“Jude.” Levi’s quiet but stern tone brings me back to reality.
I break the kiss and the contact, except for our hands, which I link together. She sighs and murmurs, “Oh Mylanta.”
It causes a burst of laughter to rumble up from my chest. “You still say that?”
She nods sheepishly, and a wave of nostalgia hits me. It fills me with warmth and makes me feel lighter. The last time I heard her say that, my dad was healthy, and I was young and knew nothing but wanted to learn everything. When my best friend hadn’t stabbed me in the back and I wasn’t so fucking jaded. “Let’s get out of here, so I can do that again with less of an audience and less clothes in the way.”
I lead us, with my head down, on a steady march to the part of the parking lot that’s still being used for cars. We pass one of the clowns, and he waves a pink balloon dog in our general direction and smiles, and it’s creepy as fuck and makes me shudder. Zoey notices and looks at me, her eyebrows pulled together pensively. “Are you scared of clowns?”
“Fuck, yes,” I say firmly, and that makes her laugh. God, if I could bottle that sound, I’d make millions selling it as a cure for depression. “One night when I was about ten at the cottage I couldn’t sleep. You could see the TV from the top of the stairs if you lay flat on the landing. I used to sneakily watch TV from there every now and then, and this one night my parents were watchingIt. I didn’t even mean to watch the whole thing, but I was literally too terrified to move once I saw Pennywise.”
“But you’re an adult now.”
“Have you ever seen a clown that didn’t look like a psychopath? Seriously?”
She laughs again and does this crazy cute thing where she kind of hugs my arm, her head tipping to rest on my shoulder briefly, and I have this insane desire to kiss the top of her head, but I fight it because it seems silly.
“That guy is probably a simple suburban dad of two or something,” she counters rationally.
“Yeah, dad of two who spends his spare time burying bodies under his kids’swing set in the backyard,” I add.
“I guess I should rethink my clown costume for Halloween.”
“Yeah, you should. Clowns are deal breakers.”
“I wouldn’t want to break any deal I might have going with you,” she retorts, and her smile has slipped from cheery into flirty.
As soon as we get to my car, I glance back quickly to make sure the clown didn’t follow us, and then I pull on her arm, swing her around and reenact the bouncy castle kiss, this time pressing her into the much less forgiving side of my Tesla. She doesn’t seem to mind the hardness of the car or of the kiss, which is much more aggressive than the previous one. I am so fucking turned on by her I can barely control myself. I want to strip her bare right here. I’ve waited over a decade to have her, and now that it’s imminent, it feels like it’s been two decades.
“You better get your perky ass in my car so I can get us home, or else we’re going to be charged with indecent exposure,” I warn her. Thankfully, she knows from the growl in my voice that I’m not kidding around, and she quickly slips into the passenger seat as soon as I open the door.
I know we have to go to her place, because I am not risking some unsolicited booty call screwing this up again. I take her hand when we’re in the car and keep it laced with mine, resting on the console between us. About five minutes from her place, she realizes where we’re going.
“My place?”
I nod. “Is that okay?”
“Yeah, I just wasn’t expecting it,” she replies and looks suddenly worried. “Adam was supposed to have movers come get his stuff today, but I’m sure they’re gone by now.”
The slight scowl on her face doesn’t fade, and I hate that. Still, I’m not risking uninvited guests at my place, and as soon as I get out of this car I’m putting my phone on silent. Nothing—ab-so-fucking-lutely nothing is going to ruin this for me.
I pull to the curb in front of her place because even the parking gods are helping me get laid tonight. Thanks, universe, if I could high-five you, I would. We both get out, and I reach around and put a hand on her hip as I follow her up the stairs. I’m sure the house is impressive. It’s a San Francisco landmark, and between her ex’s money and Zoey’s good taste, it’s probably decorated perfectly, but my goal is to not see a fucking lick of it. All I want to see is Zoey’s perfect naked body spread out on a flat surface, and the only view I want to see is the one from between her legs as she comes on my tongue.
She twists the key in the lock, and the door swings open. It’s dark, not a light on anywhere, but that doesn’t bother me either. I use my grip on her waist to turn her around and even without light to guide me, my lips find hers perfectly. She melts against me and her mouth opens, allowing me to gain access. Her mouth is warm, welcoming and sweet, because she still tastes like the cotton candy I bought her earlier tonight.
I kick the door closed with the heel of my shoe and then turn her around so she’s up against it. What is it about her that I have to dry-hump her every chance I get? I can’t control myself because I’ve never felt a rush like the one I get when I’m pushing against her. I can’t even begin to imagine how good it’s going to be with no clothes. Jesus, it might kill me. I’m willing to take that risk.
She wraps one arm around my neck but reaches out with the other, groping against the wall for the light switch. I grab that searching hand by the wrist and gently but firmly lift it up and pin it between the top of the door she’s pressed against and my palm. Then I reach up, take her other arm by the wrist and do the same.
When I drag my lips from her mouth to her neck she whimpers, and I swear it goes straight to my cock, which starts to throb it’s so damn hard. “I am going to make it impossible for you to do anything but make that sound.”
“Right here?” she whispers back, arching her neck like a good girl so I can have all the access I want. “Against the door?”
“Do you care?” I breathe against her ear before pulling the lobe between my teeth and biting down, hard but quick, and then sucking on it. She shivers that good shiver that has nothing to do with the temperature. “Do you want me so much you’d let me fuck you against the door? On the hall floor? On the stairs?”
“I would’ve let you fuck me against the bouncy castle if you wanted. In front of everyone. I don’t care,” she replies, and her wrists wiggle under my hands, trying to break free. I let go, but only because I want to have my own hands free to take off her clothes, not because I don’t want her pinned to the door.
I push her jacket off her shoulders, and she steps out of her flats, reaches for the hem of my shirt and yanks it over my head in one quick motion. I toe out of my shoes, kicking them to the side next to where my T-shirt landed. Her lips are latched onto my neck, and her fingertips are grazing their way down my torso to my pants. She starts undoing the button and fly on my jeans, and I slip my hands under her shirt, but I can barely see the beautiful skin I’m revealing, which sucks, so I reach for that light switch and flip it on.
