Page 7 of Veiled in Brick

We only had a block or so to walk to get to his car, but despite the height of the wedged sandals that I wore, I could have stood for it to be a bit longer. The street, which I had never visited before tonight, was well-lit with tall lampposts. Various bars and small restaurants lined either side of the road, each one bringing a general hum of conversation to my ears as we passed them. A gentle heat from the summer night’s air embraced my shoulders. It was pleasant.

“So, what did you think?” he asked me quietly as we took slow steps down the sidewalk. I looked to him, pinching my brow together in silent question, and he clarified, “About the date that you tried to avoid for the past six months.”

I chuckled. “I had a good time, Jay.”

“I was starting to worry I had lost my edge,” he whispered down to me dramatically. “Y’know. It’s been a while. The whole date thing.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about losing your edge,” I told him with a soft laugh, knowing that his charm was one of the things that I thoroughly enjoyed about him. I joked more to myself than to him, “Anyway—it’s not like I’ve done this before or anything.”

“What, been a while for you too?”

Fuck.

“Um.” I scuffed my heel against the concrete. “I, ah—I’ve told you that I don’t date.”

“Thought that was a figure of speech or something.” James glanced at me with a singular raised eyebrow, and I shook my head. He clarified, “So…like…never?”

I let out a soft, nervous laugh. “Erm—ya caught me?”

“Oh…okay.”

I felt the need to busy my hands by smoothing a crease that had formed in the fabric of my dress. The tension hung between us at my admission, and I wasn’t certain why it made me anxious, but it did. So much so that when we reached the quiet lot that his grey sedan was parked in and our footsteps slowed, I turned toward him to speak on the subject.

Leaning against the passenger door with my behind, I began to state, “Look, if that’s weird—”

My words fell away as I glimpsed his expression. His eyes had gone dark, his fingers dug into my hips, and as he looked down at me, the palpable anxiety that I was experiencing previously disappeared. My mouth pulled up into a wide smirk for he was so close that I could smell the teak in his cologne—taste the hint of smoke from his whiskey. He kissed me, the soft brush of his lips a contradiction to the grizzle of his beard, and I grinned against him, feeling my entire body sigh in relief as I grasped at his waist. Before I could deepen the kiss any further, he pulled away, his typical lopsided grin on display.

“Thanks for coming out.”

His voice had deepened to something grittier, more akin to a tone that you’d hear when you’re between the sheets, and I felt my smile stretch wider.

“My pleasure,” I replied, tightening my grip on him.

“Your pleasure, huh?”

I nodded, stretching upward to kiss him once more, this time opening my mouth to brush my tongue against his. A low, rumbling noise came from his chest and he kissed me back with fervor, pressing me against the passenger door of the car with his hips. I gasped into his mouth, the escalation of his actions bordering on rough, sending sensations through me that hadn’t been caused by another human being since long, long ago. His face trailed down to my neck, his beard scratching at my skin, and he whispered in my ear:

“You taste like candy.”

I silently thanked the gods above for this moment and for the drinks I had consumed earlier that made my mouth taste like a liquified Jolly Rancher. I sighed as he licked along the pulse point of my neck and brought my hands to his hair, brushing the long strands away from his face.

“If you think that’s good, wait until you try the rest of me,” I breathed.

He hummed out a chuckle, skimming his hands up my front until they cradled my face. He looked at me almost with awe and kissed me deeply once more.

“A tempting offer,” he simpered. “Let me take you home.”

I nodded, and he reached behind me to grasp the door handle. Once I was safely in my seat, he jogged around the car to make his way behind the wheel. I waited patiently as he put his keys in the ignition, backed out of the parking space, and drove down the road. When his right hand fluttered its way across the center console, onto my upper thigh, and squeezed, the silence crackled around us and my patience had, officially, run out.

I clicked the button to release my seatbelt, ignored the car’s complaining beeping, and kneeled on the seat to stretch myself toward him. James smiled devilishly, maintaining eye contact with the road as he moved his grip around my waist and to my backside. I licked and nipped along his neck and was rewarded with a groan that I felt vibrate through my lips. His hand moved back and forth gently as if he were attempting to memorize the shape of my ass, and I hummed happily.

“You’re being very distracting,” he told me.

I cooed, “Am I?” and began to suck on the skin behind his ear.

“Fuck,” he murmured, “yes.”

“Maybe I want to be distracting.” I pulled the collar of his button-down out of the way of my mouth and softly bit at his shoulder. Feeling the musculature with my lips was gratifying, and I exhaled a gentle breath in his ear.

---