2. Kaitlyn
2
KAITLYN
I quickly discovered that it was almost impossible to have fun while wearing a cold, wet bra.
Despite the half dozen napkins I’d used to mop myself up, I felt like a used dishtowel. Still, I wasn’t even tempted to take up the hot guy’s offer to visit the lounge since I was a little afraid I wouldn’t be able to find my way back to our group again. The club had grown even more crowded as the night went on. Still, I wasn’t about to ruin my little sister’s bachelorette party, so I suffered in silence—not just around my cleavage but everywhere else, too.
My feet were killing me.
The rest of the girls looked so at home in their dresses and heels, but this getup was so far from my every day. Given my job, flats—or better yet, sneakers—were a way of life.
“Time for games!” Cassie’s oldest friend Maddy shouted, holding her champagne glass above her head while the rest of the girls screamed and cheered. “Let’s play ‘Never Have I Ever’!”
I choked down a groan and managed a smile then jumped up to refill everyone’s glasses.
“The bride goes first,” Cassie said, shimmying her shoulders with a wicked smile on her face. “Okay, never have I ever…had a one-night stand!”
The group laughed knowingly, and I watched every one of the six women take a gulp of champagne. My glass remained on the table in front of me.
“Katie!” Hope shrieked, and I tried not to wince. The volume was…extreme, but also, I didn’t actually like the nickname Katie. Cassie got little-sister privileges, so I didn’t mind it from her, but I preferred going by my full name, Kaitlyn. Trying to explain that to Cassie’s friends when they were drunk didn’t seem likely to go well, so I let it slide.
“Seriously? Never ?” Hope asked.
“Well, you need to define one-night stand…” I managed, feeling my face flush with heat. “I mean, I’ve like, kissed guys I just met, and one time a guy felt me up on the dancefloor.”
I wasn’t entirely sure it had been on purpose. It was more that he’d sort of tripped into me and grabbed my boobs for support. But I wasn’t going to admit that to my little sister’s friends.
Cassie had been the wild child when we were younger. By contrast, I was the serious sister. The one who studied hard, worked hard, and considered Netflix and chilled roséa wild Friday night.
Normally I liked that about myself. I was proud that after a turbulent childhood, I’d built a stable life I could be proud of.
But tonight, sitting with these gorgeous, daring, laughing women, I felt distinctly… unfun.
I thought of the way that hot guy—James, that’s what Cassie had said his name was—had laughed at my glasses and sneered at my dress. Like he knew I didn’t belong here.
He’d been an ass, but I wasn’t going to forget that wild second there after he caught me any time soon. Or the way he’d stared into my eyes, looking impossibly, gorgeously sophisticated and absolutely in control.
“One-night stand means fucking,” Nia said simply, bringing me back to the present, and the drinking game we were playing. “It means finding a hot guy, taking him home, and fucking his brains out.”
The cackling was loud enough to turn heads in the lounge next to us.
“Well, no, then I guess I haven’t,” I admitted. I slouched lower in my seat, trying to avoid eye-contact with our waiter who’d slipped back into our suite with another round of drinks and the fanciest charcuterie board I’d ever seen.
“There’s always tonight,” Hope said, raising her glass to me. “The guy who hooked us up with this suite was hot ! And he couldn’t stop staring at you.”
The waiter’s control of the tray wobbled a bit.
“Right? I mean, you already know he’s good with his hands,” Nia said as everyone else gasped and laughed.
“What? I meant how he saved you from tripping,” she said, all faux innocence. Then she grinned at me, unrepentant. “Oh come on, he could be fun.”
I felt my face heat to sunburn level.
“Is there anything else I can get you lovely ladies?” our waiter cut in. “Our negronis are to die for.”
The conversation shifted to whether or not negronis were over-rated, and from there to people’s favorite drinks in general.
I gave the waiter a small, grateful smile. He winked at me as he took people’s orders.
On the one hand, a random waiter at the fanciest club I’ve ever been to knew I thought his grouchy manager was hot. On the other hand, an ally was an ally, and I could take all the support I could get.
I knocked back the rest of my champagne and ordered another.
The conversation moved on, but my thoughts didn’t.
It didn’t seem possible that the tall, dark, and incredibly handsome stranger would want anything to do with the underdressed girl who’d dumped drinks all over his expensive shirt and no-doubt made a bunch of extra work for him. And yet I had the distinct sense that he’d been very…focused. On me.
I’d assumed it was rage. But were the other women right? Was he into me?
