And she was telling me she had been checking out my ass.
"Was," she said.
"Was what?" I was confused. I was preoccupied with the fact that I couldn't seem to get the blood flowing back in the right direction - toward my brain.
"Was getting married," she explained. "Past tense. Until I walked in on him and my sister going at it."
"Shit," I said, shaking my head. I couldn’t imagine why a guy who was with her would want to put his cock anywhere else but inside her.
River shrugged. "So now you know why I am where I am," she said. "So why are you here?"
I didn’t know why I did what I did next. I hadn't wanted anyone in a long time, much less someone like this, someone way out of my league.
I kissed her. Hard. Her lips parted as my mouth pressed against hers, and her tongue found mine. Kissing her lit some kind of fire inside me.
I pushed her against the nearby wall, hard-too hard, I thought. I had to tell myself to slow down, but River moaned, and it made me fucking crazy. I grabbed a handful of hair at the base of her neck, and pulled her toward me.
"Remember when you used to kiss me like that?"
River jumped and turned her head at the sound of the voice that cut through the moment between us. The older couple watching us had to be in their eighties. The man looked at us and winked before he spoke.
"Used to?" he asked. "I kissed you like that this morning."
"Oh, I know you did, honey," she said, patting her husband on his sweater-clad arm. "I'm talking about up against a wall like this, not against the wall at home." She lowered her voice, adopted a conspiratorial tone. "He used to be a lot more wild. An exhibitionist."
"I can change that if you brought my pills with you," he said.
River stifled a giggle, and I cleared my throat. "Excuse us," River said, taking my hand in hers and pulling me out of the storefront and back toward the car. When she reached the car, she paused, backed up against the passenger side door, her hands on my waist. She laughed as she touched me, her palms on my chest, smoothing the fabric of my shirt. The gesture felt familiar and unknown, all at the same time. It was a strange mixture.
"I didn't know we had an audience back there," she said.
I kissed her again, needing to feel her against me. As soon as I touched her, I was hard again, and for a minute I was convinced she was going to think I was some kind of sex obsessed pervert. But she arched her back, and I could feel her pressing into my hardness, instead of pulling away.
I can't fucking believe someone like her wants me.
Then she pulled back. I could taste her lips on mine, even after she pulled away. "We should probably get out of here before we have an even bigger audience," she whispered.
I cleared my throat again, reached behind her for the car door handle, purposely not moving away from her. My hand was against her ass, and the movement pulled her toward me. "Still sure you want to come with me?" I asked. The question immediately made me think of sex, and I could imagine being inside her.
Come with me.
When she answered, her voice was breathy. "Yes."
***
CHAPTER SEVEN
RIVER
Elias put the top up on the convertible. It made it cozier than before, when we were riding with the top down and the wind blowing.
It was more intimate somehow. There was less space between us, and it was quiet. Still, for a little while, neither of us made any attempt at small talk.
It sounded silly, but I was still reeling from that kiss. All I could think about was the way I felt when he kissed me, my heart racing, my body on edge. I knew I should be sad about my relationship. I should be sad I wasn’t getting married.
Except instead, I felt this huge sense of relief, the weight of a burden lifted from my shoulders.
I felt positively giddy.
I giggled, the sound erupting out of nowhere, this weird release of the tension and stress of the past twenty-four hours. Elias had to think I was a crazy person.
"What?" he asked. "Is it that couple? They were a fucking trip, huh? You think they went in the bathroom and got it on?"
I let out a louder laugh, covering my mouth. Calm your shit down, River. "Yes." I nodded. "Definitely."
"I'll still be like that when I'm eighty," Elias said. "With a fucking hard on for my old lady."
I laughed at his bluntness. Elias just seemed to have no problem saying whatever popped into his head. He was the first person I'd hung out with in years who didn't seem to have an agenda, wasn't working an angle to get something from me.
"That's funny?" he asked.
"No," I said. "It's cute how they were all over each other. I hope I still have the hots for someone when I'm older."
"You'll be a hot old lady," he said. "No doubt."
"Well, in Hollywood terms, that's like ten years away."
"I don't get that bullshit," Elias said.
"Which part?" I asked. "The obsession with staying young?"