With One Last Kiss

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

January 1st

My birthday falling on the first of the year had always annoyed me.

Turned out that no longer held true, especially for my twenty-first birthday. I sat at a table in a rowdy club with my two best friends — Macy and Sarah. They made the evening worth it, especially as the clock struck midnight. That's when they yelled above the crowd, “Happy New Year and Happy Birthday!”

And then, seconds later, the three of us tipped back the shots Macy ordered. It wasn’t the first time for me in general, just the first one in public, and when she suggested another I held up a hand.

“You know I’ve got a big day with my parents throwing a party, so I’ll pass on having anything else to drink. Don’t need a hangover.” I smiled when they both whined, pointing to the dance floor to distract them. “But it doesn’t mean we can’t have fun. Let’s go!”

We headed to the dance floor because we loved nothing more than having a good time, even if it didn’t involve alcohol. The music seemed to blare louder on the floor, and it was packed with bodies, so we had to find our spot and stick with it. Before long, I was sweating and needed to use the restroom, so I pulled Macy aside to tell her, “I’ll be right back. Going to the bathroom.”

She nodded and yelled back, even though we were standing next to each other. “Want me to come with you?”

I shook my head, not wanting to yell again. She gave me a single thumbs-up before smiling and turning away to rejoin the group of guys we were dancing with.

I headed to the bathroom near the front of the club. Five minutes later, I stepped out into the hallway and walked right into a large, heated body.

“Damn,” a man said, the deep sound of his lightly-accented voice making my stomach clench. His warm hands came up to grab my upper arms for a mere second before dropping away once I steadied on my heels. “Sorry.”

“No problem.” As I lifted my head to look up into his face, anything else I could have said died in my throat at the sight of him. He had a bright, straight smile and intense dark blue eyes that gazed down at me with unabashed interest.

I took in the rest of him. He was around five-ten with shaggy brown hair and a clean-shaven face. Didn’t hurt that he smelled enticing— subtle and sweet smelling, yet masculine. It made me want to lean in and sniff him, which is when I realized we were staring at each other mutely.

After a few moments, his expression changed to a weird mix of disappointment and concern when I stepped back.

“Are you all right?”

“Uh, yeah.” I forced myself to blink and clear my throat before smiling. “I never literally run into people, so I think it scrambled my brain there for a minute.”

“Scrambled…?” He laughed, his shoulders relaxing as he understood I made a joke. Slipping his hands into his jean pockets, it seemed as if he had all the time in the world to chat to me in this hallway. “Have we met before? You look familiar.”

“No.” My reply came out with a soft laugh. When his brows furrowed as if wondering why I found that funny, there was nothing for me to do except be honest since I couldn't find another way to explain. “I think I would remember meeting someone who looked like you.”

His grin widened, his eyes sparking with interest as a blush took over my cheeks, and he nodded behind me. “I need some fresh air. Want to join me?”

Since there was a bouncer always standing outside to keep an eye on things, that meant we wouldn’t be all alone. I nodded my agreement to indulge my sudden, extreme curiosity. “I’ll be there in a minute. I have to let my friends know I’m going outside.”

“Sure. I’ll see you in a minute.”

He turned and went to the door as I turned to head in the opposite direction.

What the hell was I doing? I had an insane urge to sniff a man I just met, then practically screamed how attractive I found him. And now I had agreed to go outside with him without thinking about it?

Then again, he thought he recognized me and maybe we had met before. Perhaps at a time where something more significant caused me to not recall the event?

Who knew.

Either way, I told Macy and Sarah I would be right outside getting some fresh air if they needed me. They both gave me two huge thumbs-up and went right back to dancing. Seemed they were enjoying themselves too much to wonder why I would go outside to stand in the cold by myself.

When I stepped out the door less than a minute later into the crisp night air — it was on the cusp of freezing but with zero breeze — the bouncer acknowledged me with a nod as the door clicked shut behind me. I didn’t even get to turn my head to look for the guy before his voice rang out from the left.

“Over here.” Turning, I saw him leaning against the building and he shrugged out of his jacket, holding it out to me with a smile as I approached. “You’re going to need this.”

“Thanks.” I took the coat from his grip and slipping my arms into it, instantly surrounded by his smell and his warmth. “It was dumb of me not to grab mine from the coatroom.”

“Nah. I’m hot anyway.”

Yes, he was.

Crossing my arms over my chest as my cheeks flushed from the thought more than the cold, I leaned back against the building with a sigh. He propped himself with an elbow while facing my way.

“Something tells me you would say that just so I don’t feel guilty about you freezing out here.”

“You might be right,” he admitted with a chuckle before his expression turned more thoughtful. “And I know you said we haven’t met before, but are you sure?”

“I don’t know. Cleveland’s a pretty big area.” I shrugged. “It’s possible we’ve run into each other, though. Somewhere, somehow.”

“Possibly. Do you gamble?”

“No. Why?”

“Because my company owns the newest casino downtown,” he said with a laugh. “And I spend more time there than I should. My mother says I need to get a hobby, while my father tells her to be grateful I’m not a delinquent.”

