she had four people. Claire, having no idea that they were lunching to specifically discuss Ella’s love life, had invited along the new girl. Even though Ella liked her, she really didn’t want to discuss something so personal in front of Emma. So Ella had attempted to keep the spotlight off of herself until Suzy asked, “Are we going to get to this problem of yours before I’m old, gray, and wearing polyester?”

“That’s pretty much it. We see each other most every evening, but other than kissing and stuff, nothing else ever happens.” Then looking down to hide her embarrassment, she mumbled, “I even tried the leg thing that you suggested.”

Suzy looked reluctantly impressed. “You wrapped your legs around his waist and he still didn’t lose control? Man, that pushes Gray over the edge in no time flat.” Claire and Beth were both nodding their heads in agreement. “Okay, so there is no way that you could put that move on a man and not have him realize that you are willing so it must be something else. What are you wearing on these dates?”

“Well . . . just the usual. Some kind of dress or pantsuit.”

“Not the kind of dress you’re wearing today, right?”

Ella looked down at her sundress and said, “Yeah, just like the ones I usually wear.”

“Ah-ha,” Suzy shouted. “Ladies, we have a winner!”

Emma looked around the group of women in surprise. “Are all of your lunches like this?”

Claire patted her on the shoulder laughing, “No, they’re usually worse, especially if you’re the one with the problem.”

Beth nodded her head. “Yep, I was in the hot seat not long ago. I’m glad that everyone lets the pregnant woman off easy now. When I was going through my crying phase, I think I traumatized my sister for life. I can barely get a good insult out of her now.”

Emma smiled as Beth rubbed her stomach affectionately. “How far along are you?”

“Six months, give or take a few days.”

“Well, you look beautiful,” Emma said and then pointed over to Ella, “And I don’t think you have to worry about Suzy turning her attention back to you either because she found a good outlet for that while you are out of commission.”

Claire laughed saying, “You’re probably next, Em, she loves to solve man problems and, I’ll give her credit, she is pretty good at it.”

Ella was still looking down at her dress in puzzlement. “What is wrong with my clothes?”

Waving her hand in the air, Suzy said, “They are fine for the office, but for a date you need something that doesn’t scream jailbait. You’ve got some pretty good tits there so you need to start showing them a little more. Let those girls get out and roam around.”

Horrified, Ella dropped her head onto the table so no one could see how red her face was. She felt an arm around her shoulders and looked sideways to see Beth trying to hide her laughter as she comforted her. Stiffening her spine, Ella sat back to face the rest of the group. If letting the girls roam was what it took to get Declan off her doorstep and into her apartment for more than five minutes, then maybe it was time to go for it. She could barely believe the words that left her mouth next. “Suzy, will you help me pick something out for my date tonight?” The others at the table looked surprised, but Suzy looked like a mafia don nodding her head in approval. Ella wouldn’t have been surprised to hear her say, “Yo, forgetaboutit.” Of course, maybe she watched too much television and mafia people didn’t actually talk that way.

“I’d be happy to, Ella, but no complaining. I’ll even pick a dress, but one with a little less . . . coverage. When I finish with you, Declan will swallow his tongue and cough it back up.”

“Ugh,” Claire laughed, “I don’t know if that is exactly what she’s after. But I will say that when I put my . . . uh, girls on display, Jason can barely mumble a coherent sentence. I don’t know what it is about men, but Suzy is right, they can’t pass up a good set of girls.”

Rolling her eyes, Beth said, “Mine are like, officially fifty pounds each and Nick loves them. Instead of rubbing my belly, he wants to rub my boobs all the time.”

Suzy started gagging and shouted, “Stop! I’ve told you that I don’t want to hear any brother-in-law sex stories.”

Looking at Emma, Claire said to change the topic, “Hey, I forgot to ask, how are things going with Brant? Is he a little easier to work with now?”

Emma raised her fork from the table and pretended to stab herself in the heart. “Well, I made him sick this morning so I don’t know if this is going to be a good day or not.”

Interest peaked, Suzy said, “Oh, do tell.”

Sighing, Emma said, “He is lactose intolerant and when I made his coffee this morning, I forgot and added cream to it. Come on, wouldn’t you think he would have noticed the difference? But, nooo. An hour later he comes rushing to my desk holding his stomach. I ask him what the problem is and he demands to know if I had given him anything with dairy in it. I had to confess that I had put cream in his coffee. He shot me a dirty look and rushed out the door. I’m pretty sure that he believes I tried to kill him. Why is keeping up with his dietary requirements part of my job? Shouldn’t he be a little more careful? He didn’t seem to appreciate it when I yelled after him, ‘They make medication for that.’”

“Alright, I’ll just be the first to say what we’re all thinking. That is freaking hysterical. Your boss is probably still riding the porcelain throne and calling you every name in the book—nice!” Suzy grinned at the new girl.

Claire coughed trying to hide her laughter, Beth’s stomach moved at an alarming rate as it shook, and Ella tried unsuccessfully to cover her grin. “Just so you’re prepared though, the whole employee of the month thing is probably out for you.”

“Yeah, no shit,” Emma laughed.

Once they had all finished eating, Suzy stood and grabbed Ella’s hand, “Come on, girl, let’s go get you one hell of a ‘do me’ outfit. Do we need to get underwear too? No one wants to open a shiny new package and find an old toy inside.”