You don’t know me that well.” He frowned. “I think.”
“I’ve seen you out in the city at Machado’s a few times. Each time with a different girl.”
He looked at her. The Cuban restaurant was one of his favorite haunts while he lived in Manhattan and a place he often took women on first dates. “We lived in the same neighborhood?” he asked. She nodded once. “And I never noticed you?”
“You did notice me, but I guess I’m just forgettable.”
He racked his brain, searching for her face in his memory, but came up blank. “Don’t you think it’s time you let me in on this little secret? Tell me how I know you.”
“Nope.” She shook her head. “Can I have the last strawberry?”
“Yeah.” He picked up the last chocolate-and-cream-covered strawberry with his fingers and presented it to her mouth. “I don’t see why you just can’t tell me. We live in the same town again. We’re bound to see more of each other. This game is stupid.”
She shrugged, taking a bite of the berry. “I think it’s fun.”
He watched her chew for a moment, her lips once again driving him to distraction. She was right. He liked feeding her, and not for the reasons she thought. He just liked to see her mouth work. He mentally shook himself out of her spell. This woman was going to cause him to do something he regretted. “Why don’t you like me?”
“Can’t stand it, can you?” She gave him a slight grin and pulled his hand to her mouth to deposit the last bit of strawberry. “There’s more chocolate on your fingers than was on the damn strawberry.” She lifted his thumb to her mouth, placed it inside, and removed all traces of food with her tongue.
Holy shit.
His entire body went rigid. All his blood, every ounce went rushing from his head, flooding into other places.
“What?” She looked up at him, his thumb still in her warm, moist mouth.
The silly girl hadn’t meant to make him harder than cement, but she had. Mike heard a choking sound and looked up to see Colin wide-eyed. Nothing shocked his friend, but today Ellis had managed to do it. Ellis slowly removed his thumb from her mouth and turned to look at Colin and her friends. Cherri’s mouth hung open; Belinda stared at Ellis as if she had never seen her before.
“It’s not what it … He had chocolate on his…” Ellis groaned. “I need a drink.” She climbed over Mike, her breasts brushing against his cheek, and quickly headed for the bar. “So freaking stupid,” she muttered. “Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.”
* * *
Ellis made her way up to the bar, her chest heaving, her mind racing. How could she be so stupid? How could she let such an infuriating man make her lose all common sense? She let him feed her! Multiple times! And then she got so caught up in their back-and-forth that she forgot to be rational and sucked on his thumb. The worst thing about it was that she didn’t realize how intimate it was, how wrong it was, until Mike froze and looked at her like she was a total slut. And she was a total slut. Who else would suck on a man’s thumb in a bar?
“Hey, Red,” Ellis heard behind her. She ignored it, thinking the man behind her was talking to someone else. The line at the bar was long and Ellis really needed a drink. She wasn’t going to have one, though. A bottle of water was all she was going to be drinking. Who knew what another dose of alcohol would cause her to do? “Hey, Red.” This time she felt a tap on her shoulder.
She turned to face the tapper. “Yes?” It was one of the frat boys she had seen earlier.
“What are you drinking?” He slurred and then looked at her breasts. “I’ll buy.”
“No thanks. I’m just going to have water.” She turned around to wait patiently for her turn. She didn’t need this bullshit.
“Oh come on, Red. I’ve got a bet going with my friends that I could get you back to my dorm before the final round.”
She turned around again. Oh no, he didn’t.