Page 11 of Catch You

“Thanks for … tonight. It was fun.”

“Not fun enough to make you stay?” The little bit of hope in his eyes kills me. Maybe he is different, but going home with him tonight after just meeting him isn’t the way to test that. Finding a man is nowhere on my to-do list right now.

“I’m sorry, I just got?—”

“It’s fine. If you need to go, you need to go. Can I at least give you my number?”

I chew on my bottom lip as I consider what to say, but before I know what I’m doing, I’m reaching into my purse for my cell.

I swipe the screen to wake it up, but nothing happens.

Well, I guess that’s fate telling me this isn’t meant to be. “I’m sorry,” I say, holding my cell up to show him. “Battery’s dead.”

I drop it back into my purse, not noticing he’s moved until I look back up and find him waving to the bartender.

“Do you have a pen?”

The second one is handed over, he starts scribbling something down on a scrap of card. “Here,” he says, passing it over. I stare down at the number scrawled across it and wonder if it’ll be one I ever call. Probably not.

“No pressure, but I’d love to see you again.” He smiles almost shyly, and it makes him look so endearing. I wonder for a brief moment if it’s really him or just an act he’s pulling to try to get what he wants. Hell knows, guys have done worse to get a girl into their bed for the night.

“Thanks. Well, I’m gonna …” I point over my shoulder, and he nods.

“Until next time.”

I walk away, wondering if that’s a wish or a promise.

4

COREY

I roll over the next morning with a faint pounding behind my temples. It’s much less than I deserve after the amount I drank with Milo once she left last night, but I can’t say that I’m not relieved.

Cracking my eyes open, I stare at my phone on the bedside table, knowing that her number is sitting in it courtesy of a very drunk and very handsy Brooke. My fingers twitch to send her something, anything that might convince her to see me again. One dance and one kiss with her was nowhere near enough.

It’s just because she turned you down,a little voice says in my head. I must admit, it doesn’t happen all that often—especially not after the way she was moving her body against mine on the dance floor.

My cock swells as the memory of her arse moving against it resurfaces. Fuck, it felt so good to have a woman in my arms again. I can only imagine how it might have felt to get her into my bed. I look around the room I’m currently in. Okay, so maybe not my bed, but hers. Or any other, to be fair.

I drop my hand under the covers and wrap my fingers around my length. I pump a few times, her dark eyes, light pink lips, and sinful curves filling my mind as I do. The tingles shecaused within me last night reappear, and in embarrassingly few minutes later, I come to the memory of us locked together in our kiss.

Fucking hell, my dry spell is turning me back into a damn teenager again. Jacking off to a fucking kiss? Pussy.

Jumping from the bed, I ignore the boxes around me and go straight for the shower. It’s late and I need to be at the studio, not sitting here, dwelling on what could have been and if I should call her. I already know the answer. She wasn’t interested, despite what her best friend drunkenly slurred at me before she left.

“She’s scared, Brit boy. She needs someone to chase her because she won’t hand herself over willingly. Me, on the other hand …”She ran her hands up my chest, but she didn’t get very far before I physically removed them. She might be attractive, but I had someone else in my sights.

I don’t bother walking into my kitchen—it’s pointless. Instead, I head straight out once I’m dressed. The diner a few doors up from the studio has quickly become my second home.

“Morning,” Laura, the owner, sings as I walk through the entrance, making the little bell chime. “You want the usual?”

“Please,” I say with a smile, hopping up onto one of the empty stools at the counter as she calls my order through to the kitchen.

“So, how’re things?” she asks, pushing my first mug of coffee toward me.

“Same as.”

“My brother still giving you shit?” She laughs as she grabs a cloth and starts wiping down the already spotless counter.

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