by Natasha Boyd
“Everything okay?”
“Just peachy,” I muttered. “Thanks for the beer, Coop. I owe you. I’ll see you this week about the car, yeah?”
I squeezed his arm and wandered back over to the tables, sipping at the can.
Keri Ann saw me and raised her eyebrows. “You want some more shrimp, maybe the potatoes? Something to eat?” she asked pointedly, looking at my beer.
“I’m stuffed from Nana’s dinner,” I said. But I really loved shrimp. I should have passed on dinner, but Nana’s chicken fried steak was impossible to resist. Joey caught my eye and winked.
Grr.
I honestly couldn’t figure out the deal here. I know I was pretending to be Joey’s girlfriend, but why would he whisper that shit in my ear about kissing me? No one heard that, so it definitely wasn’t part of the deal. I almost felt like really flirting with him so he’d get a fright and back off.
This edgy feeling I’d had since my weird crush had materialized was getting on my last nerve. It made me irritable. Not even beer number two was helping. Keri Ann dragged Colt away to help her track down marshmallows to roast.
“So, Jazz,” Courtney said.
I pasted on a smile and turned her way. “Yes?”
“I don’t think I really believe you guys are seeing each other. And I’m kinda ticked off that you thought you could do this to me,” she said, accusingly. “It’s mean and hurtful.”
“Is she for real?” I looked at Joey who was starting to look nervous. “Like, you are standing right here, and I’m the one she’s mad with? Really?” I looked back at her. “Really, Courtney?”
She nodded, scowling at me.
“Gosh,” I said. “Now what on earth would make you think I’m not crazy about Joseph?”
She folded her arms. “Well, for one thing you always called Joey an arrogant asshat,” she said. “I can’t believe that’s changed.”
“How do you know I called him that? Ok, now you’re being creepy, Courtney.”
“Jazz,” Joey said with a warning tone.
“What? She is.” I looked at her. “You are. What’s the deal, anyway? You can’t just beg someone to want you, you know.”
Courtney looked pissed that I’d called her out. Joey looked like he wanted to murder me. Keri Ann rejoined us and watched the events unfold with wide eyes.
“Look,” I said to Courtney. I was trying to be sympathetic, I really was. “Do your parents know they are paying tuition for you to stalk someone at college? I mean, do you even go to class?” Okay, maybe I wasn’t that sympathetic.
Joey touched my arm. “Stop talking, Jazz.”
“I won’t.” I shrugged him off. “Here’s the thing. You’re a stunning girl, you know? And by the way, your eyes looked way better with your natural hair color. You sort of had this cool Jennifer Lawrence vibe going on. Anyway, whatevs. The deal is, I’m sure there are a gazillion guys who’d give their left nut to date you, and I bet you haven’t even noticed coz you’ve been goo goo eyes over this loser.”
Joey made a strangled sound. “Gee, thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” I said to him, then directed my attention back to Courtney. “Anyway, you can do better, trust me.”
“Again,” Joey muttered. “Thank you.”
I looked at him and rolled my eyes. “You’re welcome.”
Keri Ann snorted.
“And he’s got a tiny dick,” I said.
“Jesus,” hissed Joey. “That’s enough.”
“Sore point?” I asked him.
Joey took my arm again. “Please excuse us,” he muttered at Keri Ann and Courtney, then led me away from the bonfire, away from all the people, and into the darkness.
Out of the light of the torches and the fire, the stars roared into brilliance above us. I lifted my head back. “Wow!” I gasped.
“That’s probably what you’ll say if you ever see it,” Joey said, irritated.
“I—” A giggle erupted, then morphed into a full-blown lose-my-fucking-mind cackle.
“What the hell? You’re drunk, aren’t you?” He took the can from my hand that was pretty much finished and sniffed it. “How many of these have you had?”
“You’re so bossy,” I said. “Why are you so bossy?”
“How many?”
“Just two.”
