DAMMIT, I KNEW I should have stayed home. I had broken every damn rule I set for the night. Frickin’ drinking every shot Becca handed me and dancing with Brent’s asshole friend just so she could dance with Brent. At first I was having fun and it felt good to let loose for once and enjoy the attention of one of the gorgeous guys who always seemed to flock around Becca with her gorgeous auburn curls and beautiful model-like body. Let’s face it, I usually didn’t take the time to dress up and guys rarely looked twice when I was in my usual attire of T-shirts, hoodies, and sweats, topped with a messy bun.
Yep, that was my signature look. Vagrant extraordinaire.
Tonight I had let Becca pick out one of her cute little outfits with a flared, short skirt that felt waaaaay too short, and a tight, black, low-cut tee with “Harley” spelled out in sequins and cut-outs on the sides. I swore the girls were gonna pop out of Becca’s loaned push-up bra if I breathed too deep. I was no member of the itty bitty titty committee to begin with. Not to mention, every little breeze made it feel like I wasn’t wearing anything. A couple times I had to check to be sure my ass wasn’t flashing everyone.
When Rick got a little too comfortable and his hands started roaming, the night went downhill fast. I knew I was beyond tipsy and my coordination was off, or I would have never let him drag my butt out in the dark.
Damn, damn, damn…. I tried to convince him to go back over by Becca and everyone else without causing a scene, but perhaps he was too drunk to register that I wasn’t as into him as he was wanting to be “in” to me. He was starting to scare me, and I struggled to get away from him before the panic that was clawing up my throat took over.
Crap.
That’s when I saw a hand land on Rick’s shoulder as he was jerked around to face the guy behind him. I nervously brushed my skirt back down and slid off the table to stand up and sneak away while Rick was distracted.
“I think the young lady was pretty clear when she said stop.” The voice seemed to be deceptively calm. As I sidled away and around Rick, my vision zeroed in on what had to have been the most stunning man I had ever laid my eyes on. He looked to be at least 6’3” with short-cropped, jet-black hair and what, even in the dark shadows of the barn, were the most vivid blue eyes in existence. Thick lashes framed those gorgeous baby blues, which upon closer inspection were flecked with darker blue, and one of his dark eyebrows raised in question. I felt frozen in place as my eyes swept down his body… and what a body it was.
Oh. My. Gawd…!
I saw firmly sculpted muscles outlined perfectly through his tight black T-shirt. Dark tattoos peeked from under the edge of the sleeves on both arms, making me wonder what kind of artwork the gods bestowed on him, because surely this man was not human. There was no way he was one of the guys from the college, as he had a maturity and worldliness about him—something that was lacking in every male here tonight. And he was just too beautiful for words.
Be still my ever-loving heart.
His worn-looking jeans hung low on his hips, and that butt, sweet baby Jesus, it should be a sin for a guy to have a butt that nice. Aw hell, what the heck was wrong with me? I needed to quit drooling over Mr. Sex-in-a-box and get back to Becca.
Ugh!
“Hey, man, this doesn’t concern you. Me and my girl, here, were just trying to spend a little alone time together. Back the fuck off!” I heard Rick mouth off, causing me to stop in my tracks and spin back to the two of them. Oh hell no.
“Rick, I’m not your ‘girl,’ and I do not want to have any ‘alone time’ with you!” I said, as I felt my fists clench and my eyes flash. “I told you I wanted to go back to Becca, but you were too drunk for that to sink into your thick skull!” What an ass.
I saw Rick’s face screw up in anger as he took a step toward me. “You fucking bitch! Maybe you shouldn’t be such a dick tease!” My mouth fell open in shock. That’s when Mr. Sexy—dang who was this guy?—dropped his beer bottle, grabbed him by the front of his shirt, and spun him around, slamming him against the side of the barn.
