There was a spring in my step on the way home that hadn’t been there before. After Chloe and I discussed all the details about their vision for my work, we signed a contract and agreed that I would start the following week once everything was in its designated place within the restaurant.
It was by far the biggest contract of my career. A part of me wanted to run to my parents’ house and shove the contract in their face, but another part, a much bigger part, wanted to impress the pants off of the owners of Rock Bottom in a way that I didn’t need any validation from my parents. Not that they would give it to me anyway. I could probably be photographing covers for Vogue, and they would still snarl their nose at me.
I couldn’t wait to tell Brooke about it though. I knew she would be just as excited and proud as I was. More than likely, she would also want to go out and celebrate as well.
As I rounded the corner to our apartment building, I saw Tucker standing out front in similar attire to what I always saw him in, gym shorts and a T-shirt. Not that there was anything wrong with what he was wearing, even I could admit that he looked hot as hell. He was leaned back against our building, and there was a tall, leggy blonde standing in front of him. Her hair was curled in perfect spirals down her back, which was almost completely bare in the dress she was wearing. She was gorgeous. She was my exact opposite.
I pulled out my cell phone and tried to keep my head down as I passed by them. The last thing I needed was for him to think that I was eavesdropping in on his conversation with tonight’s one-night stand.
“Hey, Firecracker.”
I rolled my eyes at his nickname for me that apparently was going to stick around and looked up at the giant smirk on his face. There was just something about his damn smirk that looked like trouble. It made me want to get into trouble.
“Hi.” I waved awkwardly at him and the blonde who was now staring at me like I was her enemy and continued to walk toward our door.
“Hey. Wait up,” he called behind me, and I took a deep breath to calm myself enough to deal with him. I was in a good mood, damn it, and I wasn’t about to let him bring me down.
I reached out for the door handle, but his large hand bumped mine out of the way as he grabbed the handle and pulled the door open for me. I looked over my shoulder at him and his friend, and I was surprised to see that she was no longer with him.
“Finished already?” I asked sarcastically.
“What?” His smirk widened and a dimple showed on his right cheek.
“Are you finished already?” I waved my hand in the direction that the woman was just standing in.
“Somebody sounds jealous.” He walked in behind me and the door slammed at his back.
“Because there is something to be jealous of? I just feel sorry for her is all.” I grabbed the handle to the stairwell before he could get to it, and I saw his eyes narrow on me slightly.
“And why would you feel sorry for her?” He looked more curious than irritated.
“Because you just love them and leave them. Do you even let them know the score before you pound them into my wall and then send them packing?”
“Well aren’t we Miss Judgmental.” He jogged ahead of me on the stairs then stopped on the landing to look down at me.
“I’m not judgmental. I’m just observant.”
I was so being judgmental.
He placed a hand on each side of the stair railing and leaned down into my space when I made it to the top. The smell of his cologne mixed with something more, something delicious, hit my nose, and I momentarily forgot everything but him.
“Don’t you ever want to just forget about all the rules and let a man fuck you with no expectations other than a mind-blowing orgasm?” His voice was as smooth as molasses, and when I looked up into his eyes I knew he was not only toying with me but that he knew he was also getting to me.
I pulled the lapels of my blazer tighter around my chest and prayed that he couldn’t see that one damn sentence out of his mouth was already turning me into a pile of mush.
“No. I don’t,” I said with as much authority as I could muster when all I really wanted to do was throw my clothes off and let him take me against the stairs.
“Then you’ve never been fucked correctly.” He tucked a piece of hair behind my ear before his conniving smirk took over his face once again. He straightened himself back up and opened the door to our floor. “After you, Firecracker.”
I picked my jaw up from the floor before I walked through the door and prayed that I could keep it together long enough to make it to my apartment. “I wish you would quit calling me Firecracker.”
Tucker chuckled but ignored what I said.
“How was your consultation you had today?” He changed the subject like he wasn’t just talking about orgasms. Mind-blowing orgasms that he could give me.
“It was great, thank you. I signed a contract with them.”
“That’s awesome.” He walked past me and pulled keys out of his pocket as I started putting mine in my door.
“If you want to celebrate, you should come over later. I have a wall that can take a good pounding, as you said, and it seems to really just hit the spot.”
I momentarily looked over at him and that damn dimple of his before I walked into my apartment and shut the door with a groan. It amazed me how a cocky, playboy could get me so worked up, but when his laughter carried through my door, I knew that Tucker was doing nothing more than playing a game. But he didn’t need to forget who he was playing with because he was right. I was a firecracker.