My teeth scrap my bottom lip. “Wine?” I half-answer, half-question, truly unsure if that’s okay.
My attention diverts from his captivating blue eyes when a sultry voice says, “It’s a little early for The Player to be arriving, isn’t it?”
The petite bartender waggles her brows when Nick responds, “It’s never too early to play.”
I roll my eyes, sickened by their flirty banter. Hearing my disgust, the bartender’s gaze rockets to me. The longer she scans my face, the tighter her brows become. “Beer girl?” she questions through a giggle.
Nick snickers while shaking his head. “Tina, this is Jenni; Jenni, Tina.”
“Nice to meet you,” I say with a smile, even though I’m feeling anything but friendly.
Snubbing the tension teeming between us, Nick asks Tina, “Can we grab a glass of wine and a beer, please?”
Tina stares at Nick for several heart-clenching seconds. I’m certain she’s going to card him, so you can imagine my surprise when she stalks away to collect his order as requested without demanding our IDs.
My lungs have just returned to their normal breathing pattern when she places our drinks in front of us. Nick dips his chin in thanks before gathering our drinks and directing me to a booth on the left-hand side of the bar.
Incapable of ignoring the niggle in my gut, I ask “Did you two. . . umm—”
“No,” Nick interrupts. He gestures for me to enter the booth before him. I’m halfway in when he adds on, “Not from a lack of trying, though.”
My heart slithers into my gut. With my back molars grinding together, I attempt to scoot out of the booth.
My anger reaches boiling point when Nick blocks my exit with his well-formed body. “I was joking.”
I take several deep breaths before lifting my eyes from his chest to his face. The contemptuous gleam in his eyes reveals he’s lying. My nostrils flare as my eyes narrow even more.
“Okay. I wasn’t joking. But I haven’t tried anything for months.” He stares straight into my eyes, ensuring I can see the truth in his murky blue gaze. Even knowing what he is saying is true, my jealousy doesn’t lessen in the slightest. He still wanted to sleep with Tina—he probably still does.
With a sigh, I plop into the booth before scooting as far away from him as possible. He’s not afraid of my anger. If anything, he finds it entertaining, like it’s a challenge.
After placing our drinks on the tabletop, he slides across the black leather until he’s sitting so close to me, our thighs touch. “Now you’re trapped.” He tips my head back so he can press a kiss under my left earlobe like he did at Bronte’s Peak all those months ago. “You can’t run, and you can’t hide.” He presses three kisses along my jaw. “Because I’llalwaysfind you.”
A moan rumbles through my parched lips when he drags his lips down my neck to nibble on my sensitive skin. His pace is teasingly slow, but oh so perfect. By the time he pulls back, any jealousy hampering my mood becomes a distant memory.
No commitments, no boyfriends, no expectations, just fun,I remind myself.
When he smiles his panty-combusting grin, I pull his torturous lips back to mine by the back of his shaggy blond hair. This kiss is the one I’ve been fantasizing about the past four months. It goes above and beyond my greatest expectations, making me realize I’ve just made a second fatal mistake.
I’m once again putty in the hands of a player.
Chapter Fourteen
Nick
Jenni tastes even better than I expected, but now that I’ve had a taste of her, I want so much more—and I want it now. A smile slides across her face when I reacquaint our lips. I try to kiss her like her daddy is watching, hoping it will dampen the electricity firing between us. It does no such thing. The sparks are already lit—there’s no shutting this down.
Instead, I surrender to the madness. I kiss her how I’ve fantasized kissing her since the day we met. I kiss her until her toes curl and our breaths are shared. I kiss her until the music dulls to a hum and my pants are tight at the front. Then I kiss her some more.
The more our make-out session intensifies, the more I wish to take it somewhere private. Usually, public displays of affection don’t bother me, but I’m not willing to share an inch of Jenni’s body with any perverted man in this club tonight.
When I pull away from our embrace, Jenni whimpers, making my dick even harder. It’s digging into my zipper, the metal’s painful bite not dampening its eagerness in the slightest.
After peering into her lust-filled eyes, I ask, “Do you want to get out of here?”
She bites on her bottom lip while contemplating. Her lips are swollen from our kisses, her eyes sparkling. I mentally fist pump when she nods a few seconds later. Clutching her hand in mine, I sprint for the parking lot. We barely make it halfway across the dance floor before her high heels hinder my swift getaway.
She squeals when I scoop her into my arms to throw her over my shoulder. While her giggles vibrate my back, I hotfoot it to the closest exit. It isn’t that I’m desperate; I just want to get her naked before she changes her mind.
