by J. Sterling
A slight smile appeared as he leaned closer, bringing his lips a breath away from mine. “Of course there is. Let me teach you how.”
Lost in his eyes, I sucked in a quick breath. “Okay.”
I watched as he brought the glass to his mouth and pressed it against his bottom lip. Damn, I wanted to be that glass.
He inhaled but didn’t drink a drop.
“Do that three times,” he said. “Just breathe it in. You’ll start to feel it in your mouth, in your throat.”
As he repeated the movement twice more, my focus remained firmly trained on those damn lips. They had me under a spell. Seriously, that was one lucky glass.
His smirk reappeared when he caught me staring. I was probably drooling and had no clue.
“And now you sip it.”
He tilted the glass further back as the smallest amount of the amber liquid poured into his mouth and he swallowed. I was surprised he had no visible reaction at all, as if it didn’t burn like hell as it coursed down his throat. I wasn’t sure about most people, but just the smell of bourbon evoked a physical reaction from me.
“Your turn.” He set his glass on the table and pushed it in front of me.
I smiled as I reached for it, bringing it to my lips as he watched me with the same intensity as when I’d watched him. But it was unnerving, the way he stared. His hazel eyes were almost too intense, filled with too much of something I couldn’t entirely read, and it made me uncomfortable.
“You can’t watch me,” I said as my face heated.
“Okay, but do what I told you.” Playing along, he closed his eyes.
“No peeking,” I warned before bringing the glass to my mouth and breathing it in. The scent of the bourbon mixed with the air and traveled down my throat and into my belly. After a moment, I repeated the process twice more like he’d suggested, enjoying sensing the alcohol like this instead of drinking it.
“Can I watch yet?” he asked, squinting his eyes tighter, and I laughed.
“Yes.”
Cal’s eyes opened and met mine instantly, capturing me. It was as if no one else existed around us. I heard nothing else, saw no one else. My new friend Robin wasn’t there at the table in this hotel lobby, and neither were his coworkers. Cal and I were the only two people in the entire hotel, as far as I was concerned.
Glancing at my mouth, he licked his lips. I willed my body not to react, but it heated anyway.
He reached out again and squeezed the top of my leg before resting his hand there as if that was where it belonged. On my body. Touching me. And I couldn’t remember what I had been doing before that moment. One touch from him caused my thoughts to scatter.
“Take a drink.”
That’s right. I was supposed to be drinking this damn bourbon. I stopped focusing on his hand caressing the inside of my thigh and stared at the glass.
I tilted it back, sipping it like he had instructed, and I almost couldn’t believe it when the liquid didn’t burn me up from the inside out like it always had before. Everything about it tasted completely different. It was tolerable, good even, to drink it straight when you followed Cal’s advice.
“And?”
“I guess there is a right way to drink bourbon,” I said with a nod, pushing the glass back toward him.
“Was it good?”
“It actually was. I’m impressed.”
“I’m pretty impressive,” he said, and smiled at me with a mock smugness.
I stared at his smile, wanting to photograph that mouth for all the world to see. No, not the world. Just me. I wanted photographic proof of those lips. What if I never saw them again after tonight? I was pretty sure I’d die if I didn’t get to kiss them.
Dramatic, yes, but this man woke up the sleeping beast that had lain dormant inside my chest for so long. It was all his fault that my heart decided to come back to life the moment it found him.
“Where did you learn about the right way to drink bourbon?” I asked.
“My best friend, Lucas, the one who said hi before running out of here earlier, he’s from Kentucky.”
I raised my eyebrows as I waited for him to explain. When he didn’t, I simply said, “Kentucky?”
“Yes, Jules. Kentucky. The bourbon capital of the United States.” He looked at me like I was crazy.
“I didn’t know,” I said with a shrug. “I think of horses when I think of Kentucky.”
“They have those too. Horses and bourbon.” He nudged his shoulder against mine before his tone turned serious. “When do you leave?”
“Two days. You?”
“We check out tomorrow morning.”
“Oh.”
Well, that sucked. I wanted Cal to be here at the hotel for as long as I was. That might have been an unrealistic expectation, but it was how I felt. I enjoyed his company and didn’t want this to end yet. Was it too forward to want to spend more time with him?
“Two days, huh?” He cocked his head to the side.
“Yep.”
“Do you have any free time?”
“I do, actually. We have activities and presentations, but I don’t have to go to every single one. And all of our evenings are free. Why, Cal, what are you thinking?”
I’d sensed the wheels turning in his head and kept it light, asking my question in a teasing tone. I hoped he wanted to spend more time with me too.
Cal’s voice lowered a little, turning husky as he said, “I’d like to see you again.”
Heart, meet floor. Floor, meet my heart.
“That can maybe be arranged,” I said while I tried not to smile like an idiot.
“Maybe?” He leaned in close, his gaze pinned to mine. “Tell me what I have to do to convince you.”
“Kiss me,” I blurted before I could stop myself. I blamed my forwardness on his lips—they’d turned me stupid.
Without another word, he slipped his hand behind my neck and held me tight as his mouth drifted closer to mine.
