Infatuation - A Club Destiny Novel (5 page)

That was until Tag took her hand.

*** ~~ *** ~~ *** ~~ ***

Tag handed the key to the valet as he exited
the car, moving slowly around to the passenger side and waving off
another attendant who had started toward them. He opened the door
and offered McKenna his hand.

He would question that
move for the next ten minutes, he knew. The second their fingers
touched, there was an influx of warmth that penetrated his
bloodstream. Her soft, smooth fingers fit perfectly in his palm,
and despite his better judgment, he didn’t let go of her hand as
they made their way into the restaurant.

“
Mr. Murphy,” the hostess
greeted him by name as they approached. He returned her polite
smile before she turned and led them to a small table in the
back.

“
Nice choice,” McKenna
whispered as he stood back, placing his hand on her lower back,
allowing her to take her seat first. When he sat in the chair
beside her, rather than across from her, he noticed the slight tilt
of her eyebrow and the small smile on her perfect, full
lips.

“
So, tell me a little
about you,” Tag said a few minutes later after the waiter had
successfully taken their order and brought the wine.

“
What do you want to
know?”

Everything.
Tag thought it but didn’t say it. “What made you
want to be a journalist?”

“
I’m not
sure that I’ve ever
wanted
to be a journalist,” McKenna’s smile brightened
her entire face, “but I wanted to own something of my own. I didn’t
want to work for someone else after watching what my father went
through.” She paused, looked away before returning to meet his
gaze. “I think it was my senior year in high school when I helped
with the school newspaper that I first found an interest in sharing
other people’s stories. Then when I started college, I had no idea
what I wanted to do.
No
idea
.”

Tag wanted to ask about her father but
decided that question would have to wait. She didn’t look
interested in going there at the moment.

“
What did you major
in?”

“
Marketing.” McKenna’s
musical laugh made Tag smile. “I have no idea why, but it seemed
easy enough. I was halfway through my junior year when I started a
blog. It was innocent for the most part, and lasted all of a year
before I ventured out and started Sensations, Inc. It’s been going
strong for four years now.”

Tag did the math in his
head, and if he figured it correctly, McKenna was twenty five years
old. That put her just seven years younger than him. Starting her
own business at twenty one was pretty impressive, but Tag was
finding there were several things about her that impressed him. Her
intelligence and drive definitely ranked at the top of the
list.

“
And you make money
writing about sex?” he asked bluntly, distracted by the way her
lips touched the glass as she sipped her wine.

“
I do.” Setting her glass
back on the cloth covered table, McKenna seemed to be watching him.
“It’s no different than what the McCoy brother’s do.”

There was a substantial
difference, but Tag wasn’t about to explain the two. He merely
cocked his eyebrow, waiting for her to continue.

“
Ok, so maybe there’s a
slight difference. But yes, to answer your question, I do make
money talking about sex. I give people what they want.”

“
And people want to know
about whether I keep toys in my dungeon?” He still had a hard time
believing that one.

“
Women lust after sexy,
successful men. And you fit that profile, so yes. They want to know
your dirty secrets.”

“
It doesn’t bother you to
share people’s personal information with the world?”

“
Well, technically, my
reach isn’t quite that far. And it’s not as if I share all of the
information I receive.”

“
No?”

“
No,” McKenna stated
firmly but didn’t elaborate.

They were interrupted by
the waiter stopping by to refill the wine and let them know the
food would be out shortly. He got the feeling McKenna was a little
defensive about her career choice, and Tag’s goal was not to piss
her off on their first date.

First date?
What the fuck? Did he just pull that out of his
ass or what? This damn sure wasn’t a first date.

Obviously Tag was quiet for too long because
McKenna took the opportunity to throw out a question of her own.
“And what about you? What made you want to be a lawyer?”

“
My father’s a lawyer. It
seemed like an easy path to take, to make him happy.”

“
Did you spend your life
trying to make him happy?”

Ok, so apparently he needed to carefully
word his answers from here on out because he’d clearly given her
too much information in just that one sentence.

“
Not necessarily, no. My
father didn’t have it easy, and I realized at an early age that he
gave everything he had just to raise me on his own. I figured this
was an easy way to give back to him for all he gave up for
me.”

Again, his mouth was clearly not getting the
signals from his brain.

“
What about your
mother?”

“
My mother passed away
when I was in high school.” This was a conversation Tag had no
intention of having with her, so he quickly changed directions,
“What do your parents think about what you do?”

“
They pretend not to
notice.” McKenna grinned. “They both know exactly what I do, and if
they enjoy it, they don’t tell me. But, they aren’t against it
either. My parents have always been extremely supportive of me and
my sister.”

“
Is your sister older or
younger?”

“
Older.”

When the waiter
approached, bringing their food, the conversation slowed and they
managed to eat while talking about much less personal topics. He
found it relatively easy to talk to her, which was another thing
that surprised him. She was smart, witty, and just as aggressive
with her quest for knowledge as he expected her to be. For some
reason, that didn’t bother him like it normally did.

Once they finished their
meal, they ordered dessert and shared another glass of wine while
they waited.

“
What happened to your
father that made you not want to work for anyone else?” Tag asked
the question he had put off earlier.

The way she shifted her jaw as she stared
back at him, he knew she was debating on whether she was going to
answer him.

“
So that’s how this is
going to go?” she questioned.

