Bad Things (Tristan & Danika, #1)(32)

“Where have you been all my life, Danika?”

“Not skanking it up in enough bars to find you, apparently. Silly me, spending all my time working or at school.”

“Silly you,” he said softly, touching my chin. “Didn’t you know I was out here, just waiting for a friend like you?”

My heart did a slow, painful turn in my chest. It was pathetic how easily he had me wrapped around his little finger. “Of course I didn’t know. I’d have been dancing on top of every bar in town, instead of studying, if I’d known that.”

He didn’t laugh, as I’d intended, but leaned in close. “Tell me not to kiss you,” he said, when his lips were a breath away from mine.

“Don’t kiss me,” I told him, my voice a breathless rasp.

“Mean it,” he said, crowding me into the corner of the pool.

He tilted my chin up with his finger.

“I can’t,” I gasped.

The words had barely left my lips before he was kissing me.

I’d have been lying if I didn’t admit that I’d spent a lot of time wondering what it would be like to kiss him, and even with all of the fantasizing, he didn’t disappoint.

His kisses were drugging, his mouth hot and demanding, but his hands were gentle as he buried them in my hair.

I was lost. It didn’t even occur to me to push him away. This was a bad idea, but God, I wanted him. I couldn’t remember wanting to touch anyone so badly in my life.

Every touch showed me that he could barely restrain himself, and I loved it, his breath coming in hard little pants between kisses.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, pressing my breasts hard into his chest.

He pulled back briefly, gasping at that contact, before moving his mouth over mine again. The pleasure thickened, my blood beating in tune to the waves of need rocking into me.

One of his hands left my hair, stroking down my back. He gripped the back of my thigh, pulling it high on his hip as he moved against me.

I moaned as I felt his hardness pushing against me. It was only as we were grinding mindlessly against each other that I realized how fast things had gotten out of hand.

I wrenched free of him, and he let me.

“What are we doing?” I gasped.

“I don’t know,” he answered, looking stunned.

“That was stupid,” I told him.

“That was stupid,” he agreed, his rapt attention on my mouth.

“We need to get away from each other until we sober up some,” I said slowly. “I think we’re both feeling way too pretty right now.”

He didn’t say a word, but he got away fast enough.

We avoided each other for a solid hour.

I dried off, got dressed, and took a seat at Cory’s bar. It wasn’t smart, but I had another drink. I spotted Tristan on the other side of the room. He was smoking a cigarette, and talking to the brazen woman that had brushed up against him earlier.

I ordered another drink.

“Drinking alone tonight?” a familiar voice asked me from behind.

I turned, giving Jared a very big smile. “Not anymore,” I told him with a vigorous toast.

He laughed, glancing behind me to nod at Cory. “I’ll have what she’s having,” he called to the other man. “So where’s my brother?” he asked as he sat beside me. “This is the first time since I met you that you two weren’t attached at the hip.”

I nodded across the room, sneering when I saw what’s her name laughing at something and touching his chest. “Unless I miss my guess, he’s about to get lucky.” I tried hard not to sound as upset about that as I actually was.

“He thinks I need to loosen up,” I continued to Jared. “And I think he’s a little too loose. It makes for an interesting friendship.”

Jared flashed a stunning smile at me that was a close second to his brother’s. “Dance with me.”

I agreed readily enough, though I was more than a little disappointed when Tristan never even spared us a glance as we headed from the bar and into the next room.

Jared was a good dancer, but he was no Tristan, and he had even less trouble than his brother did getting right into my personal space.

I went with it, dancing close.

His hands gripped my hips. When he moved a thigh between mine, I angled out of his range, finding a safer position as I moved close again. He was determined, though, and we were dancing close, his face an inch from mine, within short minutes.

He leaned in to kiss me, his breath minty, and his lips half-tempting.

But hell, I thought, if I could resist full-on tempting, it was a breeze to turn down half. I turned my face away, and he moved his face into my neck, undeterred.

I giggled, his lips tickling me, before I pushed him back.

I shook a finger at him. “I don’t know you that well,” I chided.

He grinned a wicked grin. “Well, then, let’s get to know each other better.”

I rolled my eyes. “You and your brother are too much alike. Being man-whores must run in the family.”

He laughed, un-offended. “We aren’t that much alike,” he said into my ear. “Tristan is strictly into hooking up. I’m the relationship type. In fact, I’m not all that crazy about being single.”

“Well, I’m trying to be single for a while, though I’m not that crazy about it, either.”