Chapter 24 #2
Paul leaned in so his warm breath heated the side of her neck creating yet more bewildering cravings.
“Because you’ve a dirty mind, Castle, that’s why.
” He chewed and swallowed. Jodi watched the muscles of his throat work, unable to refute his claim, or stop herself from imagining nibbling him back.
There, right there at the edge of his jaw, where the line of stubble ended, and also lower, in the V-shaped indent where his neck met his shoulder.
Bad thoughts...bad thoughts. Honestly, the world stopped making sense when he was this close to her, or rather, it made sense in a way that was totally antithetical to her future happiness with the man she was engaged to marry.
Rock Giant dropped his chin onto her shoulder. “You’re less handsy than you used to be. I’m kinda sorry for that.”
“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.” But she did, and now she was thinking about it, her hands were itching to stray.
She clasped the table edge to make sure they didn’t go roving places they shouldn’t, like over his face, or his pecs, or his fly.
It didn’t work, not when she felt his lips against her bare skin again, this time followed by the exploratory flick of his tongue beneath the shoelace straps of her vest. Then, she was liquid.
Immediately reduced to a puddle of want, desperate to be lapped up.
Desperate to be kissed. Desperate to be touched.
For him to keep on touching her. She grabbed her drink, knuckles whitening around the bottle as she took a long swallow.
“You’re so fucking sexy.” He breathed deeply of her scent. “I know I’m supposed to behave, but I can’t help it. I want to do bad things with you. Real bad things...” He shifted slightly beneath her.
“Abduction? Bank robbing?”
“If you like.” His arms wrapped around her middle and pulled her more firmly against him. They were close enough now that she could feel the thread of his pulse. It was hammering away at a pace not dissimilar to hers.
“I’m yours to command, Castle. Anything you want, you just name it. You want a partner in crime, I’m your man. Need someone to make it all better when you have boo-boos, then I’ve got ya.”
She didn’t doubt it, except who was going to save her from him? And, hello, there was something firm now poking her in the rear, causing the sort of heat in her that even draining her cold beer couldn’t counter.
She needed to move. If she didn’t...then what?
Nothing was going to happen. They were in a public place, and Rock Giant wasn’t Balin.
He wasn’t going to unzip his fly and pull her knickers to one side so he could screw her in full sight of the room and everyone they knew.
She wasn’t the sort of girl who would let any man do that to her.
Still, her breath kept catching in her throat thinking about it, imagining the bulbous jewellery-enhanced head of him aligning with her split, then filling that opening.
Her body would have to stretch to accommodate him.
She’d have to spread her legs wide. His hand would slide forward, delve beneath the skirt of her dress, fasten first around the plump tops of her thighs.
Squeeze. He wouldn’t need to wet his fingers before touching her.
She’d already be stupendously wet for him.
She was already uncomfortably wet for him.
Maybe, a polyamorous solution to her current situation wasn’t such a bad idea. It was working for at least one of the other people sitting at this table. Xane caught her glance and crooked a brow. Jodi turned away, cheeks flaming.
Ha, as if Nash would ever go for it.
Paul’s hands settled on her hips. “You might not want to wriggle quite so much,” he said into her ear. “That is, unless you’re trying to make me embarrass myself.”
“I’m not doing anything to you.”
A soft chuckle rumbled against her ear. “Maid, if this is you doing nothing, then God help me when you decide to put some effort into it.”
“I never took you for being quite so prone to exaggeration.”
She shifted again, and he drew his next breath through his teeth. “Lady...” He exhaled. “In a minute, I’m going to throw you over my shoulder and take you to whatever dark corner I can find so I can maul the fuck out of you.”
“Maybe you need to get laid.”
“Oh, I definitely do. But I’m keeping myself chaste for you, sweetheart. My cock is entirely yours. The heart attached to it, too.”
“I’m a little worried about your grasp of anatomy,” she said. She needed to cool things down, before she was tempted to do more than just rub her arse against him. “I ought to go and see where Nash has got to.”
It was a squeeze to get out, one that necessitated her planting one hand on the table and one on his brawny shoulder to gain her feet. She made the mistake of looking him in the eyes. “You’re not going to follow me, right?”
“Only if you order me not to.”
“We agreed we’d just be friends.”
“Maybe we need to reopen negotiations.”
“We don’t. I’m still engaged. Still in love.” Where the hell was Nash? “Don’t follow, okay?”
