Casual Encounter: The Complete Series Box Set by M. S. Parker

nursing for the past two weeks. Either way, the longer I stayed, the more I wanted to be here.
    “Was the meal to your satisfaction?” he asked as I finished my wine.
    “It was amazing.” I'd purposefully only drunk a glass and a half even though it was probably the most expensive wine I'd ever have the chance to drink. The food, however, I completely devoured. It had been the perfect portion. Enough to make me not hungry, but not so much that I felt full. I wasn't sure, however, if dessert was on the menu. Cade had been an attentive date, not even looking at any of the women who'd checked him out over the course of the meal, but he also hadn't expressed any overt indications that he thought of this as anything but a single evening to please Adelle.
    He stood and I tried to hide my disappointment. It seemed the night was over after all. When he held out his hand, I took it, believing we'd end with a shake. Instead, he curled his fingers around mine.
    “I've already ordered dessert and champagne to my room. Join me?”
    I almost couldn't tell if that last bit was a question or a command. “You have a room?” My mouth went dry and I considered pulling my hand away.
    As if he'd read my mind, he squeezed my hand, then released it. "I'll be honest. When Adelle set us up, I was hesitant to accept. She was sure, though, that we would enjoy our time together. So much so that she insisted I rent a room. I'm glad now that I did."
    He held out his hand again and this time the invitation was clear. “I promise that things will not go any further than you want them to. You say the word and I'll call a cab.”
    My expression must've been more skeptical than I felt because he continued.
    “I hope you accept, but I have no problem spending the rest of the night gorging myself on chocolate and watching pay-per-view.”
    My eyes slid down his muscular torso. Somehow, I doubted he'd ever gorged himself on anything.
    He took a step toward me, closing the distance between us to less than a foot. I could suddenly smell him, the clean scent of soap without any of the usual extras of aftershave or cologne. My stomach clenched.
    He raised his hand and brushed the back of it down the side of my face. Heat bloomed across my cheek, but not from embarrassment this time.
    “I can see the desire in your eyes, Aubree. I know what you want, and I can give it to you. Stop being so careful and give in to what you want.” His voice was low and sensual, one hypnotic word after the next. “You do want it, don't you? You want me.”
    I swallowed hard. Damn. I had no doubt that if I went with him and asked him to stop at any point in time, he'd do just that. He wouldn't force me. It wasn't him I didn't trust though. It was me. I could tell myself I didn't want this night to end and if I went with him, we'd eat decadent desserts and maybe make out a bit, but I couldn't deny that I'd been fantasizing about seeing what was under that shirt of his from the moment I'd first looked into his face. If I went with him, I knew I wouldn't want to stop at a kiss or two, a caress or maybe a bit of skin. I'd want it all.
    “Don't deny yourself.” He palmed my cheek, his thumb brushing across my bottom lip. “Come with me.”
    A shiver went through me as I imagined him saying those words again, but with a completely different meaning.
    Fuck it.
    I nodded before I could change my mind. “Let's go.”
     

Chapter 8
    He led me, hand-in-hand, to the elevators, and I envied the ease with which he carried himself. My heart was racing and only some of it was due to Cade. As I passed people, I felt like their eyes were on me, like they knew I was about to sleep with this man on the first date. I never judged anyone for the choices they made regarding their sex life, but I'd had it drilled into my head since childhood that I was a good girl, and good girls didn't have sex on the first date. My parents hadn't been the religious type where I needed to wait for marriage, but