by Grace James
Kane broke into an easy laugh. “Don’t let Con hear you say that.”
We chatted amiably as he fixed my coffee. Just as he handed the steaming cup to me, the bathroom door banged open and out spilled Connor and two other guys – Matt and Luke, two of Connor’s friends that I had been introduced to earlier – laughing uproariously.
Connor spotted me and broke away from them, weaving his way towards me, rubbing his nose and shaking his head quickly from side to side, as if he was trying to clear it.
That was my second clue.
19
When Connor reached me, he slipped his arms around me, pulled me tight against him and kissed me. Just laid one on me. Right there in front of everyone. My coffee spilled a little, but I didn’t care, I just adjusted my arm and kept kissing him.
The kiss was sloppy and raw. Not gentle – just full of lust.
We were both at least a little wasted – okay, probably a lot wasted – and our teeth clacked together as he thrust his tongue into my mouth. We were both chuckling as he pulled back and cocked his head to one side, frowning in confusion. “Wait, did you pee on me?”
“What?! NO!” I glanced down and saw a wet patch on his jeans. “You made me spill my coffee!”
“I think you need a coffee, man,” Kane said, clapping Connor on the shoulder as he doled out another steaming mug to the drunken people. Connor took it with a slightly slurred word of thanks, and then pulled me towards the couches – Blake and his girls had disappeared somewhere – and we flopped down together. He pulled me in to his side, draping an arm around my shoulder as we sipped our drinks.
By the time I’d almost finished my coffee, the last of the stragglers had gone – well, to be more accurate, Kane had gently but firmly kicked them out, before disappearing to his room, leaving Connor and I alone.
My body started to relax and I suddenly felt sleepy. Connor must have sensed it, because he took my coffee out of my hand and set it on the coffee table with his own. Then he laid back on the couch, resting his head on the arm, and tapped the top of his chest. “Lay down here for a while?”
“Shouldn’t we go?”
“Nah, I crash here all the time.”
I nodded, to tired and drunk to even really consider calling a cab, and lowered myself down beside him, resting my head on his chest. His arms slipped around me and pressed me flush against his body. I could feel every taught muscle. He tipped my head up with the pad of his index finger and kissed me again – this time it was gentle for a moment before he deepened the kiss.
I splayed my hand over his stomach, reveling in the feel of his speed bump abs under my hand. Tentatively, I let my hand explore his torso, stopping only when I got to the belt of his jeans.
“Lower…lower…” he murmured against my mouth.
My eyes flew open as I pulled back, shocked at his request.
I realized he was joking when I saw him chuckling, his eyes dancing with amusement at my reaction.
“Embarrassed again?” he asked.
I am now!
“…no.”
“Liar.” His eyes narrowed mischievously. “You’re a tease and you don’t even know it.”
I bit my lip. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry for making me hard.”
My face started to flush. His words turned me on, but my inexperience made me shy. I knew Connor could clearly see my embarrassment, but this time he didn’t mention it. Instead, he wrapped his arms around me, hugging me to him while he chuckled silently.
20
I awoke, fully clothed, on one of the couches in the living room. My head thumped in time with my heart, sending pulses of pain across my temples.
“Oh God, I hate alcohol,” I muttered, clutching my head.
“Don’t blame the booze, blame poor judgment!” Hayley’s perky voice sounded from across the room. I couldn’t see her yet – my eyes weren’t playing ball – but I figured she was in the kitchen.
“I thought you went home,” I croaked.
“Nope, we just went to look at the stars.”
“Yeah, I made you see stars alright!” Derren quipped from somewhere close by – maybe the other couch.
“Ugh...coffee?” I felt like my mouth was full of cotton wool.
“Already on it.” Hayley said cheerfully. Exactly how she could be so chirpy after a night like last night I had no idea.
I heard some incoherent grumbling from beside me and realized that I was still pressed up against Connor. I sat up and rubbed my hands over my face, trying to wake myself up. I blinked and looked around the room. I imagined I looked kind of like an owl emerging from its nest in the middle of the day – bewildered and bleary eyed.
Derren and Kane were sitting on the other couch, playing some really violent looking video game on the TV with the sound down low.
“Morning, sunshine,” Kane grinned.
“Ugh,” I moaned.
Hayley placed a coffee on the coffee table in front of me and patted my head, like you would a puppy, before returning to the kitchen.
“Morning, fuckers!” Blake’s deep voice sounded out, making me wince as the pain in my head doubled. I looked up to see him emerging from his bedroom, looking like he’d had a solid eight hours sleep and not a single drop of alcohol.
What an asshole.
Then something clicked in my brain – something that had been staring me in the face since I met him the night before but had only now solidified in my hung-over mind. “Oh my God, I just figured it out!” I blurted, sitting up straighter and pointing at him before I could stop myself – maybe I was still a little bit drunk. Actually, that was a very strong possibility. “Oh God! I knew there was something familiar about you!”
My outburst seemed to catch him by surprise because he paused on his way to the kitchen and looked at me with wide eyes. He rallied pretty quickly though, his mouth curving into a smirk as he spoke. “What? Did you just remember we already fucked? ‘Cause I’m sorry Princess, but I can’t remember every girl I screw.”
