“I’m looking for a P.R. representative for my company. Wanna send me your resume?” Grant asked.
“Wanna tell me why you’re really in town?” Jane asked.
“I needed to get away for a little bit, and I decided to check in on some people. That so hard to believe?” Grant asked.
I watched Jane squint her eyes as Hollis came back to the table.
“Three beers and another appletini for the recently-single lady.”
“Thanks, I think,” I said.
“I’ll take it for now,” Jane said.
“What? The beer?” Hollis asked.
“No. You,” she said with a grin.
“Can you two not do that in front of me?” I asked.
“Can we do it behind you?” Jane asked.
“I’m honestly surprised you haven’t already. I mean, you’ve wanted to since we were teenagers,” I said with a grin.
“Wait. Teenagers?” Hollis asked, his eyebrows shooting up to his hairline.
Jane glared at me as I sipped on my fourth drink.
“Oops, did I say that out loud?” I said.
All of us played musical chairs so Jane could cuddle up to Hollis. The two were talking softly to themselves, and I was painfully aware of how close Grant and I were in the booth. Hollis dragged Jane over to talk to one of his cop buddies, which left me alone with Grant, and even though we didn’t speak, I could feel his eyes on my body.
Gazing down at me with his seductive brown stare.
By the time I finished my fourth drink, I was practically leaning on him. Alcohol on an empty stomach was not a good idea. I was sweating, and my hand was starting to meander. Without realizing what I was doing, my fingertips traced designs on top of Grant’s leg, and I could feel the chiseled strength of his thigh.
I also realized that he was making no move to stop me.
I could hear the bar bustling around us, but all I was focused on was the way Grant slid his arm around my waist. His fingertips traced lines along my hips as I leaned further into his body. I pressed my cheek against his sculpted chest and relished how he held me.
He didn’t control me.
He simply cradled me.
My eyes were nearly closed when I heard Jane’s voice off in the distance. She was telling Grant to take me home. She was leaving with Hollis, but I didn’t care. My best friend had had that crush on my brother for years, and it was about damn time I could finally stop hearing about her desire for him.
“Come on,” Grant said into my ear. “Let’s get you home.”
He picked me up effortlessly in his arms, and I slid into his chest. I wrapped my arms around his neck and clung to him as he carried me to his car. He dipped me down into the backseat, and I laid my head down, watching as the world spun around me. I rattled off my address and drifted in and out of sleep, but with every passing second, I could feel myself sobering up.
I was single, newly single, for the first time in eight years, and I wanted to celebrate it. I wanted to enjoy it. I wanted to be a reckless single twenty-six-year-old and spread my wings and make memories I would enjoy looking back on. I wanted to erase all the arguments and all the yelling and get into the pleasurable meat of what it meant to be a twenty-something adult in this day and age.
And I wanted it with Grant.
He pulled up to my apartment complex and helped me up the steps. I was significantly soberer than when we had left the bar, but I was also more confident. I slipped my key into the lock and pushed the door open, then I gazed up into Grant’s twinkling brown eyes.
“Need help getting inside?” he asked. “Or is this where we say goodnight?”
And without anothe