Page 81 of Whiskey Shivers

I went in and he followed, shutting the door and throwing the lock. I turned and he came to me, putting his hands to my hips and kissing me soundly.

My arms just naturally wound around his neck and shoulders and he naturally just twined his arms around my back, hugging me to his body, his hands on my ass, squeezing, his mouth on mine, kissing me breathless and I couldn’t ever help myself when he did this. Iswoonedinto his hard chest, body going lax even as my heart throbbed and my muscles went warm and loosened. The whole idiom about your legs being made of jelly suddenly making perfect sense to me when I’d always thought it was just a silly little thing that people said.

He lifted me, and walked me back, sitting me on the edge of the desk, parting my knees and stepping between my legs, one of which nudged one of the boxes of alcohol from the bar, the bottles rattling together with a pleasant ring, the sound snapping me out of it, making me draw back, a hand to his chest as I breathed heavy and said with no little trepidation, “We can’t.”

“Aww.” He pouted and kissed the tip of my nose, but he acquiesced and straightened.

I looked up at him and asked, “What brought that on?”

He winked at me and said, “Woman, if you ain’t figured out yet that I want you every time I look at you, I don’t know what to tell you.”

I blushed and shook my head and slipped back to my booted feet on the polished cement floor.

“And you callmeinsatiable!”

“If I ain’t the pot callin’ the kettle, I know, I know.” He picked up my chaps off the couch that was pushed against the wall to one side and said, “C’mere.”

I had figured the leatherwear out by now and could totally put them on myself but that was one of the things he liked to do. He liked to dress me for the ride himself. I think it had something to do with his protective nature. It was like he wasn’t satisfied unless he did it himself, and truthfully, it’d become one of our little rituals. One that I cherished. He helped me into my jacket after the chaps were on me securely and handed me my scarf. I looped it around my neck twice and turned around automatically so he could zip my coat for me.

It had been a little strange at first, him dressing me like that but now it was just something that had become uniquelyus.

His eyes rose and connected with mine and I said softly with a wink, “I have to pee.”

He burst out in rich laughter and for now, the melodrama thanks to the school administration was thrust aside and the day had been returned to me.

He was right. Fuck ‘em. They didn’t get to live rent-free in my head on today of all days when all of our hard work and planning over the last few months was about to bear fruit.

He took up our helmets and said, “C’mon, baby. Your chariot awaits and you’re the Homecoming Queen of this shindig. Let’s ride.”

I let him open the door for me and with a courtly nod of my head, I stepped through. He grinned at me and smacked me on the ass with his free hand as I slipped past him. I yipped and jumped and gave him a warning look over my shoulder but it was too late. A couple of the kids from my fourth period class had seen it and were already whispering behind their hands. He stepped out, caught sight of the two girls and the bastard just had the unmitigated gall to lookamused.

“Guess that cat is out of the bag,” I said out of the side of my mouth as we traveled up the hall.

“Did you seriously just forget about our cuddle and make-out session in the kitchen?” I frowned.

“None of the kids were in the kitchen!” I argued and he laughed at me.

“Damn sure was,” he said. “You really had yourself wrapped around the axle, didn’t you?” he put his arm around my shoulders while my cheeks flamed.

“Shut up.” I huffed and he laughed.

“While I do appreciate your concern for me, Miss Legare, you don’t have to worry about me. It’s not like I’ve wanted to remain a high school janitor for the rest of my life.”

I nodded and said, “Okay, that’s fair… still, the whole thing is shitty.”

He nodded. “Agree on that, but who knows? Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise, yeah?”

I stopped just before we were to step outside and into the fenced-in lot of the club and looked up at him, that sense of guilt back for a completely different reason.

“I have to confess… I don’t think I’ve ever asked you what you want to be when you grow up.” I smiled and he laughed at me for the way I phrased it but he looked thoughtful a second and then the truth slipped free with a nostalgic little smile on his face.

“Y’know, I always thought that I’d like to follow in the footsteps of my daddy,” he said, and I cocked my head.

“Moonshine?” I asked. He’d told me about his father plenty of times. Telling stories of helping him with his moonshine stills up in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. He always spoke of his time with his dad with such fondness and so much respect, I couldn’t believe I’d never thought that could be a thing he’d want to do.

“Distilling, yeah.” He nodded. “I got all my pops’ old recipes. I’d love to try ‘em and figure ‘em out and get it all perfected, maybe take ‘em legit somehow.”

“I imagine that would take funds,” I murmured as he tugged me out into the cold sunlight… well, cold for New Orleans and the Deep South anyway.

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