Echo

by Anne Conley

  “It’s a game. Come on. If you don’t do the truth, you have to take the dare.” Simone crossed her arms in front of her chest in a self-satisfied manner, drawing Jude’s attention back to her. Fucking Everly. He wished he’d never started anything romantic with her, and the blame would be forever firmly placed on Simone for being her partner in manipulative crime.

  “Then give me the fucking dare. I’m not getting into Everly with you to go back and tell her everything I said.” He took a sip of his whiskey and let the fiery liquid wash away the burn in his gut every time he thought of his ex. He hated that his feelings toward Everly had gone this way. Everly was a good person, deep down. Just not good girlfriend material. Not for him, anyway.

  “Okay,” she pursed her lips in thought looking around. Seeing something she liked, Simone smiled a devilish grin. “I dare you to kiss any woman in this bar.”

  Jude looked around, seeing what had made her smile. Fucking Everly was standing at the bar, watching him.

  Right. Like he was going to kiss her on a fucking dare. Joey was muffling a laugh behind his hand, and not for the first time, he questioned his friend’s judgement for ever hooking up with Simone.

  Turning back to Simone, he growled. “I’m not twelve years old. This is stupid.” Logan had extracted himself from Katie and excused himself to go to the restroom with a huge wet patch on his groin. So he looked to Zane for support.

  “There are other women here, dude. You don’t have to kiss Everly,” Zane was leaning back in his seat, one foot crossed over his knee at the ankle, the perfect pose of relaxed masculinity. If he did this dare, he’d come up with something to make the dude wholly uncomfortable. Just because they encouraged this stupid childish game.

  “Come on, man,” Joey chuckled. “Just do it.”

  Jude’s eyes roamed the dimly lit bar once more, as he got ready to just go home. If this was what the company was going to act like, he could just drink whiskey at home.

  But his eyes fell back to the stunning blonde, sitting at a table in the corner, sipping her margarita. She wore a green sweater dress and black boots, and had her hair pulled back in a side braid, begging to be wrapped around his hand, soft tendrils framing her face. But what struck Jude was her mouth. It was wide and full and totally kissable.

  As he watched her, the woman’s eyes flitted around the bar and landed on him, widening slightly. Grinning, Jude tossed the rest of his drink back and slid out of his chair.

  “I’m on it.”

  He heard Zane mutter something about getting it but Jude didn’t hear. Suddenly, he was a man on a mission. Everly was watching, and Simone would hopefully get out of their business if he could show them another woman would do just as well.

  Jude moved closer, and she fidgeted in her seat, as if she knew she was prey in his sites. Her dress accentuated every curve on her exquisite body, and the closer he got, Jude saw freckles smattered across her nose. She definitely came from big sky country. Montana maybe. Or Texas. It lent the sophisticated woman an air of innocence, and his cock hardened as he stopped in front of her.

  Maybe she would do even better than just a kiss.

  “Hi,” he began. “I have a favor to ask.”

  She raised her eyebrows and smiled vaguely, exposing a tiny gap in her teeth which only made her more attractive with the tiny imperfection.

  “I’m here with my friends, and one of their girlfriends is trying to mess with me. I was about to leave when she dared me to kiss a woman here. And then I saw you.” Her brows knit in confusion, but he saw the pulse in her neck pick up speed. When she absently licked her lips, he sat next to her. “Let me kiss you to get them off my back, then I’ll buy you a drink and walk away.”

  She took a deep breath, but didn’t say anything. Her eyes searched his face, landing on his lips, then going back to his eyes, probably gauging his honesty.

  “I promise I’m not playing with you. Look over there.”

  Jude turned his head to follow her eyes as she looked over his shoulder at his friends. Joey raised his drink with a goofy smile on his face and Simone narrowed her eyes on a huff. Zane just watched over the rim of his drink, a twinkle in his eyes. Logan was still nowhere to be found. Jude sighed.

  “See?” He turned back to her to find her watching him intently. “So, what do you say? May I kiss you? You don’t have to see me again, promise.” It occurred to him maybe that was a deal breaker for her, but he wasn’t really willing to make promises he didn’t plan on keeping just for a stupid game.

  But as he watched her decide, he got a little lost in her big green eyes, the color of frosty sage leaves after a morning dew. “You have gorgeous eyes. I bet men tell you that all the time.”

  She snapped out of her trance. “Thank you. Yes.” Her voice was low and husky, sending a shock of lust straight to his balls.

  He rested his hand on her leg, the desire to touch those soft curves over-riding all common sense. “Yes, what? Guys say that a lot?”

  Her smile widened, and Jude lost all the air in his lungs. God, she was breathtaking. “Yes, you can kiss me.”

  Jude smiled, as he scooted his chair closer to her. He was about to kiss a random stranger in a bar on a dare, but as he gripped her braid and brought her face closer to his, he didn’t give a flying fuck. He wanted to taste those glistening lips. STAT.

  He closed his eyes as he brushed his lips across hers, and then sensations took over everything. Warmth, softness, her subtle floral scent, her fingers trailing up his chest and winding around his neck, the tiny gasp she expelled. Something foreign and totally feral welled up inside him and roared approval.

