Page 30 of Jinxes and Drumsticks

“Nacho cheese Doritos and cream cheese,” I say.

“What?” she asks. “Really?”

“I’m telling you, it’s a game changer. I swore everyone ate it because it was a staple in my house. It wasn’t ‘til I started hanging with the guys that I learned it wasn’t a thing everyone did,” I say.

“Huh,” she says. “Alright. And the superstitions?”

“I have never gotten rid of any of the hair ties girls have forgotten after hanging out with me,” I say.

She sputters a laugh. “‘Hanging out with you?’ Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”

“I was trying to be polite,” I say.

“You’re trying not to sound like you get around,” she says.

“Oh. My. God,” I say, giving the three words dramatic emphasis, even lowering my voice a little so she has to lean in a little closer.

“What?”

“You think I’m a slut.”

She gasps. “I didn’t say that!”

“You totally do. Don’t even try to deny it,” I say, making like I’m going to pull away from her. “You are a slut-shamer.”

“I am not!” she says, her fingers tightening around mine. She hugs my forearm to her chest. “I’m just saying, you don’t have to sugar coat stuff for me. I’m cool with casual things. I mean—that’s all I really get, it seems like.”

“Oh?”

“Wait. We’re not talking about my sex life. We’re talking about yours,” she says, letting me go and scurrying to the waffle iron just in time to take out a perfectly golden waffle and put it on a plate she’s set out. Her back is facing me again, but I can see the faint pink of the shell of her ear. “So—sex thing. What’s the weird sex thing?”

Man, where to start with that one? Maybe I should just send her my FetLife account and call it a day. Do I talk about the primal kink? The pleasure Dom thing? What if she doesn’t think any of that is weird? I mean, we were talking about foot fetishes and blood kinks yesterday.

Worse still, what if she does think what I divulge is weird? What if I ruin my chances with her before we even start?

Then I think of Oren. And something I discussed with him. I think of the adorably breathless way she spoke when Oren joined us outside the venue. The way her pewter eyes flitted between us like she was flustered and overwhelmed.

I think I might have just the thing to share.

I come up behind her as she spoons the perfect amount of batter onto the waffle iron and shuts it.

I slip my thumb into the delicate hair at the nape of her neck, bracing it there as I let the rest of my fingers fall to the slope of her shoulder. She stiffens under my touch, not in an uncomfortable way; it’s the way that someone stills when they’re waiting for what comes next. I love that. It’s my favorite way a woman can react to me—like she’s waiting to see how we unfold into each other. Waiting for instruction.

My body tingles as I smooth my hand up the side of her neck, then curl it around the front of her throat until my thumb and index finger press into the pulse points on either side, just below her jaw. I wait for any signs of discomfort, but she goes loose under my touch, leaning back against my chest as her heartbeat hammers against my fingertips.

Oh yeah. She likes this. She likes it a lot. And my cock twitches with the desire to give her more, more, more.

I squeeze my thumb and index finger just a little bit, and she pulls in a soft breath. I lean down so that my mouth is right next to her flushed ear, something she has already responded very well to during our night out.

“Me and the guys? We’re pretty open with each other,” I whisper, letting my lips brush the sensitive skin and the piercings at her cartilage.

I feel her throat bob against the palm of my hand, hear her tongue in the seat of her mouth as she whispers out a stammered, “O-oh?”

I can tell she’s trying to sound as casual as she can. She’s failing.

“Mhmn,” I tell her. “Talking about our hookups. Fucking in the same room. Sharing.”

I smile as I feel her throat bob with a swallow again. I wonder if she notices that she lifts herself up onto her toes a little when my fingers squeeze a little tighter “Sharing... supplies?” she asks. “Like, condoms and lube and stuff like that?”