Chapter Ten
A collective gasp went up through the ladies in the small crowd. An equally collective groan went down through the men when Vinter stepped up to a microphone.
A smile played about Elise’s mouth. Carrie’s eyes widened. Jackie glared daggers at Mac. And Mandi couldn’t stop staring between the man center stage and the one behind him sitting at a drum set.
Vinter was still shirtless, and the ink covering his body took her breath away. Jaz shucked his shirt, too. Her mouth dried up as Jaz shucked his shirt. The play of his muscles beneath his skin, his own ink … Her mouth was dry despite the glass of water in front of her.
“Now, for those of you who don’t know me and, well, if you don’t, you should. My name is Vinter.” He spoke with an open, yet mischievous grin on his face.
Elise leaned toward the center of the table. “The man’s ego and sex appeal knows no bounds.”
“You should put a leash on him,” Carrie said, loud enough to even Vinter heard her.
“What fun would that be?”
“Hey, girls.” He pointed in their direction. “Got something you want to share with the rest of us?”
Three of the four women shook their heads. Jackie still glared at Mac.
Mandi had never been so embarrassed or had so much fun in years. She hadn’t had close female friends in even longer. Save for Jackie. Most of her Mandi’s friends were business contacts, not people she’d have dinner or a drink with outside a tradeshow hotel. Elise and Carrie, though? Yeah, she could see going out for pizza and a movie with them or having them over for wine and girls’ nights. Girls’ Nights with Jackie were few and far between as Jackie spent most of her time at Katz.
But what if she and Jaz weren’t seeing each other? Would Elise and Carrie still want to be friends with her? Would it be awkward?
“Our birthday girl seems to be off in space.”
Mandi blinked and focused at the mention of birthday girl to find everyone looking at her. She’d never been more embarrassed.
“Ah, she’s back with us. Missed ya, girl. Were you someplace fun?” Vinter was teasing her and it made the humiliation easier to take, what with his wicked smile.
“Back to what I was saying … Mandi has only been in our little community a few months. Jackie hatched this plan soon after and came to us asking if we'd like to play. We said yes. It was optimistic of us. We hadn’t played in public for anyone before, but we don’t sound like a bunch of screeching cats either. And who knew our man Jaz up here would take a fancy to the guest of honor.”
Oh god, he didn’t. Mandi buried her face in her hands, both cringing and laughing.
“Then again, who knew she’d take a shine to Jaz, but I’m tellin’ ya … If y’all had seen what I saw earlier between these two … Man oh man.”
“Remind me to kick your ass after the party.”
Vinter laughed at the grouchiness in Jaz’s voice and turned his head to look at his drummer. “Remind me to let you try.” He looked back at the small crowd of people gathered. “He actually could kick my ass. Okay, so we have it on Jackie’s authority that one of Mandi’s favorite groups is Nickelback. And yeah, they kick ass too. We do a decent job covering them and Mac doesn’t sound half-bad, so what say we get on with this? Mandi, we wish you a very happy birthday.”
* * * * *
“You okay?” Jaz wasn’t sure about the look on Mandi’s face at the moment. He didn’t know if she was ready to cry, laugh or jump his bones. He brushed the hair from the side of her face and curled it behind her ear. “Mandi?”
She crooked her finger and he leaned down, thinking she wanted to whisper something in his ear. He was wrong. She wrapped her arms around his neck and took his mouth in a plundering kiss. She flicked the tip of her tongue between his lips until he opened.
The ravishing had him leaking in his jeans.
He stood up to his full height, but she didn’t let go. That was fine with him. He liked the way she clung to him and wrapped her legs around him when he lifted her. Unabashed. Unashamed. Open. Damn, but he’d been holding her a lot the last twenty hours or so … From behind, from the front, against the door, against the wall.
Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew people watched. And from somewhere faraway he heard the whistles and cat calls from the people left inside Katz. He didn’t care. He didn’t care about anything but her. Getting inside her, sleeping with her, and starting fresh with her tomorrow.
He lightly bit her tongue. She retreated and raised her head. He understood the look on her face all too well right then. He knew exactly how she felt. “I need you. Right now. I want you real bad, so unless you want an audience, we need to get the hell out of here.”
Her gaze roamed over his face, as though searching for something before she smiled and asked, “Can you walk?”
“Brat. I could walk with my dick buried so deep inside your cunt you felt it in your throat.”
“Yeah?”
“Wanna try me?”
She seemed to contemplate it, the little wench. He squeezed her ass and pulled her even closer. He cared little about their captive audience. He’d take her on the bar if Mac wasn’t still there.
“Yes, but not here.”
He feigned disappointment. “Damn. Okay. Wave to all your well-wishers.” Instead she buried her head in his neck and squeezed her arms around him, shaking her head. All he did was smile.
“Goodnight.” He tossed the words over his shoulder and kissed Jackie on the cheek. She held the door open for him and his embarrassed piece of birthday goodness to walk through. “How the hell are you gonna go back in there after that little performance if you wouldn’t even tell them good night?”
“I don’t know,” she mumbled.
“You know they know exactly what we are going to do once we leave here.”
“Yes.”
“And you couldn’t contain yourself long enough to get back to the car?”
“Obviously not. Complaining?”
He set her on the hood of his car and bracketed her between his hands as he leaned down, face level with hers. “Not a bit. You can jump me like that anytime the urge strikes you.”
“Even after tonight?”
