Page 12 of Backroom Boy
“Time to make a wish, handsome.” She gave me a wink and wrapped her arm around mine, a move I was coming to associate with only her. She liked to be touching and damn if I didn’t like it too.
She pinched her eyes shut and her mouth moved like she was silently making her wish. Then her eyes popped open and she tossed the penny, the plop it made reaching us as it sank to the bottom.
“Now your turn.” She laid her head on my shoulder and gave me time to make my own wish, even though I didn’t believe for a second that these penny wishes came true. You had to make your own dreams come true. Wishing and hoping never worked. But for Delta, I’d do it, just to see her smile.
I thought about what I wanted, dismissing the career-oriented wishes. If I was to be whimsical by making a stupid wish, I’d make the wish whimsical too. Once the wish was firm in my head, I tossed the penny and watched it sink close to Delta’s.
Her head popped off my shoulder and she spun us around so she could see me. “What did you wish for?”
I faked outrage. “You’re not supposed to tell people your wish or it won’t come true!”
She gave me a dirty look. “Oh, please. Tell me right now. I have to know.”
“Tell me yours first,” I countered.
“Fine. I wished for a kiss in the moonlight with a handsome man.” Her cheeks went pink but she kept her gaze on me without even a flutter of eyelashes.
Fuck. All that time spent telling myself she was just a friend and coworker wasn’t working tonight. Not by a long shot. My dick decided he wanted more, and waiting to take matters into my own hand when I got home just wasn’t going to cut it.
“Delta,” I muttered, reaching up to push a strand of hair behind her ear that had blown into her face.
“What was your wish?” she whispered, leaning into me so far I could see exactly how close the ends of her long eyelashes were to her eyebrows.
“It wasn’t that,” I whispered, trying desperately to put some space between us again or to steer this conversation back into a neutral place where I couldn’t crash headfirst into trouble.
“Was it about me?” She bit her lip, the one thing I couldn’t seem to resist.
I nodded.
“You should totally kiss me and see if we can’t make both our wishes come true,” she whispered, her eyes daring me to deny her.
She was right. I should. Here she was offering herself on a silver platter and I was shutting her down. For what? A summer job that would be over before we knew it? What harm could one kiss really do?
I brought my hand back up to her face, cupping her jaw and rubbing my thumb against that bottom lip that drove me crazy. It was soft and pillowy, just like I’d imagined it. Her tongue darted out and met the tip of my finger, sending me right over the edge of sanity I barely clung to. I angled her head where I wanted her and leaned down to kiss her. Our lips barely touched, then parted for a gasp of breath, and finally collided again in a heated kiss of lips and tongues.
Delta wrapped her arms around my neck and matched my enthusiasm. Her little groans were enough to keep me coming back for more, oblivious to everyone around us or who might see us. The only thing that mattered this summer was this kiss. This moment with Delta. The exact wrong girl for me.
A shrill whistle had me breaking away, battling a cloud of confusion. That kiss might have stopped time and transported us elsewhere. I blinked several times and the fountain came back into view, the sounds of people all around us enjoying the balmy summer night.
Delta stared at me with wide eyes, huffing like we’d gone on a run right before that kiss. “We should totally do that again.”
I caught the grin before it could spread across my face and send the wrong message. My brain shouted at me to shut this down right here and now.
“Delta—”
“No, don’t. Don’t stand there with my lip gloss on your mouth and tell me we shouldn’t have done that.” She lifted an eyebrow in challenge.
I scrubbed a hand across my mouth and clenched my teeth. Clearly, she drove me crazy whether I kissed her or not. And now that I knew she tasted like cotton candy and wine and hot sorority girl all rolled into one, I knew I’d have to fight that much harder to stay away from her.
Grabbing her hand, I pulled her away from the fountain and back toward the restaurant to get her car. Her heels clicked rapid fire on the pavement beside me as she tried to keep up. I slowed down so she didn’t trip and fall. When we got to her car, she pulled the keys out of her purse but wouldn’t unlock the doors until I met her gaze.
“Why, Lukas? Why is us kissing again, or even dating, such a bad thing?”
I stared at her, absolutely floored that she didn’t see the problem in that. “Are you kidding me? Your dad is my boss. I rent his pool house because I can’t afford anything better. I’m the backroom boy of a winery while you’re the winery’s princess waiting in the wings to take over as CEO.”
Delta scoffed, pushing out those full lips that our kiss had only made puffier. “Please. I’ve dated all kinds of guys and my father doesn’t get a say in who they are or what their income is. You’re just running scared.”
She waved her hand like she saw this kind of thing all the time, a little smile on her face. And it pissed me right off. I knew I was feeding into her plan and yet I couldn’t stop myself.
