The Perfect First (Fulton U, #1)(42)

“Oh no.” Her eyes widened, worry etched deep in her face. “Do you want me to try to get them back?”

I grabbed her arm when she spun around, searching for the guys. “So you want to try for double or nothing? No thanks—I’d like at least one of us to leave here with our dignity intact.”

“No one’s even looking at you.”

“I was talking about you. You got spanked out there.”

She leaned over, waving her finger to get the bartender’s attention. I covered her extended digit with my hand and pushed it down against the bar.

When she glanced over her shoulder, her eyebrows dipped. “I’m ordering us some drinks.”

“What are you going to do when he asks to see ID?” I whispered in her ear.

“I’ll tell him I left it in the car.” She bit her bottom lip.

“Your skills of deception need a bit more honing. Stand aside and let the grownup handle this.”

“The grownup in Pikachu underwear,” she muttered, but she moved aside to let me get us something to drink.

I ordered, making sure to get her one with a cherry in it. Turning, I leaned against the bar, resting my back against the rail.

“If it had been a chess competition, I’d have kicked ass.” Her brain was likely to explode under the strain of not winning at something.

“Why am I not surprised?” The thunk behind me signaled the arrival of our drinks. She handed over a twenty and I put it down on the bar. The bartender eyed her suspiciously and slowly slid the beer and Tequila Sunrise—with extra cherries, of course—toward me. Balancing both in one hand, I took her by the elbow and guided her far away from the bar. We spotted a couple of people leaving and slid into their empty booth.

“I don’t usually suck that much at anything.”

“Such harsh language, Seph. And no shit. The way that vein bulged throughout the game would have almost been endearing if I weren’t the one losing my clothes with every missed ball.”

Her hand shot up to her forehead. “I don’t have a bulging vein.”

I took a gulp of my beer. “Never said it was on your forehead.”

She scowled at me and took a sip of her drink. Her face screwed up then shifted to something more contemplative. “This isn’t bad.”

“That’s not what your face said a second ago.”

“It’s a new taste. Surprised me, I guess.” She took another sip. It was like her mental calculations of the flavors and feelings packed into the little glass were being categorized by the millisecond.

“There are lots of new things out there for you to experience.” Like me.

She plucked a cherry out of her drink, and my gaze was riveted to her every move. Completely oblivious to me, she stuck the stem in her mouth and her chin moved back and forth. Her lips pursed and she bopped to the music.

Lifting her fingers, she pulled out the double-knotted stem. Fuck me. I mean, not fuck me, but damn.

The night wore on with a few more drinks, dark bar lighting, and music in the background. It had all the makings of a night I’d had so many times before, but this time it was different.

Seph’s eyes widened and she let the small black straw fall free from her lips. They glistened in the low light. I wanted to run my thumb across the bottom one, taste it. Shaking my head, I tried to push those thoughts aside.

“I love this song. Can we dance?” She was out of the booth and on her feet, tugging me out of my seat before she’d said the last word.

We went out there. She moved like she couldn’t get enough of each note, like a person who’d been locked away and only recently discovered the raw energy of a driving beat and an infectious melody. She held my hands, lifting them up in the air as she danced around, uninhibited like she seldom was anywhere else. She didn’t care that she was dancing with a guy in his underwear, didn’t even seem to notice the odd looks we both attracted; she was alive and happy. I couldn’t help but feel like I was being included in something special, like I was with someone special.

Maybe it was the drinks that gave her an excuse to be a little braver or maybe the fact that no one there knew us, but she danced like no one was looking. The flare of jealousy burned brightly and I pulled her close.

The music shifted, the dance tune replaced with something slower.

Her hands looped around my neck. “I had fun tonight.”

“Of course you did. I’m standing here in my underwear and my coat like some chick showing up to surprise her boyfriend.”

She threw her head back and laughed, exposing more of her neck, the long smooth lines of it and the way her flushed skin glowed. The lack of pants was totally apparent to me with her in my arms. That also meant there was nothing to keep the sneaky freaking boner that was trying to form and embarrass me in check. Wiping tears from her eyes, she put her hand back along my neck.

“You’re going to hold this against me forever, aren’t you?”

I clenched all my muscles to keep my dick from answering that question with a knock against her body.

“You’re so tense.” She ran her fingers along the back of my neck.

That was not helping. It was so far from helping she might as well have set me on fire.

“I’m sorry I’ve made you stay out after you lost all your clothes.” Her fingers toyed with the hair at the back of my neck.