“Don’t get cold feet on me now, Kellie. Five minutes ago you said you wanted to meet him.”
“Who?”
“Roderick.” She sighed. “Were you even listening to me?”
“Gabby, no—”
“Too late,” she muttered from the side of her mouth and then produced one of her winning smiles. “Ah, here he is; the man of the hour.”
Rick smiled back. “Chuck, your woman greets you like that every time you see her?”
Gabby tossed one of her flighty laughs into the air and Chuck cleared his throat. “You remember Gabby, of course. And this is her old college roommate, Kellie Pierce.”
“Who are you calling old, Chuck?” I quipped. Oh, help me, Jesus. Rick smelled delicious and looked even better.
“Kellie is heading up distribution down at C.C. now. Maybe she’ll do a brother right and cut you in on a better soda deal,” Gabby purred, trying to hook me up, but having no idea it was the second time she’d done the honors. “Chuck, come bid on something for me in the silent auction,” she cooed, pulling him away, and flashed a wink over her shoulder. How did she always manage to get me into trouble?
“Remind me to thank her,” Rick said once they’d left.
“Well, I’m not exactly sure if I can do anything on your beverage contract.”
“No, this thank you is about fifteen years overdue.”
Oh, shit.
He lowered his voice and stroked his goatee. “Kellie, with those big green eyes. If I tried, I bet I could still remember how you taste.” All the blood rushed right to my toes and back to my head. How dare he talk to me like that? How dare my body react the way it did? “We have some unfinished business, don’t you think? Our game ended in a tie.”
I cut my eyes. “I was drunk. I don’t even remember what happened that night.”
Rick laughed. “You wanted us to dig you out; all three of us. You were begging for it.” Then leaning closer, he added, “But, baby, that’s no way to lose your virginity.”
My jaw clenched. “That wasn’t for you to decide.”
“You were in over your head, Kellie. Even now, you won’t admit that?”
I’d spent a whole lot of nights imagining it ending differently. I wanted them, all right—in my mouth, in my pussy … every one of them. I copped a sly grin, remembering their exit. “Your boys were mad as hell.”
“Yeah, left with blue balls. Both of them tried to kick my ass.”
I laughed and then paused, just looking at him. “You ruined me anyway, you know.”
He frowned.
I’d had my share of romantic trysts and long since said farewell to my hymen, but nothing, no one had come close to what they did to me. “How can one man ever compare with three?” I questioned.
“Let me take you out and we’ll put that to the test.”
“You mean a proper date?”
“I don’t know how proper it’ll be. I’ll leave that up to you.”
Damn him. Rick had me trippin’ over how to play this. Do we go out for sushi and have a respectable conversation or screw the pretense and just throw down in my hallway?
When the doorbell found me still in my robe trying to choose what to wear, I decided to just say, “Fuck it.”
“I know I’m not early, Kellie,” Rick commented when I opened the door. “That’s a very nice robe.”
“Silk. Hermès, actually.” I leaned casually against the door frame, trying to tuck my heart back in my chest.