I hadn’t been able to help noticing him. Who could? He was tall, way taller than me even in heels. His now-wet black shirt showed off his lean and well-built torso, and that face looked like it should be selling cologne or fancy wristwatches or the kind of liquor that costs a month’s paycheck. Perfect features, a flawless smile, and the most electric blue eyes I’ve ever seen. Intensely blue. And just intense in general.
Eye contact with him felt sexier than some of the actual sex I’d had.
When he turned his full attention to me, it had felt like I was trapped in a force field. There was something about his confidence, the way he acted like he knew he could make everything right…it was almost as sexy as the way he looked.
Of course I’d been an absolute dork from the moment I arrived. So it was a good thing I didn’t care, right? Because hot or not, that guy didn’t matter.
I was here for Cassie, and I was absolutely not looking to hook up.
At all.
Definitely not.
“What?” I asked Cassie, who was staring at me.
“You need to loosen up,” she said, narrowing her eyes at me. It made her look like our mother, and I shook off a shiver at the thought.
“I’m loose!” I lied. “I just chugged a whole glass of champagne. Do you want me to dance on the table or something?”
“Definitely not that. You’re so focused on grad school that you’re forgetting to live your life and have fun.”
“Well, grad school is sort of important, Cassie,” I replied, chafing at the scolding. I was here, wasn’t I? Out at the last kind of place I’d ever choose to spend time at, just to make her happy. I was in a wet bra and uncomfortable shoes, and my too-weird glasses were shoved into my purse.
I was trying, damnit.
“I get that grad school is important, but you can still break out and get a little crazy now and then. It might be good for you,” Cassie said, her tone gentler. “Say yes to something new.”
“Yeah, and you can start by tracking down that hot dude. Help him get out of his wet clothes.” Hope snorted. Then she punched the air and started chanting. “Find that man! Find that man!”
Encouraged by the free-flowing champagne, the rest of the women joined the chant.
“Stop, stop!” I couldn’t keep myself from laughing at their encouragement. “Enough, you guys.”
Our waiter walked up toward us, coming to a halt when he heard the chanting. We must have been a little terrifying, because his eyes widened, then he did a U-turn and walked away.
Wise man.
The chant eventually died out.
“Seriously though,” Cassie said. “What would make you happier tonight? Because if you want to go hook up with James of the giant dick, go for it.”
“How do you know how big his dick is?” Hope asked.
“He just has big dick energy,” Nia said. “You want big dick energy for your first hook up. If he’s not confident, it gets awkward.”
All the women nodded seriously, like this was a solemn, irrefutable truth.
I need to turn this ship around fast. And get a break from this conversation. “Um, honestly, my bra is still soaked from the spill. I think I’m going to go find the bathroom and take it off so I’ll be more comfortable.”
Cassie raised her drink and started a new chant. “Down with bras! Down with bras!” The women picked up the chant.
I stood and slipped away, passing our frozen, wide-eyed waiter as I did. Apparently a pack of drunk, chanting women could strike fear into the hearts of even the bravest of men.
I wasn’t sure where the bathroom was, but there seemed to be a door on the far side of the room, so I wove my way in that direction. I loved my sister, and her girlfriends were all amazing women, but I wasn’t in the right headspace to have it rubbed in my face all the ways in which my sex life fell short compared to theirs.
To be honest, my sex life fell short compared to just about anyone’s. I’d been so dead set on making the money to pay for grad school without resorting to more student loans that I barely had time for anything else. But I’d just lined up a new temporary gig I’d lined up. Six months of private, in-house service for a rich family would set me up nicely.
My feet slowed as I fought my way through the dance floor toward the door I’d spotted. The truth was, that gig meant that I’d have the breathing room to date again. I could even have a one night stand here and there if I wanted to.
Did I want to?
The music was intense, pounding around me, and the dancefloor was crowded with beautiful people. Cassie and the rest of them would eventually find their way out there. Normally I hated dance floors like this, bumping and grinding against sweaty strangers, especially strangers who sometimes tripped and grabbed your boobs.
But maybe that was the first step toward a newer, funner me. Maybe I could throw my hands in the air, sway my ass, let the music course through me…
Someone bumped into me, and I lurched forward, nearly dropping my purse.
Nope , I decided. Dance floors are not for me.
I finally got to the door I’d spotted, only to find it wasn’t actually a bathroom. No, it led outside, to a balcony that was mercifully empty. I made a break for it, sliding the door closed behind me and drinking in the peace. The skyline shimmered in the distance, thousands of tiny gemstones twinkling against a blanket of black.
It was odd that no one else was drawn outside to admire the beautiful view. Although that I thought about it, the windows that looked out over the balcony had been covered by heavy velvet curtains. Maybe no one else had realized there was a balcony.
