Make Your Move

by Samantha Hunter

  Halfway through the day, it actually became fun, with three of them. She’d gotten a lot of good marketing ideas, too. Like hosting a Passionate Hearts Singles Night at the bakery, and asking local romance writers to come to the shop for signings.

  Her worries about keeping up her business evaporated, as long as she could still keep selling her “magic cookies,” as one lady called them.

  “We can, right?” she asked of Dan as she turned the Closed sign over early and they all collapsed onto the chairs she had in the back. “The FDA or Health Department isn’t about to come in here and yank my license?”

  Dan shook his head but looked pensive.

  “I know that face. What happened?” she asked, dreading the answer.

  “Well, I talked to my FDA contact today, and Jason is either very clever, and was trying to get us to tip our own hand or he is playing some other game, because he never reported the formula. They had no idea what I was talking about, and when I explained, my friend said he’d keep an eye out, but that it wasn’t anything he thought sounded like they needed to get involved in. Jason probably knew that. He was faking us out. Empty threats.”

  “But why?”

  Dan shrugged, though he did this funny little thing with his eyes that made Jodie go on alert. Something about his body language was off, and she couldn’t figure out what, but it wasn’t like Dan to hide things. Maybe he was simply tired and stressed, like she was.

  “Okay, that’s a relief, that we’re not really under any threat from the government agencies.”

  “But what is Jason up to?” Ginger added, sliding off her chair, standing.

  “That’s the million-dollar question,” Jodie said.

  Dan did that funny thing with his eyes again, and Jodie flattened her lips. It looked suspiciously like guilt—but why would Dan be guilty? He was hiding something, and she was going to get to the bottom of it.

  “Are you heading off to get Anna?” she asked, watching Ginger pack up.

  “Yeah, uh, she’s with Scott, and we’re meeting for dinner.”

  “That’s nice,” Jodie said carefully. “Are things working out okay?”

  “So far, so good. He’s been great, but you know, I’m just letting it roll out, and seeing what happens,” Ginger said lightly, but Jodie could tell from the look on her face that she was head over heels for her ex, and up to her ears.

  Maybe that was okay, Jodie considered. Maybe Anna deserved her dad around, and if Ginger loved the guy, who was Jodie to say differently?

  “Well, just have a good dinner. One step at a time,” Jodie said, and hugged her friend, who seemed to relax. Had she been expecting something more critical from Jodie?

  Come to think of it, Ginger hadn’t said much, but it had only been a few days. Still it was a reminder for Jodie. She cared about her friend, but Ginger’s decisions about her own life were hers and Jodie wanted to be supportive.

  Ginger left, and she and Dan were alone. It took him about two seconds to pull her close and kiss the breath out of her.

  “I’ve been dying to do that all afternoon,” he said against her lips, and she had to admit to losing all train of thought.

  “Don’t hold back on my account,” she invited, and steered his lips back to hers, enjoying another couple of long minutes of wet, hot mindlessness.

  “Do you have anything else to do here? Do you still want to go out or, maybe take this party home?”

  Jodie pursed her lips, studying his eyes, his face. She loved the laugh lines around his eyes, and hadn’t really noticed them before. And his eyes had tiny flecks of amber in them, which reminded her of the glass.

  “Jodie?”

  “Hmm? Oh, yeah, sorry. No, nothing left here. We should go out. Plus, my friends are expecting us.”

  “Sure.”

  Not wanting to ruin the mood, she drizzled light kisses along his jaw. “It can wait.”

  “Okay. I have something I want to ask you, too.”

  “I bet,” she said with a wide smile.

  “Not that,” he said, smiling. “I have to deliver a paper next week, to colleagues and a bunch of government types. I hate this sort of thing, but it’s kind of a big deal. There’s a reception afterward, in my honor. I’d really like it if you’d be my date for the event.”