Shit, was he really going to do it here, in front of his coworkers and my new friend from the conference? The words had just slipped from my mouth before I’d thought it through, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to stop him if he was going to give me a kiss, even if we were in public.
When Cal’s lips touched mine, my brain stopped all rational thought. Those lips were so soft. And warm. Our mouths opened and his tongue brushed against my bottom lip, making me moan into him.
The sound of cheers and whoops broke through our haze, making us abruptly pull away from each other. If looks could kill, I would have murdered both Charles and Simeon on the spot for breaking up that epic first kiss
“So I win, right?” Cal said to me with a satisfied smirk.
Oh no, buddy, my fuzzy brain insisted. I think I’m the winner here.
“Yeah,” I said on a long breath. “You win.”
“You owe me, Cal,” Charles said from across the table.
Cal turned away to scowl at him. “Owe you for what? You’re lucky I don’t hit you for trying to ruin my kiss.”
“Simeon wanted to record that and post it online.”
“Do that and I really will hit you,” Cal growled out.
Simeon’s eyes grew wide as he shoved his phone back into his pocket. “I would never really do it.”
“That was hot,” Robin said, breaking the tension, and I laughed when I saw the look on her face. “Seriously. That was . . . whew.” She rolled her eyes and fanned herself with one hand.
My cheeks heated as embarrassment rushed through me. I didn’t normally put on a show with guys I’d just met, but Cal had me doing and feeling all sorts of things out of character for me tonight.
A chair squeaked across the floor as Cal pushed to his feet. With his hand extended toward me, he asked loud enough for everyone to hear, “Can I have your hand?”
“Yes?”
I gave him a confused look as I accepted his hand. Smiling, he tugged me to my feet.
It was the first time we’d s
tood since we met, and I realized that before now, I had no idea how tall Cal was. He stood more than a handful of inches above my five feet six inches; not over six feet tall, that I could tell, but he was close enough. Honestly, I wouldn’t have cared if we were the same height at this point. My attraction for him had nothing to do with his ability to tower over me or not. Cal was all man, no matter his height.
“Dance with me?”
“Really?” I glanced back to see our tablemates all grinning at us, and then looked up at Cal. “Sure.”
He spun me around once, his hand firmly gripping mine as he twirled me twice more. Then he led me away from the table and before I knew it, we rounded a corner and disappeared from their view.
I had no idea where we were going, but part of me didn’t care. Cal had me all caught up in the adventure of it, and for once in my life, I went with it, enjoying the rush.
He smiled and led me toward the bank of elevators. “I just wanted to get you alone, and it was taking too long to get you away from your other friend. Why won’t she go to bed?”
My pulse raced as he pressed the call button. I stood there, half stunned, half impressed, watching his mouth as he spoke. My lust for his lips was becoming ridiculous.
Becoming? I was completely lusting after that mouth of his. No question.
“Where are you taking me?” I thought to ask.
“To my room, if that’s okay.” He shifted his weight, and his confidence disappeared for a second.
“But what about Lucas? Didn’t he mention that you two were sharing a room?”
Cal laughed. “Yeah, but he said not to wait up, remember? Charles actually texted me at the table, telling me to grab you before you got away.”
“He did not,” I said, slightly taken aback.
“He did. He mentioned something about our highly combustible body language, and that we should move it upstairs before we set the bar on fire.”
When my mouth dropped open, Cal chuckled again. I stared into his eyes, lost somewhere in the depths of them. I’d honestly forgotten how it felt to be this attracted to someone, the way my body came alive as it buzzed with desire. It really had been too long.
Cal was all consuming, and I was happily being consumed.
The elevator arrived and we stepped inside. The moment the doors closed, he pressed the button for his floor before stalking toward me like I was his prey. I stepped back until there was nowhere else for me to go. As he pressed me against the mirrored wall of the elevator, his eyes burned, as if he couldn’t wait a single second longer to have his mouth on me.
An exhale later, his lips crushed against mine, claiming them, claiming me. They were everything. These were the lips people wrote books about. As our mouths moved in perfect sync, that kiss ignited me. A single spark and a fire was born.
His hands gripped my waist, pulling me flush against him. Pressed together from mouth to knees, our bodies merged, and the feel of his hard-on pressed against my body instantly aroused me even more, making my sex tingle, alive with want.
My hands were relentless, pulling, gripping, and grabbing every part of him as fast and hard as they could. I couldn’t get enough. I wanted all of him, and if the elevator took much longer to arrive at his floor, I’d let him take me right there if he tried.
His hands were just as needy, his fingers digging into my lower back, cupping my cheek, tugging at my neck, feeling me everywhere. Our mouths never left each other, our kiss never breaking, no matter how frantic our touches became.
We breathed the same air, caught up in the passion as if our lives depended on it. If the doors had opened and someone had walked in on us, I wouldn’t have noticed. I was too caught up in the moment, in the feel of his lips on mine. His touch had drugged me, the way one of his hands clutched at the small of my back, pulling me closer to him, and the other hand wrapped in my hair. Cal was singlehandedly bringing me to life, and he didn’t even know it.
