Bait

by M. Mabie

  The hand he had possessively resting on my spine trailed its way into my hair. His long fingers fanned across my skull which created a tingly sensation down to my toes. He clutched the hair at the nape of my neck and pulled my head away from his.

  I smelled the delicious beer on his lips as he confessed, “I like your trouble.”

  My words failed. I didn't know if it was the beer, the music, or the man attached to me, but I felt pliant.

  Anything could happen.

  Anything at all.

  Looking back, it was the first night of so many that I thought those exact words. Anything I could get from Casey Moore was better than nothing at all. I would take any scrap of this man I was offered. That's the night my heart split into two equal and separate pieces. That's the night I gave one to a perfect stranger, and the remaining piece felt fuller even being left in half.

  We danced forever. Our bodies moved easily to the rhythms of songs, both fast and slow. I forgot where I was and who I was with. I especially forgot about who I wasn't with and, I should have paid so much more attention to that.

  “Here come the lovebirds,” Casey said looking over my shoulder. Weren't they dancing, too? I looked around and the bar was almost empty and we were the only couple on the floor.

  “Blake, I think we are going to head out. I have a big day tomorrow with the family and everything. I'll see you at graduation?” Micah looked tired and she swayed. She'd had a belly full of beer, too.

  “Sure, I bet you have a lot to do. I'm staying across the street. I'm fine. I'll go get my things from the bar.” I separated myself from Casey, but I didn't miss the look Cory shot him.

  “Do you want to share a cab?” Cory asked his brother, staring at him pointedly.

  “No, I think I might meet some friends downtown,” he answered looking at his watch. “I'll see you later. Call me if you need anything tomorrow.” They did a one-handed, back-pat type of hug and Casey leaned in to kiss Micah on the cheek. “Congratulations and thanks for inviting me out tonight, Mic. You guys get some sleep.” He winked and wagged suggestive eyebrows in their direction.

  “Be good, Casey.” She scolded and smacked his arm.

  Cory gave me a hug and I accepted it. He told me it was a pleasure to meet me, but he needed to get Micah home since she had to be up bright and early.

  Casey and I walked to the bar where my things, thankfully, were still intact. How fucking dumb was I to walk off and leave the only belongings I still had?

  “Night cap?” Casey asked eying me up. His smile alone could get me drunk.

  “Sure, what time is it?” I looked for my phone in my over-sized travel bag and found that not only had I missed calls from both my mother and Grant, but also there were texts to accompany them.

  The bartender looked busy, like he was tidying up. I noted the time at one-thirty and asked him, “What time do you close?”

  “We close at two. You guys want last call?” The big barman came to stand in front of us and we shared a questioning glance between ourselves.

  Casey ordered, “Yeah, we'll have two Remy Martins. Neat.”

  I choked. “Whoa, that's a serious nightcap. You're going out after this?” The drink would most likely put me, thoroughly, on my ass for the night.

  “That depends.” He hunched over the bar, putting his head in his hand, and looked at me with a devilish grin. His fingers ran through his thick curls, almost boyishly. “I'm going to be honest with you. I saw you when we walked in and I tried to ignore you. I have a girlfriend. At least tonight I do.” Then he looked away and clarified, “I won't by tomorrow night. I was breaking things off with her tonight and my plans got a bit...hijacked.” Casey’s hazel eyes studied me, trying to read what I thought of his statement.

  “Okay.” I wasn't sure where he was going with that, but I'd been having such a good time with him. I sort of hoped that he’d ask me to continue the night with him, and go somewhere else like he’d told Cory he might. I tried not to let my budding disappointment show.

  The bartender placed both our cognacs on napkins and left us to them.

  “I want you to know that I'm not some jerk or asshole that sleeps around on his girl. I know we'll see each other tomorrow after I've talked to Aly, and you are bound to hear Cory or Micah ask about it.” He was very serious and didn't break eye contact with me.

  “We were just dancing. It really isn't that big of a deal,” I said making light of our night. Sure, we were a wash of blurred lines on the dance floor, but after getting some distance it seemed like we were mutually fine. At least I hoped I looked like I was collected.

