Jacked Up (17 page)

“I never said they weren’t. That’s kind of the point. Now come on, put those back in the bag and let’s hit the Strip.”

“I’m not carrying around a gift bag all night.” Eve ripped the tags off with her teeth and spit them into the bag. She then stuffed the bra and panties in her purse and put the gift bag outside Suzanne and Ryder’s door. “All set.”

Oh, man, she made him laugh. He appreciated that she saw a problem and just solved it, without drama. “Perfect.”

“Though I wish I wasn’t wearing this outfit. It’s boring.”

“So take your panties off,” he told her as they moved toward the elevator.

The look on her face was hilarious. “How the hell would that make my outfit more exciting?”

“It wouldn’t, but you’d feel dirty. Sexy. Which would automatically give you more swagger. On second thought, don’t do that. I don’t want to get into a fight tonight with some punk hitting on you.”

She snorted. “Yeah, right. Though I don’t understand how women go without panties. I mean, don’t they . . .”

“Don’t they what?” He pushed the down button. This could go in interesting directions.

“Don’t they ever get
wet
?”

Holy crap. Nolan had an insta-erection. “Do you?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, we’re going out together, and if I’m not wearing panties and you’re giving me that look like the one you’re giving me right now, I’m going to get wet. It just happens. That’s awkward when you’re not wearing panties.”

She was killing him. “What’s awkward is now for the rest of the night I’m going to be wanting to slip my finger inside you to see if you’re wet.”

Her eyes went wide. “I might be already.”

The elevator doors slid open. Damn. Nolan nudged her inside then spun her around.

“What are you doing?” she asked, clutching her purse, her tongue dragging across her bottom lip.

“Doing a spot check.” Blocking her with his body in case the doors opened unexpectedly, Nolan slid his hand up her knee, under the fabric of her narrow skirt. Her breath hitched.

“You can’t be serious.”

“Very.” Kissing her jaw, he stroked higher under he found the apex of her thighs. A quick shift of her panties and his thumb was inside her. She gave a sharp inhale. Nolan fought the urge to close his eyes. She felt so good, so open to him, her nipples beading in her blouse, her sex in reality very, very wet.

“Am I wet?” she asked, rocking her hips forward onto him.

“Soaking wet.” He wanted to pursue the point, but they were rapidly approaching the first floor. Nolan pulled away and adjusted her skirt right as the doors open.

Eve stood there for a second, blinking, then she moved off the elevator, shaking her head. “I can’t believe I wasn’t even worried about getting caught.”

“That’s because you’ve been drinking.”

“No.” She turned and looked at him, her expression serious. “That’s not it. It’s you. You and me. For some reason.”

He knew what she meant. “It’s like we bring out the best in each other, isn’t it?”

“Is letting you feel me up on the elevator the best in me?”

He laughed. “It means you’re not worrying. So yes, that is what’s best for you. I would never suggest you blow off responsibilities. But hell, Eve, you deserve to have some fun.”

She nodded. “Yeah, I do. So where are we going, Mr. Happy?”

“We’re hitting the clubs, girl.” Nolan gave a mock strut. “Checking out the scene.”

“If you keep walking like that, you’ll be going alone.”

“Come on, you know you think I’m sexy.”

“I think you’re insane. But yeah, you’re sexy.”

He put his hands up like a touchdown, walking backward so he could see her. “Score.”

“You’re about to walk into the door.”

He smacked right into the curve of the revolving door and stumbled forward. “Whoa, hey, now watch it there, buddy.”

Eve laughed.

“You could have warned me sooner,” he grumbled. But he didn’t really mean it. He was enjoying himself too much to care if he fell flat on his face. Eve had enjoyed his efforts to give her a fun party, and now they were going for more fun. “I need a beer.” He wasn’t much of a wine or champagne drinker so he’d only had one glass. Now he wanted a nice cold one.

“So where are we going? Since you seem to think you know the scene?”

“I don’t know anything about the scene, but hell, it’s Vegas. If we walk a few feet, we should hit a nightclub, right?” He was just going to head right, a gorgeous woman on his arm, and figure it out from there.

The first place they walked into was a sports bar. “Not what I had in mind,” he told Eve as his shoe stuck to the floor by the hostess station and three guys burst into cheers at the bar, a baseball game on the big screen.

