It was all so deliberate.
And delicate.
“Please,” she whimpered as he again drew a breath away.
“Please what?” he had the audacity to ask.
But she didn’t care. She was soft clay in his hands, needing to be formed into something more.
“Please kiss me.” She heard the desperation in her voice. It was a poor echo of the need knotting inside her. She gripped his biceps, and his muscles tensed beneath her hands.
His mouth hovered over hers again and she pushed onto her toes, needing to fuse their connection.
Finally, he relented and allowed her access.
Lips parted, tongues tasted, twisted, hands searched.
Her hands slid up his biceps to his shoulders and into his thick hair, pulling him closer to her.
His hand at her waist crossed her back at a slant, pressing their torsos together. The hand on her jaw went down to her hip and then to her backside in a grip so powerful and primal that she let out a startled gasp.
Her blood, her skin, her thoughts sang in harmony. All she wanted was to kiss this man forever. His taste, his heat, his strength—they met her in her need and she chased it. Wanting to give him the same sensations he was giving to her.
He groaned into her mouth and it sent shivers through her body.
This…
This was nothing she had known.
Beauty and profanity all at once.
“Oh, geez. Seriously?”
Hannah’s smile drew her lips away from Johnny’s. He rested his forehead against hers, breathing heavily.
I did that, she thought with delight.
“Shawn,” Johnny warned, deadly serious.
“Sorry. I just didn’t think it would freak me out that much.” Shawn shifted on his feet but didn’t leave.
“You can go now,” Johnny reminded him tersely.
Hannah’s body began to shake with silent laughter. His grip on her had relaxed significantly and she planted her face in his chest.
“The library is closing…so…”
“Thank you, Shawn,” Hannah said, twisting her face out of Johnny’s shirt.
“Yeah, whatever,” Shawn grumbled, and walked away.
Hannah gripped his shirt at his waist and tried to hold on for one more second before the moment was well and truly over.
He kept one hand on her waist and put the other on a shelf behind her head.
He drew back and those beautiful dark eyes scanned her features. She could only imagine what he saw. She hoped he saw the satisfaction he’d created.
The muscles in his jaw flexed under the skin and she instinctively touched it with her fingertips. He froze, his eyes darting to hers.
She didn’t know what to say. For once, words had failed her.
She didn’t want to come across as snarky, and yet she was too afraid to say something sincere. So she remained silent.
So did Johnny.
After a minute, their breathing had returned to mostly normal and Hannah realized it was over.
She forced a smile and then ducked under his arm to leave.
“Hannah,” he called when she’d reached the end of the stack.
She turned.
But he just stood there, hands at his sides, conflict in his eyes.
She nodded.
He didn’t need to explain to her about temptation and regret.
She knew all too well.
Chapter Seventeen
Mood Ring
HANNAH
Work was hard to focus on.
Hannah kept staring off into space, her fingers lightly touching her lips, the memory so intense she wanted to live there.
Johnny Enamorado Torres was a helluva kisser.
She couldn’t remember ever having such a lingering sensation.
His hair in her hands, the feel of his body pressing against hers, the scent of cinnamon and leather and soap.
She exhaled heavily and tried to come back to the present.
But the present was not nearly as fun.
“We’ve had an increase in escalations and I’d like to see those numbers drop.”
“You know what else had increased? Shitty product,” she muttered under her breath. Someone nearby snickered.
She glanced at her supervisor, Collin, and realized he was looking at her.
She rolled her eyes and went back to scribbling lines and hearts on her notepad.
The point of the staff meetings was to get everyone on the same page, get them fired up to give the “best customer service available.”
Easier said than done.
It was hard to give good service when you’d been given a faulty product to coerce your caller into thinking they had mismanaged. Also, being called a “sonofabitch” twenty-five times a day didn’t help either.
When had this happened?
When had she gone from not really caring about her boring little job to being so sick of it, she wanted to drive a spear through her headset?
Her phone buzzed in her pocket, answering her question.
Right.
It happened around the time she’d met a young busker with an agenda.
And damn her if she hadn’t gotten suckered into his adorable pleas for help.
Not to mention he had a seriously hot older brother who could kiss like a Greek god.
But that was beside the point.
The “when” for disliking her job was established. But the “why” was a little less clear.
Or she was just really clever at avoiding having to directly answer her own question.
The meeting dismissed and Hannah went to the restroom to check her messages.
Shawn: Johnny says we can use the studio on Saturday since there’s no game
Right. There was no game on Saturday. She’d forgotten. It would be nice to have a break from all the prying eyes.
It had started to feel a little invasive the past few weeks. Her friendship with Johnny and Sarahi had drawn attention.
When her entire life goal was to avoid attention.
She sent a reply to Shawn that she would be there and then headed to the break room for a much-needed caffeine jolt.
Her phone rang on the counter and she froze.
