by A. m Madden
She’d ended up hanging out with me for hours as I worked. Slowly, I learned bits and pieces about her likes and dislikes. She despised beer, loved the beach, hated violent action movies, and loved to read. These were all inconsequential to who she really was, but it gave me a clearer picture of what made her tick.
I never pushed, instead waiting for her to volunteer whatever she wanted me to know. She was clearly hiding something, but weren’t we all? The fact that she completely intrigued me with so little information spoke volumes. The rest of our chat was filled with Chicago weather and favorite sports teams. Her vagueness only added to her appeal. Gorgeous, funny, mysterious, and shy, this woman was driving me fucking nuts.
—
By the time we climbed into the freezing cab of my truck, I was determined to get to know as much about Angela as possible. The more time I spent with her, the more time I wanted.
“I won’t miss Chicago winters,” she said while staring at the dark night sky. She read my mind. The snow that fell on Christmas was now covered with sheets of ice. She shivered beside me as we waited for the heat to kick on. When warm air started to fill the tiny space we silently shared, her scent quickly overtook my senses. It was nothing like the overpowering perfume most girls preferred.
It was…comforting.
“What happens at The Dump on New Year’s?” Her question was the first thing she said in a long while.
“Nothing terribly exciting. Mugs will bring in a live band. I’m scheduled to play a round of darts. As far as New Year’s parties go, I think it’s all very boring. For some reason, he packs them in. I’m still baffled as to why he draws in such a huge crowd,” I lied.
The real reason The Dump was the place to be was the same reason I was there undercover. For years, Mugs had been successfully running drugs for one of the bigger crime families in Chicago. Although this was only one of the things they dabbled in, this part of their long list of illegal debauchery was about to end for the Polittos—thanks to me.
“Eve said he’s an institution in this town.” She turned toward me and smiled. “I already told you, he scares me.”
“He’s harmless. All bark, no bite.”
“Have you ever seen him laugh? Is it true?”
“I’ve worked for Mugs for six months now and no, I have never seen him laugh.”
“I can’t imagine going through life without laughing. Sometimes, it’s the only thing that gets me through.”
“I’m not sure I could laugh if I was married to Marcy. That woman is scary.” A giggle escaped her making me smile. “You have a great laugh. Please stay away from Mugs, I wouldn’t want him to kill it.”
“No argument from me.”
I pulled up to Eve’s townhouse a few minutes later, and I wasn’t quite ready to say good night.
“Um…thank you for the ride. It was very nice of you, Nick.”
“It really wasn’t a problem.”
“Yes, it was.” She nervously pushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “I’m sure after you finish a long shift, you’re anxious to get to bed.”
If she only knew…
“Um, I mean to sleep,” she revised after she heard her own words.
“Sleep is overrated. I can survive on a few hours a night.”
“Me, too,” she responded enthusiastically. She released the car handle she was gripping and added, “Ever since I was a kid, I found it to be such a waste of good time. I’d go on adventures in my house when everyone was asleep.”
“What kind of adventures?” I immediately regretted asking her when she stiffened at my question. The only sound came from the heater. After a short pause she smiled and turned to face me again.
“My brother and I would pretend we were hunting monsters in the basement. My mom said they couldn’t hurt us if we weren’t afraid of them. So we decided to become the hunters instead of the hunted.” A faraway look settled over her features. After a few seconds she shook her head as if clearing the memory. “Silly childhood games.”
“They aren’t silly at all. You remembered them, so they must have meant something to you.”
“Or I made them up.”
“You’re a pathological liar?” She laughed at my question.
“No. Sometimes I confuse memories with stories I made up. I have a vivid imagination. My brother would throw me a look and say, ‘That so didn’t happen.’ I personally think he only said that after an embarrassing story about him.”
“What’s the age difference?”
“Two years. He was both my best friend and my worst enemy.”
“Was?”
