Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
CASS
“See? Now that’s how you resolve a story.”
Cass’s heart rate still hammered in her chest, but it wasn’t from the film’s ending.
Josh furrowed his brow at the blank screen. The arm that wasn’t slung over the back of her chair rested on his knee, foot propped up on the empty armrest in front of him. He gestured with the arm around her shoulder, and she let him nudge her in a little closer.
“Disagree. Too tidy. Nothing left for interpretation. Plus, whoever was in charge of lighting needed a handler. I’m all for a good lens flare, but it’s like he thought he was J.J. Abrams or some shit.”
“Lens flares? Are you kidding? Amateur hour.”
Josh parroted her earlier words back to her. “Amateur film fest. Everyone has work to do.”
“Fine,” she said with a grin. “I’ll admit the reveal was pretty good.”
“Pretty good? You were freaked out. You nearly cut off circulation with how tight you gripped my arm.”
“And you’re one to talk? Like you didn’t grip my knee,” she replied, eyes alight.
“Not why I gripped your knee.” His scowl turned into a smirk, revealing a devastating pair of dimples, and any hope of resisting him popped like a soap bubble.
“Um, excuse me?”
Cass spun her head towards a gawky teenager fidgeting at the end of the row. “The film ended twenty minutes ago, and we need to finish cleaning up so we can let the next showing in.”
Josh led her through the maze-like lobby, out a back door, and onto the steps of an unfamiliar street. Headlights and traffic signals dazzled off every surface, tires making an electric sizzle on the wet asphalt as they rolled by. She stopped on the last step from the bottom to get her bearings, failing to orient herself in the darkness that had fallen over the city.
He leaned against the metal railing, one foot on the stair beside her to box her in. A few raindrops collected at the ends of his hair to drip down his cheekbones. Cass wanted to lick away the drops rolling down his neck.
“What do you want to do now?” she asked, mouth dry.
Josh looked at her appraisingly. “I think it’s time to test the waters.”
“Test the … is that a movie?”
He closed the space between them, sending a wave of heat washing over her body. Standing on the last step put them almost at eye level, and he dropped his gaze to her mouth, his lips only inches from hers.
“What if I said I’ve wanted to kiss you since the moment I laid eyes on you?”
Oh. Test the waters . Waters she hadn’t swum in a long time. The thrill winding its way up her spine bloomed into a smile, and she chanced looping her thumbs into his belt loops to draw him closer. “I’d say what took you so long.”
“Had to finish arguing with you first,” he said, eyelids half closing, and slid his hand up the nape of her neck.
His grip tightened in her hair, gently tugging her head back to open her lips, and he flicked his tongue along hers, the sharp spice of cinnamon sparking where they met. It was wild, breath taking. It wasn’t nearly enough. She stood on her tiptoes, arching her body flush against him as she sucked his lower lip, and a short moan escaped the back of his throat.
The hand that wasn’t cupping the back of her neck meandered to her hip and squeezed, a restrained urging of his pelvis into hers. A warm fuzziness stole over her as she pulled back to gauge his reaction.
He looked hungry, sly. He pulled her back, forcefully this time, and sparks flared at every point of contact. She slid her hands up his biceps, their solid warmth flexing under her fingers.
It had been years since she’d hooked up with someone she’d just met. She didn’t want to bail on her friends—anymore than she already had—but Libby would be the first one to cheer her on, and Jill knew Cass’s luck with men had been less than stellar.
And dang it, she was thirty-two freaking years old and trudging through the longest dry spell of her adult life. She could have a one-night stand with a hot guy in another city if she wanted to. If the pulse beating at several key points in her body was any indication, she wanted to.
No reason to hold back. They’d never see each other again. She could make him feel good for a couple of hours and let him make her feel good. Then she’d head home tomorrow with no strings attached and no expectations. Perfect.
Waters tested.
“I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I don’t think I want to watch movies anymore.”
“Where’s your hotel?” he demanded, his voice snapping the surface of her skin to rapt attention.