“Watch your fucking mouth, you piece of shit. Didn’t your momma teach you not to talk to ladies like that?” He spoke in a deadly calm manner as he brought his face within centimeters of Rick’s. He said something to Rick in such a low tone I couldn’t make out what was said, but I saw fear in Rick’s eyes before he covered it with an expression of false bravado. He jerked away from Mr. Sexy, straightened his shirt, then gave me a hate-filled look before he stomped off muttering, “Shit, you can have the dumb, stuck-up bitch, asshole. She doesn’t put out, anyway.”
I went to thank Mr. Sexy and stumbled over the uneven ground in Becca’s stupid heels. Being more than tipsy, I couldn’t seem to get my balance and started to fall. Just as I saw the ground coming up to hit my face, he grabbed me under my arms, pulling me up against him with my face buried in his abdomen.
Shit. Shit! Shit! How embarrassing.
Now I looked like a klutzy, dumbass, little girl who couldn’t handle herself, or her alcohol. Great. Just freakin’ fantastic. Way to make an impression, Steph! And Lordy, I may have broken my nose on his rock-hard abs. Heaven help me.
I looked up to see two deep, sexy dimples appear in his cheeks as he let out a quiet laugh.
Dimples? Seriously? I was a sucker for dimples. Great. Just great.
“Ummm, while I’m not complaining about your position, right now, I think this is what you were trying to avoid with jock-face, kiddo.”
“Kiddo? Really? For your information, I’m almost twenty-two, and I’ll be graduating from Iowa State in a couple of weeks. Wow, you must be, what? At least eighty, right?” I said, voice laced with a heavy dose of sarcasm and a smirk on my face.
Way to sound mature. God, alcohol made me stupid.
His grin widened, exposing straight white teeth. Man, did this guy have any flaws? I was beginning to feel a little self-conscious.
“Sweetheart,” he drawled, “you have no idea how much older than you I am. I may be twenty-six in years, but I guarantee I’m older than any of these boys here in life experience.” He stood me up and made sure I was steady before he let go of me. If I was any judge of the expression that flickered briefly on his face, he looked reluctant to release me. Mmmmm, interesting.
He started to walk away, and my heart sank before he looked over his shoulder at me. “I’m going to grab a new beer since jock-face made me drop mine. I would offer to get you one, but I kinda think you maybe need to hydrate a little with some water, unless you wanna feel like dragon dump tomorrow.” I caught his smirk as he sauntered off toward the water troughs full of ice and beverages. I watched his amazing butt as he walked away, thinking I should be ashamed of where my thoughts were drifting, but I wasn’t.
He returned with a beer, which was already frosting over after being pulled out of the ice, and it dripped water in the grass as he walked. A bottle of water was in his other hand, which he held out to me. He gestured over to the shadowed side of the barn. “Care to pull up a spot of grass and join me?” he asked. “I don’t bite. Unless you want me to,” he added with a wink.
“Ummm, yeah, okay.” I mean, the guy did just save me from a potentially unpleasant encounter with “jock-face” Rick. And there was something about him that just put me at ease. As I took the bottle from him, the water from the surface slid across his fingers and ran down my hand to my wrist before dropping to the ground. Call me crazy, but I felt like that tiny stream held an electric current in it that connected us for that split second. My eyes lifted to his and we stared into each other’s eyes for what seemed like hours, though I knew it was only seconds.
He cleared his throat, looked down, and moved over to sit by the barn. As we sat on the ground, I kicked off my shoes and tucked my legs off to the side to prevent my skirt from flipping up and flashing him. I couldn’t help but think maybe the night was beginning to redeem itself.
I watched her take the cap off the bottle of water and tip it to her lips. As a small drop of water appear at the corner of her mouth, I couldn’t stop myself from reaching a finger over and catching it before it dropped from her full lips. You have no idea how tempted I was to catch it with the tip of my tongue, but I gave myself a mental shake. She slowly lowered the bottle with her eyes wide and her lips remaining partially open as she watched me bring the drop to my mouth and lick it from my fingertip.
