Page 9 of Reckless Kiss
Not too shabby.
Then I caught sight of raven hair and had one of those instant flashbacks to running my hand through a different head of dark, shiny hair. It sent the blood raging into my cock in a rather unfortunate way for the middle of a public space, so the moment the bartender placed my drink on the counter I knocked it back and asked for another.
It wasn’t the first time this happened. Esme had that way about her. She left this indelible sexual imprint on me that made anyone with the same features stand out in a crowd. Even something as simple as wavy raven hair forced her right back into my thoughts. I’d had the same reaction to a pair of pumps, a skirt, and perfume over the last few months.
When I returned to the table the group was in the middle of reenacting—in great detail—some unfortunate procedure the staff was now required to go through each day. Apparently it was unnecessary, awful, and hilarious to the group of geniuses.
“Then, and this is very important,” Jeffry said solemnly, “you must place the yellow paper in the folder marked ‘Yellow’. It’s right beside the folder that says ‘Blue’ where the blue forms go.” Then he rolled his eyes heavenward. “Sweet Jesus it’s like they think we’re stupid.”
“That’s exactly what they think,” Mary muttered. “All they care about are those damn forms and following the procedure for filling them out. What we’re actually doing is lost on them.”
“So it’s the form people who are actually stupid,” I said.
“Yes!” They all said at once.
“What is it you’re actually doing these days?” Sometimes I listened when Jeffry babbled, mostly I did not.
“We’re sequencing a series of genomes and mapping the DNA.”
“Fascinating,” I lied.
Jeffry suddenly froze, his eyes locked on the bar behind us.
“Is she here?” I whispered.
The group all leaned closer.
“Oh...his crush,” Grant grinned.
Jeffry whimpered. “What do I do?”
“Offer to buy her a drink.” Honestly. I wasn’t that hard. Everyone enjoyed having a drink bought for them.
“H-how? What do I say?” The poor man was white as a sheet.
I took pity on him. “Say hello. Ask how her day was. Offer to get her first drink.” I grabbed his shoulder and squeezed, hoping it would pull him out of his nervous spiral. “She’s just a woman, not an Amazon.”
He nodded once. “I’m not so sure.” Then marched right up to the bar like a warrior gone off to battle.
“Ten bucks says he totally fucks this up,” John said.
I finished off my second drink. “He’s not that bad once he gets to know someone. It’s just those first few days that he’s a mess.”
“How long have you known Jeffry?” Grant asked.
Another very different memory flashed through my mind. One of a much younger Jeffry getting high in our dorm room. “We were roommates in college.”
“How many times has he crashed and burned?” That was John again.
“Not as many as you’d think. He dated Simone all through college and grad school. Then he just focused on his doctoral stuff until he finished. Then it was Wendy for what, two years? I haven’t seen him flirt with anyone since. Not until he started asking for advice with this.”
Mary giggle-snorted. “She’s going for it. Oh my goodness! She just touched his arm! Go Jeff, go.”
Not wanting to miss this I finally turned my full attention on Jeffry and his woman. Familiarity hit me square in the chest. It was the raven hair that had caught my eye at the bar a few minutes ago.
Jeffry had good taste.
Except Raven Hair also had killer legs and hips, and was wearing a fantastic pair of bright red pumps, andoh fuck me.
She flipped her hair over her shoulder and laughed.
Esme.
