Alicia shook her head. “They’re always out there, but they hardly ever bite us. We must not taste very good.”
“I have to disagree with you there.” Clare’s voice dropped into a register Alicia hadn’t heard before. “Because I think women are delicious.”
Alicia inhaled at the same time she tried to swallow. Beer went down her windpipe, making her cough, anddamn, Clare was good at this, while Alicia continued to prove her point that she wasn’t. Here she was, eyes watering as she choked on her beer, while Clare sat across from her, radiant and composed and without a doubt the sexiest person in this bar tonight. Who else would Alicia want to flirt with, even if she could?
“Tell me something about yourself that would surprise me,” Clare said once Alicia had stopped coughing.
“I was on my high school debate team.”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” Clare told her. “You have very strong opinions, and you’re good at arguing them, but that was an opening to take the conversation somewhere intimate and flirty. Want to try again?”
“Oh,” Alicia said, feeling less sexy than ever. She paused to think, surprised when she saw Clare’s gaze drop to her lips. Only then did she realize she had pinched her bottom lip between her teeth. Now she traced it with her tongue, and Clare’s attention there sharpened.Something intimate and flirty. “I’m extremely ticklish.”
Clare grinned, and there was no mistaking the pride on her face. “Perfect answer. And I’m filing that information away. Never know when it might come in handy.” She winked.
Alicia felt a warm tug low in her belly. This little game was doing nothing to mitigate her crush on Clare. Helpless to do anything but make the most of the moment, Alicia allowed her gaze to dip to Clare’s cleavage, feasting her eyes on the swell of her breasts above the bodice of her dress. Clare’s skin was perfectly tanned from her afternoon on the beach, warm and sun kissed. “I have a birthmark on my hip that looks like a crescent moon.”
“Now you’re getting the hang of it,” Clare said. “Keep going.”
“Your turn,” Alicia said, feeling empowered by Clare’s encouragement…and the heat in her eyes when Alicia finally dragged her gaze back up to meet them. “Tell me something about you that would surprise me.”
“I can curl my tongue,” Clare answered without hesitation. Either she’d given this answer before, or she was just that good at flirting. She stuck out her tongue and curled the edges together, then grinned playfully.
“Impressive.” Alicia wasn’t sure when she’d leaned forward, but her elbows were resting on the table now, her body gravitating toward Clare’s without her permission.
“And after last night, I think I want to get a tattoo of a sea turtle.”
“What happened last night?” Alicia asked, falling back into the game where Clare was a random woman in the bar that she was flirting with.
“I went for a moonlit walk on the beach,” Clare said, her voice so low Alicia almost couldn’t hear her, which made her lean even closer. “And I watched an endangered sea turtle lay her eggs. It was a really intimate experience, especially because of the woman I was with.”
“Oh?” Alicia’s breath hitched, and her heart jumped. “Your girlfriend?”
Clare’s eyes seemed to burn her with their intensity. “No, but I did want to kiss her there in the moonlight.”
“Only in the moonlight?” Alicia asked breathlessly.
“No,” Clare whispered.
“Should I be jealous?”
Clare shook her head slowly, a honeyed curl sliding out from behind her ear to cover the left side of her face. “Nope. If anything, she reminds me of you.”
“Oh,” Alicia gasped. It felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room, like she couldn’t breathe, like her lips were made only for kissing Clare, not for such basic functions as allowing air to enter her lungs. Who needed air anyway?
“Hey, ladies,” a male voice said, shattering the spell. “Can I buy your next round?”
Alicia sat up straight, her head swimming. She felt almost drunk. Lust drink? She’d heard that term before, but never experienced it. Gathering her wits, she turned to glare at the man standing beside their table. “I don’t think so.”
“You sure about that?” he persisted, and she almost growled at him in her frustration.
“We’re sure,” Clare said lightly. “Thanks, though.”
With a shrug, he headed toward the bar. Clare rested her chin on her hands, watching Alicia with a quiet smile. The moment they’d shared was over…if it had even been a moment. Alicia was probably the only one who’d felt anything. She’d probably said something wrong and offended Clare too.
Alicia sat back, crossing her arms over her chest. “I think…I’m ready to go back to the house.”
6
