The handsome guy just gave a small shrug, looking nervous for about a split second before making his mind up about something. "This one," he replied, bringing a hand up to the back of my head. His fingers threaded into my deep copper hair and tilted my face up to meet his kiss.
The second his lips touched mine, I threw caution to the wind.
I needed this. I needed a gorgeous, nameless man to make me feel more like the badass bitch I knew I was and make me totally forget the tattoo-covered, scarred drug dealer I'd thrown myself at earlier in the night.
My lips parted, and I draped my arms around the beautiful guy's neck, pulling him to me as I kissed him back. I knew eyes were on us—on me—but I officially gave no more fucks. I needed this... and if word got back to Cass, then so much the better for it.
It was about damn time I moved on from my stupid crush.
2
Whiskey warmed my veins, and the fact that I was so thoroughly smashing all my own rules made me dizzy with excitement. But still, I retained enough presence of mind not to fuck the beautiful stranger right there in front of the bar.
Reluctantly, I released him and took one step away.
"Feel like heading somewhere else?" I suggested with a grin. I'd made my point at 7th Circle, but now I wanted some anonymity.
His blue-green eyes were glassy, and his lips held a blush from our kiss that only made me want to kiss him harder. "Where did you have in mind?"
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I held a finger up to indicate I needed to check who the call was from. A thrill rushed through me as I wondered if it was Cass. But that would mean he cared who I was sleeping with, and he'd made it abundantly clear he didn't.
I wrinkled my nose when I saw the caller ID. "Sorry, I need to take this," I told the guy, whose name I hadn't even bothered to ask.
Answering the call, I brought my phone to my ear. "What?" I snapped, irritated that I was being interrupted.
A long-suffering sigh sounded down the phone at me. "You know what."
"Save it," I replied, turning to the nearest security camera and staring directly at the lens. "We're heading over to Murphy's anyway." I'd turned away from my new friend to glare at the all-seeing eye, and he slipped his arms around my waist in a forward but totally welcome gesture.
My employee on the other end of the phone was quiet for a long moment before replying. "You're being reckless. If this is about—"
"It's not," I bit out, cutting him off. But fury burned through me with the knowledge that he'd overheard Cass rejecting me earlier. How fucking embarrassing. "I'm a grown-ass woman, Zed and right now I want to take this pretty man to Murphy's and probably let him fuck me against the wall of the accessible bathroom stall."
The guy behind me jolted with shock, clearly having heard what I'd just said, then his grip on my hips tightened with enthusiasm.
Zed let out another frustrated sigh, but I wasn't in the mood for a guilt trip. "Just fucking relax, Zed. Take a break and get Amanda to suck your dick or something."
"Her name is Annika," he growled back at me, and I rolled my eyes. Whatever her name was, I hated her skanky ass. But I couldn't exactly tell Zed why, so I settled for passive-aggressive bullshit.
The guy behind me swayed to the dance music, his hips moving against mine and his crotch grinding against my ass. Yeah, he had moves... moves I'd like to take somewhere a whole lot less public.
"I've got to go," I told Zed, distracted as fuck by my new friend’s wandering hands. "Also, you canceled a meeting earlier. Reschedule it for tomorrow."
A string of curses flooded down the phone at me. "I fucking knew that pretty boy groping you looked familiar—"
I ended the call before he could go on and on at me about what a bad idea this was. I knew perfectly well that it was stupid. But I also had no intention of this thing becoming anything more than exactly what it was.
So who fucking cared?
"Come on," I told my new friend, linking my fingers with his to pull him through the crowd, just in case Zed decided to really rain on my parade and turn up in person.
"Wait, we need to fix the bill," my friend protested, but I just shot him a grin over my shoulder.
"It's fine," I told him. "They'll just add it to my tab."
He gave a small frown but let me hurry him out of the bar. It was a converted warehouse on the outskirts of Shadow Grove, but it was popular enough that there were always taxis lurking outside to ferry drunken party-goers home.
"That wasn't my point," he murmured when I all but shoved him into a waiting cab and jumped in beside him. "I was buying you a drink. Remember?"
I smiled, amused by the whole lawful-good thing he had going on. Most guys I met wouldn't blink twice at getting free drinks from a chick who'd just openly announced she wanted to fuck them.
"Yeah, but I wanted to get out of there," I replied, vague as fuck. I gave the driver our destination, then turned my attention back to pretty-boy. "What's your name?" I asked on a whim, then immediately gave myself a mental slap. So much for a nameless hook-up.
The guy grinned. "I wondered if you were going to ask." He ran his thumb over his lower lip in a gesture that I couldn't help but follow with my eyes. Fucking hell, everything about him was mesmerizing me. "It's Lucas," he told me after a beat.
"Lucas," I repeated, testing the name on my tongue. It suited him.
"What's yours?" he asked me back, and I couldn't help the grin spreading over my face.
"Hayden," I said, shocking myself. I didn't give anyone my real name. No one. So what the fuck had just possessed me to tell a random hook-up?
He didn't even bat an eyelash, though. He really had no clue who I was, and it was totally adorable.
"Hayden," he repeated like I'd done to his name. "Can I ask you a question?"
"You just did," I replied, teasing. Where the hell that came from, I had no idea. I didn't tease. I barely even joked. What the fuck had gotten into me?
Lucas gave me a smile. "I meant another question." When I nodded, he ran a hand through his hair, like a nervous gesture. Why would he be nervous, though? I'd made it pretty damn clear I was interested. "What you said on the phone to your friend..."
About wanting to fuck you in the bathroom at Murphy's?
The cab rolled to a stop outside the packed dive bar then, though, cutting short our conversation. I quickly handed over about three times the cab fare and pushed Lucas out before he could object to me paying. But seriously, he'd just admitted he was broke enough to consider a job at Swinging Dick's. I wasn't going to let him pay for anything.
I linked our fingers together and led him straight past the huge line of people waiting to get in and up to the broad-shouldered bouncer guarding the door. Murphy's was a live music venue, grungy and dirty, but a favorite among visiting rockers. Whenever there was a big name playing, the queue stretched halfway down the block, and lots of those waiting wouldn’t even make it inside.
“Ma’am,” the bouncer greeted me with a respectful nod as he unhooked the barrier rope for us to pass through.