NEVER KISS A STRANGER

by Chance, Logan

  I cling tighter to him as he deepens the kiss, stroking his tongue against mine.

  His hands remove the life jacket, and then explore my back and hips. Somehow, we make our way down into the cabin of the boat still lip-locked.

  Things escalate when we end up on a pillow-soft bed. His hands touch everywhere, and then he breaks the kiss, hovering over me.

  “Fuck,” he groans out. “You make me so hard, Kiki. I’ve never wanted anyone so bad.”

  His raw and needy words, spur me to say things I never have, “Touch me, please,” I beg.

  He presses his hardness into me, and whoa, he’s big. He holds his position, not making a move, his green eyes still searing into mine. “I’m going to keep kissing you until you’re moaning out my name when you come.”

  “Promise?” I challenge, feeling more confident in his arms.

  He smiles, slow and steady, like I’ve just said everything he’s ever wanted to hear. “I promise, and just so you know, I never make promises I can’t keep.”

  My breath hitches. This man means what he says, and I’m ready to find out if it’s true. He presses into me, and I feel like I’m riding a wave that doesn’t break. It’s incessant. Dizzying. He’s really rocking my world. And if it doesn’t stop, I might just...puke?

  “Ellis,” I say against his lips.

  “Mm, I love when you say my name.”

  The boat dips and sways, and my stomach goes with it. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

  He stops, but the movement doesn’t. “Oh shit,” he says. “You’re white as a ghost.” He pokes me in the belly with his hard-on as he lurches off the bed and grabs a trash can. “Here. Just in case. I’ll grab some medicine.”

  “Thank you,” I say, sitting up. Big mistake.

  I’ll spare you the details of what happens next. All I can say is, we get to know each other a whole lot better.

  * * *

  “I’m really sorry,” I apologize again, for the millionth time. “I’ve never gotten motion sickness before.” Once we’re back on solid ground, the sickness goes away in an instant.

  And I have to commend Ellis for being a true champ. Other guys—e.g. Henry—would probably just let me be sick in private, not lending help.

  And I’m beginning to realize Ellis isn’t like most guys.

  “It’s really ok,” Ellis assures me as we walk under the moonlight toward Urban’s now darkened house. “He’s probably sleeping.” I follow him up the stairs and across the deck. “Urban? You home?” he calls out when we step inside the patio doors.

  A light flicks on in the kitchen. “Ellll-isss,” Urban slurs, stumbling a bit to drape his arms around Ellis. “And Kikikiki,” he hiccups through my name. “You’re back.” He looks at Ellis’ bare chest. “Where’s your shirt?” He takes his off and flings it. “I don’t need one either.”

  He too has a six-pack. Must run in the family.

  “Kiki got a little seasick,” Ellis explains. “How much have you had to drink?”

  “Not much,” he says but the evidence sitting on his kitchen countertop says that’s a lie. An empty bottle of Hendrick’s lays on its side with another half-empty bottle right next to it. He turns his attention to me. “Are you ok?”

  “Yeah,” I answer. “The boat is all clean. Ellis took the brunt.”

  He laughs, bringing his drink to his lips for another swig. “The boat doesn’t matter. Kiki, did you know we’re going to lose everything?”

  Before I can ask what he means, Ellis grabs the drink from his hand. “Ok, there. Let’s take this and get you some coffee. I’m kind of becoming an expert at taking care of drunk people.”

  I spring into action. “I’ll make the coffee, if you want to get him onto the couch.”

  “Smart thinking.” Ellis puts an arm around Urban and navigates him into the living room.

  It only takes a few minutes for me to find a mug in his cabinets and pop a pod into his Keurig.

  “You two make the best couple,” Urban mumbles from the couch as I approach.

  “Oh, we’re not a couple,” I say, placing the mug of steaming coffee on the table in front of him.

  Ellis’ eyes dart to me.

  “No, you’re a couple,” he continues on. “Ellis was just saying he wanted to marry you.”

  “What?” Ellis says. “Someone’s clearly drunk and speaking gibberish.”

