Chapter 6
The table by the window in the back corner of the bar offered me the right amount of solitude with an unimpeded vantage point of my surroundings. I needed the open view to feel settled, to be able to see everyone and everything around me.
One of the first things I noticed was the clientele. Some still wore color-coded scrubs, while others sported shirts with logos. They all seemed to know one another and were on a first-name basis with the bar staff.
I’d never been here before, but it was obvious this was the frequented bar of choice for the area’s emergency service and healthcare employees.
My eyes shifted from a table to a booth, then toward the bar…
and they stopped dead on the back of a brunette in a fitted white shirt and jeans—not just on her back…
but her ass. Jesus. My gaze raked up and down the length of her—she appeared to be average in height with a fit hourglass figure and long brown hair that fell to the dip in her waist. And her ass in those jeans…
I cleared my throat and dragged my gaze away, but every few seconds, my eyes would involuntarily flick back to her.
Something I couldn’t explain kept drawing me in.
Sure, I was your average guy who appreciated a woman’s beauty just as much as the next, but I’d never been one to ogle.
Not like this. And not from one physical attribute alone.
I hadn’t even seen her face…but then she turned.
I watched a small smile play on her lips as she looked around the bar.
Her gaze slid right by me before it faltered and snapped back, meeting mine across the room.
I stilled. Fuck. She was gorgeous. As quickly as she looked at me, she turned away, putting her back—and that ass—to me again.
But then I watched her glance over her shoulder.
I leaned back in my chair, lifted my beer to my lips, and tipped back the bottle as my gaze stayed locked on hers before she turned away again.
She did that for the next hour, discreetly letting her eyes find me before looking away.
It was almost like she was trying to put a puzzle together…
or like she already had and wasn’t quite sure what to do with it.
Eventually, she whispered something to the woman beside her before she turned and started making her way across the bar toward me.
She stopped at my table and offered a gentle smile. “Hey, stranger.”
I dipped my chin. “Hey, yourself.”
I already thought she was gorgeous, but up close?
Fucking stunning. Long lashes framing green eyes that glinted like emeralds beneath the weathered iron lighting that hung above the table.
Her perfect cupid’s bow lips turned up in a soft smile.
A very faint dusting of freckles scattered across her cheekbones and the slope of her nose.
Something about her seemed almost familiar. Almost…but not quite.
She let out a chuckle. “You look like you’re studying me.”
The corner of my mouth twitched. “And if I am?”
“What is it?” she asked as she took one of the empty seats beside me at the table. “Didn’t expect to see me here tonight, I take it?”
There went my smirk, just enough to make my dimple pop. “I didn’t expect to meet anyone here tonight.” Running into a beautiful woman was the furthest thing from my mind when I came in earlier.
She held my stare and tilted her head, almost as if she was trying to dissect my words. “Well,” she started with a smile, “I thought I’d come say hi. It’s been a while.”
My brow furrowed slightly and I tipped my head to the side, confusion written on my face as I tried to read her expression. “A while since what?”
A huff of laughter escaped her. “Oh, we’re playing that game, huh?”
With a puzzled grin, I let out an awkward laugh, my eyes narrowing as I tried to piece together her meaning. “What game would that be?”
“Okay…” Her eyes twinkled with amusement as she nodded.
“I’ll play along.” Before I could question what she meant—because I had no idea what the hell she was talking about—one of the wait staff interrupted, asking if they could get either of us another round.
She glanced at me and smiled. “What do you say? Want to have a drink with me, stranger?”
I came here looking for a distraction, and while this wasn’t at all the kind of distraction I had in mind, I wasn’t going to complain. I looked at the waiter. “I’ll have another beer, please. And you can put whatever she’s having on my tab.”
He nodded and turned away, and she looked at me and smiled again. “How chivalrous of you to pay for a stranger’s drink,” she teased.
I noticed her repeated use of the word “stranger,” and while it piqued my curiosity, I let it go. Because I was oddly at ease, and for the first time that day, the usual thoughts in my mind faded into the background.
We talked sporadically over drinks for the next two hours—we kept getting interrupted by her friends pulling her away, others coming up to make small talk with her, or the waiter bringing us another round.
When we were conversing, our topics were superficial and impersonal.
The most in-depth I got was when I shared my name.
When I asked for hers, she playfully rolled her eyes, made a joke about role-playing, and said I could call her whatever I wanted.
She then asked teasingly if I was new in town, and she outright laughed when I asked if she was from around Bayport. She pointed at me and said, “Good one.”
I let her playful diversion pull me away from my usual headspace.
It didn’t matter what she found so funny; just talking with someone who didn’t look at me with pity and like a charity case was enough.
The alcohol made me bolder, and without meaning to, I kept studying her—probably more than I should.
It didn’t help that she would stare back, her eyes almost captivated, and her gaze seemed to intensify with each drink.
When her friends pulled her away again, I finished my beer as last call was announced. I signaled the waiter that I was done. I wasn’t shitfaced—still coherent—but I was feeling the effects and didn’t want to push it further.
When she came back to the table, she leaned against it with a grin—her cheeks were slightly flushed, and I knew she was a little tipsy as well.
“My friend just left. I think I’m going to head out, too.
Just wanted to say thank you for the drinks.
And I apologize that we kept getting interrupted and didn’t get to really talk talk and catch up. ”
“No worries.” I tilted my head. “You’re not planning on driving, are you? You definitely shouldn’t drive.”
