Chapter 10 #2
“Here we go,” murmurs Kristin. “Your guy is gonna love this.”
I look back at the stage and get smacked with a burst of excitement. I don’t know about my guy, but I feel a twitch of desire watching the dancer crawl across the floor on all fours, headed straight for me.
She meets my eyes and smiles, and I hear myself give a soft whimper. Nervousness or excitement? I’m not sure which.
“Hello,” the dancer purrs. “May I?”
I don’t know what she’s asking, but I feel myself nodding. She must know from my deer-in-the-headlights look that I’m a newbie, because her smile turns almost kindly as she reaches for me.
“Oh, very nice,” she murmurs as she leans in close. I feel her lips on my ear and her hair tickling my neck as her hands trail slowly over my collarbones. She seems to hesitate for a moment, probably waiting for me to pull back. To say no, this isn’t what I want.
But it is.
I gasp as she slips her hands all the way down the front of my dress and into the cups of my bra. Her fingers are gentle as she glides them over my nipples and purrs into my ear again. “You smell good.”
“Um,” I manage with a thread of desire twirling through the clanging nerves in my center. My heart is pounding in my ears, or maybe that’s the music. This is all so different. So new to me.
The dancer’s lashes tickle my earlobe as her thumbs graze my nipples again. My body hums with pleasure, and I glance left to see Simon watching with undisguised appreciation.
The dancer moves back, slipping her hands out of my dress more hastily than she put them there. She smiles at me again, a saucy expression that seems to say, “how was that?”
I nod and smile back as I shove my whole pile of two-dollar bills onto the stage. I’m more turned on than I expected to be, and I glance back at Simon again, wondering if he’s noticed.
The disco ball flickers in the reflection of his glasses, but beyond that, his eyes are molten. His gaze locks with mine, and we stare at each other across the room.
Beside me, the dancer has moved on to Kristin.
I hear Kristin giggle when the other woman slides into her lap, but I barely notice.
Spectators on all sides of us are cheering, but I’m still locked in Simon’s gaze.
We’re twenty feet apart, but I can feel him like he’s next to me.
Inside me. I lick my lips and touch a hand to my cleavage, which feels like it’s on fire.
He smiles, and mouths three words that send a searing bolt of lust straight through my core.
I want you.
My mouth goes dry. I want him, too, more than I’ve ever wanted anyone in my life.
Kristin grabs my hand, and I break the force field of Simon’s gaze to turn back to her. “Wasn’t that fun?”
I smile and nod like an idiot. “Yeah. I guess I can cross that off The List.”
Wait. Can I? There was technically no kiss. I’m trying to decide whether to give myself a mulligan on this one when Kristin presses for more.
“You have a list?”
“Yeah.” I give her a sheepish smile and shrug. “It’s this stupid list I made for my sisters. Long story. I was supposed to kiss a girl, but I think getting groped by a dancer is close enough.”
“Oh, sweetie.” She grins and puts her palms on my shoulders. Her eyes are pretty and blue, and she’s close enough for me to see a smattering of freckles on her nose. “See that guy over there? The one by the bar wearing the red T-shirt.”
She gestures with the tip of one manicured finger, and I glance toward the bar.
Standing off to the side is a tall guy with a handsomely-stubbled jaw and dark eyes that are fixed on Kristin.
He’s smiling a little, but there’s a heat in his expression that reminds me of the look I just saw from Simon.
Simon, whose gaze I can feel on the side of my face.
I turn back to Kristin. “Is he your boyfriend?”
“Husband. It’ll be five years next month. Want to know the best anniversary present I could give him?”
“What?” I’m surprised by the breathlessness in my voice, and I think I might know what she’s going to say.
“To see his wife—a tired mother of two—kiss another woman.”
There’s nothing in Kristin’s pretty features that says “tired-looking,” and my heart pounds with the knowledge that I want to kiss her. Not the same way I want to kiss Simon, but also not just for The List.
I want it for me.
Before I have time to think about it, I lean in close and brush my lips against hers.
She’s soft—softer than any man I’ve kissed—and I feel myself melting into those lips.
Suddenly, I can tell we’re both into this.
Her tongue touches mine, timidly at first. I respond like it’s the most natural thing in the world, tilting my head to deepen the kiss.
She gives a soft little sigh, and I tunnel my fingers into her hair, letting those silky curls slide between them as her tongue brushes mine again.
It’s a sweet kiss, but still passionate.
Not a kiss to make me swear off men, but one I’ll remember for a good long time.
I draw back first and slowly let go of her. I smile into those blue eyes, and Kristin smiles back.
“You’re an excellent kisser,” I tell her.
She laughs and tosses a look back at her husband. He’s walking our direction, and I suspect Kristin is about to get very, very lucky. “I’ll tell him you said so.”
I don’t even realize the song has ended until several people stand up around me.
I get to my feet, surprised to realize my knees aren’t shaking anymore.
I scan the room for Simon, hoping he saw the kiss.