For the first time, Cass wished she wasn’t having a fun-times girls’ sleepover weekend. “My friends will be there. Not up for an audience,” she replied, fingers threading his hair. The thick waves slid through her fingers, and she wondered if she’d have her hands there if he was the kind of man to go down on her. “Your place?”
He appeared to think for a moment. “Okay, we’ll have the place to ourselves.”
“Roommate?”
“Something like that.” He sucked on her lower lip, rooting in his jeans pocket for his phone with one hand and the other still bound up in her hair.
Oh, she loved a man who could multitask. “What if they come home?”
“I have walls,” he said. “You can make all the noise you want, beautiful.”
Cass could count on one hand the number of times she’d made out in the back of an Uber, but that hand was busy roaming under his shirt. Every inch of him was warm and smooth under her fingertips, and she could not wait to get his shirt off and lick the firmest abs she’d touched in a decade.
“I don’t want to sound like a cliché, but I don’t usually do this,” she breathed.
He pulled his teeth back from where he’d been nibbling the skin below her ear. “Then I am a lucky man.”
The Uber dropped them at the steps of a sleek Yaletown building. Not that she noticed much of the lobby or elevator. He dragged her to his front door and into a blast of warm air as they stumbled into his empty condo.
Cass shed her jacket. “Why’s it so hot in here?”
“More comfortable when I take your clothes off.”
Ah. Well, who better than a player to break her dry spell with? She followed him straight through the tiny living area into his bedroom. Spare and clean, just like him. A botanical mural painted in stylized negative decorated the dark walls. Blackout curtains pooled on the hardwood floor and the faint scent of sandalwood surrounded her. The glass lamp beside his bed threw off an amber glow, making him look like he was dipped in gold. He shucked his jacket and dove his hands back into her hair, tilting her face up to kiss her again.
“Can I get you anything?”
It would have sounded sincere if he hadn’t been pinning her to the wall with his hard-on rocking against her stomach.
“Just you.” She arched forward, the pulse between her legs seeking friction. He slid his hand down her neck, along the curve of her round shoulder, and stopped with a look of confusion.
“There are no straps to slide off, if that’s what you’re looking for.”
“What is this?” he asked, dimples piercing his cheeks as he ran his hand over the material covering her ribs.
“Just some underthings.”
His eyes blazed darker at her, and he inched his hand farther up. “I’m going to unwrap you like a fucking present,” he rasped in her ear, “and it’s going to take a while.”
He could take all the time he wanted if he kept pouring his rich voice into her ear. This close, the vibrations made the tiny hairs on her neck stand up, marching down her chest until her nipples stood at attention, waiting for him to …
“Wait!” She hadn’t texted a status update in hours. Libby would be fine, but Jill would be freaking out. “I need to let my friends know where I am,” she said, pulling out her phone.
Sure enough, Jill had left a series of texts of increasing intensity, and Cass frantically hammered out a message into their group chat.
sooo maybe don’t wait up??
Libby
YOU WHORE!!!! GET THAT D!!
Jill
I’m so clueless it took me forever to realize you were trying to hook up!
I don’t want to be a buzzkill but what’s his name?
First and last?
The reminder yoinked her out of her daze for a half beat, and Cass peeked up at the gorgeous man dimming the room’s lights. “Um, what’s your last name? My friend is having a mom moment and wants some details.”
“Graham. Scorpio sun, Leo moon. If she wants a different horoscope, I’m a Metal Horse,” he said, and added with a sardonic smile, “No criminal record, and my credit score is excellent.”
Cass stifled a giggle as she typed, then whipped her head up.
“I read your name on the programme! You directed Oblivion ! Why didn’t you say anything? It was so good! I loved it when?—”
“Fuck me.” He cut her off with a wild kiss that crushed the breath from her lungs. He pulled back and nipped at her lips, looking pained and gratified at the same time. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I really don’t want to talk about my movie right now. Tell your friends what they need to know and put your phone down.”
