They were discussing the empty patio behind the bar… when Julio trumped them with a “done that.” Which led to Taylor sharing the story of how they started dating. It was adorable, and Taylor just relayed the whole thing with a glowing expression, turning his adoring eyes to Julio whenever he mentioned being pushed around or tied up.
These were totally her people.
And then they started talking about who had the biggest cock—Taylor apparently, unless Parker was wearing a bigger strap-on—and Micah gave a running commentary on performance with just a little snark thrown in. Had he fucked all of them?
“Group scene,” muttered Ben. So, yes then.
When the waitress came over, Angel still had her head buried in the menu. She was debating between barbeque sauce with caramelized onions or mango salsa for her burger, so she watched as the group went around and ordered.
Julio ordered for Taylor, and he gave a little smile that said, see how lucky I am?
Angel missed having someone to order for. Like she’d been able to do before things went so wrong with Tamika. But that wasn’t where her mind needed to go right now.
Eric raised an eyebrow at Micah, who shrugged back. Eric placed the order for him with a wink. Micah gave another shrug, this time in Angel’s direction. “I get the same thing every time.”
Of course, when the waitress got around to Dakota they gave both of their men the stink eye and declared that no one had better dare order for them… which immediately resulted in Ben and Parker trying to rapidly place orders. Everyone laughed, even the waitress.
Angel hadn’t really looked up at the waitress, but she’d gotten the impression of tattoos, a clingy black shirt, and shoulder-length hair. Her low chuckle, melodious and genuine, caught Angel’s attention and a shiver went down her spine.
She reminded herself that she wasn’t looking for a partner, or even a hook up, right now. But she still stole a little peek of those slim hips framed by a short skirt that flared with every small twist. Her body language was relaxed, with that hint of unconscious sensuality that always got Angel going.
Angel’s attention snapped back to the table when Dakota announced that if their partners were going to order, they’d eat it all and the guys could just pay for it. And somehow Dakota manipulated them into paying for another round of pitchers and an appetizer platter for the table.
The three of them were hilarious, and Angel was delighted that her best friend had found two people that made him so visibly happy.
When all of that settled down, it was finally Angel’s turn to order. She’d finally decided on the barbecue.
“Angel,” Ben interrupted, gesturing toward the waitress, “you remember Nina, don’t you?”
Angel’s head snapped up, like it was yanked by a string.
Nina was the same but different. Older, of course. More confident in how she held herself. Her smooth, brown locks were pulled up in a ponytail with two little whisps delicately framing her face, which was still freckled from the sun. Her eyes were graced with just a hint of makeup, and her lips were kissably glossy.
Angel wondered how much she’d longed to do that when they’d known each other.
Probably just as much as Angel had.
She was wearing a black t-shirt with the Whirlwind logo and Angel couldn’t help but notice how the soft fabric hugged the swell of her breasts.
Her eyes, though, hadn’t changed at all. She looked Angel over in confusion, but all Angel could think of was how she’d made those shy, brown eyes glow with desire.
“We all went to school together,” Ben added for Nina’s benefit.
Angel could see the moment when Nina put it all together, eyes wide with an audible gasp. Then she looked down and away, her translucent skin showing her beautiful blush.
“Hey,” she mumbled, then started to turn away.
“You’re gorgeous,” Angel blurted out. She hadn’t meant to say anything. But Nina was all grown up, sexy and feminine and back after all of those years.
She knew she should apologize, but when she saw how Chan– Nina blushed and squirmed, she didn’t want to take it back. Nina wouldn’t meet her eyes, but she was watching her all the same.
If there were even a chance that Nina might be interested in her now, she didn’t want to lose it.
It hadn’t worked out before, but they’d been stupid teenagers. It was now obvious, Nina had probably been just as uncomfortable in her body as Angel was.
“What can I get for you?” Nina stammered, her voice throaty and rich like melted chocolate.
Angel wanted to keep her there longer. She wanted to soak in her appearance, to hear more of that voice. “I was going to get dinner. What do you recommend?”
It seemed to take Nina a moment to make sense of the question.
“Um… the burgers are good. The chipotle burger with… but you don’t like mayonnaise. The… everything’s good.”
Holy fuck. She remembered that? And did that indicate anything about their chance of a relationship now?
Angel looked her up and down, taking in every delicious detail. Letting her know that she liked what she saw.
Nina stared at her order pad like it was going to save her. But Angel didn’t miss that quick glance upward when Nina was watching her, too.
The sadist in Angel wanted to see her squirm some more, see if she could make that beautiful blush extend down to the seductive V of her shirt.
But Nina was working, and as much Angel wanted to corner her in the hallway, she didn’t want to screw up her job. “I’ll just have a cheeseburger, then, sub out the fries for salad.”
Nina looked relieved. She quickly took orders from the rest of the table. Everyone was awkwardly quiet as they placed their orders, but looks were flying between them. She hadn’t exactly been subtle.
Dakota and Parker were smirking. Those assholes had known. Would it have killed Ben to explain that Nina worked at Whirlwind?
“I’ll get those out right away,” Nina promised.
