What’s a few more hours stoking the heat burning in my belly going to hurt? We have all night to enjoy each other.
Hell, I’m starting to believe we’ll have the rest of our lives.
BREAK tk
We’re sitting without drinks at a bar table an hour later, when Madden turns to his brother, determination evident on his face.
“Come on, Jess. Let’s go scouring.”
Jesse’s brows furrow as he stares at his brother dumbly. “Scouring?”
“For ladies! You don’t have a kid tonight, and you don’t have to rush home tomorrow to get back to her. It’s the perfect time to find someone to get that pent-up sexual tension out of your system.”
There’s a moment of hesitation before Jesse scans the table where we all sit, settling on me.
“Come on, Jesse! I need a wingman,” Madden says.
“He really does,” Nat says. “Madden’s shit at picking women.”
The table laughs, and Colton stands.
“Come on, let’s go help him out, Jesse.” Then my brother gives me a knowing, challenging look before guiding the King brothers toward the bar.
“Looks like the guys found their marks,” Wren says with a smile ten minutes later.
I’ve been diligently ignoring them, not wanting to be too obvious and have to endure questions, not with a long weekend ahead of us. I also, despite everything, trust Jesse. He might tease and fuck with me, and he might be willing to help Madden out, but that’s it.
“She’s cute,” Wren says, but there’s something in her tone, something I can’t quite pinpoint. Until I look at her face, that is. “Don’t you think so, Hallie?”
That’s when I see it. Wren, my sweet best friend who is always worried about everyone and always concerned with making everyone feel loved and included, isteasing me.
Adam’s grin is just as wide as Wren’s, and when I turn to Nat, she has a "told you so"look, and I realize that all my weeks of trying to be sneaky and stealthy may have been for nothing.
Or, more likely, I am not nearly as sneaky as I thought.
I don’t respond. Instead, I watch as one of the women they’re standing with reaches out and touches Jesse’s bicep. He steps away, giving her a polite nod, but the suddenly very possessive part of me doesn’t care.
“Fuck it,” I say under my breath, then slide off my stool and head in their direction, my shoes clicking against tile as I do. I think I hear Wren, Adam, and Nat laughing behind me, but I can’t focus on that. Suddenly, I have tunnel vision. All I can see is Jesse standing with another woman, one who is very clearly into him. It’s polite laughter, and Colt and Madden are with him, butI do not care.
It’s time to claim him.
“Excuse me,” I say, pushing my brother aside. The grin on Jesse’s face is megawatt-level when he sees me.
“Hallie,” he says, all casual and coy as if he hasnoidea what he’s doing.
“Shut up,” I say, taking the final step to him until our chests are touching, placing my hands on his shoulders, moving to my tiptoes, and pressing my lips to his in front of everyone.
TWENTY-NINE
There isn’t a moment of hesitation as my lips touch Jesse’s, no surprise or confusion, just his arm wrapping around my waist, pulling me flush to him as we meld together.
It’s not a sweet kiss—it’s a claiming. Lips and teeth and tongue, and then he’s moving, shifting me, lifting me. My legs move to wrap his hips, and he’s laughing as he kisses me, smiling into it as he starts to move us, leading us out of the bar.
Somewhere in the back of my consciousness, I hear cheering, and I know it’s from our friends. Continuing to kiss Jesse, I flip them off, and a chorus of laughter follows us out of the bar.
We’re headed to the elevators as my lips move down his neck, deciding he probably needs to be able to see as he moves us through the lobby with a purpose. It might be faster if he puts me down, but neither of us wants that; neither of us wants any kind of distance.
I just want his skin on mine in any way I can get it.
