Secretly More (8 page)

Moquest’s girlfriend, who was wearing an outfit straight out of Frederick’s of Hollywood, stepped in the center of the room and clapped her hands overhead. “Okay, everybody, who wants to play a game?”

Everyone in the vicinity turned toward her; she’d delivered her announcement in a way that suggested the game she had in mind wasn’t exactly a friendly round of pinochle.

“I propose,” sang Moquest’s girlfriend, “a favorite pastime you all thought you outgrew.” She held up an empty wine bottle like a sword of victory. “Spin the Bottle, anyone?”

The partygoers whooped in response, as if they were all still teenagers. After wrestling with the nasty reminder of when Dane had taken part in the game, Kimber surrendered to the excitement at the prospect of playing. This could be the exact opportunity she’d been looking for to get closer to Bryan. Considering the way he glanced at her, his thoughts ran parallel to hers.

The guests dropped into seated positions, drawing Kimber’s attention to the few left standing, which included Moquest, who was dancing in a way more resembling humping. Jay stood beside him, slugging his beer with an unreadable expression on his face. His gaze flicked to her and she risked a smile. In response, he polished off what was left the bottle and left the room.

A sudden rush of anger replaced Kimber’s guilt and worry. If Jay wanted to rebuff her at every turn, fine. He was obviously unconcerned about repairing the rift in their friendship. She alone could only do so much, and she wasn’t going to let him ruin what she had a feeling was going to be one of the most important nights of her life.

She smoothed her borrowed dress over her hips as she lowered herself to her knees beside Bryan, who watched her do so with great interest. She sat back on her heels and took a deep breath, giving Bryan an excited grin. He smiled and leaned in, parting his lips as if to speak.

At that moment, Moquest appeared between them, wielding two red cups brimming with jungle juice. “Refreshment, anyone?”

Kimber plucked a cup from Moquest’s hand and took a sip, more grateful than she wanted to admit for the liquid courage. She had a feeling she was going to need it.

* * *

Jay inspected his damp face in the bathroom mirror, cringing at how the sick, weak light intensified the dark circles beneath his eyes. He cupped his hands beneath the running faucet and splashed more cool water over his hot skin. Still, he was unable to wash away his visible unease and the memory of Kimber settling next to some toolbox on the floor, both of them giggly and horny and inevitably bound for the bedroom. Apparently, kissing him at the park was the worst thing Kimber could possibly do, but letting drunk, meaty-pawed strangers feel her up in front of other drunk, meaty-pawed strangers was more than acceptable. Fucking wonderful. If this was what Moquest had in mind when he promised Jay a good time, then Moquest was worse than Judas himself. Jay would almost rather be nailed to a cross than witness Kimber tongue-bang someone else. He even welcomed it at this point.

He opened the door and just avoided being plowed down by an impatient brunette, who gave him the stink eye as she locked herself in the bathroom, clutching the crotch of her jeans like a four-year-old. He negotiated the crowd back to the living room, where he saw Nicole getting cozy on the couch with a guy Jay recognized as one of Airy Peak’s new upstairs bartenders. She’d apparently grown disinterested with Jay’s disinterest and moved on. Good for her; that was what smart people did when the ones they loved didn’t love them back. They shrugged and went about their lives like nothing ever made any difference at all.

Despite this observed wisdom put into effect, Jay’s attention turned to the Spin the Bottle game, looking for Kimber. The aforementioned toolbox who’d been eyeing her like a desert mirage all night remained in the circle, but Kimber was noticeably absent. A moment of relief flickered through him, followed by a need to find her. Maybe she drank too much of that piss Moquest made and needed a ride home. Maybe she came to her senses and decided that making out with strangers during grade-school games was ridiculous. Maybe she was outside on the porch with the smokers, lost in her own thoughts and wondering if she should’ve given him a real chance after all.

A shrill, musical chime pierced the party atmosphere, and Gina, Moquest’s woman of the hour, scooped up her smart phone and let out a hoot. “Time’s up. Come out with your hands where we can see them!”

