by Jill Patten
Mesmerized by his dancing skills—well, that and his muscular physique—I wished that I had never agreed to go on the stupid double date. I wanted to focus my time on this hot guy.
“Hey, I found Reed,” I heard Kendra say behind me.
“Yeah? Well I found sex on a stick. Come here and watch him dance,” I said pulling her to stand beside me. Kendra started giggling.
“Who is he? He sort of looks familiar.” I questioned.
“That is Jaxon, your date tonight,” Reed said with a shit-eating grin on his face.
Holy shit, I was in trouble.
Chapter 5 ~ You Make Me Wanna
Kendra shoved me forcefully away from her car. “Get your big ass back inside now,” she grunted.
“My big ass is going to kick your little ass if you don’t get off of me,” I snorted, keeping my feet planted firmly.
My nerves had gotten the best of me. I had taken off running out of the house when I found out the guy I was drooling over was my date for the night. Kendra immediately came running after me, trying to convince me to go back inside. We’d been battling for the past fifteen minutes over why I thought she should take me home and why she thought I should stay.
“Hahaha,” she said sarcastically. “Yeah, well, if we’re going to fight, let’s at least find some mud so we can make it worth watching.”
I busted out laughing and nearly fell, losing my balance from Kendra pushing on me. Using quick reflexes, Kendra grasped my shoulders, steadying me so I didn’t land with my face in the dirt.
“Thanks for catching me, but you should’ve let me fall. Then I would have a perfect excuse to go home.”
All the humor left Kendra’s face.
“Courtney, I’m being serious now. You’re really starting to fucking piss me off. You’re acting irrational, and I don’t understand why.” She turned to take a couple of steps toward the house when she turned around and walked back to me. “I’m not babying your ass anymore. You know what? Just sit out here and be miserable in the cold. I’m going inside to have a good time. If you change your mind, you know where to find me.”
She stomped back to the house, stopping in front of the steps to the porch. She again spun around to face me.
“I hope that fucking Jason guy in a mask comes looking for you!” she shrieked. She walked up the steps, turned around again before opening the door. “And I hope you freeze your fat ass off too!” she yelled even louder.
My ass must have been the target that night. That was twice in a five-minute-span she referred to my butt being large. I happened to be proud of my plump derriere.
Scanning the perimeter, I wanted to make sure there were no witnesses to our quarrel, and I secretly checked for any Jason-like characters roaming the edge of the woods. I blew out a breath of relief to find myself alone. Although I didn’t want to go back inside, I had to. For one, my jacket was in there and I was out here freezing. Two, Kendra was mad at me, and I would feel guilty if I ruined this double date she had worked so hard to achieve. Third, and most important, I needed to face my fears. Without a doubt, I was going to meet guys at some point in time, so I figured I might as well start with one that I was positive would not become a permanent fixture in my life.
Oh, how I wished I could pump confidence into my veins. I needed an IV hook-up. Being socially awkward painfully sucked.
Taking several deep breaths, I shook my hands by my sides, as if to shake the jitters off of them, and kept repeating the mantra in my head. Balls to the Walls.
Nothing could deflect me as I found myself in the zone. I fell into the beat of ‘Birthday Cake’ by Rihanna, closing my eyes and letting my body feel the music.
When I walked back into the house, I hadn’t seen Kendra, Reed, or Jaxon anywhere. I didn’t exactly go looking for them either. I knew dancing was the best way for me to loosen up, so, after glancing over the bopping heads and seeing no sign of their presence, I joined the cluster of bodies. The DJ switched the music from one song to the next, giving no hesitation in between. I danced as he pumped Calvin Harris, Kanye, Ke$ha, and Nicki Minaj through the speakers for a good half hour or so; however, I was really ready for a beverage break.
As I navigated through the house to the patio outside, I was greeted with a few “hey’s” and hugs from my old classmates. After getting harassed a bit over switching schools, I received several congratulations for “dumping the jerk,” as they had put it. It felt good to be with the familiar faces that I shared twelve years of my life with. The weather had been unseasonably warm lately, but the night temperature continued to drop down into the high thirties. As I stepped out onto the patio, I felt the sweat on my body chill like ice crystals on my skin. It felt great.
