1. River
RIVER
Two Weeks Prior
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY,” is cheered just to the right of me, pulling my attention away from the brunette I’d just met earlier that night, who had practically climbed into my lap after the last shot of tequila we just took.
I mentally chastise myself for looking just as a gorgeous redhead with a crown on her head leans her head over the bar and takes a shot into her mouth without using her hands.
Thoughts of tangling my hands in those red strands while she does the same to my dick come at me hard and fast, and suddenly, I can’t get the woman I’ve been talking to for the past thirty minutes out of my lap fast enough.
The mystery birthday girl raises her hands and cheers when she finishes, and wipes the corners of her mouth before her eyes land on mine.
Her eyes are a bright green, big with long lashes that I’m instantly picturing her bat at me while she deepthroats my cock.
I lean forward slightly to make out the sash she’s wearing, praying that it gives me an inkling about her age.
A part of me hopes she’s not here celebrating her twenty-first, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world or my first time celebrating a woman’s first legal drink.
But my older brother, Rowan, and his new fiancée Ellie’s words are ringing in my ear for the thousandth time.
“Don’t you want to settle down?”
“Maybe you should start dating women who are closer to your age?”
This also makes my brother a hypocrite, given that Ellie is almost twenty years younger than him, even though she acts like my mother most days.
I roll my eyes inwardly, thinking about the last conversation I had with my future sister-in-law after a few too many beers, when I broke down and told her that I did want to meet someone.
Now she’s made it her mission to press me about it every time I fuck someone.
Yes, I want to meet someone, but can’t a guy have fun in the meantime?
My eyes look toward the brunette leaning against me, who is scrolling through Instagram, and I take the moment to look back at the redhead, who now has her back to me, and I trail my eyes down her frame.
It’s the end of July in North Carolina, so it’s unbearably hot, and the lack of clothes she’s wearing sends a spark of lightning down to my dick.
She’s wearing a black mini skirt that highlights toned, gorgeous legs that look like the result of some kind of sport.
A tight, cropped T-shirt shows off her trim waist, and all I want to do is wrap my hands around it while she rides me.
I pull my beer to my lips when my eyes drift to her ass, and I think about dragging my tongue along the skin where it meets her thigh, a space I’ve learned women love to feel my teeth.
I shift uncomfortably, trying to relieve the tension mounting in my dick and tap the brunette gently.
“I have to use the restroom,” I tell her, and she nods before staring up at me dreamily, but I think it’s more that the tequila shots are starting to hit her.
“Hurry back,” she says flirtily, and I nod, wondering how I’m going to get out of this because my dick and brain are already in agreement that we’d rather fuck the blond birthday girl.
I get up and make my way toward the bathroom, passing the group of three girls who are out celebrating her birthday. When I pass them, I turn my head to look at her, and when I meet her eyes, I give her my most charming smile before I keep walking.
I look down at my watch and see it reads just after midnight, and even though I’d rather not go alone, I probably should go back to my hotel.
I’m leaving in the morning to return to Maryland after two weeks of training camp with the high school football team I coach, before school starts.
Camp ended on Friday, but I decided to stay the weekend to relax, unwind, and get some much-needed tension release before heading back.
I finish using the restroom, and while washing my hands, I stare at myself in the mirror.
I have a little more facial hair than usual, and while I don’t hate the extra attention it’s brought, I’m looking forward to trimming it down to my cleaner-shaven look when I get home.
I step out of the bathroom, and I’m pleasantly surprised, though not completely shocked, to see the birthday girl leaning against the wall in the hallway, spinning a straw around what I’m assuming is a vodka or tequila soda.
“Girlfriend?” She looks over her shoulder toward the bar before turning back to me and raising an eyebrow.
“Nope,” I tell her with a smirk before leaning against the wall.
Her eyes slowly move up my body before landing on my eyes. Something wicked flashes in her eyes, and I’m fucking glad it seems we’re on the same page about the attraction between us. “Are you going to buy me a drink for my birthday?”
I cross my arms over my chest. “Of course. What does the princess want?”
She giggles and straightens her tiara before smoothing her birthday princess sash and downing the rest of her drink in one gulp. “How about a shot?”
“I don’t know that I can handle watching you take another one of those shots,” I tell her in reference to the blow job shot I watched her take earlier.
“Oh? Why? Remind you of something?” she asks before a devilish grin slides across her face.
I take a step closer to her so I’m pressed right against her.
She’s got to be at least six inches shorter than me, so I tower over her, and it gives me a slight look down her shirt at what I know have to be very perky tits.
I reach up and grip her chin gently before squeezing it, making her mouth fall open, and I drag my thumb over her pouty bottom lip.
“Maybe there’s something else I’d like to see you suck down your throat without using your hands. ”
Her tongue darts out and drags over my thumb, and I let out a noise that sounds like half groan, half laugh as she wraps her lips around it. She bites down gently, and my dick throbs in response at the thought of being back at my hotel with this girl and inside her mouth.
