Chapter 2 #2
A waitress came over and took their orders.
Shelly asked for a margarita, while Josie opted for her usual bourbon and Diet Coke.
They watched the people dancing, making funny observations about some of the outfits they saw.
They were laughing so hard, Josie didn’t see Jake until he placed the drink in front of her.
“Hello, stranger,” he said, his joke not wasted on her.
She gave him a flirty smile. “Hey, yourself. How did you know I was here? The bar is crazy tonight.”
He pointed to her drink. “Bad habit I’ve picked up. Every time someone asks for this drink, I check to see if it’s you. Tonight I got lucky.”
Shelly cleared her throat.
“Oh, Jake, this is my friend, Shelly.” Josie gestured to him. “Jake owns the Blue Moon.”
Shelly shook Jake’s outstretched hand. “Nice to meet you. So how do you two know each other?”
Jake didn’t reply. Instead he waited for Josie to explain. Feeling bold, she said, “Jake was my first full moon.”
Shelly’s eyes widened, but Josie was more interested in Jake’s face. Confusion clouded his blue eyes.
“Full moon?” he asked.
She laughed and started to answer, but they were interrupted when another man approached the table. “Shelly?”
Shelly glanced up and blushed. “Lance. Hi.”
Josie recognized the name immediately. Lance was the kickboxing instructor. The unbelievably hot kickboxing instructor. Suddenly her friend’s newfound interest in the sport became clear.
Lance was built like a two-ton brick house. Yowza. If Shelly wasn’t so obviously smitten, Josie would have asked for an introduction and started working on her next full moon, but there was no denying that Shelly had it bad for the guy.
Lance put his hands in the front pockets of his jeans, drawing Josie’s—and Shelly’s—attention to his muscular thighs. Shelly pinched Josie’s leg under the table, in the time-honored Oh my God, he’s talking to me girlfriend tradition. Josie tried not to laugh.
“I thought that was you. I didn’t know you hung out here.”
Shelly’s face turned even redder and Josie wished there was some way she could pump her friend up with a big-ass dose of self-confidence. “I—I don’t. This is actually my first time here.”
“You want to dance?”
Shelly looked panic-stricken, but Josie wasn’t going to let her friend blow this chance. Lance was fucking hot. “She’d love to. Shelly’s an amazing dancer.”
Her friend frowned, but Josie wasn’t deterred. “I’m sure Jake won’t mind keeping me company until you get back.”
Shelly hesitated, then took the bait, assuming Josie wanted to be alone with Jake. And while that was partially true, she also wanted her best friend to have some fun, maybe even get laid. If she wasn’t mistaken, Josie was definitely detecting some interest from the kickboxing instructor.
Lance grasped Shelly’s hand and led her to the dance floor. Jake took the seat she’d vacated.
“I was sort of kidding,” Josie said, when Jake pulled the chair closer. “If you’re busy, I’m perfectly fine by myself.”
“Trying to get rid of me?”
“No. Of course not. I know you’re working. All I meant was—”
“I’ve been hoping you’d come back for nearly a month, Josie.”
“You have?” Her heart raced at his admission. Nice to know her obsession with Jake didn’t appear to be one sided.
“I noticed you checking out Lance.”
She tried to decide if there was a tinge of jealousy in Jake’s comment, but his expression gave nothing away. The man had a killer poker face.
“You know him?”
Jake nodded. “He comes in a couple times a month. He’s good for business.”
Josie narrowed her eyes. “How so?”
“Women take one look at him and start drinking more to get up their courage to approach him. I have to admit I’ve never actually seen him ask a woman to dance. It’s usually the other way around. He must like your friend.”
Yes! Please God let that be true. Shelly deserved some happiness.
And hot sex. Josie took a second to find Shelly and Lance moving along with a fast techno beat.
She hadn’t been lying about Shelly’s dancing skills.
She had some amazing moves, which—thank God—she was currently pulling out.
For the first time, Josie truly noticed the subtle changes that had been taking place in Shelly lately.
Her shy friend was getting bolder, more confident. It was a good look for her.
Jake leaned closer, resting his arm on the back on Josie’s chair. “You know, I’d be willing to pretend we’re strangers again if you’re looking for another hookup.”
She laughed. “Nope. No strangers tonight.”
“Damn.” Jake lifted her glass and took a sip of her bourbon, not bothered by her answer.
He really did look happy just to see her.
