by C. J. Lake
“Excuse me,” he said, smiling flirtatiously at both girls, “can we buy your next round?”
His friend’s eyes locked with Cady’s for a moment; her pulse quickened as she realized that she found him very attractive. There was just something rugged about him that was triggering a primal response in her.
It didn't surprise her that Torie preferred the other one, as he was Torie's usual type—i.e. looked like a physical trainer and oozed cockiness.
“Sure, we’d love a drink,” Torie said with a winning smile. “I’m Torie and this is Cadence.”
The black-haired one spoke up. “I’m Mick.” His eyes kept falling back to Cady.
“And I’m Jagger,” his friend with the shaved head said. Torie gave an uncertain laugh at that, and he clarified, “No, that’s just a little joke.”
“Yeah, very little,” Mick muttered dryly, then focused on Cady again. “But I really am Mick. And you’re Cadence?”
She smiled at him. “You can call me Cady.”
“And I’m Quinn,” his friend said. “So are you girls students?”
“Yes. We’re seniors at BU. What about you?”
Quinn spoke up quickly. “No, we work for a private security firm.”
“Really?” Torie said, sounding impressed already.
Nodding, Quinn leaned in and confided, “We have some high-end clients that would probably surprise you.” He capped his statement with a wink.
Then Mick eyed Quinn with an unreadable expression, and Cady figured that maybe they weren’t supposed to talk about their jobs—or at least their clients.
“How old are you?” Cady asked curiously.
“Twenty-four,” Quinn replied, even though she was talking to Mick.
“Private security,” Torie reiterated. “Does that mean you’re bodyguards?”
“Yes, there’s that aspect,” Quinn agreed, nodding, “but there’s a whole lot more involved, too.”
At this point, Quinn called to the bartender and Torie turned with him in that direction.
“So…is your job dangerous?” Cady asked Mick.
“No,” he assured her. “It’s, uh…it’s not something I saw myself doing, let’s put it that way. What about you, Cady? What’s your major?” As he asked that, Mick dragged a bar stool closer and sat down.
It was hard to talk nonchalantly about her major with this hot twenty-four-year-old guy sitting next to her, looking at her with dark, smoldering eyes. There was just something sexy about him. Maybe it was knowing he was more manly and mature than the college guys in her classes.
Cady took a sip of her drink and managed to act casual. “English,” she replied. “But, honestly? I’m so lost.” There—she’d said it. But why had she said it? It wasn’t like this random guy needed to know that.
“What do you mean?” Mick asked.
His deep, almost rough voice must have compelled to her keep babbling. “Oh, I’m sure it’ll be hard to understand since it sounds like you have a pretty exciting career,” she said.
“Try me.”
“See, the thing is: I graduate in May and I have no clue what’s next.”
“Of course you don’t,” Mick said with an easy shrug. “Who knows the future?”
That hit a nerve only because it reminded her of Mademoiselle Gigi’s forecast. “Yes, but I don’t even have a vision of what I want to do. I don’t want to teach, I'm not a writer, and last I checked, you can’t just read for a living, so…that makes me one potentially unemployed English major.” When Mick chuckled, Cady grinned and said, “Hey, I’m serious here.”
“Sorry.”
“That’s okay. You know I can’t stay mad at you,” she joked, and Mick laughed. Then it hit her—was she flirting? It had seriously been awhile. Suddenly she thought about Mademoiselle Gigi and her smug predictions. And about what a dull rut Cady had been letting herself slip into, and how much she didn’t want Gigi to be right (accidentally, of course, and not because she was actually psychic).
Wouldn’t tonight be a good opportunity to do something out of character? To be fun and impetuous? To, for instance, flirt with an attractive stranger and not worry or anticipate where the conversation might lead…
“I’m sure you’ll figure it all out,” Mick commented now.
After taking another warming sip of her drink, she admitted, “You know, I’m already the black sheep of my family.”
“Get outta here,” he said.
“It’s true,” she mumbled (her tone dipped just a little glumly, now that it was on her mind). “Sometimes I don’t know where I belong. If only I could have some amazing career plans. Maybe that would fill the void.”