“Is. I haven’t seen him in a while. Anyway, I better get inside. I’ve wasted enough of your night.” With a hand on the door handle, she thanked me again and darted toward the front door. It happened so quickly, she left me no time to respond or ask when I would see her again.
Chapter 5
Nick
New Year’s Eve usually had me feeling out of sorts. Having the year stretched ahead of you without knowing what it held was daunting. My time in Chicago was about to end, and this year I couldn’t wait to begin my life in New York. The light at the end of my tunnel was not only shining, it was winking at me.
The early celebrators were already causing a ruckus in the bar. Their ticket price included entertainment, snacks, and open bar between ten and midnight. At a few minutes before ten Mugs still wouldn’t budge.
“Ten is ten, you assholes. Knock it off or I’ll throw you all out.”
I laughed out loud. There was no way Mugs was following through with that threat.
Jase snuck in as I was serving customers at the other end of the bar. I worked while he yapped about the perfect date he’d had with Eve the night before. “Man, she’s flawless in every way. She can do this thing with her—”
“Stop! I don’t want to hear it.”
The last thing I wanted was a visual of Jase and Eve. I couldn’t give a shit about his love life, but more important, I was fucking jealous. All I could think about was having the same with Angela. But thinking it and making it happen were on opposite ends of the spectrum. I was leaving soon. To start something now would be a huge mistake. It would be a tease, like tasting the most delicious dessert only to be told you could never have it again. It really could only be a one-night stand. The Nick of a few days ago would jump on a no-strings-attached hot fuck. I couldn’t envision that with Angela, she was too good for that.
“Hit me up, bro! It’s ten fucking o’clock!”
“Where’s your date?” I asked, more so to find out where Angela was.
“They had a pit stop to make. They’re cabbing it over in a bit.”
I handed Jase his beer. “Um…I want the good stuff.”
“You can’t handle the good stuff. Mugs will throw you out if you repeat what happened on Thanksgiving.”
“I had a stomach flu,” he said, reciting his standard excuse. That hilarious night will forever be in my top ten memories of Chicago. Do I even have ten? I know I have one other—the first time I saw Angela smile.
As if he read my mind, Jase asked, “So, dude. What gives with Angela?”
“Nothing gives,” I responded a little too quickly and too angrily.
He stared at me for a long, hard minute. “I call bullshit. You like her.”
“What the fuck do you know?”
“I know if you didn’t, you’d be balls deep in her by now.”
“Shut the fuck up, Jase.” Normally, I’d laugh at his theory. His descriptive analogy hit a nerve.
“Wow. Someone is testy today.” In my peripheral, I saw Eve and Angela enter the bar. A smile spread over my face, which Jase noticed and jumped on. “Seems something can change your mood…or someone.” The death stare I threw his way warned him to shut his mouth. He leaned in, undeterred and warned, “This discussion isn’t over, my friend.”
“Hey, guys. Happy New Year.” Eve planted a huge kiss on Jase’s smirking lips.
“Hey, baby.”
He looked past Eve and said to Angela, “He’s very grumpy. You know what they say—your mood at midnight will be your mood all year long. I plan on sucking face with this gorgeous girl, that will guarantee I’ll be sucking on her all year long. Maybe you guys should have that one-night stand tonight. It could guarantee you a year of good…moods.”
Oh my God, I was going to fucking kill him.
“Why are you grumpy, Nick?” Eve asked. Those two were a perfect pair.
“He’s confusing determined with grumpy. I’m just trying to figure out a way to hide all evidence after I kill him.”
“Too many witnesses,” he argued. “You’d get life as a minimum.”
Angela laughed at the scowl on my face, which caused me to laugh as well.
“Come, babe. Let’s dance and give these two some privacy.” Jase assumed victory, grabbed Eve’s hand, and pulled her onto the dance floor.
Angela took the barstool Jase abandoned. “Everything okay?” she asked.
“Yeah. He’s just a pain in the ass sometimes, that’s all.”