Oh, yes, little girl, there are things I could do to you with this mouth that would leave you breathless, indeed.
I have no idea what I was thinking when she leaned closer to me and I reached out to tuck a loose strand of her long, dark blonde bangs behind her ear. It was like I couldn’t control the movements of my own body. Me, who was the epitome of self-control at my job.
What the fuck?
She looked so young and innocent, but I couldn’t help taking in every detail of her. Her multi-colored, blonde hair, evident of her love for the sun. Her eyes were a soft cornflower blue, with a darker blue ring around the edge of her irises. They sparkled as they caught the light from the distant bonfire and strung lights. She had a classic beauty in her high cheekbones, softly arched brows, heart-shaped face, and full lips, which were screaming at me to kiss her. She had toned legs that seemed to go on for days, ending in the cutest feet with toes painted neon pink.
And for the record, I’m not big on a chick’s feet. At all.
When the fuck did I start waxing all this poetic bullshit? Damn. Fucking Midwest girls. Holy shit this girl was smoking, though. They didn’t grow them like this back in Tennessee, not that I’d been home in six years to know. What the fuck reason did I have to go back there anyway?
I looked up and saw that she had been watching me check her out. Not that I cared, but I did just save her from jock-face-gropey-hands, so I supposed I should at least try not to look like the horny dick I was. I saw her run her little pink tongue along the top of her bottle of water before she took another drink of the cold liquid. Her eyes never left mine as I stared at her and watched her throat move with each swallow. Yeah, that made my dick stand at attention. Maybe I needed to pour some of that shit down my pants to calm it down.
Well hell.
What was it about this girl that had my mind going all kinds of places it shouldn’t? Looking into her eyes shouldn’t have me wondering what she would be like as a military wife. There was no way a wife would ever fit in my career plans, and hell, I hadn’t known this chick fifteen minutes. Fuck. Never had I thought about a wife in any way, shape, or form. Wherever my mind was going, I seriously wanted to fuck the sass right off of little miss college girl. Then take her back with me in my duffle bag and do it again, and again, and again.
Damn, I must be going crazy… My last reverse SRP must have lied—I was totally losing my shit.
“Soooooooo… I’m guessing you don’t go to school here,” she said as she drew circles in the condensation of the water bottle with the tip of her index finger. I watched as the droplets trailed down the side of the bottle, then met her gaze. She looked up at me with a questioning expression, waiting for me to answer, and soft wisps of hair fell across her left eye. I reached over to brush it behind her ear, again, and felt the warmth of her breath as I drew my hand past her mouth, running a fingertip along her sexy-as-fuck bottom lip. I felt like the biggest pervert alive at that moment because I could totally see those plump lips wrapped around my cock as those blue eyes looked up at me under a half-lidded glance. She was just a kid, really.
Damn.
“Uh, no. My buddy and I are in the Army stationed down at Ft. Benning in Georgia. He’s from some small town here and a bunch of the guys he went to high school with are here. They invited him down for this last big hurrah before they graduate. He just brought me along for the ride. We’re heading back to post soon. Our leave is almost up.” I didn’t want to get into the fact that I was deploying to Afghanistan, again, because I just didn’t want to think about that shit right now. I wanted to pretend that, for just that night, I was a normal twenty-six-year-old guy who met a hot blonde at a party.
I leaned back against the barn and stretched my legs out in front of me as I absently pulled blades of grass, running the silky-feeling stems between my fingers. She shivered and I noticed goose bumps break out across her arms. I reached over and pulled her close to my side, placing my arm around her as I ran my hand rapidly up and down her arm, trying to warm her up.
“Hope you don’t mind?” I asked as an afterthought, and she shook her head as I watched her take her bottom lip between her teeth. I groaned to myself at seeing that sexy-as-fuck expression, and for just a moment, it felt like we were alone in the world. Of its own volition, my body leaned down to brush my lips against hers. Not even close enough to what I wanted to do. I ran my tongue along that bottom lip of hers, savoring whatever sweet-tasting lip gloss she had on and desperately wanting to see if the rest of her tasted as sweet. God help me, I felt myself losing control.