Rock Giant gave a barely perceptible nod, then his lips whispered against hers. “Okay, but know that I’m right here if you change your mind.”
He let her go.
Jodi staggered back a pace or two, before bolting into the crowd.
She made a full sweep of the bar without spotting any of the Ghost Boys, and wasn’t mad about that, other than in terms of wondering if they’d left without her.
The sound of her pulse in her ears continued to compete with the thumping bass vibrating through the soles of her shoes.
What must everyone around that table think of her, canoodling with Paul, when she was engaged to Nash?
Nothing kind, for certain. She certainly didn’t have any kind words for herself.
She’d never liked cheaters. Never thought she’d be the sort to wind up torn over her feelings for two men.
It ought to be straightforward. A simple matter.
She’d made a commitment to Nash. He was her security, and the platform on which the current incarnation of herself was built.
Rock Giant...was a one-night stand she’d be wise to forget.
Except, he made her heart wild, and he was hard to resist when he said stuff like, I’ll love you until the sun explodes without any hint of irony.
Also, she never had any trouble locating him.
Where the hell had Nash gone?
She collided with Lee near the entrance, now lip-locked with the Spook Mortensen fan. “Have you seen Nash?”
He gave her a thumb’s down, not bothering to break from the wet passion he was engaged in.
“Okay, I’ll try outside.”
He wasn’t there either, but she found Jez alone in a dark corner, quietly puffing on a cigarette. “Thought you were packing those in,” she said, slipping into the seat opposite him. He ignored her and kept on inhaling. “I can’t find Nash anywhere.”
“Surely that’s a bonus.”
“What? What do you mean?”
Jez blew out a long streamer of smoke. “What do I mean?” He laughed and crooked one dark brow. “More opportunity for you to indulge in what you actually fancy if he’s not breathing down your neck and demanding shit.”
“Excuse me?”
“Oh, knock it off, Jo. It’s fucking obvious you’re way more into Rock Giant. A toddler with permanency-blindness could fathom that, and if you’re not already screwing him, you’re at least contemplating it.”
“I beg your pardon, I am not.”
“Much.” He laughed at the heat rising up her neck, creating a hot plate of her cheeks.
“I’m not fucking him.” Only in the privacy of her thoughts. Thoughts, she was never going to act on. “I’m not trying to fuck him—”
“Then you’re a fucking idiot.”
“I love Nash.”
“Sure.” Jez agreed, managing to make it sound like he was doing the opposite.
He leaned forward and stubbed out the ciggy, before settling back and lacing his fingers behind his head.
“Do you, really? Is he not really just a means to an end? There are easier ways you could have stuck around, you know. You could have been part of the fucking band. Played the triangle or something. Or pulled a Bez and been our de facto mascot.” He mimicked her shaking maracas.
“You didn’t have to tie yourself to him.
And you’re not going to lose anything if you wake up and tell him to take a fucking hike. ”
Not true. She’d lose everything. The cocoon of safety she’d built.
The security of exploring the world in company.
A future with walls and Sunday dinners, and domesticity.
But most of all, the friends, the family, she’d chosen for herself.
If there was no her and Nash, then there’d be no her and Lee, no her and Balin, no her and Jez.
It wasn’t that they liked him more than her, it was just common sense.
“Where the hell is this coming from, Jez?”
“Guess I’m just done with playing nice and biting my tongue. Seriously”—Jez leaned forward and rested his hand on her forearm—“what do you even have in common with Curtis besides us and wedding plans neither of you are committed to?”
“What are you on?”
“What are you on?” He matched her glare. She looked away first. “Be honest, you don’t want a marquee on the lawn, sherry flutes and a meringue dress.”
“We haven’t agreed that’s what we’re doing.”
“Pretty sure him and his mum have it all planned out.”
So, unfortunately, did she. She was sure Nash had dangled the handfasting in front of her as a way of saying, we did your version, now we’re doing mine. Except, he’d stood her up.
“Rock Giant seems pretty goddamned sound,” Jez observed.
Jodi retreated into the back of her chair. He was.
Jez lit another ciggy. She watched him smoke and occasionally brush a stray tress of his long wavy hair back from his face.
“If you dislike Nash so much, why are you in a band with him?”
Jez gave her a thin smile that planted grains of ice under her skin. “Wasn’t the plan.”