Draw Me In

by Regina Cole

  “I know what you’re having, boss. What about the kid?” Roger leaned close to be heard over the music.

  “Just a Coke for me.” I flashed the large black X that the doorman had so graciously scrawled on the backs of both my hands.

  Roger laughed. “A Coke for my DD.” He sauntered off to the bar, hiking up his jeans.

  Luce leaned toward me. “He’s absolutely insane, but he makes me laugh.”

  “He’s a great guy,” I said, nodding. I tried really hard to concentrate on talking instead of feeling the way Neill’s thumb was rubbing up and down the back of my hand.

  “We met in a tattoo shop, too, you know.” Luce bobbed her head toward Neill. “It’s apparently a great place to meet guys.” She winked.

  I laughed, kind of weakly, glad when Roger came back with our drinks.

  Neill squeezed my hand for a second before releasing it to take ours from Roger. “I’ll get the next round,” he said to Roger as he passed me a tall glass of Coke, complete with umbrella and lime wedge.

  “Don’t worry about it. I got a two-hundred-dollar tip this afternoon on a six-inch piece.”

  Neill’s eyebrows winged high. “Damn. What was it?”

  I answered for him. “A lawnmower.”

  Neill’s jaw almost dropped. “You’re kidding me.”

  I grinned, kind of glad to be able to deliver the inside scoop. “Nope. Guy said he’d just doubled last year’s profits on his lawn maintenance business, and he wanted his first lawnmower as a tattoo.”

  “It gets better, though,” Roger said as he moved past us to claim a recently vacated tall table by the bar. “Ask the kid where.”

  Neill followed Roger, and I stuck close, glad when he gently took my elbow and maneuvered me closer to him. I didn’t want to yell the answer anyway: “On his ass.”

  Neill raised his glass to Roger. “Then you deserve that tip, my man.”

  Luce’s neon-yellow cocktail almost glowed in the black light as she raised it to join them. “I guess you won’t be needing me tonight, if you’ve already gotten some tail.” She winked at me and clacked her glass against theirs.

  I propped my elbows on the high table, listening, laughing, and generally having a fabulous time. Luce and Roger were great people, smart, funny, and they didn’t treat me like a kid, despite Roger’s nickname for me. But as the time passed, Neill moved closer to me. His body heat warmed me like a campfire. I dropped the arm closest to him, letting it hang at my side, halfway hoping . . .

  His fingers laced with mine.

  “Let me get you another beer, boss. That one’s about gone.” Roger said, waving a twenty. “You need another, Luce?”

  His girlfriend shook her wild blond curls. “Nope. This one was almost nuclear. Like a giant shot in a martini glass. Give me a water right now, and I’ll have another one later.”

  Roger dropped a kiss on Luce’s cheek. “You got it, babe.”

  “I’m going to pass for the moment, too,” Neill said, pulling me away from the table. “I want to see what kind of moves Hailey has on the dance floor.”

  Heat climbed my cheeks, and I was glad it was so dark in the bar. Hopefully my blush would go unnoticed. “Sure.”

  Roger shook his head at us as Neill led me back toward the small dance floor. His grip was strong, sure on mine, as we moved through the crowd. When we got there, we claimed a small corner nearest the bar.

  “I guess I should have asked if you wanted to dance first, huh.” Neill’s boyish smile was back as he toyed with my fingers.

  I smiled as I pressed closer to him, less to get away from the people dancing near me than to feel his body against mine. “I don’t mind. If I minded, I’d have refused to go with you. But I want to dance with you.”

  “Well,” Neill said, lifting my arms out to the sides. “Let me see it.”

  It was all too easy to look into his eyes and let the music take me away. My hips twisted in time to the beat, feet shifting and retreating, one hand lifting the hair from my neck as I mouthed the words to the song. But he didn’t let go of my hand until he gripped both my hips.

  “You can dance with me, you know,” I said breathlessly.

  “I know. But I was just enjoying how beautiful you are when you dance. You look the same when you draw, you know.” Neill turned me around, not letting go of my hips as he pressed his lips close to my ear. “Pure passion. It’s sexy as hell, Hailey.”

