Need You Now (1001 Dark Nights)(3)

“Tequila. I need tequila.”

The sound of Katie’s voice jolts me and I turn to find her stepping between me and my stranger, wrapping her arm around my shoulders. There’s a panicked feeling inside me. He’s gone. I’ve lost the moment and him. Not that I had him. Not that I needed him, except my body says I did.

“I need tequila,” Katie declares. “A shot. Please do one with me.” She flags down the second bartender who quickly complies. The shot glasses appear and are filled. Jimmy appears with the cake before we drink them and Katie flings her arms around my neck, giving me a big hug.

“You are amazing,” she declares, and my face is too buried in her hair to see over my shoulder to find out if Jensen is still beside us. “I love you, Danny,” she declares, leaning back to look at me.

“I love you, too,” I say as she pulls back and I reach up and brush the hair from her eyes. Katie really is the sister I never had and suddenly I feel like such a bitch. I shouldn’t be thinking about men when she needs me.

“Then let’s drink,” she says.

“I can’t—”

“My mother’s pregnant. She doesn’t know who the father is.”

I gulp and grab the shot glass. “Let’s drink.”

There’s a flurry of activity behind us, and we turn to discover a tall, raven-haired, gorgeous hunk of a man in ripped jeans striding forward. Katie yelps and runs to him, wrapping her arms around her rock star boyfriend. A crazy-hot kiss follows that has me glancing toward the space where Jensen is supposed to be, but is not. He’s gone and disappointment fills me. My encounter is over and there will be no crazy-hot kiss for me tonight. It’s for the best. Men are distracting and the MCAT, repeat or not, is never easy. I down the shot of tequila. Katie waves a hotel key at me over her shoulder as her rocker guy drags her toward the door.

I sigh and lean on the bar, and for some reason tonight feels very...alone.





Part Two: The Elevator



Avoiding my empty apartment that will require me to take a subway ride with a tequila buzz, I spend a good hour at the bar chatting with Jimmy and eating too much chocolate cake. When I’m still feeling the effects of the drinks I’ve consumed, Jimmy tries to convince me to either stay the night at the hotel or wait until he’s off and he and his wife will drive me home, but I refuse. It’s a subway ride. I’ll be okay. I’m not drunk. And while I’m just not exactly clear-headed, listening to Jimmy talk about family has me suddenly craving the shelter of home, no matter how empty it might be. It’s mine. It’s safe.

Exiting the bar and entering the adjacent hotel lobby, I scan the elegantly restored 1920’s structure with crown molding, high ceilings, and pillars in every corner, taking in the high-back furniture positioned on red Oriental rugs. Only a few guests remain, either seated or mingling about. I’m about to head for the exit when a wave of sentimentality hits me, no doubt delivered by the tequila. Despite my eagerness to leave, I pause in my steps. My hand goes to my small black purse where Katie’s card holds a special friendship necklace. We are sisters, two people who choose to be family, and I can’t help but think of how often the rocker boyfriend makes her cry. I don’t want to risk her waking up tomorrow feeling as alone as I do tonight. I need to slip the gift under her door.

Decision made, I head to the front desk to find her room number. Both of the attendants behind the counter are busy with customers, so I fend for myself and find an open computer and look up rocker boyfriend’s room number. Glancing at the time on my cell phone, I note the late hour. It’s nearly eleven and I really need to hurry or the train I take will be shut down.

Quickly, I cross the room, bypassing several sitting areas and a number of expensive paintings, to step into the enclave housing six elevators. Punching the nearest button, I wait. Alone. It’s the theme of the night I think. Alone. Alone. Alone. I have no idea why that word is bugging me. Or really, it’s not the word. It’s the implications behind it that I never think about and I swear it’s the tequila. Silently, I decide right then, no more tequila now or ever. I don’t like what it does to me.

The doors to the car farthest from me open and I rush forward, wishing my four-inch black strappy heels were about four inches shorter as I step inside. I lean against the wall, letting it hold my tired body when a man suddenly steps inside moments before the doors seal. Instantly, I’m alert, aware in ways I would not be with most strangers. But then, this isn’t just a stranger, any more than he is just a man. It’s Jensen, and I push off the wall, turning to face him. He faces me as well and in mere moments we are sealed inside.

Time stands still as he reaches over and punches in a floor and I realize I have not done so at all, and I can’t even seem to care. Instead, I drink in just how beautiful this man is, how tall, broad and leanly athletic he is in his finely fitted suit. Not one of the powerful, even good-looking men my job has bestowed upon me have created this kind of burn in me. And none of them made me want to climb under his jacket and wear them like a glove the way I seem to with this one.

I blink with that warm, wonderful thought, and in that instant, he moves, advancing on me. Before I know his intent, his hands are slicing into my hair, his big body pressed to mine, walking me against the wall. Another instant and he is kissing me. Oh God, he is kissing me like I have never been kissed before. Deep, passionate, drugging strokes of his tongue that are more a claiming than a seduction. I am his in that moment and I don’t even fight it. Me. Good girl, the boss’s secretary who doesn’t color out of the lines, is so out of the lines right now, I’m about to fall off the page. And I like it. Oh yes, I like it a lot.