  More.

  Jude’s teeth nipped at her top lip, willing them to grant him admittance. She hesitated, but he moved his hand around to grip the nape of her neck and tilted her head, his other hand sliding to her back to pull her into his arms, and she finally relaxed, opening her mouth on a soft sigh.

  It was as if he’d been granted entrance to heaven. Jude deepened the kiss, the untamed beast inside him purring its triumph. He hauled her closer, feeling the press of her nipples against his chest. This kiss was quickly changing everything he’d ever known about kissing, as she branded him with a searing heat that sent a shock of pure unadulterated lust straight to his balls.

  Her hot little tongue was rocking his world, sending Jude to places he’d never been as he completely lost track of his surroundings. Her fingers were twined in the hair at the base of his neck, tugging on it, sending sharp needles of sensation coursing through his veins.

  He let out a noise from the back of his throat that sounded an awful lot like a possessive growl. He wanted this woman naked. Yesterday.

  Breaking the kiss, he leaned his forehead on hers, desperate to regain a semblance of reality. As he looked into her eyes, he noticed she looked every bit as undone as he felt.

  “What’s your name?” His voice was unrecognizable to himself, hoarse and gritty, and he swallowed the thick bundle of desire lodged in his throat.

  “Annette,” she whispered, her eyes roaming his face, landing on his lips as if she didn’t believe what had just happened. She was just as affected as he was. Annette. An elegant name for an elegant woman. Her fingers clutched the stem of her margarita glass nervously. She was probably out of his league, a woman like Everly, who liked things a certain way, her men to be a certain status. That’s what her name said. But her skin spoke of sunshine, the freckles a carefree naiveté that sang to him of walks on the mountainside and nights by the fire.

  “You want to get out of here?” He forced his hands to stay still, but they twitched, wanting badly to roam the landscape of her body.

  “I’m supposed to be meeting someone,” she whispered so he barely heard her.

  “Boyfriend?” He leaned back a bit. If she was taken, he’d kick himself for poaching
another man’s territory. But if she was taken, why hadn’t she said something?

  But she shook her head. “No, business acquaintance.”

  “Can I get your number then? I’d like to see you again.” He’d be damned if he was leaving here without a way of contacting her. But she shook her head again and he deflated a little inside.

  “Give me yours.” Her low voice spurred him on. Jude grabbed her cell phone, sitting on the table in front of her, and put in his number.

  “You’ll call me?”

  “You said you’d buy me a drink and leave.” Her hands twisted in front of her, showing her discomfort. He’d thought they were beyond that.

  Hurt, without understanding why, he nodded. Hadn’t she felt the spark? Did her world not just change in the instant their lips had touched? As he watched her look pointedly at her lap, avoiding him, he realized she probably wouldn’t call. She was classy. A lady who probably didn’t do one-night stands.

  Sure. This was a great idea. He got Simone off his back by kissing her, he’d buy her a drink, and go home. He didn’t want any more games tonight.

  Jude affected a rough timbre to his voice to mask his frustration. “Fine.” Not completely understanding why he was so pissed, he prowled over to the bar, ordered her another margarita, and stalked out the door. He was done with tonight.

  About Anne

  Anne has written her entire life and has the boxes of angst-filled journals and poetry to prove it. She’s been writing for public consumption for the last four years. Currently she is writing two romance series. In Stories of Serendipity, she explores real people living real lives in small town Texas in a contemporary romance setting. In The Four Winds, she chronicles God’s four closest archangels, Uriel, Gabriel, Raphael, and Michael, falling in love and becoming human. She lives in rural East Texas with her husband and children in her own private oasis, where she prides herself in her complete lack of social skills, choosing instead to live with the people inside her head. Check out her blog, www.anneconley.com for updates, book blurbs, and more.

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  Anne’s Series

  Book B!tches

  Welcome to Mystic, Texas, where the past stays alive in more ways than one. Vanessa, Tiffany, Kristie, Wren, Melanie, and Samantha are a motley crew of women who have formed an unlikely alliance. Under the guise of a book club, where they read only indie authors, they discuss men, relationships, and the current mystery surrounding the town. There’s a serial killer on the loose, and he’s targeted the Book B!tches.

  Serendipity Series

  Welcome to Serendipity, Texas, a town where real people deal with real problems. Meet characters in their thirties and forties struggling with day-to-day issues and managing to find love in the process. Visit Serendipity, where the days are hot, and the nights are steamy!

  The Four Winds Series

  The Four Winds series are Paranormal Romances dealing with the Archangels. They are the biblical archangels, so there are aspects of Christianity in them. But the conflict in the stories are about the archangels falling in love and turning human, so they are dealing with human emotions and feelings. Due to various reactions of shock and outrage, I feel the need to put the spoiler out there: These books have sex in them, but also Christianity. So if either of those bother you, please don’t buy these books. First book in the series, Falling for Heaven, is free!

  Pierce Securities

  A group of misfits come together to form Pierce Securities & Investigations; doing the best they can with their collective and individual strengths; becoming unlikely heroes in the process.

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