All the Right Moves(20)
John wasn’t sure how to play this. He’d been stuck in awkward situations before, mostly courtesy of other pilots who were basically twelve when it came to punking, but never when someone else was the fall guy. “Name’s John and I have been here before. More important, I’ve been around long enough to know that our friend here is trying to do her job, and we’re not letting her. So if it’s all the same to you, I’ll make things easy on her and take my leave.”
The crowd didn’t like that answer, but he didn’t give a crap about the crowd. He wanted to make things better for Cassie. That was all. Well, not all. It couldn’t hurt his chances if he went for gallant at this stage of the proceedings.
“Oh, for God’s sake,” Cassie said, walking around to the patron’s side of the bar. “Thank you, John, for being a real gentleman. I appreciate the gesture. And you’re right, I do need to get to work. So rather than keep up this ridiculous farce, I’d be grateful if you’d let me kiss you. It won’t take a second.”
“It has to be on the mouth, you know,” Karma said.
“Bull,” Cassie replied, never moving her gaze from his.
“I don’t mind,” he said, lowering his voice so the whole place didn’t hear. He stood, moved in close enough to see the gold flecks in her hazel eyes. “If you wanted to make a point, I would have no objections.”
“What point would that be?”
He leaned down until his lips brushed against the shell of her ear. “That you came out the winner after all?”
She huffed out a breath, but as he straightened, her hand cupped the nape of his neck to hold him steady as she pushed up into a kiss that was went from zero to Mach 2 in three seconds.
He wrapped his arms around her as she held him in place and it was all he could do to let her stay in control when he wanted to sweep in like a perfect Lothario and steal her breath with his mad skills.
It came as a very welcome surprise when the tip of her tongue swept across the seam of his lips. He parted them and she slipped inside, and if this was how she wanted to play it, he would give it his best shot.
The catcalls faded behind the sound of his own blood coursing through his veins, the increase in his heartbeat providing a rhythm that somehow she must have felt, because they were completely in sync. The parry and thrust, the quick stolen breaths, the way she moved in the same moment he pulled her close.
His hand spread on her back as the taste of her won out over his last sip of beer. Thank God, because she was amazing. Coffee and mint, as if she’d mixed it herself, a perfect concoction made specifically to tempt him.
He felt a small vibration, as if she’d moaned or whimpered, he couldn’t tell which, but whatever it was, it was a good thing, and if he had his way, the next time that happened he would wring out all her sounds for his ears only.
When she pulled back, he pressed harder, not willing to stop, but then he remembered who she was and that this was her stage and he was just a bit player.
He let her go slowly, adjusting to lights that felt too harsh, noise that made him wince.
Before she let the back of his neck go, she murmured, “Thank you.”
“My pleasure.”
She smiled, then turned to face her nemesis. John hoped Cassie got as much satisfaction seeing the look on Karma’s face, complete with dropped jaw, as he did. He’d consider it a resounding success, but only if it was the first kiss of many.
* * *
CASSIE NEEDED A MINUTE. Or thirty. That was not what she’d planned on doing. It was supposed to have appeared like a major kiss, given the impression of passion and lust, that was all. Instead, her brain had gone fuzzy as everything but oh, God, yes had taken over. More had been in there, too. She couldn’t forget more.
She wouldn’t forget him.
Karma’s defeat helped bring her back to her senses, because it was too good to miss. The brazen blonde looked utterly shocked. Her eyes wide, her cheeks flushed, her mouth open. It was awesome. If only she’d had her cell phone with her, she’d have captured the moment for posterity. “Are we done now?” Cassie asked in her most impatient tone.
Karma closed her mouth and sniffed. “I still won,” she said.
“Sure you did, kid,” Cassie said, then headed back to the sink behind the bar, where she proceeded to wash out the mugs that had accumulated in her absence.
Behind her, Lisa bent low and whispered, “You’re my hero. That was legendary.”