  Urban points at him. “You said you wanted to marry her.”

  Ellis coughs out a laugh and turns back to meet my gaze. “Pretty sure he’s got alcohol poisoning.”

  “It’s ok,” I finally find my voice to say, my heart galloping at Urban’s words. “I’m not expecting marriage or anything.”

  “But you were already engaged,” Urban slurs once more before passing out.

  I cringe.

  Ellis rubs the back of his neck. “Um, listen, ignore him. I never said anything like that.”

  “It’s ok. I can only imagine how this must look to him.” I sigh, wanting to clear the air. “I wasn’t looking to replace Henry.”

  “I know. That’s why I don’t want to feel like we’re rushing into anything...but, I would like to take you out. In a social setting.”

  Instead of agreeing to more shenanigans, I do the right thing and avoid it, “I should head home. I have an eight a.m. spin karaoke class in the morning.”

  He chuckles. “That sounds interesting. Where do they even have that?”

  “Fab Fitness. You should try it sometime,” I ramble to ease the awkwardness shrouding the room. “Not that you need it, obviously.” I grab my handbag from the counter. “Ok, I’m going now.”

  He nods and crosses his arms across his spectacular bare chest. “I’ll walk you out.”

  “No, really it’s ok.” Because if he walks me out, I might not be able to keep from kissing him again. I move across the kitchen toward the arched entryway and stop mid-stride. “Thank you for holding my hair on the boat.”

  He grins, and then I rush out before I do the wrong thing and invite him to come home with me.

  FIFTEEN

  Kiki

  Never sing karaoke while riding a bike...

  “You know what today is,” Lola sings in the middle of a crowded parking lot with a little wiggle to her hips. “It’s karaoke spin class, bitches.”

  “I’m not singing,” Poppi says, tossing a white gym towel over her shoulder.

  “I’m with Poppi,” I say. “I am not singing today.”

  There’s no way I can concentrate when my mind is still on Urban’s boat.

  “You have to sing,” Lola pouts as we approach the gym doors. “What’s the point of even being here then? We could just go to a regular spin class.”

  Poppi’s lips twist into a small smile. “Fine, I might be able to be persuaded to carry a tune before breakfast. But, no Lady Gaga.”

  “It’s like you’re literally trying to ruin my life.” Lola opens the glass door, and we follow her through into a glassed area filled with stationary bikes.

  “I draw the line at Lady Gaga. Sorry, babe,” Poppi says.

  As we select our bikes off to the side of the six rows, a voice says behind me, “I think that one is mine.”

  I turn around to see Ellis in black gym shorts and a Bearded Goat Brewery t-shirt smiling at me.

  “Ellis, what are you doing here?”

  “You invited me.” Poppi and Lola give me major side-eye. “Hi, ladies,” he greets my friends.

  The conversation is cut short when a lithe woman with a dark ponytail steps to the front of the class. We climb on our bikes as she welcomes us and gives an overview of what will transpire.

  “Just look at the screen if you don’t know the words,” she points behind her. “I’ll be coming around with a microphone, so get ready to sing.”

  Lola laughs. “This is gonna be fun.”

  I set my water bottle into the little slot on my bike and give Ellis a thumb up. This should be interesting.

  The
first song starts and Bon Jovi's “Living On A Prayer” Oh good, I don’t even need the screen for this one.

  Margaret instructs us to warm up and get that blood pumping. Poppi rolls her eyes with a smile and picks up her speed.

  I’m trying my best to concentrate on everything going on around me, but Ellis’ legs cycling beside me are too distracting.

  Margaret zig zags around the room and heads over to me and sticks the microphone in my face. “It doesn’t make a difference if we’re naked or not,” I sing with a blush, before belting out the chorus.

  In my peripheral, Ellis’ head snaps to me. He grins as Margaret moves on to Lola.

  “That’s not the lyric,” he says, “but I like your version better.”

  What? I look at the words scrolling on the screen as Margaret continues moving through the class. And oh my god, I was today years old when I learned he’s not saying ‘naked.’