  I let myself fall back into him, and he led the dance from there. The next song came on then, a slower, thumping beat, and he used it to his advantage. His hips ground into mine, both of us twisting sinuously as his hands lay on my hips, sometimes brushing higher, then lower. The crush of bodies and the movement caused me to heat up, never mind the desire that was firing my blood. When I twisted my hair and held it atop my head, just for some relief from the heat, Neill’s mouth found the tender curve of my neck.

  I moaned, a tiny cry that was lost against the sound of the music, the laughter surrounding us, but it seemed that he’d heard it. He pressed his hips into my ass, and my breath caught at the delicious hardness there. His kisses trailed up and down my neck, across the nape, over to the other side, nipping and licking and caressing while we danced.

  He wanted me, it was obvious. And I couldn’t have been happier. Screw all my misgivings. It felt right, and I wanted to let go. I needed it.

  When he turned me again, I let my hair fall and twined my hands behind his neck. Our lips met, hungry, hard, and passionate. But then the song changed again, a more upbeat tune, and we laughed as we began to jump in time with the music.

  I lost my breath as he spun me in a recently vacated section of the dance floor. I didn’t know how many songs they’d played, how many times we’d kissed, how often I’d let my hands wander over his muscled back, his incredible arms, even once down to caress his firm ass. But the floor was clearer, fewer people now. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Luce waving. I resented the intrusion, just for a second, though I knew we couldn’t stay here all night.

  “Hey, Neill, I think Luce is trying to get our attention.” I tapped his head, reluctant to stop him from worshipping that spot just below my ear. Damn, he was an incredible kisser.

  He lifted his head and sighed. “Guess it couldn’t last forever.”

  Hand in hand, we left the dance floor and stopped in front of Luce. She said, “I hate to break this up, but the bar’s closing in twenty minutes.”

  “Really?” My eyebrows shot up. “Already?”

  Luce laughed a little tiredly. “Sweetie, it’s almost three.”

  “Damn,” Neill said with a laugh of his own. “Time flies when you’re dancing.”

  “Dancing, making out, same difference with you two.” Roger delivered the jibe without venom. “Come on, we’ll take you back to the shop.”

  “Crap, it’s way too late for the bus to be running. I should have left a long time ago,” I said, hoping my disappointment wasn’t showing. I’d been having the most incredible time, and I didn’t want it to be over. “I guess I can call a cab.”

  “Hell, no,” Neill said vehemently. “You’re not standing out there alone God knows how long for a cab to show up.”

  “I can take you home,” Luce said slowly.

  Neill shook his head. “She’s almost half an hour away from your house, Luce. Besides, you two have both had too much. Come on. I’ll take you both home, and if you don’t mind, I’ll borrow your Jeep for the night. She can stay at my place. If . . .” He turned to me. “If you want to. I mean, I’ll behave myself. I promise.”

  My heart tripped and then thumped triple time. “That sounds good to me.” As long as you don’t behave, I added silently.

  Neill

  Roger and Luce waved from their front stoop as I put the Jeep into reverse. Beside me, Hailey buckled the seatbelt, a whirring sound accompanying the movement as the nylon pulled from its windup home. With the engine growling comfortably, I watched as Roger opened the door and the coupl
e disappeared inside the cheery blue home, dark shadows playing across the white railings of the front porch.

  “Thanks for letting me stay,” Hailey said with a huge yawn. I glanced over as the Jeep rolled down the driveway. She stretched toward the low ceiling of the vehicle, her breasts high and proud as she arched her back. “I should have left earlier.”

  I braked for the stop sign at the end of the street. “Don’t worry about it. I just didn’t think it was a good idea for you to hang out on that corner for an hour. Leesville is a nice town, but nowhere’s perfect.”

  “You’re right.”

  I accelerated through the empty intersection, out of Roger’s neighborhood in just a few minutes. This section of town was nice, cozy. The houses were a little older, the neighbors a bit slower, but it was charming all the same. I gave a soft laugh in the quiet.