  I had a boyfriend.

  Why didn't I just say it? Even he didn't want to seem like some manwhore, so maybe he would have respected me if I told him about Grant.

  Casey swiped both his hands through his brown mess and pulled it away from his face.

  The bar stool rumbled across the wood floor as he turned sharply to face me. He grabbed the seat I was in and pulled it closer. My crossed legs were situated in between his and he handed me my tumbler while taking his own.

  “Go ahead, Blake. Take a sip.”

  I hesitated and looked into his bright eyes. He nodded, telling me to do what I was told. So, I did. It was very warm and it slid like molasses down my throat. I felt the fire when it topped my stomach. Then he removed the glass from my hand and put it back on the shiny bar-top.

  Casey leaned into my space and we were face to face. I watched as his blue-ish, green-ish, brown-ish, grey eyes circled my mouth. Then they went south, down my neck and returned to me directly.

  “I want you tonight. You've got something I need. I don't know what it is. I'm probably crazy. Humor me though,” he sighed, then said, “be with me.” The warmth from the nightcap spread throughout my belly and his words heated everywhere else. I wanted him, too, but no one had ever just flat-out presented themselves like that to me. It was so daring.

  It was also the sexiest, most confident request I'd ever heard. I felt desired in a new and foreign way.

  “I don't, exactly, know what to say. I don't even know you. I don't live here. I have to leave on Sunday.” I have a soon-to-be fiancé. I'd left out the only good reason there was. The only valid reason I had.

  “Blake, I don't normally do this, and I don't know where all of this is coming from. But I just can't not tell you. I can't not try. I think if I did, then I might always wonder what you'd be like. What we'd be like, together. I know I don't know you. You don't know me, but shit!” The slap of his hand on the bar snapped at my ears and I straightened. Then he continued, the sensual timbre of his voice back to normal. “I want you.”

  I didn’t know where it came from, but it felt instinctive. My hands went to his cheeks and pulled him to my mouth. I had to. The choice was made for me. My lips were thankful.

  Casey reached for me and pulled me to him. I stood in between his legs, with my hands still framing his beautiful face.

  I parted my lips and it was enough of an invitation for him to accept. Before I knew it, our mouths were swimming with each other, cognac and desire like I'd never tasted before.

  But I had a boyfriend.

  With that thought I begin to pull away.

  “Stop it,” Casey whispered around the kiss and smile on his busy lips. “We'll sort it all out tomorrow. Be with me tonight. Please?” Then he held me tighter and lifted his eyes to mine and repeated his plea, “Blake, please?”

  I wasn’t sure why he had such a strong pull, but I couldn’t imagine he’d ever had to plead with a woman before. He had captivated me from the moment I set eyes on him. I knew he was dangerous, that he was trouble, but I lost myself there for a few long moments. The depth of yearning in his eyes coerced me.

  God, what was I doing?

  Saturday, May 24, 2008

  GOD, WHAT WAS I doing?

  I hadn’t even broken up with Aly. Yet.

  I didn't care. I had to have that girl. And there she was looking at me like
I had all the answers. I really laid it out there. She must have thought I was a pushy prick.

  I still didn't care.

  I know I'd kick my own ass if I let her walk out of there without saying something.

  Fuck. The feeling of her, as she hung onto me while we were dancing, made me want to take her to the bathroom and strip her bare, right there in the bar. So, I supposed I kept hold of my control as best that I could.

  Say yes, Blake. Ask me up.

  I willed her to want it like I did. She was taking too long. I had to kiss her again, while I still had her there, just in case she said no. I reached down and picked her up. I put her back on her stool.

  Thank God we were the only ones in the bar and Nate was leaving us alone. I wished the doors were locked and the shades drawn. I would have had her right there. As I sat her back down I shimmied my hips between her legs and I was only a little surprised when she wrapped a leg around to pull me closer. My lips crashed into hers and I couldn't slow down. She tasted like honey and cognac.

