Page 24 of Gin & Sin

His answer leaves me wordless for a second. “You’re good for a guy’s ego.”

“I speak the truth. Gonna prove it to you later.”

“How much later?”

Kit chuckles. “Not long. Kitchen’s closed and the drinking crowd is coming in. They don’t need as much, so I can dip.”

“Okay.”

Kit lifts my hand and kisses my palm, making me laugh softly. Then he licks it, holding my gaze as his eyes heat withpromises of more things he can do with his tongue. A shiver moves up and down my spine, and I lean in.

“Mmm. Delicious.”

He winks, then releases me, leaving me desperate for more of whatever the hell that was. I catch Thad watching the whole thing, abruptly looking away when he notices me. Is Kit right? Could a young guy like Thad actually find me attractive? Kit seems to, so I guess anything is possible. Huh.

Just as I down the rest of the cocktail, the ice clinking against the glass, Kit shows up again, this time wearing his jacket.

“Ready to go, gorgeous?”

I nod, sliding off my barstool. “Very.”

We head outside together, and the cold air that nipped at my skin earlier feels positively balmy right now with Kit so close to me.

“Want me to drive?”

“Unless you want to walk to my place.”

I’d like to see his place but… “I think I’d feel more comfortable at mine. For now.”

“Whatever you want.”

I unlock the car doors and Kit slides into the passenger seat. I take a deep breath before joining him. I waited all day for this, obsessively washing every part of my body. I personally can’t imagine putting my mouth on that part of someone’s body, but I won’t stop Kit from doing it if that’s what he’s into.

I smile at him as I start the car and pull out of the parking lot. I should be a little less nervous than I was last night, but nope, the nerves are on fire. Maybe it’s anticipation more than nerves. I don’t know.

“What do you do during the day?” I ask, hoping to distract myself on the short drive to my house.

“Whatever.” He shrugs. “Sleep, of course. Errands.”

“Do you like working at night?”

“I’m used to it now, but we’re planning to hire some more people so we can have better balance. Right now we’re all there all the time. We work too many hours.”

“It must be tough launching a new business.”

Kit shakes his head, dragging a hand through his thick hair. “I can’t complain. We’ve been lucky that the town accepted us and we rarely have an empty table. Indy was right.”

“Indy?”

“Best friend. All the guys are close, but Indy’s my dude. We have the most in common. It was his idea to blow up our lives and move back to Willow Bay to open a gay bar.” He chuckles. “It sounded slightly insane, but I was down.”

“Why?”

“Boredom, I guess. My life felt like I was on a treadmill going nowhere. Work was dull, dating was dull. Nothing lit me up anymore until Indy called with his crazy idea. I didn’t love California as much as I thought I would. Turns out I’m an East Coast guy at heart.”

“California makes me crazy. Too many people.”

“My guy, we live in a suburb of New Onyx, the third largest city in the US.”

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