“A job’s not going to fill a void unless that’s what the void is about in the first place,” Mick offered.
“I suppose.”
“There must be something you're interested in.”
“Sure, I'm interested in a lot of things, but I don't think I can make a career out of any of them. For example, I love movies, but where does one go with it?”
“C'mon, you just go become one of those nationally-syndicated critics,” Mick suggested.
“Sure, I can do that, no problem,” she agreed sarcastically.
With a wry grin, he nodded. “There ya go.” She couldn't help smiling at him, because he seemed to have that effect on her. “You know what I think? You're over-panicking,” Mick stated. “You'll figure all this stuff out, but you're still in school, so what's the rush?”
“Easy for you to say. In fact, why are we talking about this? We should be talking more about your job. It sounds much more interesting than my complaining.”
“Wait—let’s go back to this ‘void’ of yours. What is it—no boyfriend? Is that it?” Mick asked, looking hopeful, and she smiled.
“No, I don’t have a boyfriend right now,” she confirmed. For the first time since Wes had broken up with her, she was thrilled to say that.
Chapter Four
Mick couldn’t believe his luck when he realized it was Cadence Killoren sitting at the bar. It was the first time that he had ever seen her look approachable.
Coincidentally, at the same moment that Mick had spotted her, Quinn had tapped him on the arm. “See the chick at the bar in the black pants? I want to talk to her,” Quinn had said, referring to Cadence’s friend.
“Yeah, you read my mind,” Mick said almost absently, focusing on Cady instead, as he and Quinn made their way over. Instantly, Mick had recognized her from the Ethics and the Law seminar he took last fall. The class was huge; they’d never met. In fact, he doubted Cady had even seen him—especially since she always sat in the front row, while Mick preferred the back.
The class had been held in an amphitheater so there had been stadium seating. From his row, Mick had had a perfect view of the whole room and yeah, he’d noticed her. He usually went for brunettes, and this one happened to have big blue eyes and a natural kind of prettiness. She had a sort of overly serious look, too—a studious one. In fact, Mick had only learned her name when Professor Stone announced it one day—after photocopying Cady’s term paper and passing it out to everyone as an example of quality work. Cadence Killoren...
Mick had even toyed with the notion that maybe this intellectual, A-paper girl was hiding a wild side. Or, that she was seriously repressed but, with the right guy, could go wild.
Then he’d discovered that she had a boyfriend, overhearing Cady on her phone a few times before class started—saying things like: “Call you later, honey” and “Love you, too”—so Mick hadn’t even bothered.
But tonight, here she was. No more boyfriend.
“So, in what world are you the black sheep?” Mick asked now, and motioned to the bartender for another beer.
“How come you can’t see me as a black sheep?” Cady asked curiously.
“It’s not possible,” Mick said simply and nodded toward her empty glass. “By the way, want another one?”
“Yes. Pumpkin Pie-tini, please.”<
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Mick grinned. “The hard stuff.” After ordering her drink, he went back to his original point. “I already know you’re extremely smart.”
Cady blinked at him. “Wait, why do you say that?”
Damn, that was right; thanks to Quinn’s big lie, Cady thought Mick worked in private security. She had no idea he really went to BU. And so did Quinn, but the guy had a pathological need to bullshit people.
“I can tell,” Mick said quickly, wanting to tell Cady the truth—that he was actually a college student and they’d even had a class together, but it just didn’t feel like the right moment. Not when Cady was warming up so well to him. If he retracted everything now, it would break the flow and she was just starting to tell him something…
“See, it’s like this,” she began. “My dad’s a physicist. My mom is an archaeologist. And my older brother is an entomologist.”
“Wow, that’s a lot of ists.”
She laughed. “I know, right?”
“Entomologist, isn’t that…?”
“Bugs,” Cady said flatly and her face pinched kind of cutely as she emphasized, “Bugs. My brother understands bugs on a profound level.”
“Interesting,” Mick lied.
