And why do you want to touch me, BC?
Apparently that wouldn’t shut him up. The words looked a little blurry. Judith squinted at the screen, frowning. Clearly she needed to be more shocking.
Don’t be coy. You know you’re sexy and hot. BC?
Another pause.
BC=Baby Cakes. But I like that YOU think I’m sexy and hot.
She rolled her eyes. The guy at the other table was still staring at her but she totally ignored him, too busy with answering Caleb.
Like every other woman in the country. You should be auctioning kisses btw, not a date.
Her phone remained silent for a second. Like it was thinking. Stupid. Phones didn’t think, right? Then it beeped again.
If I did, would you buy one?
Judith could feel herself blushing. Bah. How had she gotten herself into this mess? Oh, that’s right. She’d wanted to be outrageous to shut him up. Boy, had that ever been a bad idea. Perhaps she needed more frozen margarita. She gulped at her drink, stumbling through a reply.
Maybe.
A second later, Caleb responded.
Come on, yes or no.
Oh damn, she should have said no. Why hadn’t she said no? Dumb question, she knew why. Because Caleb made her a little bit reckless. A little bit wild. Always had. He rocked her cool, calm, in-control world and something inside her liked it. Liked it a lot.
Judith shivered and her thumb moved, almost of its own accord.
Yes.
Another beep, another text from Caleb.
Where would you kiss me?
The wine and the cocktails made her feel loose and easy, her inhibitions falling by the wayside. Her attention focused on the tiny screen in front of her and the words on it, her brain suddenly flooded with fantasies. Of what it would be like to have Caleb kissing her. Of her kissing Caleb. She felt hot, restless, and dizzy, barely noticing that the battery symbol was flashing red. How had she gotten to this point with him? She had no idea. The only thing she did know was that she couldn’t stop.
I’ll start with your mouth.
She pressed send, a pulse of adrenaline ricocheting around inside her.
Then her battery died.
Judith blinked at the blank screen of the dead phone. Was she relieved? Disappointed? For a long moment she couldn’t work out what she felt.
“Uh, hey. Would you like to dance?”
Looking up, she saw Staring Guy standing in front of her with a hopeful look on his face. A dance? Suddenly that seemed like the best idea she’d had all night. Better than sitting around thinking about why on earth she’d just indulged in a sexy text conversation with Caleb Steele.
It wasn’t until she stood that she realized three things.
One: that she didn’t feel so good.
Two: that the room was spinning even worse than it had been a moment before.
And three: that the Chinese takeout she’d had with Marisa a few hours earlier was suddenly wanting to make a reappearance.
“Thanks, but I don’t think so,” she managed to gasp out.
She only made it to the ladies loo with seconds to spare.
…
Judith woke the next morning safely in her bed, a herd of elephants crashing around in her head. No, scrub elephants—it was more like Tyrannosaurus Rexes. Certainly her mouth tasted like a dinosaur had done something nasty in it.
Groaning, she managed to stagger out of bed and into the shower. Wine and margaritas? What the hell had she been thinking?
Half an hour later, liberally dosed with water and aspirin but still feeling like death warmed up, she pulled her phone out of her bag and stuck it in the charger, wanting to see if she’d had any missed calls or texts.
Tell me where else you’d kiss me.
She frowned at the words on the screen. Why was Caleb sending her a text like that? A few more texts popped up, asking why she hadn’t replied. Then a missed call from his number.
Judith picked up the phone and scrolled back through a series of texts that someone had sent from her phone. Because, dear sweet baby Jesus, that surely couldn’t have been her. No freaking way would she have sent Rod Stewart song lyrics to Caleb. Or told him he was hot. Or told him she’d kiss him. On the mouth. It had to be someone else. Had to.
But the insistent hot flood of embarrassment that burned through her wasn’t going away. Because it hadn’t been just any someone.
It had been her.
Chapter Four
Caleb stood in front of the door to Judith’s apartment and pressed the doorbell again. Again there was no answer. He scowled at the door. Goddammit, where was she? He’d looked up her address and come to check she that was okay as soon as he’d finished training this morning, unable to kick the worry after his calls last night had gone unanswered. Or the calls this morning.
Oh sure. Nothing to do with her texts last night, right?
He cursed under his breath.