A thrill swept through her at his command. “Yes, sir.”
Josh Graham and he’s funny
not a criminal
Jill
Okay stay safe
I have my phone beside me if you need us to come get you 3
Libby
Bet you’re glad you splurged for the waxing yesterda y
Her friends were beautiful, perfect, predictable angels, and she was buying breakfast tomorrow. If she wasn’t still tangled up in the bedsheets of Josh Graham with the excellent credit and compatible horoscope. Before she could kiss the screen, he took the phone out of her hands and put it in easy reach on the nightstand.
“God, you’re so beautiful. I don’t know where to start.” One step, two steps, and he pressed her against the wall, pinning her with his mouth on hers, his knee parting her thighs. The musky scent of sandalwood and citrus surrounded her as he kissed where her pulse hammered at her throat. His hands flowed under her shirt and grazed her nipples over the satin bra cups.
A heady rush washed away the last of her control, and she breathed, “Oh no.”
He released her instantly. “No? What is it, baby?”
Just that you’re making me lose my mind and I haven’t taken my clothes off yet. “Just a reflex,” she gasped, tugging at the hem of his shirt he was holding down with his free hand. “Keep going.”
“If you say ‘no’ I’m stopping. I don’t play with consent.”
”You’ve got it. It’s yours. Just whatever you do, don’t stop.”
A look of pure hunger consumed his features, and he closed his hand over hers. “Are you saying you want me to keep going, even when you tell me to stop?”
One night. No reason to hold back. That was exactly what she was saying. She bit her lip and nodded. “Even when I tell you to stop.”
“Where the hell did you come from?” he asked, almost to himself, and finally let her pull his shirt over his head.
Cass gasped. His long torso rippled with lean muscle, and he hissed out a breath as she ran her hands over the flat disks of his nipples. She pushed off the wall behind her to bring him closer again, and he teased her with a step back.
“Pick a safe word.”
Creative, funny, and respectful, in the kinkiest way possible? Cass felt like she had manifested her ideal man in one mouth- watering package. A laugh burbled from her lips. “I’ve never had one of those.”
“Boundaries now, play after. What if you say ‘don’t’?”
“I will say that at the exact wrong time,” she said, his belt buckle jangling and leather strap cracking as she whipped it through the loops.
“I’m not touching you until we can communicate.”
“I want you to touch me.”
“I’d gag you, but I don’t know you well enough,” he murmured.
A spark shot through her nethers. Exploring a little light submission play with him? That sounded fun. Perhaps not their first time.
Only time .
“And then I wouldn’t be able to say the safe word that we can’t agree on. Maybe you just want to fight with me instead?” she said, batting his hands away long enough to pull her shirt over her head and pressing herself against his chest, where the swell of her boobs drew his eyes like a siren’s song.
The bustier was an unholy union of a bondage-style corset and a French maid outfit. Royal blue lace panels held together by thin satiny straps criss-crossing in a complex latticework. It had taken her weeks to get the design right.
Josh sucked in a breath. “Christ, woman. Do you always dress like you’re ready to slay dragons?”
The weeks she’d spent creating the art she was wearing had been worth it for this exact moment. Ego stroke, achieved.
“I like wearing beautiful things,” she said. “Do you feel slain?”
“Fully slain,” he said in a strangled voice, and his hands gravitated back to her breasts, thumbing her nipples in delicious circles, until he remembered he didn’t have what he needed yet and snatched his hands back.
“I can take it off.”
“Take it off. No, leave it on.” His gaze fell to her boobs again, and he raked his hands through his hair. “You’re killing me, beautiful.”
“Does it hurt? I could kiss it better.”
“Fuck, we need that safe word.” He leaned in and brushed his lips over her neck. “How about ‘potato’?”
A peal of laughter erupted from her throat, and she felt his lips turn into a smile on her neck. “The thought of carbs will just make me hotter.”
“‘Potato’, it is.”