  She was so surprised she barely noticed how he’d reverted, to some extent, into the “shy Dan” who had trouble asking girls out on dates when she had met him back in college. He pushed his glasses up again, and there was a slight flicker of doubt in his eyes, though it was nothing compared to the wave of self-doubt she was suddenly feeling.

  “A science event? With scientists?” she asked, sounding stupid, but her brain had kind of stalled. Dan grinned.

  “Yeah, pretty much. It would mean everything to me to have you there. I want you to know my world, my work. I want to meet your friends, get closer—as much as we can.”

  Even if she wanted to—and she did—how could she say no?

  “Of course. I’d love to,” she said, but Dan was the only one who was relieved by her answer. For the first time in a long time, Jodie was terrified to go out on a date.

  9

  IT WAS ALMOST TWO HOURS later by the time they made it to the dance and dinner club where Jodie met her friends every week—they’d gone to his apartment and hers, showered and changed.

  Dan pasted on a smile for her sake as they walked into the noisy, crowded club. He’d much rather have taken a long shower with Jodie, and then spent the night inside, maybe with some takeout and a few good television shows.

  But this meant a lot to her, he could tell. She grabbed his hand, smiling with anticipation.

  “There they are,” she said, waving to a group of women sitting at a large round table on the other side of the dance floor.

  Dan hadn’t really thought to mention that he’d never learned to dance. Dancing hadn’t really come up between him and Jodie, so he’d never had reason to mention it. When Jodie said they were meeting her friends at a club, he hadn’t thought about it. All he cared about was having a night out with Jodie.

  But he was here now and thankful he’d let Jodie prod him on what to wear. His jeans were fine, and he wore a black shirt and jacket that were apparently stylish enough to pass muster.

  When he’d reached for his contacts, Jodie had insisted he wear his glasses. She really had a thing for the glasses, he thought with a smile.

  They approached the table where six other women popped up, alternately hugging Jodie and smiling at him, their curiosity evident as they made room for two more to sit.

  “So this is Dan,” a voluptuous blonde named Sylvia said to Jodie. “Well done, Jodie. Well done,” she teased in such a flirtatious tone that Dan worried he might actually blush.

  Luckily, the woman who sat on the other side of him, Melissa, was a computer engineer and Dan enjoyed talking to her, feeling more in his element.

  As they ordered food and sat talking, Dan watched Jodie enjoying time with her friends, admiring how engaging and witty she was, how easily she could navigate the flow of conversation.

  He became more relaxed, too, laughing and talking with the group of women, who, like Jodie, were all successful, intelligent people. He also found out that he was the only man she’d ever brought to dinner with her friends, something that they attached serious significance to, he could tell.

  One of the women was even a chemist who worked with the company that Dan was creating his cologne for. Though he couldn’t tell her about it, he was surprised to find out that she was the creator of the perfume Jodie wore.

  “I love that scent. You made it?” Dan asked, impressed.

  Patrice was so proud of her work, he could see it, and it was fascinating. She knew the origins of every element in Jodie’s perfume, which had been a special birthday gift.

  Obviously Jodie’s friends thought very highly of her, too.

  “So, Lynn, you run your own tattoo parlor?” he asked the woman sitting across fr
om him, fascinated. He’d never had the nerve to get a tattoo, but as he listened to her talk about the changing perceptions of body art Dan wondered what Jodie would think of him getting one.

  It was also incredibly erotic to think of some small tat, maybe a butterfly or a flower, placed on her body in a spot only he would know about.

  Jodie must have picked up his mood since, as they chatted with Lynn about it, Jodie’s hand danced up and down his thigh, discreetly inching a little closer to his crotch, where he was becoming increasingly aroused.

  When she pretended to reach for a dropped napkin and closed her hand over him, he nearly spilled water all over the table.

  “Jodie, behave,” Karen chastised playfully. She was the oldest, and clearly the maternal figure of the group—literally, as she was several months pregnant.

  Dan was finding something erotic about everything he looked at, and all roads led back to Jodie.

  Jodie with a tattoo.