Kendra, Reed, and Jaxon were still MIA, and I felt a brief surge of panic shoot through my heart, fearing they had left me there alone. I reasoned with myself, though, knowing Kendra would never abandon me at a place like this.
All the kegs and coolers were stationed on the patio. I guess they figured it was wiser to leave them out in the cold night air. I rummaged through the standing cooler, looking similar to a dumpster diver, trying to find something non-alcoholic, preferably water, but there only seemed to be bottles of beer and wine coolers. I’d only had beer once, and I’d decided it was something I couldn’t acquire a taste for. I was too thirsty to guzzle any wine, and, if I did, the night would end quickly with my low alcohol tolerance level.
My arm started to ache down to the bone from digging in the cold ice, forcing me to stop a moment and let the blood flow warm up my hand.
“Geez! Is it that hard to find water around here?” I mumbled to myself, getting more and more flustered by the minute.
“You can have mine,” I heard a voice say as a bottle of water appeared in front of my face, the bottle attached to a thickly veined hand and muscled forearm.
My eyes slowly trailed up to see what else was attached to that muscular arm. The first thing to catch my eye was the well-defined abdomen with ridges that made the black fitted shirt seem almost transparent. I then noticed something faintly protruding through his shirt where his nipples were located. Were his nipples pierced? Whoa! The strong angular jaw with a five o’clock shadow came into view next. Lazily, my eyes reached the deepest set of dimples, brought out by a playful, sexy smile. He had kissable lips revealing the utmost beautiful set of straight, white teeth. My focus then locked onto the most iridescent ice-blue eyes, a color that could only be obtained by wearing colored contacts. No freakin’ way! Not only was this the guy I was gawking at on the dance floor, he was also the same guy I had drooled over Thanksgiving night at the theater.
My heart rapidly picked up the pace. I could feel my pulse throbbing in my head; the onslaught of dizziness. Please, Lord… do not let me pass out.
“I promise, I don’t have… cooties,” he chuckled lightly.
My eyes were glued to his, and, if I spoke out loud, I’m sure it would come out sounding something like “Nom, nom, nom.” Yes, he was that delicious.
“Courtney… your name is Courtney right?” He eyed me suspiciously.
I zoned out, in such a trance staring at his godliness, I hadn’t taken notice of his deep, raspy voice with a slight accent that told me he wasn’t from around here.
Say something, Court, so he didn’t think you were a freak.
“Er, uh… yes, yes it is,” I eyed him curiously. “How do you know my name?”
“Reed and Kendra pointed you out to me earlier.”
I could feel confidence oozing out of his pores. I still couldn’t pull my eyes away from his, they were simply breathtaking. In the middle of our staring contest, I searched his eyes for a thin line around the iris. Nope, not a trace of contacts. They must be real.
“I’ve been looking for them,” I mumbled. Not really. “Do you know where they went?” I hoped he couldn’t hear the nervous tension wiggling in my voice box.
“Last I saw, they were on the dance floor.”
&nbs
p; Striking up conversations with a complete stranger, a painstakingly attractive stranger, was not my forte. I was lost for words.
“So… about the water…” He gestured his water to me again.
Flexing my fingers behind my back, I tried to get a bit of feeling to return before I reached for the water. I couldn’t allow him to see my hands tremble.
”Oh, uh, sure,” I took the water, making sure our hands didn’t touch.
As if he knew I purposely avoided contact, he stuck his hand out to me. “By the way, I’m Jaxon, your blind date for the night.”
His gaze held my eyes with dominance. His lingering smile made me wonder if he could sense how uncomfortable he was making me.
Reaching out to shake his hand, I welcomed the warmth that pulsed into mine. He held onto my hand a little longer than deemed necessary before he let go.
“Well, now that we’ve got the introductions out of the way, would you like to dance?”
“Sure,” I squeaked.
“Do you want to finish your water first?”