She had not spoken to Johnny since he’d kissed the motherfucking hell out of her the other night. In fact, this was the first time he had called her since.
Perhaps they were just going to pretend like it hadn’t happened.
If only that were possible on her end.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t stop reliving it.
“Hello?” she answered.
“What are you making for dinner?” he asked, like all was normal.
“Meatloaf.”
“Mmm,” he said into the phone, the sound sending tingles throughout her body.
“What’s up with you?” she asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.
“Shawn told me that you’re coming down to the studio on Saturday to work on stuff with him.”
“You heard right,” she verified.
Okay, so far so good. Maybe she could do this. It wasn’t too different from how relationships were with guys before. Just instead of pretending she liked them so they’d have sex with her, now she had to pretend that she didn’t like him so that she never tried to have sex with him.
She rested her forehead on the counter and whimpered internally.
This was really all his fault.
He shouldn’t have kissed her.
“Is there anything I can get ready for you ahead of time? Any equipment that you want to use?”
This was regular, normal conversation with Johnny. It was about work and was also a great display of his helpfulness.
Fucking bastard.
“Um, I’m not sure. Nothing comes to mind.” She straightened and put both hands on top of her head.
“You okay? You sound weird.”
Piper came around the corner, eyes narrowed suspiciously. Hannah he
ld her gaze.
“Everything is great! Can I call you later? My meatloaf is on fire.”
She hit the “End” button.
Both she and Piper stared at each other in silence for thirty seconds.
“So…” Piper raised her eyebrows. “You’re a liar.”
Hannah exhaled and let her hands drop to her sides. “I know.”
“Why are you lying to Johnny? I thought you two were cool as cucumbers.”
Hannah opened her mouth to reply but stopped, confused by Piper’s verbiage. “What decade are you from?”
Piper crossed her arms over her chest, unimpressed.
Hannah sputtered, groaned, and growled as she put on her hot mitts and retrieved the meatloaf from the oven.
She set the pan down and tried to think.
But nothing happened.
All she could hear was her lies, and all she could see was his smile.
“Hannah,” Piper snapped.
Hannah glanced up.
“Was he mean to you?” Piper sounded worried.
“No.” Hannah shook her head immediately. “He wasn’t mean. He just…kissed me.”
Piper nodded slowly. “Yeah…”
“You knew about that?”
“Shawn told me days ago.”
Oh, shit. Right.
“Was it…bad?” Piper tried to guess.
“I wish.”
“Huh?”
Hannah closed her eyes and groaned again. This was not something she wanted to talk about with her little sister. It was grown-up things for grown-up minds. Besides, she saw the way Piper looked at Johnny—like he was a hero in a fairytale come to life.
She didn’t want to create any more complications for her preteen brain.
“I don’t want to talk about it right now, okay, pipsqueak?” Hannah said gently.
Piper scowled, but she dropped it.
Besides, she wouldn’t even have the first clue how to talk about it. He had kissed her like a sailor coming home but then called her and asked about dinner like it was all the same?
Either she was missing something or that kiss had been much better for her than for him.
But that didn’t seem likely. She had been an expert kisser.
Hadn’t she?
Had everyone been faking?
Oh, shit.
Was this how guys felt when then found out they were bad in bed?
Nah, she was overthinking it.
Had to be.
Right?
The next day, work was even more boring than usual.
Hannah had not yet successfully been able to stop thinking about Johnny.
She also hadn’t called him back last night. Which made her feel guilty. Like she was avoiding a major responsibility.
You know what always helps stress and overthinking? More coffee.
When she entered the small kitchenette, TJ and Courtney were speaking with heads bent and voices hushed. Courtney giggled.
“Hey, you guys,” Hannah said coyly.
They jumped apart, flustered.
Hannah filled her cup and turned toward them.
“So, that restaurant must be pretty great.”
Courtney blushed and averted her eyes. TJ smirked, a cockiness in his posture that usually wasn’t apparent.
Who would have thought? Hannah Lee James, former train wreck turned matchmaker.
Tamara and Amy entered the break room and Tamara deliberately bumped into Courtney, causing her to spill her coffee.
Courtney suffered silently and shrank away from the two mean girls as they took over the coffee counter.
Or tried to.
Hannah decided to take up more space than she needed and hopped her ass onto the counter.
“So, Courtney,” Hannah said, spreading her legs and setting her cup down on the counter in between them. “Did TJ pick you up in his fancy car?”
If she listened carefully, she could hear the sound of tires screeching in Tamara and Amy’s collective brain.
Courtney blushed and tucked her hair behind her ears.
“Yeah. And then he took me dancing. I didn’t even know he knew I liked dancing.”
“TJ!” Hannah exclaimed with admiration. “What a great date you must be!” She struck him on the shoulder with a fist.
TJ rubbed the spot she’d hit and shrugged, his face reddening.
