Cousins: An Alpha Bad Boy Romance(28)

I giggle. "A little."

"No one fed you in here?" He chuckles when he asks me that.

"I missed most of dinner when I was having a glass of merlot with a certain stranger earlier."

"Then I owe you dinner." He grins. "When do you want to collect?"

I can't help but blush from his forwardness, especially when he pulls me closer to him. I smell whiskey, chocolate and an additional scent that is completely unique to him. He could bottle that shit up and sell it.

Stay focused Elizabeth.

"I don't have dinner with strangers."

I say no to dinner, because let's be realistic here. What on earth does he want with me? And what on earth would I do with him? I'm a basket case. A mess.

And he's, not.

"You think we're still strangers? Ok, let's fix that problem right now. Tell me five things about yourself." He points his finger at me and orders. "Go."

"Five things? That's not going to really change things."

"It'll change everything." He says resolutely.

Everything he says is frackin' sexy.

Both of his hands slip lower to the base of my spine. He hooks his thumbs into the belt loops of my jeans and lets his hands loosely lay on the top of my ass as we continue to rock to the song that's playing.

Everything he does is frackin' sexy.

"I love popcorn–" I say breathlessly forgetting that I've already mentioned that.

"I already know that. Five other things." He urges.

I start rattling off stats like a complete moron.

"My favorite color is yellow. I love dogs, not cats. I graduated in the top ten percent of my high school class. I'm an only child, and I don't really know anyone here tonight."

"You crashed the party?" He smirks with approval.

"I didn't say that exactly–"

"Where are you from?" He interrupts.

"Uh-uh. I gave you my five things. It's your turn."

I'm not sure where that burst of confidence came from, but it's probably the most Bitsy like thing I've said in his presence since we've met. Finally! I was a leader in high school, a force to be reckoned with in college, and now I'm a budding entrepreneur. I'm not some mealy-mouthed virgin who melts at the sight of every badass who crosses my path.

I think I hear him growl in protest at the base of his throat. I'm not so sure that he likes how I threw things back into his court, but I'm not going to budge. I'll just quietly keep dancing with him until he answers me.

"All right. My favorite color is blue. I own an Alaskan Malamute named Mr. Tibbs. I hated high school, and I'm an only child too."

"That's only four." I point out.

He doesn't reply but instead starts to rub a few strands of my curly ponytail between his fingers, and I attempt to hide the smile that's widening across my face against his chest. Ok, maybe I am acting like a mealy-mouthed virgin.

"Mr. Tibbs?" I ask to break the trance that his stroking of my hair is placing me in.

"He has crystal blue eyes the color of the Caribbean Sea and he's mean as shit. You'll see when you meet him."

When I meet him? I smile very brightly to myself because I like the words, even though I know he only wants to get in between my legs. He made that quite clear earlier.

Our song ends, but another mid-tempo song I've heard on the radio about ten years ago begins.

"Old people and their music," he snickers. "I hate this crap."

"We can sit down if you want," I offer.

Maybe he's sick of dancing with me, but he keeps his grip firmly around my center, while we keep rocking back and forth to the rhythm of the song. I'm beginning to really like how I feel inside his embrace. His one leg wedged in between my two. My head tucked underneath his chin. How close I am to all his hard edges.

"I'd really like for us not to be strangers." He says in a gravelly voice that I could very well become addicted to. "Did my five things work?"

"Four things–" I correct him. "And no they didn't work. I've met you twice, you've told me four random things about yourself, but you forgot the most important."

"What's that?"

"Your name. Remember I don't eat with strangers or talk to strangers." I grin.

"Well what will you do with strangers?" He asks with a glint in his hard, obsidian eyes.

"Nothing." I say as if it's the hardest thing I've ever admitted to in my life.

"I'd like to change your mind about that Elizabeth."

"I don't think so." But I want him so badly, that my mouth is practically salivating.

I start to notice several pairs of eyes on us as we dance, but don't think much of it, because the stranger's lips are directly above my ear now causing me to block out any further distractions.