I took another deep breath, relishing the fresh air and privacy. As if the view wasn’t enough, the dark balcony was expertly decorated with lush, tropical plants. The only thing that could have made this scenario better was if I wasn’t wearing my damn soaked bra. I really had wanted to change out of it.
Actually….
What the hell, I was alone right?
I scooted a few more inches away from the door. Then I set about wiggling out of my damp bra without actually taking my dress off. It was undignified, but in five seconds I was free, dry, and considerably more comfortable.
“Better?”
I jumped and squealed at the unexpected voice, then tried to make out the form leaning against the wall, half hidden by the dark and a giant plant.
It was him .
James.
“Do you always spy on women taking their clothes off?” I accused.
“Normally they invite me to watch,” he smirked. He straightened and walked toward me.
My heart was pounding. I wasn’t sure if it was because he’d startled me, or because he was so near.
“I try to get out here at least once a night. It makes working at a place like this worth it,” James said, leaning on the railing next to me, giving me a quick glance and then gazing out at the skyline. “Are you all dried off now?”
I tried to shove my bra into my purse. “Sort of? I still feel like I’m going to be rosé all day and all night.”
He snorted. “I know what you mean. Not the first time drinks have been spilled here and won’t be the last.”
My eyes lingered on the places his own still-damp shirt clung to his impressive chest.
If you want to go hook up with James of the giant dick, go for it. I blushed at the memory of my sister’s words, and looked away.
“You’re Katie, right? I’m James.” He held out his hand.
I hesitated. For some reason, it felt dangerous to touch him, out here alone on the balcony. Even for something as innocent as a handshake.
But I’d already dumped drinks on the man. I couldn’t very well snub his handshake. So I slipped my hand into his, shocked by the way it swallowed mine. It was strong and warm.
He looked even better close up, his hair a chestnut brown with streaks of gold that looked completely natural and the planes of his face both highlighted by the moon. He was hands-down the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen, and he was right beside me. I fought the urge to peek at the way his pants fit around his ass as he leaned over.
I opened my mouth to tell him no one called me Katie but my sister, but then I remembered we were never going to see each other again. What was the point of correcting him?
I closed my eyes and turned away, looking out over the out-of-focus city at my feet.
James filled the silence. “Having fun yet?”
“Sure. I love being alone with strange men on balconies who know I’m not wearing a bra.” I clapped my hand over my mouth as soon as the words were out of my mouth. Clearly I’d had more champagne than I realized.
Or maybe it was just him . There was something about the way James was looking at me that made me want to tell him what I really thought. Which was dangerous, since he’d probably just laugh at me again.
“I can tell,” he grinned.
“ What?” I crossed my arms over my chest.
“No, I wasn’t talking about that,” he laughed. “Although I can, and it makes that dress look even better.”
My hormones swooped. I couldn’t tell if I was flattered or insulted.
“What I meant was, I can tell you’re not having fun. You seem…I don’t know, out of place, maybe?”
I whirled to face him, forgetting to feel self-conscious. I knew I didn’t exactly fit in, but I didn’t think I stood out that badly. “ Excuse me?”
“It’s not a bad thing,” he said dryly. “Not everyone loves the club scene. But it’s my job to tell who’s having fun and who isn’t so I can fix it. So tell me…” his eyes dropped down to my mouth, “Is there something I can do to improve your night?”
My stomach flipped at his blatant flirting.
I told myself it wasn’t personal. He probably flirted with every other woman he met.
But knowing it wasn’t personal didn’t make it any less effective.
I looked away, not quite having the nerve to flirt back. “It’s not your fault. It’s just, um, crowds make me feel a little overwhelmed, and the noise…” I made circles with my hands near my ears. “It gets to be too much after a while.”
“Yeah, I understand.”
I jerked my gaze back to him, surprised. “You work here, you deal with it every day.”
“Exactly, it’s work . But life happens out here.” He gestured to the horizon.
“If only I could see it,” I said, mostly to myself. It felt like there was a metaphor in there somewhere. Take off your glasses to fit in better at a club full of models and influencers—lose your ability to focus on the part of life that matters.
James surveyed me. “I bet I could make you feel better in five minutes.”
I sighed, exasperated. “Why do you care so much?”
He tilted his head. “You’re something of a professional challenge.”
Of course. Of course it came back to work and ego. It always did with men like him.
Something shifted in his face, softening it. “Or maybe you just seem like you deserve a better night than you’re having.”
We both stared at each other in silence for a few minutes. Instead of feeling odd I felt… comfortable. James had said I was a professional challenge, but this moment didn’t feel professional. It felt… intimate.