“But you can definitely order a beer here. If we end up in a nightclub, you’ll only be able to get Christal, Petron, or a mixed drink with a name like the Tantini.”

“Good point.” He wasn’t ever going to drink anything with “ini” on the end of it. They took a seat at the bar and she ordered vodka, him his longneck. “So, excluding this birthday, which is clearly awesome, what is your best birthday memory?”

She swung her legs and fingered her purse resting on the bar. He was impressed that she hadn’t pulled her phone out of it.

“Hmm. Best memory. I would say sixteen. My dad gave me a vintage Ferrari. I loved that car. I drove it into a ditch going a hundred and ten at seventeen. My dad was pissed. I cried. But for twelve months I drove that car hard.”

“Are you kidding me?” Nolan took his beer from the bartender and shook his head. “You suck. You got a Ferrari and you wrecked it?” He was pretty sure he’d gotten a pair of Levi’s and a twenty for his sixteenth birthday and had been damn happy with that. Not that he begrudged Eve her family’s money, but he’d have given his left nut to get a Ferrari as a teenager. He’d give both nuts to have Eve and a Ferrari right now.

“I was a little more of a risk taker in those days. But I did pay my dad back when I was twenty-five. I always felt bad that the insurance never covered the full cost of the car.”

He couldn’t fault her for that. “That’s cool.”

“What was your favorite birthday?”

That he could answer without hesitation. “My eighth birthday. For some reason my mom gave in to my pleas for a birthday party. I didn’t usually have a kids’ party, just family, but that year she let me have my guy friends over. The girls were banned and we had a camouflage theme. My friends and I just ran around the yard with guns and screamed at the top of our lungs. It was great.”

“Then this cupcake party must have been your worst nightmare. Very girly.”

Nolan nudged her leg with his knee. “Nah. I can hang with some pink for you. And the cupcakes were freaking awesome. It was like an orgasm in my mouth.”

“I’ll give you an orgasm in your mouth.”

He didn’t know what that meant exactly, but he liked the sound of it. “Oh, yeah? Right now?”

“We should probably wait until later. Are we going back to my place or your place?”

It didn’t matter to him. “Whatever you prefer.”

“Are you ready?” Eve drained her drink.

Nolan looked at his half-full beer and raised an eyebrow. He wanted to be flattered by her clear desire to get into the sack with him, but he suspected she had other motivations. “Are you trying to get out of dancing?”

Guilt made her cheeks flush pink. “No. I was just trying to establish what we’re doing for the rest of the night.”

“There’s no planning on your birthday. We’re just rolling with it, remember? We stay here until we’re done with this place, and we move on to the next.”

“What time are we going back?”

She wasn’t getting the principle of go with the flow at all. “Why does it matter?”

Eve gave a soft laugh. “I don’t know. It seems like it should.”

Nolan finished his beer and threw down a twenty on the bar. It was time for them to move before Eve had too much time to think. “Don’t worry, cupcake, there will be plenty of time for me to worship your body in leopard underwear.”

“Don’t get corny.”

He snorted as he stood up. “How is that corny?”

“People don’t worship each other. It’s an overblown term.”

That was where he was going to prove her wrong. “Hold on to your socks then, because I’m going to worship up one side of you and down the other. I’m going to teach you the meaning of the word ‘worship.’”

Just the thought was actually getting him a little hot under the collar. He must have made it clear to Eve that he wasn’t playing around, because she sucked in her breath.

“So why aren’t we going back now?” she asked again.

Nolan laughed. “Because we’re having fun getting to know each other better.”

“You’re just trying to get me drunk enough that I’ll wear the leopard underwear.”

“Honey, I really don’t care what you wear as long as it’s off you for ninety-nine percent of the night.”

Eve acted like she wasn’t a seductress, but the truth was she was a natural at it. Her desire lit her eyes, and while she may not have the hair toss moves of some women, it was way sexier to him because it was just raw sexuality.

“We seem to have the same goal,” she said, her voice husky. “So explain to me again why we’re not in your hotel room right now.”

Frankly, he was starting to wonder the same thing himself. But he still said, “Patience isn’t your strong suit, is it?”

