Page 37 of The Pumpkin Spice Cafe
Noah ate the rest of Jacob’s muffins to console himself. Apparently, they weren’t that bad, after all.
But Logan didn’t really give a shit about muffins or trivia, or the fact that –drunk on either margaritas or victory – Annie had turned trivia night into a dance off. All he could think of was Jeanie’s flushed cheeks and her body in that tight tank top and her hair loose around her shoulders as she tipped her head back and laughed at something Hazel said.
Every once in a while, her gaze would snag on his and her smile would grow. His body tingled with awareness as he tracked her movements through the bar, so when she started gathering her things to leave, he didn’t even have time to think before he was also moving toward the door.
He pushed it open, and they both tumbled out into the crisp, night air.
‘Walk you home?’ he nearly growled the words into her ear. Dry leaves blew past them on the sidewalk.
She laughed a little, her voice breathy when she spoke. ‘Thanks, it’s such a long way,’ she teased. She smelled sweet like French vanilla spiked with vodka. He wanted to bury his face in her neck and get drunk on her.
He took her hand and nearly dragged her into the alley between the bar and the café. It was dark and he could barely make out the shape of her, but he could feel her, hear her surprised gasp when he took her face in his hands.
‘I haven’t stopped thinking about kissing you all week,’ he rasped.
He could just make out her lips tipping up before she pressed them against his, soft and sure. ‘Me, too,’ she murmured between kisses. ‘It’s all I think about.’
‘Damn,’ he groaned as he ran his hands up her sides, bunching the fabric of her tank top in his fists. The cardigan she’d thrown on against the fall chill hung open in the front and he ran his hands inside over the dip of her waist, brushing against the underside of her breasts. ‘I like this shirt.’
Jeanie giggled, burying her face in his neck. ‘You like this plain white tank top?’
‘So much,’ he groaned when her breath ghosted across his skin. ‘It’s my favorite plain white tank top in the whole world.’
Her breath caught as he tugged her closer, her body pressed against his. Then her hands were in his hair, her mouth on his again and he was lost. Lost to sensation, to the taste of her, the feel of her in his arms. Lost to anything that made sense. Lost to Jeanie.
He grabbed her ass and hoisted her into his arms. She wrapped her legs around his waist, deepening the kiss. God, she was perfect, soft and warm, and just as keyed up as he was, her kisses wild, like getting to him was more important than anything else.
‘I’ve wanted to do this since I met you,’ she gasped. ‘When I saw you carrying those big crates and your forearms were doing that sexy flex thing and I wondered if you could carry me.’ She spoke the words in between kisses along his mouth and neck and along the shell of his ear.
‘Sexy flex thing?’ His voice was strained, husky and deep.
‘Yeah, you know. The forearm thing.’
He didn’t know the forearm thing, but the fact that Jeanie had pictured this from the start made him harder than anything else. He backed her against the wall, and she groaned into his mouth.
‘Anytime you want to wrap these sweet thighs around me like this, I’d be happy to carry you,’ he rasped.
She laughed, the joyful sound of it filling the dark alley. Suddenly everything came into focus.
The dark alley.The brick wall he had her trapped against.
Jesus, he was groping her in a dark alley. What the hell was wrong with him?
He pulled away, putting her gently on the ground. ‘Sorry ... am I hurting you? This is ... we should...’
Jeanie blinked at him, desire still written across her beautiful face, clear even in the darkness. ‘Go up to my apartment?’
Logan’s heart stuttered.
Up to her apartment. Her apartment, where that tank top could end up on the floor, and that beautiful expanse of skin he’d gotten a peek at in the bar could grow until he saw everything, kissed everywhere.
Her apartment, where they’d wake up together tomorrow morning and he’d have to sneak out the back door like he was ashamed of her, when he definitely wasn’t, but isn’t that how it would seem?
Her apartment, as much as she seemed happy here, he still wasn’t convinced she’d stay in for long, and then he’d be heartbroken all over again.
Up to her apartment. The words were fraught, the whole idea of getting in deeper with Jeanie was still too big a risk to him. Wasn’t it?
The sudden crash from behind the buildings saved him from having to decide to follow his brain or other less helpful parts of his anatomy.