“No, no,” she said, shaking her head with a chuckle. “I’m just going to walk.”
My brow arched. “Walk?”
“My place is only a couple of blocks from here.”
I nodded. “Well…it’s late. You shouldn’t be walking alone late at night, especially in your state.”
“My state?” she questioned with an amused giggle.
I gave her a look. “I’m tipsy and I’m twice your size. So, I know you’ve got to be feeling something.”
Her smile shifted into a smirk as she looked me up and down. “Yeah…you could say I’m feeling something.”
I held her stare, not missing the double entendre of her words. “Let me at least walk you.”
She only hesitated for a moment before nodding with a smile. “Okay.”
Ten minutes later, we were stumbling through the front door of her townhouse, her lips on mine, my tongue sweeping into her mouth as the door swung shut behind me. Her hands were already pushing up the hem of my T-shirt while mine fumbled with the waistband of her jeans.
We lost our shoes, and she hit the wall with a laugh as I pressed her against it. The remnants of mint from her last mojito still lingered on her tongue, and the scent of her—something floral with a hint of vanilla—filled my senses before she turned, pulling me with her to stagger down a hallway.
This wasn’t typically something I’d do. I couldn’t say what exactly came over me.
When I offered to walk with her, this hadn’t been my intention—I simply didn’t like the idea of her walking home alone this time of night.
But when we stopped outside of her door, she looked up at me with a heated look in her eyes I couldn’t seem to ignore.
Then she leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed me… and I kissed her back.
Maybe it was the relief she offered. The past couple of hours, my mind—usually loud and crowded—had gone silent. The alcohol helped. Still, I couldn’t tell if I was escaping or chasing something.
It was impulsive and reckless, but everything blurred into a heated haze of desire and need.
When we stumbled through the doorway of her bedroom, her hip clipped the doorframe, and she chuckled against my lips, earning a tipsy grin from me in return as I pulled away to tug my shirt over my head.
I felt her hands smooth against my abs before they dropped down to the waistband of my jeans.
My fingers tangled in her hair as her lips began to trail down my chest while she worked to free me before she sank to her knees.
My heart thumped—not from nerves but sheer arousal. It’d been months since I’d last been with someone. Not since—
“Fuck,” I hissed, my breath quickening when I felt her lips wrap around my dick.
It was pitch black in the room, save for a sliver of moonlight coming in through a window on the other side.
All I could make out was the shadowy figure of her on her damn knees with my hand still in her hair, and I groaned as she sucked.
“You keep doing that…” I trailed off with another gravelly moan when she took me to the back of her throat before I guided her mouth off and pulled her to her feet.
“…and this is going to be over before it starts.”
I peeled her shirt off and brought my hand to her chin, my thumb dragging against her plump bottom lip before my lips crushed against hers again as I walked her back to the bed, shedding the rest of her clothes.
We fell back on the plush mattress, her legs spread against my thighs as I braced myself above her.
I reached between our bodies, stroking a finger against her core, and a groan rumbled from my throat when I felt how wet she was.
She broke the kiss with a moan, arching against my hand. My lips shifted to her neck, drawing a ragged breath from her. “Are you sure about this?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” I murmured against her skin.
“I don’t know.” She chuckled, threading her fingers through my hair and giving it a gentle tug. “I just don’t want it to be weird for you.”
Because it was a one-night stand with a stranger? That was my assumption of what she meant. “Not weird at all.”
She reached over, yanking open the drawer of her nightstand. “Condom.”
I didn’t hesitate, reaching in to grab the box and pulling out a foil package. Rising to my knees, I tore it open with my teeth and rolled it on.
The moonlight cast just enough light that I could see her eyes roaming over me. “See something you like?”
“You look like you could absolutely ruin me.”
A deep laugh rumbled out of me at her blunt words as I braced myself above her again. “Don’t worry. I’ll be gentle.”
“Not too gentle, I hope,” she whispered against my lips.
I smirked. “You’re trouble, baby girl.”
She opened her mouth to respond, but the words died on her lips, and a rush of air escaped her instead as I pushed into her. My eyes squeezed shut with a groan from how tight she felt wrapped around me, feeling her nails scrape against my shoulder blades as she moaned.
I kissed her again as I slowly pulled back, and she moaned against my lips as I rocked my hips forward and drove back in. Our bodies moved, her hips rolling to meet each thrust as I set a steady pace.
She shifted, pushing me onto my back to straddle me. For as tiny as she was in comparison—I was not a small guy by any means—the move caught me off guard, but the surprise quickly melted into pleasure when she started to ride me.
“That’s it,” I groaned as my hands gripped her hips and I bucked beneath her. “Take what you need from me.”
As I watched her work above me, my one hand shifted to press my thumb down, rubbing circles against her clit. “Blake!” Her moan mixed with a gasp as her body jerked above me.
Something about hearing my name falling from her lips in that breathy moan sent my mind into a frenzy.
I flipped her to her back again, my hand reaching up to pin her wrists above her head, my thrusts growing harder, deeper. Her moans rose louder, her breaths quickening as my heart slammed against my chest, feeling that coil tighten low in my gut.
And when she shattered, raking her nails down my back as she spasmed around my cock and shook beneath me, I slammed into her one final time, following her over the edge with a rumbled groan as my body went taut.
My mind, already fogged from the alcohol and lust, went entirely blank in the wake of the pleasure.