Page 3 of Space Balls: Houston, We Have Liftoff
“No need.” She tilts her head back, exposing a long column of tanned neck, and swallows the contents.
Watching the muscles contract as she swallows is more fascinating than studying microcosms in microgravity.
Rose smacks her lips, scanning the table for another glass to steal, frowning when she realizes there are none. “Now, tell me. You the kind of guy willing to do what it takes to bring a girl to orgasm?”
My usually quick-witted mind blanks for a moment as I replay what she just said, my own glass halfway to my lips. Then I smile. “Care to find out?”
“No.”
“No?” All good feelings leave.
“I don’t want tofind outand be disappointed.” She points to her lap. “I’m asking you for an orgasm guarantee.”
The scotch I just sipped burns my nose as I laugh, morphing into a cough. “Well then”—I clear my throat, eyes watering—“consider yourself guaranteed.”
“Awesome-sauce.” She stands up, smoothing down her dress and patting the back of her updo. Quite a few people turn to look.
I have a feeling Rose is a lot like those asteroid showers I used to stay up late to watch when I was kid. From a distance, their paths light up the dark sky, their glow beautiful in contrast. But now that I’m thirty-six and an astronaut, I know the true destructive power of what just one of those burning rocks could do. And yet, all that knowledge doesn’t make me any less enraptured by the woman before me.
“So.” She places her hands on her hips and looks down at me. “We doing this or what?”
Rose’s enticing allure is also making me break one of my hard and fast rules. Which isneverhook up at weddings. The women attending these things are full of expectations. Turned on by the promise of happily ever after. For a determined single guy like me, hooking up with someone with happily ever after on the brain could be a bachelor death sentence.
So I don’t do that.
Butthisgirl—I watch her breasts bounce as she gives her neckline a tug—I could break my rules for this girl.
I stand, my head a few inches above hers. “Are the shuttles to the hotels even running yet?”
“Oh, we’re not going to the hotel.” She grabs my hand and tugs. “That’ll take too long.”
I stagger forward, easily led by this Southern siren. “Impatient, are we?” We weave through other tables, most empty as the dance floor gets more and more packed.
Rose grabs another champagne flute on her way. “You say I’m impatient, I say I’m an efficient facilitator.” When we reach the wall of cream fabric hanging like a waterfall from the rafters, Rose drops my hand and gives me her stolen drink to hold.
I watch, amused, as she feels up the wall of fabrics and fairy lights like she’s looking for something.
“Ah ha!” Looking proud as Moses, she parts the fabric, revealing a blocked-off section of barn.
“I’m pretty sure that’s blocked off for a reason.” I glance to both sides and behind me, but no one seems to be looking. “I don’t think guests are allowed.”
She rolls her eyes and scoffs before snagging her pilfered glass from my hand. “Didn’t know you were such a goody-two-shoes.”
That surprises a laugh out of me. “Never been called that before.”
Her smile turns sly, and she uses her free hand to trace a finger down the side of my jaw. “I’m pretty sure if you hang with me long enough there will be a lot of never-befores.”
Damn she’s fun. “I don’t doubt it.”
The song changes to something slower, and she looks back toward the dance floor, watching as couples get closer, rocking together to the sway of the music. Instead of that dreamy look I’m used to seeing on women at weddings, her face darkens, her light brown brows pinching together.
“What’s wrong?”
She starts at my question but recovers, squaring her shoulders to mine. “Nothing’s wrong.” Her frowning face is now one of determination.
“Your ex out there with someone new or something?” My voice is sharper than I meant, and I don’t know why. It shouldn’t bother me, the thought of Rose using me to get over someone. If anything, it should make my decision to hook up easier, as Rose won’t be hopped up on fairy tales but rather searching for a quick Band-Aid over her heart.
“Please.” She gestures to herself. “Like anyone would choose to leave this.”