“Okay,” she said, still giggling, “if I say ‘enough’, I want you to stop.”
“Let’s practice. Enough with these clothes.”
Cass turned around and placed her palms flat on the wall, presenting him with the hooks of her corset-like bra.
“Will you unwrap me like a present now?”
He released the hooks— one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine —until the last hook gave way and the garment dropped to the floor. He slid his hands around her ribs to stroke her nipples into hardened peaks.
“Jesus Christ, is it my birthday?” he hissed under his breath, looking down over her shoulder where he palmed the weight of her breasts. “Your tits are spectacular.”
Ask me about my spectacular tits! was going on her next cross-stitch project when she got home. She shivered as he teased her nipples and wiggled her hips against the hard ridge pressing into her butt. “I thought you were a Scorpio. You’re not lying about our star sign compatibility, are you?”
”I would never.” He tugged her pants over her thighs until they pooled at her feet, her underwear unveiled, peeks of skin showing through the satin and lace that matched her bustier.
“Fully fucking slain,” he muttered. He gathered both her hands into one of his fists to pin her arms over her head, eyes darkening as they raked over her body. Down her forearm, biceps, the mound of her breast, and when he dipped his head to take the dark bud of her nipple between his teeth, she swallowed a whimper.
After a minute of noisy sucking, he rasped against her skin. “Tell me you don’t want it gentle.”
If that had ever been something she’d wanted in the past, her mind was fully changed.
“Not gentle,” she gasped.
“Good girl.” He nipped her; almost too hard. “Now, spread.”
She stepped her feet apart, and he stroked a path over the fine satin, his touch sure and teasing. The sweet torture of his mouth on her breast and his fingers circling around her clit was driving her wild. The man hadn’t even touched her bare skin, and she was already bucking into his hand.
A soft whimper escaped her throat. “Please.”
“Please, what?”
Oh, screw it . He’d eaten up everything she’d done so far. Might as well go all in. She closed her eyes as she pushed her hips towards him. “Please make me come.”
“Oh, beautiful, you have no idea how hard I’ll make you come.”
He pushed the lace of her panties aside, and Cass’s knee ligaments turned to rubber. He stroked a path along her core, his eyes blazing as he curled a finger deep inside, her hands still pinned over her head.
“You want more?” Another finger joined the first, pulling out to trace teasing circles before sinking back in. So perfect, the tension building in layers. He dragged his teeth over her neck, his fingers sliding in her, catching every tremble, picking up speed, the heel of his palm a steady pressure against her clit. She writhed against his hand until she clenched around his fingers, whimpering against his mouth as her orgasm slammed into her. She tried to clamp her legs together, but his thigh wedged between hers kept her open to him. His fingers didn’t slow, even after she came again, and her legs buckled.
“Enough!” she cried, and he finally pulled back with a satisfied grin. He released her wrists and dropped a delicate kiss between her breasts, snaking his arm around her waist to hold her upright. A warm, loose pleasure unfurled through her body, and she blinked herself back to the gorgeous man caging her against the wall, pushing her into the mural behind her.
I’m going to have a palm leaf imprint on my butt for a week , she thought with a giggle, and ran her hands down his torso, all taut, compact muscle stored like energy under his fevered skin.
“You did so good.” His gaze bored into her, and he undid the buttons of his jeans one-handed. “Now, get on your knees.”
Her heart stuttered in her lungs, and without thinking, she slid down the wall until her face was level with the bulge tenting the front of his black boxer briefs. Her knee would not be happy with her later, but she could ignore it for now. And ice it tomorrow.
She tugged at the front of his open jeans. “Off, please.” For good measure, she pouted, just a bit.
He shed the jeans in a flash, his breathing growing shallow as she worked the band of his boxers over his narrow hips. His dick sprung free, and she wrapped her fingers around him. He strained, thick and hard, in her hand.
