if she’d made a conscious effort not to be the center of attention or the subject of conversation.
She was a bit of a mystery and intrigued me. Between that and the way she looked in those jeans, there was no doubt why I couldn’t stop thinking about her – not to mention thinking about what I wanted to do with her under the covers.
We stepped in silence into the cool evening, the sun long set, sparse snowflakes dancing on the low wind.
“That’s me over there,” she said, nodding toward her car, a sensible Toyota.
“And I’m over here,” I said, nodding to my own car a few dozen feet away from hers. “Bein’ the perfect Irish gentleman, I’d be remiss if I didn’t walk you to your car.”
She smiled without a word. We headed to her car, and when we reached the door, she turned and faced me.
“This was an unexpectedly nice night,” she said.
“I can’t help but agree.”
I couldn’t resist her any longer. I moved in for the kiss. I watched her close her eyes and prepare for it, and the moment my lips touched hers, I knew there was something amazing between us. The kiss was unlike any kiss I’d ever known before. My eyes opened in confusion, as if I were totally perplexed about what was happening.
I pushed all that aside, focusing on the taste of her lips, the softness of her kiss. I placed my hands on her hips, though it was a bit hard to get a sense of her body through her thick coat.
Damn winter.
What I wanted to do to her, however, would most certainly get her nice and warm.
I unzipped her coat, exposing the blouse she wore underneath. I placed my hands on her sides, my mouth opening, my tongue probing for hers. The tips touched as I moved my palms over the hard bottom of her bra, then to her breasts. Something came over me as I kissed her. It was as if I were out of control, like I would take her in the parking lot if she would’ve let me.
Lola, sensing the direction we were going, grabbed my wrists and gently removed my hands from her body.
“Is the fun over?” I asked with a smirk.
“Whatever this is,” she said. “Fun or no – I don’t think this is the best spot for it.”
I came to my senses, glancing around and remembering we were in the middle of a shopping center. No doubt more than a few people were looking at us through the windows of their shops.
“Good call,” I said. “Let’s—”
“My place,” she interrupted, taking out her phone and shooting me a text.
“I’m right behind you.”
She smiled, her cheeks tinged red from the cold outside and the heat of our kiss.
With one more glance, she opened her car and stepped inside.
The evening was just getting started.
I couldn’t wait.
Chapter 6
LOLA
What the hell am I thinking?
I knew the answer to that. As I drove, all I could think about was his lips on mine, his hands on my body. We’d been in full view of everyone, but I’d been so caught up in how he made me feel that it didn’t matter – I’d almost wanted him to shove his hands down my pants right there in the parking lot.
Not to mention the little fact that my panties were absolutely soaked. Seriously – it was hard to even focus on driving because I was so aroused. I was all kinds of glad that my apartment wasn’t too far from the restaurant. But even the few minutes it’d take to get there seemed like an eternity.
Was I really going to hook up with a man I barely knew, some vagabond photographer who’d dropped into my life? Granted, he was hot as hell, and that Irish brogue was so damn sexy it had been hard to focus on conversation.
Still, was I really going to have a one-night thing?
The more I thought about it, the more I realized it wasn’t a bad idea. I’d been so crazy-busy with work over the last few months – hell, the last few years – that I’d barely given myself a chance to date. And dating was hardly one of my favorite pastimes. In fact, it could be downright torturous. What could be worse than swiping through Bumble or Tinder in hopes of sitting at a bar with some guy I could only hope wasn’t a total weirdo or a self-obsessed asshole who wanted to tell me how amazing he