“Is he bothering you about us?”
Her question surprised me.
Us?
I was never a half of an “us.”
“Yeah.”
“Eve has been relentless.” She nodded in agreement. “Does it make you uncomfortable?”
“Yeah, but not for the reasons you think,” I admitted. I could’ve lied, but what was the point? “Does it bother you?” my mouth asked before I could stop the question.
“Yes.”
“Why?” Another automatic question popped out of my mouth. I needed to know what bothered her the most. Was it the thought of being with me?
“It’s crazy! I don’t know you or you me. Those two are absolutely nuts. They’re acting like crazy people. And I don’t just mean with their mission to get us in bed. They’ve known each other like a week.” She turned and raised a hand toward them as they made out on the dance floor. “Look at them!”
“I know what you mean. I’ve never seen him act like this. He must really be into Eve.”
Without asking, I fixed her usual rum and Diet Coke. Instead of placing it on the bar, I handed it to her. Her fingers grazed mine as she took it from me, our eyes met over the contact.
“Thank you,” she said quietly.
She looked so pretty as she sat on her barstool all dressed up, makeup on, her hair down around her shoulders. Was it because it was New Year’s or because she was seeing me? Fuck, I never analyzed a girl’s looks, hair, or clothes before.
“Nick!” Marcy called from the other end of the bar. “Some help here?”
I shrugged an apology to Angela, and worked my way around the bar, filling orders as needed. Many of the local chicks were in normal form, flirting with me as they always did. Every time I glanced at Angela, she was also glancing at me.
One of the feisty girls who’d been desperately trying to get me in her bed, leaned over the bar just as I was filling her mug with beer, held my head, and planted a huge kiss right on my lips. I backed away, almost spilling what I had already poured.
“Whoa, Tammy.”
“I’m just ensuring I get my kiss tonight,” she said without apology.
My eyes flew back to where Angela sat. Nothing was going on between us, so why did I suddenly feel so guilty over the kiss I was assaulted with? A few minutes later, I finally got back to her side of the bar.
“Hi.”
“Hi. Um, you have a little lipstick right there.” She pointed to my lips with a teasing smirk.
I laughed at her sense of humor. “Occupational hazard,” I said while wiping the back of my hand across my lips.
“Hmm. I don’t see any of the other bartenders being groped,” she responded playfully. I knew she was just busting my chops, but the whole exchange still turned me on.
“You’re up, Romeo.” Mugs came up next to me sporting his usual scowl. I failed miserably at hiding my eye roll and annoyed sigh. “Tell that friend of yours to quit dancing like a fairy and start taking bets.”
After he walked away, I leaned into Angela and whispered, “I feel so used.”
Her sweet giggle moved right through me. Her unguarded smile was stunning. A strange electric current coursed between us. It zapped all the oxygen from the space around us. It stopped us both from moving. It made it impossible to breathe.
What the fuck was happening?
An unmistakable connection had formed without so much as a kiss or an embrace being exchanged. How was that even possible?
“Nick!”
“I gotta go throw some darts. Want to come watch?”
It was an innocent question that held so much hidden meaning.
“I’d love to,” she responded immediately.
Three little words, yet I’d never been as turned on by words as I was at that moment.
—
“We need to celebrate!” Jase said as he recounted his cut of my winnings.
Not a bad haul, even I had to admit. A thousand bucks for doing something as dumb as throwing darts.
“We’ll ring in the New Year and then take this party to Eve’s.”
“I’m working,” I reminded him.
“Fuck that. You just won Mugs a ton of cash. That prick could give you a few hours off.”
“Who are you calling a prick?”
Jase paled, cringing as Mugs waited for him to turn around. Mugs narrowed his eyes, sending laser beams into the back of Jase’s head.
Kissing Angela at midnight suddenly became something I needed to do. In the process, I’d save the jackass’s ass.
“Hey, Mugs, can I take my break at midnight?” Mugs turned his laser beams on me.