She took another sip. “Yep. He’s already published four papers. His piece on the Prehistoric Icelandic Valley Beetle was his breakout work,” she explained offhandedly.
“Really,” Mick said, not sure if she was messing with him at first. “That’s impressive.”
“Isn’t it, though?” Cady agreed, sounding wistful. She sighed. That was when Mick realized she was being deadly serious. “My mom is on a dig in Greece, looking for buried treasures. My dad works with equations that are paragraphs-long and probably explain the universe. And my older brother is blowing the lid off bugs. Figuratively speaking, I mean.”
With a gruff laugh, Mick said, “Yeah, I’d hope so.”
“So that’s why I’m the black sheep, Mick,” Cady went on, blinking at him with feeling, and it was hard not to notice those pretty blue eyes of hers, which were the same color as her sweater. “I’m graduating soon and God knows why, but I have no passion for a career. Passion,” Cady repeated for emphasis. “Passion seems to be my number one problem.”
“Passion?” he echoed. “Really?” Mick eyed her suggestively now. He had a feeling they were circling closer to the truth.
When Cady’s gaze caught his, a blush came to her cheeks. “I don’t mean passion like that,” she insisted—but Mick didn’t quite believe her. His mind pulled up his old fantasy that she might be repressed. After all, even her flirting tonight had been restrained, tentative. His cock stirred as he considered what Cady might be like behind closed doors, once she really got going with someone. Sometimes the most buttoned-up girls were the hottest in bed; it was like they saved it up or something.
He found himself getting excited now and grinning almost wickedly at her. The way that Cady averted her eyes—but checked back with him from beneath her lashes—and then the way she couldn’t suppress a grin herself…
Well, it told Mick that she knew where his mind was going, and hers was going there, too.
Suddenly Cady’s friend and Quinn sidled up to them again. “Hey,” Torie said, giving Cady a little tug on the arm. “Want to go? Quinn just heard about a party on South Street.”
“Oh…no, I don’t want to go to a party,” Cady said, and Mick was relieved to hear that.
Her friend pouted for a second, before saying, “Come on, we’ve exhausted this scene.”
“South Street parties are always over-hyped,” Mick threw in.
Quinn disputed that. “No, man, Terrence texted me, said it’s blowing up.”
“Um, listen, Tor, you can go,” Cady offered. “But can you drop me off at home first?”
With an apologetic wince, Torie said, “Wellll, it’s toward Brighton, so it’s in the opposite direction. But that's okay, I—”
“No, no,” Cady insisted, obviously not wanting to mess up Torie's fun. “I’ll just take a cab, no worries,” Cady assured her. “Have fun.”
“Are you sure?” Torie said, putting on her coat.
“Of course. I can take a cab,” Cady was saying as she slid off her bar stool and Torie handed her her coat. Mick intercepted it. As he slipped it over Cady’s shoulders, she glanced up at him and gave him a smile that was somewhere between coy and shy. His heart pounded harder. This attraction was mutual; this was happening, he could feel it.
When Torie gave Cady a quick hug goodbye, Mick could’ve sworn he heard her whisper to Cady: “Have fun tonight.” Then she departed Donovan Shay’s with Quinn.
Immediately, Cady and Mick followed their friends’ lead and headed outside.
While Torie and Quinn strode toward the side street where she’d parked her car, Mick walked with Cady to the corner. “There are always taxis stopping at this intersection,” he mentioned.
“I technically can get a taxi myself,” Cady said, shivering. “If I couldn’t do that, I’d really be hopeless.”
“Of course,” Mick agreed. “I just wanted to walk out with you.” Predictably, the night had grown colder, and now the wind was biting. Mick boldly put his hands on Cady’s upper arms and gave them a rub through her jacket. “Let’s warm you up,” he said.
Appearing cautious, Cady asked, “After I go, are you going to meet Quinn and your friends at that party?”
“No. Definitely not.”
“Not your scene?”
“Nope,” he told her truthfully.
“Yeah, actually I’m surprised your friend, Quinn, wants to go,” Cady mentioned. “Those parties are usually BU and Boston College people. Since he’s twenty-four…well, I would think he’d be bored hanging out with college students, that’s all.”
