Dirty (Dive Bar #1)(11)

The corner of his lips twitched. “Honestly?”

“Honestly.”

“Shit,” he admitted, lacing his fingers behind his neck.

“Yeah? How deep?”

“Broke, out of work, probably about to lose this place.”

“Wow.” I slumped in my chair. “Aren’t we a pair?”

“Aren’t we?” His self-deprecating smile grew. “No money. No hope. No nothing.”

“Basically.”

His head fell back and he gazed up at the ceiling. The strong lines in his neck were way pronounced in this pose. I couldn’t quite see the tattoo peeking out beneath the collar of his tee. Words, but I’m not sure what. He raised his head enough to look at me from beneath his brows. “They have booze back over the fence at your fancy party?”

“Heaps. Really good stuff too. Lots of craft beer.”

“Nice. We should go steal some.”

I nodded instantly. Crazy ideas deserved support. “We should. It’s half my wedding, it wouldn’t really be stealing. You’re going to have to help me get back over the fence again, though. I think I pulled every muscle from the waist down getting over it the first time.”

“I can help you get back over the fence.”

“Done, then,” I said. “Tomorrow, we figure our lives out. Tonight we’ll toast to our crappy situations and drown our sorrows.”

We smiled at each other in kinship.

“How serious are you about this?” I asked, more curious than afraid. Mostly.

A shrug. “You got to go back there sometime. Might as well make it worth the trip.”

“I guess so.” My forehead furrowed. “Alcohol would be good.”

“I definitely need a drink to deal with being back here.” He slowly shook his head, lips curved downward. “Shit is f*cked, babe. Like you wouldn’t believe.”

I didn’t mean to laugh. Not at his misfortunes, nor mine. Lord knows, nothing about it felt funny. Vaughan frowned at me. Only, then he started laughing too. First a little, then a lot. Soon the noise filled the room, startling the old house from its silence. He laughed until his wide shoulders shook and all that bright hair fell in his face, obscuring the cut of his cheeks. I in turn cackled my ass off until tears streamed down my face.

None of it should have been funny, but it was hilarious. And we, our lives, were the joke.

I guess sometimes there’s no right response but to laugh. So we did. Strangely enough, it really did help.

Sitting in a stranger’s kitchen, confessing all, was the last damn place I expected to find myself on this day of all days. Yet here we were. I’d spilled a stack of doubts and deep, dark secrets while the man opposite remained a mystery.

Just then he combed back his wild hair with long fingers, looking my way. A smile still lingered about his lips. A warm one. Perhaps even a suggestive one?

I don’t know.

It was certainly starting to heat me up inside. He didn’t break eye contact, just kept giving me his friendly, easy, sexy-as-sin smile. So gorgeous. Though this guy would be dazzling peeling potatoes or putting out the garbage. Look up “hot” in the dictionary and there’ll be Vaughan, making eyes at you from on the page.

Chris had always held my hand or put his arm around my waist when we were out. I’d taken these moves as him being proud to be seen with me, of him liking my body even if he wished I’d work on it a little. Instead he’d been clinging like a limpet to ward off rumors regarding his sexuality. I wasn’t his life partner, just his patsy.

Vaughan admired my breasts, but how he felt about the rest of me I had no idea.

Uptight capitalists such as myself may not be his thing. His clothes were comfortable, old blue jeans and a faded tee. I couldn’t see any jewelry on him, just all the ink. His body wasn’t bulky, but athletic. Fit and strong if the way he’d lifted me out of the bathtub without pulling his back was any indication. Around my age, maybe a little older.

And as for the house, someone had loved this place once. Taken care of it. There was dust but not dirt, if that makes sense. Photos and personal mementos were missing, the house stripped bare apart from the furniture. A collection of cool vintage from the fifties and cheap pine shit. Crackling white paint on the ceiling, but the cream on the walls seemed almost new. Unmarked. It was as if the place was waiting, but for what?

Curiosity over him owned me. I wanted to wander around inside his mind, fondle his hot body. Things along those lines.

Also, he was still looking at me that way.

“Least you finally made a friend,” he said.

“Ha.” I squirmed in my seat. “I guess I have. How about that.”

Intended or not the man had my body in the palm of his hand. In and out my lungs pumped, gaining speed with every breath. Even my blood was rushing faster. As for my sex … god help him. Everything between my legs had started tingling in awareness of him and all the good things he could no doubt deliver. My vagina was waking up and roaring, ready for action. The man should have been afraid, not still giving me sexy looks. He didn’t understand the ravenous sex-starved animal he was dealing with. No control. Zip. Zero.

Casual no-strings sex between new friends. It was needed. Now. No big deal. I was here. He was here. Let’s do this.

Just before I could jump him, he looked at me anew. “Wait. You said this guy’s name was Chris?”