While Mabel climbed off the stage and accepted high fives from the tables she passed, Ana excused herself to say hello to Dave, leaving Jake alone to try to collect himself. But by the time Mabel collapsed into the chair next to him, he was practically vibrating with the need to put his hands on whatever parts of her she’d allow.
“So.” She tilted her head toward him, looking almost bashful. “That’s a thing I do from time to time.”
Her eyes were bright, her cheeks pink. God, she was beautiful.
“I don’t know what to say,” he said. “You were fantastic.”
She shook her head. “Either you’re being kind, or you have your beer goggles on.”
“Beer goggles are for eyes.”
“Beer ear goggles then,” she amended with a laugh.
Time to make it clear to her where he stood. He’d danced around it enough tonight, and he couldn’t take it anymore. He had to touch her, this talented, laughing, vibrant woman. He slid his hand beneath the yellow silk of her hair, curled his fingers around the nape of her neck. She stilled under his touch, eyes fluttering shut, and he asked the question pushing against his brain. “Did you drive yourself here tonight?”
But at his words, she pulled away, eyes wide. “I need… I need a sec,” she mumbled, leaping to her feet and heading toward the restrooms.
Fuck. He pushed too far, too fast. She wasn’t ready for this, and why would she be? His sexual floodgates were open, but she could very well still think of him as some guy from work. Blowing up their friendship was the worst possible outcome to the night. He had to apologize, make this right, even if it killed him to do it. This kind of connection was so rare for him, the first in almost seven years. By some miracle he’d come to this strange town and found the woman who woke him up to all this hot, heady possibility. But if she wasn’t ready, or if she didn’t return his big, pulsing feelings… Well, that would fucking suck, wouldn’t it? He just needed to figure out what she was thinking.
He stood and followed her down the hallways to the restroom, reaching for her arm once he was close enough. “Mabel, I’m sorry.” The instant his fingers touched her wrist, she whirled around.
“Don’t.” Her voice was too loud in the hallway, and she said more quietly, “Don’t apologize.”
She reallywasn’tinterested. He swallowed his flash of bitter disappointment. “I didn’t mean to push for something you’re not ready for. I respect the hell out of you. You’re the best, funniest person I’ve ever—”
She laughed wildly. “Wait, you think I don’t want this?” Her tongue darted out to wet her lower lip, and she crossed her arms over her stomach. “AllI want is this, and it terrifies me.”
“Why?” He immediately took a step back, giving her space.
She studied him with worried blue eyes. “We cross this line, there’s no going back. Is that what you want?”
“Yes.”A simple word, but it burst from his throat, raw with emotion. “I want my hands on you. I want my mouth on you. I want…”
The feral expression on her face shut down his words, and they stared at each other in charged silence for a long moment until they moved toward one another at the same time and crashed together in a kiss. She pushed him backward until his back hit the wall, then flattened herself against him, fingers digging into his shoulders and hips bumping against him as she chased his tongue with hers. His senses flooded with the smell of her, the taste, the incredible fucking feeling of having Mabel in his arms at last, warm and pliant.
She broke their kiss with a moan, and he pressed his thumb gently into the soft underside of her jaw until she met his gaze.
“I’m being honest when I say that I’ve never been more turned on in my life,” he said.
His already hard cock twitched with satisfaction as her lips fell open and her eyes darkened.
“Did you drive yourself here tonight?” He repeated his earlier question, and she shook her head, apparently robbed of speech. “Ana and Dave drove you?”
She nodded.
“Okay if I take you home?”
She nodded again.
“Okay if I take you homeright fucking now?”he growled, sliding his thumb down her neck to her exposed shoulder.
“God, yes,” she breathed. “Let’s go.”
Eleven
The joke in Beaucoeur was that everything is fifteen minutes from everywhere else. How long to get to the library? Fifteen minutes. The movie theater? Fifteen minutes. The mall? The office? The gym? It’s all fifteen minutes.
The fifteen minutes it took to get from the Elephant to Mabel’s house were the longest fifteen minutes she’d ever endured. Neither she nor Jake spoke much. She felt swathed in a layer of gauze, the beat of her heart muffled in her chest. Her head was spinning from a mix of alcohol, adrenaline, and excruciating awareness of the man sitting next to her, breaking every traffic law to get them to her house that much faster.
