A Game Of Temptation

LAURA

The bar was packed full when we arrived. Jack and Jake had wanted to go to one of the posh bars, but Balery, Drew and I had insisted on getting the full Miami experience and we’d wanted to go to a regular bar downtown.

Alex had agreed with us and naturally, majority had won the vote.

We had to fight our way through the throng of bodies to get in, which was why I thought we were incredibly lucky to find an empty booth. We quickly filled it up before anyone else could take it. Alex, Jake and Jack on one side and me, Balery and Drew on the other side.

The booths weren’t that wide, so it was a tight fit-on the opposite side anyway, but they made it work.

Jake sat at the end of the booth, Jack in the middle, and Alex at the edge, directly in front of me. I briefly wondered whether he did that on purpose, but then wrote the thought off.

I didn’t have to link everything he did back to me.

Drew volunteered to go get our drinks and we all gave him our orders. As he sauntered away, my eyes stayed glued to his frame, appreciating the view. He was wearing dark jeans and a faded blue T-shirt with a jacket over it. His wide shoulders filled the jacket nicely and he walked with easy strides, an air of nonchalance around him.

Why couldn’t I just be attracted to him?

Instead, I was attracted to certain big, green-eyed, tattooed man that stared at me like he’d rather not do anything else.

Speaking of, I turned to him and found him watching Drew go, then as if feeling my eyes on him, he turned his head and his eyes caught mine. I couldn’t look away now without it looking like I had been caught doing something that I shouldn’t, so I held his gaze for all of five seconds before looking away.

“Why’s Drew taking your place?” Jake asked suddenly and my eyes jumped to him, seeing that he was talking to Jack.

Balery’s eyes bounced between Jack and Drew, wondering if Jack understood what the latter meant. “What are you talking about?”

“I mean why is Jack here and you’re over there?” The quiet man explained.

Oh. That.

I’d almost asked the same thing too when we’d been filing into the seats but then I’d taken one look at Balery and Jack’s slightly sad expressions, and I’d understood why.

They were giving each other the exact same look right now, their eyes glued to each other and filled with longing. In their heads, they probably saw the table sitting between them as a whole ocean.

“That’s why,” I pointed at the couple in question.

Jake followed my hand and saw the looks on the couple’s faces. Alex did too and a small smile touched his lips. My eyes stayed glued to his lips, and it took Jake speaking again before I was able to force myself to look away.

“Yeah, but I mean, why did he let him?” The quiet man asked for reasons I couldn’t possibly fathom.

Did he mean why did Jack let Drew sit next to Balery?

Was he supposed to pull the man out of the seat by his ears?

“Because I don’t want you guys teasing me about it,” Jack admitted with a wide grin that made his eyes sparkle, looking a lot like Drew in that moment. “When Drew starts, it never ends. It’s almost impossible to get that man to shut up.”

We all laughed at that and laughed even more when we saw Drew standing close to us carrying drinks, a wounded look on his face to show that he’d heard what Jack said.

“Wrong,” he corrected Jack, the look on his face so straight and honest, we never expected what came next. “It’s quite easy to get me to shut up, actually. Just get a girl to sit on my face and I promise you, you’ll never see a man shut up so fast.” He delivered as he brushed past Balery and I, taking his seat.

Balery blushed from the roots of her hair to the soles of her feet, Jack choked on air, a private smile touched Jake’s face, and me…

Well, as for me, my eyes unconsciously searched for Alex’s green ones because I was imagining us doing that and I found him already staring at me, his eyes hot. My nipples budded in the confines of my bra, tightening to the point of pain as images bombarded me.

I imagined him lying face up on the bed shirtless, those hot tattoos bared for my hungry eyes. But he’d be wearing his grey sweats-they were fast starting to become my favourite outfit on him. He would be so starved for the taste of me that he would pull me down on him and the moment I’d sit on his face, his hot wet tongue would shove into my aching sheath.

I heaved a shaky sigh.

