by Jessa York
She pursed her lips together again. “Umm, this and that. What do you do?”
“Could you be any more vague?”
As her eyes searched my face, mine dropped down to her cleavage. Again. I really needed to stop doing that.
“Nothing interesting. Boring office work. Typing, research—stuff like that.”
“Oh, you’re an admin assistant?”
“Something like that. Boring tasks, mostly.” Her eyes didn’t meet mine like maybe she was embarrassed about where she worked so I didn’t press. “What do you do?”
There was no chance in hell I’d tell her that. I never told any casual flings what I did for a living. The last thing I needed was for some one-night stand to look me up and hunt me down. Let’s face it—women were clingy. “Same. Boring office work.” Which wasn’t exactly a lie—just not exactly the truth, either.
“Looks like we’re a dull pair, then,” she said with a resigned smile. Those lips of hers looked so plump and delicious it was getting harder and harder not to lean down and taste them.
Pulling her closer, I was positive she could feel my hardness up against her stomach. A zinging sensation ran down my spine at our contact. Her mouth parted slightly as a dreamy look crossed her face. Slowly moving my head down, she quickly turned her face to the side, so my nose grazed her cheek.
Damn. Plan thwarted, I cleared my throat, moving back a bit to give her some space before I tried again to capture those lips. “Do you come here often?” I asked, clearing my throat.
She started giggling, her body shaking next to mine. “You did not just hand me the worst pick-up line ever.”
Laughing, I leaned down to her ear. “Do you want to be picked up?” I asked, leaving a light kiss on her neck. You’d have to be blind not see the shiver as it ran through her body.
Her eyes darted to mine as those plump lips formed a perfect circle. Something unspoken passed between us. I think she very much liked the idea of me picking her up.
I couldn’t help smirking at how flustered she was. Knowing I had the power to do that to her gave me a surge of confidence. “Thirsty? We can go get a drink,” I suggested, trying to save her from embarrassment.
“Sure,” she replied, seemingly relieved to be done with dancing.
Holding her hand tight in mine, I kept her close behind me as we made our way to the main bar.
3
Paige
The feel of his strong hand gripping mine so tightly made that insistent ache in my lower belly even worse. Almost as bad as when we were dancing. His muscular body touching mine nearly did me in. Then when he pulled me tight, I could feel his hardness right against my belly. If he hadn’t been holding me up, I think I would have fainted. My pulse still hadn’t returned to normal no matter how many math equations I tried to do.
His moves seemed a bit too smooth like he’d perfected the simple formula for how to make a chick weak in the knees. I was ashamed to admit it was working.
Part of me thought who the heck cared if it was? Practically none of my friends were virgins anymore. A lot of them got good grades even though they went out frequently. Only my friend, Holly, had been more like me—always staying home to do schoolwork instead of going out.
Until we found out she was secretly dating a teacher.
I guess even she was able to find time for fun.
“What were you drinking before?” Jake asked as we approached the bar. His hand yanked on mine, dragging me closer.
“A martini,” I replied with a sigh.
He chuckled, moving his lips toward my ear. Gosh, every time he did that it made me shiver everywhere. “You don’t like martinis?” he asked, his breath hot on my skin making my nipples impossibly hard. I looked down at my mood ring out of curiosity. Deep purple. It only got that color when I was watching steamy romantic movies.
“I don’t really like alcohol at all,” I confessed an odd truth about myself.
His eyebrows raised high on his forehead. “Really?”
Shrugging, I answered, “To me it tastes like nail polish remover—not that I’ve ever taken a swig of it or anything, but it has the same smell to me.”
“What about a dry wine?” he suggested, his head tilting a bit.
“I’ve tried everything. Well, nearly. Trust me, my friends made it their goal in high school to try to find something I liked.” Crap, crap, crappity crap crap. I needed to stop talking about high school. Jake was clearly a good five or six years older than I was and people his age probably didn’t bring up their high school days very often.
