Chapter 7: Chapter 7

Elliot had warned him to be on his best behavior, and now Eric knew why. He’d just been informed that the ‘friend’ Kate was bringing to dinner had essentially been left at the altar about a month ago.

The news that they were having dinner with a woman who was on the rebound didn’t exactly thrill him. He’d been looking forward to a relaxing evening with his brother and his brother’s latest fling, but apparently that wasn’t going to happen. He could only hope that she wasn’t one of those miserable scorned women who had nothing but unpleasant things to say about his gender.

“Oh, there’s Kate now,” Elliot said, as his gaze fell on the entrance.

Eric see it from where he sat, so he remained in his seat while his brother stood; he’d rise to greet the women when they made it to the table. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes as a grin lit up his brother’s face. Did he not realice how overrated love was? Or how fleeting? In no time at all, this ‘Kate’ would be on her way and Elliot would have someone else in his bed.

“Hey!” a cheerful female voice said in greeting.

Eric heard Elliot growl as he pulled her to him and placed a quick, hard kiss on her lips. After they parted, Elliot turned so they were facing Eric, and he swiftly made his way to his feet.

“Eric, this is my girl, Katherine Kavanagh,” Elliot said, introducing them. “Kate, my brother, Eric Miller.”

“Elliot’s told me so much about you,” Kate said exuberantly as she held out her hand.

Eric smirked. “Likewise,” he said.

“Where’s your friend?” Elliot interrupted.

“Oh, she’s in the lobby,” Kate said. “She had to take an important phone call and—oh, there she is! Ana!”

Of course her name would be Ana, Eric thought bitterly. It wasn’t bad enough that she was haunting his dreams; now she was going to haunt him while he was awake, too. The woman probably had brown hair and blue eyes to boot.

Eric glanced over his shoulder and immediately felt his cock jerk; her head was down as she slipped her phone into her purse, but he would have known her anywhere…from any angle. His heart beat wildly as she came to a stop just in front of him.

“Sorry about that,” she mumbled, as she lifted her head.

He arched an expectant brow as her gaze met his; all movement ceased as she froze before him. Time seemed to stand still. He had to fight to keep the triumphant grin off his face. Here he’d been looking for her for an entire month, and for the past two weeks that Elliot had known Kate, she’d been right in front of him! Now that he’d found her, his biggest problem was going to be controlling himself enough so that he didn’t thrust her down onto the table and have her for dessert.

“Elliot,” Kate interrupted his thoughts. “This is my friend, Ana. Ana, this is Elliot.” She looked at him and beamed. “My guy.”

“A…a…it’s nice to meet you,” she said, her gaze never leaving his.

Ana jumped when Kate put her hand in front of her face and snapped her fingers. “Ana?”

Ana flinched as she turned to face Elliot and her friend. “I…a…” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Pleasure to meet you,” she said again as she reached for Elliot’s hand. The shake went on longer than was necessary and Eric found himself scowling.

“I’m sorry,” he said harshly. “I didn’t catch your last name.”

“Steele,” Kate interrupted before Ana could say anything.

“Steele,” he repeated in a low voice. Jackpot. “Ana-stasia, was it?”

Ana fought to catch her breath—and find her words. She’d never been so stunned in all her life. Miller said the second half of her name as if he was angry with her, but that was crazy! What would he be mad about? She’d done him the favor of leaving before he’d had to ask her to. As far as she was concerned, she’d saved them both a lot of embarrassment; he could at least respect her for that.

“Yes,” she finally said in a whisper. “And you are?”

“Eric Miller,” he answered.

“Eric.” She repeated in a whisper.

“Shall we sit?” Elliot asked jubilantly as he slid into the booth and scooted closer to the wall in order to make enough room for Kate.

Eric followed suit, leaving the spot next to him the only empty space in the booth. She took a deep breath and stepped purposefully forward before sitting down so close to the edge that she was nearly teetering.

A little shriek made its way from her lips when his hand clamped on her bare knee and hauled her closer to him. When her hand shot out to brace herself, it landed on his thigh and she quickly pulled it away.

Kate’s gaze swung toward her. “Ana?” she asked, her brows drawn together in confusion.

“Nearly missed the seat,” she muttered breathlessly, thankful Kate hadn’t been looking at her when she’d sat down.

The waiter appeared at the table asking if they’d like anything to drink, and Eric ordered a bottle of wine before anyone else could utter a word. From the surprised look on Elliot’s face, it must have been an expensive one. Ana felt her cheeks heat as Miller—Eric, she corrected herself-moved his hand up her leg and squeezed her thigh. She tried to pry his hand away, but it wasn’t happening.

“So, Ana,” he said casually. “My brother tells me you were recently left at the altar.”

Ana looked at Kate as her friend began to choke.

“Eric!” Elliot hissed.

