Page 47 of Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail

Realization spread through Astrid. “Ah.”

“Yeah. Wife leaves me for a greater romantic destiny, I start drawing the fucking romantic destiny card. The universe has a hell of a sense of humor, doesn’t she?”

Jordan stuffed the card back into her bag and dropped it on the empty seat next to her, then took another gulp of liquor. She slumped in her chair, one ankle propped on her knee, arms on the seat rests as she leaned her head back.

Instinctively, Astrid’s fingers found their way back to Jordan’s arm. Well, no, not instinctively. Her instinct rarely included physical comfort, but somehow, her fingers didn’t seem to belong anywhere else right now.

Jordan rolled her head, eyes meeting Astrid’s. Her gaze was a little hazy, but from the alcohol or her story, Astrid wasn’t sure. When Jordan didn’t move her arm, Astrid pressed her fingertips into Jordan’s skin a little more firmly.

“If you fucking say you’re sorry,” Jordan said softly, “I’m going to dump the rest of my drink all over your pretty hair.”

Astrid cracked a smile at that. “I was not going to say that I’m sorry.”

Jordan glanced at her skeptically. “Oh, really? Then what wereyou going to say?” She lifted the cherry from her drink to her mouth and bit the fruit off the stem with a vicious snap.

Astrid let her mouth hang open again for a second. “I... was... going to say that I can tie a cherry stem into a knot with my tongue.”

Jordan blinked.

Astrid blinked.

The whole theater seemed to blink.

Holy shit, did she just...? Yes, Astrid Isabella Parker really did just pull out a frat house party trick in response to news about Jordan’s cancer-surviving wife leaving her for a greater destiny than the one she already had.

“Well, this I have to fucking see,” Jordan said, sitting up straight—which dislodged Astrid’s fingers—and holding out the cherry stem.

Astrid dropped her face into her hands. “Oh my god. I have no idea why I said that.”

“What’s done is done.” Jordan waggled the cherry stem at her. “Get that tongue ready, Parker.”

Astrid took the stem while Jordan folded her arms, drink still in one hand.

“I haven’t done this since college,” Astrid said, flicking the stem between her thumb and forefinger.

Jordan grinned, flourishing her free hand as if to sayGo on, then.

Astrid groaned, but popped the stem into her mouth. She worked her tongue around the waxy matter, her jaw moving back and forth and up and down while she tried to keep her lips pressed together so her mouth wasn’t hanging open like a gutted fish. She knew she probably looked like a complete idiot, and laughter bubbled into her chest.

Jordan leaned forward. Slowly, eyes flicking to Astrid’s mouth, her own parting just a little. Jordan watched her so intently, as though everything Astrid was doing was fascinating.

As though Astrid herself were fascinating.

Something about the whole scene made Astrid’s stomach flutter, warmth blooming in her cheeks. She couldn’t remember the last time anyone, regardless of gender, had looked at her like that. Suddenly overwhelmed, she stopped working the stem and made to spit it out, but Jordan grabbed her arm.

“That better be coming out of your mouth in a knot, Parker,” she said, brows lifting in a challenge. Her thumb traced a circle over Astrid’s wrist—just once as Jordan pulled her arm back, but it was enough to make Astrid want to... what?

Succeed?

No, that wasn’t quite right, though, of course, now that the gauntlet had been thrown, the thought of giving up was unbearable. But it was more than that. As her tongue curled and coiled, maneuvering one end of the stem under the other, she realized what the feeling was.

She wanted to impress Jordan Everwood.

And goddammit, she would.

Once she was sure the stem was knotted, she lifted a lackadaisical hand, plucked it from her mouth, and handed it to Jordan.

The other woman took it, twirling the perfectly tied stem between her fingers. Her gaze dropped to Astrid’s mouth one more time, and Astrid found herself doing the same. Jordan had a nice mouth—top and bottom lip equally full, perfectly ruby red despite her drink and the popcorn. Astrid always envied women who had a rosebud mouth like Jordan Everwood. Her own mouth was thinner, her bottom lip bigger than her top, and she could never quite pull off red lipstick.