“In high school there wasn’t much I wouldn’t drink. In fact, many times we’d mix a bunch of stuff together,” he said, laughing like the cool, carefree guy he probably was.
Shaking my head, I said, “Sounds fun.”
“It was, but it was a hundred years ago. Anyway,” he concentrated back at the task at hand, “what are we going to get you?”
I bounced my shoulders up and down a couple of times. No matter what kind of drink he ordered me it would just serve as a prop to hold. His eyes traveled down my body then up again creating more tingles as he went. “I think I know just the thing,” he said then turned around to order.
The music was so loud it was impossible to hear what he was saying to the bartender. Either way, it wouldn’t matter.
We got our drinks fairly quickly. When I’d offered to pay for mine Jake gave me a sour look like I was crazy or something. Yikes. Finding a spot to sit at the bar wasn’t going to happen so we hunted around for a few minutes until a table opened up.
Jake took my drink, setting it on the table before helping me up on the stool. The heat from his hands seared through my dress as he guided me. I liked how much he touched me—always keeping a hand somewhere in contact.
“This looks delicious,” I said, stating the obvious truth as I removed the straw from the tall, white drink topped with what looked like whipped cream.
He leaned over, talking right into my ear, “So do you.”
A shock ran down my body as I clenched my thighs together. My poor heart was beating a crazy rhythm. Trying to play it cool, I ignored his statement, taking a sip of the drink. Pure Heaven. The cool, icy, coconut flavored liquid slid easily down my throat.
“Yum,” I breathed, licking my lips. “What is this?” I asked, surprised to actually like a drink for once.
His thumb reached out, wiping the corner of my mouth—then bringing it back to his mouth where he licked off the whipped cream. My toes curled as I watched what he did. The shock must’ve shown on my face because the next thing he did was wink at me.
If I thought my heart was beating fast before, I was wrong. Now it was racing, making it difficult for me to catch my breath. “It’s a piña colada. Extra cream.”
I giggled, knowing he must be wrong. “No, it’s not. I’ve tried those before,” I said, taking another refreshing sip.
He smiled at me as he removed the glass from my hand then tasting it for himself. Watching his lips touch the edge of the glass was nearly an erotic experience for me. Like it was almost the same as our mouths touching. “Yep, it’s definitely a piña colada.”
“Impossible,” I said, extracting my drink from his grasp. Our fingers touched and I swear I felt a spark run down my arm. “There’s no way I taste rum in here.” Once again, I drank. This time the subtle taste of pineapple assaulted my mouth. The perfect combination.
“There’s not a lick of rum, you’re correct. It’s a virgin.”
Hearing him say the word virgin stopped my heart in my throat and I started choking. Gasping for air, I set the drink down, coughing.
“Christ, are you okay?” he asked, rubbing my back as his hand went up to signal a member of the wait staff. A few moments later, a server brought over a glass of water for me. Jake thanked her while I gulped it down along with my sense of mortification.
When I could talk, I said, “Thanks, sorry about that.”
“You’re all good?”
/>
That was the problem. I had spent my whole life being good. Now I felt the sudden, distinct desire to be bad. With him. “Totally fine it just went down the wrong way.”
His arm was still around me as our eyes locked, neither of us blinking—or breathing. Finally, his gaze dropped to my mouth, causing the butterflies in my stomach to return. I was pretty sure he was going to kiss me.
I’d been kissed before. Not very well but it had happened. We’d both worn braces. It was all metal and teeth and plenty of slobber. Let’s face it, continually wiping your chin off was the exact opposite of romantic.
Something told me that kissing Jake would be in a whole other universe. A universe I was very interested in visiting. Nerves got the best of me. “I knew this wasn’t a real piña colada,” I said, reclaiming my drink, happy to have something to do with my hands and my mouth.
Jake cleared his throat, leaning back a bit as he kept his arm around me. “It’s still a piña colada, Mindy. It’s just a virgin piña colada. That’s like saying human virgins aren’t human.”
