Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
I might just do that.
By the time our dance came around, I was practically sweating under my black coat and ruffled shirt and had already discarded my sword because it had become an encumbrance. The bar was jam-packed, and some customers were already pretty tanked, so I was handing out cards with the number of our taxi service to remind patrons not to drink and then drive drunk, even though most probably used car services.
The feeling in the air was festive, and it was hard not to get caught up in the vibe.
When Jesse reached for the mic behind the bar, I noticed his makeup was still flawless except for the sweat above his lip and at his temples, most likely from the stuffy wig.
“Can you help a lady up?” Jesse asked in a demure voice directly into the mic.
“I don’t see a lady anywhere around here,” I replied with a smirk.
The crowd oohed, and Jesse winked, which made the moths beat wildly in my stomach.
“You’ll pay for that,” he said, a hand to his hip.
“Can’t wait,” I responded as I jumped on the bar and reached for his hand.
“You like my costume?” he asked as his hands wound around my neck and we began swaying our hips to the music.
“Very sexy,” I replied against his ear, and he shivered.
He turned in my arms and ground his ass against my fast-filling erection. Story of my life where Jesse was concerned. He just did it for me. Always had, I supposed, even when I hated him with the fire of a thousand suns.
You never hated him. Keep telling yourself that.
“We match well, don’t you think?” Jesse asked over his shoulder.
“I guess we do.” I trailed my fingers up and down his rib cage, close to his fake ample bosom, which I figured also had to feel tight and cumbersome. I had never been a fan of cleavage, but I couldn’t help staring down at his and having some fantasies of my own. I wanted to undress him slowly and tweak his flat brown nipples with my teeth, make them gleam from my mouth. “You planned this, huh?”
“I wanted to surprise you.” He spun in my arms, his smile contagious.
“You definitely did.” My arm encircled his waist, and I pulled him tighter against me, wanting to taste the salty skin below his ear, but I restrained myself.
“Save me, pirate,” he said in a theatrical voice as he arched his head, the back of his hand against his forehead.
Getting in the spirit, I bolstered his spine with one hand, his waist with the other, and dipped him just as dramatically. I looked down at him, at his flushed cheeks and ruby lips, and as our gazes connected, the buzz of the room, the hum of the crowd, the thump of the music…all fell away. I got lost in his eyes, and in that moment I knew that this man would have the power to devastate me—in a completely different way than Steve ever had—if my heart had anything to say about it.
Jesse must’ve felt the shift between us, or maybe he was responding to the crowd now chanting, the sound crashing back in, because he reached up to tenderly feather his fingers across my jaw.
And then our lips were brushing together, our mouths fastening, our tongues tangling, and I got lost in the kiss even as the crowd’s cheers became deafening.
Holy shit, what are we doing?
I straightened with him in my arms and snapped out of it, letting go of his waist and stepping back. I wiped my mouth in exaggerated fashion, like it was all a shtick, and Jesse must’ve caught on, as he reached down for the mic on the bar and spoke into it. “Thank you for saving me, handsome pirate. I can certainly pay you back. Maybe down below in close quarters?”
I threw him a wicked grin with a promise for later. “Argh, it’ll cost yeh double.”
The crowd got into it, yelling vulgar sentiments as I jumped down and offered Jesse my hand, blood rushing to my face at the spectacle we’d just created.
Christ, what the hell had come over me?
“Back to work,” I said, averting my gaze, and returned to serving drinks, ignoring the telling looks Laura and Andy gave me as well as the leering stares from some of the customers.
At one of the passes between Laura and me, she leaned forward. “For what it’s worth, you guys are totally cute together.”
“Whatever,” I muttered. The idea that people had flowery notions about us when all we were supposed to be doing was hooking up left me reeling.
At the end of our second dance together, which was filled with more banter but not another kiss, I made Jesse promise to stay in costume and let me drive him home.