And her pussy.
“How old did you just turn?” I ask her, hoping she’s at least a few years over twenty-one. I’m not a stranger to women in that age group, but I can already hear Ellie’s voice in my ear.
“Twenty-two. How old are you?”
Christ. “Thirty-eight.”
“Oh. Well, I did not expect that. I was thinking maybe early thirties. You’ll have to share your skin care routine,” she says as she reaches up and taps me on the nose.
“I eat my fair share of pussy. It keeps me looking young.”
She narrows those green eyes, and I have a flash of her doing that while she’s on her knees in front of me. “So you’re a bit of a manwhore then?”
I raise an eyebrow at her. “I prefer the term sexually proficient.”
She snorts and rolls her eyes. “What’s your name anyway?”
“River.” I hold my hand out. “And you are?”
She slides her hand into mine. It’s soft and smooth, and it reminds me that I’ve spent the past ten days high-fiving men with calloused hands. “Jordan.”
While using one hand to keep hers encased in mine, I reach up to play with the ends of her hair, wrapping the silky strands gently around my fingers. “Do you want to come back to my hotel with me, Jordan?”
“You know as much as I would love to end up on the next episode of Dateline for going back to a hotel with a random man I’ve known for ten minutes, I do have a bit more self-preservation.
Not to mention, I’m out with my friends, and you’re on a date,” she says, tapping her fingertips as she lists each reason.
“I wouldn’t call it a date.”
She drops my hand and folds her arms over her chest, which does nothing but draw my eyes there. I glance downward for no more than a second, but it’s enough for me to see a hint of scolding in her eyes over getting a peek at her tits. “Would she?”
“We just met, so doubtful.”
She narrows her eyes again before taking a step back. “Maybe another time.”
Remembering that I’m four and a half hours from home, I respond, “I’m not from around here. I’m heading home in the morning.”
She scrunches her nose, followed by a shrug of her shoulders. “Pity. I should get back to my friends. But I like tequila.” She smiles before turning and walking away, and I unashamedly ogle her from behind.
I scratch my jaw as I wonder what the hell just happened. She seemed like she was into it, into me, yet she practically blew me off.
I walk back toward the bar where I’d been sitting and notice that the brunette is gone.
I don’t know if she left or just moved on to talk to someone else, but I’m surprisingly relieved.
While I probably could have taken her home, I haven’t given up the thought that I’ll at least get to talk to Jordan again tonight, and I didn’t need a cockblock in the form of another woman hanging on my arm while I tried.
I look toward where Jordan was standing, and I’ll admit that I’m pleased that I caught her gaze looking at me.
I watch as she cocks her head to the side and stares down my frame.
I realize she hadn’t gotten a good look at my leg tattoo, and I watch as she roams her eyes from my thigh to my ankle and all the ink that inhabits the space.
It’s not completely covered, but maybe about 70 percent of it is covered in tattoos.
She smiles before turning back to her friends, and I remember I’m supposed to be ordering her a drink.
I wave over the bartender and nod toward Jordan.
“Send the birthday girl and her friends a round of tequila shots on my tab. Whatever’s your best.”
The bartender chuckles as he grabs the bottle and begins pouring four shots. “You’re the third guy tonight.”
“Not surprising. She’s a fucking smokeshow,” a voice from next to me speaks, and I turn to see a blond guy in a suit who’s probably at least ten years younger than me, taking a sip from a Bud Light bottle as he unashamedly stares at the group of girls. “You're a little old for her, no?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t recall asking for your opinion or permission?
I must have missed that.” I turn to look at him.
“I bet you don’t even know her name.” I kind of regret saying that, as the last thing I want is to start some competition with this asshole, but I didn’t like the idea of him hitting on her.
“Not yet.”
“Leave her alone,” I grit out without thinking.
He narrows his gaze at me before turning back to her. “She your girl or something?”
“No,” I respond without looking as I pull the whiskey I’d just ordered to my lips.
“Then as far as I’m concerned, she’s fair game,” he says as he downs the rest of his drink, slams the bottle on the bar, and slaps me on the back before heading toward Jordan and her friends.
I hate that I turn around and watch him approach them, already annoyed at the thought of her going home with him instead of me.
A member of the waitstaff with a tray of drinks follows him and places the shots I ordered for them on the table.
Jordan’s eyes move toward me as she lifts the shot as if she’s toasting me from across the room, and I lift my glass in response.
She holds my gaze for a few seconds before her attention is pulled to the blond joker by his hand on her arm.
She looks down at where he’s touching her before taking a step back.
She offers him a polite smile and turns back to her friend.
I turn away from them, not wanting to watch all of that unfold like some kind of creep, and turn my gaze toward the television mounted above the bar. I wave toward the bartender, indicating that I want to close my tab, when I hear Jordan’s voice next to me.
“Leaving already?”