“Simple,” Jill said with a shrug. “Eat it.”
And this time when Molly choked, she couldn’t even blame it on the beer.
Jill was rolling her eyes now, laughing. Which was so going to cost her when Molly was putting the schedule together for the next week. “Settle, Moll. I’m not talking about the whole doughnut…but you have maybe a bite. A nibble.” Her eyes lit up. “A doughnut hole. Just enough to satisfy the craving before you go off the deep end at Dunkin’ Donuts, snarfing down a baker’s dozen in one sitting. ’Cause you know you won’t feel good about it if you do.”
Molly was pretty sure her mouth was hanging open, and if Sean happened to glance over from his end of the place, the way she looked in that moment would probably be enough to curb whatever cravings he’d been suffering on the spot. Giving her head a shake, she pushed off the stool and took another long swallow. “So, have you ever actually applied this technique to a guy? Or is this all theory?”
“Theory,” Jill admitted, then waved past her to the girls who’d just cleared the front door. “Hey, my friends are here. Good luck, and let me know how it goes.”
Pass on that. Sean might be a lot of things, but a doughnut hole wasn’t one of them.
Though as Molly started toward the end of the bar where the band was setting up in front of the small dance area, she caught sight of Gib’s sister, Amber, swaying back and forth to the overhead music while she stood much too close to Sean. The way she was nibbling at her bottom lip while she stared at him looked like she was after a bite of his doughnut.
Molly hung back a minute, waiting to see how it would unfold this time. Sean had taken her home once a few years ago and then made the mistake of doing it a second time about a year later. Now, every time their paths crossed, there was a gleam of expectation in Amber’s eyes, and she wasn’t very subtle about letting Sean know what she wanted.
Amber reached out and plucked what Molly was willing to bet her boots was a bit of nothing from Sean’s shirt. He flashed one of those charming smiles, the kind he had for the camera and visiting dignitaries, and smoothly took a step back. With the way he rolled through the women in this city, Sean could handle situations like this one in his sleep. But tonight, when his eyes came up and met hers, Molly could see pleading there. Or maybe she just wanted to, but either way, in the next blink, she was closing the distance between them, stepping into the space he had waiting for her. She hooked an arm around Sean’s waist as he slung his around her shoulders. And like that, the situation was defused, which was nice, because Amber was pretty cool, and the three of them talked a while before she left to greet a few other friends.
When she was gone, Sean leaned in close to her ear. “Thanks, Moll.”
And that warm rush of air… Add ten minutes to the log.
Slipping out of his hold, she nodded toward the worn stage, where the band was ready to play. The front man, dressed in a loose T-shirt and a pair of beat-up jeans that looked like he might have painted a house in them, started off with an introduction to the rest of the aggressively casual band members and then within minutes had the entire place rocking their bodies in time to an upbeat indie sound. They were covering the Revivalists and Big Head Todd and the Monsters, mixing new hits with old favorites. The air heated with the press of bodies in motion, and soon Molly was slick, covered in a thin layer of perspiration, her heart pounding in time with the heavy beat as she let herself go.
Eyes closed, she gave in to the pull of the music, letting her arms drift overhead. Her T-shirt crept higher on her midriff, allowing a bit of air from the overhead fan and air-conditioning to reach her warm skin.
And then he was there. Without looking, she knew it was Sean moving in time with her hips, his muscular arms wrapped loosely around her waist, the hard planes of his chest brushing against her back.
When she turned to face him, there was a sheen of sweat on his forehead, and she could see the roots of his sun-god hair were damp. His eyes were locked with hers, and he was wearing that half smile she’d never been able to resist. Giving herself over to the music and the moment, she reached for all that too-neat hair.
“Molly,” he warned with a single shake of his head, but she couldn’t resist.
Pushing her fingers through the damp strands, she ran them around until Sean looked every bit as unruly as she felt. He shook her off, catching her wrists in his hands. This was where he would throw his head back and laugh, maybe sending her out in a quick spin as they returned their attention to the band—but that’s not what happened. Where there should have been laughter, Sean’s brows drew forward and his jaw went hard. Instead of reeling her out, he used the hold on her wrists to pull her closer. His hands moved to her hips, his fingers spreading wide. Flexing. The band and the bar and the crowd pressing in on them seemed to fall away as they tumbled deep and deeper still into each other’s eyes.
It was just dancing. That was what she was telling herself, even as the hot churn low in her belly called her a liar. Promising it was more.
The last notes sounded, and suddenly, the crowd that had been pushing at them from every direction was thinning out, the house lights coming on as the sound system started playing overhead. Sean looked around, withdrawing one hand from her hip and then the other.
Retrieving his phone, he pulled up his new app and shook his head. “Why don’t we just call it an even hour?”
He was being conservative. An hour probably wouldn’t have covered her infractions alone, but at this point, she wasn’t sure it mattered. The knitting wasn’t doing anything but possibly spurring a kink she wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to share with anyone else.
“Forget the app, Sean. Just”—she drew a long breath and took his hand—“come with me a minute. We’ve got to talk.”
