“I’m waiting for a girl,” I said impulsively. “This American bird I met the other night. Her sister’s a real nutter for football.”
The barkeep laughed. “You’ve got a new bird every week, Jay,” he said teasingly. “What’s so special about this one that she gets to come here, eh?”
“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “But it feels… different.”
Every time the door to the pub banged open, I jumped a foot in the air, convinced it was Kate, but after the fifth or sixth time, I stopped looking. It was already a half-hour past when I’d told her to meet me, and I wondered if she’d even bother showing up. I thought I was getting to a point where she might like me, but then I remembered her disdain when I’d first met her. She’d turned her nose up at me, like she would have rather done almost anything on earth rather than talk to me. Maybe she was embarrassed. After all, her sister blew chunks all over the loo of my club, but she didn’t seem like the type to be put off by something like that.
Finally, almost an hour late, Kate walked through the door. Her dark hair was soaked, and she looked more disheveled than usual, but she was still striking and beautiful. When she saw me, a guilty look flashed across her face.
“I’m so sorry,” she said as she rushed over to me. “This is so embarrassing. I’m so late!”
I laughed out loud. Her self-flagellation was adorable. “What happened? Did you lose track of time?” I didn’t want to suggest it, but I wondered if she wasn’t used to 24-hour time.
“It’s worse than that,” Kate mumbled. “I need a drink before I can even tell you.”
The barkeep bustled over to us and looked at Kate, and when she wasn’t looking, he winked at me, then turned to her. “What can I do you for, love?”
Kate looked around frantically for a menu. “Do you have any wine?” she asked as she draped herself across the bar. I watched her curves shift on the stool and I felt my mouth go dry. “I like whites,” she added. “But if you have a red, I can do that, too.”
“Sorry, love,” the barkeep replied. “We only have ales here. We’ve got a house pale and a house stout, which will it be?”
Kate looked at me with a helpless grin on her face. “Which is better?”
“The stout,” I advised. “Plus, higher alcohol content.”
Kate blushed. “I’ll take one of those,” she said softly. The barkeep nodded and handed her an overflowing pint glass full of dark beer a moment later. Kate regarded it cautiously before closing her eyes and taking a sip.
“This is really good,” she said. “Thanks!”
He smiled and walked away, and I chuckled to myself. “So, what happened?”
Kate blushed again, and she took another long pull of beer, swallowing appreciatively. I watched the muscles work in her throat and felt my cock twitch between my legs. Her mouth was so soft, so luscious. I wanted to have her all over me, right then and there.
“I waited for the bus on the wrong side of the road,” Kate said. She looked down at her full glass of beer. “Isn’t that the stupidest thing you’ve ever heard?”
I laughed. “You’re a funny one,” I told her, reaching over to ruffle her wet hair. “What did Lizzy have to say about that?”
“She laughed at me,” Kate said ruefully. “And then it started raining but I was already late so I figured it couldn’t get much worse. England is still confusing for me. It somehow feels like home, but not. Does that make sense?”
I nodded. “Sometimes I feel a bit lost myself,” I told her. “Being from Ireland and all. How is Lizzy doing, by the way? All healed from her night with the boys?”
Kate laughed, showing perfect white teeth. She took another polite sip of beer. “She’s much better,” she said. “I think her pride got hurt more than anything. She didn’t want me to tell anyone that she had to spend the night in the hospital.”
“It happens to all of us sooner or later,” I said with a grin. “When I first started playing for Manchester, the blokes had it in their heads to haze me. You ever heard of a beer bong?”
Kate laughed. “I did go to college in America,” she said. “I know all about beer bongs.”
“Right, well my mates would pour me one for every goal I missed during the game,” I said. “That was about eight in one night. I bloody thought I was going to drown in ale!”
Kate laughed again, her cheeks pinking. “That’s horrible,” she said. “I can’t imagine my friends doing things like that.”