Hard Pass (St. Louis Mavericks 3)

“Heels!” Sariah said through laughter from behind me. “I can’t run in heels!”

That was an easy problem to solve. I turned, slid an arm behind her neck and another under her knees and picked her up. She yelped and wrapped her arms around my neck, holding on for dear life.

“I won’t be of much use to you later if you choke me to death,” I quipped.

“Where are we even going?”

“Your place, remember?”

“We don’t have a car,” she reminded me.

“I’ll call an Uber when we get outside.”

Everyone else we’d come here with had left the club hours ago. Mo had winked at me on her way out, clearly wise to how I’d been hoping tonight would end.

I set Sariah’s feet on the ground and took out my phone to order an Uber. She grabbed her phone from her bag and checked the screen, sighing softly before putting it away.

Was she hoping for a text from Rob? Probably. It had burned when she said there was someone she really liked who had left her high and dry. I hadn’t meant to hurt her, but when she’d said she wanted to meet Rob, I froze. Obviously that couldn’t happen if I wanted to have a chance with her, and I really fucking wanted that. I was hoping she’d fall for me and down the road, over an intimate dinner, I’d tell her the truth. Not before she’d been thoroughly charmed, though.

“Everything okay?” I asked her.

“Yeah, just…” She took a deep breath and exhaled, smiling up at me. “Yeah. Everything’s okay.”

It was trippy that I was competing with myself for Sariah’s affection, but I couldn’t get hung up on that in this moment. I wanted to focus all my attention on her.

“I loved dancing with you tonight,” I said, taking her hand.

“Me too.”

A breeze blew past us and ruffled a few strands of her dark hair, blowing them across her face. I’d been admiring her beauty all night, completely mesmerized by her. She moved a hand up to brush the strands away, but I beat her to it, cupping her cheek once I’d tucked the hair behind her ear.

In that moment, I couldn’t wait another second. I lowered my lips to hers and rested my free hand on her hip. As I kissed her, she pressed her body against mine, getting closer as our kiss deepened. I felt myself growing hard behind the fly of my pants, my erection pressing against her stomach.

She tasted sweet, like the wine she’d been drinking tonight. Her mouth was warm, and the more I took from it the more I wanted. As she moved her hands up my neck to grip at the ends of my hair, I heard a voice calling out my name. I ignored it, only to hear it again.

“Nash?” a male voice yelled.

Sariah and I turned, both of us breathless and slightly dazed.

“Yeah?” I said, irritated by the interruption.

“I’m your Uber driver,” he said, shaking his head. “No sex acts allowed in the car.”

Sariah burst out laughing, and I did, too.

“Damn him,” I cracked. “He just ruined my plan to seduce you in the back of his Chevy.”

We got into the car and tried to make small talk with the driver, but he’d been over us since catching us making out on the sidewalk. He kept checking his rearview mirror to make sure we weren’t fucking our brains out in his back seat.

It was a good thing I hadn’t driven here tonight. Not just because I’d had quite a bit to drink, but also because I couldn’t remember ever being this worked up over a woman. I couldn’t focus on anything but Sariah. She’d let her guard down tonight, and this side of her was irresistible.

On the fifteen-minute ride to her apartment, I said many silent prayers that she wouldn’t change her mind about me. If only she knew I was everything she liked about Rob and everything she liked about Nash.

Based on the deuces he threw up as he drove away, I could tell the driver was glad to be rid of us. I felt the same way, because now it was just Sariah and me as we made our way toward her apartment building.

Though it was dark, I could tell her building was nice. It had a modern, clean design and immaculate landscaping. Even now, a set of sprinklers watered the grass, a few droplets hitting us as we walked to her door.

“It’s a mess,” she said as she unlocked it. “You know, moving mode and all.”

“I don’t care about any of that,” I said, taking her by the hips and pulling her to me. “This right here is all I care about.”

I kissed her again, sliding my hands down to cup her ass and groaning with need from the feel of it. She waved an arm out, trying to close the front door, but not able to reach it.