When Aleah moved on to the second tier, Ari grabbed a glass of water for her cousin and then slipped back out, sneaking another look at Judah and the band as she headed to the bar for her own drink. He was so annoyingly… confident, his long fingers elegantly wrapped around the microphone, his posture ramrod straight in his pristine black suit. It was impossible to imagine that only fifteen minutes earlier, those fingers had been buried in her hair, that suit pressed up against her dress.
It wasn’t just the fact of the kiss that was throwing her; it’s that it wasgood. Really, really good. Too good. Ari’d kissed her fair share of guys, but there was always a learning curve in the beginning—too much tongue or not enough or weird hand placement. Judah kissed withintention, and it made her wonder just how much experience the wedding singer had in that department.
She still couldn’t quite process the fact that he was single. He was famous and talented and, okay, admittedly kind of hot, andwhile his personality left alotto be desired, she could certainly see how, objectively, he’d be considered a major catch. And other than kissing her senseless in the bridal suite, he had the frum family man vibe down pat.
So what was his deal?
“Arielle! What are you doing out here?” Her mom broke through the outer circle and gripped her arm, pulling her back onto the dance floor. Ari stifled a groan and let herself get dragged, narrowing her eyes at Dana’s smirk.
“What’s with your hair? You look like you got into some trouble.”
Ari glared at her big sister. “Mind your own business.”
Dana snorted with laughter and whispered something to Hannah, who joined her, and Ari debated accidentally tripping them both. It took everything in her to ignore them for the rest of the dancing, and as soon as it ended, she made a beeline for the vodka.
By the end of the night, she was beyond exhausted. It’d been a long day of photographs, uncomfortable clothes, and running in and out of the dancing circles with chairs and water and whatever else Aleah needed. The energy required to push that stupid kiss with Judah Klein out of her head took all the rest out of her. And on top of everything else, she still had the hour-long ride back to the city ahead, with Miriam and her sisters, no less.
She went back to the bridal suite and, relieved to see it empty, collapsed onto the couch. It was all too easy to imagine what could’ve happened in there tonight if they’d had a little more time and a little less responsibility—or at least, what might’ve happened if it’d been any other guy.
ButJudah Klein? For so many reasons, it simply did not compute.
The door opened, and she jumped up, assuming it was Miriam or one of her sisters come to collect her.
It wasn’t.
“What are you still doing here?” she asked Judah, who still looked annoyingly perfect after a night of singing, not so much as a kippah clip out of place.
“They told me to stay and eat, so I stayed. I ate.”
“A lot of people stayed and ate,” Ari said suspiciously, just as the answer dawned on her. “But not a lot of them kissed a bridesmaid and wanted to see her again, I’m guessing.”
His cheeks flushed as if he’d been caught at something, and she supposed he kinda had. “I wanted to see if you needed a ride.” Her eyebrows shot up. “A ridehome,” he clarified. “In my car. Seeing as you also live in the city.”
She opened her mouth to tell him she was all set, but the truth was, the idea of spending an hour with Miriam, Dana, and Hannah right now, doing a wedding postmortem, sounded like a living nightmare. “I would not say no to that,” she said coolly, even though she probably should. “Thank you.”
He nodded stiffly. “Need help with any bags?”
“Nah, all the schtick stuff is Miriam’s. I just have this one with my shoes and extra makeup and stuff.”
“Okay.” He turned to lead her out to his car, but before he could pull open the door, she rested a hand on his shoulder.
“Judah.”
He whirled around and cupped her face in his warm, strong hands, his mouth finding hers as if they were simply picking up where they’d left off hours ago, desperate and wanting. She pressed him up against the wall, fantasizing about tearing his perfection apart, but there was at least one working corner of her brain that knew that was an incredibly bad idea.
Besides, she wasn’t going to be finding relief anytime soon—not while she was wearing a floor-length gown.
Groaning, she pulled away, but not before tugging his lip between her teeth. She was rewarded by a soft growl she could feel inher entire body. Not once on stage tonight did Judah Klein make a single slipup, but here he was, a mess undone by her teeth and tongue, and the power of that was something she was gonna have to take up with her vibrator when she got home.
“I’d say ‘sorry’ again…”
“But you’re not,” she filled in, “and neither am I. Except about your timing. Your timing kind of sucks. Unless…”
“Unless?”
She arched an eyebrow. “How good a driver are you?”
He shook his head in disbelief as he yanked open the door. “Oh my God,” he muttered. “Let’s go.”