  I was desperate to be everywhere, in her mouth or otherwise. I couldn't put my finger on why, but one look at her fucking knocked me in the gut when I walked in and saw her.

  She was obviously all strung out from the rain. Her long, brown hair was messy. It was sexy as shit. Those pouty lips and, fucking hell, her big brown eyes. I couldn't even fucking look at her. I was totally screwed before she even knew my name. Blake wasn’t dolled-up like most of the women from my past. Not requiring any tweaking, she was gorgeous, just as she was.

  Jesus, I really needed to get a grip.

  “Come up to my room with me?” she murmured around our kisses. That was all the answer I needed.

  “Good choice, honeybee. Kick that drink back.” I took the last half of mine and fished some cash out of my wallet to pay Nate.

  “I'm staying across the street. Give me a few minutes to get situated in my room? Where's your cell?” She stood there looking at me like I wasn't moving quickly enough. “Come on, Cocky. Chop-chop.”

  I handed my phone over and in no time I heard Seven Nation Army playing from her purse. I thought that was kind of badass.

  “I'll call you, in like, ten minutes with my room number. Is that okay?” She looked almost afraid I might say no. She was bat-shit crazy if she thought I'd change my mind.

  “That's fine with me. I'll hang here until you call.”

  She didn't say anything. She smiled and it was refreshing. I watched her walk to the door and when she went to open it, she turned back around and caught me ogling her. Her petite hands came up in a “ten” and then she left.

  I was screwed.

  Still holding my phone, I looked down to the number she dialed. Normally, it wouldn’t occur to me to save a girl’s number in my phone.

  Honeybee entered a lot more than my phone’s contact list that night.

  I waited. It felt like it took three fucking years. I couldn't get the initial image of her out of my head. I'd never looked at a chick before and immediately wanted to talk to her. Fuck her? Sure. Get my dick sucked? Lots of times. But she was so beautiful and real looking that I wanted to talk to her.

  Then, I heard her voice and knew I needed to leave her alone. Her laughs, from across the room, made it torture for me to keep my ass on that barstool.

  I had to fight going to her really fucking hard.

  I texted Cory a 'thanks for not warning me' not long after we arrived. He knew I only came for a drink, or so, and then I was going to go break it off with Aly. That got shot all to shit when I saw Blake.

  I wasn't going anywhere, until it was to one of our beds.

  When you saw a girl like that, like Blake, you didn’t approach. The dumb ones liked drinks; the aggressive ones liked a nice ass-grab as you walked past. It was the smart, out-of-your-league types that had to come to you.

  And in my experience the only way to get a reaction from them was to leave them the fuck alone.

  Just enough.

  Be the ball. Or, rather, be the bat that they wanted to give a swing with later.

  So, I had no choice but to wait and hope. If she approached me I wouldn’t be able to resist her, and I was damn close to breaking my own rule before she came over.

  Then she did and I was screwed. I was hers.

  Then my phone vibrated and Honeybee was on the screen. I couldn't believe that she actually wanted me, too. I'd got hard just from the text message.

  Even if it was for one night, I'd be the luckiest son-of-a-bitch on the planet.

  I stood and yelled a good night at Nate. He was a good dude. I met him a few years before at a beer swap and we'd been buds ever since. It didn't hurt that HLS was his family's bar and I'd recently negotiated a deal where they kept my beer—well my boss's beer technically—on tap.

  I walked across the street into the Ashcroft Hotel looking back at her text.

  Honeybee: Rm 315

  I didn't bother with the elevators and made my way for the staircase that led straight up to the second floor from the large, open lobby.

  It didn't take me any time to find the second staircase and then, just as fast, I was on the third floor outside of her door. I felt weird knocking, so I text her back.

  Me: I'm here – Cocky

  I heard her phone chirp on the other side of the door and then I heard her laugh. A real no-one-can-hear-me laugh. It was so fucking hot and if I thought my cock couldn't get any harder, I was wrong. Blake opened the door and I almost died. She had on a hotel robe and her hair was freshly washed. She'd taken a shower.