“Two PBR’s, and this is how you act? They’re practically water. You’re a lightweight.”
“My mom calls it being a cheap date.” I wasn’t remotely drunk. I wished I was drunk.
He let out a long sigh.
I stared back up at the black sky studded with tiny pinpricks of light. Losing a point of reference, I swayed a bit and realized Joey’s hot hand was still on my arm. “You’re hot,” I said.
He chuckled.
“Not you’re hot. I mean, your hand is hot. Your skin … ugh. Whatever. Your arrogance is showing again. Just because I say hot doesn’t mean you’re sexy.”
“Who said anything about me being sexy?”
“Not me.” I shook my head vehemently.
“Did you really refer to me like that, even back when I was in high school? An ‘arrogant asshat’?”
“Always.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
“Am not.” He smirked, his eyes glinting in the darkness.
I stared at him. “Are too,” I challenged.
“You’re impossible.”
We regarded each other in the almost darkness. The lack of visibility seemed to be dialing up the intimacy level. Wow, maybe the beer really had made me lightheaded.
“Why did you kiss me?” I asked.
“To make sure Courtney believed it.”
“Did you plan to do that? I never would have agreed if you’d told me up front.”
His throat bobbed in the shadows as he swallowed. “I’m sorry,” he said.
I’m not, I wanted to say. It was spectacular. You set a standard by which all future kisses will be measured. And actually so far they’ve already all fallen short.
His lips caught a glint of light. Shit. I was staring at his mouth. I looked up quickly, but he caught me. Think, think.
“I need to head out,” I said quickly. “I said I’d meet up with Chase later.”
“No.”
“No?” I ask.
“I’m taking you home. Tell Chase you’ll see him some other time.”
“What the hell, Joseph.”
He clenched his jaw. “Just do it.”
JOEY ASKED COLT to give Keri Ann a ride home and under the light of hundreds of tiki torches led me by the arm off the beach and toward the parking lot. I kept shrugging him off. He kept holding my arm.
“What the hell, Joseph?”
“What?”
“Let me go already.”
“If I let go, do you promise to come with me so I can take you home?”
“No.”
He lifted his shoulder. “Then I’m not letting go.”
We made it half way down the boardwalk through the dunes. I tried again to free myself but his grip tightened.
“You’re hurting me,” I said.
He instantly let go.
It surprised me so much I stopped, my hand coming to my arm that felt cold after the heat of him.
“I’m sorry.” He grimaced, stopping too. “I wasn’t trying to hurt you. I just …”
“Yeah, well …” He hadn’t hurt me at all.
He blew out a breath and raked both hands through his short hair. “Shit,” he said and looked up at the sky as if it held answers.
For whatever reason, I hadn’t taken the opportunity to go back to the beach. I realized I never had any intention of it. I was more fascinated by what was going on with Joey. He seemed to be going through some kind of mental struggle.
I exhaled and leaned back against the handrail, propping my elbows on it. I crossed one foot over the other. “So, Joseph?”
He rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “Yeah?�
�
“I was wondering if I could ask you a favor. You kind of owe me one or two.”
His gaze caught mine. “Why do I have the feeling I’m not going to like it?”
“Since you are pretty much always wrong, I’d say that means you probably will like it.” I arched an eyebrow.
“What is it?” he asked warily, not rising to my comment about him being wrong.
“Come here first. I don’t want to yell it. You’re fourteen thousand feet away.”
He rolled his eyes and took the two steps toward me. It put him next to me against the railing. He rested his elbows on the railing too but facing into the darkness. His broad shoulders hunched over next to me, and I traced the outline of his shoulder blades with my eyes.
Adrenaline flooded my system in preparation for my question.
“Well?” he asked, cutting his eyes over to me. His hair was disheveled from his hands and the sea breeze, his eyes were broody and dark.
I steeled my nerves. “I’d really like you to kiss me again.”
