Thankfully, when we got ourselves sorted and went back downstairs, the party was in full swing and people didn’t pay much attention to us. We decided it would be best to mingle separately, so Sophia went off to keep tabs on how things were going, and I went in search of anyone who’d get drunk with me. It didn’t take me long to find Aniyah, Toby, Xander, and Carter hanging out by the makeshift bar.
Xander saw me coming and turned and said something to the bartender. When I reached them, Xander was accepting a drink from the guy and handing it to me. “Don’t ask what’s in it. Just drink.”
I knew there was a reason I liked this guy.
After slamming the drink back, I handed the glass back to him and he ordered me another. Once I’d knocked that back too, the burn making its way down my esophagus and into my belly, I felt better. They were all quiet, looking at me as if I were a ticking time bomb getting close to detonation.
“Where’s Joey?” I asked because I wasn’t sure what else to say.
“I’m not sure,” Carter said with a shrug. “He was here one second and gone the next.”
“Hmm.” I glanced around the room.
“So that was an interesting turn of events this evening,” Aniyah said.
“Yup,” I replied.
“Are we talking about it?” she asked.
“Nope.”
And…that was it. Xander asked Toby who in the room was his type, and Aniyah began dissecting every woman he pointed out, explaining why she wasn’t good enough for him and that he could do better.
Carter, who actually knew some of these people, clarified which girls should still be contenders, despite Aniyah’s analysis. He’d described one particular girl as “open-minded,” prompting Xander to immediately escort Toby in her direction.
The three of us shot the shit for a while until I felt a tap on my shoulder. I whirled around to see a girl holding a camera.
“We need a picture of all the bachelors and winning bidders.”
“Oh, um, sure, okay.” I handed Carter my beer, which I’d been nursing much more slowly than the drinks Xander had given me. After telling them I’d see them later, I followed the girl to where a group congregated. Sophia was already there, and the girl with the camera organized us so she could snap our picture.
Most of the bachelors stood close to the people who’d bid on them, some even slinging their arms around them, but I made sure to maintain a respectable distance from Sophia.
Once the girl, who Sophia had called Bethany, had fiddled with her camera for a bit, she yelled, “Say auction!”
Just as we all said the word to the camera, I heard someone yell my name and turned my head. Carter was motioning toward the door, where Toby was leaving with the girl Xander had taken him to talk to. I smiled widely as I turned back to the camera, but everyone was already moving, so I guessed I’d botched my photo op. Oh well.
“What time does the party end?” I asked Sophia.
She groaned. “Not soon enough. And I’ll have to help clean up after.”
Looking around, I made sure no one was watching us as I leaned down to whisper in her ear. “I hope what they say is true.” She looked up at me quizzically, so I clarified. “That good things come to those who wait. I feel that we’re both entitled to some very good things when this party is over.”
A smile slowly overtook her face. “And just who will be delivering these good things?”
I locked my eyes on hers as I said, “I think we both deserve some solid delivery service after all this.”
The heat in her gaze was all the affirmation I needed.
Chapter Twenty-Five
S O P H I A
We practically sprinted back to the apartment, and once inside, Drew pinned me to the back of the door with his hips. He looked at me for a moment, his eyes fixed on mine in a way that made my heart thump loudly in my chest. I felt blood spreading to every part of my body, specifically the parts below my waist, and my stomach tightened in anticipation.
It was one of those moments I wish I could’ve kept tucked away deep inside me. A moment to come back to when I needed to remember what it was like to feel wanted. Or what it felt like to want. Because God, did I want Drew Nolan.
Even this, I loved—sharing his space, breathing his air. All of it had me both wanting more and wanting whatever we had to never end. No guy had ever looked at me like Drew did, like he couldn’t decide whether he wanted to hold me or fuck me. I hoped he did both.
His hands went to where mine had been scratching lightly under the back of his shirt, and he laced his fingers between mine. The backs of my hands pressed against the glossy paint of the door, and I was suddenly aware of how turned on I was. Drew slid my hands up the door and held them above my head, finally bringing his lips to mine.
And just like that we were on each other, the still moment replaced with a heated, rushed one. Drew’s tongue moved over mine, teasing me in a way I didn’t know was possible with only a kiss.
I felt him against me but needed him lower, against my abdomen. If this time didn’t result in an orgasm, I might have to give up completely and commit myself to a nunnery.
He brought a hand up to the back of my neck and tangled his fingers in my hair, massaging me as he deepened the kiss.
He pulled away just long enough to say, “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do this.”
I smiled. I definitely had some idea. As much as I’d tried not to focus on what I felt about Drew or what he felt about me, because it would only complicate things, the reality was a part of me always knew we’d end up here—our lips searching for anything they could make contact with, our hands fumbling frantically with articles of clothing like two hurried teenagers worried they might get caught.
Zippers unzipped, buttons unbuttoned, and clasps unclasped until both of us had nothing left to take off. But once both of us were naked, our rushed moment slowed to one that allowed us to savor every kiss and brush our skin against each other’s.
Drew led me to my bedroom, guiding me backward so slowly it was almost painful. But as much as I wanted to consummate everything we’d experienced over the past few months, I wanted this moment too. The one where I was lost in the anticipation of it all, lost in Drew’s scent of soap laced with salt from the little bit of sweat on his skin.
He was intoxicating, and I decided Drew-drunk was the best kind of drunk.
Arriving in the bedroom, he lowered me to the mattress and lay beside me as he traced his fingers in a line from my jaw to my breast, over my hip bone, down my thigh, and everywhere in between. Then his lips were on my chest, ears, anywhere he could reach.
I think we both knew our mouths had done enough talking.
It was time we finished what we’d started.
Chapter Twenty-Six
S O P H I A
The sun streamed into the bedroom through a gap in the curtains, leaving a bright streak of light across Drew’s chest. I rubbed my fingers over it lightly, feeling the rhythmic way his chest rose and fell as he slept.
We’d spent the entire weekend in bed, and it had been glorious. Sharing space with Drew—not just living together but actually occupying the same physical space—for a prolonged period was novel, and I wasn’t looking forward to bursting the little bubble we’d created.