  Jodie wearing sexy perfume.

  Jodie round with a child. His child.

  The thought stunned even him, and he cleared his throat, smiling at the woman, and standing.

  “Excuse me for a moment, ladies, I’ll be right back,” he said, needing to process his thoughts. Suddenly the atmosphere of the club closed in a little, and he craved some fresh air.

  They assumed he was heading to the men’s room, but instead he circled back to the exit and stood outside the door, watching people go in and out of the place.

  Doubts assailed him.

  What if this didn’t work out the way he wanted it to?

  What if Jodie didn’t want permanence, babies and the future he was imagining?

  He swallowed hard, his entire body and mind rejecting the thought. He’d enjoyed the evening, and he liked Jodie’s friends, he really did. But did he really fit in?

  He’d gotten himself in deep here, and he had to see it through.

  “Hey, sugar, what are you doing out here all alone?” a sexy feminine voice asked, and Dan didn’t realize the question was being directed at him until the hot young woman in a glittering, skintight outfit sidled up beside him. She stood so close there wasn’t room for a breath between them, and Dan backed away.

  “Just getting some air,” he said politely.

  “We could go get some air together,” she said, invitation clear in her eyes.

  “Uh, no thanks, I’d better be getting back to my…group,” he said and smiled as he ducked through the doorway.

  When he headed to the table they’d been sitting at, he noticed they were all gone.

  Frowning, he looked around, and saw one of Jodie’s friends on the dance floor.

  Uh-oh.

  They were all out on the dance floor.

  He thought he would just head back to the table and wait, but then Jodie was at his side. He hadn’t even seen her walk up to him, the crowd was so dense.

  Jodie grabbed his hand, smiling at him. “Hey, c’mon, I love this song.”

  Dan didn’t even know the song, and the club became an even louder, more intimidating place. But he looked down at Jodie’s bright eyes, and felt the sting of regret. He’d have to disappoint her. Better than making an idiot of himself and embarrassing her.

  “Jodie,” he said, wincing. “I don’t dance.”

  She looked surprised, and then her expression softened. She walked up close to him, her lips against his ear. “C’mon, I’ll teach you.”

  “Here?”

  “Sure, why not?” She held his hand, dancing backward, the movement of her body sinuous under the small black dress she wore, her eyes showing a daring light. “I love to dance, Dan. Come on, you’ll have fun.”

  He very much doubted that.

  Dan was pulled along after her, into the gyrating mass of bodies, and if he had been in outer space, he couldn’t have felt more out of his comfort zone.

  In fact, he definitely would have felt more at ease in outer space.

  Nerves kept him stiff, and not in the good way. He didn’t want to embarrass Jodie in front of her friends, but he just couldn’t pick up the moves that they tried to show him.

  Finally, Jodie shooed them away and danced up close to Dan as a sensual song with a heavy beat started up.

  “You know what?” she said, looking sultry and exotic under the low light. “You don’t have to do anything but be here with me. Let me do the work,” she said teasingly.

  Dan wasn’t entirely sure what she meant until she started doing a dance that enthralled him, moving to the beat in ways that brought her into contact with his body at every point, sliding up and then down, dragging her hands over him in a way that made him forget anything but her.

  “That’s it, see?” she said, smiling as she leaned in to kiss him, and Dan hadn’t even realized that while she danced around—and on—him, he’d started moving to the music’s beat, meeting her moves perfectly, in what he felt was the same primitive rhythm as many mating dances he’d observed in native cultures.

  It was like sex with your clothes on, Dan thought, forgetting anyone else around them until they were rudely interrupted by someone who sliced between them accidentally.

  No, it wasn’t an accident at all. The big guy was standing with his back to Dan, and had grabbed Jodie, pulling her against him in a graphic display of dance that Jodie obviously didn’t want to share. She pulled away and walked around to where Dan was again, and the big guy turned.

  “Listen, if he screws like he dances, you’re better off going home with me, baby,” the guy said just as someone else bumped into Dan, jostling his glasses.

