Notorious (Playing With Fire)

Eric learned three things about Stacy while sitting with her at dinner. First, she loved guacamole so much it probably bordered on an obsession. Second, she had no problem drinking Diet Coke continuously while all he wished for was a little bit of Jack in his Coke. And third, she had a really easy, sweet laugh. One he wanted to listen to again and again.

Oh yeah, and she was easy to talk to. He felt comfortable with her, and he couldn’t remember the last time he felt comfortable with anyone. He had a hard time letting his guard down.

With Stacy, he found he wanted to reveal things to her. Things he revealed to no one else.

Her hair was extra blonde, blonder than the last time he saw her and it looked good on her. She dressed stylishly, probably because of where she worked and he couldn’t stop staring at her lips.

Yeah, that was his real problem. He was fascinated with her mouth. When she first came into the restaurant, it’d been perfectly glossed. Shiny pink with the tiniest bits of glitter catching the light, that mouth drew his eye right away. But, as the night wore on and she chomped on endless tortilla chips heavily laden with guacamole, the lip gloss wore off. Until all he saw was the bare, pink, succulent flesh of her mouth.

A mouth he’d kissed. A mouth he’d licked at with his tongue. He knew what she tasted like. He knew how she kissed back. Hell, he knew the horny little sounds she made in her throat when she particularly enjoyed a kiss and damn it, he wanted to kiss her again. Maybe even have those pretty plump lips wrapped tight around his cock while he stood over her and fucked her mouth. She would kneel in front of him and take him because she wanted to. Because she needed him.

Yeah, like that was going to happen.

But he sat there and made nice. Teased her and talked to her without revealing too much for fear she’d freak out. Gripped his irritatingly plain Coke and wished like crazy he had some booze in him to give him strength. Give him confidence. Just watching her dazzled him a little bit. She was rather hypnotic—her energy, the way she paid total attention to him when he spoke.

He liked it. He liked her.

The thought threw him a little off balance.

“Is there something on my face?” she asked out of nowhere.

Eric realized yet again he’d been staring at her mouth, only this time, he got caught. “What?” He pretended he didn’t know what she talked about.

Stacy wiped at the corner of her mouth with the tip of her index finger, a move he found incredibly sexy even though really, it wasn’t. He wanted to be that finger, damn it. Touching her freely…

He hadn’t had any sexual contact with anyone for almost a week. A record for him since he split with Brandon and Alexa and…yeah, that had to be the reason why he found her wiping her mouth to be so goddamn arousing.

“You’re looking at me funny. I thought I had a glob of guacamole on my chin or something.” She rubbed at her chin, rubbed at nothing and he chuckled.

“Nothing on your face,” he said, his gaze drifting to her mouth once more.

Damn it.

“Then why are you staring at me like…oh.” Her hand fell away from her face, and she pressed her lips together. As if she knew exactly what he was thinking, which really wouldn’t surprise him since she seemed rather attuned to him. “You’re thinking of the other night, aren’t you?”

He didn’t answer. Deciding to press his advantage he slid closer to her, thankful they sat in a booth. Slid so close he bumped into her. Felt the warm press of her thigh nudge against him and he pressed close. He slipped an arm around the seat of the booth when really he wanted to rest his arm on her shoulders.

He felt like a teenager. Though when he’d been a teen he’d lusted for pretty boys at school. Or rugged boys. Big, tough rangy teenage football players who made him feel all dizzy and hot inside.

Funny, now it was a pretty little sprite of a woman who made him feel all dizzy and hot inside.

“If you’re thinking about trying to kiss me again I’m going to tell you don’t do it,” she warned, her voice low.

Now that startled him. But he didn’t move away from her. “Why not?”

She turned to face him. “So you are thinking about kissing me.”

“You have very pretty lips.” He nuzzled her hair, breathed deep its clean, crisp fragrance. He could inhale her all night long.

“I don’t like public displays of affection,” she admitted, sounding prim, her shoulders stiffening when his arm dropped around them.

“No one can see us.” His mouth moved to brush against her temple.

“We’re in the middle of a restaurant.”

He withdrew from her a bit to study her. “I kissed you in an alley. I had one hand up your shirt and my other hand up your skirt. You must admit that was a pretty blatant display of affection.”

“No one saw us. It was dark,” she answered in a very small voice. Her cheeks flushed pink, and she looked so damn innocent it threw him.