No, he seduces me using only his voice and he makes me feel like I’m on fire. He talks to me until I’m so wet I can barely stand it. He whispers to me until I’m completely soaked, and then he makes me come.
No guy I’ve been with before has ever made me come so hard, so fast, or so thoroughly as James, and he’s barely even touched me. There was just the one kiss, the one time, and that was it. He’s been busy with military stuff and I’ve been busy with classes and work. We haven’t had time to meet in person until now and part of me completely loves Bailey for arranging this little double date.
“Hey,” I say casually when James gets close to the table, but he pulls me to my feet and wraps me in a tight hug. I wasn’t expecting that. I should just start expecting the unexpected because nothing with James is anything like I ever thought it would be.
And then he kisses me.
And I stop breathing for just a moment.
James is passionate and dark and fast and slow all at once. He takes his time kissing me, as if we aren’t in the middle of a crowded restaurant, as if he has all the time in the world, as if he doesn’t mind at all that our best friends are watching us.
“Um, excuse me,” we hear a voice and turn. The waiter is there. “Um, can I take your drink order?” I burst out laughing and the poor waiter blushes. “I’m sorry. My boss told me I had to come take your order now.”
“Two waters,” James says.
“Make mine a vodka tonic,” I say.
“Um, can I see your ID?” The waiter says. I pull away from James and fish it out of my pocket, then hold it out to him. Once we’ve settled the matter of my age, we sit down.
“I hear you’re looking for a roommate,” I say casually.
“Who told you that?”
“Bailey.”
“Did she mention my apartment is a studio?”
“Bailey!”
“Hey,” she holds up her hands in mock surrender. “I was just saying.”
“I think we all know what you were saying,” Cooper laughs.
Rolling my eyes, I grab a menu. The waiter returns and we all order food. Then we spend the next two hours just laughing.
I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard in my entire life. James is funny on his own, but put him with Cooper and it’s story after story after story. Although deployment ended on a sour note, at least for James, he has so many great stories and experiences to share.
The more I get to know him, the more I kind of completely adore him.
And the more I start to adore him, the more I start to freak out.
James and I are completely sexually compatible. We haven’t even been to bed yet and I know that. Our sexting and late-night phone sex is more than enough to show me how compatible we are.
But I have baggage.
Is that something he’s really going to want to deal with?
James might have lost his leg, but I don’t care about the physical. I still think he’s amazing and strong and handsome and cool.
Is he going to feel the same way when he learns all of my crap? When he hears all of my secrets? Is he going to feel the same way about me when he learns just how messed up I really am?
Even Bailey doesn’t know why I’m such a spaz about certain things. There are secrets I hold close to my heart, but the biggest is why I’m obsessed with school and why I’m constantly striving for perfection. She’s been ragging me for years to take fewer classes. I’m sure she’s thrilled I’m only at 15 hours for the semester, but she doesn’t know it’s because I took 18 and one was canceled because the professor got sick and no one could replace him.
She doesn’t know I tried to fill that time slot and my counselor told me to give it a rest.
She doesn’t know I filled that extra time with more hours at work.
She doesn’t know any of that because no one d