A distortion of the light from movement down the hall had me peeking in that direction. Looking like an avenging villain, face and body cast in shadows from the light behind him, Langston stood with his muscular chest puffed out and his dark glare narrowed on Stew.
“Who the hell are you?” Stew questioned. “Wait, you’re that big guy who was hanging out around my apartment earlier today. What the fuck do you want?”
“For you to watch your fucking tone when you’re talking to a woman like Juno.”
I could’ve pissed my pants at the anger in Langston’s tone because of how Stew spoke to me.Am I in some kind of dream or twilight zone?
Stew hooked a thumb in my direction. “Her?”
Langston nodded. “Her.”
Stew scoffed. “Whatever, man.” Turning to me, he hitched his chin toward the dining room. “Be ready to order. I’mstarving.” With that, he shuffled down the hall, avoiding Langston, who refused to move from blocking most of the path, and headed back to the table.
“I’ll make sure he doesn’t come looking for her.”
I cocked my head to the side, not understanding Langston’s words until a soft touch stroked along my hand, jerking my attention to the man now standing beside me. West’s shy smile had my shoulders dropping and the tension from seconds ago draining out of me.
Interlacing our fingers, he urged me to follow him deeper down the hall. Which I did willingly. He shot a mischievous look over his shoulder when we paused outside a closed door before guiding me into the dark storage room. Once we were both inside, he turned the lights on. The fluorescent bulbs overhead flickered before buzzing to life, highlighting racks of shelves and the boxes stacked along them.
The purse strap slid in my sweaty palms as I adjusted my grip, gaze bouncing around the small room to avoid looking at West.
What the hell was I doing? Sneaking off with West O’Donnell while I was on a date with another guy? This wasn’t me. I wasn’t adventurous—or that rude.
“West, I?—”
A pair of soft, full lips pressed to mine, cutting off my next words and erasing all thoughts and reservations. He urged me back a step, then another until my spine pressed against a shelf beam, holding me up as I lost all sense of reality. Before I could deepen the kiss, he pulled back just enough that when he spoke, our lips barely brushed.
“You do not know how long I’ve wanted to do that,” he rasped, dark eyes searching my face. “Please, Juno.”
“Please what?” I whispered.
“Please let me kiss you.” I sucked in a startled breath at the feel of him brushing a single finger along the inside of my bare thigh, inching the hem of my sweater dress higher with every stroke. “Let me touch you.”
“West.”
“Sweet cheeks.”
The corner of my lips curved upward only to slip, remembering all the sweet things Eric had said to me in the beginning. It was too risky for me to hope for more than this moment with West, to think this passion and sweetness from him would be something that would last.
What terrified me the most about the man staring at me like I was the air he needed to survive was that I could easily look at him the same way.
“This is just for tonight.” He blinked at me as if processing my words. “Tomorrow we go back to how things were, just friends.”
“Why?” he questioned.
“That’s just how it has to be. I can’t be anything more than that, West.”
His dark eyes bored into me as if trying to uncover all my secrets. “What if I say no?”
My heart sank. “Then I go back to my so-called date, and then tonight, when I go home, I take care of my needs alone.”
The fire that flared in his gaze rekindled the one burning in my lower belly.
“And who would you think about while you took care of your own needs?” West leaned in close, gliding his lips along my throat before nipping at the delicate skin.
My purse thumped to the floor. Grabbing his neck, I held him close as he sucked and licked down to my collarbone. Desire leaked from my core, no doubt soaking my panties, making mecringe. Eric had told me on more than one occasion that it was gross how wet I got when turned on.
A sharp bite just beneath my ear snapped my attention back to West.
