Page 36 of Cold as Stone
There’s no point fighting her. Apparently Mercy can smell sex like a bloodhound—a trait I wish I’d known before hiring her. I lean against the bar, trying to act casual. “I may have made out with someone last night.”
She makes a buzzer sound. “Try again. Your skin is glowing, your pupils are dilated, and you’ve got that post-orgasm guilt that screams ‘this man is a bad idea but I want to climb him like a jungle gym.’ Spill it, sister.”
“It was Lee.”
Dead silence. Then—slowly—Mercy grins.
“Oh, babe.”
I slap a hand over my face. “I know!”
“You finally climbed Mount Motorcycle.”
“Mercy!”
She waggles her eyebrows and shimmies her shoulders. “I bet he left tread marks on your soul.”
“I will unplug the jukebox and tell the regulars it’s your fault.”
She holds up her hands in surrender, but her grin doesn’t dim. “So? Was it everything you imagined?”
“Better,” I admit quietly. “But also… complicated.”
“Go on.”
I slump against the bar “Honestly, I’ve never been kissed like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like I’m the last woman on Earth and he’s dying to taste the air in my lungs.”
She whistles, fanning herself. “Damn girl. And you? How’d you kiss him?”
I think back to our kiss, flushing. “About the same.”
We stand in silence for a beat.
Finally, she speaks. “This is romantic as hell. Messy, but romantic.”
“Is it? Cause at the moment it just feels confusing and a little overwhelming.”
More than a little, if I’m honest.
“So,” she says, straightening the coasters lying on the bar. “Are you going to talk to him?”
“I don’t know.”
“Kya.”
“I don’t want to make it weird.”
Mercy gives me a long look. “Make what weird, exactly?”
“I don’t know! I just… everything!” I wave my hands around to encompass the bar. “I’m only meant to be here for six months, and this is my focus, and I feel like falling for a badass biker is a terrible idea.”
“Sure. Or it could be the best thing you ever do.” She slaps a hand on the bar and pushes off. “Choice is yours.”
She’s right. Of course she is. Last night wasn’t just some sex-adjacent nonsense. Or at least it wasn’t for me.