  She was fast. I liked that, too. Shit I liked everything about that girl.

  “I know this looks pretty cliché, but the airport lost all of my luggage today and I felt so damn filthy from traveling and the rain...” she rambled.

  Thank God for airports.

  Thank God for rain.

  Thank God for terrycloth hotel robes.

  Thank God my knees didn't buckle.

  I told you. Luckiest fucking bastard on the planet. That was me. I didn't know what to say. Every time I thought the rug was going to be pulled out, the night kept getting better.

  “You're perfect.” She was. She looked like she was probably twenty-three or -four and I tell you what, that body was out of control. A criminal ass. Perfect sized breasts. I wanted to get lost in her for the next few hours, at least.

  “Can I come in?” I was the one who sounded cheesy and cliché, but my dick wasn't sharing any of my blood supply with my brain.

  “Yes. If you still want to.” Blake turned, walked to the bathroom and flicked off the light, not stopping before she got to the bed. “I thought about what you said earlier. The thing about always wondering what we'd be like? I'd wonder that, too.”

  Her voice sounded so confident, but her body read otherwise. One of her bare feet slid behind the calf of her other leg and methodically rubbed up and down. There was something like nervousness in her posture.

  It was bittersweet. I liked watching her squirm but hated that she second-guessed herself. So, I did what felt only natural and went to her. I had every intention of rushing her body and knocking it straight to the bed, but when I got to her I couldn't.

  Instead, I touched the damp hair that lay across her shoulder and pushed it out of the way. It was then I understood why women loved romantic, vampire shit. Because her neck was so goddamned sexy. Seeing her peach-colored velvet skin, that peeked out above the large robe, made me want to cover every inch of it with my mouth.

  I looked at her one more time to be sure she wasn't too nervous. The tip of her nose was flushed pink and her big brown eyes showed her trepidation and desire. I registered it and it was the only sign I needed. No one wanted to be the guy the girl regretted. I wanted to be the guy she couldn't get enough of. The one she never forgot.

  I wanted to raise the bar for which every other man was measured against.

  As gently as I could I lowered my mouth to her neck. And as I softly as I kissed her l
ovely skin, she sighed and brought hands to my chest. That taste of her skin was my first hit of Blake. My mouth watered she was so good, but I wanted to know all her flavors, not just her neck.

  I knew in those first seconds that I'd never have my fill or run out of places to taste.

  I also knew if I didn't get a handle on myself and find some control, my hours with her could easily turn into minutes and I wasn't ready for that yet. I needed to take my time, for the both of us.

  I whispered, “Lose the robe,” into her ear, and her breath left her body in a wave. Then she dropped it. I had a hard time deciding if I wanted my mouth or my eyes on her.

  My eyes won out. She was a feast. She moved her damp dark hair off her shoulders and offered her body to me. Through all of her nervousness, she never hesitated to do as I said.

  I couldn't have stopped myself from staring if I’d had to. Her tinted alabaster chest grew pink under my gaze. But she stood there and waited patiently for me to...what? She would have done anything I said. I could see it in her eyes.

  I did what any other man would. I got naked. My clothes were the only things in-between my body and her body getting acquainted. And I didn't want to wait another second.

  I reached up behind my back and pulled my shirt over my head. I threw it to the other side of the room; I didn't care where it landed. As I unzipped my jeans and kicked off my shoes. When I looked back up at her and she was smiling. It was a beautiful smile.

  “Something you like?” I asked her. Her smile was so big it almost looked like she was about to laugh. “What?” I looked down at myself. I wasn't a supermodel, but I worked out.

  Well, I had worked out before.

  “I like,” was all she said. Not having any clothes on and both of us standing there naked, I wasn't really sure how to approach her. It was strange.

  I was expecting a hot rush, hands and arms everywhere. Sweat. Screams. But in that moment, she seemed to want her own look. So I let her and when I couldn’t wait a minute longer, I took a step towards her, meeting her smile with mine.

  “Are you sure about this, honeybee?”