“Ew! No!” I wrinkled my nose in disgust. “And please don’t call me that.”
He jerked his head back, frowning in mock confusion. “But that’s what you’re supposed to call spoiled little rich girls.”
For the record, I was not rich. Or particularly spoiled for that matter.
“Ignore him, Amy. What were you going to say?” Kane prompted.
“Okay, it’s just that he’s – he’s Stifler! You know, the guy that gets peed on in American Pie?!”
If you haven’t seen the American Pie movies, Stifler is this obnoxious man-whore who insults his friends constantly and thinks he’s God’s gift to women. He essentially ends up the butt of every joke. Don’t get me wrong, Blake didn’t look much like him. But the way he acted? Pretty damn similar.
There was a beat of silence, and then the room descended into laughter – all apart from Blake, that is.
“Oh, man! She’s right!” Kane howled.
“Yes! Amy, you’re a fuckin’ genius!” Derren leant across and high fived me.
“Good one, Amy Scott.” Connor muttered before burying his head in the couch cushions and seeming to going back to sleep.
Blake shot me a disgruntled look as he went to the kitchen, where Hayley offered him a coffee whilst trying, and failing, to hide her snickering.
Feeling a little vindicated after the way that he had spoken to me the night before, I picked up my own coffee and took a sip, letting my tired eyes drift shut for a few moments as I tasted it. When I opened them again, Kane and Derren were both re-immersed in their video game; I glanced back to the kitchen, where Hayley had her back to me, making more coffee –
But Blake was looking right at me.
His expression was unreadable, but when my eyes met his, he winked at me over the top of his coffee cup. It wasn’t a sleazy wink either, and there was no accompanying smirk or innuendo. It was the kind of wink that said, No hard feelings.
It was…unex
pected.
21
Almost a week after the party, I was starting to think that I would never hear from Connor again.
We’d left Blake and Kane’s house together, late Saturday morning, and we had gone to a nearby diner for waffles. We’d talked and laughed and kissed while we ate.
Afterwards, just like the morning at the bowling alley, he’d called me a cab and waited with me in the parking lot for it to arrive. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me in, giving me a lingering kiss before burrowing his face into my hair. “So, this is the part where you tell me you had a great night and you want to see me again,” he said into my ear.
“Aren’t you supposed to say that to me?”
“You can’t say it first? Are you that insecure?” I didn’t need to see his face to know that he was grinning, trying to goad me.
“Ha ha,” I said, not laughing. “Okay, fine. Connor, I had a really great night and I want to see you again,” I deadpanned.
He pulled back and looked down at me, an expression of sympathetic uncertainty on his face. “Jesus, Amy, I’m really flattered but I’m just so busy right now...”
“You ass!” I squealed, smacking him on the arm.
He chuckled and kissed me again just as the cab pulled up. “I’ll call you later, okay?”
“Okay,” I agreed as he opened the door for me to climb in. He had stood in the parking lot and waved me off as I sighed and thought sweet thoughts about his sweet lips…
But then he hadn’t called, or texted, or anything.
And, because I’m a little proud, I hadn’t tried to contact him either.
By the following Thursday, I had pretty much written him off, and I surprised myself with how hurt I felt at the prospect of not seeing him again – or worse, seeing him again with his arms wrapped around someone else.
In fact, I had lain awake for hours every night that week, unable to think of anything but him.
So when he called me, my heart just about leapt out of my mouth.
It was around nine-thirty at night and I was studying in my room when my phone started ringing. As soon as I saw his name glowing on the screen, I grabbed up my phone, but I forced myself to let it ring just a little before I finally answered. Pride and all that.
“Hey, Beer Pong Champ, I think someone’s trying to steal your car.”
“Hey – what?” I jumped up off of my seat and ran to my bedroom window. “How do you – oh!”
There he was. My Honda was parked on the side of the road outside my apartment block and Connor was standing on the roof, grinning up at me, with his cell phone still at his ear. Passersby were looking at him like he was a crazy person.
“What are you doing? How did you know that was my car – or even where I live for that matter?”
“I have my sources.”
Then something obvious occurred to me. “Hayley told you.”
“Of course – so, what are you doing RIGHT NOW?”
“Looking out of my bedroom window at some crazy guy putting dents in the roof of my car,” I said sardonically.
He chuckled down the line and leapt down onto the sidewalk. “Are you busy? You don’t LOOK busy.”
I thought about telling him that I had plans, just to play hard to get, but my desire to see him again won out. “I’m just studying.”
“Then you need a break. Come on an adventure with me?” Even from a distance, I could see the almost sweet, hopeful expression on his face.
I was kidding myself if I thought that I could resist that. “Okay. Can you give me ten minutes?”
“I’ll even give you fifteen.” I saw him pull the phone away from his ear and lean against my car, crossing his arms over his chest. When I didn’t move away from the window right away, he raised his eyebrows and tapped his wrist where a watch would be if he was wearing one – which he wasn’t.
