“Okay.” He nods, bearing into my eyes with what feels like all of his might. It’s a disconcerting feeling when someone is pressing so hard into you. I swear on all that is holy, he can see right through the lies I’m hand-feeding him. “Anytime you and Mojo need a place...” He slaps the back of his neck and leaves the thought unfinished like a good bigbrother.
“I don’t know about that.” I shrug. “I mean, we haven’t even kissed.” A devious thought comes to mind, and I promise to land a wet one right over Lex’s mouth for giving me the idea. “It’s been so long I couldn’t even remember how.” A burst of fake tears comes to my eyes, and I secretly praise my acting skills as I do my best to blink themaway.
“Really?” He inches back as if I slapped him, but if I didn’t know better, I’d swear there was a smidge of relief in his eyes. “I mean, all this time I thought you were pretty wild. You have been all over theworld.”
“Twice.” I shrug. “But alas, no. I haven’t had time to fool around. It’s been nonstop work, work, work. I really needed this break.” A contrived sigh expels from me, and I marvel at the fact should my life ever become a movie, this scene would be an Oscar-worthyevent.
“You needed a break—and that’s when you decided to come back for Mojo.” He purses his lips as if he’s really believingthis.
“I’d give anything to impress him with my moves.” I tug seductively over my bottom lip. “But the truth is, I don’t have any.” My hands land over his chest with a slap, and I give him a light scratch. “I just wish there was someone who’d be willing to be a guinea pig for me. I mean, you’re right. The world sees me as this sophisticated woman, and if I come at him like some hormonal thirteen-year-old who doesn’t know what to do, I’m afraid I’ll scare himoff.”
He grunts, his eyes narrowing in on me as if I were his prey. “I guess we don’t want that.” His shoulders sag for a moment. “How about I give you a quick lesson? Just a kiss among friends. No tongue.” His hands fly in the air as if it were the last thing he’d want fromme.
“Oh yeah, sure! I mean, totally no tongue. That would be gross,” I whisper those last few words into the wind because I didn’t really mean them. “Um”— I step in and carefully wrap my arms over the back of his neck—“maybe you shouldstart.”
“Absolutely.” His left eye comes just shy of winking, and my stomach sinks soft and easy. Oh hell, he’s really going to do it. My God, Levi is going to kill him. And then, Chip is going to come in and make sure he’sreallydead. “First,” he whispers it low and seductive, those lids of his grow heavy as he angles his head. “You want to come in slow, not too eager. Just be natural about it.” He leans in, and the heat emanating from his face feels like a firewall. Oh God, he’s coming in hot! Brody’s lips brush over mine with a just barely there graze and, honest to God, an entire fireworks finale just went off in myhead.
“Oh, wow,” I pant as he pulls back. My eyes are hooked to his, and I swear on all that is holy, I see stars in his eyes,too.
A smile bounces on his face as he shakes his head at me. “Too eager, Tater Tot. You want to play it cool once you pull away. Like you could live without it. Trust me, it’ll only make him want you more.” He caresses my cheek with the back of his hand, and I die a thousand schoolgirl deaths on the inside. Basically, every fantasy since the fourth grade is currently playing out in real time, and it’s far more than I can handle. “Let’s give it another go.” That drugged look in his eyes grows heavier as he comes in slow, and this time I meet himhalfway.
My mouth lands over his, soft as an erotic feather, and I linger there. My fingers glide over his neck, pinning him to me as we exchange a lingering lip-lock. And even though we haven’t invited our slippery members to the party as of yet, this kiss is anything but chaste. A dull moan creeps up my throat, and there is not a thing I can do to stopit.
“No moaning,” he mumbles before putting his lips right where they belong—hard over mine, and it sends another aching sound creeping up my throat. I can’t help it. Brody Wolf is here—kissingme, telling me what to do with his mouth warm over mine. My hands glide down his back as I strain to stand on my tiptoes. I don’t want the spell to disappear. The last thing I ever want is to pull away from this boy and those magicallips.
Brody sighs right over my mouth, and my entire body melts over him. Those strong arms of his pull me in like a leash as his hand digs into the back of my hair. The feel of his fingers going wild, pulling, tugging, spinning soft, slow circles makes me dizzy with desire. I’ve been kissed before—far more aggressively than this, but never has it evoked such viral passion in me, such a need, a hunger, an all-out wanting. A part of me is terrified these feelings are one-sided, but Brody presses his lips hard over mine, smearing his kisses over me, before bumping a series of paper soft dots over my cheeks. He pulls back, his lids hanging low, all signs of life are wiped from him, and he looks slightly pissed from theeffort.
“And that’s how you do it.” He takes off for his bedroom, and I can hear the pipes screaming to life as the shower begins to run. I’m hoping that shower is both cold and all forme.
I bite down on my bottom lip and spin with asqueal.
Brody Wolf kissed me, and I kissed himback.
Best nightever.
Happy Halloween,Brody.
I think I loveyou.
Heck, I know Ido.
Alwayshave.
Brody
That kiss.A week dodges by, and neither Raven nor I dare to bring it up. She sure did have a great big smile on her face the next morning. And I’d like to think that shit-eating grin was all forme.
In other strange people news, I’ve met up with my grandfather twice this week—once again at Hollowed Grounds where he up and declared he hates their shitty coffee. Later that week, we went fishing up at Lake Avalanche, just him and me on a small pontoon. We caught two trout apiece and found a diner up there that cleaned and cooked them for us. It was wonderful, and it killed me that my parents, that my sister, couldn’t be a part of it. He had me promise I wouldn’t tell and, of course, I’ve kept my lips zipped even while having dinner with my parents lastnight.
And on Friday night, Raven drives down to The Pelican with me. She’s become one of the regulars at the bar, brooding, mooning—hell, she’s all-outmoaningafter that freak Mojo. And since Raven likes to remain at The Pelican throughout my entire shift, I proposed we start drivingtogether.
“Who knows?” Raven skips in front of me and blocks the entrance. The wind picks up her hair and blows it into a beautiful black wreath around her glowing face. Raven is a sight to behold, with a full harvest moon blessing her from above. But that mouth—damn, if it doesn’t call to me. Her tongue runs a revolution around her lips, and hell, if I’m not getting a little too excited. And if she happens to glance down, there’s no doubt she’d notice. “Tonight might be the night Mojo actually gives me a ride home.” Her eyes spring wide, blue as the Caribbean. “And by home, I mean his.” She gives a hard wink before spinning on her heels and striding into the restaurant. It’s freezing as shit out, and yet she’s wearing a short leather skirt, boots that ride all the way up to her thighs, and a creamy white sweater that looks soft as sin. And the shitty part about it is that she didn’t put those boots or that sinfully soft sweater on for me. Raven is barreling one hundred miles an hour straight into Mojo’sarms.
I head in and the scent of a freshly grilled steak hits me. Smells like hickory-smoked heaven paired with the finest ale. I love the food here so much that I’ve eaten just about every meal that kitchen has to offer at least ten times since opening day. It saves on the grocery bill, or more to the point, it saves me from the fact I don’t know what the hell to do withgroceries.
Both Lex and Axel are working the tables, looking frazzled and pissed at the very sametime.
I head over to Ax. “What’s goingon?”
