I hug her close to me and lift her off her feet, making her laugh and hang on to me tighter. “I missed you, too. I was starting to think you were gonna friend-zone me.” I set her down on her feet and study her face, afraid to see some kind of change in her, but I don’t. Her eyes are still sparkling at me, just like they were when we said good-bye over a week ago.
“No, Lukas, I’m not friend-zoning you, silly. I’m sorry I couldn’t see you for Christmas. I wanted to, really, but I just needed to focus on the kids and keep their routine normal.”
I take her hands in mine. “I understand. You’re a great mom, and I love that about you.”
We walk to my car, and I open the passenger side door for her, then go around and get in behind the wheel. Leaning across the console, I turn her face to mine and kiss her lips, and she makes a little startled sound, fueling me to want more of her. I pull her over to me until she’s half lying on my chest, her body stretched across the console, and kiss her deeper, my tongue searching out hers.
She pulls away. “This car is really small,” she jokes. “Not really conducive to making out in the front seat.”
“I don’t care. I’m dying to kiss you.” I cup the back of her neck and pull her back to my lips, wishing we didn’t have to go to the club so I could just take her home with me. Right now, I’d love nothing more than to stretch her out on my bed and explore every inch of her until she’s crazy stupid for me.
“I’ve been thinking about your kisses a lot,” she says, her voice small and sweet. She may be older than me, but truthfully, she’s so tiny, cute and shy that she seems younger than she is. I don’t think she sees that in herself, but I do.
“Oh yeah? What have you been thinking?” I lick her bottom lip and let my hand slide over her jeans to rest on her ass.
“How good you make me feel.” Even in the dimness of the car, I can still see her aqua eyes shining at me, and the glint of her lips, moist from my kiss.
“I want to make you feel things you’ve never felt before, Ivy.”
She closes her eyes, as if she’s taking my words into her to keep, then slowly opens her eyes again. “You already have,” she whispers, then presses her lips to my cheek.
Sighing, I help her back over to the passenger seat. “We should go, or we’ll be late,” I say. “Although, I kinda just want to stay here and be alone with you.”
“I do too, but I really want to see the band. I’ve been looking forward to this since you told me about them. We can be alone after. Macy is staying at a friend’s house tonight.” She smiles shyly over at me, and I think I know what she’s hinting at. What she doesn’t know is that, in a little while, she’s gonna see me on stage with the band, and I hope to hell it doesn’t change her mind about me.
The club is crowded, and there’s a line at the door, so I text Vandal to meet us at the back door to let us in.
“Well, well, well . . . you found someone I haven’t had the pleasure of,” he says, checking out Ivy, his eyes roaming all over her. I know he’s doing it just to get me riled up, but I ignore his stupid shit because I’m in too good of a mood tonight to let him ruin it.
“Ivy, this is my brother, Vandal. Van, this is Ivy.”
Ivy looks petrified of him, which is a typical reaction for most women. First, they look scared, but then they become oddly attracted to him. I’ve watched it happen more times than I can count. Vandal is a big guy at six-foot four, with a muscular build like a wrestler. He has long black hair that’s almost to his friggen’ ass, dark skin, and lots of tats. We do look alike in some ways, but he’s bigger than I am and always has a menacing look on his face.
“It’s nice to meet you,” she says politely. I put my arm around her, and she presses her body into mine, fitting against me like she was made from a part of me.
Vandal actually smiles at her, something he doesn’t do often. “The pleasure’s mine, sweetheart. Hope you enjoy the show.”
I pull her away from him before he blurts out anything annoying or inappropriate, and lead her down the hall to the door that will take us into the club.