Moon over the Bay (Moonlit Nights) Read Online Free Page B

Nathan
said, stopping in front of her and sweeping his hand over her wild curls. Her
nipples tightened at the warmth of his touch. He was a dangerous, dangerous
man.
    “Hi, um, thank you.” It was all
Jess could muster as she felt her face go up in flames. Kyle walked out and
greeted her before taking the bottles of wine she brought.
    Sadie greeted her with a hug and
they all sat down. The food was great, but the company was better. Jess and
Sadie talked about some of the weirder showings they’d been to, and the guys
shared classic college tales. As the wine and beer flowed, the laughter
continued. Nathan told stories about casting calls, and as he talked
animatedly, he wore a huge smile Jess couldn’t look away from.
    What would it be like to be so
free and easy like Nathan? To not have so many responsibilities to your family
and their reputation, to just be whoever you wanted to be. Jess was so sick of
feeling like she had to walk on eggshells so she didn’t soil her family name.
Add in the fact that most men just wanted to use her for said name and all the
benefits that came with it. She wanted to be free. Free of the stress, the
pressure, and the watchful eyes. She wanted to be Jess. To have a man that
cared about her, not her money or her power or her family. Not the woman who
lost her virginity to a jerk of a boyfriend in college, or who had a string of
men who never lasted more than three months, or who hadn’t had a man in her bed
in longer than she wanted to admit.
    Jess watched Nathan as he sat
back in his seat and took a drink of beer. She was fascinated by the way his
throat moved as he swallowed. How his forearm flexed when he moved the glass.
How his legs were shifting . . . She caught the telltale sign of
an erection. Her gaze snapped to his, and she saw him staring at her as she ate him
up with her eyes. Heat sizzled between them as they held each other’s gaze.
    The scraping of chairs at the
table broke the moment, and Jess watched Kyle pull Sadie over to the fountain
where they danced to a song playing through the speakers from Sadie’s windows.
    A pang of envy ran through Jess
as she watched them. They’d been dealt a bad hand early on and still found love
with one another. She wanted that someday. But she didn’t have to love someone
to sleep with them, did she?
    “So you and Kyle met in college
or did you know each other before?” Jess asked before talking another sip of
her wine.
    “Yup, we did. We had two classes
together back to back and ended up sitting next to each other.” Nathan watched
the dancing couple for a moment before turning his searing blue gaze back to
her.
    “Did you click right away?” The
wine was really taking effect now as her panties dampened just from his look.
    “We annoyed each other at first.
Anyone worth their weight could tell the man was suffering from a broken heart.
He was pitiful. So I bugged the crap out of him until he agreed to come out
with me. Being in Miami, there was never a shortage of beautiful women, so I
managed to gather a couple, and we all went back to my apartment to party more.
I thought he could screw his way out of a heartache. Yeah well, while I had a
good time, he ended crying on this chick’s shoulder. I was pretty pissed he
wasted an awesome opportunity, and he was pissed I was forcing it on him. We
went back and forth for a while. But ultimately he ended up helping me with
school, and I helped him have fun.” He took a drink of his beer then started to
pick at the label.
    “Did your tactic work to make him
feel better?” Jess was a little jealous of the idea that Nathan had sex with
beautiful women. Sure, she knew she was cute, but she was nowhere near the tall,
tanned dark-haired beauties she was imagining he dated.
    “I’m not proud to admit this, but
yes. Eventually he bit the bullet and hooked up with someone, and then he never
had the same girl for more than a month. Eventually we managed to balance each
other out.