“
What? I’m interested in
you, McKenna. Is that too hard to believe?”

“
Yes. It is.”

Tag knew she was deflecting, but he wasn’t
going to let her get away with it. “You know more about me than I
do about you, so I figure it’s only fair.”

McKenna paused for a moment, sipping her
wine as she stared back at him. Just when he thought she was going
to blow off the question entirely, she answered, “Let’s just say my
father hasn’t been dealt a promising hand throughout his
career.

“
He’s one of those men who
can sell ice cubes to an Eskimo, but due to his salary, he was
always one of the first to be let go when a company decided to cut
back. He’d already done what they needed him to do, so as far as
they were concerned, he was expendable.”

McKenna took another sip of her wine before
continuing, “I didn’t want to be that person. I didn’t want to bust
my ass to make my employer money only to be tossed out if they
needed to make budget cuts.”

Tag wasn’t about to question her logic. As
far as he was concerned, she made perfect sense. And by owning her
own company, she knew what she was getting into and what she would
get out of it day after day.

“
While we’re getting
personal...” McKenna smiled as the waiter set their desserts down
in front of them. “Why do you choose to give so much money to
charity?”

The question caught him by surprise,
although he knew it shouldn’t have. If McKenna had been digging for
information on him, she would’ve found the couple of mentions
related to his sizable charity donations. “I don’t need the money,”
he stated simply.

“
Not good enough,” she
countered as she lifted her spoon to her mouth.

Tag smiled, his insides
twisted with anticipation because he found so much enjoyment in
watching her eat. Everything she did was sinfully erotic, even
eating, and he wanted to sit there and watch her.

“
It’s my way of giving
back. I’ve been blessed, I won’t deny it, and as far as I’m
concerned, if I don’t need it, there are some very deserving people
who do.”

Realizing he had somehow led them back into
a personal territory neither of them seemed comfortable with, Tag
decided on a much more appropriate question. “Since you’re so
interested in what’s in my closet, I’ve got a question of my own,”
he said as he watched her take another bite of crème brulee.

“
Only if you let me see
what’s in your closet,” McKenna teased.

“
From where I sit, it
won’t be long before you have a personal tour.”

To his satisfaction, McKenna blushed, her
freckle dotted cheeks turning a pretty pink.

“
What’s your question?”
she asked, obviously trying to distract him from watching
her.

“
If the police were to
pull you over tonight, what’s the most interesting thing they would
find in your car?”

Tag knew the question was absurd, and based
on the way she laughed, she knew it too. He didn’t find it much
different than the one she had thrown out to her readers in her
last article though, so he waited patiently for her to answer.

“
You’re serious?” she
asked.

“
Very.”

“
Why would you think I
have anything out of the ordinary in my car?” she questioned, still
smiling.

“
I don’t know. Why would
you think I have anything out of the ordinary in my
closet?”

“
Touché.”

“
Ok, forget that question.
I’ve got a better one for you,” Tag said seriously. “How many dates
am I going to have to take you on before I get to know what color
your bed sheets are?”

~*~*~

On the drive back to her
office, McKenna suddenly realized she wasn’t quite ready for the
night to end. She also realized, it was in her best interest to get
over that little disappointment, but she couldn’t seem to help
herself.

When Tag stopped the car
in front of her office building, McKenna fumbled with her seatbelt.
It’d been a long time since she went on a date, especially one that
had gone as seamlessly as this one had, and she wasn’t sure what
she was supposed to do now.

“
Thanks for dinner.” She
could at least thank him. That was a start.

When his warm hand touched
her arm, McKenna stilled. It was totally insane of her to want
something from this man, but when he touched her, even so
innocently, she had a sudden craving for so much more. Getting to
know him on a much more intimate level had done the exact opposite
of helping her to stop thinking about him.

Glancing down, she noticed
the drastic difference between his bronzed fingers against her pale
wrist, and that led to much more inquisitive thoughts. Like what
the rest of him would look like against her.

“
I had a good time,” he
said, but his voice wasn’t laced with the confidence or the
arrogance she was used to. No, there was something much hungrier in
his tone.

Knowing she shouldn’t,
McKenna turned slightly, glancing over at Tag’s handsome face, her
eyes grazing over his angular jaw, his perfect nose, and then to
his eyes and the incredibly thick, dark lashes that would make most
women jealous. Then she made the mistake of looking at his luscious
lips. She had successfully avoided looking at his mouth for the
better part of the evening because when she did she found herself
fantasizing about what exquisite pleasure she might find in those
lips.

When his hand came up, his
fingers tilting her chin so that she faced him more directly,
McKenna was transfixed on the way he moved closer to her. She held
her breath, waiting, desperately hoping he would kiss her while
praying he wouldn’t because she wasn’t sure she was strong enough
to resist a man like Tag. And she should resist him. She knew she
should.

Oh, God.

When his soft, firm lips met hers in the
sweetest, gentlest of kisses, she had to hold back the urge to
crawl over the center console and settle into his lap.

He didn’t push for more, nor did she, but
their lips lingered for long seconds before he pulled back. “I’ll
see you tomorrow.”

McKenna nodded, her
fingers instinctively going to her mouth as though she were trying
to hold on to the feel of him. She wasn’t sure what to say, so she
didn’t say anything at all. As gracefully as she could manage, she
opened the passenger door and escaped the tight confines of Tag’s
extravagant car. She hurried to her own car, never looking
back.