One!
He kissed her.
Happy new year!
The cherry scent was from her flavored lip balm. He caught the barest taste of it, the sweetness combining with lingering salt from the chips. Then her mouth tilted, her lips parted beneath his, and he took her up on the invitation to go deeper, to slide his tongue against hers. She tasted like champagne, or maybe that was him. And like champagne, she went right to his head. He wanted to lick her up, down, and all over. But all he’d asked for was a kiss.
His other hand, which had been gripping the edge of the counter tight, came up of its own volition and cupped the back of her neck. His fingers massaged her there. She was so smooth, so warm. Her arms tightened around him and her back arched, pressing her hot little body into his.
Just a kiss, he reminded himself, but then she nipped at his bottom lip with her teeth and sucked on it.
Groaning, he fisted his hand in the back of her dress, but he couldn’t pull her any closer than she already was.
A sound in the doorway made them both look up, and half a second later Dimitri burst in.
“Whoa, sorry.” Mitya threw up his hands, then pointed at the fridge. “I just—ah…” He opened it, grabbed a jar of olives, and hurried out.
Nik turned back to Jess. His pulse pounded and his lungs heaved like he’d been running. “Thanks,” he said.
Stupid. He could’ve kicked himself. What the hell kind of thing was that to say to a woman after she’d just kissed the hell out of you and made your knees go weak?
Jess just smirked, the corner of those delectable lips pinching together and revealing the barest dimple in her cheek. “My pleasure.”
Keeping her eyes on his, she unwound her arms from his neck and traced her hands down over his shoulders and chest in slow, lingering touches. The smoldering heat in her eyes made his muscles tighten. Then she hopped down from the counter, but since he hadn’t moved back yet, the front of her body slid straight down his. Shit, she could probably feel that he was getting hard. He stepped away to give her space. She sent him a sultry look, then picked up the champagne and chips and gestured to the doorway with them. “Ready to go back to the party?”
He licked his lips, tasting cherries, salt, and her. He was ready for something, but it wasn’t the party. Her kiss had rocked his world, but this was already more than he’d bargained for. He liked his life as it was, and he wasn’t looking to have it shaken up right now. “I’m, uh…I actually have to finish packing.”
It sounded like an excuse, and maybe it kind of was, but he really did have to pack.
Her brow furrowed, and the last vestiges of fire left her eyes. “Packing? Where’re you going?”
“Leaving tomorrow to start a national tour,” he said. “First stop is Chicago for rehearsals.”
She blinked. “Oh. That’s where I’m from.”
He raised his eyebrows. As much as he wasn’t looking to go further, he did want to know more about her. “Yeah?”
She rolled her eyes. “I couldn’t wait to get away. Came to LA the first chance I got.”
“I get it.” He stuck his hands in his jeans pockets, since he didn’t know what to do with them. Or, rather, to stop himself from doing what he wanted to do—to hold her and kiss her again, then see where it went. But the vibe had slipped into easy, friendly banter, and he didn’t want to ruin it. “All I want to do is travel.”
“Nah, dude. I didn’t say that. I did more than my fair share of traveling while in the competitive ballroom circuit. I just wanted to get the hell out of Chicago and settle somewhere else.”
Settle. What a strange concept. For him, New York City was home. While he hadn’t been born there, it was where he’d grown up, where his parents still lived, and it would therefore always be home to him. Los Angeles was another home base, because Dimitri lived here. Beyond that? Settling was the last thing he wanted to do. “Why?”
Her eyes shuttered and her shoulders slumped just a fraction. “Too cold,” she said, her tone deceptively breezy, and he knew it wasn’t the whole truth.
He wanted to ask more, but he was leaving in the morning, and he hadn’t lied when he said he loved traveling. For as long as he could remember, he’d wanted to get out into the world and experience everything it had to offer. He’d been born in Ukraine, but had spent all of his youth in Brooklyn. Lots of people couldn’t understand why he wanted to leave New York, but for him, the city was all he’d ever known. So, he booked dancer roles with touring productions that let him get away, all in the pursuit of adventure.
“Well, you picked a nice city to settle in,” he said. “Can’t beat Los Angeles weather.” It had been a warm winter so far. And he couldn’t believe he was talking about theweather.
Jess squinted at him. “Why did you say ‘settle’ like it’s a dirty word?”
He was caught off-guard as his mind supplied other dirty words. “Huh?”
“You said ‘settle’ like it was something gross you’d scraped off your shoe,” she said, nudging him with the champagne bottle. “What’s up with that?”
Since she was poking him with it, and since her observation was a little too on the nose, Nik took the bottle and drank. “The idea of settling down somewhere doesn’t appeal to me,” he finally replied. Something about her words gave him a hot, uncomfortable feeling, like his skin was too tight. “I want to see the world, go on adventures. I don’t want to get stuck in one place and become complacent, you know?”
