Chick with a Charm (16 page)

“Speak for yourself, loser.” Kevin leaned back in his chair. “Parents always like me a lot.”

“Sometimes better than the girl likes you,” Miles said.

“That only happened once, and it was because they had their heart set on a lawyer for a son-in-law, and she had her heart set on a punk rocker. They still send me a bottle of Scotch every Christmas.”

Griffin sat down with a sigh. “I’m not ready for this.”

“No man is ready for this,” Miles said. “You’re sleeping with their daughter, so naturally they’ll expect you to be looking at rings. It’s the way it is.”

“Maybe they don’t have to know I’m sleeping with their daughter.”

Kevin shook his head. “Don’t kid yourself. They’ll know. Parents have radar for such things.”

“You’re right.” Griffin glanced at his friends. “I’m not planning to marry their daughter, so what do I say to them?”

Miles loosened his tie and unfastened the top button of his dress shirt. “Say what you usually say in this situation.”

“The thing is, our buddy Griffin hasn’t been in this situation,” Kevin said. “He’s only slept with potential wives.”

Miles stared at Griffin. “Is that true? I didn’t know that.”

“It’s true,” Griffin said. “This is the first time I’ve slept with someone just for the hell of it, because I wanted to.”

Miles blew out a breath. “I’m still back on the
sleeping with potential wives
part of this conversation. You were considering marrying Sharon?”

“Sort of. For a while.”

“Jesus, man, I had no clue or I would have stepped in. Sharon was pretty and all, but she would have been a disaster. Neurotic as hell.”

“Yeah, well.” Griffin shrugged. “She had career goals. She knew what she wanted out of life. Whereas Lily—”

“Did someone call my name?” Lily appeared at his elbow. He hoped to hell she hadn’t heard any of that discussion, but as he glanced up, her expression was open and friendly, so she probably hadn’t.

After she left with their order, Kevin leaned toward him. “Okay, here’s what you say to her parents: You and Lily are just getting to know each other, and you think she’s fantastic, but you don’t want to rush into anything and neither does she.”

“Sounds good,” Miles said. “And another tip. Don’t flaunt your sexual relationship in front of them. Keep your hands pretty much to yourself, and definitely no lip-locks in their presence.”

“I think that’s why I’m so nervous about meeting her parents. I’ve never dated anyone who turned me on this much. I’m afraid I’ll forget and grab her right in front of them.”

“You won’t,” Kevin said. “You’re a lawyer, for God’s sake. You know how to put on an act when you have to. We all do.”

“I suppose.” Griffin glanced over at the bar where Lily was mixing their drinks. “At least I don’t have to worry about it yet.”

 

Lily watched as Kevin and Miles left for the evening. Griffin stayed at the table, but she expected him to wander over to the bar soon. She’d debated suggesting that he go back to her apartment again tonight and take Daisy out, but now that her parents were in town, she felt like making the most of whatever time she had with Griffin when her folks weren’t around, even if it was at work.

Business at the bar had slowed, as it usually did once happy hour was over. Maybe she’d buy Griffin a drink and he could sit at the bar and talk to her for a while. She liked talking to Griffin, liked hearing his voice. She wouldn’t bring up anything paranormal this time, though.

Her horoscope question had gone nowhere, and she shouldn’t have been surprised. Griffin had never struck her as the kind of guy who would head for the tarot booth at a county fair. But after her dad’s comments, she’d decided to find out if Griffin at least had an open mind about events outside his own experience.

She’d have to come at it from a different direction next time, though, because astrology didn’t click with him and they’d totally derailed when Griffin thought she might be talking about aliens. Maybe she could mention a couple of movies as a lead-in to the subject.

But not tonight. Tonight she wanted to flirt and have a good time. She wanted to enjoy the good parts of this spell and stop worrying about the potentially bad parts. She wanted to enjoy the experience of being into someone who was also into her.

“You’re smiling.”