The game participants cheered as the coat closet swung open and out stumbled Kimber, flushed, jewel-eyed, and tittering. Behind her sauntered a guy who, amazingly, appeared to be an even bigger douche than all the other idiots who had been hovering around her like gnats circling brown bananas. He looked so smug it took everything Jay had not to bury a fist in his face, especially as he milked the moment for his audience, bringing his fingers to his nose and taking an exaggerated sniff.

Kimber moved to rejoin the game but Jay latched onto her upper arm and dragged her into the hallway, ignoring her sputters of protest. He spun her around and clamped his hands on her shoulders. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“Me? What the fuck are
you
doing?” She batted at his grip.

“I can tell you what I’m not doing, and that’s fucking total strangers in closets for the entertainment of everyone else outside.”

“We didn’t fuck.” Kimber’s expression could’ve frozen Hell twice over. “It’s called Seven Minutes in Heaven. When you spin the bottle and it lands on the same person three times, you have to go in the closet together for seven minutes and make out. So what?”

“Can you hear what you’re saying? What are you, thirteen?”

“What are you, a cop?” Her struggles in his grasp increased in violence. “I want to have some fun for once. Why is that such a crime?” She licked her lips, swollen from kissing, her tone taking a desperate edge. “Why am I not allowed to feel good ever?”

Before Jay could respond, Moquest raced over like he’d been running for hours. “I have the greatest come-on. Ready?” He turned to a nearby waif downing the contents of her red plastic cup in one fluid motion. “If you were a pile of bricks, I’d lay you in a second.”

The waif’s cheeks puffed and she lurched forward, spit the mouthful of whatever concoction she’d just taken on the hardwood floor, and exploded with laughter. Kimber took the distraction as an opportunity to wrench from Jay’s hold and scamper back to the Spin the Bottle game.

“Oh well.” Moquest’s shoulders slumped. “Back to the drawing board.”

Jay sucked in a sharp, shaky gulp as he tore a hand through his messy hair and struggled to regain control. Then again, when it came to Kimber, maybe that was impossible.

Moquest shook off the rejection and looked from Jay to Kimber then back again, his jaw set. “That does it. Time to make things interesting.” He approached the game and grabbed Kimber’s hand, tugging her to her feet. “Everyone, this is Kimber. Kimber, this is everyone.”

“Hi, Kimber!” The majority of the guests raised their drinks in greeting, and she responded with a shy albeit happy wave as she tucked her hair behind her ears.

“She is very interested in making out with a handsome stranger.” Moquest turned to her. “Aren’t you, Kimber?”

Her eyes widened and her cheeks turned pink. She opened her mouth to reply, but Moquest added, “She’s so interested, in fact, she’s agreed to let me blindfold her, send her to my room then pick someone to be her mystery lover. Pretty sweet, right?”

“What! I never—”

Moquest silenced Kimber’s outburst with a finger to her lips as the partygoers let out shouts of bawdy encouragement. Jay surpassed astonishment as Kimber pushed Moquest’s hand away from her mouth and laughed, otherwise not protesting. Was this seriously happening?

“Come on, Kimmy.” Moquest draped an arm around Kimber’s shoulders and directed her toward the staircase. “Let’s get ready for your surprise.” He led her to the second floor, pausing to yell to the other guests, “Y’all fight nice over who gets to rock her world now!”

Jay leaned heavy against the wall, feeling the situation spiral further and further from him. What could he do? There were no options left, except perhaps throttling Moquest the first chance he got.

A few moments later, Moquest materialized in front of him wearing a smile most often reserved only for patron saints. “There you are,” he said with smug benevolence. “In case you haven’t heard, I got something waiting for you upstairs.”

“You’re a real asshole, you know that? Call this off.”

“I’m busy being a good host. You go call it off.” Moquest smirked. “If you’re not back in five minutes, I won’t send help.”

