I closed my eyes against the look of surprise that crossed his handsome face.
****
Mottos?
The text from Cade the next evening made me smile. A drink at our neighborhood bar sounded perfect.
Be there in 20, I responded, wondering if Sid would be joining us. I hadn’t seen him all day and my heart leapt at the thought.
I was relieved the three of us still spent so much time together. When the guys had first come to me about breaking up the band, I’d been crushed. We’d been playing together off and on since college, but with Caden’s tattoo business picking up and Sid traveling so much, it just wasn’t possible. Plus, they had their own dreams to chase. I was still sorting out mine.
It was closer to thirty minutes by the time I walked in to the dimly lit dive.
Sid and Caden were immersed in a game of pool at the back of the bar. Sid’s beautiful blue eyes studied the table intently. He wore a ball cap pulled low, masking his expression. I watched him, trying not to drool over the way his tongue swept over his full lower lip as he concentrated.
I shook myself out of my Sid haze and walked over to the table, picking up a cue. “I play winner.” I grinned by way of greeting.
They both looked over, offering nearly identical grins.
It was always a close call, but Cade won the first round. I won the second and played Sid. As usual, the three of us got wrapped up in our world, competing playfully and making bets against who would do the chores if they lost.
“Another round?” Caden asked a good deal later. The bar had started to fill up, with the clink of glasses and low hum of conversation ricocheting off the walls.
“I’ve got plans,” Sid’s deep voice replied and I wondered if I imagined the way his gaze flashed to me before hitting the floor.
Was that guilt?
“Oh, yeah, who is she?” Caden smirked.
“Nobody you know,” he replied as my insides twisted in agony. In the years we’d been friends, I’d always felt a twinge of jealously on the rare occasion that Sid went home with someone. Now… now it was like fire in my belly. I wanted to bend over to assuage the pain burning in my gut.
Normally I’d paste a smile on my face and pretend I wasn’t dying inside. Tonight, I simply couldn’t do it. Instead, to my utter horror, I felt tears fill my eyes.
Sid’s eyes widened in surprise as I shoved past him, eager to get the hell out of there.
I practically ran home, feeling utterly humiliated. I’d just told him everything I felt without saying anything at all. Months of hiding my feelings betrayed in a single moment.
I threw my purse and jacket onto my bed and paced back and forth. Sid and I had always had a certain intensity between us, but the past few months it had reached a crescendo.
He barged into my room moments later, his nostrils flaring.
I reeled around in shock, my entire body zinging as I gauged his expression warily. We stood staring at each other, the energy in the room thick with tension.
“What was that, Sam?” he demanded, his voice low and strained.
I stared at him with wide eyes, knowing we were on the precipice of something huge, something we’d never come back from. I’d hidden my feelings for so long, lied to myself and anyone who asked. I simply couldn’t do it anymore.
“I think I’m in love with you,” I whispered hoarsely.
There was a second where I wasn’t sure what he was going to do. That second felt like hours as my heart pounded so hard I thought he could hear it.
Then he moved. He took one big step and I was in his arms, his lips crashing down on mine.
He kicked the door shut as he pulled me so tight against him I wasn’t sure where I ended and he began. His tongue swept past my lips; his taste, the sweetest I’d ever had.
I’d imagined kissing him more times than I could possibly count. The reality was a million times better.
He backed us toward the bed, his hands grasping the hem of my shirt and pulling it up and off. I did the same with him, my hands roaming the plane of his broad muscular chest.
He made a deep rumbling sound as his tongue tasted my neck.
We tore at each other’s clothes, the pent-up sexual tension electric as we sought to devour each other.
“Fuuuck,” he groaned when he got the first look at my bare breasts, before his mouth moved to feast on each nipple.
I grasped his biceps, trying like hell to remain standing. I managed to unclasp his belt buckle, wanting more than anything to taste him.
He slipped my panties down my legs, sliding down my body and to his knees. His expression was fathomless as he looked up at me.
I sucked in a ragged breath as his tongue swept over my core. He feasted on me, devoured me in a way I’d never experienced.
“I’m going to fall,” I gasped.