“What is this adventure?”
“I’m not sure yet. But I am on it now. Bars, random guys, bar food—that’s all part of it.”
“Am I the beginning of your adventure?”
She smiled and then nodded. “Yes, Eli, you are.”
Lila Kate
DANCING WITH ELI at this bar wasn’t my first time to dance at a bar. I had once before while in college. A friend on the dance team had her twenty-first birthday party at the local haunt. I went. I danced. I left early and arrived home before midnight sober. But that was the old me.
“I think I’d like another drink,” I told Eli after our dance.
He smiled as if I was amusing. “Anything in particular?”
I almost said a martini and stopped myself. “Whatever.”
He chuckled and I watched as he held his hand up signaling a waitress who was carrying a tray of little shot glasses filled with Jell-O. She came over and he took two glasses off her tray. “Thanks.”
Then he handed one to me.
“What’s this?” I asked holding the cup of Jell-O in front of me.
“A Jell-O shot. It’s even better than a bar drink. It’s a club drink.”
The club he was referring to was different than the club I had grown up in and I knew that. I figured why not. I tasted it slowly.
“It’s a shot, Lila. Don’t savor it. Just down it.”
Not wanting to disappoint him or me, so I did as Eli said.
When I was done, I thought it tasted yummy like strawberry Jell-O.
“What did you think?”
“I liked it.”
He handed me the shot glass he was holding. “I never was one to think a guy looked right doing a Jell-O shot. Take this one.”
And I did.
I wasn’t sure what liquor was in them, but my head felt lighter, and I felt happy. Eli took both cups, held his hand up again and placed them on the tray the waitress was carried over to us.
“Ready for another dance?” he asked.
I stepped back into his arms and we danced. This time I wasn’t aware of anyone around us, and I wasn’t concerned. I enjoyed myself. Moved by the music, I let go of my inhibitions. I laughed. I heard my own laughter and it felt right.
It wasn’t until three dances later when Eli took a drink off a tray and drank it that I wondered what time it was. I should call my mom. I should call Nate.
Then I realized that was the old Lila Kate. This was the new one.
Our dancing continued. Our movements got sexier. The touching became more intense and my heart rate sped up a bit. I enjoyed being near Eli. I liked the way his hands slid over my hips and cupped my bottom. When my breasts brushed against his chest, the contact felt like electricity had pulsed through me. These feelings were all new things for me. I’d tried to feel this before. It had never happened. I was always so tense and unsure. But Eli was easy to trust, and the way he smiled could attract a nun.
His head lowered, and his breath was hot on my neck. I shivered as it tickled my ear. “Go somewhere with me.”
I slowed our dance to a halt. This was it. My chance to do something truly wild. To break free of the old me. To become someone else. I needed this. I wanted this. I wanted Eli, and it had been awhile since there was a guy that attracted me. It wasn’t just the shots either. I’d liked him before I started drinking.
“Okay,” I answered loud enough that he could hear.
He bit softly on my earlobe. “I’ll get your purse from Larissa.”
I nodded and walked off the dance floor with him.
He got my purse from his aunt who he’d handed it to when we left the bar for the dance floor. Then he came straight to me. “Your car here?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“I’m not sure either of us should drive just yet. Walk with me down the beach.”
I had to agree. I wasn’t sure I should get behind the wheel, and he had drunk more than I had. His hand slipped over mine then our fingers threaded. We walked in the moonlight across the road and down to the beach in silence. The music from Live Bay faded in the distance.
It was secluded and peaceful on the shore. I’d been on our beach many times at night. But never with a guy. Not like this. It was almost magical.
“You swim in the Gulf much? Or are you on the East Coast?”
“I’m on the west, and no. I enjoy the beauty but I don’t get in it much.”
“Where in Florida do you live?”
I wavered here, not sure what I should say. I wanted to leave that girl behind. Rosemary Beach was small but it was elite. Everyone knew that wealthy and famous people lived there. He’d wonder. He’d ask questions. I’d reverted to Lila Kate Carter in moments. I didn’t want to be her again.
“A small little town. Nothing special.”
He nodded. “Okay. I won’t push.”
I sighed. It sounded like I was keeping it from Eli because I didn’t trust him. I was out here alone with him. That was trust right there. “It’s not that. It’s . . . I don’t want to be her anymore. I want to be different. I want to be someone new.”
“Adventure,” he added.
“Yes.”
He stopped as we came to a dark and secluded spot on the beach with nothing but the waves crashing to the right of us and tall sea grass to the left. Houses and condos had tapered off. He turned to me, and his hands took my waist. I would be lying if I said I didn’t hold my breath. When his mouth met mine, I inhaled sharply. His lips were firm, yet they were tender. He knew exactly how to use them too. Our tongues danced as his hands moved down over my bottom then up under my top until both of his palms were cupping my breasts.
My breathing was already erratic when his thumbs brushed my nipples. However, when he lifted my shirt to remove it, I hesitated. I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know him. Could I do this? I lifted my eyes and looked up at his perfectly chiseled face. I decided this was the right time. A real adventure. And he was exactly who I wanted to experience it with.
I allowed Eli to remove my shirt. He stared a moment and let my shirt drop from his hand, then took my bra off and dropped it on top of my shirt. His expression was appreciative. I forgot to breathe again when Eli’s head descended slowly to my chest, his mouth covered my nipple, and he began to suck. I held onto his head because my knees felt weak. He seemed to know exactly what I needed. He stopped to pull off his shirt. He laid it out on the sand then did the same with his jeans. I watched with fascination as his lean muscular body was now on display for me. Once he finished making a makeshift bed, he lowered his tall frame to rest on his clothes, and pulled me down on top of him.
I straddled him, my skirt hiking up my thighs and nothing separating us but his boxers and my panties. His hands threaded through my hair, and he held my head looking into my eyes. “You’re fucking perfect, Lila. That seems impossible.”
“I am so far from perfect.”
He smiled and then his eyes went dark making me shiver. His eyes dropped to my bare chest. “I want to taste you.”
I wanted to kiss him too. “Okay,” I agreed.
In one swift movement, he rolled me underneath him and I could feel his rumpled clothes and sand beneath me. I was startled, but when my knees were put over his shoulders I realized what he had meant and my stomach flipped. I’d never done this. No guy had ever been that up close and personal with me. Nervous didn’t even begin to describe it.
Then his tongue slid over the inside of my thigh and I froze. I don’t know if it was anticipation or fear for what was to come next. Those lips that knew how to move against mine began working the same magic between my legs. With every swipe of his tongue and carefully placed kiss I cried out, trembled, and began to beg. This was the most erotic, exciting moment of my life. I never wanted it to end. Ever.
Eli Hardy
WATER. I HADN’T drunk enough fucking water. I lie in bed with my head pounding afraid to open my eyes. This was going to be one hell of a hangover. I never drank like I did last night, and this was why. I hated feeling like shit.
Wait . . . that smell. I inhaled again. The scent was still there. Holy shit. I remembered that smell. Almond and cinnamon and maybe vanilla. It sounded like a sugar cookie but that wasn’t what I was smelling. It was her.