I groaned. “How big is it?”
“Oh, Peaches. It’s big. So big. Think of the things we could do with all that space.”
“In-store readings. More staff picks. A modest used books section.”
His eyelashes fluttered. “Three thousand square feet, plus a below-grade stock room that isn’t counted toward the triple net.”
“Sweep these dishes off the table and take me now!”
He laughed, then growled at me, “Don’t think I won’t.”
As we stared into each other’s eyes, I grabbed his hand and brought it to my mouth.
Starting at the tip of his thumb, I swirled my tongue one around his digit, then plunged it halfway into my mouth.
Adrian’s eyelids widened, and he sat up straight in his chair. I gently sucked his thumb as he held completely still, his breath frozen.
His thumb tasted salty and fleshy, and my mouth watered around it as I took him deeper.
He let some breath out, muttering swear words softly. I grazed my teeth over his fleshy thumb, then bobbed my head and took him in to the hilt. I wrapped my lips tightly around him and gave a powerful suck.
He tilted his chin up with respect and gave me a nod.
I withdrew his thumb slowly, dragging my lips tightly along the surface, then gave the tip a soft kiss.
“Yum,” I said.
“Good staff meeting. Should we get the rest of our pasta plates to go?”
“To go where?”
“Somewhere we should have gone five years ago.”
CHAPTER 5
Rollerskating.
Adrian Storm took me to the Beaverdale Rink so we could go rollerskating.
“I haven’t been here in years,” I said as I laced up the rented skates, white with four blue wheels on each one. The arena scheduled times where people could rollerblade, but Saturday night was for the old-fashioned style of skating only.
“They’re actually busy tonight,” Adrian said, peering through the plexiglass shield from where we sat in the bleachers, putting on our gear. I had bare legs due to my pretty orange dress, so I opted for the kneepads, just to be careful.
As I pulled on the kneepads, I shot Adrian a lusty look and said, “These might come in handy later.”
“They dim the lights in the bleachers after nine, and they send the little kids away.”
“Yes, I know. You act like I’m the one who lived in big cities the past five years.”
He chuckled. “Of course. Then you’ve probably heard that sometimes people go for a romantic skate and take a little detour into the bleachers to… catch their breath.”
“I bet they do.”
He stood up and took my hand. “Let’s skate. I can’t wait to see that fancy dress swirl around your beautiful legs.”
As we walked down the bleacher steps carefully, I looked at Adrian’s legs and tried to think of a compliment to give him, but the black roller skates made his long legs look even longer, and all I could do was giggle at his spider legs.
“What are you giggling at?” he asked. “You’re drunk.” He pointed up to the posted regulations. “Look at that: Inebriated patrons will be escorted out.”
We reached the rink surface. Adrian proceeded to windmill his arms and, from a dead standstill, wipe out on his ass.
People kept rollerskating in a circuit, paying us little attention. I helped him back up carefully. “You’re the drunk one,” I teased, slinging his arm over my shoulder.
The music changed to an Abba song, and a few people skating the circuit cheered. Adrian considered this busy for the rink? We weren’t alone, but the place wasn’t exactly crowded, either. A dozen little kids were racing around as fast as their parents would let them, and another forty people were skating around at a more leisurely pace. A good portion were white-haired seniors, with big smiles on their faces.
Adrian and I started skating, both of us a little rough at first, but getting into the flow. Soon we were skating along smoothly, holding hands like most of the other couples, and Adrian got cocky enough to drop my hand and skate ahead to do a spin for me. He actually pulled it off, causing me to say, “Not bad, Mr. Storm.”
He came back to my side, put his arm across my shoulder, and used his free hand to tilt my chin toward him. He kissed me as we skated past the speakers. I kept my eyes open for balance, but he closed his, getting that dopey, sweet look guys get when they can’t believe they’re kissing someone.
The lights dimmed, the music changed to a romantic folk rock song, and the small kids filed off the rink. Adrian kept kissing me, and our skating speed slowed and slowed.
I noticed a very grown-up feeling I was having between my legs. Miss Kitty was purring.
We came to a standstill near the gate we’d come in through. My purse was checked into a storage cubby back at the skate rental counter, but our shoes and leftover pasta boxes were sitting up in the bleachers.