Joey straightened abruptly, pushing away from the railing. I’d totally caught him off guard. Shit. I babbled on. “It’s just, it was really nice. And, I mean, as an experiment, I’d like to … I mean Chase’s kisses are nice too but—”
“Shut up about Chase.”
“Oops.” I swallowed. Then chuckled idiotically.
Joey shook his head. “This is a really fucking bad idea,” he muttered before leaning down and taking my mouth with his.
My heart raced.
He moved in front of me. His hand slid into my hair behind my head and his lower body connected with mine, pressing me against the railing.
Oh, God.
My arms skated up his biceps to his hard shoulders until they grasped at his neck.
I was terrified he’d suddenly raise his head and stop kissing me. The feel of him against me, against my body, the heat of his mouth, the skin of his neck under my fingers was like what I imagined a hit of ecstasy felt like. It was sudden and overwhelming and euphoric. I let out a low moan of need, my mouth opening under his. God, yes.
His hands tightened on me. He lifted his mouth fractionally as if the sound shocked him. His eyes were dark, his brow furrowed. We each took a breath against each other’s mouths.
I licked my bottom lip. Please let him not stop, I want more. I leaned up and nipped at his mouth.
He let out a shallow breath that caught. “A really, really bad idea,” he murmured before his mouth was on mine again. His tongue licked into me. His hands couldn’t seem to find where to hold me as they moved from my hair, to my back, to my face. He held my face, angling my mouth to suit him. Jesus. My body strained against his without me even meaning to. I felt his erection thick and heavy between us. Holy shit. Yes. I pressed closer. Damn, he tasted good. I kissed him back with everything I had like I could imprint the taste and feel of him on me forever.
His mouth pulled from mine, his wet lips and hot breath skating to my ear and down my neck. I held his head, my fingers slipping into his silky hair.
“But really, really … really good,” I whispered, gasping as his teeth and tongue worked down my neck. The sound of his ragged breathing almost did me in as much as the feel of it against my skin.
“Fuck,” he murmured, his tone tortured as if he had no will against what he was doing.
An aching and relentless need had taken root low in my belly. The urge to open my legs and wrap them around him, seeking relief was almost becoming tunnel-like. I could barely think. How had a simple kiss moved from hot to … this … in less than two minutes? This was no kiss for anyone’s benefit. This was no favor. This was pure, raw, unadulterated want. This was what I wanted sex to feel like. This was not even close to how it felt when Chase kissed me. Chase was definitely the wrong choice. Joey. I wanted this with Joey. I wanted him to be my first. The sudden image of him naked on me, my legs wrapped around him as he kissed me like this, went off like a lust-bomb in my stomach and I whimpered—a strange tortured sound.
Fisting my hands in his hair, I pulled his face back to mine. His hips rocked against me, and his tongue sank into my mouth. We kissed, and we kissed. It was like we couldn’t stop. He became my air, and I thought I’d rather die kissing him than ever breathe again.
I vaguely became aware of voices and the tremble beneath our feet that told me people were walking down the boardwalk.
Joey pulled his mouth from mine, immediately stepping away.
Both of us were panting.
My heart pounded heavily against my ribs.
He exhaled sharply and ran a hand down his face. He stared at me. Shocked. He looked shocked.
Make that two of us.
I couldn’t help bringing my hand to my lips. They throbbed. The skin of my chin tingled where it had met relentlessly with his rough jaw.
A group of people were suddenly about twenty feet away walking toward us from the beach. Joey adjusted his shirt, pulling the bottom of it as if he could make it longer, then he stepped to the railing again, leaning forward over it, hiding evidence of his arousal.
Hysteria bubbled up inside me and I laughed. “Holy shit,” I said.
He huffed out a laugh too.
“Evening,” one of the group said as they passed.
Joey nodded his chin, looking over his shoulder at them, but still leaning forward. “Evening.”
I smiled dumbly.
As soon as they had passed, Joey pushed away from the railing. He grabbed my hand and headed up the boardwalk. “I’m taking you home.”