“Well, Courtney’s really cool. And I wanted to make an effort to show her that.” He looped an arm around her waist and kissed her cheek.
It was actually Hallmark movie schmaltzy and Hannah was into it.
Tamara made a noise that sounded like a gag and a cough.
“You okay over there, Tamara?” Hannah asked, taking a sip of coffee.
Tamara ignored her. Which was too bad because Hannah was just itching for a reason to make her hate her day. She knew she was pushing it, but she honestly didn’t care.
“I just threw up in my mouth a little,” Tamara said, turning around to face the happy couple.
Amy cackled.
Hannah stifled her unbridled glee.
“Why?” she asked bluntly. “Did you remember what you looked like?”
Tamara’s eyes flashed as she whipped her head around to point daggers at Hannah.
“What did you say?” she hissed.
Hannah licked her lips and leaned forward and spoke slowly. “I asked if you threw up in your mouth because you remembered that you were a disgusting person.”
Faster than she thought possible, Tamara slapped her across the face. The smack echoed through Hannah’s head.
Everyone grew very still and held their breath.
Hannah shook her head, trying to snap out of the shock of being hit across the face.
“Damn, Tamara!” Hannah touched her red-hot cheek. “You hit me in the face.” And then she started laughing.
Not a small laugh either. But a deep, hearty chuckle that grew into raucous belly laughter. Tamara and Amy hurried from the break room.
Hannah wiped the tears from under her eyes.
“Are you okay?” Courtney asked, placing a baggy of ice gently on Hannah’s cheek.
“I’m going to get Collin,” TJ said, and hurried off.
Hannah took the ice gift and nodded at beautiful Courtney.
“I’m fine. It’s been a while since a bitch slapped me, but I’ll recover.”
“I can’t believe she did that.” Courtney’s gray eyes were round and worried.
“Oh, I can. I’ve always known how to push the wrong buttons.” Hannah grabbed Courtney by the hand. “Hey, don’t let people like that get under your skin. Mean bitches are all the same. They hate themselves so much that it spills over onto other people. You’re a good person.”
Courtney looked uncomfortable with the compliment, but she stuck out her chin bravely anyway. “You didn’t have to do that, you know.”
“I know. But I wanted to.”
Courtney laughed despite herself.
Then Collin came in and the fun was over.
JOHNNY
He hated being called to the school.
But it felt different today for some reason. Maybe it was because he’d been waiting for the hammer to drop since the moment he’d caught Hannah telling off Shatford.
When he’d tried to talk to Shawn about it, he couldn’t get much out except what he already knew.
But since he hadn’t been directly involved in the incident, he didn’t know if he could go to the higher-ups himself.
Or maybe he should call Aunt Carmen.
After all, she had connections.
He rounded the corner, and the bench outside Principal Mendez’s office came into view.
On more than one occasion, it had been Shawn waiting for him.
This time it was Hannah.
His steps faltered for a moment, and then he picked up speed, excited to see her.
She heard him approach and turned to face him.
All of his previous thoughts fled wh
en he saw the red hand-shaped welt on her face.
“What happened?” he asked, sliding onto the bench and gently taking her face into his hands. He hovered his thumb just over the angry skin, afraid to touch it.
Her hands caught his and she sniffed a laugh.
“Oh, a woman at work slapped me.”
“What? Why?!” he exclaimed, anger gripping his heart.
“Because I’m mouthy, babe,” she answered sincerely, giving his hands a squeeze.
His eyes bounced between hers as he struggled for what to say. The anger he’d felt didn’t fade and he took a deep breath to help it along. But he still didn’t understand.
Hannah, still grasping his hands at her face, gently removed and lowered them.
“I’m fine. It’s not like I’ve never been slapped before. And, as usual, I totally had it coming.”
He wasn’t sure which part made him more angry, that she thought she deserved it or that it wasn’t a new sensation.
She patted his hands, an attempt to soothe what she didn’t understand.
“It looks worse than it is. My body always overreacts to the most minor of injuries. It’ll fade in an hour or so and it’ll be like it never happened.”
When he didn’t respond, she cleared her throat and looked up and down the hall.
“Do you know why we’ve been summoned, by the way?” she asked, addressing their location.
He shook his head and ran a hand over his jaw. “They didn’t say. Just that it was urgent.”
“Same here.”
“I imagine it has something to do with Shatford,” he muttered. No one was nearby, but he didn’t want to be heard by anyone anyway. As far as he knew, no one else knew about Hannah’s interaction with the vice principal over the weekend. But he’d been wrong before.
The door opened and Dr. Mendez waved them both in.
Johnny settled into his customary chair in front of the principal’s desk, Hannah taking the seat next to him.
“I imagine you’re wondering why I’ve asked both of you to come in at the same time,” Dr. Mendez got right to the point.
Key Change: A Slow Burn Rockstar Romance (Common Threads Book 3) Page 25