Free Anticipation by Tiana Johnson Page B

answer my question.”
    “Yes, I do give head. Average to exceptional depending on the person and the environment.”
    Colin avoided her eyes, and his fingers fiddled with the bar napkin. “You didn’t answer my first question. What brings you here tonight?”
    “I am, no—” Kalinda held up her hand. “I was here to pick up a guy who ditched me. Again.”
    “Just a guy?”
    “My boyfriend. At least he was until...” Kalinda flicked her phone’s screen and consulted the digital clock. “Twenty-six minutes ago.”
    “He’s an idiot.”
    Kalinda almost defended her ex-boyfriend. Then she remembered that she had no reason to defend him. He was an idiot, and she could reel off another few words that accurately pinpointed he was. “I bet you leave a trail of broken hearts in hotel bars and elevators across the country.”
    “This isn’t a calculated move. I am just a friendly stranger looking for some good company.”
    She remained silent.
    “I was hoping this would’ve ended differently. That you would say yes to dinner. Even if I wasn’t cute enough...”
    “You’re cute. You have beautiful lips.”
    “I’m cute. I’m single.” Colin tilted his glass to his mouth and took a generous swig. When he put it down, he caught her staring at the drink in his hand. “Arnold Palmer. Teetotaler. I don’t drink when I’m in uniform.”
    “But you bought me this,” she said, pointing to the drink now being refreshed by the bartender.
    “You’re not in uniform.” He winked at her. “Let’s play trivia at the bar — if I get this question right, you have to kiss me.”
    She grabbed his hand and kissed his knuckles. “Not where I wanted a kiss.”
     
    “Why did he leave a fine woman like you alone tonight?”
    “Business.” Kalinda twirled the plastic cocktail skewer between her fingers. “Something that he needed to handle at work.”
    “There’s not that much work in the world. If you don’t mind, your ex-boyfriend is a goddamn fool.”
    She would have taken offense twenty minutes earlier. Now it reverberated through her. “Thanks. I needed that ego stroking.”
    “I am stating the facts.” Colin turned to her, and his knees brushed her as he moved. Again, that warmth and electricity pulsed through her. Her nipples stiffened, and a flush of desire wet her pussy and her panties. She crossed her legs tightly, which only exacerbated the pulse and the desire. Her eyes met his, and she saw a flicker of desire in his eyes that mirrored her own feelings.
    Colin broke the charged silence. “That drink is the first thing I’ve bought since I got back to the states.”
    “When did you get back?”
    “Four days ago. I’m on rest and relaxation for sixty days. Headed home.”
    “Home is where?” She absently stroked the curve of her knee and her thigh, enjoying his interest in her hands and her patterned hose. He couldn’t take his eyes off her fingers stroking the pattern stretching across her thigh. That’s a good sign, Kalinda.
    “Chicago. And you?”
    Home was the last word she would use to describe her blink-and-miss-it college town. She could say a number of places: D.C., where she got her Ph.D.; Seattle, where she graduated from high school; Detroit, where her parents lived now. But again, the easy and convenient lies failed her. “Stillwater, Oklahoma.”
    “I spent some time up there. One year at OSU.”
    “What made you leave?”
    “Stillwater made me leave. It’s not a town for a city kid, football scholarship or not. And school wasn’t for me.”
    “OSU isn’t that bad.” She felt a slight prick of school pride. Slight. “It’s close to a major city.”
    “Can you honestly call Oklahoma City a metropolis?”
    “I moved from D.C. What do you think?” She laughed at his knowing smile. “But it’s not that bad.”
    “I didn’t leave because of the area. I can’t do the lecture-sit in class thing. I’m better with my hands.”
    A tactile learner. She stole a quick