I had forgotten the water in my hand. I wasn’t even thirsty anymore, but, after remembering where it came from, I suddenly had a dire need to put my lips where his had previously been.
Tipping the bottle up, I turned my back to him so he couldn’t watch me. The water was cool and refreshing to my parched throat.
“Here, I’ll take that for you,” Jaxon said.
He took the empty bottle, tossing it into a growing pile of trash. Walking back over to where I was standing, he stopped before reaching me and motioned with his hand to the doorway, prompting me to lead the way back inside.
As I walked past him, I felt his fingers lightly touch the small of my back. Chill bumps rose on my skin, and I don’t think it was from the cold air. He was following behind me close enough that I felt his chest brush occasionally against my shoulder. I was enjoying this too much, and I needed to get control of myself. I didn’t want a boyfriend, I didn’t need a boyfriend, and I didn’t come here for any hook-ups either. I didn’t know what he was told or what he may have been thinking, but I needed to let him know very soon this date was going to be strictly platonic.
We reached the make-shift dance floor, waiting for the next song to start before we joined. My heart was hammering in my chest with the words I needed to say. Placing my hand on his shoulder, I stood on my tiptoes to get closer to his ear. “I don’t know what Reed or Kendra told you, but I recently ended a long, torturous relationship, so I don’t want you to think I’m looking for a boyfriend because I’m not. I’m perfectly content on us being friends,” I said loudly.
“No worries, Sweet Cheeks. I don’t do the boyfriend/girlfriend thing anyway. I’m a one-night stand kind of guy,” he said, giving me a wink. “But, if you want to be friends, we can be friends. I’m open to the whole friends-with-benefits thing, too, though,” he grinned with deepened dimples.
Sweet Cheeks? Friends with benefits? What the fudge have I gotten myself in to?
The first few beats of ‘Wobble’ started to circulate the room. Kendra and I titled this our gay-humping song. We liked to throw in our own bit of mix in the line dance and do a little grinding against each other. The first time Phillip witnessed our exhibition, he nearly dragged me off the dance floor by my hair. The whistles and cat calls didn’t help matters either. His reaction had blind-sided me. Most guys I knew we’re ready to engage in a little girl-on-girl action. That was the first encounter of abuse I received from Phillip and one of the worst fights we ever had. A year into our dating, I learned the extremes of how jealous of a guy he could be… er, still was. That should have been my first sign to cut ties and run, but I waved it off instead, feeling ashamed when he accused me of acting like a slut.
Jerked from my thoughts, I felt Kendra tugging on my hand pulling me onto the dance floor.
“C’mon, we haven’t got to perform our dance in public in a long time.” She was hopping around like a giddy little five-year-old.
I was happy to see her ill feelings toward me had subsided.
I tossed a glance over my shoulder to the vacant spot where I was pulled from and saw Jaxon and Reed standing with legs apart and arms folded across their chest. The sly grins spreading across their faces screamed the carnal thoughts reverberating in their minds. I was not one to tease, but I wanted to give them a performance that would have them shifting uncomfortably in their pants. I just hoped Jaxon’s sexual innuendo earlier didn’t backfire on me and bite me in the tail later.
As we got into the third line of the song, I leaned over to Kendra and told her to play it up. She gave me a quizzical look, so I came up behind her and grabbed her hips grinding against her very provocatively. I was being more touchy-feely than usual, and Kendra seemed to catch the drift on where I was heading.
Following my lead, she swung around and came up behind me repeating the same movements. I snuck a quick peek over at Jaxon, trying to gauge his reaction when his eyes locked with mine. He was no longer in his bodyguard stance. His expression looked antsy and hungry with lust. I slacked off from Kendra, fearing the feral animal watching me might attack any moment.
“What’s wrong?” Kendra asked.
“Don’t look now, but Jaxon is watching me as if he could devour me with his tongue.” He was unconsciously licking his lips. He was the lion, I was the gazelle.
Kendra nonchalantly looked over their way and blew a kiss to Reed.
“You’re right. He is watching you as if no one else is in this room exists. Damn, girl, that’s hot!”
