If we were alone, I’d have already torn her clothes from her body with my hands and teeth and buried my face between her legs.
As it is, I’m having a hard time holding myself back from doing just that, even with a hundred onlookers.
I inhale slowly, savoring her scent and enjoying the feel of her pulse beating wildly under my thumb. My voice comes out gravelly. “You’d hate yourself tomorrow.”
Her lips curve upward. Her eyes flash. “Maybe. Only one way to find out.”
Fuck, those eyes. I have a bad feeling the exact gold-flecked shade of green is going to be permanently inked onto my memory.
We’re sitting close. Too close. I’ve still got her wrist gripped in my hand. Our thighs are pressed together, hip to knee. All it would take is for me to dip my head and I could slide my tongue between the cleft in her breasts.
How fucking badly I want that.
But I’m too busy trying to talk her out of doing something foolish.
“Your girlfriends wouldn’t approve.”
She laughs. It’s a happy sound, light and airy, but there’s a darkness underscoring it that resonates inside me like a lone note played on a melancholy violin.
My broken pieces make music with hers.
“Chelsea would not only approve, she’d probably pay for the room herself if I asked her to. Will you have many of these objections?”
“Why?”
“I’m wondering if I should leave now or order another drink to give you time to wrestle with your conscience.”
She looks at my mouth then. Looks at it and licks her lips, as if she’s imagining tasting me.
Then she has the fucking audacity to say, “Or are you worried you won’t be able to get an erection?”
I glower at her from under lowered brows. “Don’t test me, Shay.”
“Oh, you’re much too scary to test. I wouldn’t dare.”
She says it exactly like a fucking dare.
Okay. Game on.
I take her hand and place it on my lap, curling her fingers around my dick, stiff and throbbing under my zipper.
Her eyes widen. This time, her laugh is breathless. “Oh. That answers that.” Cheeks flushed, she glances around the bar. “Thank goodness for the tablecloth.”
“Look at me.”
When she sends me a wary, sideways glance, I lean closer and lower my voice.
“Yes, I want to fuck you. But you were right when you said I look like a lot of women’s biggest regret. You already have enough of those.”
Considering her cheeks are so red, it makes her composure even more impressive when she answers. “True enough. But the batteries in my vibrator died this morning, so the timing is actually quite good.”
I don’t know if I’m more pissed off or turned on.
What the fuck is she doing?
I growl, “You’re right. You are reckless. You’ll get yourself in trouble if you keep going around propositioning strangers.”
“You’re the first and last stranger I’ll ever proposition, so there’s nothing to worry about. May I please have my hand back now? Unless you’re about to undo your zipper, this is really awkward.”
“You can’t actually believe jerking me off under the tablecloth could be less awkward.”
“At least I’d be holding onto something other than my humiliation.”
Aroused, frustrated, and helplessly charmed, I can’t think of anything else to say but a gruff, “Fuck.”
“Is that a yes?”
She stares at me with those big eyes, her cheeks blazing red. She’s flustered and embarrassed but holding her head high, still not giving me an inch. She’s completely unapologetic.
Many months later, I’ll look back on this moment and realize I never had a chance.
I was a goner the second she sat down next to me and smiled.