For fucks sake, why did I keep doing this to myself?

As if having fantasies about him wasn’t bad enough, I was now having them in public.

And directly in front of him.

He wasn’t better off either, from the looks of it. His lids had fallen over his eyes and he was now giving me that look. The one where he watched me through hooded eyes, channeling an incredible amount of intensity into one look and making it impossible for me to think about anything else but him.

Making it impossible for me to think about anything but his lips on mine, his mouth trailing wet kisses down my naked body, his hot mouth on my core, eating me out like I was dessert. Like I was his favourite meal.

He’d said so, hadn’t he?

“I think I just found my new favourite meal.”

My thighs clenched under the table and my nipples scratched against my bra uncomfortably. Alex’s hooded eyes fell to them, and with the way they flared, I knew that he could probably see the outline of my nipples. If he could, it meant that anyone who saw me could too.

A quick glance down confirmed that my nipples weren’t making an appearance. It would be quite hard for them to because I’d ended up going for tight jeans and a short sleeved T-shirt paired with a jacket to ward off the cold.

Needing something to distract myself, I grabbed my drink and lifted the glass to my lips, taking a sip from the straw as, thankfully, easy conversation flowed around the table.

“Why don’t you just get her number?”

I’d been in my own thoughts for the better part of the conversation, but hearing Alex’s voice had me paying attention so fast, it was like I’d been summoned.

Drew frowned. “Who?”

“Don’t act dumb,” Alex jerked his head in the direction of the bar. “The bartender you’ve been staring at.”

From this booth, we had a direct line of sight to the bar so it was easy for me to see who they were talking about. A blonde woman stood behind the bar, attending to a customer. As she pushed the drink over to the person, her eyes darted in our direction.

I turned to Drew and caught a small stain on his cheeks. It was both surprising and adorable at the same time. “I’m not interested.”

“Is that why you keep watching her?” Jack piped in, a good-natured grin on his lips.

“I wasn’t watching her, I was just-” Drew sputtered, trying to find his words. “Looking. I’m not interested in her like that, really.”

“Sureeee,” Alex drawled sarcastically. “That’s definitely not how a man looks when he’s interested.”

“Oh, come on,” Balery groaned, laughing, “Can you guys leave the poor man alone?”

Alex grinned and, as if in slow motion, lifted his drink to his lips and I watched as his lips closed around the straw, sucking, then his throat worked as he swallowed down the drink.

Heat pooled low in my stomach at the erotic sight.

Suddenly, I shot up from my seat, desperate for an escape. “I need to use the restroom. I’ll be back shortly.”

I was on my way to the restroom-well, I was going to walk around for a bit until I found the restroom then go in there and recouple-when my eyes landed in the direction of the bar and I saw that there were a few empty stools there.

Making up my mind, I changed course and walked over, hopping onto a stool.

When I sat there for a while without ordering anything, a male bartender came over and parked his elbow on the counter, giving me a lazy once-over. Usually, I’d be pissed by his brazen perusal of me, but he was cute and I needed a distraction.

I needed to get myself back. And maybe flirting with this stranger would do that.

“What’s a pretty girl like you doing all alone in a bar?”

“I’m not alone. I’m here with my friends actually.” I jerked my thumb over my shoulder in the direction of our booth.

He looked over my shoulder, his lips rolling and I realised that he had a toothpick in the corner of his mouth. “Just friends?”

“Yeah,” I frowned. “Why?”

His eyes were still trained over my shoulder, a small smile on his lips. I would turn around and see what he was looking at, but I didn’t want to incase the guys from the booth were watching us.

“You’re not attached to any of them?”

Attached?

I was terribly confused.

“What do you mean?”

His eyes finally landed on mine. “What I mean is that there’s a big man storming over here, looking like he very much wants to kill me, and I think you might have something to do with that.”Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

The words had barely left his mouth when I felt a presence beside me, then a big hand came over my shoulder. When I looked up, I found Alex giving the bartender a death glare.