Jay stared daggers at his friend’s back as Moquest loped off, trying more random pick-up lines on passing female guests. He took a few deep breaths before ascending the staircase, formulating the speech he intended to deliver once he saw Kimber. This behavior was insane, dangerous, disgusting. But with every stair came the reminder of Moquest’s obvious intent in arranging this opportunity, and both his knees and resolve weakened.

No! He refused to this of it as an opportunity; it wasn’t, it couldn’t be. It’d be wrong to consider it as such—this was Kimber.

And it was that very argument against the situation that warped into his reason in favor of it as he opened the door. In the dim red light coming from the lamp on the nightstand, he saw Kimber perched on the edge of the bed, chewing her bottom lip, trembling, the blindfold in place.

Jay sucked in a breath as the magnitude of the moment slammed into him. This was unreal. She looked perfect and she was his for the taking. No one would ever have to know the truth. If this was a perfect world where consequences were unheard of, wouldn’t he take this chance? Hell yes he would, especially if he knew the chance would never come along again. It’s not like Kimber wasn’t willing; she was ready to do anything with any old fuck.

Oh God. Was he actually justifying this? Was he actually talking himself into it?

He shut the door with a soft click and turned the lock, and Kimber straightened, alert. She licked her lips and he realized that he could be doing the same in just seconds. He was the only one holding himself back.

She cleared her throat. “Hi,” she said, her voice soft.

The sound rolled through him, mixed with pity and affection. Who says hi at a time like this? She was in over her head—they both were. He couldn’t let anyone in this room to get to her; he didn’t trust them not to take advantage of her. So why didn’t he speak up and say so? Say anything?

He remained still, watching as Kimber rose and took slow, careful steps toward the door. “Where are you?” she whispered.

Jay stretched his hand out, sliding it in hers, shivering as a jolt rippled through his fingers and up his arm at her touch. She stepped closer, just inches from him, and her smell obliterated his senses, leaving the memory of their kiss in the woods and how easily that kiss could happen again if he wanted it to. And he definitely wanted it to.

Her hand left his and touched his face, and her forehead creased; he knew she was trying to figure out who he was. Confident she’d never guess, he closed his eyes as her fingers quested over his cheeks, his nose, his jaw, his lips. Why should he feel confident? Why was that a good thing? What was he actually debating on doing?

Before he could admit his intentions to himself, Kimber cupped his face and kissed him, effectively murdering his ability to think beyond the moment. Swallowing a groan, he wrapped his arms around her, tugging her closer as he deepened the kiss, exploring her mouth with his tongue, teeth, and lips. God, she tasted so fucking incredible, better than he’d imagined. Their last kiss had been good, but he’d been so focused on making it happen he hadn’t had the chance to truly experience it. Now that she was so willing, he had all the time in the world to do just that.

Kimber pulled away with a soft sigh. “Man,” she said softly, the awe in that single word weakening his willpower further.

What the fuck was he doing? This was deceitful and wrong. He couldn’t do this; she was his best friend. She trusted him. He couldn’t be like all the other horny fucktards at this party, ready to use her however they saw fit. He was in love with her, and people didn’t do this sort of thing to the one they loved.

Or did they?

Kimber gave a greedy, impatient whimper in response to his sudden detachment and wound her arms around his neck, finding his mouth with hers again. Unable to resist, he encircled her with his arms and kissed her back. Damn, she really wanted this to happen. And she felt so unbelievably good. He could feel the heat emanating from her body beneath her dress, and her skin was so soft. He could so easily get addicted to this, to her, if he wasn’t already.

That didn’t make the situation less wrong. He never wanted her to want him under pretenses, and that’s exactly what this was. His mind throbbed, commanding him to let her go, but his body had a different agenda as he backed Kimber toward the bed. They both tumbled on the mattress, which squeaked in protest, and she entwined her legs around his waist, pulling him tight against her, her dress bunching around her upper thighs. The only thing separating him from entering her was their clothes, and that problem could be resolved easily enough.