She knew what guys liked about her. Boobs, primarily—Josh had already called that one—but her cupid’s bow lips and wide eyes made her look like some sweet thing come undone. She licked her lips and looked up at him through her lashes as she brought his free hand to the back of her head.
“What do you want me to do?”
Josh looked like he was about to detonate. “Open wide.”
With a dainty flick of her tongue over the gleaming crown, she parted her lips and worked the length of him as far as she could. Her gaze held his until he hit the back of her throat, and he dropped his head with a groan.
The clean, musky scent of him was heady. His smooth skin slid over her tongue, his eyes glassy as he watched her take him. She wanted to touch him everywhere.
Her fingers fanned over the front of his thigh, wrapping around his hips and down the cleft of his ass, and she felt a thrum of pleasure when he gasped at her light touch. She brushed over the tight ring of muscle, gently tugging on his balls, her fingers playing with the soft skin between, and his thighs opened to give her better access.
Well, well, well. Looks like they both knew what they liked. She hummed in appreciation as she let her exploration continue.
“That’s right, baby,” he whispered. “Faster.”
He was getting close. She could feel it, his glutes tightening and hips jerking. She let out a small noise of dissent from deep in her throat and slowed down, gripping the base of his cock, eyes watering.
Please don’t come in my hair . She pulled back and asked a question she knew the answer to. “Do you want to come on my tits?” she asked sweetly.
“Fucking hell,” he groaned in response, and she worked him with her hand for the last seconds, rubbing the head over her nipples until he spent himself, hot jets painting her cleavage. He sagged against the wall, forehead pressed to his arm and chest heaving as he caught his breath. “You are full of surprises,” he gasped, hand still firmly in her curls as the last shudders rolled over his body.
Instead of ducking to the washroom for a towel, he pushed her back to his bed, and licked every drop he’d marked her with. Again, he trapped her hands over her head, his other hand teasing her clit, and when she was clean of him, sucked and bit the oversensitive rosy peaks of her nipples until she crashed under his hand again.
That was hot. Unexpectedly hot. All of it. This man, whose name she’d just learned, who she’d never see again, was blowing her mind. They moved in perfect tandem, like they’d danced together for years. No need to hold back. Every reason to let go and let the pleasure of the night guide them.
The length of their bodies pressed together, even as she tried to pull him closer, his taste musky on his tongue, and she felt him hardening against her again.
She had to give it to him. He had impressive stamina.
“I’m going to fuck you now.”
He grabbed a condom from his bedside table, moving slowly, as if giving her time to demur. Cass nodded with drunken eyes and spread her legs farther. The condom was on in one swift motion, and he rolled onto his back, pulling her to straddle him, and immediately her knee resisted at the sharp angle.
“Not like this,” she said, embarrassed to kill the mood, “but do you want me on my knees?” The mattress would be cushioned enough, and she turned around.
“Yes, but not now.” He slid his arm around her hips, flipping her onto her back in one fluid motion. “I want to look at your beautiful face when I make you come on my cock.”
Her stomach fluttered. He probably wanted to look at her spectacular tits, but it felt good to hear him say it, anyway. She wiggled lower and wrapped her thighs around his hips. He pushed into her with one thrust, and a sharp cry ripped from her throat. It was intense, almost painful. Enough to bring her to the edge in less than a minute.
“Stop, too much,” she breathed into his ear.
He thrust into her harder in response. “I don’t fucking think so.”
Perfect.
He drove into her with punishing strokes. Hard and deep, the sound of their skin slapping filling the space around them. Tremors built in her core, and he wrapped his fingers around the back of her neck to force her gaze up. His hand worked between them, applying the perfect amount of pressure on her clit, and she tightened around him with a gasp.
“Fuck, yes. Come for me.”
For the first time in her life, she was going to come on command. She obeyed, arching back and clenching around him as he drove her over the edge .
“Jesus, you’re so fucking pretty when you come,” he panted. “Hold on, baby.”
She was spent, with no strength to hold anything, but she wrapped her arms around him as he drove her into the mattress, his teeth on her neck as he came apart over her.
