“Except water?” He laughed and the sound felt refreshing and different to hear from him. It was the complete opposite of the rough voice that came from his lips moments ago.
“Water, tea, and chocolate milk, the occasional wine.”
“Chocolate milk?” The laughter from him rose another octave and I stepped into his space and poked an index finger into his chest.
“Don’t knock chocolate milk.” I tried to make an upset face, but I couldn’t hide the smile that formed when I looked into his eyes.
“What’s your name, bug?”
“Tabitha.”
“Drew.” He stated his name to the unspoken question of who he was. The name suited him, masculine, but short and to the point.
“Nice to meet you.”
“Tabssss!” Monica’s voice screeched beside me as she came barreling past everyone in her way. “You came in!”
She threw her arms around me, effectively shoving Drew out of my way. He didn’t move, though. He stayed planted where he was standing, eyes trained on me.
“I needed water. Where’s Celeste?”
“Rallying the troops so we can check in before this one gets too wasted.”
As I spoke her name, she came up behind Monica with a tow of men following behind her. Celeste looked like a supermodel, with her height, toned body, and perky breasts. It almost wasn’t fair, but if you knew her like I did, you knew she liked riding motorcycles, hiking, and anything that involved insects. She’d just graduated college with a bachelor’s in marine biology, wanting to help with the salvation of all ocean life.
I looked over at Monica, who was the complete opposite, and I loved it. She was all curves with her size twenty figure, but her confidence was what sold her. The black chin-length bob and tight little one-piece swimsuit probably had all men in this bar salivating at a single glance. She modeled for almost every plus-size lingerie shop that could get her hands on her. She wanted to show everyone in the world that no matter your size, you could look sexy as fuck.
And she did.
I moved my attention back to Drew, who I thought the second these two came over would grab his attention, but his eyes were still on me. The alcohol in his glass was completely gone now, though. I licked my lips again and the hand that rested by his side twitched. I wondered if he wanted to reach for me. This was the first time in the five minutes that I met him that he wasn’t in my business.
“Let’s go, Ms. Tabby Cat.” Monica bopped my nose and laughed as she moved past me to the opening of the bar and out to the jeep. Celeste followed behind but didn’t get far before she turned back to me. I hadn’t moved an inch toward them and as much as I would have loved to go to the bed-and-breakfast Celeste had booked for us, I wanted to stay here. For once in my life, Iwantedto be at a bar.
“You coming, babe?” She raised an eyebrow at me in question. Her eyes moved from me to Drew, who had now taken a step toward me.
“I’ll be there in a second.”
Her eyes widened at the realization of what she and Monica had interrupted. She backed away with caution, her eyes not leaving me until she was out of the bar with Monica. I turned back to look at Drew, but before I could get out a goodbye to him, his lips were on mine.
This time it wasn’t just a kiss to the corner of my mouth. His lips melded into mine, taking from me as much as I would give him, which was everything. My free hand was clinging to his dress shirt, pulling him closer to me where his chest was pressed against mine. He had placed down his glass and had both hands wrapped in my caramel brown hair, pulling on it just slightly to get my head to tilt back.
He broke the kiss first, placing his forehead against mine.
“I want to see you again.” Drew’s hoarse voice was back and this time I couldn’t just hear how affected he was, but I felt it too. His hard length grew against my thigh as we were sandwiched together against the bar.
“I’m only in town until Sunday.”
“So am I. So tell me, when can I see you again?”
I looked up at Drew, who was towering over me.
“I’m not sure what our plans are.”
“Then tell me where you’re staying at.”
I pushed on his chest, trying to get some space.
“The B&B off of 10th.”