The second the words were out of her mouth, she looked down and clamped a hand over her lips. He licked at her fingers, sliding his tongue between each one until he could kiss her. “Yes. Especially after tonight.” He pushed into the space separating them until she was flat against the metal. “I’m all about wanting to see you a lot. I want you, Mandi. I want to get so deep under your skin like you’ve gotten under mine.”
Her legs slid up along his, slow and sensual, until they wrapped around him. Her hips tilted upward, open and welcoming him between her thighs. “You are. I … I didn’t want to hope for more. I mean, come on … I’m, well, I don’t know what I am, but, you’re hot and … Well, you’re you. God, Jaz, what would you want with me for anything longer than a night and a day and another night of damn good sex?”
“Oh, I can’t think of a lot of things I want with you that have nothing to do with damn good sex.”
“You can?”
Why did she look so sad at that comment? “Yeah, but every one of those things begins and ends with damn good sex. Sometimes some of those things would contain damn good sex in the middle too.”
“You’re teasing me.”
Her pout was adorable and oh so fake. “Yeah. I am. Baby, there are so many reasons for me to want you. I’ll be glad to spell them all out in great detail for you later, but now is not the time.” He kissed the tip of her nose and tugged at her legs until they dropped. He stood and pulled her up off the car. “Now let’s get to a bed. I still have a few hours of being the best goddamn birthday present ever.”
“Oh yeah, you are definitely that.”
She sashayed over to the passenger side of the car. He could do nothing more than watch with his mouth hanging open as she untied the halter part of her top. “Mandi …”
She let the two ends of the tie drop and he was helpless as the fabric dropped too, one side catching on the end of her nipple. She took a deep breath and it fell, exposing her completely to him and to anyone who might walk out of Katz at that moment.
“Fuckin’ tease. Brave when no one’s watchin’, huh?”
She smiled and popped the snap on her jeans. Holy. Hell. “So,” she inquired as she slid the zipper down, one metal tooth at a time, “which boots should I wear when we get back to my place? These or …?”
“Dammit, woman, get in the car,” he growled over his shoulder. He yanked his door open and slid in behind the wheel as she started to push her pants down. She was tryin’ her best to kill him. His dick hurt. His balls hurt. His gut hurt from wanting her so friggin’ much.
He jammed the key in the ignition and turned it, cranking the car and revving the engine. He leaned across the center console and rolled the window down in the passenger side door. “Get in the car, Mandi or I swear to god I will fuck you where you stand.”
“Oh that sounds promising.” But she got in the car anyway.
“Chicken shit,” he whispered, his voice raw and full of affection.
“A little.”
Her mix of shyness and bravado clawed and clutched at him. He never knew what he was going to get from one minute to the next. He watched her, wondering which side of her would emerge first, and was always surprised. He’d seen so many different facets of her personality over the last six months, and more in the hours they’d spent together today.
And he wanted more. He couldn’t get enough of wanting more.
He pulled out of the parking spot and turned around, heading in the direction of his place.
“Where are we going?”
“I want you in my bed.”
“Oh.”
“Yours is too small. I hang off the end.”
“I’m kinda hanging out right now.”
“Stop teasing me already.”
“Why? It’s fun.”
Jaz sighed through the pained chuckle. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve been hard for you tonight?”
“No. How long?”
“Since before we ever left your place.”
“Why didn’t you say something?”
“Because I had to get you to Katz or Jackie would have sent out a search party.”
She didn’t say anything, not that he expected her to. But then she started to pull her top up and he thrust a hand out to stop her. “I like them bare.” He tugged on one of her nipples until she arched in the seat. “They’re gorgeous and we’re almost there.”
And he didn’t let go. Not even when she raised her hand and tugged on her other nipple. Not even when she slid her free hand between her legs and rubbed herself through her jeans and moaned in his seat.
She looked at him with hooded eyes and whispered his name with a catch that had him doing a double take. He damn near drove them off the road. “Don’t you dare come without me inside you.”
“Then get inside me.”
She dry humped her hand, but he had to rethink the dry part. He knew better. She’d been wet since he’d held her against the wall in the club, since he’d been between her legs on the hood. He knew she was hot, wet, feeling the itch beneath her skin. He knew because he was feeling the same itch, the same greedy need beneath his.
“A few more minutes. Hold on, baby.”
“I can’t, Jaz …”
“You can if you stop fucking with yourself.”
“I don’t want to … It feels too good … I’m almost there …”
Shit. “It’ll feel better if I bring you off.” He took the next corner faster than he should have and floored it. Damn good thing it was a packed dirt road. He could see the outline of small his house as he rounded the bend.
As he pulled in the drive, Mandi’s eyes closed and her mouth opened, gasping. He pulled hard on her nipple until she whimpered and looked at him. He pinched the tortured bud between his fingers once more, then let go and covered it with his mouth. He wrapped his tongue around it, toyed with it and she purred her approval.
He wanted more.
He snaked his hand down her jeans and inside her panties to touch the smooth, silky heat of her sex. Her purr? Yeah, it turned into a full-blown growl.
Jaz worried her nipple between his teeth. Two of his long fingers slid inside her already clutching channel. It wouldn’t take much to make her come. And much as he wanted her to come right then, he wanted her to come on his cock while watching her beautiful face more. He ground the heel of his palm against her clit, drove her higher until she was on the edge writhing in the seat …
He kissed his way up her chest and whispered against her mouth, “Not until I get inside you.”