As soon as she was out of earshot, everyone jumped on her. “Who is that?” “What just happened?” “Damn, that was hot. Do you think she’s interested?” “Of course she’s interested. You could see the flames from a mile away.”
Angel let it all wash over her. There was really only one explanation. “She was the one who got away.”
Dakota smirked. “Pay up, Parker.”
Angel rolled her eyes, but whatever they were bidding on, she didn’t want to know.
For the rest of the evening, she gave her new friends only half of her attention. The rest was focused on Nina. Watching her hips as she walked across the room. Her breasts as she leaned across a table. Her gorgeous eyes, and endless blush when she looked up to find Angel’s eyes on her.
Nina didn’t return to their table for the rest of the night.
Chapter 2
Nina
Nina looked up and nearly spilled the tray of drinks she was carrying. Angel was watching her again.
And she wasn’t being subtle about it.
Nina felt like prey.
She tried sneaking in little looks, wanting to catalogue all of the changes of the past decade while she repeated the new name in her head. Angel.
She truly was.
Nina delivered the drinks to the waiting table and then cast a glimpse to the side.
Somehow, she was still the person who Nina had known before. Thomas Hartford. Passionate and sexy, with a fire burning from within. The fuel for all of her teenaged dreams.
But where Angel had been wild and casually handsome before, now she was gorgeous and controlled, like her rough outer edges had been burned away to reveal the diamond within.
She moved with languid precision, her posture statuesque and her femininity only enhancing her leashed power. Her mahogany skin glowed and her soft breasts pressed tantalizingly against her soft dress. Her neck was bare and she made no attempt to cover the bulge in her throat, but looking at her, you would never not
ice it.
Angel had crossed her legs daintily, and Nina traced down those long legs to reach sexy high heels. Fuck, those heels. The thick black straps accentuated the elegant arch of her foot and the riveting bones of her ankles. At the rounded tip, she could see just a flash of Angel’s toes, her nails polished to a shine with a warm peach color. She watched as Angel shifted in her chair, dangling one long leg over the side of her chair.
And looked up to find coal-dark eyes blazing into her.
Nina scurried to the safety of the kitchen. She wished she could have made her walk seductive and confident, because she knew that Angel was watching. But it took all of her attention just to move in the right direction without tripping over herself.
Her head spun with questions. Why was Angel here, after all of these years? Well, probably because of Ben, honestly. But why was Angel watching her?
She felt almost nauseous with stress, but she couldn’t figure out if it was arousing or terrifying. Did Angel really want her, or was this all a trick?
Angel had been the best thing that ever happened to her once.
And then the worst.
She loaded her tray from the window, carefully balancing four plates and six glasses for another table. She told herself that she wouldn’t look up this time. She needed to stay focused so nothing spilled, and Angel was an unnecessary distraction.
She quickly dropped off the order and went back to fetch mustard and an extra plate. She was doing fine.
And Angel was talking with the group now, so she could maybe sneak in one more look.
She wore her hair natural, in crisp, dark curls that adorned her head like a halo. It was longer than it had been back in high school, falling lightly on her shoulders. Nina wondered what Angel’s skin smelled like now, but then told herself that it didn’t matter.
Angel was in the past. A very difficult part of her past that she didn’t want to remember.
She took one more look, though. Angel was laughing, her eyes sparkling and her gestures relaxed. Her mahogany skin was radiant, and now touched by a shimmer of gold at her eyelids and a shiny, neutral pink at her lips. Nina thought that her cheeks might be subtly rounder and her chin and forehead softened, but it was difficult to tell from a distance. She gave the unmistakable aura of confident femininity, like someone who was at home with her body and knew how attractive she was to those around her.
Angel turned her head and caught her again.
Nina’s face burned. God, she couldn’t do this. Her heart was pounding out of her chest and her legs didn’t know where to go. Tom— Angel was here, after all of this time.
She somehow made it back to the kitchen window so she could wait for one of the other servers. “Mandy, can you take care of table 10?”
Mandy looked over at the corner. “Wait, Parker and Eric’s table?” Everybody knew their crew since they came in once or twice a week. “Are you sure? They tip well.”
“Yeah, I’m very sure. In fact, maybe switch sides for the rest of the night?”
“Did anyone bother you?”
Nina shook her head. “It’s not like that. Just… not that.”
Mandy gave her a look. “I’ll switch. But you better not be lying about someone harassing you. Oh, wait… I see her.” Mandy bumped her hip. “Nice sandals.”
Nina hid her head. “I’m never talking to you again. Please switch sides.”
“She’s watching you.”
“I know.”
“Well, I expect all the juicy details later.” Thank God they were too slammed to talk about it now.
That made things a little bit easier. There was at least half a restaurant between them.
But Angel’s eyes were on her all the time.
When the rest of Angel’s table left, Angel moved to the bar and nursed a drink. A soda, Nina noticed. That seemed awfully responsible for the hellion she remembered from high school.
Was she going to wait there all night?
Apparently so.
Nina switched sides with Mandy again, enduring the good-natured ribbing as her penance for trying to avoid the issue.