As the elevator dinged before coming to a shaky stop, Cal reluctantly pulled away from me, leaving my mouth tingling and a little numb. He reached for my hand again, twining his fingers with mine before he led us down the long hallway in the direction of his room. He pushed the key in the slot, and the light flashed green before he held the door open for me to walk through ahead of him.
“Your room is huge,” I said as I glanced around at the giant space.
“Is yours not this big?”
“I don’t think so.” No, my room was nowhere near this size.
Walking toward the window in the darkened room, I took in his impressive view of the Boston skyline at night. All the buildings lit up from within, casting reflections on the water below.
“Is your view the same?” He stepped behind me, pressing his body against my back as he swept my hair over one shoulder and touched his lips to my neck.
“No. We face the other direction, I think. Who cares,” I said on a breath before turning to face him.
His lips landed on mine without hesitation, our tongues again frantic and wild in their need for each other.
“You’re beautiful. You know that?” he said as he placed kisses along my cheek, my neck, and then back to my lips, which had craved him since we left the elevator.
When I didn’t respond, Cal gently moved me toward one of the two beds. He kicked off his shoes, and I found myself doing the same before moving on top of the comforter.
He pulled off his shirt and tossed it onto the moonlit floor. I sat there for a moment, staring at the beauty of his naked chest and the patch of dark hair there that I would have never expected. Then he reached for me and pulled me on top of him, making my long hair spill down between us. His fingers found the strands and tucked them behind my ear.
“Beautiful,” he whispered before kissing me softly, the once frantic pace slowing to something more intimate and intense. His kiss took on a different rhythm, his tongue gentle in its quest for mine.
If the elevator had been a minefield, this room waved the white flag of surrender. The battle was over, and we’d both won.
Cal reached for my top and pulled it over my head. I helped him, knowing I had another layer underneath. The fitted tank top that was left molded to my body like a second skin, and I froze when he sucked in an audible breath.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
His gaze followed the curves of my body, looking me up and down before returning my mouth. “Nothing. You hid this from me earlier,” he said, running his hands along the curves of my hips as if in total appreciation.
I smiled. “Yeah, I guess it was under my other top.”
“Stand up,” he said, and although I thought it was odd, I did as he asked. When I started to turn toward him, he said, “Don’t move, Jules. Please.”
Standing next to the bed wearing a skintight tank and jeans, I had no idea what was happening behind me. “What are you doing?”
“Looking at you. Memorizing the shape of your body. That ass—it’s perfection. And I had no idea it was there this whole time.”
My cheeks warmed at his brazen compliments. Before I could say anything, he stood up and pressed his body against my back without warning, every part of him molding against me. He touched my shoulders to turn me around to face him, his eyes locking onto mine the way they’d done all night, as if he saw right through me to the real me. It was as unnerving as it was intriguing.
Cal’s fingers grazed across my stomach as he reached for the bottom of my tank and tugged it over my head and discarded it, leaving me in just my lacy bra and jeans. An appreciative sound escaped his lips, and it did something to me to know that I turned him on in this way.
“Sorry. I can’t help the way I react to you,” he said, and I found myself speechless again.
He crouched to his knees before pressing his lips against my bare belly. I stood there, finally allowing my hands to rake through his soft hair as I’d wanted to do all night, while he alternated between planting kisses on my bare stomach and licking a trail al
ong my ribs. I sucked in a quick breath and shuddered slightly as chills raced through me.
“I need to lie down,” I said, his attention throwing me off-balance.
My legs couldn’t be trusted to hold me up any longer, and I moved toward the bed. I stretched out on it again, my excitement warring with a touch of fear of taking things too far, too fast.
Cal lowered himself on top of me, peppering me with kisses as his warm hands explored my body. I welcomed his touch, reveled in it.
“I want you, Jules.”
I closed my eyes, knowing that this was the moment in which everything would change. If I crossed this line, there would be no going back; I could never uncross it once it was behind me.
The reality of the situation was that Cal and I had just met; we were perfect strangers. Granted, I’d willingly come upstairs with him and had practically mauled him in the elevator, but actually having sex with him when we’d just met hours before wasn’t something I typically did.
One-night stands weren’t for me. I was far too emotional, feeling things way too deeply to just give my body away to any guy who wanted it. I learned that the hard way back in college after I’d given myself to a guy who had halfheartedly pursued me for months. I thought he really liked me, but when I slept with him after a party one night, he never spoke to me again. I was traumatized by his actions and quickly realized that I wasn’t the type who could sleep with someone and have it not mean anything to me. Tami, my best friend back home, could do that—the friends-with-benefits, no-strings-attached, fuck-buddy thing—but not me. I honestly wasn’t cut out for it emotionally.
“I want you too,” I admitted. “But . . .”
When I hesitated, he pushed up on his elbows. “But?”
“We just met. And if I have sex with you, it will mess me up.” I shook my head, not liking the way my words tumbled out. They were too raw, too honest.
“Mess you up how?”
“I can’t sleep with someone and not feel anything for them. I know you probably think that’s stupid because we’re both adults and we should be able to—”
Cal’s finger pressed against my lips, stopping my words. “I don’t think it’s stupid. I understand what you’re saying.”
