Page 17 of Thirst For Me
Her eyes meet mine again, and my breath catches in my throat at the soft, boozy, truthful look she gives me. “In Jace? No.”
“No? How about Evan?”
She stares up at me. “Who’s Evan?”
“The other one.”
She still hasn’t broken eye contact when she says, “What other one?”
And I have to wonder if it’s the same for her—this magnetic force drawing her to me as everything else fades into an inconsequential blur. I proceed to get lost in her eyes for so damn long,the next thing I know, the entire bachelorette, my friends, and my staff have left the building.
We’re standing here alone.
“I think we’re the last ones left,” she whispers.
I let her go and clear my throat. “Let me just lock up.”
“Okay.”
She waits as I turn out the lights, then we walk out the front door together. I set the alarm and lock up behind us.
The parking lot is almost empty. Jace and Evan and I walked here earlier, knowing we’d be drinking. My friends are already making their way across the dark lot with the girls as my staff drive off into the night.
“This way,” I tell Sierra, about to head after them. But she catches my arm, stopping me.
“Hey ... Mason? Thank you. For helping me out. But ...” She glances at the group who are now making their way up the road, loudly, leaving us behind. Then she meets my eyes. “I know I flirted before. But I should probably just make it clear that we probably shouldn’t do anything tonight.”
“Anything ...” I murmur, the mere suggestion ofsomethingmaking my cock stir. “Like what?”
“Like kiss goodnight. Or ... anything else.” Her eyelids grow heavy as she looks at my mouth, and my gaze drifts down to her succulent lips. “I just want to say thank you now, so there’s no awkwardness. Or ... pressure.”
I get that. It’s sweet.
She’ssweet, in a way I didn’t expect when she first walked into my bar.
I shift closer to her, and she leans back against the door, so we’re almost pressed together again. I place my hands on her hips, gently, and she makes no move to stop me.
“Well, as charming as it was being serenaded by your special rendition of ‘Hotel California’ while you stepped on my toes, youare drunk, Sierra Daniels. And I’d like to think I’m a gentleman.” I’m really, really glad my friends are out of earshot so no one laughs out loud at that one.
Sierra nods, biting her lip. “Yeah. I suppose that’s a very reasonable reason not to kiss someone.”
I smooth my thumb over her hip, slowly, back and forth. “One might even say gallant.”
A smile twitches at the corner of her lush mouth. “Plus, we are strangers.”
“Virtually.”
“Plus ...” The smile disappears. “Today was literally the third-worst day of my life.” She dips her head, then peers up at me again. “So, you probably don’t want to be lumped in withthatin the memory bank.”
“Probably not,” I say. And I wonder what made this day so bad for her. I wonder if she’ll tell me.
“Plus ... I’m on a sexual hiatus.”
“Lots of reasons, then,” I agree as heat floods my body.
She looks away. Laughs.
I feel it, too. The total high of standing here with her in the dark, where anything could happen. There’s an unexpected euphoria pressing up against my lungs like an inflating balloon. My heart is pounding and I feel like I can’t quite catch my breath.