  “What’s funny?”

  I glanced over at her. In the dim light of the vehicle, her lashes were even darker, her hair like liquid midnight. It was beginning to amaze me how many different ways she was beautiful to me.

  “I was just thinking. About myself, actually. I grew up here, you know.”

  “In Leesville?”

  I nodded as I braked for a stoplight. There were no other cars, but the light was cycling through like clockwork. “Yup. We moved here when I was about four, so this town is all I remember. When I was a kid, I used to dream of leaving. I’d go to New York or San Francisco, somewhere big, you know?”

  Red finally flipped to green, and I slowly accelerated, the engine grumbling in response. Hailey’s hand rested atop mine on the gearshift. He skin was petal-soft, and I loved the way it felt on me.

  “So what happened?”

  I turned my palm in order to grip her hand. “Life. That’s what happened. I left home when I was sixteen. Would have been out on the streets if it wasn’t for Karl. Thanks to him, I have a great job, a nice house, and now, half a business. He’s been better to me than any of my family ever was. It’s just funny how life doesn’t work out how you expect it to.”

  The Jeep rolled to a stop in front of my house. Reluctantly, I released her hand to shift the vehicle into park.

  She looked down as she unfastened her belt, her expression unreadable. “That’s for sure.”

  I exited the car, grabbed my bag, and locked the Jeep as Hailey waited. Together we walked up the driveway, the light above the small backyard shed casting enough glow for us to see.

  “You’ve got a nice place,” Hailey said as she passed the rosebush that had climbed the reddish-stained porch railing. A delicate pink blossom drooped into her palm.

  “I’m renting it. Karl has a few properties around Leesville.”

  The door swung open, my keys jingling. Hailey followed me into the darkened foyer, glancing at her surroundings. “Karl must be a really good guy. When will I get to meet him?”

  I dumped my keys in the dish atop the table and stowed my helmet in the basket beneath. “Soon. He’s been doing a guest spot at a pretty nice studio in New Orleans. But it should be winding down now. He’ll be back in another week or so, probably.”

  Hailey stood in the foyer, hands in her pockets, looking kind of unsure of herself. I paused after flicking on the light.

  “This is it. Come on, I’ll show you where you can sleep.” I held my hand out to her without really thinking.

  She lifted her own hand to take it but then hesitated. It was easy to see the worry in her eyes.

  “I promised you I’d behave. I’ll take the couch. Come on.”

  She took my hand at that, and I tried like hell not to be disappointed. I led her down the hallway, the wooden floor creaking slightly beneath our feet. When we reached the bedroom, I dropped her hand to turn on the lamp by the bedside. The soft glow illuminated my bedroom, dark, heavy furniture and simple gray bedding. The walls in here were as bare as they were in the rest of the house, but at least the tall furniture masked that a little. Fortunately, my cleanliness streak had extended to vacuuming the off-white carpeting a couple of days ago. Even if she thought it was boring, it was clean.

  “Here you go. The sheets are fresh, just changed them.”

  “It’s nice,” she said, looking around the room. I knew what she would think about it. Boring, empty, sparse. Why did I give a shit? She wasn’t moving in, she was sleeping here for one night.

  “Sorry, but do you have a T-shirt or something I could borrow to sleep in?” Hailey patted her jeans at the thighs. “These aren’t exactly the most comfortable pajamas.”

  The thought flashed across my mind before I could stop it. Hailey, removing those jeans, pulling off her top, reaching behind her back to unhook her lacy confection of a bra . . . I shook my head to clear the delicious image. “Sure, of course.”

  I turned my back to her and yanked open a dresser drawer. You promised her, man. You promised this would be innocent. She’s not ready for anything more, and neither are you. Keep yourself honest, and don’t touch . . .

  A hand appeared on my lower back, rubbing lightly, small circles that spread out from one another.

  “What are you doing, Hailey?” My whisper was loud in the otherwise silent room.

  “Touching you.”

  With a shirt clutched in one fist, I turned to face her. She kept touching me, now on my side. My heart thumped raggedly and my blood heated, flowing downward in a rush that almost left me dizzy. “Why, Hailey?”