She glanced over and was surprised to see that Griffin had come to the bar and slid onto a stool without her noticing. She turned toward him and discovered the only other customer who had been sitting at the bar had paid up and left. “I was thinking about you,” she said honestly.

“And smiling.” He seemed happy about that. “I’ll take that as a good sign.”

“It is.” She met his gaze and allowed herself to bask in that admiring glow for a few seconds. Heat spiraled through her and settled in a predictable spot. Too bad they weren’t alone. “A very good sign.”

“Did you want me to go take care of Daisy?”

“She’ll be okay for a little while longer. I could buy you a drink, if you’d like to stay and talk to me until my break.”

“You have a break coming up?” He looked interested in that.

“In about twenty minutes. Sherman handles the bar for me so I can get off my feet for a little while.”

“And how long is that?”

“Oh, about fifteen minutes. But I can’t really leave, if that’s what you’re asking.”

He shook his head. “Just wondering how long I could have you to myself.”

The intimate way he said it, along with his steady gaze, sent more heat flooding through her. “You’d better stop looking at me like that, or we’re liable to cause a scene.”

“Sounds like fun.”

She laughed. “Oh, it would be, until I got fired. So, what would you like?”

He just smiled.

Wow, the man packed a punch. “Besides that.”

“I guess I’ll make do with a bottle of Heineken, then. And I don’t need a glass.” He pushed money across the bar.

“Seriously, this one’s on me.”

He pulled the money back. “Thanks. Remind me to do something nice for you soon.”

“I will.” She winked at him as she opened the bottle and handed it to him. About that time Sherman arrived with a couple of orders, and she busied herself filling them while Sherman went to check on another table.

“If there’s anything special you want to watch on TV, Griffin, say the word and I’ll change to that channel. You’re the only one sitting here so you might as well please yourself.”

“There’s nothing on TV that beats watching you move around doing your job.”

She flushed with pleasure. “That has to be boring. All I’m doing is mixing drinks.”

“With great efficiency.” He leaned closer. “But also when you work fast, your breasts shift just enough to make the view really interesting.”

She smiled but kept her eyes on her work so she didn’t mess up the order. “So you’re ogling.”

“Yes, ma’am, I sure am. Does that bother you?”

“Uh-huh.” She didn’t dare look at him or she’d never get this order filled. “I’m not only bothered, I’m hot and bothered.”

“Too bad we can’t do something about that.”

She finished the drinks and set them on the bar for Sherman. “It is a shame.”

“Not many private spots in a place like this. I don’t suppose there’s a storeroom or anything.”

She laughed. “Griffin Taylor, you know there’s a storeroom. You have to pass it to get to the bathrooms. You’ve been plotting this all along, haven’t you?”

“Maybe. Any chance my devious plan would work?”

She shouldn’t think about the possibility, but now she couldn’t help it. If they were quiet and nobody needed anything out of the storeroom, it could work. The guys in the kitchen had often complained that there was no door from the kitchen to the storeroom, so they had to go out in the hall and through another door to get anything. Funky old buildings like this one sometimes had odd layouts.

“You’re crazy.” But she hadn’t said she wouldn’t do it. In fact, her body was telling her to go for it. “You’d have to go into the men’s room and get a—”

“I know.” Griffin looked at his watch. “By my calculations, I should do that pretty soon, if we’re going to take advantage of your break.”

She was already planning how they could do it. The thrill of the forbidden had always appealed to her, and doing something wild like this with Griffin was icing on the cake. “Go make your purchase,” she said. “I’ll call Sherman over and tell him I need him to cover for me while I take inventory of the liquor supply, so I’ll know what we need to order from the distributor.”

“Will he buy that?”

“He should. I’ve done it plenty of times. I like my job and I like it to run smoothly. I’ll admit planning ahead normally isn’t my strong suit, but when not doing that will affect how the bar operates, then I jump in there. Devon’s not big on keeping track of supplies, so Syd makes sure we have everything we need for the kitchen and I take care of ordering the booze.”

“Which is a lucky thing right now.”

She trailed a finger down the side of his face. “Very lucky.”