They cut around to the back hallway. Half a dozen girls were waiting for the ladies’ room, and while the men’s was open…gross. This wasn’t going to take long, but even a second in a public men’s room was more than Molly could handle. Pulling Sean farther, she pushed out the back door and waited for him to prop it open with a broken slat of wood. They could still hear the music—one of those Ed Sheeran songs was playing—but it was quieter outside, and they were alone in the alley.
Sean took a step back and ran his hand through his hair, pausing when he realized the state of disarray she’d left it in. “You messed up my hair,” he accused, his grin telling her that he knew how much she’d liked doing it.
She shook her head, unable to play along. “You’re messing up my mind.”
The half smile fell away, and then Sean was stepping closer, his eyes going serious. “If this is about the dancing, Moll—”
“It’s not. It’s about you and me figuring out something besides aversion therapy, because the knitting isn’t working.”
Sean sighed, looking relieved. “I wasn’t going to say anything, because it was still early and I was hoping…but you’re right. I want to say whatever’s going on between us will go away on its own. That if we just ignore it, eventually it will stop being an issue.”
Molly nodded, then shook her head and stepped into Sean’s space. “Or maybe… Okay, I know this is going to sound nuts, and it probably is, but I was talking to Jill inside and…” And this sounded so stupid, she couldn’t believe she was even thinking about suggesting it, but then Sean ducked low, putting his face back into her line of sight and giving her that smile that promised she could tell him anything.
“What is it?”
“Do you ever really wish you could have a doughnut, but you know you shouldn’t? Like you’re trying to cut back on bad carbs or processed sugar, or maybe they were just out of doughnuts when you went to the stand and you figured you’d just wait until you could get one another day, but then all day you think about the doughnut, because you didn’t just have it when you wanted it, so when you finally, finally see a chance to get the dou
ghnut again, you make a really bad decision and buy, like, all the doughnuts they have and eat and eat and eat until you’re sick to your stomach and filled with regret?”
That endearing smile had left Sean’s face, but being Sean, he was taking her question to heart. He rubbed a hand along his jaw and cocked his head to the side. “No. I bust my ass at the gym so I don’t worry about carbs and sugar, and when I want a doughnut, I get one. And I mean, this sounds pretty obnoxious, but if I really want a doughnut and the stand doesn’t have one, I call down to Jerry, and I’ve got one in the next twenty minutes.”
Molly blew out a breath in a silent plea for patience. This guy ran the most successful hotel in the city, could do her taxes in his head, and knew the answer to every Jeopardy question every time they watched the show…and yet he couldn’t see where she was going with this?
“Say it’s a special doughnut and—”
“I’m more of a bagel guy.”
Maybe she should have used an éclair.
“You’re the doughnut, Sean!” she snapped, exasperation wearing her thin. “You are the doughnut I’m craving. The one I keep thinking about when I’m supposed to be thinking of other things. You. And all I was saying is that maybe what we need to do is give in just a little. Have a taste to curb the craving… Before we crack and wake up surrounded by shredded Dunkin’ Donut bags and a bed filled with crumbs.”
Sean had stopped moving. Heck, he looked like he might not even be breathing, he was so still. Except for his eyes, which had gone dark and serious as they searched hers.
“Molly, what kind of a taste are you talking about?” he asked, his voice gone gravelly rough.
She swallowed past the anxious knot in her throat. “A kiss. Not more than a doughnut hole.”
His stare dropped to her mouth. “You’re talking about now? Here?”
She angled her head, taking in the setting. The concrete was cracked, and Dumpsters lined one side of the alley, while fire escapes hung overhead. She looked at someone’s discarded McDonald’s bag and nodded. “Yeah, this is probably perfect for our needs.” At Sean’s raised brow, she explained. “It’s not romantic, so I don’t have to worry about you getting caught up in some princess fantasy. We’re only semiprivate out here. While if we were at home, we’d have zero chance of getting interrupted.”
“Plus, the assortment of sexable surfaces on hand back at your place.”
“I know. Don’t get me started. But here, the atmosphere isn’t really conducive to going too far. You know what I mean?”
The muscle in his jaw bounced, and he met her eyes. “You worried about things going too far?”
He wasn’t? “No. But better safe than sorry, right?”
He moved a step closer, his single slow breath seeming to fill out his chest and broaden his shoulders. “Sure.”
She swallowed hard. “Honestly, it’s probably going to be gross when we finally do it.”
Sean nodded, close enough now for his hands to settle on her hips. “If you say so.”
Her hands met his stomach, her fingers briefly catching the fabric of his shirt before coasting up to rest lightly on his shoulders. “Just a taste,” she whispered, her lungs tight as their eyes met.
“Just enough to satisfy the craving,” he corrected, lowering his mouth to hers so slowly, she knew he was giving her this last chance to back out. Maybe she should have, but after all the years of wondering, being this close to knowing what Sean’s kiss tasted like was something she couldn’t back away from.
And then…contact.
Chapter 10
His kiss was firm and bold. No hesitation, no tentative whisper of his lips meeting hers. But then Sean wasn’t the kind of man who ever did anything he wasn’t committed to. And based on the skilled glide and draw of his mouth against hers, he had most definitely committed to this. The flick of his tongue at the seam of her lips had her gasping as a tingling heat shot straight through her to her center. She clutched at his shoulders, opening beneath the press of his mouth. Moaning at his tightening hold as his hands shifted, smoothing across her lower back and pulling her in close.
