“I almost said Cosmo to throw you off, but I can’t drink those things.”
He opens a Corona, pops a lime in, and hands it to me. I hold it up to him before taking a drink.
He says something, but I can’t hear him, so I lean forward. “What?”
“Your man. He’s in the back.”
A shiver rocks through me. Get it together, Bee. “What man? I don’t have one of those.”
“Hmm. I didn’t think you were the type to play games.” His mouth is so close to my ear I feel his breath.
Jerking away from him, I flip Trevor off. “You don’t know me, so don’t pretend you do.” He grins, and I take a couple more drinks of the beer. “And I don’t play games.”
The rest of my beer goes down smoothly and quickly. He’s already handing me another one when I set the bottle on the counter.
“So you’re available?”
Smirking at him, I say, “I didn’t say that either.”
Trevor laughs and shakes his head. “That’s what I thought.”
Before he has the chance to say anything else, I walk away with the beer in hand. I’ll pay for it later. I’m not playing his games tonight. My eyes immediately land on Maddox, leaning against the wall in the back. His arms are crossed, his face tight, and his eyes lasered in on me.
Little bitty explosions feel like they start to go off in my stomach but I ignore them and move through the crowd, straight for him. The whole time I beg the fireworks to slow down but they don’t.
Maddox doesn’t move an inch when I step up in front of him. “He wants you.”
More pops and cracks ignite. “Jealous?” I swallow a drink of the beer.
“Haven’t we had this conversation before?” He’s still not moving and this quiet whisper floats through my brain: Touch me…
“You didn’t answer the question.”
Then he grabs me and pulls me to him. His mouth comes down on mine and that same stupid little whisper says, Finally…
Maddox’s tongue pushes into my mouth and I wrap one of my arms around his neck and bury it in his hair, trying not to spill the beer in my other hand. He turns and my back is suddenly against the wall, my body squeezed between the hard brick and Maddox’s heat. His kiss gets deeper, his body moving against mine, and as stupid as it is, I wish we weren’t here. Masquerade, my house, his house, anywhere but here.
My thoughts start pushing their way through and I gather enough strength to move my hand to Maddox’s chest and shove him far enough away to say, “Don’t kiss me because you’re jealous.”
“You’d rather I did it for other reasons? That’s not what we’re about, remember?”
The words are harsh, tiny lashes across my skin that I didn’t expect. He’s right but it hurts and it’s not supposed to.
With my hand on his chest, I push him again as I try to move around him. Maddox curses, steps in front of me, and grabs my waist. “I kissed you because I want you. Because you’re gorgeous and even though I shouldn’t give a shit, I don’t like seeing him touch you.”
He’s breathing hard, so hard I hear it even with the music blaring around us. It’s then I realize I’m breathing just as hard. My chest heaving under my tight, long-sleeved shirt.
Maddox brushes his finger over my shoulders, left bare because of the cut of my top.
“I’m not saying… It doesn’t mean…”
With my fingers, I touch his lips. “Shhh.” I set my bottle down and then I kiss him this time. My tongue moves with his, in out, in out. Maddox holds me between the wall and his body again, his mouth taking over. Moving so expertly against mine. My body thrums with energy… need. I want him too. Want him the way I’ve never wanted anyone.
When his mouth trails down my neck, I say, “I’m not saying it means anything either. Let’s not use any words. Let’s…” Have fun. Forget everything else. Pretend we’re something we’re not. “Dance.”
“I told you I don’t dance.” His mouth is still close to my skin.
“I’m asking you to make an exception.”
Maddox pulls away and I expect him to keep going. Instead he hooks his finger in the loop of my pants and starts to back up, pulling me with him.
“Will you get in trouble? I know you’re working.”
His eyes haven’t left mine since he started walking. “I don’t give a shit what Trevor thinks and Tyler’s not here.”
Then I’m pulled tightly against him. His hands are on my waist; then they slide up and down my back as we move together. I rock my hips, sway with him as I wrap my arms around his neck. We’re close, so very close our bodies touching and moving as in sync as they do when we’ve had sex.
It feels good and he feels good but still I grab on to what I said to him about not using words. Not defining anything. It can be like it was at his house the other night. We can laugh and dance and kiss and then walk away like last time and nothing will change. Neither of us want it to change, so it’s okay. We’re okay.
His hand goes up the back of my shirt, skin to skin, rubbing and caressing. I moan and move with him as one of his legs slides between mine.
“You can dance,” I whisper.
“There are a lot of things I’m good at.”
I don’t doubt that. “Okay, then I’m surprised you are dancing.” Sure, I asked him to but I don’t know if I thought he would really do it.
His mouth drops to my ear. “There are a lot of things your body inspires me to do.” Again, I wish we weren’t in public.
And then he nips my lobe with his teeth and we keep dancing. When the song’s over and it goes into the next, Maddox pulls away. “I need to get back to work.”
“Yeah… yeah, okay.” I step back, trying to catch my breath. Holy crap that was sexy as hell.
“You hanging around or are you out of here?”
“I figured I’d stay for a while.”
His finger starts at my neck and slowly trails down the column and across my shoulder. “Good.”
Just like that, he steps back, trying to hide who he is again for this crazy masquerade we keep maintaining, and goes back to his perch by the wall.
I’m in a fog, not even sure what happens for the rest of the night. Before I know it, Lunar is closing and Maddox is off work. We don’t touch as we walk outside together.
“Your car here?” he asks, not really looking at me.
“No. Took a cab.”
He nods toward his bike and I take the first step to walk there. Maddox is right behind me. The helmet slides on easily and then there’s a weight on my shoulders and I realize it’s his jacket.
Give it back. I don’t. After slipping my arms through the holes, I wait for Maddox to put his helmet on and then get on the bike. Behind him, I throw my leg over and pull tight against him, right before it rumbles to life.
Wind makes us fly the whole way to my house. When we pull into my driveway, he kills the engine. We get off the bike and I take off the helmet and set it down.
“Thanks for the ride, Scratch.”
“No problem.” His voice is raspy and he needs a shave, both things extremely sexy on him.
“Your sister wants me to go to her birthday party. I wasn’t sure. I told her—”
“You should go.” He shrugs.
“Okay.” I don’t let myself dwell on how quickly that answer came out.
Maddox raises his hand and cups my cheek before his lips drop to mine softly… so very softly. He’s never kissed me like this—with such slow deliberate strokes that turn me inside out.
He pulls about an inch away from me. “I want you so fucking bad.”
“I want you too.”
Maddox presses one more, soft kiss to my lips before he’s grabbing his helmet and putting mine away on the bike. Want. We both want each other but we know it’s not smart to act on it. I hate it but love it at the same time.