  Sweat beads on my forehead, and I can feel the blood pumping. I’m not sure if it’s from cycling or having Ellis next to me. He even sweats sexy.

  When Margaret finally sticks the microphone in his face during “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” he very charmingly says, “Oh, no thanks. I’m good.”

  I laugh. The fact he even showed up here is worth something. So, I’ll let him slide on not singing. Forty-five minutes later, we end the class on a Madonna number, and I laugh as Poppi carries out the last note. She can’t lie and say she didn’t love this. I know her, she did. We all did.

  “So much better than goat yoga,” Poppi says as we leave the spin class room. “What did you think, Ellis?”

  “It was different,” he says, opening the door for us.

  As people file out into the parking lot around us, I don’t know how to leave. What are the rules here? Do I just say bye? Because I want to flee from the man currently charming my friends. He saves me from the awkwardness. “I should get going.” He looks down at me with promise in his eyes. “I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Thanks for coming.”

  “Wouldn’t have missed an opportunity to see you singing on a bike.” My eyes are stuck to the motion of him raking his teeth across his bottom lip. I feel like he just undressed me in front of my friends. After a quick goodbye to Lola and Poppi, he turns and strides across the lot.

  “Things are getting pretty serious with Ellis the trellis guy, huh?” Lola asks.

  I frown a little, wanting things to be forever kind of serious with Ellis, but knowing they aren’t. “I don’t know,” I say to them.

  “What’s wrong?” Poppi asks as we make our way to our cars.

  “It’s just...I know he’ll be leaving soon.”

  Lola wraps an arm around me. “If it’s meant to be, it’ll all work out.”

  I hate when people say that. I love Lola, but I feel like sometimes you have to make things happen, and I’m not so sure if I should.

  * * *

  “Meet me at the pier,” a text from Ellis reads, after I’m home from work the next day. “Wear a swimsuit.”

  I quickly tap out a reply. “Ooh, this sounds interesting.”

  “I promise you’ll love it.”

  Using the excuse that my couch won’t miss me to justify how I didn’t even contemplate saying no, I hustle to my bedroom and change.

  When I arrive, a shirtless Ellis, wearing black swim shorts, stands on the beach with two surfboards lying by his feet. “Hey, ready to surf?”

  My toes sink in the warm sand as I walk closer. “Um, I’ve never surfed before.”

  He laughs, looking just like a Greek god out here in the sun. “I did cycling for you. I figured I’d show you one of my favorite workouts.”

  I smile. “Ok, let’s do it.”

  Ellis studies me for a second before moving a board closer. “First thing you need to know about surfing is balance. Can you balance?” His eyes roam over my body.

  “I can balance a goat on my ass.”

  “Touché.” He stares at me. “I just want to say I’d pay good money to see that.”

  “It wasn’t easy.”

  “I bet.” He smiles. “And the goat looked like Henry too. What a weird thing to picture.”

  I laugh.

  Ellis turns serious. “What kind of animal do you think I look like?”

  “Hmm…” I study him. His eyes are darker today, the green turned to almost black. “Panther,” I whisper. “Because you stare at me like you want to eat me.”

  He steps closer. “Maybe because I do.” A family strolls by, dousing the flames between us. “We should get started,” he says.

  “I agree.” It’s a good thing too, because I would have probably let Ellis do anything to my body right here on the beach.

  Given the large number of people here, that would probably be frowned upon.

  I remove my sundress and Ellis sucks in a deep breath.

  “Damn,” he hisses, his eyes searing the fabric of my blue and orange bikini.

  He gives me a few pointers on how to properly duck dive, pop up, and how to get my footing secure. And after listening to him speak about surfing for a few minutes, I can’t wait to get started.

  “We’ll start easy. Just get you out there and comfortable with the board and waves.”

  “Ok, I like that.”

  “So, we’ll swim out past the break, and see if we can’t start off with a few small swells to get you started.”

  I smile. “Sounds great.”