Hoping he looks at me with even a fraction of the desire I see on Kristin’s husband’s face as he hustles her toward the door.
“Cassie.”
I turn at the sound of Simon’s voice. He’s standing behind me with my coat in his hand and a smoldering look in his eyes.
I don’t know what makes me glance down at the front of his pants, but I smile at the evidence that he’s as turned on as I am.
My pulse hammers in my ears, and I find myself having a very tough time swallowing.
“Want to get out of here?” His voice is low and suggestive, and I wonder if we’ll even make it home. We took an Uber here, neither of us wanting to drive if we were going to be drinking.
I’m regretting that decision.
I lick my lips and nod. “Let’s go.”
We don’t even make it to the front door.
We spot a dark little alcove near the restrooms, and he pulls me into it.
I watch as Simon grabs the handle of a door labeled Do Not Enter and I’m too dizzy with lust to question whether this is a good idea.
Maybe he tipped an employee for access to the broom closet, or maybe we’re doing something that’s going to get us arrested.
At this point, I don’t care. I might welcome the handcuffs.
I’m breathless as Simon pulls the door closed behind us.
There’s no light at all, but I think we’re in a storage room of some sort.
I smell pine cleaner and soap and perfume that isn’t mine.
It’s warm in here, but not too warm, and I think it might be the heat from our bodies.
I take a step back and feel a wall behind me.
As I lean against it, I pull Simon toward me, kissing him a lot harder than I did Kristin.
He gives a soft growl and kisses me back, his hands everywhere at once. He’s rougher than normal, but I don’t mind. I crave it.
Gripping the hem of my dress with both hands, he hikes it up over my ass. There’s a possessiveness in his kiss that stirs something primal inside me. As he breaks the kiss, I hear his breath coming hard in the darkness.
“That was the hottest fucking thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” he growls.
I stifle a giggle, not wanting to get caught.
I feel myself grinning like an idiot as he tugs my panties down my thighs.
I kick them aside in the darkness, not caring that they’re my favorite pair and I may never see them again.
My mouth waters in Pavlovian response when I hear a zipper being dragged down, then the crinkle of a condom wrapper.
Thank God, I think to myself, grateful he feels the same urgency I do. I don’t want foreplay. I don’t want conversation. I want Simon inside me as fast as humanly possible.
“Hurry,” I whisper, reaching out to help guide the condom in place.
He grabs my hips again, and I give a sharp little intake of breath. I’m not sure how he plans to do this, but I’m eager for anything that gets him inside me. At this point he could ask me to drop to all fours and make animal noises and I’d do the best damn impression of a sheep he’s ever heard.
But that’s not what Simon wants. “Wrap your legs around me,” he says.
He lifts me just enough so I can obey the command, then raises me up like I weigh nothing at all. Pushing me against the wall, he uses it for leverage so he can sink deep inside me in one slick stroke. I gasp, then bite down on his shoulder to muffle the sound.
“God, Cassie,” he murmurs against my neck. “You’re so fucking wet.”
I am, and I know he probably credits the dancer or Kristin or the novelty of being in a place like this.
But my body’s response is all about Simon right now.
Clenching my thighs tight around his waist, I grind against him. The angle is pure magic, offering delicious, slick friction against my clit as he drives in deep enough to make me scream.
But I don’t scream. Music pulses beyond the door, and a trill of laughter trails someone into the ladies’ room just outside. I smell bleach and sweat and desire, and I can feel myself getting closer with every thrust.
“Simon,” I whisper.
That’s the only word that makes it past my lips as the first wave hits me. The orgasm is like nothing I’ve felt before, swift and fierce and so powerful I nearly black out.
Or maybe that’s the effect of having sex in total darkness. Pinpricks of light burst against my eyelids, and I bite down on Simon’s shoulder again to keep myself from crying out.
I feel him shudder between my legs, and he stifles his own groan against my neck. Then he goes still.
I wait for self-consciousness to set in. Shame for the public groping or the girl-on-girl kiss or the fact that I’m here in a broom closet with my dress hiked around my waist and my not-so-lightweight self being held up by a guy I’ve known just a few weeks.
But instead of feeling embarrassed, I’m giddy. Releasing my grip on Simon, I lower myself to the floor and tug my dress down. I’m grinning in the darkness, and I can’t seem to stop.
“That was amazing,” I whisper.
There’s a low rumble, and I’m pretty sure he’s laughing. He finds my hand and squeezes it.
“It was,” he whispers back.
“Sex in a bar and girl-on-girl action,” I whisper. “That’s two on the list!”
“More than halfway done.”
I’m still glowing, but I feel my smile falter just a little. Maybe it’s the ebb of adrenaline. Maybe it’s the knowledge that we have to figure out a way to escape this closet unnoticed.
But I don’t think that’s it.
As Simon leans in to kiss me, I push back the knowledge that this whole crazy experiment will soon come to an end. I kiss him back hard, breathing in the spicy scent of his soap, grateful it’s too dark for him to see my face.