Floored - Karla Sorensen Page 0,9

squeezed helplessly. Holding his eyes, I raised the glass to my lips and sipped slowly. Then swallowed painfully.

It was horrible.

For someone whose brother owned a bar, he made epically shitty drinks. Or ... maybe I just hated whiskey. I'd never actually tried it before.

Jude took a sip of his own, licking his bottom lip as he lowered the glass. "You must enjoy a good sparring match to keep poking this particular bear."

I grinned. "Maybe I do."

He straightened to his full height, and flutters exploded in my belly. He'd cover me entirely should we stretch out on that bed. He'd blot out the light and be able to dominate me as he saw fit.

"I'm not surprised Americans en masse don't understand," he said. After another sip, he set his glass down. "You're not the best at it, so naturally, it's rubbish."

I took a sip too, but I kept my glass gripped in my hands because the gentle tone of his voice just before he took a prowling step toward me made me feel ... inexperienced. No, I was no shaking virgin at twenty-two, but Jude was clearly older. Clearly better at this than I was.

"Such a tragedy that we're not," I whispered. "All that flopping on the ground, pretending to be injured. Sounds like a tough game to master."

Jude emitted a shocked gust of laughter. But his eyes glowed. My cheeks felt warm.

"You are ..." his voice trailed off, but his gaze tracked down the entire length of my body.

I backed up a step, my shoulders hitting the wall behind me.

"I'm what?" I set my glass down on top of the box.

"Frustrating." He took another step.

"I've heard that a time or two." My hands curled into fists to keep from reaching for him.

"I'll bet you have," he murmured. His fingers picked at the hem of the shirt, which skirted my hips. He managed to wind some of it in his grasp without touching me. My skin burned from that lack of touch. I wanted his big hands everywhere. "I'll bet you love driving people insane."

My chest rose and fell rapidly.

"Look at you." He fisted the shirt, yet instead of tugging me toward him, he used that to anchor me in place. "It's right there in those blue eyes how badly you want to say something else."

I rubbed my thighs together. He noticed.

My chin tilted up in challenge. "You think you've got me pegged?" Now it was me who licked my bottom lip, and he huffed air from his nose, a bull ready to charge if I waved my flag just one more time. "You don't know me."

"Isn't that the appeal?" His other hand rose, just the pad of his thumb landing in the middle of my mouth. "Don't tell me it's not." He dragged my bottom lip down, and oh, my gawd, I was panting audibly. "The only thing you know right now is that you want me over top of you. You want me between those pretty, long legs." He dipped down and ran his nose along my cheekbone, his mouth ghosting over my skin. Just shy of touching me.

My hand shot out and grabbed the waist of his jeans, my fingers curling over the edge, hot, hard skin against the back of my knuckles. Jude pulled his head back and stared down at me, his forest green eyes unreadable, unfathomably deep.

His jaw clenched. "Am I wrong?"

"Do you have protection?" I asked. That was my answer to his question, and the way his eyes flared, he knew it.

"Back pocket."

My hand slid from the waistband, and I brushed against his length as it did. He inhaled sharply, and oh, more thigh squeezing because he was not wrong. I did want him over top of me and between my legs. I wanted this night of crazy after a day of feeling inexplicably sad and lonely. I wanted to find some physical comfort in the arms of this man who I'd just met.

Maybe it was irresponsible. Maybe it was ill-advised. But it didn't feel like either of those things.

Every so often, I felt an urge to do something insane like this. Normally, I could cap it. I could seek a safer comfort elsewhere in my life.

But no one was here to stop this impulse and allow me this outlet. Just me and him, about to tip over the edge together.

When I reached into his back pocket, I felt the foil packet. Okay, so he walked around with condoms. But if I looked and