Seaside Sunsets(7)

“Oh, hush. You wanted margaritas.” Bella set the blender on the coffee table in the living room, where there was a little more room as long as Sky, Amy, and Jessica remained sitting on the couch.

“Come on, girlies.” Jenna waved them over and they huddled next to the kitchen while Jessica stood a few feet away, watching them. Jenna handed a shot glass to each of them, then poured salt onto a cutting board while Amy squeezed past her and sliced lemons. Each of them sucked on the webbing between their finger and thumb; then they put salt on their wet skin and grabbed a lemon from Amy.

Having never done shots before, Jessica’s stomach was all kinds of nervous. Sky took her hand and pulled her over to the counter.

“Just do what we do.” Sky licked the webbing of her own hand, eyes wide, and nodded at Jessica, encouraging her to do the same.

“Um…” Jessica’s pulse quickened.

“I think we have a virgin with us.” Bella draped an arm over Jessica’s shoulder.

“I’m not…” Oh my God. You’re talking about my virginity?

Bella smiled down at her. “Good to know, but I meant the tequila.”

Jessica let out a relieved sigh. Oh, thank goodness.

“To Jessica. The first victim of Thong Thursday.” Jenna sucked back the drink and drew in air between clenched teeth. “Woo! Go on, girls.”

Jessica watched as each tossed back her head and sucked down the tequila like they did this every night. Maybe they did, but Jessica never had. Not once. She rarely even drank wine. With her orchestra friends, drinking was never a part of their evenings out, and when she was by herself, she never had the desire to drink. Watching the girls, she realized again that she had been moving in a very small and sheltered circle. She stuck her fingertip in the tequila and sucked the alcohol off of it. It had a strange taste, not at all pleasant. She wondered what the excitement was all about.

Amy touched her shoulder. “Jessica, don’t worry. I’m a lightweight, too. We’ll take care of you.”

“Like Tony takes care of you?” Jenna raised her brows in quick succession.

“So, you and Tony are a couple?” Jessica had seen the way Amy looked at him, and she imagined it was the same way she couldn’t stop looking at Jamie. He looked so casual and sexy, and every time their eyes met, her body got hot and flustered.

“Don’t I wish.” Amy rolled her eyes. “We’re just friends.”

“Okay. Okay.” Jenna bounced on her toes. “Come on, come on. We gotta do this before Petey comes in here and...”

Bella set a hand on her hip. “And what? Wants to get down and dirty? Trust me. He’ll love it even more when you’re three sheets to the wind.”

Jessica had spent the last few years with people who were reserved, focused on excelling in a highly competitive, highly skilled field that was also cutthroat and unforgiving. This fun banter, this girl talk, was all new and exciting to her—and she didn’t want it to end.

“Okay, here goes, but please don’t let me embarrass myself. And if I throw up, don’t let Jamie see. And if—”

“Ha! Five bucks.” Jenna slapped a hand out toward Bella and wiggled her butt from side to side in a celebratory dance. “Pay up.”

Jessica’s heart crashed to her feet. Am I a joke to them? Like Thong Thursday? Her face must have reflected her horror because Amy took hold of her shoulders and looked compassionately into her eyes.

“Honey. Jessica, honey. We do this to each other all the time. Don’t take it personally.” Amy put her arm around her. “You guys, she’s as sensitive as me.”

“Have a shot, Jessica. It’ll take the edge off of our backward humor.” Bella pushed her shot glass up toward Jessica’s mouth.

“So, you aren’t making fun of me? Because I’m kind of slow on the uptake, I think. I’m not used to this sort of joking around.” Why was her throat thickening? Damn it. Why couldn’t she be stronger, like her mother? At times like this it might help.

Sky pulled herself up and sat on the counter, while filling everyone’s glasses again. “They do this to everyone. They just noticed that Jamie had his eye on you, and…” She motioned for Jessica to drink.

Jessica clenched her eyes closed and licked the awful salt from her hand, then tossed back the tequila—Gross!—and sucked the lemon. She drew in air between gritted teeth just like each of them had.

“Well?” Jenna brushed Jessica’s hair from her shoulders. “You still with us?”

Jessica nodded, reeling from the taste. “It tasted like burning water. Is that what it tastes like to you?”

Bella licked her hand and began dabbing salt on it. “It tastes like I’m about to get shitfaced to me.”

