I’d been by her lips until she hid them from me. Little, subtle things always lure me in. I glance back up to her eyes, and they lock with mine. She does this thing where she barely squints them for a split second, and it’s about the sexiest thing she could have done short of stripping down to the thong I know she’s wearing, right here in front of me. I take one step and put my hand behind her ear, bringing her head to mine so I can feel those luscious, wanting lips on mine.
Fuck their friendship . Jo’s a fantastic kisser. I pull her body flush with mine. I want to feel her curves, but I’m mindful of where we are, and keep my hands above her waist. She’s not as considerate, though, as I notice her hands wandering down my ass. It’s nice; if I were a woman, I’d be curious, too.
“You like that?” I ask her.
“Yeah,” she breathes. “Take me back to your place.”
“Ohhh,” I groan, nuzzling her nose with mine. “If we were in Manhattan, we’d be on our way, but I don’t have ‘a place’ here.” I pull away to show her my disappointment.
“We can go back to mine,” she suggests, and we both look at Annie. She makes it very clear that’s not an option.
“You know what, Jo? That’s, uh… yeah, I can’t do that anyway. This isn’t a good idea.”
“Why?” she whines.
I kiss her again to stop the noise–and to feel that feeling again, because it’s a nice feeling.
“I honestly don’t even have a valid reason for you. I’m sorry.” I shake my head and release her. “I shouldn’t have kissed you like that. Or touched you…”
“Seriously?” she asks, getting angry.
“Again, I’m really sorry. It’s not you, it’s–” I stop myself before I can finish that horrible, regrettable sentence. No matter how true it is, it still sounds condescending as hell and is likely to get me slapped across the face. “I didn’t come in here looking for this.”
“Will and I,” Peron says, speaking up, “we just needed a drink to clear our heads. We’ve been trying to write all night, and nothing’s coming. Just a lot on our minds, and yeah… he wasn’t looking for a distraction, but you know… you’re just his type, and he gets off-track sometimes. It’s just his nature. He can’t help it… playboy…” He repeats what they’d said about me.
“I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Jo doesn’t look to be the forgiving type at all . I glance over at Annie. “Look, if you didn’t like how she kissed, you can try me…”
“You bitch!” Jo says, pushing her friend.
“Ladies, like I said to start with, I am not worth it. Can I call you both a cab back to your dorm?”
“I am not going back to the dorm alone,” Jo says, adamant.
“Me, neither,” Annie says.
“All right, then. I guess I’m off the hook. Peron?”
“Bus?”
“Yep.”
“Why did we have to come in here?” he asks me on our way through the crowd.
“Because part of this whole… thing … is to get people to come to the shows. To get more people interested in Damon. To sell as many tickets as possible. To make money. To be a success. We can’t hide out on the fucking bus and achieve results.”
“Well, then why are we going back?”
“Because that was a disaster,” I say, stopping halfway through the parking lot and pointing to the club. “That’s exactly what we don’t want to do. Those girls were already going to the show. Had tickets. I pissed them off.”
“Where’s your radar, Will? Your test? They were drunk. They’ll forget all about this by morning anyway. Forget about it and stop beating yourself up.”
“Fuck.”
“Stop pulling your hair. You’re gonna regret it when you’re thirty and have a hairline like mine.” I’m a few inches taller than him, and I know for a fact it’s worse than he knows it is. He’s reaching comb-over stage, but I don’t have the heart to tell him. Still, I know baldness is hereditary. My brothers and I have good genes, and