A sexy smile spreads across her lips. “It’s your turn.” She tries to reach between us, but I grasp her wrist and bring her hand to my lips.
I hold her gaze when I kiss her soft skin. “I got what I’ve been wanting for so long. I told you I’m serious when it matters, and that, sugar, mattered a whole damn lot to me. We’ll do more later. I want to savor this.”
She runs her hands through my hair, her gaze roaming all over my face. “You’re too good to be true.”
“Nah,” I say with a smile. “I’m a little bit naughty—when it matters.”
CHAPTER TEN
Elodie
“It’s only Bootleg,” I mutter as I fuss with my hair. I’ve gone too many years just throwing it up and getting only a trim here and there. Now I’m at a loss for how to style it. I meant to tackle my date prep alone, but I texted Clem about how to do my hair because I had no idea. She was here within ten minutes.
She reclines on my bed, her feet dangling off the end. A sandal hangs off the toes of a jiggling foot. “It’s your debut. Do a blowout.”
Frowning, I flutter my fingers at my scalp. “It’s dry.”
“Do, um... barrel curls? Flat iron? I’m so not the one to ask.”
“You do all the cute hairstyles.”
She rolls her eyes. “Fun ones. Quirky. Bootleg is the wrong vibe for that.” She says that with a wrinkled nose. “I’m a librarian. People expect it.”
“What about the cozy mystery writer? What hairstyle for that?”
“Usually unwashed and unbrushed.”
“And the spicy writer?”
Her smile turns devilish. “Unwashed, unbrushed, and unbothered.”
“Unless someone finds out who you are, Cutie Hancock.”
Her eyes flare like I announced her secret pen name with a bullhorn in the middle of the street. “You stop that.”
“I’d never betray your secret, but you need to tell me how to do my hair.” I want to wow Cruz, but I’m not comfortable sexing it up like I used to. Will I ever be again? I don’t know. Cruz was after me in the baggiest of clothing, but this is an official, public date. Our lunch out was less formal.
She purses her lips and studies my hair. “Down and curled. So he can fist it.”
This time I’m the one rolling my eyes. “It’s just a drink.”
“It’s athirddate.”
“I ran out on the second, so it doesn’t count.” Not even with that panty-incinerating kiss.
“Still counts.”
My belly clenches and a little moan leaves me. He had me twisted in knots and then unwinding until I nearly floated away. I can still feel the steel band of his arms around me. Picture the way he licked his finger clean. The guy hardly touched me and I came so hard I couldn’t see straight.
She whips around, her feet hitting the floor, her back straight. Excitement gleams in her eyes. “Something happened.”
“What? No.”
She bounces on my bed like she’s a kid and not approaching thirty. “It did. This is so fun. You’ve blocked me out of everything else, so you have to tell me this.”
Her words hit home. She said them lightly, but it’s a serious topic. I drop my hands from my hair and look at her through the mirror. “I didn’t mean to shut you out.”
She turns solemn.