Then Eve shocked the hell out of him as usual with her boldness.

“Blow jobs are my strong suit.”

Damn. Double damn.

Eve was going to kill him.

But he’d be smiling up from his coffin.

CHAPTER

TWELVE

EVE
couldn’t really blame the liquor for her words. It was safe to say she very well might have said them stone cold sober. She didn’t believe in not saying what you were thinking.

And what she was thinking was that she wanted to suck his cock.

“Oh, yeah? Those are big words. Let’s see if you can live up to them.”

Nolan certainly knew how to play the game with her. Eve would never even have thought she was playing games, but there was a truth that she wanted a certain response from a man. Everyone wanted a particular reaction from their partner when they were dating—it was natural. But no one ever seemed to be able to produce what Eve was seeking. Maybe because she’d never even really known what it was she wanted.

Now she knew.

She wanted Nolan.

“I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.” She moved her leg in between his and bit the straw in her drink. The sports bar hadn’t had champagne, so she had switched to vodka. Now she used the straw to demonstrate her point, drawing it up into her mouth, the tip of her tongue trailing alongside it.

“Finish your drink,” he told her, obviously well aware of what she was doing.

“Are we going back?” she asked hopefully. She had a slight buzz going on, and she was seriously horny. She wanted to show Nolan how much she appreciated his birthday efforts.

“No, we’re going to the next bar. It’s called drawing out the anticipation.”

In her mind, it was called stupid, but she wasn’t going to argue. He’d done a lot of work and spent a lot of money to pull off that party. If he wanted to hoof it all over the Strip, she was going to let him.

Finishing her vodka, she paused, awed at her own thoughts. Holy shit, she was being considerate. She was compromising. Sharing. Having fun.

It was absolutely amazing.

What was equally amazing was that when he dragged her onto the dance floor at the club next door, she let him. Even in her black skirt and plain white blouse, she managed to ignore the fact that people might be judging her and just went with it. They gyrated together to a slower song and Nolan spun her in insane circles to a faster song that had her laughing and breathless.

“Fun, huh?” he yelled in her ear.

She nodded. It was fun. It was even fun when he started doing the lawn mower. “You’re a dork!” she shouted over the music, her sides aching from laughing. He was a dork. A completely wonderful, endearing, sexy, sincere dork.

Eve wanted him. In bed. Out of bed. Dancing next to her like this for spontaneous nights out. She wanted to glance across a room and lock eyes with him and know that he would wink at her because she was his.

Together. A couple.

The strobe lights of the dance floor flashed and the bass beat pumped hard. The music was loud, the room hot, her hair damp across her forehead, her feet pinched in her work pumps. She clutched her purse awkwardly on her shoulder and her throat was dry, her drink long gone.

But none of that mattered. She was having the time of her life.

“Call me Dr. Dork,” he told her, mugging like a rap artist.

Oh, God, that was even funnier. Eve laughed and jumped up and down in her heels. “I’m thirty-fucking-three! Can you believe it?” She was having a hard time accepting that three years had passed since her thirtieth birthday. What the hell had she done in those three years? A whole lot of nothing. The same old, same old. Day in, day out.

Not anymore.

Never again.

“I know. You’re the hottest piece of thirty-three-year-old ass I’ve ever seen!” Nolan pulled her tight up against him, moving his hips with hers.

She grabbed his ass. “Speaking of ass, have I told you that yours is awesome? It’s like the ass of all ages.”

“You have the best breasts I’ve ever had the pleasure to touch. I would take a bullet for your breasts.”

Eve snorted. God, he was fucking funny. “That’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

He dipped her low to the ground. Eve shrieked, afraid he would drop her. It was a vulnerable position and she didn’t like it.

“Relax,” he told her. “I have your back, I promise.”

Eve looked up at him from her awkward position of resistance, half up, half down. His eyes flashed in the blue strobe lights with an emotion she was sure she wasn’t imagining.

He did have her back. More so than any man she’d ever met before. Eve swallowed and nodded her consent.

Closing her eyes tight, she let go of her muscles, letting her body and head drop, leg coming up.

Nolan didn’t drop her.

His lips brushed over hers and he held her, solid and steady.