  Dan straightened them, pulled Jodie over closer to him.

  “She’s not interested,” Dan said levelly, turning away and taking Jodie with him.

  “Maybe not,” the guy said, and Dan felt his hand on his shoulder.

  He acted quickly, reflexively, grabbing the guy’s wrists and torquing it in such a way that the big man dropped to his knees with a shout that was mostly drowned out by the music. A few people around them looked on, but mostly they just kept dancing. Dan leaned down, increasing the pressure on the joint.

  “Go. Away,” was all Dan said, eye to eye with the guy who winced and whined while Dan had him in the painful hold.

  Meditation wasn’t all he’d learned from the monks during a stay in China after college. Six months in Tibet, away from the rest of the world, and he’d learned many, many things there. It had been his graduation gift from his parents.

  How to meditate to control his biorhythms, how to speak Chinese and how to drop an assailant in the most efficient, nonviolent way possible. He hadn’t often had use for those skills, but kept his practice as fresh as possible.

  When the guy walked away, Dan turned back to see Jodie looking at him with undisguised shock.

  And lust.

  Her blue eyes were dark with desire, her breasts, rising and falling slightly, just visible over the bodice of her dress, her mouth slightly parted. All signs that she was turned on, and her need triggered Dan’s.

  “This way,” she said, and pulled him after her. And Dan was more than willing to follow.

  She led him into a large room lined with coat racks, and Dan immediately understood what she was doing—it wasn’t hard to deduce as she pushed him through a thicket of coats and then brought him against her, kissing him thoroughly.

  “Here?” he said when stopped to take a breath.

  “Yeah, here,” she said. “That was so hot. I don’t want to wait until we get home. I want you here, now,” she said.

  Dan loved her sexy commands, but was still aware of where they were.

  “But…someone could come in,” he said. Though he closed his eyes and bit his tongue to hold back an exclamation when her hand slid down the front of his pants and closed around him.

  “That’s part of the fun,” she said.

  Dan knew the risk and the chance of being caught did intensify the sexual experience for some people, but he’d never tried it himse
lf.

  However, he was rock hard in Jodie’s hand, and he was always willing to experiment. Backing her into the wall, he deepened the kiss and gave up his second thoughts.

  They knocked a few coats from the hangers as they maneuvered in the small space, laughing and making sure they were still mostly covered as he pushed the top of her strapless dress down, freeing her breasts and tweaking her velvety nipples into hard points before going lower.

  He slid his hand up under her short skirt, finding she wasn’t wearing anything, which elicited a groan of approval. If he’d known that all night he wouldn’t have been able to think straight.

  Sliding his fingers into the folds of slick flesh, he found her clit hard and hot.

  “You’re already so wet,” he said against her neck.

  She murmured something unintelligible, clearly ready from the moment he touched her, evident as she collapsed against him with a cry of release that she muffled by hiding her face in his shoulder.

  “Dan, I can’t believe how you do this to me,” she said breathlessly, kissing him one more time before she reversed their positions, pushing him against the wall and sliding down the front of him.

  Looking up, she met his eyes. “I’ve never had issues with orgasm, but with you it’s like I almost can’t help myself,” she said, which turned him on even more.

  “Jodie,” he breathed, unable to move as he took in the words. He’d intended only to please her, and then they could leave quietly, and finish this properly in the apartment, where they would have privacy. Where he could take his time with her.

  But fast and frantic had its place, too, he discovered as she took him deeply into her mouth. His cock nudged at the back of her throat as she drew pleasure from every point in his body. Forward and out, until he didn’t care where they were or who came in, as long as she didn’t stop.

  Dan felt his caveman impulses kick up again and wound his hand into her hair, helping her set a pace that quickly brought him too close to coming. Jodie knew his body’s signals well and released him, finishing him with a few deft strokes. He watched, his breath hard and hot in his chest as he came against the softness of her breast.