Free Sweet on My Tongue by Robby Mills

Chapter One
     
    Timothy Rockwell sat at the dimly lit bar casually watching
people shimmy and gyrate on the dance floor. There was a time he would have
been out there doing the same thing. He observed one couple dry humping to the
beat, all but fucking right there in front of everyone. He couldn’t be the only
one to notice. But when he glanced around, the rest of the half-drunk patrons
didn’t seem to see them, that or chose to ignore the blatant display. Deciding
to follow suit, he turned his attention back to his beer.
    Christ, what the hell was he doing here? Tim took a swig of
his lukewarm beer. He knew exactly why he was here. His sister and buddies gave
him an intervention. Fucking intervention, for Christ’s sake.
    “Tim, it’s been six months since Debra left you. It’s time
you got back out there.”
    That from his sister who never liked Deb to begin with. She
loved sitting there tossing out the I told you so’s one after the other
with a wide grin.
    And his so-called friends, yeah, those bastards stood behind
his adorable sister, adding fuel to the fire. Why couldn’t they let him work
through this in his own way? Six months, fuck, that was nothing more than a
tick of a clock compared to the two years he and Deb shared together. Did they
actually expect him to forget everything as if it never happened?
    “You’re not the same person.”
    “You need your confidence back.”
    “Find a woman looking for nothing but a good time and clear
Deb out of your system.”
    “Move on. You’re better off without her.”
    On and on the advice spewed until he thought he’d lose his
mind. It was either agree to this trip or become stark raving mad. He’d tried
moving on in his own way. He put in extra hours at work, went to the gym and
pumped iron until he was too tired to think about her. He had a handle on it.
    Tim rubbed his hand over his face. Who was he kidding? He
couldn’t stand himself either. Snarling and snapping at everyone, even himself.
No wonder his sister and friends wanted him out of town. They got a vacation as
well.
    He lifted his head, casually scanned the bar and found a
woman sitting at the other end, watching him. His first instinct was to look
away. After two years of never noticing another woman because he thought he had
the perfect one, it felt strange. Tim forced himself to glance in her direction
again.
    Yep, she still had her eyes focused in his direction. Pretty
eyes, too. Warm, sparkly. He pulled his focus back to take in her entire face.
Whoa, she was gorgeous—thick, lush lips, long, flowing chestnut-brown hair and
bare shoulders. Those lips turned up into a brilliant smile that sent a punch
to his gut.
    She looked younger than him. Not that he was old. He never
considered thirty-two a time to start picking out grave plots or anything.
Still, she couldn’t be much more than early twenties.
    His young admirer leaned forward and sealed those shiny,
sinful lips around a straw while gazing at him. Tim’s throat dried up, bone,
desert dry. An excited tingle hit his groin. Something he hadn’t felt in far
too long. Even his brain woke up.
    He must have looked pathetic because when she parted her
lips and released the straw, she laughed. He took a quick peek into the mirror
behind the bar and saw his stupid teenaged expression. Way to go, Rockwell. A
sexy young woman makes eye contact with you and you freak the fuck out.
    Doing his best to mask the eager virgin look with one of
boredom, he lifted his beer and peered over the rim of the glass. Hottie stood
up from her stool, grabbed her drink and started walking. Great, he chased her
off. Chalk one up for the sad loser.
    All that tingling in his thighs and lower abdomen fizzled
away. “Guess I’ll never know what those lips can do,” he mumbled. Disgusted
with himself, he gave one last look her way.
    Holy hell, Hottie was still watching him and heading his
way. No tingling this time. No, a full-blown fire flared to life in his