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She plasters on a fake smile and nods. “Sure, I’ll get right on that.”
She turns, and I watch her stomp off back to the bar. I almost feel bad, but I don’t think there’s any way I could ever feel sorry for her. I might’ve pretended to stake a claim on him, but he belongs to no one. He’s his own person, and she needed a reality check that he doesn’t belong to her. Even if she is still stuck in this small town and still has a one-sided crush on my ex, she’s not going to get my pity. Judging by the way she’s already back at the bar talking with the other girl from high school, she’s still the same hateful person I remember.
“What the fuck was that?” Sly grits out, his breathing still labored.
I look back at him, realizing I’m still perched in his lap in a way that suddenly makes me feel very exposed. I collect myself and pray to whatever god Grace is currently worshipping that Sly is too preoccupied to notice the flush creeping up my neck.
“A favor? A thanks? Either way, we’re even now,” I say matter-of-factly, like what I just did was as simple as picking someone up at the airport or walking a neighbor’s dog.
“For?” he asks, still looking confused.
I hop off his lap and roll my eyes. “Again, do I need to make you a list? I already told you.”
“And why would I want to be thanked like that, Josie?” He nearly growls, so low that I’m the only one who can hear him.
I tilt my head and smirk back at him, doing my best to regain control of my senses. The last thing I need is for him to see that I might have felt—I don’t know—more than I should’ve from that fake kiss. Before I make my way out of the bar to the patio, I stop at his side. Resting my hand on his shoulder, only inches from where it just was, I stand on my toes to whisper into his ear.
“Making sure she leaves you alone. You clearly lost your balls while I was gone, and you’re too afraid to tell her yourself. So there, I did it for you.”
He stays silent and doesn’t move while I linger there just long enough to get another whiff of that minty leather scent. “Sly, I believe the words you’re looking for are ‘thank you’. Now, be a good boy and go get those drinks.”
I scurry off and don’t look back at Sly—even though I swear I can feel his eyes boring into my back. Turning the corner to the hallway at the back of the bar, I stop outside the bathroom across from the door to the patio. I need a second—okay, maybe minutes—to try and make sense of what’s going on with me. While I thought that was a silly kiss for a silly reason, my body vehemently disagrees. My heart is pounding, my palms are sweaty, and that need low in my stomach is not hunger—at least not for food anyway. I press my head back against the wall and close my eyes. I focus on each breath while trying to steady myself before stepping through the door to join my friends on the patio.
That was nothing. It was still just a silly kiss. This feeling is just my body’s natural reaction to being pressed against Sly, an objectively attractive man that I would be more than into, under normal circumstances.
The sound of the sticky old floor creaking reminds me that I’m still in The Hatch. My lashes flutter open, and I find Sly looking down at me.
Any doubt about what he was feeling before is erased. He looks like a man who finally found water in the desert, and he’s ready to drink me in.
He props his arm on the wall above me, and I find myself engulfed in him. He’s everywhere—his scent, his size, the sound of his heart. I only know it’s his because mine might have stopped in my chest. He steps further into my space, and I can feel the warmth of his body. My lips part, but no sound comes out. I don’t say anything. I look into those eyes that still have the power to bring me to my knees.
There’s no hesitation when he leans down and presses his lips to mine, and I don’t offer any resistance.
His other hand grips my hip, and I might as well be a puddle on the floor—like the other spilled liquids in this bar I’m not going to think about.
What I do think about is how good his broad chest feels under my palms. From his muscular build and the way his V-neck shows off a tuft of his chest hair, I can see that he is indeed not the lanky boy that I remembered. The feeling low in my core only grows, and I whimper into his mouth when his knee presses between my legs. With our height difference, his thigh is right against my aching clit.
Instead of pushing him away, I do the farthest thing from it. I relax my body down onto his tree trunk of a thigh, and I swivel my hips. Through my thin leggings, the friction causes a spike of pleasure that is both perfect and not nearly enough.
I’m half tempted to drag him by his shirt into the bathroom next to us because no man has caused this instant of a reaction in me—well—ever. If I want to maintain any sense of control, I need this to stop.
Like right now… because if I don’t get off of his thigh, I’m going to get off on his thigh.
CHAPTER 15
SLY
That Voice
That fucking kiss. I know she said she was only trying to ward off Meredith—which I will be eternally grateful for—but if that’s truly all it was, I’ll be even more grateful that I got to taste her lips and feel her breath on my neck one last time.
But I think I know her better than that. My Josie is great at so many things, but hiding her true desires—especially from me—is not one of them.
I felt the way she melted into my lap. I felt the way she squirmed with need and grasped at my shirt. And the way her eyes fluttered open when I finally broke the kiss…
Yeah. I know my girl.
I’m glad I ended up here tonight after all. I don’t know what I did to deserve Josie kissing me in the middle of The Hatch. I’m committed to finding out though, because there’s a good chance that whatever it is, I’ll do it again every day for the rest of my life.
