demeanor proved that his earlier assumption was right. She’d definitely heard part of their conversation. They’d been in the same room for over five minutes and she hadn’t even gotten mouthy with him yet. Even stranger, he actually missed her sassiness.
“Autumn, can I get you anything else?” Jaleen asked as he slid beside her on an adjacent stool.
“No, I’m fine.”
“Yes, you are.” The double meaning of Jaleen’s words didn’t go unnoticed by Ajay.
“Are you always this flirty?” she asked, taking a sip of her drink. The way her mouth curled around the glass was distracting. He’d been thinking about her lips way too much lately.
“Only around attractive women.” Ajay snorted at Jaleen’s lame attempt at flirting. Jaleen used every line in the book, and to this day, he never understood why it actually worked on most women. Fortunately, it didn’t seem to be working on Autumn.
When a buzzer sounded indicating that someone wanted to be let up to Jaleen’s condo, Ajay was left alone with her. When seconds ticked into minutes and Jaleen still hadn’t returned, the awkwardness grew. Ajay racked his brain to try to think of something to talk about but came up short. This is a shame. Thirty-five years old and I’m acting as if I don’t have game. Not that he wanted to spit game at Autumn. Nor did he want to notice that the woman made jeans and a T-shirt look as sexy as if she were wearing a short, tight dress.
Even though they were both trying to focus on random things around the room, their eyes found each other. He couldn’t quite read the look in her eyes, but there was no mistaking the change of energy in the space.
“Interesting,” she said, her eyes still locked to his.
“What’s interesting?”
“I think I’d rather keep it to myself.”
Now he really wanted to know. “Whatever you tell me, I won’t say a word.”
“If I don’t tell you, it guarantees you won’t say a word because you won’t know anything. It’s common knowledge that people typically can’t hold secrets.”
“I’ve always been great at keeping secrets.” He didn’t even notice that he was walking closer to her until he was only a couple of feet away. Being this near to her, he was able to see things that he hadn’t from a distance. He wished he could free her hair of that neat ponytail. It fit her personality. Organized. Uptight at times. With the exception of a few stray hairs, nothing was out of place. But he had a feeling that deep down, there was a side of Autumn that she rarely released. A side that wasn’t tame or disciplined.
“What are you thinking about?”
His lips curled to the side in a smirk. “I’ll tell you exactly what I’m thinking if you tell me your secret.” When she remained quiet, he continued, “Or are you too scared of what I may think if you tell me your secret?”
She didn’t answer at first and he felt as if he was holding his breath for her answer. Squinting her eyes together, she leaned a little closer to him. “Your pupils are changing colors,” she said softly.
“That happens on occasion.”
“I know. And that’s part of the reason why I won’t tell you my secret.”
He scrunched his forehead in confusion. “I don’t understand.”
“When I don’t understand something, I study it to try to figure it out.”
“Am I to assume I’m your latest study?”
“That’s not what I’m saying.”
“Are you saying I should be studying you, then?”
“Certain things about you do pique my curiosity,” she responded. “So to answer your first question, I’m not too scared of what you may think.”
“Then, why can’t you tell me your secret?”
At the sound of footsteps, she lowered her voice. “I can’t tell you my secret because I’m worried of what you may do.”
As Jaleen entered followed by a couple of the guys, Ajay was still contemplating Autumn’s words. She may not have wanted to tell him the secret, but she’d revealed what type of secret it was without indulging the information completely. What she didn’t understand about him was that her statement wasn’t going to make him stop asking. If anything, he wanted to know what she was hiding even more.
* * *
A bunch of arrogant males vying for her attention she could handle, but there was one hot-blooded male in the room who was occupying all of her thoughts. She could kill Winter for pushing back their meeting time. At least she felt a little more like her normal self. Now all she needed to do was convince Luke, one of Taheim’s groomsmen, to take a few steps out of her personal space.
“Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?”
She sighed. Just like Jaleen, Luke was attractive. Both men could have their pick of women in Chicago. The main reason Autumn didn’t entertain their flirtatious ways was the muscular man observing her in the corner of the room sporting tattoos so sexy she wished she could trace them with her tongue.
Since it was mid-August, the fall season was right around the corner and she had gotten a chance to see Ajay’s bare, muscular arms only a few times. He was always wearing some type of blazer or long-sleeved shirt despite the heat. His urban style wasn’t something she usually found attractive, but Ajay was giving a whole new meaning to the term fashionable street wear.
He was rough around the edges, but smooth on the corners. A definite charmer from what she could tell, but he wasn’t the type of man who had to try to get attention. Women were just drawn to him. Unlike Jaleen and Luke, he wasn’t in your face, but rather the silent assassin who struck when you least expected it. He seemed like a simple guy, but he had layers, and damn her curiosity for wanting to see what other coatings he had.
“So tell me, Autumn, is there someone special in your life?”
“No, there isn’t. What about you?”
“No one as mesmerizing as you.”
Oh, Lord, I don’t know how much more of this I can take. Strike one. She was all for a little harmless flirting, but this was becoming a little too much.
“So tell me, Luke, what is so mesmerizing about me?”
“That’s easy,” he said with his eyes smiling. “I’m mesmerized by your beauty.”
“Okay, what else?”
He leaned a little closer to her and she was tempted to tell him to lay off the cologne next time. “And your eyes are beautiful.”
“Anything not related to my looks?”
“I’m blinded by your beauty, but mesmerized by your entire package.”
Strike two. She wondered why men thought complimenting a woman’s entire package was a good thing. He could think it. But
