The Perfect First

by Hughes, Maya

  Reece kept a hand on the elbow of my coat like he might have to rush me out at any second, like he was my Secret Service detail.

  There were pool tables along the back with dim lighting hanging over each green felt-covered surface. The bartender behind the bar turned to us with his hand inside a tall glass, running a towel over it.

  I spun to walk toward him and Reece pulled tighter, steering me away toward the booths.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” he asked.

  “I was going to get a menu.”

  His hand slipped down to the small of my back, fingers inches away from my ass. I’d never cursed the thick wool of my coat more. “Why don’t you just ask him to boot us?”

  “I made it into the club we went to.”

  “With my friend who eyed you like he was inspecting a bag of bread for mold and let that one questionable piece go.”

  Reece guided me toward the pool tables. I ran my hand along the felt. “Want to play?” I scanned the walls for the sticks.

  “Maybe we should find another place for you to show your wild side, Wild Child.” His gaze darted around the place.

  I sucked in a breath. Wild Child. Aunt Sophie had called Mom Wild One back in the day. Seemed fitting.

  “It’s fine here. Have we run into any problems so far?” I bent over, looking under the table for the pool sticks.

  “Way to jinx it,” he mumbled under his breath.

  “If you want the table, you can always play us for it. I’ll even lend you my lucky cue.” A guy with a dragon tattoo on his neck held out a pool cue.

  Reece shook his head so sharply it looked like he might sprain his neck.

  My fingers were an inch from the long thin wood when he tugged me back.

  “What are you doing?” he hissed into my ear.

  “I’m going to play them for the table.” This was exactly like a movie. They were pool sharks. We weren’t playing for money, though, so what did it matter?

  His eyebrows dipped and he leaned in closer. Why’d he have to smell so good? I wanted to rub against him like a cat, purring my appreciation for his concern, but I also wanted to impress him.

  “Have you ever played pool before?”

  “I’ve studied it a lot. It’s all angles and inertia. I’ve got this.” How hard could it be? I ran the chalk over the tip of the pool cue as the other guys arranged the balls into a triangle.

  Reece stood behind me, perched on the edge of a stool, looking ready for action at the first sign of trouble.

  “What do you say we make this interesting?” Crooked Nose smiled at his friend and turned back to me.

  My eyebrows scrunched together and I bit my bottom lip. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Reece shake his head the slightest bit with his eyes wide.

  I turned back to the guys in front of me. “What did you have in mind?”

  16. REECE

  Standing in the middle of the bar with my hands cupped over my junk, wearing nothing but my boots, socks, and boxers, I stared a hole into the back of Seph’s head.

  Her striped balls were dotted all around the pool table like abandoned children. The volume in the bar had picked up as more people came inside, and our game drew even more attention than a normal one might because of, you know, the nearly naked guy standing beside the table, namely me. Her opponent sank the eight ball into the side pocket.

  Gently toeing off my shoes, I pulled my socks off and dropped them into the pile of my clothes on a bar stool. Thank fuck I’d worn a t-shirt under my sweatshirt or I’d have had to choose between leaving my shoes or my boxers behind.

  Seph looked back at me with a pained expression.

  I pinched my lips together and watched her come around from the other side of the table like a puppy with its tail between its legs.

  The guy she’d played against picked up my pile of clothes. “Thanks for these. Nice game. Come back any time.” He and his friend laughed and carried them off to who knows where. Probably the dumpster around back.

  “Angles and inertia, huh?” I crossed my arms over my chest. Nippling in front of a bar full of people wasn’t exactly my idea of fun.

  “That was a little harder than I expected.”

  “You don’t say, Wild Child.”

  “At least you still have your coat?” She held it up with a winning smile.

  I grabbed it out of her grasp and threw my arms into it. “Now I just have my boxers flapping in the wind.”

  “They’re cute. Are those Pikachu?”

  “Everything else was dirty,” I grumbled under my breath. The bodies filling up the bar took away from the cold breeze rushing past my legs. A few people lifted their heads and stared at my yellow and blue boxers. I was tempted to stand on the pool table and let everyone get a good look. I was sure our coach’s media specialist would burst a blood vessel if that ended up in the papers.

  I looked to my right and shook my head at Seph’s pained look. I’d have almost felt bad for her if I couldn’t see her internal struggle with the little laugh lines on her face tensing up every other second.

  “I’m sorry, okay. Let me buy you a drink.” She looped her arm through mine and tugged me over to the bar. Throwing elbows like she was on the field with me, she made a small hole. People turned and looked at her then spotted me—all of me—and moved out of the way. Seemed all you had to do to get a spot at a crowded bar was show up in your underwear and jacket. Or maybe they just knew I really needed a drink with the way I looked.

  “This is going to take a hell of a lot more than a drink to make up for. Those were my favorite jeans.” I pointed back to the pile of clothes on top of the table between the two pool sharks.

  “Oh no.” Her eyes widened, worry etched deep in her face. “Do you want me to try to get them back?”

  I grabbed her arm when she spun around, searching for the guys. “So you want to try for double or nothing? No thanks—I’d like at least one of us to leave here with our dignity intact.”

