Page 8 of South of The Skyway

“Don’t go anywhere,” she bit back. Even as the shadow in her eyes told me she didn’t believe I’d stick around.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” To prove my point, I leaned against the opposing wall in the hallway, sliding my fingers into my pockets. The space smelled of cheap booze and piss and a faintly detectable lingering trace of vomit. Live music played from the center of the tables, the band actually not half bad, and the bustling servers seemed sincerely content in their space. I just leaned back to ‘people watch’ as I waited. Couples danced, groups of men played pool, and some poor bloke turned away from Brexley's table, looking dejected as the petite Latina crossed her arms, glowering pointedly. I chuckled to myself. Maybe I was the odd one out, after all.

“Hey, I’m sorry, there’s no salvaging this.”

I turned back as she emerged from the ladies' room, seemingly frustrated and somehow still hot as hell as the damp fabric clung to her frame.

“Do you want me to take you home?”

Her laughter erupted in a manic explosion. “Rhyett, you’re a peach and all, but if you think for a second that I’m walking out that door with you without those four chasing me down, probably tasing you, or bludgeoning you to death, you’re high.”

That’s freaking cute.“Good. As it should be.”

Brexley quirked her head, brows dipping before she demanded, “Come again.”

“Look, I’m all for chasing karmic connections, but I’ve got six sisters, and I’d hope to God their friends would threaten some rando at a bar with imminent violence if he was pushing one of them.”

Blatant skepticism pinched her features as she asked, “What’s your sign?”

“As in, zodiac?”

“No, what’s your top-secret hand sign? Yes, your zodiac, Rhyett.”

“Sagittarius.”

Her eyes narrowed. “For real?”

“Yeah. Let me guess, you only date Aquarius.”

“Hell no, too freaking emotional. Plus, water signs smother my fire.”

Fighting the urge to laugh while digging through the useless mental files of star signs my sisters had long ago planted, I guessed, “Aries.”

Those blue eyes narrowed again, yet she shifted closer to me as another woman squeezed by for the bathroom. The band transitioned to a new song. “How’d you know?”

“Kinda obvious.”

“Oh, it is not.” She tucked another step tighter, though I couldn’t tell if she’d intended the movement or if her feet just did it for her.

“Feisty, competitive, direct. Yeah, you remind me of Jeanne.”

“Ex-wife?”

I snorted, shaking my head. “Older sister.”

“You know,” Brexley said as she wrinkled her nose, “you could just say you’re not interested.”

Oh, hell no.

I closed the gap, sliding my hands around to cup her face, savoring the little hitch in her breath. When she didn’t pull away, I threaded a hand through her silky hair, loving the parting of her pink lips. The way she refused to drop my gaze even as that slender throat bobbed. Heat climbed through my chest, wrapping around my spine as our exhales hung heady and heavy between us. The taste of her laced the air, anticipation sending my free palm down her side, grazing her breast and the exposed skin along her ribs where the halter dipped in the back, before grabbing her tapered waist and pulling her into me. Brexley raised onto her toes when I finally grazed her lips with my own, her eagerness sending my blood thrumming. Euphoria swept through my veins. I needed to taste her, feel more of her. Her lips parted as though in invitation, and with the compliant way her body immediately melted into mine, I certainly wasn’t about to tell her no. Our tongues clashed like they fucking belonged together, need sparking hotter, muscles coiling as drive demanded I give her more.

Women weren’t generally complicated. Most needed a friendly reminder of their radiance, and they’d turn to putty below a practiced touch and a whispered compliment. But not Brexley. She moved with me. Each flutter and shift was symbiotic, as though we’d synchronized it. As if she anticipated each advance.

Goddamn.

I wrapped my hand in her hair, sliding the other down to grab her ass and pull her closer up against me. Needing her body closer as the blood rushed to my cock. She shifted too, climbing up on her tiptoes, fingers cupping my jaw as she kissed me back. When my movements became more dominant, she moaned against me. Fuck, what I would give to know what sounds she made when she was full and satiated.

Hands sliding to her waist, I turned her back to the wall, rotating to cage her in as the woman left the bathroom, rushing past us. Brexley certainly didn’t seem to mind, her fingers finding their way to my hair, pulling our mouths tighter together.

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