Trouble (23 page)

I can’t believe I just said that.

Beth will, without doubt, be aware of Jordan’s past when it comes to women, but it’s not my place to pass comment.

She lifts her eyebrow. “He has been talking to you. I’m glad, but surprised he told you that stuff. Still, I’ll take it as a good sign considering you’re here on a date with him. You must really like him.” Then she smiles wide. “And he must really like you.”

I can’t say her words don’t affect me because they do. I want Jordan to like me.

“What makes you think that?” I ask.

“Because he’s never been
that
honest with a girl before. Hell, he’s never been on an actual date before. And if he’s telling you all his shit up front, then you must really mean something to him. He must think a lot of you. He wants you to know the truth, and that’s a big step for him.”

I honestly don’t know what to say, so I say nothing.

“Look, I don’t know how long you’re here for, Mia, and I know Jordan might come off as being a bad ass, but he’s not. Not really. When he cares about someone, he cares about them with everything. And he takes, losing someone he cares about, badly.”

“His mom?”

“Holy crap! He told you about his mom? Shit, he does like you.” She grins and wraps an arm around my waist. The contact surprises me and locks every muscle in my body. It does every time a new person touches me. “Just don’t break his heart now that he’s finally got it working, please.” She laughs lightly.

My insides coil. “I don’t think I have the power to do that.”

“Oh, you’d be surprised,” she says, lowering her voice.

I lift my eyes to see a smiling, but curious Jordan walking toward us, hands laden with our drinks.

He hands me my beer.

“Thanks.” I smile. His eyes hold mine for a moment before moving to Beth.

“You wanna go see Toni now?” He hands Beth her drink.

“You know what?” Her eyes dart to me, then back to Jordan, a smile creeping across her face. “I’m good. I got this with Toni.”

Jordan’s brow creases in confusion. “You sure?”

“I’m sure,” she says, walking backwards and away from us into the crowd. “You two go have fun.” Before turning away, she gives me a conspiratory wink.

Subtle much? I have to hold back a laugh.

“If you need me, call my cell,” Jordan calls after her.

Beth waves a hand in acknowledgement before disappearing into the crowd.

Jordan turns to me. “So … it’s just you and me.”

Shivers and a whole bunch of nerves swarm me. “It is.”

“You wanna try and find somewhere to sit?”

“Sure.”

I follow Jordan upstairs where he says it’ll be quieter and we’ll be more likely to find a seat. He’s right. We find an empty sofa overlooking the dance floor below.

I sit down first. Jordan sits beside me. My nerves have ratcheted up a couple of thousand notches now because it’s just him and me. No Beth as a buffer. I can’t think of a single thing to say to him, so I cover it up by continuously sipping on my drink and pretending to be fascinated by all the people in the club.

“You’re still nervous.” His hand comes up, pulling mine from my mouth. I was playing with my lip without even realizing.

Jordan slides his fingers through mine, holding my hand. My stomach scatters.

I turn my face to him, not realizing how close he is, bringing me almost nose to nose with him. My cheeks heat. I shuffle across the sofa, putting myself up against the arm rest, and I don’t deny the nerves. There’s no point. Not when he can read me so well.

“Is it me who’s making you nervous? Something I’m doing, or just the whole being on a date with me thing?”

I turn my body to him. My knees touch his thigh. “It’s not you. It’s just being on a date. I’ve only dated one guy before, and that didn’t work out so well for me.” Without thought, I touch the healing cut on my brow.

His eyes follow my hand, and they stayed trained on the remnant of my relationship with Forbes long after I’ve moved my hand away.

His face is impassive, but I know his mind is working. I can see it in his eyes. I’m wondering if all I’ve done is remind him of the mess I came from … the mess I am … what Forbes did to me … that I carry too much baggage. Have I turned him off me?

“I’m canceling our date,” he says.

What?

Panic starts to crawl up my throat.

“Jordan, look, I’m sorry if I…”

“Don’t be sorry. And you really do say that way too much. We need to work on that.”

I clutch the beads around my neck, needing something to hold onto. “Do you want me to leave?”

