“Yes, you did,” she insisted.
“That’s not possible,” he said, shaking his head emphatically.
“Why?” she demanded. They were definitely louder than the singing. “Because I’m not sexy enough or I’m not desirable at all to you?”
She might as well have kneed him between the legs. He paled and his mouth worked as he fought for a response.
“You kissed me, Nick!” she accused.
“Maybe youimaginedI kissed you. Or misinterpreted something. Because I have never—Iwouldnever—”
“Do you know what women hate most?” she hissed, mad as a cobra. “Being told that a man’s clear and present actions are all in her head!” Her chair fell over in her harried attempt to get as far away from the table as possible.
“Sassy, wait!”
She yanked her purse over her shoulder and elbowed a path through the happy throng to get to the closest exit, ignoring the lyrics being shouted around her.
“Sassy!”
She picked up the pace. Someone grunted as she stepped on his instep. His arms flailed and he fell into the person behind him. A woman shrieked. Shouting that had nothing to do with joy or merriment commenced. The sound of a fist connecting with a face and a cry of pain eclipsed the next lines of the song.
She found the side door at last and barreled out into the night. She drank the cool night air, ignoring the way her breath hitched. Wrapping her arms around herself, she looked toward the road. Should she walk home? Call an Uber? Call Ryan or her parents to come pick her up?
The door opened at her back, spilling noise and light into the graveled side lot. She spun with a frown to find Nick.
He was breathing heavily. A little wild-eyed, he jerked his thumb over his shoulder and said, “I almost got my head taken off back there.”
“You think Iimaginedit?” she asked, bewildered. Before she knew what her feet were doing, she charged him. Planting her hands on his chest, she pushed him back against the closed door. “Hold still.”
As she planted her boots between his and her torso slid into the warmth of his own, he drew in a sharp breath and raised his hands. “What are you doing?”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she drawled. “Does this look like a pass to you? Maybeyou’reimagining things.”
His jaw flexed and his eyes darkened. “You’ve made your point, Sassy.”
She lifted herself to her tiptoes, ignoring the fact that her face was on fire and she was still short of breath. “Imagine this,” she invited, turning her nose into the collar of his shirt. She let the tip of her nose brush against the skin of his throat. It was hot—like a branding iron. His scent drenched her. She missed a breath entirely and bit her lip to stop a whimper from escaping.
A shiver coursed through him. She felt it sink into her as she parted her mouth, letting her breath whisper across the heat of his skin. Then, emboldened, she closed her lips over the spot, kissing him just as he had kissed her. The feelings coursing through her demanded it. They needed the taste of him…a subtle clash of soap and salt.
A soft, plaintive noise escaped her. She opened her mouth, suckled.
Air hissed between his teeth.
Her hands spread through the hair on the back of his head, bringing it down so that she could nibble a titillating line up to his jaw.
His warm palm spread across her cheek, gentle as it maneuvered her back a step.
It took a moment for him to solidify before her. She’d gotten lost in him—the heat of him, his smell, his taste…
His pupils had dilated and the look in his eyes was a straight whiskey shot of…
Hunger.
It didn’t take much for him to reverse their positions, him crowding her into the door. The hand on her cheek caressed her, his thumb sweeping across her skin as he studied her eyes, her brow, her mouth… Her heart pounded between them. She wondered it didn’t beat through her chest wall as he took his time considering her and the inches that separated his mouth from hers, stretching the moment out until anticipation whistled between them at a frequency only dogs could hear.
Then he closed the distance and his eyes held hers as he kissed her—reallykissed her—for the first time.
Chapter 14