The tang of their sex hung heavy in the air. The only sounds were their racing breaths and the rustle of the sheets as the last spasms rolled through his body on top of her. He withdrew to his back, legs splayed and one arm shielding his eyes, skin golden and smooth and radiating with a light sheen of sweat and satisfaction.
Cass shifted to her side, trailing her fingers over the ridge of his hip. “You are really good at this,” she said. “All of it. No notes, would recommend.”
Josh burst out laughing, eyes hidden behind the crook of his elbow, teeth flashing in the dark. “Only glowing reviews on my end, too,” he said when he got a hold of himself. “You are fucking fantastic. Every inch of you. Stay here.”
She traced a circle on the sheet, the rest of the covers lost to the floor and crumpled around them, and watched his perfect ass cross the room. She felt heavy, liquid. Like she could curl up and fall asleep against his solid angles. He was funny and was as obsessed with movies as she was. He argued with her without condescending, even when they had disagreed, then took all control the minute she gave permission. They fit together so well. She couldn’t remember a more perfect night.
He returned from the bathroom a moment later and handed her a warm washcloth, and reclined back on the bed, his hand trailing along her hips into the crease of her thigh.
He spread before her like a feast. She’d never seen someone so masculine before. Usually something broke the spell: curly eyelashes she’d kill for, or soft eyes. But everything about him was so aggressively male, all hard angles, and taut muscles. Even his smooth chest made it easier to count his abs and trace his defined pecs, his ribs a razor’s edge beckoning for her fingertips. Fine, straight lashes closed over those icy green eyes. Firm, narrow mouth, edges curled slightly, that fit so well against the soft fullness of her own lips, but she pulled back from the urge to press her mouth to his again.
If he wasn’t such an obvious player, she’d wish he lived in Calgary. And that was her problem. This was a hookup. A raging hot, explosive hookup. Nothing more. She was leaving town tomorrow.
They’d kissed when they first explored each other, but that, as he’d said, was testing the waters. Now it would cross a line into real intimacy. Casual and done. That was how this worked.
Her heart rate still raced, her skin rubbed raw, and if she had to guess, her hair was tousled into an outrageous mess. The sheet stuck to her skin as she lifted to her elbows, and she blew a strand out of her eyes with a grin. “I guess I should be going.”
His eyelids peeled open, smile still in place. “Or you could stay. There’s a great diner down the street for breakfast.”
The offer sounded genuine, but dealing with the awkwardness of morning breath, toilet noises, and the deeper intimacy of sharing a bed? So many chances to make the night less than perfect, and every minute she stayed was giving her heart a chance to build scenarios in her head that wouldn’t amount to anything. Late nights watching movies, later mornings lazing in bed. Lingering kisses over light bondage …
She shook her head. The last thing she needed was another man she couldn’t have taking up space in her thoughts.
“Want to shower first?” His eyes raked over her breasts, where traces of him lingered on her skin. “Think I might have missed a spot. I’ve got the fancy shit. I’ll give you the best body scrub of your life.”
The thought of him slicking soap over her nipples while he dragged his teeth over her neck and his cock hard in her hand sent a fresh rush of heat between her aching thighs. Why am I saying no to this?
Right. Player. Who knew the game, far better than she ever would. She steeled her resolve. “I really should get back.”
“You got something on the stove or something?”
Cass giggled into her folded arms. “My friends and I have early morning plans,” she said awkwardly—which was mostly true—then gave a genuine smile. “But this was really, really fantastic.”
“It was fantastic a few times,” he replied. He pulled on a pair of sweats and handed her phone to her, reciting his number. “Call me the next time you’re in town. I know some theatres with less shitty light and sound we can check out. Maybe I’ll be lucky enough to run into you again one day.”
Being in two different cities, it didn’t seem likely, but it was the polite thing to say. She kept her head down as she plugged his number into her phone. “Maybe you will.”