  “No one’s even looking at you.”

  “I was talking about you. You got spanked out there.”

  She leaned over, waving her finger to get the bartender’s attention. I covered her extended digit with my hand and pushed it down against the bar.

  When she glanced over her shoulder, her eyebrows dipped. “I’m ordering us some drinks.”

  “What are you going to do when he asks to see ID?” I whispered in her ear.

  “I’ll tell him I left it in the car.” She bit her bottom lip.

  “Your skills of deception need a bit more honing. Stand aside and let the grownup handle this.”

  “The grownup in Pikachu underwear,” she muttered, but she moved aside to let me get us something to drink.

  I ordered, making sure to get her one with a cherry in it. Turning, I leaned against the bar, resting my back against the rail.

  “If it had been a chess competition, I’d have kicked ass.” Her brain was likely to explode under the strain of not winning at something.

  “Why am I not surprised?” The thunk behind me signaled the arrival of our drinks. She handed over a twenty and I put it down on the bar. The bartender eyed her suspiciously and slowly slid the beer and Tequila Sunrise—with extra cherries, of course—toward me. Balancing both in one hand, I took her by the elbow and guided her far away from the bar. We spotted a couple of people leaving and slid into their empty booth.

  “I don’t usually suck that much at anything.”

  “Such harsh language, Seph. And no shit. The way that vein bulged throughout the game would have almost been endearing if I weren’t the one losing my clothes with every missed ball.”

  Her hand shot up to her forehead. “I don’t have a bulging vein.”

  I took a gulp of my beer. “Never said it was on your forehead.”

  She scowled at me and took a sip of her drink. Her face screwed up then shifted to something more contemplative. “This isn’t bad.”

  “That’s not what your
face said a second ago.”

  “It’s a new taste. Surprised me, I guess.” She took another sip. It was like her mental calculations of the flavors and feelings packed into the little glass were being categorized by the millisecond.

  “There are lots of new things out there for you to experience.” Like me.

  She plucked a cherry out of her drink, and my gaze was riveted to her every move. Completely oblivious to me, she stuck the stem in her mouth and her chin moved back and forth. Her lips pursed and she bopped to the music.

  Lifting her fingers, she pulled out the double-knotted stem. Fuck me. I mean, not fuck me, but damn.

  The night wore on with a few more drinks, dark bar lighting, and music in the background. It had all the makings of a night I’d had so many times before, but this time it was different.

  Seph’s eyes widened and she let the small black straw fall free from her lips. They glistened in the low light. I wanted to run my thumb across the bottom one, taste it. Shaking my head, I tried to push those thoughts aside.

  “I love this song. Can we dance?” She was out of the booth and on her feet, tugging me out of my seat before she’d said the last word.

  We went out there. She moved like she couldn’t get enough of each note, like a person who’d been locked away and only recently discovered the raw energy of a driving beat and an infectious melody. She held my hands, lifting them up in the air as she danced around, uninhibited like she seldom was anywhere else. She didn’t care that she was dancing with a guy in his underwear, didn’t even seem to notice the odd looks we both attracted; she was alive and happy. I couldn’t help but feel like I was being included in something special, like I was with someone special.

  Maybe it was the drinks that gave her an excuse to be a little braver or maybe the fact that no one there knew us, but she danced like no one was looking. The flare of jealousy burned brightly and I pulled her close.

  The music shifted, the dance tune replaced with something slower.

  Her hands looped around my neck. “I had fun tonight.”

  “Of course you did. I’m standing here in my underwear and my coat like some chick showing up to surprise her boyfriend.”

  She threw her head back and laughed, exposing more of her neck, the long smooth lines of it and the way her flushed skin glowed. The lack of pants was totally apparent to me with her in my arms. That also meant there was nothing to keep the sneaky freaking boner that was trying to form and embarrass me in check. Wiping tears from her eyes, she put her hand back along my neck.

  “You’re going to hold this against me forever, aren’t you?”

  I clenched all my muscles to keep my dick from answering that question with a knock against her body.

  “You’re so tense.” She ran her fingers along the back of my neck.

  That was not helping. It was so far from helping she might as well have set me on fire.

  “I’m sorry I’ve made you stay out after you lost all your clothes.” Her fingers toyed with the hair at the back of my neck.

  My arms tightened around her, running small circles along her back with my thumbs, the same skin I’d felt under the pads of my fingers that morning in my room.

  “No biggie. It’s like being out in my swim trunks.”

  “Thanks for coming out with me.” She stared into my eyes like I’d hung the moon and stars by getting a drink with her.

  “You never have to thank me.” Her lips glistened under the lights shining from behind the bar. More people moved onto the dance floor, and I used that as an excuse to hold her tighter.

  “Even when I lose your clothes.”

  “Especially then. Think of the epic stories I’ll be able to tell about that time Seph went up against pool sharks and I got hustled out of my clothes.” I smiled and swallowed. My Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. I’d never wanted to kiss someone more than I did right then, standing in the middle of a crowded dance floor in nothing but my Pikachu boxers, dancing with a woman who was unlike anyone I’d ever met. She’d gotten so fully and completely under my skin, I didn’t know how I’d existed before I met her.