Fortunately, she was on the early shift and got off at ten. After hanging up her apron, she tried to slip away through the back, like she’d just gone to the kitchen to get something but, oops, went home.
Except Angel was waiting at the back door. How had she known? If it was Mandy, she would kill her.
“Nina, wait. Can we talk?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” In fact, she was pretty sure it was a horrible idea. Because until that day, Angel had been everything that she dreamed of. And now, seeing her again in this new incarnation, she was already pretty sure that she’d be dreaming of her again. But fantasies were very different from reality.
“Why are you avoiding me?”
“Why are you following me?” Nina stepped back, toward the safety of the bar, only realizing afterward that it was a bad idea. She was losing ground.
Angel stalked toward her. “Are you seeing someone?”
“That’s none of your business.” She stepped back again. The bricks of the walk grazed her back. It was eerily like the last time Angel had cornered her, over ten years ago.
“No, then.” Angel was so close now that she could almost feel the heat of her body. But she didn’t touch. Nina cursed herself for still wanting that touch, after everything, after all these years.
“Please,” Nina made her voice strong. “I don’t want you to talk to me anymore.” It had worked last time, and she had to hope it would work again.
Angel’s face fell, and for the first time, she didn’t look confident. She looked ruined.
“I… I’m really sorry.” She closed her eyes. “I was way out of line. And I won’t bother you again. I can even… I don’t have to come back to Whirlwind. Or I can avoid it on the nights that you’re working.”
If Angel was now part of Ben’s crowd, that would be a big sacrifice. And Angel truly looked remorseful. What if Nina had gotten it all wrong?
Angel turned away and Nina already missed her warmth.
“Hang on…”
Angel turned back, but she was subdued now, hesitant. Like a puppy expecting to be kicked.
Nina had to ask. “Did you tell everyone? About the panties?”
Nina could still feel them, the rough lace seeming to burn in her pocket as she’d walked back to her dorm room that night, hands not-so-casually thrust into her pockets. Angel had worn those panties. Angel had let her kiss that beautiful torso, and then guided her lower, over that rough lace with hot flesh beneath.
And then, when she was leaving, Angel had tucked the panties into the pocket of her uniform pants. It had maybe been the hottest moment of her life.
She’d hidden them carefully in the back of the bottom drawer of her wardrobe with dreams of taking them out sometimes when she was certain that her roommate wouldn’t be around.
Only, two days later, she’d come back to her room to find Jordan swinging them around on his fingers. He’d teased about them, in the reckless way of teenagers, but Nina hadn’t been able to think fast enough.
She could have made up a girlfriend. Or an off-campus hook-up with someone who was definitely a girl. And in fact she did. But not until she’d stood there with her mind frozen and her cheeks red for long enough for Jordan to think something was wrong.
He’d come to the wrong conclusion—that they were Nina’s—but, of course, while the details were wrong, the idea behind it was correct.
By the next day, it was all over the school.
And Nina, hurt and reeling, bullied and shamed on every side, had assumed that Angel had set the whole thing up as a prank.
Angel reeled back. “Fuck, Chan– Nina. You think that I told people that you had my panties in your room?”
Alright, well, apparently not. Which meant that she’d messed up a lot of other things, too. She’d always hoped that it wasn’t the case, but how else had Jordan known they were th
ere?
Before Nina could fully process everything, Angel was gripping her arms. Her fingers were hot and tight, sending sparks through her core. “Jesus, Nina. You really thought I could do that to you?”
“I… I didn’t know. I couldn’t figure out how Jordan knew where to look for them.”
“Who’s Jordan?”
Yeah, Nina had really gotten this all wrong. “He was my roommate.”
“He was an asshole.”
“Well, yeah.”
“But, fuck, Nina. How could you think that? You didn’t know I was into you?” Angel’s eyes burned.
“I… I couldn’t figure out why you were helping me with my, my homework otherwise. I mean, you were a senior and I was just... just this stupid sophomore. I thought it was, like, a trick.”
Angel let go of Nina’s arms, and she missed those strong hands clutching her too tightly. Then, they came to settle on her face, gently cupping her cheeks.
“Babe,” Angel’s voice was soft now, her eyes sad. “I was way into you. I would have burned down the school for you.”
“Yeah, that’s, like, part of why I didn’t think I could trust you. You were pretty unpredictable.”
Angel rested her forehead on Nina’s, and her whole world narrowed down to those three points of contact where Angel cradled her face. She closed her eyes, too close to focus anyway, and wanting to soak in the sensation.
“I’m not wild like that, any more. I’m sorry that I was at the time, but I was going through a lot. As I suppose you were, too.”
“I… I mean, I’m the one who screwed it all up. I got scared, I guess.”
“You truly had no idea how I felt about you?” Nina could feel Angel’s breath on her lips with every word that she spoke. “God, I spent so much time trying to think of presents to give you. Jesus, teenagers are stupid. You probably didn’t even notice, did you?”
“Wait… was the book from you?”
That had always been a mystery. A week after the whole debacle, Jordan had walked into the room with a new copy of her favorite book. Only, there was an inscription inside, directed to her, and signed by her favorite author.
Whirlwind Page 25