In the club, he’d been so flawlessly in control I couldn’t have imagined him anywhere else. But now he seemed just as happy to escape the madness to drink in the moonlight with me.
Maybe he was the kind of man who belonged wherever he went.
“Five minutes?” I asked, wavering.
“Five minutes,” he promised, a wicked smile lurking at the corner of his mouth.
“… Are you trying to seduce me?” I asked suspiciously.
He threw back his head and laughed. I thought I’d heard him laugh already, but this was different. Deep and rich and unrestrained.
Without meaning to, I took a step closer, just to be closer to that sound.
When he finished laughing, he threw me a wolfish grin. “If I was seducing you, Katie, you’d know. Now, are you in or not?”
He said it like he was daring me to join in his game, and maybe it was the glorious night air, or the city below us, or the other, more sophisticated women waiting inside for me, but for once I wanted to be fun. I wanted to have fun. Even if it was only for five minutes.
“Okay, but you can’t give me any more fancy upgrades,” I blurted. “That’s cheating.”
His grin sharpened. “I like a challenge.”
James swept his gaze over me, like he was sizing me up. Then he nodded decisively. “I’m going to touch you now, Katie.”
“What…” My voice trailed off as he slid his fingers into my hair and plucked out the hairpins I’d used for the half-up, half-down do Nia had recommended. I hadn’t realized they were digging into my scalp until James removed them. The sigh of relief I let out was almost sexual, and James’ eyes darkened.
“Now your shoes,” he ordered, his voice low and gruff.
It took me a second to realize what he meant. But I’d said I’d give him five minutes, so I kicked my heels off.
Immediately James seemed even taller. But it was worth it to feel the smooth, warm stone under my newly liberated feet.
It figured that even the balcony floor in this club felt luxurious.
His hand brushed mine, and a tingle shot up my spine. For a second I thought he was going to take my hand, but instead he took my purse.
“What are you…”
He pulled out my bra and tossed it over the balcony.
“Hey! Do you have any idea how much bras cost?”
“I don’t know, two hundred dollars?” He shrugged, like the sum he’d just named was nothing.
The managers must be paid really well in this club.
“It was preventative,” James said sternly. “Otherwise you would have put it back on in a few minutes and undone all my good work making you more comfortable. Your comfort matters, Katie.”
Shit, why was that so sexy?
Also, when was the last time someone had worried about if I was comfortable?
“But that’s not why I took your purse.” He reached inside again. Either he’d never heard the rule about the contents of a woman’s purse being private, or he liked breaking society’s rules.
He pulled out my pink glasses.
“No!” I dove in front of him, wedging myself between James and the railing to stop him from hurling those off the balcony too. “I know they’re unfashionable, but you can’t throw those, I need them to see–”
“Of course you need them to see,” James said, as he slid them on my face. “That’s why you should be wearing them, you idiot.”
I blinked, looking around me with new appreciation for the gorgeous details on all the plants in bloom.
James smiled down at me, annoyingly satisfied. “It’s more fun when you can see the beautiful stuff around you.”
“I could see you,” I defended myself.
He cocked an eyebrow. “You calling me beautiful?”
I blushed, hastily turning away from him to lean on the railing. This time when I looked out at the city lights I gasped. The view had gone from being a soft, hazy painting to the kind of movie shot people win cinematography awards for.
“All right,” I grudgingly admitted. “I’m feeling better.”
“I still have three minutes,” James said, his voice low and sexy in my ear.
He trailed his hand lightly along the base of my neck. His hand was light, possessive. Like I was his to touch.
“You’re tense here,” he said, pressing on a knot of muscles on my upper back. “You’ve been tense all night, haven’t you?”
“Not just tonight,” I admitted, his magic fingers dragging the confession out of me. “Between work and… well, my work situation is changing soon. So that should help.”
He didn’t respond to my babbling. Just used those strong, capable fingers to find every spot along my neck, shoulders, and upper back where I was tense, and massage that tension away.
When he hit one particularly tight spot I gasped.
“Stubborn,” he muttered, rubbing a little harder.
I leaned into his hand, relishing the way it felt to be touched by a man, even if he was just doing this to win this weird bet we’d made.
I clutched the railing for support and tried to keep from moaning as he casually coaxed waves of pleasure from my body.
I was beginning to understand why women had one night stands. If he promised to make feel this good all night long, I thought I might leave with him then and there. Hell, Cassie had even given me her blessing.
He turned my body gently to face him, placing his hands on my upper arms, and leaned closer to examine my relaxed expression in the faint light sifting out from the club. “There we go,” he murmured, slowly dragging his thumb where the stain had been, his voice a whisper warming my shoulder. “Perfect.”