“Quinn’s very immature,” Mick said—also the truth. “Listen, Cady, there’s something I want to say…”
Before he got to tell her that he wasn’t twenty-four and that he didn’t work in private security—that it was a stupid line Quinn used and could they just start over?—he got distracted by Cady reaching up and placing her hand on his chest. She did so tentatively, as though she wasn’t totally comfortable or used to making the first move, but wanted to anyway. The last thing he wanted was for her to rethink it, so he encouraged her, bringing his hands to her waist. She took in a quick breath, bit her lower lip, pulled in closer…
His pulse sped up and his chest tightened as she curled the fabric of his shirt into her fingers, silently drawing him in. The action sent a signal straight to his cock.
“This is probably a mistake,” Cady whispered, obviously trying to talk herself out of what she wanted.
“It doesn’t feel like a mistake,” Mick murmured huskily.
“It’s just…” she began, her soft voice drifting off for a moment as the wind loudly tousled the trees. Mick waited, not sure where she was going with this—and definitely not expecting her to say: “It’s just that I have no fun.”
After a careful pause, he said, “Are you saying that you want to have fun?”
“Yes.”
“With me?”
She dropped her eyes toward the sidewalk, but clutched his shirt a little tighter. “Yes.”
He could see a shy grin tugging at the corner of her mouth, so he slid a hand under her jaw to tilt her face up. When their eyes met, Cady gazed at him for a moment, almost fascinated, then murmured, “Let’s just kiss first and see how it is.”
He might have been mildly amused by her awkward seduction style—if only she didn’t have him so aroused instead. “Sure,” Mick agreed, stepping even closer and lowering his head. Soon both hands were on his chest, gripping the front of his shirt, as their mouths came together.
The worst thing he could probably do was to be over-eager, jam his tongue in, and kiss her so aggressively that she could barely catch her breath. Even though that was basically what he wanted to do. Ignoring that primal male urge, he instead tried to seduce her with
his mouth, slowly and sensually.
Cady’s lips were soft and shy at first. Mick kissed them back gently but with unmistakable sexuality, coaxing her mouth open and seductively running his tongue over hers.
She gripped him tighter, coming up on tiptoe, and then her tongue was in his mouth. Eagerly, Mick kissed her with more passion, while his heart pounded hard and his cock reacted to the feel of her, the scent of her, to the hot slick of her tongue on his. He gathered her closer and in seconds, Cady’s arms were around his neck and he had a tight hold on her waist.
One of Mick’s hands moved to the nape of her neck as their mouths fed hungrily on each other. Holy shit this was pure chemistry, he thought. Thank God he’d come to this bar tonight.
It seemed like they kissed endlessly, oblivious to everything else on that street corner. And when their mouths finally did break apart, Mick was breathing hard and Cady appeared dazed for a moment. Her lips were puffy and wet and Mick couldn’t help picturing them elsewhere…
“Do you want to come home with me?” she whispered.
Uh yes, yes, hell fucking YES. “Sure,” Mick said huskily, brushing back an errant strand of hair that had fallen loose from her ponytail and running the back of his fingers on her cheek.
“Let’s just have this one night,” Cady continued. It kind of was a buzz-kill for him. He definitely wasn’t looking for a heavy relationship at the moment, but he also wasn’t planning for her to cut him off ahead of time. “I just want to have one night of fun with you—but I’m not looking for anything more than that.”
“Okay, but—curious—why would you set up that stipulation?” he asked. Did she actually mean it?
“Because my life is in disarray,” she told him. “With exams and school and then graduation… I need to focus.” Mick thought she was done, but then she added: “I just want to forget real life for tonight. I don’t even want us to exchange information or try to make this something more, okay? It’s my senior year, and I just can’t afford to get distracted by a guy.”
When she was done with her monologue, Mick narrowed his eyes, assessing her. Then he warned her. “If I go home with you tonight, Cady, I can promise I’m going to distract the hell out of you.”