Chapter 23
TWENTY-THREE
DYLAN
I’D SINK MY teeth into that ass.
I know, fucked-up thing to think about my partner, especially when she walks into Myth, the converted warehouse bar, with the cook from Lola’s. When she asked to bring a friend, Ajay is not who I had in mind. I thought it’d be Scarlett, and that’s precisely why Kian tagged along.
“Is that girl staring at me or you?” he asks, nudging me.
My attention is pried away from where Ajay and Sierra talk, her hand hitting his shoulder every time she laughs. I’ve never seen her laugh like that before. It looks fake as fuck.
I turn to Kian, who has a drink in his hand and bobs his head to the loud music. I couldn’t sit there and watch Ajay whisper in her ear, so I grabbed Kian and came to the bar.
Kian’s back is against the crowded bar, and he’s smiling at someone sitting just a few seats away. The girl’s got curly brown hair and blue eyes. Her red lips only manage to pull my thoughts right back to Sierra.
“Definitely you,” I say, slapping a hand on his back.
He drains his drink—it’s water, in solidarity with me—then he stands straight, black Rage Against the Machine T-shirt straining against his body.
“You okay alone? Or I guess, third wheeling.”
My gaze drifts back to the booth at the opposite end of the club, and I catch Sierra’s lips around the straw of her drink. “I’m not third wheeling anyone.”
He laughs. “Pretty sure Sierra’s going to swallow the cook whole.”
My grip on my glass tightens. “He’s just a friend.”
“Right, ’cause all of us snuggle up with a hot girl at a club because we’re being friendly.”
“Shut up.”
Kian chuckles, then his eyes widen to saucers. “Wait, wait, wait. It’s her, isn’t it? You’re into her! Are we plotting something? Is that why you invited me?” He sounds almost giddy.
“No,” I say quickly. “No plotting.”
“I should have known. Now I owe Summer twenty bucks.”
“I’ll give you fifty to stop talking.” I chew ice. Crushing something between my teeth seems to ease the ugly feeling.
“Do we not like the cook?”
“Don’t you have a girl waiting for you?” My gaze flits back to the other end of the bar, where the girl’s still looking our way. I’m not actually sure which one of us she’s looking at, but I only want one pair of eyes on me. And they’re definitely not blue.
Kian shrugs. “I’d rather stay here and figure out how we’re going to send the cook running for the hills.”
“We are not doing anything.” If we did, Sierra would “accidentally” cut me during practice.
“You’re no fun.” He drops his chin in his hands. “I could tell him his car is on fire.”
Is it bad that I consider it? “No. You’re not doing that.”
“There’s your chance,” Kian whispers when Sierra stands. “I’ll take care of it, trust me.”
I don’t trust him to do anything remotely sane in this situation, but I’m not thinking straight right now.
I may have developed a hoarding problem, but only when it comes to Sierra.
Without a second thought, I slowly head down the hall and wait.
When Sierra comes out of the bathroom, she spots me instantly.
Green eyes land on mine, and her hips sway like they’re hypnotizing me.
Fuck, she’s hot. Why does Ajay get to look at her?
“Could you be more creepy?” she says.
I fight a smile. “I could.”
She rolls her eyes, walking up to me until my back is against the wall. “You’re being weird. Even Ajay asked me if he did something to make you hate him.”
“Hate him? I’ve met him once,” I say. “But since you’re here and we’re alone, we should celebrate. One dance.” I press the words to her ear and inhale the heady rush of cherry scent.
“I don’t think Ajay would like that.”
“I don’t give a fuck what he’d like.”
She raises a perfect brow, smirking. “Thought you didn’t hate him?” She makes it look like she could take me if she wanted to. I’d probably let her. My gaze finds the buttons of her dress. I could rip it open with one tug.
“Sierra?” Ajay stands there in his white button-up, staring between us with irritation. Kian’s behind him, rubbing the back of his neck and looking guilty.
“Ajay,” Sierra starts. “I was—”
“It’s okay. I felt like I was intruding anyway. I’m going to head out. I’ve got work tomorrow.”
He’s lying, and I watch the way Sierra’s face falls. It’s eerily similar to how it looked when I pulled away from that kiss. The memory only adds weight to my chest.
“Hey, man, is that your car that’s on fire?” Kian interrupts the awkwardness.
“What?!” Ajay rushes out, and I glare at Kian before he disappears into the club. Sierra doesn’t look at me. Instead, she rushes out after Ajay.
“I had nothing to do with that. It was all Kian,” I say innocently, trailing her. “Don’t let this ruin our night.”
“You just drove him away my … friend!” she shouts. “I have to stop him.”
I can’t say I enjoyed that pause before she landed on friend. “You’ve got to stop acting like you’re responsible for other people’s actions. If he’s not an idiot, he’ll come back.”
“He saw us together.”
“Talking,” I say. “He’s a big boy, Sierra. He can work through his emotions.”
“You’re a dick.”
“And yet, here you are.”
“You shouldn’t be rewarded for your behavior.”
“Just punish me for it later. Any way you like.” I grin.
She narrows her eyes. “You’re driving me home.”
“After a dance?”
“Now.” Sierra goes to the booth to grab her jacket and takes the drink with her. She sips it the whole way, almost like she’s using it to avoid talking to me. When she heads in the wrong direction, still stubborn as hell, I guide her with a hand on her waist to where my car is parked.
She opens the door before I can and slips inside, arms crossed. We sit in silence, and I text Kian that we’re leaving, but he doesn’t answer. I glance at Sierra, unsure if she’s mad. Either way, I’m not afraid to find out.
“If you’re mad, I’ll let you punch me,” I say, breaking the silence in the car.
That gets her to look at me. I love when she looks at me. “In the face?” she asks.
