She smiles at me. Her eyes are a little glassy, but she’s steady on her feet. She takes them from my hand, and I try to ignore how soft her hand is compared to mine.
She throws the first one and hits a bullseye. She turns to me with a smile on her face. Playing darts, I enjoy flirting and laughing with her. I try to distract her when she throws the darts, and she pays me back, leaning in close. Her plump breasts pressing into my back drives me crazy, and I throw darts as though it was my first time playing the game.
I stop and turn around, catching her around her waist and holding her to me. “You’re not playing fair.”
Her eyes are big, and she gives me an innocent look. “Oh, I’m sorry, were there rules that I missed?”
I shake my head. This one is trouble, there’s no doubt about it. “Fine, just remember that two can play this game. You’re up.”
She smiles at me as if she’s in charge and has me by the balls. And maybe she does, but if she’s not going to play fair, neither am I.
I move behind her close enough so she can feel the heat of my body, but not feel my touch. My hands go to her waist, and I grip on to her.
She flips her hair and looks at me over her shoulder, heat molding her gaze. “Oh, is this how it’s gonna be?”
I tighten my hold on her, barely resisting pulling her against me, and shrug my shoulders. “You can dish it out but not take it?”
She juts her chin out at me and turns back to the dartboard. She brings her arm back and throws the dart, hitting another bullseye.
She tries to play it off, but the way she’s smiling I know how pleased she is right now. We laugh so easily together.
“You’re lucky I didn’t challenge you to a game of pool because that’s my real game.”
She walks over to me and stops with the toe of her boots against mine. “You name it. I’ll play it.”
Fuck, she’s tempting. Almost too tempting.
I can already imagine what “games” I want to play with her. A number of things cross my mind, and none of them are polite to say in mixed company. She’s playing all her cards, but I can tell the alcohol has given her confidence. She has an innocence about her, and no matter how much alcohol-driven diatribe she spills, I know she isn’t ready for what I want.
I sigh, letting out a deep breath. And instead of saying what I want to say, I challenge her to another game. “Pool it is then.”
4
Olivia
I can’t believe how much fun I’m having with a guy I find so attractive. Usually I’m tongue-tied and can’t think of anything to say. The alcohol must be helping me feel more confident because the way we are clicking just seems too easy.
I call him on his claim that he’s best at pool, and we go over to the pool tables.
He pulls a pool stick out and hands it to me. I reach out to grab it, but he holds on to it, instead pulling me toward him. We stare at each other for so long I’m pretty sure I’m about to go up in flames from the heat his gaze is putting off. I want him. There’s no doubt about it. By the way my body is reacting to him, the way my nipples are pebbled against my shirt and the hard pull in my lower belly, I definitely want him.
“Your go,” he challenges me. He’s daring me, I know he is. Is he hoping that I make the next move? I want to take him up on it and tell him I want to get out of here, but at the last minute, I chicken out.
I break my gaze, and only seconds later, he releases my pool stick.
I lean over the table to break. He stands clear of the cue stick but close enough behind me that I can feel how hard he is against me, and it drives me crazy. If I had any doubt before, I don’t now. It makes me weak in the knees, and I screw up the shot so badly that he has to know how he’s affecting me. I know I shouldn’t, but I grind my ass against him, taking pleasure in the hard ridge of his manhood pressed against my backside.
When I straighten up from the shot, he tilts my chin to look at him over my shoulder. His big hand cradles my face, and our eyes meet, and my goodness, I could drown in their blue depths. He leans down to meet me and kisses me, his other hand still at my waist holding me so that he is close behind me.
His kiss still takes me by surprise, especially when it isn’t a drunken sloppy mess. He is an amazing kisser; he has my knees weakening again, and I’m pretty sure that’s because he’s so fiery hot that I’m melting from the inside out for him.
We continue to kiss, and I turn in his grasp so that I can touch his blond hair and look into his blue eyes between kisses. Every kiss seems to make my body ache for more.
“Get a room,” somebody yells out, and there’s enough laughter that we can’t help but laugh too.
He takes my hand. “Let’s get out of here.”
Derrick
I say the words and it’s like I’m holding my breath, waiting for her response. If she turns me down, I won’t push, but fuck I’m hoping that she doesn’t say no.
She closes her eyes, and I prepare myself for rejection. I start to release her, but she surprises me by opening her eyes, smiling bigger than ever. “Let’s go, cowboy.”
As if I’m afraid she’ll change her mind, I hold her hand in mine and pull her to the exit. “Put it on my tab, Jared,” I say over my shoulder as I usher the sweet woman out the door.
“What’s your name? I don’t even know your name.”
She flushes a deep red, and I know instantly she’s embarrassed by the fact that she’s about to leave with someone she doesn’t know. “Uh-uh. None of that. I’m Derrick. Tell me your name, sweetie, and it will be like we’re old friends instead of like we’re meeting for the first time tonight.”
“Friends, huh?” she asks with a smirk.
I laugh then, and it comes from deep in my chest. Oh, she’s going to keep me on my toes. “You know what I mean.”
“Olivia. My name is Olivia.”
I force myself to look away from her. “Where are you parked?” I ask, looking at the parking lot of trucks and sports cars. I’m guessing the sports cars are the frat boys.
“I walked here.”
“You walked here?” I point out to the main road. “That’s the main road you walked on and you had to know you’d be walking back after dark.”
She just shrugs her shoulders like it’s no big deal. “This is Forest Grove.”
The thought of her walking on this long road at night causes my heart to flutter in my chest. Forest Grove is a small town, but we still get college boys that are sometimes up to no good, or people passing by from the big city of Knox. The thought of any of them messing with her as she walks the main road home pulls at my chest. I just met this woman, and already she’s causing me to have possessive thoughts. Thoughts I shouldn’t be having for a woman I just met.
I pull her to my truck, open the passenger door, and don’t even wait to see if she needs help. I put my hands on her waist and lift her up into the seat and then reach over and pull the seatbelt around her. “Where do you want to go, sweetheart?”
I’m so hard up for Olivia that all that matters is getting to be with her the way my body needs to be.