I felt like my knees were about to give out. “Thank you,” I managed, willing myself not to move away, despite the butterflies dancing in my stomach.
His eyes darted to my lips. My breath went shallow and shaky as we both paused, waiting for the next moment to unfold.
This wasn’t my life. Standing on the balcony of a glamorous nightclub with a guy who looked like he dated supermodels but for some reason seemed invested in making sure I had a good night, even if it was just to feed his ego.
“Do you have to get back to work?” I asked, my voice sounding more breathy than I meant it to. “I don’t want you to get in trouble with your boss.”
An amused expression flickered across his face. “You seem like the kind of woman worth getting in trouble for.”
My stomach swooped. I heard Cassie’s voice in my head urging me to live a little, and before I realized what I was doing, I stood on my tiptoes and pressed my lips to his.
He smiled against my mouth, like he was surprised but pleased that I made the first move. For a few heartbeats, he let me lead the kiss, like a king accepting tribute. But when I let my tongue dart into his mouth he groaned and circled his arms around my waist, drawing me tight against him, so that I could feel his heat, his strength, as he took charge of the kiss. I felt like I was being tasted, savored, and he must have liked what he found as much as I did, because his hands tightened on my back as he deepened the kiss.
I linked my hands behind his neck, wishing I could freeze the moment.
Because I’d never been kissed this way.
It blotted out everything around me, so that all I could focus on was the way his lips felt pressed against mine. He was sensual, commanding, greedy. I didn’t have to worry if I was doing it right, or making a fool of myself. He kissed me like he couldn’t get enough of me.
The longer we kissed the more frantic I felt, because it couldn’t end yet. It couldn’t . I needed to feel his hands all over my body.
Apparently he felt the same way, because his hands skimmed up the side of my body. He stopped just below my breasts, and I whimpered. Achingly slowly, he inched his fingers up, stroking me through my dress. When he dragged his fingernail across the fabric that covered my nipple, I shuddered and arched into his touch.
James smiled into my mouth. “Now,” he said, “you’re being seduced.”
I was so lost in the sensation of him, it took me a second to remember what he was talking about.
I pulled back to look at his face, terrified that I’d find out this was just another challenge for him.
But he looked just as wrecked as I felt. His eyes were dark, his lips bruised, his hair mussed from my hands. He looked like sex incarnate.
I realized we were breathing in heavy tandem.
I felt shocked that a kiss could leave me so undone, but then again, it wasn’t a normal kiss. It was a promise of more to come.
We spoke at the same time too, our jumble of breathy words tripping on top of each other.
“You first,” I whispered, because even wet and needy for him, I wasn’t quite brave enough to ask for what I wanted.
“I asked if you wanted to come downstairs to my place,” James murmured, then leaned in to kiss me again before I could answer, as if he needed to try to convince me. As if he couldn’t stay away from me.
“Yes,” I whispered against his mouth, “…but I need to put on my shoes first.”
With a grin, he knelt at my feet, and helped me into my heels. But then, instead of standing back up so we could go inside he lingered, dropping a kiss on my thigh as he eased up the hem of my dress. It didn’t matter that we were just a few feet away from crowds of people who could see us, if only anyone thought to peek through the curtains or step out onto the balcony.
With his hands on me like this, I felt more than fun. I felt daring .
He slid my dress high enough he could see my black cotton thong.
“Fuck,” he swore.
“I don’t normally… it was laundry day,” I explained. “I just don’t want you to get expectations.”
That made him still. “Speaking of expectations…”
He let the skirt of my dress slide back down my body, and rose to his feet. “Before we go any further,” James grasped my arms and looked down at me with a serious expression. “I need you to understand that I want you, but one night is all I can offer. I understand if that’s not what you’re looking for.”
My skin tingled. Here it was. My one night stand, offered to me on a silver platter by the hottest man alive.
I tossed my hair over my shoulder. “What makes you think I’m looking for more than one night?” I said, trying to sound breezy. “For all I know, you spend all day playing videogames. Or you genuinely like kale.”
The corner of his mouth kicked up. “Enough with the dirty talk. You’re getting me all worked up.”
Instead of teasing him back, I went up on my tip toes and pushed my lips to his. James smiled against my mouth again, then started walking backward toward a door I hadn’t noticed on the far end of the balcony. It was hidden behind a grouping of decorative trees. He moved us without ever breaking off the kiss. It felt like we were dancing, step for step.
As we tumbled through the door, I decided that for once in my life, I was going to say yes.
To whatever happened next.