“You ever had a virgin?” I blurted out for some reason. Why did I do that?
He chortled into his glass as he took another swig. “Human or drink?”
I gave him a small smile. “Human.”
“Nope.” He shook his head, tossing the rest of his drink back. “I don’t think they actually exist.”
That made me start giggling like a crazy person. “So, you think virgins are like some kind of unicorn?”
The smile on his face made me laugh even harder. “I suppose that’s one way of looking at it.”
“And you don’t think there are any unicorns—not a single solitary one—in this bar right now?” I asked, pretending to look around for one. “I bet she’s one,” I said, pointing inconspicuously with my pinkie finger toward a younger woman with a very short, red dress on.
He snorted a bit. “I’d bet you good money she’s not,” he said, twirling his finger around, “and there’s not one vir—unicorn in this place.”
Again, that set me off on another laughing fit. “What about him? He looks a little lonely,” I said, sticking my small finger out again to motion at a poor guy sitting by himself, head in his hand, nursing a beer.
“I doubt,” he began to say before halting in mid-sentence. His eyes focused in on my hand. Taking the glass out of it, he set it on the table. Not releasing my hand, he continued pulling it closer to his face. “Is that a mood ring?” he asked, twisting it around with the tips of his fingers as he examined it like it was some rare artifact.
“You’ve never seen a mood ring before?”
“Not for a long time,” he said, a small smile forming on his lips. This whole evening Jake had been very attentive. At the moment he seemed a million miles away. “I can’t remember what all the colors mean?” His eyes gazed up at me in question. “Red means angry, right? Yellow is mellow? What’s purple?”
His attempt at matching moods to colors was cute if not slightly embarrassing. The current shade of my ring was purple. I had no desire to let him know that meant I was turned on. “Pfft, it doesn’t mean anything.”
“Actually, mood rings are made up of thermotropic liquid crystals. They detect your body’s change in temperature which some think can show what kind of mood you’re currently in.”
I’d never heard such big, scientific words used for a mood ring. The serious look on his face as he examined my jewelry warmed my heart. It also made me laugh. Again. “Settle down, professor.” I chuckled, teasing him a bit. “It’s just a goofy mood ring. A thing of lore if you will,” I said in my best fake English accent.
Immediately his eyes found mine as his head cocked to the side. “Professor?”
He had yet to let go of my hand, instead holding it even tighter. “Who else would know the phrase, ‘thermotropic liquid crystals’?”
The corner of his lips lifted. “Someone who’s fascinated with mood rings?” He quirked his eyebrow up in a funny way, still playing with the circle on my finger. The feel of his hands moving on my skin made that tingle between my legs ramp up to an all-out ache.
Hoping to get my mind off things south of the border, I took another swig of my dreamy, tropical drink. It didn’t help. It made things worse when his eyes darted to my mouth as he reached out with one hand to hold my chin between his finger and thumb.
Slowly, his face got closer—sight still focused on my lips. A hot shot of electricity ran through me as his tongue glided to the corner of my mouth, licking gently then dropping the faintest of kisses there. His head moved back just far enough so I could see an almost feral look on his face.
Thank goodness I was sitting because my body felt like overcooked spaghetti. Sliding his hand around the back of my head he pulled me the rest of the way to his mouth. For about half a second I considered turning my face away. But I wanted him to kiss me.
Finally, his lips touched mine, almost hesitant at first—then he crushed his mouth to me with a slight groan. His tongue plunged into my mouth finding my tongue instantly. I sighed at the contact as he took the kiss even deeper.
He tasted like bourbon and bad decisions. Which was good because right now I wanted to make some very poor decisions.
4
Jake
She tasted like a tropical dream as my mouth did everything it could to devour every corner of hers. And she let me. Her sweet sighs as we kissed made my cock unbelievably hard. I was glad we were sitting down.
