I watched him pull out his wallet and barely caught his phone as he shoved it into my hands. I stared down at it, and then up at him.
“Order a car. My address is already saved in the app. I’m going to pay.”
I swiped into his unlocked phone and tried to do as he said, but there were no cars available. Thanksgiving. Giving up, I went to his pictures instead and scrolled through several of his family and a dog before finding a shirtless picture of him taken in the mirror. I leaned against the table and fanned myself. Wow. Just,wow.
“Is the car coming?” Jayden saw what I was looking at and grabbed the phone. Tucking it into his pocket, he looked at me with a red tint to his cheeks. “Let’s not talk about that.”
I looked him over and whistled. “I don’t know. I like the topic of conversation, a lot.”
“Car?”
I shook my head. “Nothing was available.”
“Can you walk in those things?” He nodded at my Uggs. “Are they a house shoe, or will they be warm enough outside? Do they have soles?”
I scoffed and shrugged into my cardigan. “They’re boots, Jayden. Come on. I can walk on bare feet if it’s going to lead somewhere good.”
He took my hand and pulled me out of the bar. It was colder, and the night sky was clouded over, so it was pitch black out except for the neon lighting over the bar. Jayden tugged me along, away from the bar and towards downtown Holiday Village. Despite our holiday themed town being just that- holiday themed- the streets were mostly empty on that Thanksgiving night. “I’ll carry you if you need me to.”
“We both sound pretty desperate, huh?” I stumbled over a curb and found myself in his arms, looking up at him.
“It’s been a very long time for me, too. It’s everything I can do to not grab you right here in the street. I lost full function of my brain the second you came out in that T-shirt, and I’m a little drunk now, so the good part isn’t working that great, either. I’m past desperate for you, Vi.”
I yanked his head down to mine and felt the night explode around me the moment our lips touched. With a high-pitched moan, I clung to him and locked my arm around his neck as he kissed me back, hard. His mouth was soft and hot, and his breath smelled of beer and mint. He still kissed me the way I remembered him kissing. It was hungry and dominating. His arm was a bar across my back as he bent me backwards, consuming me.
I opened my mouth and was so close to a kiss as deep as I wanted when a horn blared. Jayden lifted me into his arms and grunted while walking us out of the road. I moved to get down, but he shook his head and continued walking. “Put me down, Jayden.”
“No. If I put you down, you’ll trip again. If you trip, I’ll catch you. If I catch you, we’ll end up naked on the side, or middle, of the road. I just have to get you home.”
“I’m not as light as I was when we dated! You’re going to hurt yourself and then you won’t be able to put out and what kind of shit would that be?”
He laughed and walked faster. “I forgot how pushy you can get when you’re horny.”
I felt my ears grow so hot that steam should’ve come off them. Forgetting why I was fighting with him in the first place, I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes. “I’m not pushy. And maybe I’m not horny.”
He cut his eyes at me.
“Okay, fine. I’m horny.” I flung my arms out dramatically. “But I’m not pushy!”
“Of course not.”
“Jayden!”
He turned down one of the residential streets that surrounded Holiday Village and laughed at me. “I liked it then, and I like it now. I like watching you come out of your shell to demand what you want. The fact that it was my dick that caused that reaction? It’s a pretty big confidence boost.”
I fanned myself. “Speaking of pretty big, I don’t have condoms in your size.”
He frowned at me. “You have other sized condoms that you just carry around?”
“Consider it me trying to use the law of attraction to get laid during the hard times.”
“Full service comes with its own condoms. It also comes with a clause that states I’ll be available to service your needs when you hit those hard times.” He turned up the sidewalk to a smaller house and put me down on his welcome mat. When I stayed silent, he looked down at me and ran his eyes over me. “Yeah, I volunteered to fuck you when you need it, even after tonight. We both already know it’s going to be good, Violet. Why not volunteer future services?”
Finally, I threw my head back and laughed. I wasn’t sure what to think about his offer, but in that moment, I liked his bluntness. He was offering me something that I really wanted and needed. I was drunk enough to ignore the layers of complications that could come with even one night together, much less several. I was also ignoring the way my heart raced each time he looked at me, and the memories of how hard I’d crumbled after leaving him.
“Just open the door, Jayden. Let’s start there.”
6.