  Her lips parted. My heart slammed into my chest like fists on a punching bag, every thud bridging the gap between us.

  “Reece?”

  “Yeah.”

  In a flash, her lips were on mine. I tightened my hands around her waist and ran one up her back, pressing her harder against my chest. She tasted like her Tequila Sunrise and a sweetness that made my head swim. Her mouth opened, lips parted, and I was never one to leave an opportunity unexplored.

  Every part of me wanted to wrap around her, wanted to make this a special kiss, make every touch one she’d crave, because I was slowly becoming an addict and I didn’t want to be the only one. A few weeks earlier, I would have been able to resist her. Stepping back hadn’t been a herculean effort, but now I couldn’t do it. Not this time. I wasn’t that strong.

  Her hands were in my hair, pulling me even closer, exploring my mouth with her tongue as I lifted her off her feet. The music changed again and more people crowded the small dance floor.

  I set her down, and we broke apart. Panting with my pulse pounding in my veins, I looked into her eyes. She looked back into mine, shell-shocked like I’d just dropped a bomb in the center of the dance floor.

  “I think I should go.”

  16

  Reece

  “Usually you want to come out early in the morning, but it’s too damn cold for that.” I let out my line and there was a gentle plunk when the fishing lure hit the water. The kiss had been all I could think about since that night. She’d avoided me for the past week, or had I been avoiding her? Not talking to each other for so long felt weird and awkward after getting into an easy rhythm of seeing or talking to each other every day.

  I’d missed her off-the-wall questions that often had the guys doubled over with laughter, and how she lit up whenever she tried something new. I’d missed seeing her. I’d missed her. Making the call under the guise of another first had been my in to test the waters, to see if I’d fucked things up permanently or if they could be repaired.

  Her feet kicked back and forth on the small bridge not too far from my parents’ house, and she fiddled with the reel before letting it loose it out like I’d shown her. She’d watched every move I made and had me repeat it about fifteen times to make sure she’d get it right.

  With her line cast, she rubbed her chin against her shoulder. “I didn’t think you’d call me after our pool hall adventure.”

  The kiss. The kiss that had somehow blown away every other kiss I’d ever had and made me forget every pair of lips other than hers? Was that the adventure she was talking about?

  Gravel crunched as a car rumbled down the road. Saved by the car—or so I thought. My face dropped when the telltale plate crested over the edge of the little hill before the bridge. Glancing to the creek bank about ten feet below us and my car ten feet away, I knew there was no hiding. I threw the hood up on my sweatshirt and prayed for a miracle, like maybe the driver having temporary blindness.

  “Is someone coming? Are we going to get arrested?” Seph’s voice shot up so high there were probably dogs howling in the distance. Dropping the rod, she braced herself on the edge of the bridge ledge.

  “Worse.”

  I grabbed Seph’s hands, which tightened against the railing like she was about to go all Fugitive on me and make the leap into the creek, then run through the water like there were dogs after her.

  The truck stopped right in the middle of the bridge. “Did you really think that hood was going to keep me from knowing it was you?” That voice I knew oh so well came through the open passenger side window.

  “I hoped.” Pushing my hood back, I swung my legs over the other side of the railing. The tiny ball of dread in my stomach grew. I was in deep shit. Looking at Seph, I jerked my head toward the truck.

  Her face dropped like I was walking her to the gallows.

  “You’
re lucky it was me driving by and not your dad. How’d you get the rods out of the shed without anyone seeing you?”

  “I have my ways.” I held my arm out and pressed it against the small of Seph’s back to steady her as she stepped up to the side of the truck.

  My mom put the vehicle in park and leaned over the passenger seat, sticking her hand out the window. “I’m Mary, Reece’s mom. And you are?”

  “Seph.” Her voice came out as a cross between a squeak and an exhalation of relief.

  “Reece brought you all the way out here to fish?”

  “He—I’ve always wanted to fish, so he was nice enough to take me.”

  “You hate fishing.” The laughter in Mom’s voice matched the deep frown on my face. “Wait until your dad hears about this.”

  “I’ve fished before.”

  Seph looked at me, and she figured out my angle.

  “Don’t think you’re running away without coming to the house for dinner, and you need to clean those hooks before your dad sees them.”

  Dammit, clean getaway hampered by Mom. This should be fun.

  SEPH

  We pulled up to Reece’s parents’ house, and there were three cars in the driveway of the two-story red brick home. There were blue slatted shutters on either side of the windows facing the street, and a bright red door that made it look like something off of a Hallmark card.

  There were colorful Christmas lights strung up along the gutters and all over the roof even though it wasn’t even Thanksgiving yet. Inflatable cartoon characters in Santa hats waved back and forth in the gentle winter breeze.

  Reece shut off the car. His hands tightened around the steering wheel. “Be prepared. My mom is going to bombard you with questions. You don’t have to answer them. My sister will probably want you to teach her how to braid her hair like yours.”

  “And your dad?” My stomach knotted. If he was anything like mine, it would probably be best if I just waited in the car.