I smiled at that before making sure I heard him correctly. “The newest casino? As in, you own the Crystal?” I shook my head in disbelief as he nodded in reply. “Wow. My friends have gone there a few times since it opened last year. Even if I had been old enough to go, I have terrible luck, so I wouldn’t have put myself in a position to lose money quickly.”

He quirked a brow and cleared his throat, his expression a bit sheepish as he asked, “How old are you?”

“Twenty-one.” I lifted my arm to look at my watch. “As of an hour and thirty minutes ago.”

“Well, happy birthday.”

“Thanks. I had you worried there for a second, didn’t I?”

Shaking his head, he chuckled and straightened away from the wall. Keeping his gaze locked on mine, he held out his hand in introduction. “Guess we haven’t met before, then, because I would’ve been stupid not to remember you. I’m Brad.”

Taking his hand, I almost wanted to break my rule about not giving out my real name when meeting men in bars or clubs. Then again, perhaps it was best not to even if he wasn’t exaggerating about his identity. “Anne.”

He squeezed my hand and smirked. “You don’t look like an Anne.”

I didn’t know how one looked like a name and shot back at him. “You don’t look like a Brad.”

With another laugh, he released my hand and asked, “How about you? Are you in college?”

“Yes.” Tingling from the contact, I clenched my hand into a fist and slipped it behind my back, forcing myself to focus on the conversation rather than the odd way he made me feel. “I’m a junior at Cleveland State. Double major in International Relations and French.”

“Impressive. I bet that keeps you quite busy.”

“Yeah, it does, but not enough I don’t find time to have fun.” I tilted my head toward the club’s front doors. “Even before I could drink, this was one of my favorite places to come to on a Friday night.”

“Nice. Tonight is a first for me. Not much of a club goer and never have been.”

“And you’re wasting your experience by standing outside in the cold with me?”

“No.” He stepped a bit closer and put his right hand flat against the wall, making it so we nearly touched but I could escape if necessary. “I was about to leave from excessive boredom when we bumped into each other and you made the comment about our collision scrambling your brain.”

I couldn’t help but smile at that. “I suppose that was a funny thing to say.”

“Yes, it was.” He leaned in until I had to lift my chin to look into his eyes and lowered his voice. “I have a question for you and need your complete honesty.”

“I’m always honest.”

“Good.” His eyes flicked to my mouth and back up to my eyes as he turned all serious. “Did you feel the instant and intense attraction between us in that hallway or was it just me?”

My stomach flipped at his question even though I knew it was coming. Instead of giving a straight ‘yes’ answer because I didn’t know what to do about the draw between us, I relaxed the hand at my side and whispered my response. “My hand still tingles from where you held it, if that tells you anything.”

“It tells me everything I need to know. Enough to do this.”

That’s all he said before moving the rest of the way in, his hand on the wall moving to the back of my neck. His other arm wrapped around my waist as he covered my mouth with his warm-despite-the-outside-temperature lips.

My hands landed on his chest and clung to the soft fabric of his white button-down shirt as he coaxed my mouth open. Then, he slipped his tongue inside with the ease of a man who knew how to get what he wanted. When his tongue tangled with mine, the earlier excitement that caused my stomach to flip dispersed throughout my entire body. I had never experienced this before in my life, every inch of me electrified and begging for more.

I had an inexplicable desire to get closer while also running in the opposite direction. When I whimpered into his mouth as he tugged me closer, he released a tortured groan before pulling away. “Holy fuck.”

My shaking legs and pounding heart agreed with his sentiment, because it showed the kiss affected him as much as it had me. It was clear neither of us had thought we would experience that.

I didn’t know what to say or what to do. Before I could figure out either, the sound of someone howling while retching nearby penetrated the little bubble around us. How could one moment make me question my decision to avoid relationships while in school?

He stepped back when I pushed at him with my hands and turned to look for who interrupted our moment at the same time as I did.

Macy and Sarah stood together near the curb with a waiting taxi, both wobbling on their feet. Macy gave a wild wave of her hand in my direction as she slurred, “Hey girl, we need to go!”

I acknowledged her with a wave of my own, then glanced at Brad to find him staring at me with a smile on his lips and his hands back in his pockets. I still didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t like we had time to say much with my friends climbing into the cab, so I kept things simple. “They need me, so I’ve got to go.”

“Of course.” He looked over at my friends and then back at me before leaning in with a definite gleam in his eyes. “I would love to take you out sometime. You know where to find me if you decide to take me up on the offer.”

He turned and walked away without waiting for a reply. I was left staring at him with lips that would never forget the kiss he had bestowed upon them. That is, until Macy called out again. “Come on, before she gets more sick!”

I turned and walked to the taxi in a daze. It wasn’t until I was packed inside with Macy and Sarah on our way home that I realized he walked away without his jacket. And despite all the reasons I shouldn't, this gave me the perfect excuse to see him again.

To see if tonight had been a fluke or something more.