“Yes,” Ana said pulling her gaze back to Eric’s as she tried to muster up as much nonchalance as he had. “My fiancé came home, told me he was gay, and proceeded to call off the wedding I’d spent the entire summer planning,” she informed him, then turned to Kate and gave her a warm smile before looking at Eric again. “Luckily Kate was there for me. She took me out to the bar…which ended up being a very uneventful night,” she said in a bored tone. “And when that didn’t work, we decided that my honeymoon shouldn’t go to waste, so we went to Hawaii and spent two weeks lazing on the beach.”

If her plan had been to goad him, and Eric was pretty sure it had been in the back of her mind, it had worked. He was picturing her in a damn two-piece prancing around Hawaiian beaches with a male audience glued to her. He gritted his teeth to keep from saying something he was sure to regret; luckily Elliot changed the subject to something more dinner appropriate.

When the waiter reappeared with the bottle of wine, he asked for both Kate’s and Ana’s ID’s. Kate’s was fine, but being as Ana’s was out-of-state—Georgia, he noticed—he had to go get it approved by the manager. That explained why his men had failed to find her. He should have widened his search.

Her skin was soft beneath his touch, and as he brushed his fingertips back and forth over her flesh, he felt her tremble. God, if he didn’t have her soon he was going to explode. She shifted as she crossed the leg closest to the outside of the booth over the other one in an effort to hide what he was doing. That only spurred him on, and his fingers travelled further until he reached the apex of her thighs, and his hand froze in shock.

The crisp hair he’d encountered the first time he’d been with her was gone, and his gaze flew to hers. From the way her cheeks blazed, she knew exactly what he was thinking. His lips turned up in a faint smile. A quick glance at Elliot and Kate let him know they were too consumed with each other to care what was going on on the other side of the table.

His gaze locked on Ana’s, and he lifted a questioning brow. Her nod was almost imperceptible, but he didn’t miss it. She parted her thighs to give him just enough room to reach between her folds, and her soft intake of breath was music to his ears as the pad of his thumb pressed against her throbbing flesh. She reached for his thigh and clutched it as his thumb began to move in slow circles. He wished she’d reach between his legs to stroke him, but she wouldn’t. She wasn’t brazen enough for that. Yet.

Her hips began the slightest rocking motion as his thumb increased pressure and quickened it’s pace. He heard her breath hitch half a second before both of her hands flew out and gripped the side of the table, and he immediately pulled his hand away.

Elliot regarded him with a questioning look, but Eric gave nothing away.

What in the hell had just happened? Ana thought wildly. Had she really just let a man—a stranger, for all intents and purposes—feel her up in a restaurant? What was wrong with her?

The answer to that was quite clear: She knew what Eric Miller was capable of. She knew what he could do to her, how he could hurl her over the edge and into climax, how loud he could make her scream…and she was desperate for it. For every delicious inch of him.

For God's sake, if he hadn't stopped when he did, she'd have had a 'When Harry Met Sally' moment right then and there! Thank God one of them was thinking clearly. Ana took a deep breath and tried to collect herself. It didn't work.

Wine. She needed wine. Lots and lots of wine. She reached for her glass and downed it in one swallow, then slammed it down on the table and faced Eric. "More," she demanded.

With an amused look on his face, he lifted the bottle and poured her another glass.

On the one hand, Eric was appalled by his brother’s behavior. He wasn’t sure why he and Ana had even been asked to dinner. It was obvious that Elliot and Kate were too wrapped up in each other to care about their invitees.

On the other hand, however, it gave him plenty of time to study her—and after a solid month of searching, she’d more than captured his attention. Unable to stop himself, he gazed intently at her —she blushed in the most delicious way when he did that. He supposed her reaction shouldn’t surprise him, but it did. Did he really fluster her that much? He’d fucked her in the back of a bar, for God’s sake; as far as he was concerned, it didn’t get much more intimate than that.

“So, Eric,” Kate asked, catching him by surprise. “What is it you do?”

“I’m in telecommunications,” he said sharply, annoyed with the way she was treating her friend.

“Don’t be modest,” Elliot said mockingly.

He glared at his brother before turning back to Kate. “I’m CEO of Miller Enterprises Holdings, Incorporated,” he clarified. “And what do you do, Ms. Kavanagh?”

“So, you’re that Eric Miller,” Kate said in surprise before responding to his query. “Ana and I just graduated from college a few months ago.”

Eric turned to Ana. “And what is your degree in?” he asked.

“English lit,” she told him.

“And where is it you’re employed?” he probed.

“I actually just started looking for work,” Ana admitted, and then cleared her throat. “I was too busy planning my wedding to look this summer, and…well…I didn’t want to pound the pavement while I was in Hawaii, so I started my job search in Georgia,” she told him.

“You’re moving to Georgia?” he asked in surprise.

Ana shook her head. “No. I submitted my resumé to companies based here in Washington. I just wanted to get ahead of the game before I returned. I’d hoped to have some interviews set up before I returned home.”

Eric refused to examine the part of himself that was relieved she’d decided to stay. “We have an excellent internship program where I work,” he informed her.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said noncommittally.