“And if I can’t find something short? You know I haven’t unpacked everything,” I taunted.
He chuckled. “I think you’ll find something. Send me the address. I’ve changed my mind—I’ll be there in twenty.”
He hung up and my screen went black.
Holy shit. I gulped the rest of the wine either as a way to convince myself to keep moving forward or so later I could tell myself I was going along with this because I was tipsy. Either way it was pumping through my veins and I hustled to my room to find a short skirt to show off my legs for a man I barely knew.
I cursed myself for not unpacking sooner. I shoved one box out of the way and then another until I found one that had my going out clothes. Nightlife in New Bern wasn’t exactly exciting, but I did go out for drinks sometimes and in the past year I’d had a few dates. The problem was most of them never lead to a second or third date. It was one more reason moving to bigger city made sense.
I pulled a black dress out of the box and quickly dashed to the bathroom to reapply my makeup.
Twenty minutes later there was a knock at the door.
I ran through the living room and the narrow kitchen, pulling the door open.
Vaughn filled the frame. His eyes sparked and immediately dropped to my thighs.
“Sexy.” He waggled his eyebrows.
I stepped back to let him in, feeling confident he liked the dress. It was the shortest black one I had.
“And where am I going in this short dress?” I asked.
He walked into the living room and looked around. “I told you it was a surprise.”
He looked just as edible as he had last night. Part of me was reassured he wasn’t a dream or a vision I had concocted. He was wearing dark charcoal pants that showed how athletic his shape was. He had a crisp white buttoned shirt. And he was wearing the same intoxicating cologne.
“This is a cool place.” He walked toward the deck. “You said you have a roommate?”
I stood next to him. I had left the lights on and they twinkled from the posts.
“Yes. We were college roommates. Five years later we’re living together again. I think it will be fun.”
He nodded. His eyes were focused on something in the distance. He slid the door open and stepped onto the roof.
“Is she home?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No. She works late most of the time.”
He saw the bottle of wine and the empty glass.
“Is she going to be home anytime soon?”
I hadn’t seen Greer since the bar last night. I hadn’t called her all day either. “I don’t know.” I stepped outside to join him. “I better unplug these if we’re going to leave.” I walked around to reach for the lights.
As I bent over to jerk the plug from the wall Vaughn came up behind me.
“Leave them.”
I stood slowly, feeling how close he was to my back.
“But I thought you wanted…”
He spun me around to face him. I searched the darkness of his eyes, recognizing the look of hunger as his mouth brushed against my lips.
“I said leave them,” he growled before taking my mouth under his with a rough kiss.
Instinctively I wrapped my hands around his neck, tugging him closer to me, deepening the kiss with sudden urgency.