Biting my lip to stop from smiling like an idiot, I backed away from the window and quickly changed. I fluffed up my hair and sprayed a little perfume on my wrists, before grabbing my purse and leaving my apartment. I had to stop myself from rushing down the stairs, forcing myself to walk normally so I didn’t seem too keen to see him.
When I emerged onto the sidewalk, Connor jogged over to me and, without preamble, pulled me to him and kissed me long and slow. My desire for him bubbled up quickly, stoked by my continuous battle to think of anything else but him for the past week. I snaked my arms around his toned back and pressed myself against him.
He smelled of soap and Connor...with a hint of smoke thrown in.
After a little while, he pulled back and smiled down at me. “So, where are you taking us?” he asked mischievously, nodding towards my car.
“Ha! No way, mister, you turn up at my place after I don’t hear from you for a week? You have to pick the place.” I was teasing – mostly.
“Like that, is it?”
“Oh yeah.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “Alright – but remember, you asked for this.” Before I even registered his words, he wrapped an arm around the tops of my thighs and hoisted me up, throwing me over his shoulder so my face was level with his ass. I squealed and giggled as he started to walk down the street, carrying me like a rag doll.
After a couple of hundred yards he set me down again and we walked through the city hand in hand until we came to a pool hall.
“Can you play?” Connor asked, cocking his thumb at the flashing sign.
I pursed my lips in consideration. “Badly,” I said finally.
He grinned and pulled me inside. We got a table in a dark corner and ordered a couple of sodas.
“No bourbon tonight?” I teased.
“I don’t drink every night.”
“Just most nights?”
“Not even – take the shot.” He pointed at me with his cue.
I broke and, by complete chance, managed to pot three balls straight off the bat.
“You’re playing me!” Connor pointed an accusing finger at me, though he was grinning.
“Yes, we’re playing pool, Connor,” I said, deliberately misunderstanding him.
He shook his head. “Knew you were a shark,” he grabbed me around the waist and tickled me until I could barely breathe. The people at the tables nearest us were staring at us by the time he finally released me. “Alright, your turn again,” he gestured to the table.
I potted my next ball too.
“Aah! You’re goin’ down!” He grabbed me again.
“No! No!” I half-screamed, half-laughed, dropping my cue and trying to fight back; he was too quick, and before I managed to tickle him, he had his hands around my wrists, holding me at bay. We stared at each other for a couple of seconds, both smiling like idiots – then he was mashing his lips to mine, releasing my wrists and wrapping his arms tight around my waist, pulling me to him, lifting me onto my tiptoes. I felt my breasts squash against his body and gasped as my nipples tightened to sensitive peaks. My hands bunched in the back of his shirt as I tried to pull him harder against me, my desire for him flooding my senses. One of his hands travelled down my body, settling on my ass, squeezing firmly and pressing us together. He groaned into my mouth as his stiffening cock pressed against my crotch. I felt a contraction of lust deep inside, a rush of moisture, in response to his arousal.
Then a movement from the corner of my eye caught my attention, and I saw the waitress bring our drinks over. I was suddenly aware that we were still in the middle of the pool hall. A quick glance around told me that people were definitely looking our way now. A couple practically dry humping in the middle of a pool hall does tend to attract attention.
Mortification started to trickle in, only offset by the fact that I was practically mad with desire for the guy currently pressed up against me. “Um, Connor,” I breathed, easing myself back a little. “Maybe we should, um, stop.”
“Yeah,” he agreed, although his voice was thick and he made no move to release me. “We probably should.”
/> “Um, then you kind of need to let me go..?”
“Yeah…don’t really want to.” His face still held an expression of pure lust, which was making me a little crazy. In a good way. I couldn’t help but melt back into him. His lips found mine again a moment later but this time his desire was tempered, softer, more caring. Soon, he pulled his head back and bobbed me on the nose with the tip of his own perfect nose. “You just tell me when you’re ready, Amy Scott who’s pretty hot.” His arms slowly released their hold on me and he moved away, back towards the pool table.
I bit my lip as I watched him move away, feeling the loss of his arms around me. And that nose bop? Sweetest thing ever. If we hadn’t been in the middle of a pool hall, I wasn’t sure that I would have put the brakes on. If we had been alone and he’d tried to take it further, I’m pretty sure I would have let him.
Too soon! Rational Amy yelled inside my head.
But he’s SO DAMN HOT! My Inner Slut screamed back.
I didn’t sleep with him. Not that night, anyway. We played pool, we talked, we kissed, we walked hand in hand through the city and he left me at the door of my apartment. He may have kissed me long and hard outside my front door and I may have almost invited him in, but I didn’t. Rational Amy prevailed.
But not for long – he was so damn hot!
22
It turned out that it was always like that with Connor. Not ‘hot and cold’ exactly…but I could never predict him. I wouldn’t see him for days – I would just get the occasional call or text – and then he would show up again like a whirlwind.
Everything with him was fun and the sheer unpredictability of him actually only served to make me want him more. I think that part of the attraction I felt for him was the way that I felt about myself when I was with him, like I was fun because for some unknown reason, he wanted me as his partner in crime. To be clear, I don’t mean actual crime – okay, there was maybe a little trespassing and some entering (without the breaking) but that would barely class as breaking the law…I think.