His eyebrows furrow adorably for a moment. “What, right now? You’re the only one here.”
I bark out a short laugh and resist the urge to clutch at my chest, but it’s a near thing. He’s so damn cute. I know we’re both drunk and that’s probably why it’s so cute, but I don’t let that stop me from pushing it. “What, you never kissed a man before either?”
He shakes his head once, eyes falling to the empty drink tray between us. My gaze follows his, catching on the sight of his hand gripping the armrest, tightening once before easing up. “No, never.”
When I glance back up, he’s turned his face away, the mass of cottony clouds blotting out the blue in the window. “You ever want to?”
His eyes snap back to my face, wide and startled. “Huh?”
I tip my head slightly to the side, doing the glancing-up-through-my-eyelashes thing that always works when I want to flirt. “I asked if you ever wanted to kiss a guy.”
He stares at me for almost a full minute, Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallows. I start to wonder if maybe the booze has gotten even more into his system than I thought and left him beyond understanding any of my words. But finally, he responds, and it’s not what I expected to come out of his mouth.
“I have.”
“Yeah?” I ask slowly. I don’t want to spook him. I really, really want him to explain that affirmative to me.
After another long, long minute, he continues. “This one time in undergrad when my roommate thought I was asleep and snuck a guy into our room. At first, I thought it was him and a girlfriend and I was going to clear my throat or sit up in bed so they’d know I was there. But then they both started making noises and I knew it was another guy.”
All right, how much of this is my inebriated brain hallucinating what it wants to play out? Because damn, it’s like he’s reading lines from the script to the fantasy my brain has been constructing since the moment I saw his sleep-mask free face. “And you thought, ‘Gee, I’d like to find out what kissing a guy feels like?’”
He clears his throat. “Something like that. Yeah.” His face is flushed, and it’s clear kissing wasn’t what he really wanted to try back then.
“That’s hot,” I mutter. I shift in my seat, trying to not make it obvious I’m getting turned on just talking about kissing. “So, you gonna do it? Because I’m more than willing to take one for the team and show you how it feels.” Just the kissing, damn it. But just kissing him would be fun. I mean, just look at his mouth.
He fucking licks his lips, leaning in, his palm pressed flat against the console between us. “I… ” he begins. I mirror his movements, until our faces are only a couple inches apart. I can’t wait to taste him.
2
Bennett
He’s handsome. That’s the thought that pops into my head as Jake leans forward, breath ghosting across my face, hot and smelling of mint and gin. I wonder if he’d taste like his drink if I just…
“I…” I begin again, running out of air at the last second and unable to finish my sentence. Jake’s dark blue eyes are just there, so close I can see the gradation from blue to gold that happens around his irises. His face has got just a tiny bit of stubble on it, and it makes him look like the hero in one of those romance novels my sister used to love so much. My cock responds in a way I didn’t think it was capable of doing, considering I just broke up with my girlfriend a few hours ago.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” I whisper. “I’m too drunk to know my own mind right now.” At least I think I’m too drunk to know my own mind. It’s all a bit hazy.
One of Jake’s eyebrows arches, and he leans forward just a tiny bit more so our noses are practically brushing. “Are you?” he whispers back. “That’s a shame.”
The whisper sends a shiver of something indefinable down my spine. Just as I’m about to say “fuck it” again and breach that last bit of space between us, Jake pulls away, settling against the back of his seat. He sighs, and I want to sigh with him.
“You’re right, of course. Better not to take advantage of you when you’re like this. You look like you’re about to pass out.”
“I could probably use some sleep,” I say, because I can’t imagine another three hours of push and pull with this man who so easily tempts me.
“Get some rest. And maybe when you wake up you’ll be brave enough to kiss me.” He says it with a teasing tilt of his lips.
I want to tell him I won’t, but the words don’t make it out of my mouth. They wouldn’t be true, anyway, and I think we both know it. I mean, I did just tell him about that night in college. I’ve never told anyone else about that, not even Pearl. Never admitted to anyone out loud that even though nothing happened, I was changed by that moment.
“Yeah, okay,” I agree. “Sleep.” I cross my arms and try to get comfortable, closing my eyes against the sight of Jake’s amused smile.
A hand on my shoulder and a woman’s voice calling, “Sir?” jolts me out of my slumber. I blink rapidly at the too-bright, too-quiet cabin.
“Sorry,” I mumble, rubbing my eyes. “Are we landing?”
The flight attendant steps back, lips twitching into a smile. “We’ve landed, sir. The other passengers have already deplaned, and we’re just waiting on you to clean the cabins for the next flight.”
I bite back a curse and glance to the empty seat beside me, remembering Jake’s glittering dark grey eyes as he leaned in close to me. I can almost smell the gin on his breath as it ghosted warm over my mouth.
“Sir?”
The flight attendant has an edge to her voice now, like she’s losing her patience and is contemplating calling airport security. I unbuckle my seatbelt and grab my backpack from underneath the seat, stepping quickly out onto the corridor and toward the plane exit.
Warm air hits me as I walk through the arrival gate and follow the signs through the airport to baggage claim. The walkway is flanked by open balconies, and the late afternoon sky is a gorgeous orange-pink, shading towards twilight purple. I can’t even enjoy it, because thinking about what happened on the plane mortifies me.
“I’m too drunk to know my own mind right now.”
That wasn’t true at all, because I’m pretty sober right now and I still want to kiss him. I’ll probably never see him again, though, and that’s a good thing, because I shouldn’t be kissing random guys on airplanes, even if I hadn’t just broken up with my girlfriend.
Speaking of Pearl…
I rummage through my pockets for my phone and turn off airplane mode, not sure whether I want there to be any texts from her or whether I just want to be left alone to wallow. Doesn’t matter what I want, because no messages exist. When I slide the phone back in my pocket, I notice something else in there, though. A neatly folded napkin. Huh.
Written on the square of paper in a slightly choppy hand is a phone number. Underneath it, these words: In case you get a little brave.
My heart thumps in my chest. I recall the smell of his spicy cologne, something with an undercurrent cinnamon. The way it made me want to lean in further and sniff. I remember the curl of his lips as he smiled at me, amused, but also like he wanted to eat me up. What would it be like to let him?