  The waves aren’t crazy big here on the east coast of Florida. At least not today.

  We wade out into the cool surf, both of us holding onto our boards as we head further out into the deep blue. Ellis pops up on his board and has a seat, straddling it. I follow suit.

  “Now what?” I ask.

  “Now we wait.” He glances back to check the activity of the waves behind us.

  I turn my head to take a look at what he sees. “Anything good?”

  He smiles. “Not yet, but there will be.”

  “Did you grow up surfing?” I ask, as we wait with the sun beating down on us.

  “My brother and I used to come out a lot after school when we were younger. Before we got cars and discovered girls.”

  I laugh. “Ah, did you date a lot in high school?”

  He shakes his head. “Not as much as my brother did. I had a few girlfriends, nothing too serious. How about you?”

  “Well, I grew up here in Jupiter, had maybe one boyfriend in high school. But, I never had anything too serious until I met Henry.”

  “How did you get into dog grooming?” he asks, dragging his hand through the water.

  “Poppi and I worked for a dog groomer, and he was selling his shop, so he could retire. So, we made the leap.” I sigh. “I love dogs.”

  “I’ve noticed.” He grins. “But you’re right, that is a big leap.”

  “Must have been the same for you when you left Florida to move to Atlanta.”

  “Yeah.” He peeks over his shoulder once more. “Here comes a wave. Now paddle with your arms and then hop up onto the board like I explained to stand.”

  He makes it sound like there’s no way I won’t accomplish this. Sure, I’ve seen surfing movies. And sure, in theory it all looks very easy. In fact, I know I’ve got the gist of the idea down. But, it’s the physical aspect of the whole thing. Even though I’m paddling as fast as I can, getting past this wave feels almost impossible.

  “You got it,” Ellis encourages. “Now get up on the board.”

  I try. And I do not succeed. Although, I’m having a blast.

  Ellis lands the perfect wave and makes it look effortless. Sometimes, things come easily to people. Like Lola and fitness. Or Poppi and sarcasm.

  Some of us have to work for it. I give it everything I have and make it up onto the board.

  Ellis cheers as I ride out a small wave.

  On the beach, he picks me up and spins me around. “You nailed it.” My body slides down his as he sets me back on the sand. His eyes pene
trate me, making me want so much more of this man. “So, I have something to show you.”

  I smile wide. “What is it?”

  He throws on a t-shirt. “It’s at the brewery.” He pauses. “We could meet there later, after we go home and shower.”

  Another idea forms in my head. “Follow me home.”

  SIXTEEN

  Ellis

  Never turn down a shower...

  My heart races as I follow Kiki back to her house.

  It is so on.

  We pull into her driveway, and we make our way inside her place. Her eyes search mine, and I see something I’ve never seen in any other woman before.

  Something...more.

  Things slow and speed up all at the same time. She lifts her dress off in one fell swoop and tosses it onto the floor. Her bikini is next to go.

  This is the first time I’ve seen her with nothing on, and oh how appreciative I am.

  She watches me study each and every curve. I’m a voyeur of sorts, learning the craft as I stalk her with my eyes.

  I could stare at this girl all night long. Because it’s not just a stare—it’s a promise. Of dirty deeds yet to come. Of sweaty bodies, passion, and the type of hot sex you could only dream about.

  She turns on the water, and I nearly buckle when she steps inside, curling her finger to me, begging me to join her.

  Oh yeah, I’m on my fucking way.

  She grins a sexy type of grin, and I wonder how she wears sex and sin so damn well. I don’t know the answer, but I want to find out.

  I need to find out.

  I remove all my clothes as if they’re on fire, grabbing a condom from the pocket, and enter under the hot spray with her.

  She takes my hand, dropping some soap into my palm and pushes it onto her breasts. “Wash me.”

  I like a girl who goes after what she wants. She knows herself. Knows what she likes and how she wants it. And I find that type of sexy confidence downright appealing.

  I move my hand along her neck, down her throat, between her breasts, and across her collarbone. “Turn around.”