Read The Darkest Link (Second Circle Tattoos) for Free Online Page B

shoulders rounded a little. “I got it. Can’t say I’ve ever had a reporter interrupt a meal to harass my date, but hey, I’m all for new life experiences. I’m guessing you and your dad don’t see eye to eye.”
    “I don’t want anything to do with my father’s politics. I don’t even agree with half the shit he says.”
    He didn’t, either, but he was glad to hear her say it, too. Her eyes had darkened a fraction, now a steely, determined gray. “Does this happen to you a lot?”
    “Occasionally,” she answered, not giving much away. For some reason it irritated him. He wanted her to tell him, wanted her to trust him, which was completely fucking batshit crazy, because she’d be gone tomorrow, and he’d be back to business as usual. And he also wanted to kiss that pouting bottom lip to make whatever kind of weird-ass crap was going on in her life go away.
    “I have an idea,” he said, taking the menu out of her hands. “We both have stuff going on, but I like hanging out with you, Lia. So how about we forget who we are for a little while and just enjoy each other’s company for tonight?”
    Lia leaned forward in her seat. “I love that plan,” she said with a slow smile, looking up at him through dark lashes. “Can we go back to the part where you talked about kissing my lips earlier?”
    Reid moved closer. “Which part was that? Remind me.” He grinned.
    “The part where you said they were pretty.”
    “Pretty? That was a poor word choice.” He ran his thumb over her lower lip. “Such a lazy word. There is nothing pretty about your mouth.”
    She inched so close he could feel the warmth of her breath on his face. “So what words would you use?”
    He pressed his forehead to hers. “Sultry, sinful, sexual, and most of all—”
    “Are you ready to order, sir?”
    The two of them jumped apart like naughty schoolkids trying to steal a base behind the bleachers. Lia bit her bottom lip to stop the grin before she opened the menu and covered her face.
    If Lia was on the menu, he most definitely was.
    They ate the sashimi, grilled lobster yaki, and tuna kobachi while sipping on Sapporo, a choice that surprised him. She struck him as a champagne or cocktail kind of girl, but she knocked back her beer and entertained him with stories about the studio and her friends, never raising the topic of her father again. He was curious, though, about the nature of their relationship, because it didn’t sound positive, much like his own with his father.
    It was impossible to remember the last time he’d spent so much time in a woman’s company he enjoyed as much as he did Lia’s. Despite the fact he’d been ready to kiss her in front of their server and every diner in the restaurant, he’d not come close again.
    When he next looked up, the restaurant was empty, and the host was hovering close by. Having gestured for the check and noting the relief on the host’s face, it was time to face facts. He wanted to stay, wanted her to invite him up to her hotel room and take her every way possible. But she deserved better than that, even if his balls might explode before he had the chance to get home and jerk off in the shower.
    “I can’t believe we’ve been here for hours,” Lia said, after he paid the bill and they were walking back to her hotel. His hand was in his pocket, and she had wrapped her hands around his bicep, leaning against him.
    “Didn’t feel like it, did it?” he said, putting his hand on top of hers.
    They reached the imposing floor-to-ceiling glass doors of the hotel. A solid, touchable metaphor for the end of their acquaintance. Lia looked up at him.
    “Just how good would those kisses be, Kenny?” she asked, looking at his lips.
    “Oh, Lia,” he said, sliding his hands to her hips and pulling her to him until they were flush together. Her hands slid around his neck, and her nails slid along the base of his skull. “They’d be the best fucking kind of kisses.”
    “And what