Saturday Snippet
Today’s theme is Truly, Madly, Deeply. I love books where the hero and heroine fall slowly, starting out as friends. In Happy Hour, past hurts kept Jamie and Grace from admitting to their true feelings. When they finally do come out, whooo boy! Let the fireworks commence!
Snippet
“Fuck,” Trey muttered. “Stripper at eleven o’clock.”
Jamie closed his eyes and sighed. “Jesus. It’s like she’s got a homing device on me or something.”
Grace gave him an amused grin. “I told you not to go out with her.”
“Well, now, in his defense, Gracie, she is a hot stripper,” Trey replied, holding his hands in front of his chest to accentuate the fact the woman was well endowed.
“A hot, stalker stripper.” Grace laughed as she added the adjective and Jamie simply nodded. He couldn’t deny the truth of that statement. He’d gone to a bachelor party a few months earlier and gotten more than a little bit inebriated. In his drunken state, he’d asked the stripper from the party out on a date. He’d only gone out with the woman, Carmen, once and he hadn’t done anything more than kiss her goodnight. Since then, Carmen had called, stopped by his house and managed to track him down at whatever bar he was hanging out in, until Jamie was ready to skip town simply to escape her once and for all.
“If she sees me, we’ll never shake her.”
“That’s because you’re too fucking nice to the bitch. Just tell her to go away.” Trey took a drink of beer, his voice and face betraying his annoyance. He suffered as much as Jamie whenever Carmen showed up and attached herself to their group. She talked incessantly about the most mundane things, demanding attention from every male at the table.
“She’s a nice girl, Trey. I don’t want to hurt her feelings.”
Trey groaned. “Yeah, well, you better figure something out because I think she just spotted you.”
Jamie refused to have his night with Grace ruined by Carmen and he reacted before he thought. He leaned over and kissed Grace, a hard, full-on, open-mouthed kiss. He half expected her to pull away and slap him, so he was pleasantly surprised when she wrapped her arms around his neck and returned the kiss.
He wasn’t sure how long he inhaled the sweet scent of her breath and tasted the tang of beer on her tongue. He gripped her waist and held on, reveling in the moment. Their first kiss and it was better than he’d ever imagined. Her lips were soft against his, but her response proved she wouldn’t be a passive or timid lover. She touched his tongue with hers, exploring his mouth while her fingers tugged his hair, pulled him closer.
The kiss betrayed her true feelings and had his mouth been free, he’d have shouted his happiness to the entire bar. She was as hungry for him as he was for her. For a moment, the rest of the world faded away, leaving just the two of them, lost in their own private Eden.
And then reality intruded.
“Jamie?” Finally, the female voice penetrated his lust-clouded mind and he regretfully pulled away. “Jamie?”
He turned to find Carmen standing beside the table, looking confused—and shit—upset. He hated hurting her, but she didn’t understand when he said he wasn’t interested in dating her. When faced with the idea of listening to her nonstop boring conversation another night, he’d acted on instinct. “Hey, Carmen,” he said, forcing a nonchalant tone to his voice.
“Hi,” she said. “I thought I spotted you over here.” An awkward silence fell, and Jamie decided it was time to carry the subterfuge to the next level.
“Have you met my girlfriend, Grace?”
“Girlfriend?” Carmen asked.
He nodded and was grateful when Grace smiled kindly. “I think we may have met a few months ago. At another happy hour, maybe?”
Carmen shrugged and Jamie saw Trey roll his eyes. No doubt Carmen didn’t remember the fact she’d met Grace at least three times in the past. She wasn’t exactly bright and she certainly never paid a bit of attention to the other women at the table, usually saving all of that mind-numbing banter for him or Trey.
“Isn’t she a little old for you?” Carmen asked.
Jamie fought back the urge to tell the woman off for her cruelty. “No. She isn’t.” His words were clipped and halting and any fool could see he was furious. Unfortunately, Carmen was the queen of fools.
She looked Grace up and down and then dismissed her as a serious threat. “What are you guys doing tonight?” she purred, thrusting her breasts forward as if the mere sight of her big tits bursting out of her too-tight top would make him come to his senses and fall madly in love with her.
“We’re having a few drinks together.”
“That’s cool,” she said, looking around for an extra chair. Mercifully, they’d given their extra seats to a large group at the next table.
“Well, it was good to see you again, Carmen. Maybe I’ll see you around sometime.” Jamie’s dismissal was curt and he silently prayed it would be enough because if she persisted on hanging around, they’d have to leave. After the kiss he’d just shared with Grace, he’d rather cut off his left nut than cut this evening short.
Carmen hovered by the table for a moment until Trey and Grace both added their goodbyes, then she left.
“Damn, man,” Trey said. “Quick thinking on that kiss. Well done.”
He nodded, though he was still fuming over Carmen’s insult. He glanced at Grace. “I’m sorry she was so rude to you.”
Grace reached over and grasped his hand. “That’s not your apology to make. Besides, I think we’ve already discussed her lack of intelligence.”
Trey laughed, but Jamie continued speaking. “With any luck, that will be the last time I have to deal with her.”
Grace squeezed his hand. “Oh, I think you made your point. You’ve tried to break things off with her gently at least a dozen times, Jamie. Sometimes, you just have to be less subtle, more direct.”
“That kiss was pretty fucking direct,” Trey said.
Grace looked at him and smiled. “Have to admit I didn’t mind pretending to be your girlfriend for a few minutes. Wow.”
“Few minutes? Felt like you were swallowing each other’s tonsils for hours.”
“Shut up, Trey,” Jamie said with a grin, pleased by Grace’s compliment.
Happy Hour is available at Samhain, Amazon, Fictionwise, Barnes and Noble, Sony and All Romance Ebooks.
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