Jesus, my balls even ached like I was some horny teenager going after his first lay. “You taste so good,” I muttered against her lips before diving back in—just as a horrible, piercing noise filled the air.
Mindy pushed away, covering her ears, frowning as she looked around the bar. Next came a blast of cold water from above.
Using a hand to shield my eyes, I gazed up to see it was the fire sprinklers. Damn. My stomach twisted as the patrons around us began to panic. This was not good.
My heart squeezed seeing the look of shock on Mindy’s face. I needed to get her out of here. “It’s probably just a false alarm,” I tried to reassure her, pulling her off the stool. “Whatever you do, don’t let go of me, okay?”
She nodded, wiping water out of her eyes. Yanking on her arms, I fitted her to my back so I could push through the throng of people attempting to do the same thing I was. Escape.
Over the speaker system someone announced, “No need to panic, ladies and gents. Everyone please leave the premises in an orderly fashion.” The man’s instructions didn’t seem to assuage anyone’s fears. Women were crying, men looked around with raised voices telling others to hurry up.
“This way,” I said, going against the grain for a few yards, parting the sea of people in front of us. I held tight to the hands that were gripping my waist. At one point I felt her fingers loosen so I turned around to see her nearly get swept off.
My fist reached out for her arm, clamping on with a near bruising force. “No,” I yelled, grasping her other arm, pulling her forcefully into my body. Her arms circled me, her fingernails digging painfully into my skin.
We walked like that, as one joined entity until I found the hallway I had been looking for. “Down here,” I said into her ear, breaking away from the crowd. It was much cooler here not to mention easier to breathe. I prayed that I had remembered correctly.
As soon as I saw the emergency exit my shoulders relaxed. “Oh, thank goodness,” Mindy said, letting her death grip go on my body. Pushing on the large, metal latch we were soon bathed in the cool, Santa Lena night air.
Once outside, I took stalk of her. She was soaked through and through. Long, black hair dripping down her now nearly see through dress. What had originally been a pale pink was now almost translucent against her curvy body making her lacy, black undergarments more than visible.
I tried not to notice but you’d have to be blind not to.
“You all right?” I asked, picking up her arm to examine where I’d grabbed h
er. I could see red marks that would likely bruise later. My stomach clenched thinking I’d injured her. “Did I hurt you badly?”
Her raccoon eyes peered up at me as she shook her head. “No, of course not. You—you—saved me,” she said before breaking down completely.
“Hey, hey, come here,” I said, surrounding her with my arms. Feeling her body shake as she let out a sob cut me to the core. “No, don’t. It was probably just a false alarm,” I said as the sound of sirens in the distance started.
“I was so scared. What would I have done if—” she blurted out into my chest, shaking her head.
As bad a situation as this was, I loved having her so close to me. “You would have been fine,” I said into her wet mop of hair as I hugged her tighter.
“I was completely freaked out. Oh no, where’s Alex? We need to go back and get him,” she said, letting go of me, gearing up to run back into the place we’d just escaped.
“Uh huh, no way,” I said, holding her shoulders firmly. “Let’s check around front.” Nodding to the right, I slipped her hand into mine. “I’m sure he’s fine. Their table was near the entry doors.”
That seemed to placate her, so she fell into step beside me. “Cold?” I asked, averting my gaze down the back alley. Flashing lights from the street lit up the area well enough for us to see down the rough, broken up road.
“Yeah.” She shivered, peering up at me.
“I wish I had a jacket for you,” I sighed, putting my arm around her, hoping my body would provide some source of warmth. “Is this better or worse?” I enquired, not wanting to make her colder with my wet shirt.
“Much better,” she said, pushing herself into me as we neared the sidewalk.
Turning, we saw hordes of people huddled together in groups. The loud honk of the fire trucks coming from down the street blared in our ears. Slowly, we made our way around the perimeter of those gathered until we heard a loud, “Thank, God.” Her friend raced up to us.