Josie pressed her legs together, forced to acknowledge how turned on she was by him.
So much for beginner’s luck. Or a fluke.
The attraction between them still raged on.
Unable to resist teasing him, she leaned forward. “Tonight’s full moon is sex in public.”
Jake choked on the drink and put the glass back down. “In public?”
She nodded.
“What the hell do you mean by full moon?”
Josie considered avoiding the question, but there was no harm in telling him the truth. She explained about her list and her desire to fulfill the fantasies.
“So what’s on the list? Besides the stranger danger and PDA ones.” Jake was exactly as she’d remembered him. Unflappable, fun, funny.
She shook her head. “I’m afraid the contents of the list are privileged information. If I told you, I’d have to fuck you.”
Jake grasped her shoulder, pulling her closer. “I’d have no problem with—”
“Jake?” A waitress stood by their table. She pointed to a couple of loud drunks by the door. “I think we might have trouble. You wanna take care of it?”
Jake sighed. “Yeah, sure. I’ll be right over.”
The waitress went back to work.
Jake leaned closer, whispering in her ear. “If you don’t have any luck with number two on the list within the next hour, come find me.”
Josie didn’t have a chance to respond before Jake rose and went to address the problem by the entrance. She took a sip of her drink, hoping it would calm her down. It was suddenly quite warm in the bar.
Josie watched Shelly and Lance dance, then gazed around the room. The place was crowded and there certainly wasn’t a shortage of men hanging around, either drinking alone or standing in large groups.
She spotted one large table across the room.
It appeared the men were all out for a bachelor party.
She found the groom-to-be instantly. The party must have been going for a while because the man had at least a dozen empty shot glasses in front of him.
His friends were sending him out of bachelorhood in style.
She slowly studied each of the men at the table, silently trying to decide which were married, which were mama’s boys, which were playboys.
Josie had never paid much attention to the opposite sex. Tony had been her first boyfriend. She’d fallen fast and hard for him toward the end of their junior year in high school and she’d convinced herself she was lucky. She’d honestly believed she’d found her soul mate at sixteen.
She closed her eyes wearily. The silly romantic girl she had been was long gone, leaving Josie struggling to figure out what her beliefs regarding love were now.
Since the divorce, Josie had concentrated on setting up a new home for her and her son, working long hours to pay the bills, and avoiding the dating scene as much as possible because she refused to open up a revolving door of men in Tommy’s life.
She remembered too well how painful it was when her mother would bring home a new boyfriend, include him in every aspect of their lives, then yank him out again after the break-up.
Josie wouldn’t—couldn’t—do that to Tommy. The full-moon list had been created to protect him. And her.
So while she was tempted by Jake’s offer, she wasn’t sure she should accept it. She’d thought about the handsome bartender too many times the past few weeks. If she had sex with him again, wasn’t she sort of tempting fate and running the risk of developing feelings for him?
As tough as she tried to pretend she was, Josie knew when it came to matters of the heart, she was way too soft.
A man lingered at the edge of the dance floor by her table and gave her a friendly smile. It wouldn’t take much effort on her part to show interest, to invite him over.
Josie glanced over her shoulder and watched Jake deal with the two drunks by the door.
Apparently a fight had been brewing between them, but somehow Jake had calmed the waters.
They were laughing at something Jake had said.
She smiled. Then she ignored the stranger and stood up, approaching Jake just as the two men shook his hand and said goodbye.
“Hey, gorgeous.” Jake glanced at his watch. “It’s only been fifteen minutes. Are you coming to give me the brush-off?”
She shook her head. “No. I don’t want to wait an hour.”
Jake’s eyes darkened with lust and her body responded instantly. “Come with me.”
She accepted Jake’s proffered hand.
Jake stopped by the bar, told Sam he was taking a break. Sam caught sight of her next to his boss and smiled. “Hey, Josie.”
She waved, unable to muster any embarrassment at Sam’s knowing wink. Had Jake been talking about her? He’d mentioned looking for her this past month. Perhaps he’d included Sam on the bourbon and Diet Coke prowl, enlisting help in his search.
If that was true, then not only was she running the risk of becoming too attached to the handsome bartender, she could hurt Jake as well.
Because her game plan hadn’t changed. There wasn’t room in her life for a boyfriend.
She had reacted without thought, coming to Jake with no real strategy.
Once again, where Jake was concerned, she found herself letting her libido do the thinking.
“Where’s Shelly?”