Alli turned on her stool to see her ‘date’ making his way back to their table, four beers clutched two by two, three of which she didn’t recognize the labels of. She supposed those three were for him and the other one was for her. Good. Two was too many. She only wanted one, only needed one. One she could finish rather quickly, but two? She’d have to nurse a second to not get a light-headed rush. She liked beer and wine well enough, but it didn’t take much to get her a little tipsy.
Tipsy combined with Hot Yummy within arm’s reach would be a bad decision. Her parents raised her to know the difference, to weigh the consequences of her choices and her decisions, the good ones against the bad ones and more than one beer with Jason would be a monumental bad one. She wouldn’t be able to control the urges already flowing through her. It’s how she and Grant had ended up in bed that first time. Beers. Three of them to be exact
He also carried, between his teeth, a glass of limes. It was funny, but it was also sexy. Lord knows she didn’t know why it was sexy, but it was. Maybe she wanted to feel the bite on her skin.
Jason leaned over the table and dropped the glass from his mouth. “For this place being in the middle of nowhere, it sure is crowded. And it’s only Wednesday,” he said as he put the bottles in the center.
Alli reached out and pulled the clear bottle of a popular brew toward her. “The other half of the crowd will be here after church tonight. And it’s not too far out. We’re only about ten minutes from the big city lights.”
Jason grinned, took her beer, and placed it out of reach. He shook his head and pushed one of the unknown bottles toward her instead. “Try this first.”
She eyed it with uncertainty. She liked lighter colored beers, or flavored ones. She wasn’t big on straight up, dark ones. “What is it?”
“A good ol’ Texas brand.” He lifted his bottle and touched the edge to his lips, tilting it back slightly.
Alli was mesmerized, watching his throat work, completely forgetting herself and her beer. She’d pulled a lime from the glass, intent on sucking it between her lips as she always did, but as she stared at him, she inadvertently squeezed it, dripping lime juice on the table and over her fingers.
It startled her out of staring and she looked down, hoping he hadn’t caught the guilty flush. His chuckle said he hadn’t missed it. Dammit all. The man had her flustered and she just didn’t like it. She was used to being in charge, or at least not being so far off her game.
She picked up a napkin to wipe it off because no way in hell was she going to lick the lime juice off with him right there. No Sirree Bob. She wasn’t going to give him any ammunition or reason to… To what she didn’t know, but she wasn’t giving it to him.
He beat her to the napkin, though, instead of wiping it across her hand, he swiped his thumb through the juice. He didn’t use the napkin to clean his thumb either. No, he licked it, long and slow and she watched, rapt and caught.
He locked gazes with her and then offered her the napkin.
“Wh-what’s this for?”Apparently her fingers were momentarily forgotten while watching his blatantly oral display.
“To wipe the drool off your chin.”
He said it so seriously, with such a straight expression on his face that it took her a few seconds to realize there was a teasing glint in his eyes. And… a few seconds more to realize that she’d unconsciously lifted her hand to wipe her chin.
She narrowed her gaze at him as heat crept up her neck and into her cheeks. She wiped her fingers and mopped up the small puddle of lime juice in front of her, then dropped the napkin. “You’re not funny,” she muttered.
“I am.”
“You’re not cute.”
“I’m damn adorable.”
“You’re not sexy.”
“You haven’t seen me naked, yet,” he tempted.
“You’re not my type.” Who the hell was she trying to kid?
“I’m definitely your type, and as equally important, you’re very much my type.” He settled on his stool and drained the rest of his beer in one long pull. She continued to watch his throat work as he swallowed, watched his hand as it curled tighter around the bottle. When he put it down, she was mesmerized again, staring at him as he licked his tongue across his lips.
“More drool, Alli,” he prompted softly.
He reached out and touched the bottom of her chin with his forefinger and dragged upward until he was pressing against her bottom lip. She opened her mouth slowly and bit.
“Son of a bitch!” He yanked his hand away and glared at her with dark promises in the deep gray of his eyes. “What the hell was that for?”
“Teasing me. Toying with me.”
“You deserve a paddling for that.”
She gave a very unladylike snort. “As if you could.”
“More than if you don’t watch it.” He tilted his second beer bottle up and swallowed a healthy bit.
“Oh, I’m quaking in my boots.” She followed suit with her beer, though she was still on her first bottle. She had to admit, at least to herself, it wasn’t bad. It was stronger than she usually liked, but there was a deeper flavor, something she couldn’t put her finger on, but she could definitely see drinking it again.
“You’re going to be shakin’ in a whole lot less than your boots when I’m finished,” he continued, confidence rolling off him in waves.
“You think you can get me in less than my boots? You think you can get me naked?”
“No doubt in my mind.”
“Arrogant ass.”
“When’s the last time anyone told you you’ve got a damn fine one.”
“Five seconds ago.” She could repay the compliment, but chose not to. She wasn’t going to give him any more fuel to use against her. She was already so close to going up in flames that one more little touch from him and she’d burst. Her panties, wet already from their earlier bantering at the shop combined with the hotness that was Hot Yummy, were soaked from the constant dripping from her pussy. The man was dangerous.
He’d caught her staring more than once and she wasn’t going to give him any more ammunition, at least not with words, so for once she’d keep her mouth shut. Words she couldn’t take back. Looks she could deny all she wanted and he had no proof, but once the words were out there she’d never be able to lie and say she hadn’t said them.
She polished off the rest of her beer and sat back in her seat. “Who are you? Really, I mean. All teasing aside.”