Her hair swept the floor and she opened her eyes, amazed at how intriguing it felt to be upside down, to let go of all her inhibitions and just enjoy the music. He spun her around and it felt like a merry-go-round, a natural high from the freedom of her body rushing through air, her view of the room upside down.

When he lifted her back up, she took a second to focus, her heart racing. Nolan kissed her and Eve felt like her body was still spinning. She was dizzy and not just from the dancing.

“Would it be crazy if I told you that I’m falling in love with you?” Nolan murmured in her ear.

She shivered. She wanted to scoff. She should push him away and tell him it absolutely was crazy. Insane. Certifiable. Stupid.

But she didn’t.

She couldn’t.

Because she felt the same way. “I would tell you you’re nuts except for the fact that I think I might actually be falling in love with you, too.”

God, she couldn’t believe she had said that. It made her feel light, breathless. Blissful.

“Are you serious?” He looked awed by the fact and he kissed her hard. “You’re amazing. You’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever met.”

Eve kissed him back, slipping her tongue into his mouth, her hands still on his backside. It took her a solid thirty seconds to remember that they were still on the dance floor in a very public place and that making out at a club was for teenagers. Gesturing to Nolan that she needed a drink, she managed to pull away and stumble off in the direction of the bar, unsteady on her feet not from alcohol but from the enormity of her feelings. She had never felt this way about a man ever. She’d never had this much fun. Ever.

“Let’s do a shot together,” he said.

For some mysterious reason she said yes. Nolan ordered them vodka. Eve took a shot glass from the bartender and lifted it to Nolan. “To the best birthday I’ve ever had.”

Nolan lifted his glass up next to hers. “To us.”

If she hadn’t already thought she was falling in love with him, that would have done it. He was so damn sweet, he was the one who should have the nickname “cupcake.” Or “fudge ripple.” Between the two of them, they were a goddamn bakery and she was as happy as she had ever been.

“To us.” Eve tossed back her shot and let the fire of the vodka burn down her throat.

“Woo. Good stuff. I’ll be right back, gorgeous.” Nolan kissed the top of her head before heading to the restroom.

A woman standing next to her at the bar smiled when Eve glanced her way.

“You’re so lucky,” she said, her cherry red lips glowing in the artificial light. “My boyfriend would never dance with me.” She gestured to a thin guy behind her dressed in black who looked bored and pretentious.

“I’m not sure we can really call that dancing. It was more like flinging our bodies around.”

“Yeah, but you’re having fun. Some people don’t know how to let go.” She shrugged. “Have a good night, I’m heading out for a cigarette.”

“Thanks, you, too.”

The woman, who was pretty in a forties pinup dress, said something to her boyfriend. He made a face and stayed put, surveying the room. She continued on to the front door by herself.

Eve knew without a doubt that if she was going to stand outside a club in Vegas at midnight, Nolan would go stand with her. It was the gentlemanly thing to do. Hell, the human thing to do. If one of her girlfriends went outside, she would go with them just out of courtesy.

She was lucky. She was super astonishingly lucky.

Nolan was walking back toward her, smiling.

She was lucky to have this man, this night, this birthday.

* * *

NOLAN
was feeling like the luckiest guy on the planet as he walked across the bar to Eve, who was standing there looking like a stone cold freaking fox. He wanted to fist pump. Break dance. Drop to the ground and do twenty.

She—that amazingly hot and super cool chick—was falling in love with him.

It was unbelievable.

Awesome. On the scale of great nights, this one was off the charts, and she hadn’t even put the leopard underwear on yet. He was so pumped up with energy and emotion he was sure he could dance for another six hours or so. But first he wanted to buy his lady another drink.

“Want a drink?” he asked her, leaning in for a kiss before she could possibly answer. He couldn’t help himself. Her lips were just there asking for it.

“Actually, let’s step outside for a second. It’s hot in here and I want to check on this woman I was talking to. She went outside by herself and that doesn’t seem like a good idea to me.”

“Sure, of course.” He followed her lead and they headed to the door. It was cooler outside and he took a deep breath of the crisp night air as Eve greeted a cute girl with a black and red patterned dress.

