I thought about it. He’d only seen me with my hair in a bun in the pool, or after the steam room when it was soaking wet. When loose, my hair is down to my waist and is midnight black, just like Lucas’s. But with some natural wave, not poker-straight like his.
“It’s almost dry,” I said, and took my arms from around Lucas to start pulling out the tie that held up my bun.
He stepped away from me, away from the car, to face me. He watched my face as I took out the bun, focused on my lips as I shook out my nearly dry hair. I fingered through the long tresses, pulling out snarls, while I focused on Lucas’s hot gaze.
I bent over at the waist then came up quickly, tossing my hair back, like I was a stripper or something. I leaned back against the car, putting my hands on it behind me.
“God damn,” he whispered, not getting it all out before his hands were on my face and his mouth was on mine.
He smelled like the freshly laundered cotton of his hoodie and a little of…car, I guess. I tasted the beer on his lips, then his tongue swept into my mouth and I stopped thinking about what Lucas Kade tasted like and just kissed him back.
Our tongues danced and played and he tilted his mouth for a better angle, taking the kiss even deeper. I took my hands from the cold metal of the car and placed them on the warm cotton of Lucas’s hoodie. I felt the muscles in his chest flex at my touch, but I just wanted to taste him. My entire being focused on the kiss, his mouth on mine, demanding, conquering, yet giving as well. I moaned into his mouth as he nipped my lower lip.
“Jesus, Lily,” he said, and took my mouth again. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he stepped closer to me, leaned into me. My fleece pulled up and I could feel the denim of his jeans on my bare belly.
He pushed his hips into me and I felt his erection. I shifted my legs, opening my stance so he could get closer. Closer. It couldn’t be close enough. I grabbed on to his hair, running my fingers through it, clutching his neck. I rubbed up against him like a cat in heat. “Lucas,” I whispered against his mouth, then ran my tongue along his full lips.
“I know, baby,” he said. Like he knew how crazy this was, going at it against a car when I barely knew him. He pulled away and put his hands along my face, forcing me to look at him.
I felt dazed, drugged, and it seemed like he did too.
“I know,” he repeated, echoing my thoughts. “But I can’t…” He didn’t say more, just kissed me again. Sweetly at first, as if he didn’t want to scare me. Even though my feelings for him—so strong, so fast—were scaring the crap out of me. I kissed him back, trying to let him know I was okay. He figured it out, taking the kiss deeper again, grinding his erection into me as I shifted closer, meeting him.
“Dude, we gotta go,” Stick said from his window, which I hadn’t even heard being rolled down, as induced in my Lucas fog as I was.
“What?” Lucas said, pulling away from me. He was in as much of a haze as I was, looking at me as if I’d said the words.
“Dude. Lucas. We’ve got to go, man,” Stick said, causing Lucas to look from me to his friend.
A look passed between them. Lucas nodded. In a flash he’d turned off the spotlight, put it back in the trunk, and herded me around the car to where Jane let us in.
We sped away and back through town.
“Sorry to do that to you, man, but I got a call,” Stick said, meeting Lucas’s eyes in the rearview mirror.
“It’s okay,” Lucas said. The look he gave me said it was anything but okay—it was full of regret and unfinished business.
He put his arm around me, and I again resisted the urge to crawl onto his lap. But this time, I did move very close, and laid a hand across his chest.
His hand played in my hair, occasionally massaging my neck and scalp. It felt incredible.
“Why did we go there?” I asked. He leaned into my neck, nuzzling.
“Wasn’t it obvious?”
“No. I mean, whythere? How was that place inspiration?”
He took a drink from his beer, draining it. “I like looking at the colors the taggers are using. Some of the designs. It gives me ideas for tiling jobs.”
“You mean you’re going to do a tile mosaic of the president in my steam room?”
He smiled, placed a soft, warm kiss on my lips, then shook his head. “Nah. I’m thinking more like penises and boobs.”
I laughed, reveling in our private joke. Jane and Stick had been silent since we’d gotten back in the car. From the stiff set of Jane’s shoulders, I guessed I was looking at more liketwomonths of doing her laundry.
As we got back to the small, swanky area of town, the car slowed down along a row of parked cars. A fancy French restaurant was on one side, a trendy fusion place on the other. Valets were running cars for both places, as the street had no parking. Diners got out of expensive cars and headed into the restaurants.
I hadn’t known about this small pocket of town, and figured it’d be about the only area my parents would deign to go to when they’d come to pick me up for break.
