“Thank you.” Her words were soft, like she had to will them past her lips. “Now, will you please kiss me? I need to feel something other than confused right now and when your mouth is on mine, everything in the world comes into focus.”
“Funny…” I leaned closer. “I feel the same way.”
My lips crashed into hers, my tongue sweeping into her mouth as I wrapped my arms around her and pressed her body to mine. Her curves melted into me, inviting me to take more, to go further, to touch, touch, touch every inch of her right there on the frigid sidewalk outside Cheers ‘n Beers.
The hitch in her breath nearly broke me. I needed skin. Contact. I needed more than a boob falling out of a tank top and a hot as hell silhouette behind a closed curtain. My fingers slipped under her shirt, grazing her ribs…
“Geeze, you two. Get a room.”
I pressed my forehead to Evie’s. “Now is not the time, Jude. Can’t you see I’m apologizing?” I shooed him back toward the bar as I wrapped an arm around Evie and tucked her against me. Her need for privacy on the matter didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, but it was important to her. From that point forward, what was important to her, would be important to me—even if I didn’t completely understand why.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Evie
The night passed in a blur. After Alex spilled the Drew story to his friends and we practically set the street on fire with his apology, we went back into Cheers ‘n Beers to finish the evening with a little drinking and a lot of laughing. Having the tragedy that was the theft of my book out in the open didn’t change the way anyone treated me. Or the way they looked at me. In fact, it almost felt like I had three more people in my corner. Like maybe Alex was right…Drew stealing my book didn’t say anything about me. It did, however, say loads about him.
At the end of the night, Alex pulled to a stop in front of his house. “You missed my driveway,” I said, with a laugh. “Did you have more Drunken Sailors than I thought?”
“I know where I am and I’m not drunk. I thought we’d progress to the sexual harassment portion of the evening.” He killed the engine and opened his door, giving me a smile designed to make my blood boil. “You coming?”
I sure hope so, especially considering what I felt hiding under those sweats the other night.
Hoping he couldn’t read the thought through my facial expression, I blinked it away and replied with a hearty, “Sure!” then followed Alex into his house.
The clatter of nails announced the cavalry as the door swung open. “Well hello, sirs. I missed you, too.” He crouched to greet Morgan and Larry and as he let the dog out to do his business, I started to worry I hadn’t read Alex’s intentions right at all.
Maybe he didn’t invite me in for drinks and sexiness.
Maybe his comment about sexual harassment was a joke.
Maybe this had something to do with work…
But after Morgan galloped back into the house, Alex took my hand. Pulled me close. Wrapped me in his arms and started swaying, crooning a terrible rendition of “Every Breath You Take.” He spun us in a slow circle as Morgan titled his head back and joined in the song.
Alex’s eyes, when they met mine, were filled with the warmth of friendship and the heat of lust. “Hold on.” He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “I can do this better.” A few seconds with his phone had the song coming over the house speakers. Morgan and Larry took a seat while Alex drew me back into his embrace and danced me around the living room. His body was supple and strong. His confidence was soothing. He spun me and as I came back to face him, I pressed my lips to his. He stilled, his hands skating up my hips and slipping under my shirt. His touch sent goosebumps shivering along my spine.
Eager to return the favor, I ran my fingers along the corded muscles in his back. The kiss deepened as our bodies caught fire. Where before we were tender, sweet, the exploration of firsts, now we were driven by urgency. Dissatisfied with the fabric between us, I yanked his shirt over his head, then stood back to admire the swoops and curves of his torso.
“Where do you find time to work out with your writing schedule?” I trailed my fingers along his pecs, my nails scraping over his nipples.
His eyes slipped closed and it looked like he wished he could purr. “I’ll tell you when I remember.”
My shirt found its way to the floor next to his. Alex bent his mouth to my breasts, teasing, sucking, biting and I dropped my head back as the speakers crooned. He gripped my ass, his fingers digging as his curls tickled my neck. Stumbling backwards, he dropped to the couch, his heated gaze blazing into mine.
I straddled him, slowly lowering my weight onto the erection straining against his pants. Rocking my hips, I gasped as his length rubbed against my core. Alex ground into me, groaning, a guttural sound that set my nerve endings on fire. The friction, the contact, him…my senses overloaded with it all. My hips rocked and rolled, edging pleasure ever closer, ever deeper, sharp with urgency and reckless, tortured abandon.
A wet nose pushed against my hand and I stilled. Alex laughed as Morgan pressed his snout into our laps. “Way to kill the mood, my friend.”
Slipping out from underneath me, he stood, then led me up the stairs and into his bed. Without preamble, he took off my bra and dropped it to the floor. My pants went next. Then his. He rolled on a condom, then laid down on the bed and pulled me on
