Joe barks out a laugh. “Sounds like a pretty young thang just called me old.”
Kelsey tosses her head back and laughs. “Not old. Older. Wise and experienced. Maybe some of it will rub off on me.”
She wiggles her eyebrows, a move that pulls a laugh from Joe.
“Fine.”
She squeals and claps her hands. “Awesome. Come on, Ruby, we’re cheers-ing with Joe!”
A petite dark haired vixen joins her at the bar and reaches for a glass. “C’mon Joe, impart some of your wisdom on us.”
Joe laughs. “Don’t drink yellow snow. Always carry mad money with you. Fall in love a lot, and don’t settle for a man who can’t make you come.”
The women laugh and smash their glasses together before downing the shots. “Holy shit, that is sugar fire,” the other girl, Ruby, shouts.
Joaquin laughs and sticks his elbow in my side. “You see those chicks? Ripe for the pluckin’ as my granddad always says.”
Both women turn to face us, wearing identical grins. “Ripe, huh?” Ruby folds her arms and stares at Joaquin.
“Like a peach,” he shoots back easily, making her laugh.
“I’m Ruby.” She holds out her hand and nods to her friend. “This is Kelsey, the birthday girl.”
“I’m Joaquin, and this is Coop. Let’s dance.”
Ruby frowns and looks around the bar. “There’s no dance floor.”
“Then we’ll make our own, chica bonita.”
Ruby rolls her eyes at his cheesy line, but she holds a hand out. “Let’s hope your moves are as smooth as your words.”
“Smoother,” he assures her and tugs her to a spot near the jukebox.
“Wow, that was pretty damn smooth.” Kelsey laughs and watches them walk away, already chatting and laughing like they weren’t strangers. She turns to me with a sigh. “Coop. Nice to meet you.”
“Is it?”
Kelsey nods, undeterred by my sour mood. “It is. You’re hot and annoyingly grumpy. I like those qualities in a guy.”
“Maybe I’m just an asshole.”
“Probably a little bit of that too,” she concedes with a shrug. “But I’m focusing on the hot and grumpy part because…” her words trail off, and now I’m intrigued as hell.
“Because?” Girls like Kelsey frequent Joe’s to get up close and personal with a little bit of danger, a hard fuck from a biker just to say they did it.
Kelsey pushes her chin up defiantly and folds her arms, blue eyes never leaving mine. “Because I’m not looking to get wifed up.”
“What are you looking for then, Kelsey, the birthday girl?” The answer is written in the heat of her gaze, the pink circles on her cheeks. The way she keeps nibbling that bottom lip.
“I’m looking for some eye candy.” Her words are firm, so there’s no doubt she knows what she wants, but still, I push her.
“Just eye candy?”
Kelsey licks her lips, and I squirm in my seat as my cock comes alive. “No. I like something pretty to look at, and you Coop—if that’s your real name—are very pretty.”
At my frown, she laughs loud and hard. “Pretty?”
“Does that offend the masculinity that oozes out of you?”
“No.” I smile, and she laughs again.
“Good, because you’re pretty and hot, and you look ripped.” Her gaze rakes up and down my six-foot frame, appreciation coloring her cheeks a deeper shade of pink. “Interested?”
“I could be.”
I am so interested my cock is already hard and straining for her.
Kelsey’s lips part into a smile, and she slides towards me. “Joe, more Mezcal for me and Mr. Coop.”
Joe saddles up to the bar, a question in his eyes. “You drinkin’ Mezcal, son?”
I shrug. “When a beautiful woman buys me a drink, I do.”
Joe nods with a knowing smile and reaches for the bottle. “Be careful. This stuff is strong.” His gaze finds Kelsey, and she’s smiling back at him.
“I’m just trying to do as you said, Joe.”
It takes a minute before he realizes what she means, and Joe smacks the bar with his hand, laughing as if it’s the funniest joke in the world.
“Good luck. Both of you.”
Kelsey snatches her glass and raises it in the air.
“Not another toast.”
“Yep,” she chirps, not at all offended by my gruff tone. “To man candy.”
“To distractions,” I shoot back.
She smiles. “To ships passing in the night.”
“To one-night stands.”
Heat flares in her eyes. “To secret trysts in forbidden places.”
With those words, Kelsey knocks back the alcohol and sets her glass down with a sigh. She licks her lips and takes a step back, eyes still on me.
Without a word, she turns and walks away.
Her words come back to me.
Secret trysts. Forbidden places.
In an instant, I’m on my feet, following her down the dark hall that leads to plenty of forbidden places that are perfect for a secret tryst.
Chapter Three
Kelsey
I can’t believe I just said that. Or did that. I’m nobody’s virgin, but I’m also not that forward when it comes to really hot guys and sex.
Most of my experiences with men have been less than stellar, not at all mind-blowing. I’ve gotten off a few times, and a few of those were with actual men and not battery-operated toys.