Page 3
Susie
“Susie. Wait up.”
Jonah walks toward me across the parking garage in long strides, his too-big khakis swinging around his legs.
Now that we’re out of the office fluorescents and standing in the early spring sunlight filtering in through the garage’s open walls, I’m reminded again why I’ve had such an enormous crush on him this whole time.
Besides the big sexy orc thing, he has a sort of boyishness about him, something open and friendly and maybe a little nervous as he walks over to where I’m standing next to my car.
His long black hair hangs loose around his shoulders, and he has two sharp, gleaming white tusks jutting up from under his bottom lip.
The rest of his face is all chiseled jaw and high cheekbones, softened a bit by hair that’s tousled enough to make me want to run my hand through it and mess it up a bit more.
Get it together, Susie.
“Uh, hi Jonah,” I say, trying and failing to sound normal. “What’s up?”
For a moment, he looks completely uncertain, like maybe he’s misread the whole situation.
“So, about what happened earlier—”
“Back in the meeting room, that was—”
We both speak at the same time, laugh a little awkwardly, and fall silent again. A few uncomfortable seconds pass. He looks back over his shoulder, shifts nervously, and for a terrible moment I think he’s about to leave.
He can’t leave.
Not before I say something.
Not before I… before I…
“Yeah,” I say quickly, grabbing at anything to say to keep him from going. “I mean, sorry. If I made you uncomfortable.”
There’s a light sheen of sweat on my forehead and neck, and I’m pretty sure I’m about to keel over out of sheer embarrassment, but I don’t want him to go. Not yet. I’m about to keep babbling, tell him it wasn’t what he thinks it was, try to have a normal conversation, but Jonah speaks first.
“Don’t be sorry.”
The world tilts for a moment as I process his quiet, steady words.
Maybe he was alright with it? Maybe he…
A shiver races down my spine and anticipatory heat unspools low in my belly.
“You… don’t mind? The way I was staring at you?”
“Susie,” he says, like I’m missing something completely obvious. “I loved the way you were staring at me.”
I have my hands resting awkwardly on my hips, and as he speaks, Jonah reaches out to curl his long, thick fingers around my wrist.
I’ve always been on the scrawny side, and his huge grip circles it easily.
His hand is warm, so warm, and the rough rasp of his callouses against the tender skin of my inner wrist is a delicious contrast. He’s holding loosely enough that I could pull away if I wanted, but tight enough to make it clear he knows exactly what I’d been looking at during the meeting.
“Oh. Oh, I…” My breath catches and I trail off, but he fills in the silence.
“Do you want to… I mean, if you’re free sometime…”
“What about right now?”
Holy hell. Did I really just say that? Am I really offering what I think I’m offering?
Jonah’s eyes widen. He searches my face like he’s not sure he heard me right. “Now?”
For a split second, I nearly take it back. There’s still time to be a coward. I could bow out, stutter over some explanation, or backtrack into an excuse.
Except… I don’t.
I can’t.
Not when my heart’s pounding so hard and fast in my chest and my pussy is throbbing and Jonah from Accounting is standing here, looking at me wide-eyed like it’s Christmas morning and I’m his present.
“Yeah…” I say slowly, throwing the rest of my caution to the wind. “I mean… I live pretty close by if you wanted to… you could come over.”
The grip he has on my wrist tightens, and he leans in close. “And what would you want me to do with these hands if I came over?”
“I think you already know.”
Where that streak of boldness comes from, I have no idea, but the flash of pure lust across his face is enough to make it worth the risk. His pupils dilate, his nostrils flare, and his wide chest expands with the deep, bracing breath he takes.
“I’d love to come over.”
Okay. So we’re doing this. We’re really doing this.
I really just invited Jonah from Accounting over to my apartment for a hookup, and he really just accepted.
This is chill. This is cool. People do this all the time.
Some people, I mean, not me. But today’s apparently the day I jump off the deep end completely, and if I’m going to do it with anyone, I’m glad it’s with Jonah from Accounting.
God, I have to stop mentally calling him Jonah from Accounting.
“Just, leave here in like five minutes, okay?” I ask after giving him my address. “I need to… my place is a bit of a mess.”
“Sure. Yeah. Sure, that sounds good.”
When I look back up at him, he seems almost as nervous as I am, but also so damn pleased and eager as hell.
Which, okay, I kind of love that. It makes me bold enough not to chicken out, bold enough to do this, with him. No turning back.
I grin at him before heading to my car. “See you in a few.”