His eyes widen with discontent. “What? No fuckin’ way do I want you to leave. What I want is for you to relax and enjoy yourself with me tonight, so all I’m doing by canceling our date is taking it out of the equation. If it happens to turn into a date later, then awesome. If it doesn’t, then I might be a little disappointed…” He grins to let me know he’s teasing. “There isn’t any pressure here. I like you – a lot. I think that’s pretty obvious. But I want you to
want
to be here with me in the same way as I do you. If you’re not quite there yet, then that’s okay. I’ll wait until you are. However long it takes.”

Is he real? I almost want to pinch him to make sure.

He likes me. A lot.

I’m washed aglow with the most amazing sensation – I’ve never felt anything like it. My heart starts to beat faster than I knew possible without causing a heart attack.

I know I’m staring at him, but I can’t stop. All I can see is him, and I forget why I was nervous in the first place. Why I built this whole date up in my mind.

The music quietens to a dull throb. The world shutting out, fading to just us…

Him
.

Then all thought is lost, and I just follow what my body is telling me to do.

I press my hand to the side of Jordan’s face, absorbing the heat and strength of him. I lean in to press my lips to his cheek. He moves as I do, and my lips graze the corner of his. Heat scores through me, branding me his.

I withdraw, shocked but wanting more. I moisten my suddenly parched lips. A lick leaves me with the addictive taste of him. His aftershave, the soda he’s drinking … just everything that embodies
him
.

Jordan’s eyes flare with something I’m sure of. I’m sure because I’m feeling it too.

Lust. Desire. Want. And something more. Something deeper.

He slides his fingers into my hair, cupping the back of my head, he rests his forehead against mine.

“I feel the same as you do,” I say, my mouth so close to his that if I moved an inch we’d be kissing. “I want to be here with you … more than anything.”

He releases a contented breath. It soothes me.

“Should I take it our date’s back on?” His voice sounds deliciously husky and incredibly sexy, sending shivers tumbling through me.

“It was never off.” I smile.

Chapter Fifteen

Jordan

“Do you want to dance?”

Lifting her shoulders slightly, Mia gives me an unsure look, then turns to look down at the dance floor.

After kissing me, she’s been a little more relaxed. If I’d have known that would have relaxed her, I’d have told her to do it sooner.

Maybe it was the break in the ice that she needed.

Problem is, now I can’t stop staring at her mouth … her soft full lips … wanting to feel them against mine … fully…

She felt amazing.

And she smells so fucking good.

I’d be content to sit with my nose buried in her neck, inhaling her sweet scent for the rest of the night, in-between kissing that gorgeous mouth of hers, of course.

When she leaned in to kiss my cheek—believe it or not it wasn’t on purpose, just a natural reaction to her. I don’t regret it for a second because when her lips touched the corner of mine … fuck … if that’s what a brief momentary touch of her lips on mine is like, then I can only imagine how amazing it will feel to kiss her properly.

And now, of course, all I can think about is kissing her. It’s taking a real effort on my part not to make a move, but I don’t want to rush her and fuck things up. That’s why I’m suggesting dancing – something to keep my mind occupied.

Though, watching her gorgeous body move on a dance floor will probably send my thoughts back south.

I lean close to her back, looking over her shoulder. “I think the paint spraying might start soon. I’m thinking it could be fun, and we can stop by and see how Beth is getting along with Toni.”

She looks back at me, her lips curving up slightly. “Okay.”

We both stand. I move aside to let Mia out first. She passes me, and the brush of her body against mine has me holding back a groan.

We’ve just started walking when I feel Mia’s tiny hand slip into mine. I look at her surprised.

But happy.

Really fucking happy.

Her cheeks blush.

This is the first time she’s ever held my hand. It’s always been me taking hold of hers. I’ve been making up excuses to justify touching her if only for a second, and now tonight, after a no-touch policy on her part—which I understand knowing what she’s been through—she has kissed me
and
is holding my hand.

I know these are big things for her, which makes them big for me. They show she trusts me.

I gently touch her pink cheek with my fingertips. She smiles.