It was obvious his brief lapse in judgment was over. He was silent and brooding as we got into the truck.
He turned the engine over and flicked the headlights on. They washed over the palmetto scrub that surrounded the Islanders’ Beach parking.
“So you want to talk about that?” I asked eventually when the drive to the marina apartments was almost over and I could stand the silence no more.
“Nope. I sure don’t.”
“So, like, we pretend it didn’t happen?”
“Exactly. You asked me to kiss you, I kissed you. That’s it.”
Wow. Okay. A stab of what felt weirdly like panic zinged through me. I’d analyze that another time.
“Okay,” I said.
He flicked a glance at me.
I smiled.
“Okay?”
“Yep,” I said breezily. “A kiss is just a kiss. Sex is just sex. I think we’ve had this conversation before.”
He cleared his throat and flexed the fingers that were wrapped around the steering wheel.
“So about that comment I made to Courtney,” I said
“Which one?” he asked, his tone wary.
“You know. The one where I said you had a small dick. I think I can safely say I was mistaken.”
Joey made a choked sound.
“I’ve only felt it against me, mind you, but I’d say it’s really quite impressive.”
“God, your mouth.” Joey shook his head. “Seriously, I don’t know whether to keep a hand across your mouth when I see you, or—”
“Or put your hand down my shorts? I’d say shorts. Or maybe both. That’s probably wise. One down my shorts, the other across my mouth in case I make too much noise.”
“Jesus,” Joseph barked the word out. He pulled into the marina and slammed the car into park. His hands gripped the steering wheel hard. He straightened his arms, pressing his body back into the seat.
Okay, I probably went a tad too far. I winced internally. But I seemed to be on a mission to make sure he didn’t dismiss his attraction to me. I wanted him thinking about me and sex in the same beat. I needed him to. Maybe it came off as me being too forward, but it was like I innately knew I needed to keep him from relegating me back to the mistake drawer. Or worse, his little sister’s best friend drawer.
“So what is this?” he asked. “You sleep with one guy,” his lips curled a little as he referred to Chase, “and suddenly y
ou’re sex obsessed? I hope I’m the only one you’re soliciting like this because at least I’m gentleman enough not to take advantage. What’s going on with you?”
“Nothing is going on with me.”
He sighed. “I’m not going to sleep with you, Jazz.”
“I don’t recall asking you to, you arrogant beast.” I shoved at his shoulder. “And how does me mentioning something you were obviously dying to do out there on the boardwalk turn me into being sex obsessed? You were there too.”
He laid his forehead on the steering wheel.
“You’re right. I was there. I was caught up in the moment.”
Asshole.
He looked at me. “I don’t want or need a girlfriend right now. I have work, college, plans, and decisions. Decisions that don’t include thinking of someone else’s feelings. So forgive me for being blunt and cocking up my delivery, but I just want to be clear.”
My mouth hung open.
“Fuck you very much, Joseph. How you managed to turn this first into me begging you for sex, and then worse begging for a damned relationship like some poor desperate version of Courtney, is beyond me. It defies belief. You’re completely deluded. And whenever you find yourself wondering—that right there is why you will always be known as an arrogant asshat.” I reached for the handle, kicking the door open. “I don’t need to get off that badly, thank you very much,” I said and jumped out.
He got out on his side.
“What are you doing?” I snapped.
“Getting your bike out the back,” he replied.
“Oh. Fine. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
He opened the tailgate and pulled my bike out, setting it on its wheels and flipping the kickstand down. Then he closed the tailgate back up.
I took the handlebars.
“I don’t know what happened just then,” he said. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean us to end up arguing.”
“You opened your hambone mouth, that’s what happened.”
I could tell he wanted to point out that I’d opened my mouth first and shocked him, which started this whole thing.
He slipped his hands into his pockets. A breeze blew up and flicked through our hair. I grabbed mine to hold it off my face.