Page 28 of Electric Blue Love
He moved toward the bar, but I stayed firmly frozen in place. I looked to Tasha who had completely abandoned me. Not even a glance back to see the look of desperation on my face.
“Come on, she’s fine.”
She wasn’t my concern.Iwasn’t fine. How was I going to keep from making an utter fool of myself?
His hand moved to my side and I warmed under his touch. “I promise I’ll bring you right back.”
He led me to the bar, pushing through the crowd easily as if they’d parted just for him.
“What can I get ya?” the bartender looked Court over like she wanted to devour him.
“Can I get another one of these.” He placed his empty beer bottle on the bar top and looked to me, pulling me closer with the hand that still rested at my hip. “And whatever she wants,” he said looking back to the bartender but not loosening his hold.
I struggled to speak. With his hard body pressed at my side, I was beyond the ability to form complete sentences. Or think them.
“Is that a Rum and Coke?”
I nodded. “Diet.”
The bartender flited away, but not before another long, hungry gaze pointed at the man next to me.
“How’ve you been?” Court asked, letting go of me and leaning his tall frame against the bar. He settled in like we were old friends and he wanted to hear every detail that had happened in my life since the last time he’d seen me. It was the same sort of posture I recognized all over this bar from alumni catching up with old friends. But Court and I were hardly old friends. We’d spent all morning sending flirty texts back and forth and now here he was.
My body chilled without his and I inched forward seeking out the warmth that radiated off him. “Good. I – I’m sorry. I’m a little thrown that you’re actually here. I never thought I’d see you again. You know what I mean – like this, standing in front of me.”
It was true, I realized. Would I have told him the intimate things I had if I thought there would ever come a time he was standing in front of me again? I knew the answer before I’d even finished thinking it. There was no way I’d have admitted to this gorgeous, experienced man that I was a hopeless case or hadn’t sexted before. Oh, God. I’d actually told him I’d never had an orgasm during sex. And he’d seen me twice now more naked than anyone had seen me in…
“Whoa. I got you.” Court steadied me as I tumbled into him. He looked to my shoes and smiled. Leaning so that his cheek rested against mine, he whispered, “What did I tell you about those shoes? Those shoes are against the rules.”
My face flushed hotter as I remembered his words.The only place those shoes belong is around a guy’s shoulders.
He stood upright, and I missed the feel of his stubble against my skin.
“You remember the shoes?” I was impressed that something as insignificant as my wardrobe had been retained in his memories.
Our drinks arrived, and he took his and then handed me mine, keeping his fingers tight around the glass after I’d taken hold of it. He leaned in and the moment hung in the air thick and alive. Our fingers were live wires and the longer they touched the more sparks fizzled around us.
“I’ll remember those shoes,” he let his eyes fall back to my feet and then brought them up my body slowly. His voice gruffer when he spoke again. “until the day I die.”
“There you are.” Tasha appeared at my side and Court pulled back.
“What can I get you to drink?” he asked her, stepping back to the bar.
“Let’s do a round of shots. Rule book guy being here is cause for celebration.”
“Shots?” Court gave me a surprised look. “What’s your poison?”
“Lemon drops,” Tasha answered.
“Three lemon drops,” he told the bartender. “And another rum and diet.”
Court looked between Tash and me as she looped her arm through mine.
“So, Court,” she paused. “What’s that short for? Courtney?”
He grimaced and then nodded as he took a swig from his beer.
“I didn’t know that,” I said as I filed away the information. I was certain that every scrap of information I’d found on him had called him only Court.
