Choosing Henley(21)

“Thank you for dinner,” I say, swaying slightly from the few beers I had. “You really didn’t have to do that.”

He reaches over, sliding the strap of my summer dress from my arm back onto my shoulder. He doesn’t take his hand away. Instead, he simply leaves it lightly touching my skin. “You’re welcome.” His gaze lingers on my lips as he steps closer. “I hope you enjoyed it.”

He took me to a beautiful Italian restaurant in town and the food was amazing. I lick my lips at the memory and hear him groan. “Mmmm…” I moan, closing my eyes. “It was delicious.”

The hand on my shoulder slides up to my neck, and I open my eyes to look into his.

“I bet you taste better,” he whispers as my cab pulls up to the curb.

I moan again as his other arm wraps around my waist, pressing the front of my body against his. He drags the pad of his thumb over my bottom lip, pulling it free from my teeth. I didn’t even notice that I was biting it. I shiver despite the hot summer night and lick my lips—this time, on purpose. I’m baiting him, and it works.

He smashes his lips against mine, sliding his hand from my throat into my hair. He sucks my bottom lip between his teeth, and I’m lucky that he’s holding me up or my legs would have likely given way underneath me. I snake my arms around his neck, pulling him in to deepen the kiss.

I’ve completely forgotten that we are standing outside on the street until the cab driver asks, “Excuse me. Did either of you order a cab?”

Jami pulls his lips away from mine but doesn’t lessen his grip on my waist. “Yes,” is all he says, sounding as out of breath as I feel. He leads me over to the cab, opening the door and ushering me in before settling into the seat beside me. “One stop,” he tells the driver before rattling off the address to his new house, the one he doesn’t share with roommates.

I don’t want to go home. I want him. Even if it’s only for the night, I need to feel him. I need to have him. This has been a long time coming between us, and I can handle one night with him. One night with Jami and then we would go back to the way things were before. I can do that. We can do that. Can’t we?

My memory is interrupted by the sound of truck doors slamming. I look outside to see that we’re here. I unbuckle my seatbelt, open the door, and jump down. And I do mean jump considering the already massive truck has another eight-inch lift on it.

The others walk ahead, but Hannah hangs behind, watching me with observant eyes.

“We’ll talk about it later,” she says, bumping her hip against mine.

I bump her back and scrunch my nose up at her. “Only because you’ll drag it out of me eventually,” I tease, but it’s true and I’m thankful for it. If I didn’t have Hannah, who forces me to talk stuff out with her, I’d probably bottle up all my emotions until I explode.

We all get our tickets and I let everyone know that I’ll meet them in there because I have to go to the bathroom. When I walk into the dark theatre five minutes later, it doesn’t take me long to find our group. We are a bunch of mid to late twenty-somethings seeing the remake of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It’s not exactly like the theatre is full of those during a weekday matinee.

I walk up to our row and mentally kick myself for not thinking this would happen. All my friends are seated side by side, no spaces in between. Jami is sitting on the end, the empty seat—sorry, my empty seat—beside him. So much for avoiding being too close to him. That plan is working out great.

I sink down into the chair just as the previews for upcoming movies start. At least I don’t have to talk to him. I thank my lucky stars while I size up the new Matthew McConaughey trailer that’s playing. I’d see that. It’s Matthew McConaughey. Why the heck wouldn’t I see it?

The movie is actually way better than I thought it would be and the turtles are flippin’ hilarious. But I jump when an unexpected fight scene occurs and feel his hand wrap around my knee. The movement the sensation brings sends my earlier memory rushing in again.

The back seat of the cab feels small with his large frame next to me. Our legs are almost touching and my chest is heaving. I look out the window to distract myself when I feel his rough hand settle around my knee. It’s as if the skin he touches literally bursts into flames. I’m aware of every movement he makes, because I can feel my body reacting to it.

His hand slowly slides down the inside of my thigh and my breath hitches in response to his touch. A rational part of my brain takes over for a moment, my eyes flying forward to the front of the cab to see if the driver notices anything. He doesn’t, he’s busy dancing to whatever top-forty music he has on, not paying attention to us at all. Jami stops when he reaches the hem of my dress. The anticipation of what’s to come has my heart beating so hard that I can hear it in my head.