Page 18 of Unstoppable You (Sapph in the City #6)

Chapter Eighteen

James

I’d also had three drinks in a pretty short period of time, but I was much steadier than she was. Something told me Delaney didn’t drink all that often and it was hitting her like a ton of bricks.

It would have been utterly adorable if I wasn’t also worried about her doing herself a serious injury. Even leaving her to get water was risky, but I came back and found her leaning up against the wall with a zoned-out look on her face.

Fuck, she was cute as hell.

“You’re back,” she said, grinning at me. Delaney was smiling. At me .

“Here you go, baby,” I said without thinking as I pressed the water into her hand, making sure she didn’t immediately drop it. Shit. I couldn’t stop calling her “baby” and it was a good thing she was a little too tipsy to notice. She wasn’t drunk enough to forget about tonight, but hopefully those little endearments would be forgotten.

I’d almost died right there on the dance floor when she’d touched my hips. Delaney had never touched me before. And she’d done it to try and get me to dance with her.

This was one of the strangest nights of my life and it wasn’t even over yet.

I made her down most of the water and then she hauled me out to the dance floor again, throwing herself into the music and dancing her ass off. She couldn’t stop laughing and it was contagious. The people around her cheered for her and even though some of her moves were utterly ridiculous, she was giving it her all and that was something to admire. I sure did.

Delaney had tried to pull me in, but I wasn’t going to dance with her like I would have usually danced with a woman at Sapph. She was just a visitor tonight. Having a good time in a place where men weren’t centered. It was probably a heady feeling after being fucked over by Connor. How could he have had this incredible woman for four years and just…banged someone else? If I had Delaney in my bed, I’d never let her leave. I’d bring her all her meals and make sure she had everything she could possibly need. I would have pampered her every moment of every day. Because she deserved it.

It was beautiful to see that she hadn’t let the breakup get her down. She was here and she was smiling and dancing and having the time of her life. I was just lucky I got to witness it.

“This is fun,” she said through a happy sigh after she’d finished the water. We’d been standing together against the wall and watching the crowd for a little while. A few people had given Delaney a once-over, but I’d put my arm around her to ward anyone off. She hadn’t noticed yet. Those drinks had really hit her hard.

Delaney snuggled into me, letting out another sweet little sigh. Oh hell. She was leaning almost completely on me and I could smell her, and I’d had a few drinks myself and this was all happening too fast.

“Do, um, do you want…” I trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.

“I would take another drinky drink.” Damn, she was adorable. And she smelled incredible and I wanted to grab her chin and tilt her head up just enough to kiss her. But kissing her tonight was out of the question. If I kissed her (which would be never), I wanted her to remember it was me.

My head had started spinning the second I read “kiss a girl” on her list. She’d brushed it off as something “everyone did” and that it was a standard rite of passage, but was it? Sure, a kiss didn’t determine your sexuality, but what if?

What if?

Those two words pounded in my head like the beat of a song. I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Delaney was straight. Wasn’t she?

* * *

It turned out that alcohol also made Delaney sleepy, and her eyes kept fluttering closed. Time to get her home.

“Hey. Let’s go home, okay?” I called a car to take both of us to her place. Thanks to dropping her off, I had her address in my phone already.

A very drowsy and warm Delaney let me take her out of the bar and get her into a car. I was going to make sure she was in bed before I left and went home myself.

“Have a good night?” the older woman driving us asked.

“You could say that.” She smiled and offered us both mints and water. I declined, but it was sweet of her to offer.

Delaney was a little more lucid when we got to her place.

“Why did we leave?” she asked.

“Because it was time to go,” I told her, helping her up the stairs. “Where are your keys, baby?” There it was again. That word I couldn’t stop saying.

“Here they areeeee,” she sang, dangling them in front of me. “I can do it.”

I watched as she fumbled a few times, but did manage to get the door open, giggling as she walked in and dropped her bag on the floor.

“I wanna dance,” she said, pouting and swinging her hips. Jesus Christ. She was too sexy for her own good. It was a serious problem for me, especially tonight.

“You can dance if you want, but how about we get some more water and aspirin into you?”

She pouted even further. “I gotta pee.”

“Well, I’m not going to help you with that.” She stuck her tongue out at me and stomped to the bathroom. I moved closer to the door, just in case she needed some help.

“Everything okay in there?” I asked when she’d been quiet for a few minutes.

“Shhhh, you’re distracting me,” she said, and I choked back a laugh.

I shut up and looked around. Delaney’s apartment wasn’t what I thought it would be. I’d assumed it would be warm and full of books and little knickknacks and cute things and maybe some plants.

This place was…bland. And dark. The couch was faded navy blue and there was one tan rug and barely anything on the walls. There were books, yes, but not as many as I would have thought.

Connor. This had to be Connor. He would have told her not to buy anything that he thought was too “girly” or not “masculine” enough. His fingerprints were all over this place.

She needed to get some new fucking furniture.

Delaney emerged from the bathroom with a goofy smile on her face.

“All done.”

“Good.” I gave her another glass of water and made her sit on the couch while she drank it and had some aspirin.

She started nodding off again, so I got her up and pushed her toward the bedroom.

“Come with meeeee,” she said. “I’m so tired of being alone.”

Her bedroom was a little more her speed. The bed had a pretty flowered comforter and there were stacks of books everywhere.

Delaney grabbed my arm at the same time she flopped on the bed, almost yanking me off my feet.

“Stay with me,” she pleaded, her eyes sparkling with tears. “I hate being alone.”

How could I say no to her? I couldn’t.

Between the two of us, we got her shoes and mine off and I tucked her under the covers.

“I’ll stay with you until you fall asleep,” I told her. It wasn’t going to take long.

She yawned so hard her jaw cracked as she nuzzled into her pillow.

“Stay with me,” she muttered again, reaching out to me. I took her hand, cradling it gently with mine. We’d done more touching tonight than we ever had before, and it was messing with my head.

Here I was, laying in Delaney’s bed and holding her hand. This was beyond my wildest dreams. Sure, I was wearing jeans and I was on top of the blankets while she was under them, but I was still in her bed, surrounded by her scent and feeling her warmth beside me.

Glancing over, I saw that she was out. Her fingers loosened from mine. I turned on my side so I could make sure she was okay. Also so I could stare at her a little bit, obviously. Not in a creepy way. In a concerned way.

She had plenty of pillows, so I made myself comfortable. Just for a few minutes. Just a few more…