His frown deepened, but he followed me into the kitchen. He smelled so good, like freshly cleaned clothes and sandalwood. I opened the cabinet to grab a glass, but we’d used all the ones on the bottom shelf. “Shit.”
“Let me be a gentleman and help,” he said, moving behind me and placing one hand on my shoulder. With the other, he grabbed the glass on the highest shelf, but in the process, he pressed his chest to my back. I froze and didn’t move a single muscle.
“Th-thanks,” I said, my entire body on fire. How could he not tell? My face had to be redder than a tomato at this point. All from lust. “I’ll pour it for you.”
“No, no need. I couldn’t have you spill it accidentally, hm?” He got ice, poured the fruit punch and rum into a glass, and held it up. “I feel like we should toast. Do you need me to make you one?”
“Mine’s around here.” My chest heaved, and I found my leftover drink from before we headed upstairs. I clinked my glass to Michael’s. “Cheers, Michael Reiner.”
“Sure thing, Naomi Fletcher.”
We held eye contact as we each took a sip, and my god, I’d never been this attracted to a guy before. I wanted to jump on him, and instead of being polite and taking a small sip, I downed the rest of my drink.
“I’m officially tipsy,” I said out loud instead of in my mind. “Oops, I didn’t mean to announce it to you. But I did. So now you know.”
“I appreciate how open you are.” He laughed. “I’ll keep you updated on my status too.”
“Please and thank you.”
He laughed again, harder this time, and he leaned his very sexy hip against my counter. “So Officially Tipsy, what does one of these parties look like?”
“It’s so fun. We bounce from unit to unit. This month’s is on the floor above us, so we didn’t have to prepare our unit. But there’s a 90s movie going on in each one and games and you saw the outfits.”
“This is kinda cool. Our building would never do anything like this.” He took a long swig of the drink, and I watched, transfixed as his throat moved with his swallow.
Tipsy Naomi had no reservations about being into Michael. Tipsy Naomi was seconds away from kissing the hell out of him and saying fuck the consequences. I took a step near him and ran my tongue over my bottom lip, my skin already tingling from anticipation.
As I got closer to him, his nostrils flared, and he jutted his chin toward the door. “Should we bring libations to Freddie and play some games? You know I love a good competition.”
His blues eyes sparkled, and I could think of nothing I’d rather do than play a game with him. I’d lose, most likely, but it’d be fun.
That was what my tipsy mind agreed on with Michael—falling for him, kissing him, sleeping with him—it’d be fun. My life didn’t have a lot offun,and that was my new plan. Have a good time with him and leave the feelings out of it.
“You’re on, Reiner.”
His eyes flashed with heat, and his gaze dropped to my mouth for one second before he moved out the door. I admired his ass the entire time, but he didn’t catch me. Tipsy Naomi was sneaky and horny. Who would’ve thought?
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Michael
In my twenty-four years, I’d done some dumb shit. I once did a beer-bong before a test. I jumped off a roof into a pool. I’d even eaten a large moth for ten bucks. But all of that was small compared to right now. Agreeing to come to Naomi’s place after she had a few drinks hit the top of that list. I needed space and air to escape her tantalizing lemon scent that made me want to rip off that tight tank top and explore her body with my mouth.
She usually wore loose clothing that hid her curves and that chest. Fuck. I ground my teeth together when she lifted her arms over her head, exposing a little bit of her stomach. Naomi was beautiful. Intelligent, funny, and beautiful.
My attraction to her was a collection of things. Like the way she smiled and how she scrunched her nose. It was how goddamn clumsy she was and how she always smelled good. It was how she wanted to fix her family so badly but didn’t know how. It was also the confident way she nerded out about what she liked. I watched as she tripped on her own feet when we left her small kitchen and made our way toward the door.
“Jesus, how have you not broken every bone in your body?”
My tone came out harsher than I meant, but her tripping made me uneasy. Plus, I reached out to steady her. It was the polite thing to do, and I only let my fingers linger for an extra second. Okay, more like ten seconds.
“I’m a graceful faller.”
“No you’re not.”
She took another long drink, and a little spilled down her lip. She stuck out her tongue to lick it at the same time I moved my thumb to wipe it up.
She licked my finger in the process, and my stomach tightened with an aggressive need. “Naomi,” I said, neither one of us moving. My thumb remained on her jaw, caressing her smooth face on its own accord.