  She looked up at me, her eyes so dark, shining in the dimness. “Because I want you.”

  I fought the kiss. I shouldn’t do it, had promised her . . . But my head lowered slowly, a centimeter at a time, and her free hand raised to cup my cheek, and then our lips were touching again. Softer this time, hesitant at first. Fleeting brushes, almost too brief to feel. But my chivalry died, and I dropped the shirt, gathering her close to my body. Our mouths tangled, lips and tongues and passion flaming together. She fit against me so perfectly, breasts pressing against my chest, the hardened points of her nipples pressing into me. My erection cradled against her softness, throbbing heat that wanted to know her more, know all of her. My hands took on a mind of their own, exploring her back, her hips, her ass. I took her gasp into my mouth as I lifted her high and hard against me, pressing my hardness even firmer against her body.

  With more willpower than I ever thought I had, I lifted my head. Her ragged gasps of desire echoed in the quietness of my bedroom.

  “Hailey,” I breathed as I pushed her back toward the bed.

  She sank down onto my comforter, lying back as I knelt there next to her on the bed. Her hair spread out on the pillows, she looked up at me, beckoning me to join her. And God help me, I did.

  Fully clothed, I stretched out atop her, kissing her as though I’d never stop. She gripped my ass, pulling my hips harder against her. But I was too heavy. So I rolled to the side, not breaking contact with her mouth, leaving the front of her body open for my exploring hand.

  Sweeping inside her mouth with my tongue, I let my hand move from its position at her waist, higher up her side, over her arm, then tracing her collarbone and down until I was fully cupping her breast.

  She moaned into my mouth, and the sound encouraged me further. I flicked the tight bud of her nipple over her clothes, squeezing lightly, cupping the entire orb in my palm. I throbbed, nearly in pain with wanting her, but I refused to rush. Though I’d have loved to caress her breasts all night, there was something else I wanted, something I wanted her to feel. She should ache as much as I did. It was only fair.

  I lifted my mouth from hers, propping up on my elbow as my hand moved lower. I stared into her wide eyes as my fingers brushed her belly, over the waistband of her jeans, then just a bit lower until she writhed against me.

  “Please,” she whispered, pushing her hips up, begging me. “Touch me.”

  I looked down to where my hand was, splayed over the front of her jeans, covering her lower belly. God, I hurt. I wanted . . .

  But it was too s
oon. For both of us. She wasn’t ready for this, and neither was I, even though it hurt to think it. This needed to be special if it was going to happen. I didn’t want her to regret anything that happened between us. I’d have to stop now, before it was too late. But that didn’t mean I had to deny her everything.

  Taking her mouth in another deep kiss, I moved my hand to the place she’d been begging me to touch. I cupped her heat through her jeans, caressing her in a way that I knew she’d love. She cried out in my mouth, pleasure and desire making her almost mindless. But my hand slowed, and though it almost killed me, I removed my hand and lightened the kiss.

  “You need sleep,” I whispered, rising. “I’ll be in the living room if you need me.”

  “But Neill,” she cried, sitting up. God, she looked so delicious with her hair mussed, her eyes wild and wanting, that mouth swollen from my kisses. “Please, I want more.”

  “I know. And so do I.” I moved from the bed, lifting the shirt from the floor and handing it to her. “But it’s too soon. God, I want nothing more right now than I want you.”

  With one last fierce kiss, I handed her the shirt and left the room, heading for the bathroom at the opposite end of the house. If I didn’t take care of myself, I’d probably end up naked in bed with her.

  And she deserved more than that.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Hailey

  The scent of the pillow beneath me wasn’t right. It smelled wonderful, clean and somehow familiar, but it wasn’t mine. I blinked blearily, an unfamiliar room taking shape in front of me. Sunlight shone past gray curtains. The walls were a pale cream, and the sheets were crisp and smooth, like the ones at an expensive hotel. I shifted my legs, reveling in the delicious feeling of their silkiness on my bare skin. But then my toe hit warm flesh, and I remembered.