Page 22 of Catch You

She sighs. “Forget.”

“Oh?” I ask, wondering if she’s about to open up. I’m usually not one for all the talk; I’m more of an action guy. But as a conflicted look passes across her face, I can’t help but want to listen to all her worries. “It’s n-nothing. Just family stuff.”

“Ah, now that is something I know all about.” Reaching forward, I grab both of our drinks from the small table in front of us. “To forgetting.” I lift my glass, and after a second, she taps hers to it.

I watch as she brings her drink to her lips and sips. Her eyes shutter slightly as the taste hits her, and I find myself captivated.

“Not thirsty?” she asks when she lowers it once again and notices that I’ve not had any.

“Not so much.” Her eyes run over my face and focus on my lips when I run my tongue over my bottom one. “Last night wasn’t the same after you left.”

“No? Brooke didn’t keep you company?”

I laugh, because I’m sure she happily would have given the chance, but everyone kept her busy chatting and drinking before she had to be escorted into a car to get home.

“No. I was pretty lonely, to tell the truth.” I down my drink before placing the glass on the table and turning my attention to her.

“My heart bleeds,” she says with a smile.

“Maybe we could make up for it tonight.” Not able to keep my hands to myself any longer, I reach out and take her drinkfrom her before I tuck a lock of her hair behind her ear. The connection I remember all too well from last night crackles between us the second our skin touches.

“I’m … um … not sure …”

“I thought you wanted to forget.” My hand wraps around the side of her neck, my fingers twisting in her hair and my thumb brushing her cheek.

“I do. But?—”

“Let me help you,” I interrupt. “I know the perfect way to distract you from whatever it is putting that frown on your pretty face.”

“Corey, I?—”

I lean forward and cut her words off with a brush of my lips. She stills, her breath coming out in a rush and tickling over my face. “Shush. Don’t think. Just feel.”

She nods ever so slightly, and I make my move. My fingers tighten in her hair as I tilt her head to the side and seal my lips over hers. She shudders beneath me, and it’s all the encouragement I need.

My tongue sneaks out to tease her, and her lips part almost immediately, allowing me entry.

The taste of her mixes with the rum and Coke she just had a sip of, and my need for her quadruples.

She turns to me, allowing me to run my other hand up her bare thigh. I push my fingers slightly under the hem of her dress, my addiction to her too much to deny.

Everything around us disappears as her tongue twists with mine, but it hardly satisfies my need, which continues to grow by the second.

“Jesus, Harlow. You’re addictive,” I admit when my lips brush her ear. Her increased breaths rush past mine, and I shiver.

“Corey, I—” She can barely get her words out, she’s breathing so fast, but I help her by cutting her off.

“Dance with me?”

“O-okay.”

I pass her drink back, and she immediately tips it to her lips and drains the lot before reaching for my outstretched hand and allowing me to pull her up and back towards where I first found her.

We pass her friend, who’s grinding up against some guy, having the time of her life, but I pay her little mind. My entire focus is on having this woman pressed up against me again.

I come to a stop in a small bit of space and tug her arm gently, so she has no choice but to step into my body.

She looks up at me, her wide, chestnut eyes staring right into mine. I swear she can see deeper than most, and I’m not sure how that makes me feel. I don’t need anyone seeing into the reality that is my life.

---