It wasn’t a good idea for her to be out there alone. Nolan could see the street was still busy, but to the right of the club was an area that during the day served as al fresco dining for a restaurant. Now it was full of shadows and potential dangers for a woman by herself. He was glad Eve had thought to come out and check on her. But that was the side of Eve he saw and understood more so than a lot of people, it seemed. She was a worrier because she cared. If she didn’t give a shit, she’d be a whole lot less stressed. But she cared about people, about her family, her brothers’ careers.

The woman dropped her cigarette to the ground, said good-bye to Eve, then went back into the club.

“Everything okay?” he asked Eve.

“Yeah. It’s just her boyfriend seems like a bit of a jerk.”

“That happens. I’m glad she was okay, though.”

Me, too.”

“Want that drink now?”

“Let’s go somewhere else where it’s a little quieter. I think I’m done dancing for the night.” She smiled at him.

The look on her face squeezed Nolan’s heart. God, she was beautiful and she didn’t even understand how much. “Sure. We can go wherever you want, birthday girl.”

Eve took his hand. All on her own. Without his suggesting it. “Thanks for making this such a great birthday. I really appreciate it.”

“I told you, it’s my pleasure. And we can do whatever you want.” They were passing a classic Vegas wedding chapel. “Hell, we can get married even if you want.”

He meant it as flippant, since they were passing the place, two gigantic hearts bursting out of the building in neon red lighting. But the minute the words came out of his mouth, he meant them. He would marry Eve. He would marry her in a heartbeat.

“What?”
She stopped walking and stared up at him, her expression more amazed than horrified. “Are you serious?”

Was he serious? Nolan looked at Eve, her chestnut hair blowing across her face in the night air, her cheeks flushed from the dancing and from, he’d like to think, being around him. Oh, hell yeah, he was serious.

“Yes. I know it doesn’t make any sense and it’s insane, but cupcake, if you want to walk into that chapel with me right now, I’d be honored to marry you.” It was possible the liquor might be influencing him a little, but he didn’t really think that was it. He didn’t see any point in beating around the bush. If you wanted something, you should go for it. Grab it, enjoy it, hold it as long as you could.

There was a reason he’d fallen in love with Eve so easily. That didn’t just happen overnight all the time. It was special. She was meant to be the woman he had as his wife, and whether that was a year from then or right in the next thirty minutes, it was a definite. There was no doubt in his mind. He wasn’t twenty-two anymore, going gaga for the first girl in a skirt who giggled at him. He’d watched Eve for years. He’d worked for this. It was real, and it was going to stick.

Eve would say no, he was fairly certain. She didn’t do impulsive. She needed to think and process and plan. Which was okay. But a small part of him wanted her to say yes.

“That is insane.” Eve glanced back at the chapel, clutching her purse tightly against her chest. “How can you be sure you want to marry me?”

He was sure. Nolan took her hand. “It’s called trusting my gut. It’s never once let me down. When I stop thinking and just hear what my gut is telling me, it says that I love you and that at some point you’re going to be my wife.”

Never would he have thought he’d go down onto the sidewalk on the Strip but he found himself doing just that. “Eve, will you marry me?”

If she said no, they’d have another drink and still have some smoking hot sex.

But what she said was simply, “Yes.”

Nolan was so stunned he just stayed on the sidewalk, staring up at her in shock. Yes. Her answer was yes. An emotion he could only describe as exhilaration bloomed in his chest. Holy crap. She’d said yes. Now it was his turn to ask, “Are you serious?”

She nodded rapidly. “Yes. Let’s do it. Now. Now get off the sidewalk, God only knows what is getting on your pants.”

That was his Eve. Nolan jumped up and pulled her into his arms. “Woot! That’s fantastic, cupcake. Let’s go get married.”

Eve let Nolan scoop her into a bone-crushing hug. Frackity-frickin-frack. She’d said yes. And she wasn’t even having a panic attack. She was . . . happy. Excited. How the hell had that happened? Why wasn’t her mind racing to negatives and positives and roadblocks and stumbling blocks and mental blocks?

Because she was in love with Nolan. It was as simple as the nose on her face. She was in love with him, and therefore, it made perfect sense to accept his marriage proposal.

“Look, they’re open twenty-four hours. Just like your thighs, babe.” He gave her a grin.