She dressed quickly as she could without making it look like she was trying to escape. At the last second, she looked down to see the exposed seams of her inside-out underwear, and bit back another giggle.
“Ride’s on its way. Silver Tesla,” Josh said, closing the app. He walked her backwards until her butt hit the door frame. “Now, what could we do for the next five minutes?”
Take off all my clothes again so I can put my panties on right-side-out? And once her clothes were off, all bets would be, too. Cass tipped her head to the side to give him better access to the ear he was taking nips out of, and let her hands slide under the band of his sweatpants to explore the dimples at the base of his spine. Of course, he had sexy dimples everywhere, and she reluctantly withdrew her fingers before she let herself get carried away. “I’m going downstairs to pull myself together, so I don’t grin like a fool the whole way back to the hotel.”
His musk enveloped her one more time as he covered her mouth with a lingering kiss. “Text me when you get there,” he whispered against her lips, “and call me if your plans change tomorrow. ”
Cass pulled back before her heart could override her brain and she agreed to anything he lay out in front of her. Including himself. “Okay.”
In the Uber, she did her best to ignore the fact that the driver was probably thinking Cass had been doing exactly what it looked like she’d been doing: her curls in wild disarray, her lips swollen and smiling, looking just a little wicked. Sated and undone and thinking about herself first, for once.
Look at me go!
Her room key hadn’t pulled its usual trick of demagnetizing in her purse, and the hotel room door flashed green. The lock snicked open louder than it needed to, and the bedside light flicked on as Cass tiptoed into the room. Libby sprawled on the pull out couch in her usual dead-to-the-world slumber with her hair obscuring half her face. Jill was already leaning back from turning on the light, squinting at her through sleep-crusted eyes.
“I thought you’d be back in the morning. Is everything okay?”
Cass did a little scream into her hands. “If multiple orgasms with a smoking hot guy who is generous with his compliments is okay, then yeah, I’m okay.”
“Hell, yeah,” Libby yawned, rousing herself awake. “Didn’t really deviate from your type, though, did you?”
“What do you mean, my type?”
“Hot, dark hair, and a where-did-my-panties-go smile?” Libby said. “Sound like anyone we know?”
Jill raised a wary eyebrow but said nothing.
“Everyone likes hot, and lots of people liked dark hair. And who could resist smiles like that?” He was the last person she wanted to think about. Not when she just had an amazing time with Josh, who paid attention to her instead of the other women around them.“Anyway,” she continued, evading the dangerous territory, “that was fun. I’m a wreck, and I need to sleep.”
“Oh no, you are not getting off that easy.” Libby pressed on. “Did you get his number? Did he ask for yours? ”
“Not sure if you noticed, but Sexy Dimples and I live in different cities.”
“If he’s into you, he’ll make it work,” Jill said, already turning off the bedside lamp.
“Thanks, Jillybean, but tonight was a one-time thing.”
She’d had more than her fair share of booty calls within her own city limits, let alone plane hopping for them. In the bright lights of the hotel bathroom, the entire front of her body from neck to thighs glowed with a constellation of bite marks.She grinned as she pinned up her hair, and stepped under the lava-hot shower.
The last thing she wanted was to complicate a perfect hook up. It would be too easy to find an excuse to come back to Vancouver for a night that he might not be into. That would just hurt.
He hadn’t said her name once after they exchanged names earlier in the evening. He probably didn’t remember it. And that was okay. The memory of the night would be enough.
She stepped out of the shower, wrapped herself in a plushy robe, and slid under the bed’s crisp sheets with her phone in hand.
It was a risk. He’d have her number, too, but he may not use it.
I’m all tucked in
Then, before she could change her mind, added,
I’ll be thinking of you the next time I touch myself xoxo
That was a given.
Thanks for the perfect night, Sexy Dimples . It had been perfect.
Stress? Relieved. Ego? Boosted. Best of all, it would stay in a tidy little bubble in another city, well away from temptation.