“My arm. You wouldn’t like it if you ruined all this.” I point to my face.
“How hard?”
“As hard as you can,” I say, but she doesn’t move. “It’s a onetime offer, princess—ow!”
Sierra jumps and puts her hands over mine on my throbbing biceps.
The girl can punch; I should have known.
She holds it tight like that would help, and I think I’m going slightly insane because it does.
Except something else is throbbing now. “I wasn’t going to, but then you kept talking, and it was like a reflex, but I’m sorry—”
“What have I told you about saying that?”
“That I shouldn’t say it.” She swallows. “Not to you, at least.”
“Good, so you do listen to me.”
“Sometimes.” She’s staring at my arm again. “Did I really hurt you?”
“No,” I say. “Are you mad at me?”
She slumps back on a sigh. “No, but now I’ll never know if he was going to kiss me.” She stiffens, like she didn’t mean to blurt that out loud.
Irritation runs heat down my back. But there’s a part of me that rejoices in the fact that Ajay’s never kissed her. “Trust me, he wanted to do a lot more than just kiss you.”
She looks at me curiously. “How do you know?”
“I can tell when a guy wants the girl I—” I stop. “I just do. He’s into you.”
Sierra fidgets with the hem of her dress, and I’m barely sitting still. I’d rather not sit here and discuss how Ajay would kiss Sierra. Where the fuck is Kian?
“Doesn’t matter anymore. It’s not like it’ll happen now,” Sierra says.
“You actually wanted him to kiss you?” I try not to sound so offended.
She shrugs. “Maybe.”
“Yes or no?” I ask, staring at her.
“No.”
The silence that follows feels thick enough to choke on. “Who do you want to kiss you?”
“You.”
My throat is filled with gravel. Those warnings are blaring in my head again, but this time I don’t want to listen to them.
“One kiss,” I say. The half-baked idea sounds idiotic when I want to do so much more. When I shouldn’t do anything at all.
“I don’t need your pity kiss, Donovan.”
“Not a pity kiss.” I unclip her seat belt, and she just stares at me as my seat whirs back. “Come here, Sierra.”
“Where?”
I take her hand, and I pull her close. Sierra climbs over the center console and straddles me in the driver’s seat. When her ass hits my lap, I realize this might be my dumbest fucking idea yet. I choke on her cherry scent.
Sierra moves closer, her ass moving too, and I groan. “Is this some kind of chemistry read?” she jokes.
“Nah, this is for us,” I say.
“To do what with?”
I smooth a hand across her cheek. “I want to figure out if whatever the fuck I’m feeling when I’m this close to you is real or just in my head.”
She bristles. “How do you feel?”
“Like I’m losing my mind.”
Sierra seems to enjoy that answer. Fuck, I like that. “So, this is a onetime, casual kiss?”
“Casual,” I repeat, even though that word burns my esophagus.
She leans in, close enough that I smell the fruity drink on her breath. “And platonic?”
“So platonic,” I whisper.
I’m not sure who kisses who first, because we’re both at it immediately. It’s not just one kiss, not even fucking close.
She steals my breath straight from my lungs, and for a second I wish I could drop dead.
That way this is the last thing I’d feel.
Her moans fall on my tongue like snowflakes, and I bask in the press of her hips on me, barely holding back from taking control and dry humping her in the front seat of my car.
The kiss silences every ache in my body. If I thought I was losing my mind before, it’s eviscerated now. I could walk on water.
Sierra’s still smiling, and I know it’s because she can feel me turning harder than a damn pipe.
She’s enjoying it, and even though it’s torture when she moves her hips again, I let her do it.
But she must want to reward me, because she slides my hands up her body to her full, perky tits.
I palm her chest over the fabric of her dress, desperate to yank it off.
I press my thumb to her nipples, making her head fall back on a moan.
We’re walking a thin line around what one kiss is, especially when she reaches for the buttons on her dress and undoes them one by one. It’s slow motion until she stops just below her chest, and I want this view to melt into my memory. I almost whimper. Fuck, I think I do.
Her red lace bra holds up her tits prettily. I groan. “Ajay could never deserve this.”
She laughs and it’s pure bliss. “And you do?”
“I think you know I do, Sierra.” I kiss one. “I’ve been so good.” Then the other. “Such a good boy.”
I press the pad of my thumb against her distended nipple and her head falls back on a breathy moan. My lips cover her flushed skin until I pull down her bra and draw her nipple deep into my mouth. Her skin tastes like cherries too.
I lick and suck and bury my face between them. She rocks against me.
My hand travels to the buttons to see all of her, but Sierra stops me. I drop my hand and instead grind her down on me to feel the perfect weight of her in my lap.
“Does this make us friends?” she asks in a playful whisper.
I could be best friends with her tits. “You wanna be friends?”
She smiles, and I feel it against my lips. Fuck, I don’t think I’ve ever had a conversation while kissing a girl like this. But with Sierra, I could do this forever. I would drag this one kiss into eternity if she let me.
She hums, and I taste it in my mouth before she says, “I won’t tell anyone if you don’t.”
“Deal. Can’t have it mess up our image.”
“Definitely not,” she says. “This stays between us.”
She rubs her ass against something else that’s between us. She’s magnetic, and my dick is clearly trying to appease the charge.
Then there’s a knock on my tinted window. “Are you guys in there?”
“Kian,” Sierra whispers between kisses.
I bite her lip. “Don’t say another guy’s name when my tongue is in your mouth.”
She laughs, and I pull her right back. Kian mutters something, and then we hear footsteps retreating. That’s when Sierra’s dress slides up, and I can see the flash of red lace between her legs. My heart stops.
“Touch me,” she rasps. “Please.”