Calm down, Alcott. Fuck.
Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to pull back and put some space between us. We both ignored the brief awkwardness that followed the kiss and made companionable small talk. Time seemed to slip away from us. She was amazingly easy to talk to, and I felt myself relaxing and even laughing here and there. We didn’t talk personal details. Hell, we didn’t even exchange names. It was as if deep down we knew this was just for tonight. We mostly people-watched the drunk coeds stumble, drink, and grope each other. We shared a laugh when a guy who obviously thought he was in, got smacked on the face and the girl stormed off.
Fucking hilarious.
Our eyes met, sharing the humor. That’s when everything seemed to stand still again. She took in a soft, excited breath and reached her hand up to my shoulder, allowing it to slowly slide up my neck until she was running her fingers across the short-cropped hair at the back of my head. I heard the rasp of the short hairs against her fingers and took a deep breath, inhaling her rich, exotic-smelling perfume. As if in slow motion, we leaned closer until our lips connected. The tip of her tongue tentatively hooked under my top lip, pulling me into her allure, leaving my senses completely intoxicated by her.
Our tongues, lips, and teeth dueled in a crazy battle for power before I pulled away, breath harshly entering and exiting my body. I rested my forehead against hers as my heart continued to race. “Baby girl, I’m trying really hard to keep myself in check, but there is only so much self-control I can tap into if we keep this up. I need to let you know before things go too far. Fair warning and all that shit.”
She answered by tipping her head slightly, nipping my top lip before soothing it with her tongue, then whispered, “What if I don’t want you to?” against my lips.
Yeah, all the invitation I needed.
Our kiss deepened and rapidly became a desperate, intense melding of lips, tongues, and bodies. It was like we couldn’t get close enough to each other as she grabbed both sides of my face with her delicate hands and kissed me like the world was ending tomorrow. Maybe it was. Maybe this was just a frantic need to feel alive and connected as I pushed all thoughts of what my future held to the back of my mind.
God, what was it with this girl? She had me burning like an inferno for her, like I’d never burned for any other girl.
We laid back on the cool green grass and my leg slipped between hers as her skirt rode up and she pressed her core to my thigh, grinding in small circles. My hands fisted in her hair as we broke off the kiss, leaving us both panting. I knew she could feel how hard I was since my cock was pressed into her hip. I needed to get a fucking grip or I was going to come in my fucking jeans like some inexperienced teenage boy.
“We can’t do this here where anyone could come walking up on us,” I whispered with a groan. “You’re so much better than that, baby girl. If we’re doing this, we need to go somewhere more private.” I needed her to understand where this was headed. She deserved better than a quick fuck in the grass at a party with drunk-ass idiots laughing and dance music reverberating through the night air.
“We can go back to my apartment if you want. I can tell Becca I’m tired and you’re giving me a ride back. Let me just talk to her and make sure she’ll be all right and she has a safe ride home, okay?”
“All right, I’ll go let my buddy know we’re taking off. He has his bike, so he has his own ride back. Do you have a car here or will you be okay with riding on my bike? Shit, never mind. You can’t ride in those heels and that skirt,” I said, feeling frustrated. I ran a nervous hand through the longer hair at the top of my head.
“Funny enough, I have jeans in Becca’s car, but I only have running shoes. Will that be okay?” she asked in a breathless whisper.
“Yeah, better than those heels anyway. Meet me back here?”
“Yes,” she said, “the sooner the better.” She reached up and kissed me quickly on the lips before scooping up the sexy as fuck heels and running across the grass toward the doorway of the barn. Light, laughter, and music continued to spill out of the large, open sliding doors and people sat on hay bales drinking and talking. I watched her long, sexy legs for a few seconds as she ran. When she reached the door, I turned to find Mason to tell him I was taking off and I’d hook back up with him tomorrow.