“Fuck, no. Look at this place! I need you serving as many drinks as possible.”
I offered my dart winnings with a smile. “Fifteen minutes. I’ll pour out all the champagne beforehand and Marce and the others can manage handing out the cups for fifteen minutes.”
The man thrust his hand out to grab the wad of cash as fast as a lizard’s tongue catching a fly. “Not a minute more.”
Once Mugs walked away, Jase raised his hands in frustration. “What the fuck? That was a grand!”
“Worth every penny.” I shrugged.
“You’re an idiot,” Jase countered.
“Maybe. Or maybe it’ll be the best fifteen minutes of my life.” My eyes found Angela’s staring at me. That damn current kicked in again just as the lead singer announced it was thirty minutes to midnight.
“I’ll be back. I have a lot of champagne to pour.” Like a madman, I worked frantically with the other bartenders to pour the champagne, positioning the cheap, disposable plastic cups that Mugs sprung for at the banquet table where the snacks had been earlier in the evening. Mugs had them all standing guard, ensuring no one took any before midnight. They also needed to ensure that everyone received just the one cupful, which was included in their ticket price.
At a few minutes to midnight, I squeezed my way over to where Angela stood beside Jase and Eve as they made out, obviously not bothering to wait for the New Year. She saw me coming and turned toward me with a stunning smile. Her plump lips begged to be kissed, and I needed to be the one kissing them.
“Will you be my good luck kiss?” I couldn’t help myself. This may have been my only chance, and my only good excuse. Her smile faded instantly. Undeterred by her silence, I prodded further. “We have to. It’s bad luck not to be kissing someone at midnight.”
“You’re starting to sound like Jase.”
“Maybe he isn’t a jackass after all.”
“Is that why you just handed over a thousand dollars? To kiss me?”
“That’s exactly why.”
We stood facing each other with the current bouncing between us. Time was literally ticking by until my opportunity arrived to finally taste those lips. When the crowd around us began counting down from ten, I stepped closer. At five seconds, I wordlessly held her face in my hands. T
he next four seconds passed by torturously slowly. My eyes were glued to hers, and at the stroke of twelve I whispered, “Happy New Year, Angela.”
Before she had a chance to stop me, I leaned in and kissed her softly. Her hands gripped my wrists. Her fingertips pressed into my flesh as I progressed the kiss between us. The noise around us was deafening, but all I heard was my heart pounding and my head pleading for her not to end this kiss.
She tasted fucking amazing. She stopped breathing as my lips nibbled on hers. When the moment came for her to take a breath, it should have been where the kiss ended…except I went right back in. I needed another taste. She parted her lips before I felt the tip of her tongue touch my bottom lip. At the shock of feeling it, I touched my tongue to hers before I chased it into her warm mouth.
Our tongues danced, slowly, erotically, and purposefully. It was as if our tongues knew this kiss was going to be a brief, rare encounter and they needed to make the most of every second that passed.
The kiss opened my floodgates, caused blood to rush through my veins, made my cock stiffen between us, and made me question everything I thought I knew.
The kiss itself became an unspoken agreement to what could have been if things were different.
The kiss was the best motherfucking kiss I ever had in my life.
Chapter 6
Nick
Angela and I remained just as we were while I kissed her, with my hands holding her face and her hands holding my wrists. The intense way her jade green eyes were glued to mine completely hypnotized me. I couldn’t tell how many minutes of my fifteen had passed, and the last thing I wanted was to look away to find out. Looking away would break the spell we had over each other. It would send us falling face-first back into reality, and I liked where we were at that moment.
Even if the last few minutes were a fantasy fueled by a silly tradition, I wanted to stay put for a bit. It was easy, and an escape from life. Kissing her was a taste of heaven that I’d never experienced before. It could have been the build, since I’d been thinking of kissing those lips for days. But I couldn’t help thinking it was something else, something between us that I couldn’t explain, something that made that the best fucking kiss.