CHAPTER 1
Adrian Storm’s lips tasted like beer, and I wanted to know if his tongue was the same flavor. I kissed him harder.
It wasn’t easy to kiss Adrian.
First of all, we had a major height difference. I’m a curvy blonde, and I’m not exactly short, but I had to stand on my tiptoes just to reach his tasty lips.
Secondly, he was the last person in the world I should have been kissing. Even as I felt a thrill of excitement through my body because this gorgeous, smart, athletic man was kissing me back, I also got the urge to run away.
Something banged over by the dumpster. Did I mention we were standing in the alley behind a bar?
I chose to ignore the noise. Adrian’s lips were so soft and enticing, and everything about him was appealing. His hard, muscular chest was just waiting to be discovered. I slipped one hand up between us, under his shirt, enjoying the heat under my palm. His skin was smoother than I expected, with no chest hair.
He kept kissing me, unable to resist my charms. I didn’t used to be so popular with guys, but as of that summer, I’d become irresistible to them. Even the hottest guys, who you’d think would be way out of my league, were chasing me around.
Something banged again over by the dumpster.
Adrian pulled away from me, his blue eyes wide with concern. Even in the harsh light of the alley, his high cheekbones and angular face looked perfect and handsome.
“Peaches,” he said. “What was that noise?”
I poked him on the nose with one finger. “It’s just the sound of you, throwing yourself at my feet, big boy.”
He chuckled. “So that’s how it is, huh? I only came out here to check on you, because you stormed off in a big huff over a little harmless teasing from your friends.”
“I’m fine, Adrian. Sure, I’ve had a few drinks, and I might fall over, but I feel AMAZING!”
He gave me a sidelong look. “You do look amazing, I’ll admit that much.” His eyes moved, roving up and down over my body. “That dress. Your body. It just doesn’t quit. Can you please stop being so sexy around me? I’m going to have to kiss you again.”
I blinked up at him. “Why did you stop?”
He grabbed me in his arms, turned me around so my back was against the building, and leaned down to kiss me again. His mouth was hot and exciting.
I looped my arm around his neck, trying to get rid of any space between us.
He reached down to my hips, then secured his hands under my bu**ocks and hoisted me up. I wrapped my legs around him as he pinned me against the wall.
“Wow,” I said, breathless. Nobody had ever picked me up like that before, but Adrian was strong. He had the muscles to handle my curves, and I liked it.
We kissed some more, my pulse pounding with excitement. If kissing Adrian was wrong, I didn’t want to ever be right.
Something banged again over by the dumpster.
Adrian grunted an apology and set me down on the ground. We both turned to investigate the noise.
When I’d first come out to the alley, I thought the shapes over by the dumpster belonged to people. Looking more carefully now, I could see the shapes weren’t human.
“Oh, it’s just raccoons,” Adrian said, then he turned to kiss me again.
I pulled away from him. “Just raccoons?”
If there’s one thing that gives me the willies even worse than dragonflies, it’s raccoons. They scare me even more than cougars and bears.
Adrian called out to the raccoons, “C’mere, little guys. Come say hi.”
I turned and watched in horror as one raccoon ambled toward us, followed by two more.
My reflexes were slow from drinking, but I sure as hell wasn’t sticking around to get mauled by raccoons.
I took off running down the alley, away from danger.
“Bye, Adrian!” I yelled over my shoulder. “See you around!”
I hit the end of the alley, and instead of turning left and going back into the club to join my friends, I turned right and headed for home at a brisk walking pace.
Adrian jogged up behind me, laughing. “You’re a chicken,” he said.
“Kissing leads to trouble,” I said. “I shouldn’t have kissed you.”
He laughed again. “I meant about the raccoons. Don’t worry about the kissing. What’s the worst that can happen? You like me. I like you.”
He put his arm around my shoulders and gave me a lighthearted squeeze.
I bit my lower lip and kept walking, trying not to think about the worst that could happen. Or what his na**d body would feel like on top of mine. Or how quickly we could get back to my house and into my bed, now that we were headed in the right direction.
“We were both too shy in high school,” he said. “One of us should have made a move.”
“That was a long time ago, Adrian. I don’t feel the same way about you now.”
He stopped walking and grabbed me confidently as he kissed me again. I melted in his arms, powerless at the touch of his lips and hands.
“You’re wrong,” he said, pulling away. “You still feel the same way about me. You’re wrong about this, like you were wrong about so many things with the yearbook. Remember how you wanted to include a page with everyone’s signatures scanned in?”
I scowled up at him, but didn’t pull out of his embrace. “That was a great idea. That way people wouldn’t have to get their books marked up if they didn’t want to.”
He held me tight against his lean, hard body, which made his words seem more convincing. “Peaches Monroe. I think you’re missing the whole point.”
“Shut up and kiss me.”
He flashed a grin, then leaned down and used his lips for something better than talking.
~
The walk back to my house took over an hour, because we kept stopping to kiss and put our hands all over each other. By the time we reached my front door, I was so hot, I was practically in a lather.
“You do like me,” he said as we stood on the porch while I fumbled around for my house keys. “I knew for sure when you sent me that photo of your nipple.”
“That was a joke. You’re the one who sent me a blurry picture of Mr. Happy.”
He laughed. “I sent you a picture of me giving you the thumbs-up gesture. Like this.” He put his thumb up close to my face, where my eyes couldn’t focus on it properly. “Get it? Thumbs up because I wanted more photos of your goodies!”
“You tricked me with a blurry photo.”
“I’d never send a dick pic to a girl. She’d send it around to all her friends.”