I rolled my eyes at her. “I told him earlier I wasn’t looking to hook-up.”
“Why did you do that?” Kendra huffed.
“Duh! Because I’m not. Do you ever listen to anything I say?” I breathed out.
“Oh, good gosh, Courtney, hooking up doesn’t mean you have to have sex with him. A little kissing never hurt anybody,” she sneered.
“Kissing never hurt me,” Reed said, grabbing Kendra around the waist then gnawing on her neck.
Oh God! How long had he been standing there and how much had he heard?
I gave Kendra the ‘oh shit’ look. I was so wrapped up in our conversation, I didn’t notice when the song ended. Looking at Kendra’s surprised expression, neither had she.
Cripes! Please don’t let Jaxon be standing behind me.
I was afraid to turn around.
“You girls going to dance with us, or stand here and talk all night?” I heard Jaxon say over my shoulder. “After that show you two just performed…” he blew out a whistle, “I’ll be honest, I’m in no mood for talking,” he said, shaking his head.
I didn’t know what mortified me more—him possibly hearing my last piece of conversation with Kendra or the fact I just aroused a famished beast with an appetite for sex. Before I was given the chance to answer, Jaxon moved up behind me, wrapped his arm around my waist and placed his hand across my stomach grinding to ‘Pop, Lock and Drop It.’ I stiffened instantly before letting the music and swaying of Jaxon’s hips lull me. We started grinding together, matching each other’s moves. I rested my hand on top of his hand splayed across my abdomen, feeling intense electricity surge through me. Beads of sweat formed between my shoulders from the heat permeating off his body. Instantaneously, the music bled right into ‘Down on Me’ by 50 Cent. He apparently liked the way my booty was grinding against him as he grabbed my hips, pulling me into him firmly. I could feel his hot, heavy breathing down my neck, and the smell of mint on his breath was intoxicating. I closed my eyes, relishing in the moment. This felt good.
The sound of Kendra’s laughter sprang my eyes open, releasing me down from the clouds. I welcomed her interruption, feeling shameful for my actions. This behavior was so much out of character that I didn’t even know who I was at that moment. Jaxon was forming a haze in my brain, and all moral thoughts were swiftly getting tossed out the window.
“I need a break,” I said breathlessly, twisting myself from his emb
race.
“Is something wrong? We only danced to two songs.”
“No!” I blurted a little too loudly. “I mean no… everything’s fine. I just need a pee break,” I replied, giving him my best fake smile.
“Okay, I’ll be here when you get back.” From the expression on his face, I figured he knew I was feeding him a line of bullshit.
Waltzing over to Kendra, I grabbed her arm and dragged her behind me.
“What the hell!” she exclaimed.
“Shut up and just come with me.”
“This better be good. I was having a good time back there,” she said, glancing back at Reed dancing.
“Yeah, well, rolling tongues around in each other’s mouths is something you can do anytime. You don’t need the dance floor for that.”
We stumbled through the labyrinth of bodies looking for a bathroom. I caught sight of a long line of girls waiting their turn and spun us around in the opposite direction, heading toward the front door. Squeezing through the crowd became more of a struggle as we encountered our share of intoxicated people. I swear I felt a couple of hands squeezing my butt. I just wished I had some way of knowing which one of these drunks was trying to cop a feel. We finally made our way outside, and the cool, fresh air was inviting.
“Will you now tell me why you so rudely interrupted my lip-lock with Reed by nearly jerking my arm out of socket?” Kendra asked rubbing her shoulder.
“I lost myself in there,” I blurted as Kendra gave me a puzzled look. “It’s like I was having an out of body experience, and I didn’t know who I was. That’s not me. I’m not that type of girl.”
“Court, you’ve lost me. What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about my behavior with Jaxon. It’s not me. I don’t rub all up on guys I’ve just met, guys that inform me that they are only interested in sex. That’s not me!” I exclaimed. I walked over to the porch swing and sat down. “I just don’t want him to get the wrong idea, and right now I’m pretty sure he’s probably thinking third base is a possibility tonight.”