Wow. Closer to Sean was incredibly good. All those muscles she’d been valiantly trying to ignore were right there. Flush against her thighs, belly, and breasts and, yeah, they were every bit as amazing as they’d looked.
His tongue dipped past her lips, sweeping over hers in a wet velvet caress that had her humming against him, pushing to her toes for more. He bowed over her, kissing her harder, giving her what her body had been begging for. Her arms linked around his neck, holding tight. Their tongues were moving in time, one sliding over the other, stroking soft and firm, slipping from her mouth to his and back. It was so good, so right. So hot and sweet and—yes.
His hand moved over her bottom in a greedy press, continuing to the top of her thigh where his fingers splayed wide.
He groaned into her mouth. Groaned like somehow the feel of her leg in his grip was more than he could contain. And that so worked for her. She opened beneath the thrust of his tongue, burying her fingers in the thick strands of his hair and cocking her knee to give him more access to the back of her thigh.
Access he made ready use of, pulling her leg up along the outside of his. Running his hand to her ass and back, squeezing and gripping and groaning along the way. The kiss turned ravenous. Like blow-the-top-off-the-meter hot.
Another demanding thrust, and a spasm ripped through her center, wringing a needy cry from her.
“Fuck, Molly,” he growled, and the tortured sound of his voice was almost as good as when, in the next breath, he bowed over her again, catching her other leg and pulling her up.
“Yes!” she hissed, hooking her legs around his hips and then moaning at the feel of him, so hard, at the place where their bodies met. She couldn’t get enough of his mouth, of the way his hands felt like they were everywhere, of this man she’d ached for, panting for breath as he muttered her name again and again.
Her back met the rough bricks behind her, and she kissed Sean harder, gasping his name like a plea as he rocked into her, hitting that perfect spot again and again. Nothing had ever felt this good before, this right. So completely perfect while being not nearly enough.
Sean was growling something against that tender spot where her neck met her shoulder.
“Uh-huh,” she replied blindly, because she was good with whatever he was saying as long as it meant more. More of his wicked mouth and hot grasping hands. More of her name rumbling low against her ear. More of Sean’s arms around her, his breath in her hair, and—
“Oh shit!” A female voice giggled a second before the back door slammed closed with a clang.
Molly’s eyes snapped open, and those roving, needy hands that had been all over her froze where they were, the body they were attached to going as stiff as her own. A horn blared, and a few shouts sounded from a distance, the typical city night noise landing like reality slapping her in the face.
Her heart hadn’t stopped pounding, her body burned, and her breath came in ragged draws, but with every thunk of a car door, roar of an engine, and wail of a siren that passed, more of her ability to reason returned. Until she was aware with crystal clarity of just how far things had gone in the Dumpster-lined alley behind the bar where they’d been hanging out with friends.
Oh shit. What had they done?
Her legs unraveled from Sean’s waist. He helped her to her feet and then turned away before she’d even gotten a look at his eyes. A hint at how he was taking what had just happened.
The metal door to the bar opened again, and Jill popped her head out, offering a weak “Sorry” as she returned the broken slat of wood to where it had been propping the door open before.
Jill. The floor dropped out of her belly, and Molly spun back to Sean, who was still facing the other way and appeared to be adjusting his pants.
Sean’s head dropped forward, and then he laughed too. Not the big, full laugh she loved to hear out of him, but a quiet, thoughtful laugh that hit all the right chords within her. This was going to be okay.
Walking back to her, he smoothed her flyaway hair and then helped her adjust her shirt and skirt. “Yeah, but just barely.” His eyes fixed on her mouth, and he brushed it with his thumb, softly and only once. “That was—”
“Not gross,” she supplied, still a little lost in the look he was giving her.
“No. Not at all.” Gently unhooking her fingers from where they’d found their way between the buttons of his shirt, he cleared his throat. “But what I was going to say was that it was definitely enough to satisfy the craving. Right?”
Umm. No. Not even a little bit. That craving she’d been bitching and moaning about prior to the kiss hadn’t been anything. Not compared to the inferno of need raging through her veins right then. But if it worked for Sean… “Sure. Right. You bet. Totally.”
Sean nodded, his smile looking strained. But then he wasn’t nodding, and he wasn’t smiling either. He’d somehow switched to shaking his head, and that frown on his face matched the darkness in his eyes. “Fuck. Your mouth, Molly,” he groaned, taking another step back. “I never should have gotten a taste of it.”
Relieved not to be the only one feeling a little mixed up over what had just happened, she sagged back into the wall where she’d just been pinned, then remembering it was a dank alley—and even though it didn’t stink or look gross, it probably was—she pushed back up and stepped away from it.
Sean waved a hand toward the wall. “Sorry about that.”
“I don’t think either of us was thinking totally clearly. I mean, I was touching it, and I didn’t even notice. If it hadn’t been for Jill, I would have let you—”
Just This Once Page 10