“Oh, I think you know,” he growls. “I want to kiss you right now. Is that okay?”
Consent.He’s got me wound up so tight and wet, I would let him do whatever the fuck he wanted to do to my body, right here in the middle of this bar. But the fact that he asked turns me on even more.
“Please.” I hardly get the word out before his lips are on mine in a soft but possessive kiss. His hand slides from my jaw to my hair, gripping it tightly as if he’s fighting to control himself in this kiss. I don’t want him controlled, I want him undone. I slip my tongue along his lips, and he moans, parting his lips and allowing me to slip inside. He sucks on my tongue, hard, and then suddenly, he’s pulling away.
My heart is pounding as he steps back, his hand sliding back to my jaw.
“Can I walk you to your car?” he asks, just as breathless as I am.
I shake my head—it’s late, his group is on their way out, and with the tips he’s given me tonight, I can take an Uber back to my apartment. Britney dropped me off earlier today for my shift, anyway, since she was headed out on auditions, so it’s not like I’m leaving my car at work.
Ritchie runs back and, before I can say anything else, he sweeps Corey along toward the exit as I stare wistfully at what could have been walking out the door.
Grateful for a day off, I sleep in til noon. Not something I do often, but I didn’t make it home until just after 3 a.m. I haven’t stayed out that late in ages, so naturally my body wanted payment in the form of sleep.
As I stumble out of my room, I see Ally working on her laptop at the island in the kitchen. With her position at a PR firm in Vegas, she often has the flexibility to work from home—must be one of those days. Ally is the day-dreamer of our little group. When she’s not working, she’s reading a dirty book on her Kindle—and when we’re bored, we ask her to read some of her recent “highlighted” parts for fun.
“I just made a pot of coffee an hour ago,” she says, glancing up from her laptop. “It should still be warm for you.”
“You’re a fucking saint,” I mumble, walking to the coffeemaker and reaching for my favorite mug in the cabinet above. The mug has Pedro Pascal on it and a quote from a TV show he was in; honestly, anything with that man is my favorite, and this mug was a gift from my roommates last Christmas.
Taking the first sip of coffee, I moan in satisfaction. Ally eyes me curiously. “Late night for you, huh?”
I take my mug over to the couch and sit down with my favorite blanket. “Yeah,” is all I can think of to say.
Ally twists in her seat to give me a suspicious look. I’ve known Ally since high school; we were close, then went to separate schools when we graduated. It was by chance that we reconnected in California. She had gone to college there, majoring in communications, and was struggling to find work in the entertainment industry. We discovered Britney was amutual friend and all of us were looking for a new place to live. So, we got a small place in LA for a year and made a pact: if none of us could find work within a year, we would relocate somewhere fresh together.
Alas, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, and Ally and Britney didn’t find jobs they loved in LA, so we decided to try out Vegas, and here we are. Ally landed a dream job at a sports PR firm, where she handles major events for professional sports teams in the city.
Britney still floats around from gig to gig, just like she did in LA. I can’t imagine she makes good money, especially with how inconsistent her jobs can be, but she makes rent every month and seems to have plenty of money left over to live comfortably. It’s a mystery to me how she does it, but I don’t pry.
I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m doing my dream job. Honestly, who dreams of being a cocktail server? But there are so many parts of my job I enjoy that I’ve just let myself settle into a happy routine here in Vegas with my friends.
Ugh.Settle. I hate that word.
“Why are you giving me that look?” I ask Ally.
“Because your hoe ass was out til 3 a.m., and Beckett says he saw you at O’Malley’s last night with some hot as fuck grown ass man,” Britney says, stalking out of her room on the other side of the apartment. Britney is gorgeous, with auburn hair that falls in beachy waves over her shoulders, and skin so light she jokes she’s translucent in the sun.
I close my eyes and groan. Maybe I shouldn’t have brought Corey to such a familiar place. Beckett is Britney’s gay bestie, and he loves to gossip. I was so wrapped up in my convo with Corey that I didn’t even pay attention to who else I might have known there last night. I can tell by the look Ally’s giving me that Britney has already shared this gossip with her, and now they’re both looking at me expectantly for an explanation.
“Beckett is a gossip,” I mumble, busying myself with another sip of coffee.
Britney plops on the couch next to me. “So, who is this guy? Tell us everything.”
Before I can open my mouth, the door to Britney’s room opens and a tall, lean, disheveled guy walks out. His dirty blonde hair is hanging in his eyes, and he pauses when he sees all of us sitting in the common space, staring at him. He’s cute, and, knowing Britney, it’s probably a musician from a club she picked up. At Britney’s random gigs around town, she’ll usually find a guy who’s “just her type”—she always claims this, when really, every guy is Brit’s type.
I watch as he saunters over to Britney, bending down and placing a kiss on the top of her head. He’s quiet, but so are we, so I can hear him mumble, “Thanks for last night, pretty girl. See you around.”
With an awkward wave to me and Ally, this guy makes his way to the front door and leaves as quickly as he appeared.
Narrowing my glance at Britney, she dismisses me with a wave. “Not worth discussing,” she says. “We’re focusing on you. Continue.” She gestures.
Sighing, I take a deep breath and give them some details. Not everything—I’m certainly not telling them how Corey licked the lime juice from my face, although the memory of that moment has my core clenching as I tell them about him. I make it sound like a hot guy from the high limit room asked to take me out after my shift, and we had some good conversation and a promise to see each other again while he’s still in town.
“Oh, and he’s a porn star,” I say, adding that bomb of a detail on at the very end before taking a large sip of my coffee.
Ally and Britney’s eyes widen to saucers.
