Page 19 of The Thanksgiving Hookup

My mouth covered hers before she could speak or question what I was doing. She tasted like pizza and wine and toothpaste. My tongue snaked inside, dancing with hers, while I held her tight against me. Her body arched into my grasp before I felt her tense up. I broke the kiss even though I didn’t want to.

“I was going to die if I didn’t get the chance to do that,” I admitted before noticing the horrified look on her face. “I know I’m not that bad of a kisser.”

“You’re definitely not.” She tried to hide her grin, still holding on to her towel with both hands. “But I can’t do this with you, River.”

“Because you hate me?” I asked, knowing that she damn well didn’t. Not anymore. Not after tonight.

“No. Because Stacy still likes you.”

“I’m not trying to be a dick here, but I really don’t know who you’re talking about.” I pressed a hand against the doorframe and leaned against it.

She propped her hip to the side, stretching the towel to its limit. “Are you messing with me?”

“I’m not. What did she tell you I did to her? I really don’t know.”

I was being dead serious, and I wasn’t sure if that made Sky question my character even more or if she wanted to give me the benefit of the doubt, but she let out an exasperated groan.

“Come inside,” she directed before turning her back to me. “Let me get dressed.”

I wanted to argue and tell her no. That she should sit next to me in nothing but a towel so I could do all the things I’d been daydreaming about doing to her for the last hour. But I didn’t.

It was crazy how quickly emotions could flip. One second, I’d thought she was a stuck-up snob, and the next, I wanted to bury myself so deep inside her that she’d feel me for weeks.

When she stepped out of the bathroom, she was in a tank top and baggy sweatpants. Neither of those items did anything to turn me off. There was a chaise lounge in her room, and I moved to sit there instead of the bed. It seemed like the safer option if I wanted to stay focused on the subject matter and not stare at her tits all night.

Sky sat on the bed and crossed her legs, staring at me. I wasn’t sure if she was waiting for me to initiate the conversation, but I took it as my cue to say at least something on the matter.

“So, Stacy,” I said, dragging out her name like it was unfamiliar and I’d never said it before.

“Don’t say her name like that.” Sky tried not to laugh, but it slipped out anyway.

“Sorry. So, what did she say?”

I’d never cared what the flight attendants said about me before, but now, I was more than curious. Whatever had been told to Sky was enough to make her treat me like shit from day one and never give me a chance to get to know her. We had gone straight from being introduced to enemies.

“She said you guys dated, and then you basically ghosted her.”

“She said I Ice Cream Chad’d her?” I asked, horrified at the comparison I’d just done to myself.

“I guess, yeah.” Sky was grinning, and then her face looked like she had bitten into something sour. “Ew. Please don’t compare yourself to him again. He’s foul.”

I was grateful that she didn’t think we deserved to be in the same category. That was definitely a win for me. “He is, right? Kind of a jerk?”

Her eyes swung to mine. “Kind of? He’s abhorrent.”

“But I’m not?” I questioned, forcing her to say out loud that I wasn’t, for both my benefit and hers.

“I’m not sure yet.” She smirked.

Still a win.

“Anyway, back to Stacy and this wholewe dated, and I stopped talking to herthing. I didn’t do that. Idon’tdo that. I haven’t dated anyone in a long time.”

I’d hooked up with women in the past, but I wasn’t a dick about it. And I’d neverdatedanyone from work. I hadn’t had a real girlfriend since high school.

Sky looked around the room, her eyes bouncing from the floor to the ceiling. “Maybe you slept together and then never talked to her again?”

“I know you’re not going to believe me, but I don’t do that. I don’t fuck women and never speak to them again.”

---