He looked at her and laughed. “Take a look, sweetheart. There’s nothing left to eat. You ate it all, even that last crab cake I was eyeing.”

She threw her hand to her mouth to keep from laughing out loud. He was right. She’d definitely eaten a lot. “Okay, I owe you a crab cake and will cook it for you one day.”

“Soon?”

She tilted her head. “How soon do you want it? I have to buy the ingredients and crab meat isn’t cheap.”

“Oh, but you have connections,” he said, grinning. “I happen to know this terrific guy who owns a company that goes out and pulls the crabs right from the ocean. They can’t get any fresher than that.”

She grinned over at him. “No, they can’t.”

Bryce could honestly say she had enjoyed her day spent with him. If anyone would have told her this time last year that she and Kaegan would be out together in New Orleans, she would not have believed them. Hiring her meant he believed in her abilities and she appreciated that. Just like she had appreciated Vashti when she’d hired her to sell the inn. Although the deal fell through, just knowing her friend had trusted her judgment had meant a lot.

“I think I need to get you to dance with me before you tap a hole in that floor,” he said, glancing at her feet.

She laughed, and when he stood and reached out his hand to her, she automatically took it. She was glad this was a private room and that they were the only couple in here, which was probably why he felt comfortable dancing with her. The moment their hands touched, she’d known it had been a mistake but couldn’t do anything about it. In all honesty, at that moment she didn’t want to do anything about it. And when he drew her into his arms, she was reminded of the last time they’d slow danced together at that charity ball. Tonight they were not in a crowded room and the music was jazz. Swaying to the music, she leaned in and placed her head on his chest, inhaling the masculine aroma of his scent that was totally Kaegan.

His body, long, hard and muscular, pressed against hers and she could actually feel him in every nerve, pore and pulse of her body. He wrapped his arms tighter around her and she closed her eyes, moving to the jazzy rhythm while remembering a time, a rare moment, when they’d danced in their hotel room. It had been his twenty-fifth birthday and she’d wanted to dance with him. Naked.

He had obliged her, and every time during the dance that their naked bodies had met, touched, stroked each other, coiling arousal had invaded her core. She could vividly remember wrapping her arms around him, gliding her hands up and across his muscled back, loving the curve of his shoulders and arms. Desire had clawed at her that night, and at twenty-two, she hadn’t fully understood the magnitude of what had been taking place between them.