We walk back down stairs, holding hands, in a bubble of our own, and because the motherfucking world hates me … we bump straight into Shawna the instant my foot hits the bottom step.

“Jordan … hi.” Shawna slants a smile at me.

Fuck.

There’s an unmistakable gleam in her eyes. I’ve seen it before. Namely when she was naked and under me.

“Hi.” My voice is tight. I pull Mia to my side, putting my arm around her shoulders so there’s no mistaking who she is to me. “Shawna, meet Mia. Mia, Shawna.” I do the polite thing and introduce them, but honestly, it’s the last thing I want to do. Introducing the girl I’m crazy about, to the last girl I was doing? Fucking, yay.

“Hi.” Mia lifts her hand in a little wave. She’s so goddamn adorable. “It’s nice to meet you, Shawna.”

Shawna’s eyes dart to Mia. She falters a little, then makes a quick recovery. Her gaze returns to me, burning me with a laser like effect.

“Well, you certainly weren’t lying. You sure don’t waste any time moving on and finding a new fuck buddy.”

I feel Mia tense under my arm.

“Shawna…” There’s a warning in my voice.

“Looks like you’ve traded down though – majorly. But then, it’s not like you can get better than me.” Her eyes slice to Mia. “I’m sorry to tell you this, but he’s nothing more than overused trash. He’ll fuck you, then dump you before you even have a chance to get your panties back on.”

What the fuck!

Okay, so she’s not too far off the mark with the dumping part … but still, what the fuck!

Talk to me like shit, fine – I deserve it. But not Mia. I won’t have her spoken to in this way.

I open my mouth, ready to tell Shawna to piss off back to where she came from, when I hear Mia’s sweet voice say…

“Well, looks aside, going solely off your personality here, Shawna, I’d say Jordan has traded up higher than a skyscraper with me. And as it turns out, I’m just in it for the sex – so seems we’re perfectly matched. Oh, and I don’t wear panties either, so we’ve no worries on that part.”

My mouth falls open. Shawna looks like Mia has just slapped her.

“Okay. Right. Well, I’d say it was nice talking to you, but it wasn’t, so … bye.” Mia moves out from under my arm, letting it drop to my side. Head held high, she walks away and makes her way through the crowd.

And my eyes are glued to her hot, sashaying ass as she goes.

Holy fucking fuck.

Have you ever watched that scene in Grease, right at the end of the movie, when Sandy turns up looking and acting completely different, decked out in tight black pants. And Danny sees her, and he’s … shocked—disbelief of the best kind. Like,
‘holy fuck, how did I not know how hot my girl could actually be?’
Then he pretty much chases after her like a dog with his tongue hanging out.

Yeah? Good, so you know what I’m talking about because right now, that’s me.

I’m chasing after Mia as if she’s the last drop of water on earth, and I’m seriously fucking parched.

I’m ready to break out in song and serenade her with “You’re The One That I Want” just to get her attention.

Because angry Mia is fucking
hot
. Like, off the charts hot.

Of course, I already knew she was hot. But this … wow.

Fucking wow.

I have never been as turned on as I am now. My dick is so hard it could pound nails. Thank god it’s dark and crowded in here so no one can see my boner.

I finally catch up with her just near the dance floor. Hooking my fingers into her tank top, I reel her back to me.

She turns.

Her eyes are wide, a fire still in them. Her chest is heaving up and down, and I’m literally lost for words. I have a hundred thoughts streaming through my mind—none of them clean—and I can’t seem to find one fucking word to start a coherent sentence.

And also, I’m trying really hard not to stare at her tits.

I see the anger in her eyes dim, and the Mia I know is back. “Oh god, Jordan, I’m so sorry. What I just said back there…” She covers her face with her hands. “God, I don’t know what came over me. I just … I didn’t like the way she was talking about you. It just … it made me so angry. And I don’t get angry – ever.”

I step into her space. Peeling her hands from her face, I hold them at her sides.

Those huge blues of hers blink up at me with total innocence. “What you did back there was good. You stood up for yourself. Shawna was being a bitch, and she deserved what you said. I’m just sorry she said those things to you because of me.”

She shakes her head. “It’s fine.”