“Lily, you are the hottest, most amazing—”

“Hey, Lil.” Sherman came toward them. “Things have slowed down, so I was thinking of taking a break.”

Lily gave Griffin a secret smile. “If you can wait a little longer, I need to take inventory in the storeroom. Griffin’s offered to help.” She reached in her backpack and pulled out her set of keys.

Sherman looked from Lily to Griffin. “Oh.” He opened his mouth as if to say something else, but apparently changed his mind. “Okay. Take off, then. I’ll hold down the fort.”

What a rush
, Lily thought as she lifted the hinged part of the bar and walked out into the main serving area. She was meeting her dream guy in the storeroom for sex. No matter what else happened because of the adoration elixir, she’d always remember this unbelievably wild stunt. If she was this turned on by the idea of taking a chance, she wondered how Griffin was able to walk.

He might have been having some issues, because he wasted no time disappearing down the hall toward the men’s room.

Lily unlocked the storeroom and reached inside to turn on the light. In the glare of the overhead bulb, she took stock of the situation. Shelves full of cardboard containers lined the walls of the narrow room. The empty space in the center was about seven feet across. The place smelled musty, which made it all the more exciting.

She envisioned how this would work, and the only way would be with one of them braced up against a row of boxes. There would be no lying down in this place. They’d have to do it upright. Cool.

“Sorry I took so long. The machine was acting up.”

She turned to find Griffin standing there in his suit. “But you were successful?”

“There was never any doubt.”

She gestured around the storeroom. “You could get a little dusty with this plan.”

He stepped toward her. “I hope to hell I do.”

“Then I guess we’d better lock the door.”

Griffin hadn’t ever done anything remotely like this, and it felt damned good to be acting on a wild impulse. Lily closed and locked the door, which muted the rock music coming from the bar but didn’t eliminate it. The music would help cover the sound of their activities.

And he was more than ready for those activities. Pulling her into his arms, he satisfied his immediate need to kiss her. Kissing only threw gasoline on a fire that was already out of control.

He lifted his head and glanced around at the starkly lit interior of the storeroom, searching for the best place.

“We don’t have much time.” She reached down and unbuckled his belt.

“Let’s go over there. Up against that stack of boxes.”

She was breathing quickly. “Fine.” She unfastened his slacks and started to pull down the zipper as he backed her toward the boxes. “Where’s the con—”

He grabbed her hands as she fumbled with the zipper. “I’ll do that. You take off your pants.” He sounded more like a drill sergeant than a lover, but they had so little time and he was desperate to be inside her. All he could hear from the muffled bar music was a steady drumbeat that would be perfect accompaniment.

“Right.” She stepped away from him long enough to unzip her tight black pants. “Oh, Hades, the boots. I have to take off the boots if I’m going to—”

“Just take off one.” He fought the red haze of lust that made his fingers tremble as he ripped open the condom packet. All the while he prayed that they’d have enough time to finish this. It had become the single most important thing in his life, to bury his cock in her hot, slick vagina.

And he knew it would be hot and slick. The sweet aroma of aroused woman floated up as she tossed her boot aside and pulled one leg free of her pants and panties. He had the condom on by the time she accomplished that.

He’d love to be able to feel her breasts against him, but they didn’t have time for taking off anything else. He’d never had sex with his suit jacket on, either, but this was a night for firsts. With his pants down around his ankles on a dusty floor, he reached for her.

She put both hands on his shoulders and looked into his eyes. “Can you hold me up?”

“I could hold up Wrigley Stadium if it meant I could be inside you.”

Her laugh was breathy. “Adrenaline is amazing, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it most certainly is.”

She moistened her lips.

He picked her up, and she demonstrated the agility of a gymnast, tucking her legs around him as she clutched his shoulders. His penis reacted like a Scud missile, homing in on her moist heat, finding the target and sliding in as if they’d practiced this for hours.

“Mm.” She closed her eyes. “That’s very good.”

“Outstanding.” He felt so strong he imagined he could hold her like this forever.