Jessica pressed her lips together, suppressing a smile. The four of them were so different from one another, but they got along like sisters. Thong Thursdays and tequila shots? What else had she missed out on while she was spending hour after hour with music instructors and, later, playing with the orchestra? Heck, what else had she missed out on since she first picked up the cello at six?

Two shots later, Jessica felt a little numb as they went back outside. The guys were standing by the fire, beers in hand. Jamie looked over and his mouth lifted in a crooked smile. Jessica returned the smile, or at least she thought she did. Her entire body felt relaxed, and all the proper rigidity in her back, shoulders, and even her neck had somehow disappeared.

And she liked it. She liked it a lot.

Jessica swayed a little and reached for the bench as the men came toward them. Jamie’s jeans hung low on his hips, and there was no mistaking his flirtatious smile or the heat in his eyes as he raked them down her body. She held tightly to the bench for support.

“So the strawberries were a ruse?” Pete laughed and wrapped an arm around Jenna. Joey lay down beside his feet and rested her head on her paws with a loud huff of breath. Pete whispered something that made Jenna blush.

“Crap. We left the margaritas inside.” Bella glanced at Jenna, then waved a hand in the air. “Oh heck. We’re good.” Bella plastered herself to Caden’s side, and he looked up at Tony and shook his head.

Blue and Tony exchanged a laugh.

“It’s a good thing I drove tonight.” Blue pulled Sky down to a seat.

“Hey, don’t even think about making a move on my sister,” Pete warned.

“Pfft. Just getting her home safely. We’re friends,” Blue said.

“So were we,” Pete and Jenna said in unison, then shared a kiss.

“Come here, sweet one.” Tony guided Amy to a chair and sat beside her, leaving Jamie and Jessica to look at each other like two kids at a middle school dance.

She couldn’t look away, even though she was sure his gaze was burning a hole right through her and at any minute someone was going to yell, Fire! and douse her with cold water.

Jamie leaned in close and touched her hip. “I guess they initiated you?”

Good Lord, his hand was flaming hot.

“Care to share a bench with me?” Jamie asked.

His voice sent a shiver down her back. Her body was doing all sorts of things it had never done before, including walking with an extra little sway of her hips and getting warm between her legs. She liked that, too. A lot. She settled into the bench and pulled her feet up next to her. Jamie sank down beside her and draped an arm over the back of the bench. Somehow, even in her tipsy state she was aware enough to stifle the urge to see just how soft his shirt was and cuddle up beside him, because she knew she’d also want to see just how hard his body was.

She felt like she was drifting on a cloud, listening as everyone talked and laughed. Sometime over the course of the hour Jessica began sharing Jamie’s beer, and sometime after that his arm warmed her shoulders. Pete and Jenna and Bella and Caden turned in for the night with promises of coffee in the morning. Or at least that’s what Jessica thought they’d said. Her mind was still a little fuzzy.

“We’d better take off, too. I’ve got to be on a job site early tomorrow.” Blue rose to his feet and pulled Sky along with him. “And you have that tattoo shop gig in P-town tomorrow, right?”

“Yup. Tattoo shop. I’m spending the day tatting up hot guys and girls.” Sky leaned down and hugged Jessica. “See you soon, I hope.”

“Me too. It was fun hanging out with you.” After she hugged Sky, Jessica’s hand fell on Jamie’s leg, and she let it stay there.

“I’d better get our little lightweight to bed.” Tony lifted Amy easily into his arms, and she settled in against his chest with a sigh. Her hand reached for his neck, then fell to her belly. “I have a way with women, don’t I? Good night, kids.”

“G’night, Tony. It was nice to meet you.” Jessica watched him disappear into the darkness, and she wondered how Amy would feel in the morning. Or if they were friends with benefits, although it sure didn’t seem that way when Amy was talking about him inside the cottage.

“Guess it’s just you and me.”

Jamie’s rich voice slid over her, bringing goose bumps to her arms and heating up her girly parts even more. How the heck did he manage to pull off laid-back and sensual at the same time? And why was it such a turn-on? She looked down at her hand, still on his thigh, and felt his muscles flex. The fire was nearly out, just a few embers glowing in the darkness. She should probably go home. It was already far later than she was used to staying up, and she had a big day tomorrow. Didn’t she? Didn’t she always? She had to practice and…No. That wasn’t right. She wasn’t practicing. She was vacationing. She had all the time in the world.