I was so deeply invested in their conversation, listening to their quips back and forth, that I barely registered that Jordan had leaned in closer to me. Not until his hand landed on my thigh under the table. My eyes widened for a second as his fingers slipped lazily under the hem of my soccer shorts, brushing against my sensitive skin.
My eyes tipped back to his, and he arched an eyebrow as if to say, What?
No one else was paying attention. No one else could see his hand drifting ever further up my leg, a leisurely pace northward.
I swallowed hard and then reached for my water as my body heated under his rather public touches. I should have stopped him. We’d agreed that we weren’t going to have a relationship. But did friends with benefits do this? I didn’t know where the line was. And letting him touch me in public felt like crossing it.
Yet…I didn’t mind.
Fuck.
His finger reached the apex of my thighs, dragging down my center. I forced down a shiver. I didn’t want anyone to notice what the hell was happening. I didn’t even know what to think about it. Besides not wanting it to stop and not knowing if that was the right reaction.
Double fuck.
He hit my clit, and I couldn’t stop myself from jumping. Blaire glanced back over to me, and Jordan retreated.
“Cold?” she asked, offering me her Italian rose-embroidered jean jacket. It had to have cost a fortune. I knew she’d gotten it for free, like most of her stuff.
“Thanks,” I murmured, draping it over my shoulders.
I shot Jordan a warning look, but he was a mask of innocence.
“What?” he asked.
“Don’t what me.”
He leaned forward so that only I could hear him. “Then tell me to stop.”
But I wasn’t going to do that. So, I settled on glaring at him. He smiled wider and started his ascent back up my legs. His fingers crested my clit faster this time. Our eyes still locked. It took everything in me not to close my eyes and give in to this. My body superheating under the table, in front of everyone. And no one else knew what was happening.
He tipped his head, as if to tell me to look away. I swallowed, scooted forward in my seat, and tried to engage in the conversation. But I couldn’t hear any of the argument that was taking place between Piper and Hollin. Blaire and Julian trying to play mediators.
I just felt Jordan slowly working me to climax while he casually drank from his beer, as if nothing at all was happening.
My breath hitched as I came so close to hitting that point that I nearly tipped over my drink. Jordan pulled back then when all eyes came back to me. I shot them a weak smile and was glad that pizza appeared then to distract everyone again.
After two pieces of pepperoni pizza and an entire glass of water, I was coming down from my high. I could still feel the tingling between my legs and the wetness coating my panties.
“Hey, I can drive you home,” Jordan offered offhand as soon as he finished his pizza. “I know you said that you had to do some studying tonight.”
“I…do,” I agreed. “That’d be great. Thanks.” I handed Blaire her jacket back. “Jordan’s going to give me a ride home.”
Blaire smiled wide, unassuming, unlike Julian and Hollin on the other side of the table. “No problem.”
Jordan and I both handed over cash for the pizza. I was glad that I had some on me because I didn’t want to be there another minute.
We walked at a normal pace to his car, but as soon as we were inside, the door closed behind us, he grabbed me from across the car, crushing our lips together. I moaned, the heat that had built between my legs not completely extinguished.
“Fuck, I want you,” he ground out.
“I noticed that,” I gasped.
His dark eyes gleamed. “Oh, you liked that?”
“Almost spilled my drink everywhere as I fought not to come.”
“Mmm,” he groaned. “I like that. Can I make you come now?”
He didn’t wait for my response before his hand slipped under my shorts and slicking through my wetness.
“Fuck, Annie. You’re so wet.”
My body pulsed at his words. Our lips still pressed together. His hand working my clit in ways that I wasn’t entirely sure were possible in his car while I was wearing all of my clothes. But the tension in the pizza parlor coupled with the very public groping had me exploding in mere minutes.
I barely came down before he had the car out of the parking lot and was driving south. Away from my house. I would have fucked him in the backseat of his car at this point, but his house was good enough for me. I didn’t even complain that I didn’t have time. Because I wanted this—this effortless, sexy, easy thing between us.
No commitments. No strings. No questions. Just friends…and great fucking sex.
12
Annie
School blew in like the first snowstorm of the year. First, a joyous run through the blinding white flakes, catching them on your tongue, and crafting snow angels and snowmen out of the winter wonderland. And then, inevitably, a hard freezing blizzard that crushed your soul and made you forget that brief moment of happiness.
I was past the blizzard and onto the dirty slush as my feet tromped through what had once been an idyllic beauty.
This rotation was with radiology. Next was anesthesia. I was really not looking forward to either, but I knew that I needed both to become the kind of emergency medicine doctor that I’d always dreamed of. I’d done two monthlong rotations in emergency medicine, and I was working on getting a broader base of knowledge with my electives. Especially after spending months on the other core fields on medicine. I hadn’t minded family medicine, which Cézanne was specializing in despite everyone wanting to push her into surgery, but pediatrics had been my least favorite. As an ER doctor, I knew that I’d have to deal with sick kids, but I hated seeing them. It was too hard not to imagine Aly or Madison or Jason all day. That had been the hardest rotation by far last semester.
I shuddered, thinking about it, as I pushed out of the hospital and toward my car. I blinked up at the dark sky overhead. Was it really that late?
I checked my phone to see that it was already six o’clock, but the damn winter made it seem so much later. Thanks, daylight saving time.
The other benefit of checking my phone was that I had a message from Jordan.
Any interest in trying the whites tonight?
A smile touched my features before exhaustion won out. As much as I’d love to do that, I couldn’t. I needed sustenance and then to study for boards. No wine for me tonight.
I didn’t have the energy to respond. So, I dialed his number as I got into my car.
“Hey there,” he said.
I could hear typing on the other end of the line. As if he was still working. Maybe he was still at Wright Construction. He really did work as much as I did.
“Hey. I can’t do wine tonight. I have to study.”
“All right. You could study at my house.”
I put him on speaker as I headed out of the hospital deck. “All my stuff is at my house, and I need to eat something. I only had time for a protein bar for lunch, and now, my stomach is eating itself.”
“I could pick up Chinese on my way home and meet you there. There’s that new place out by my house that has the best lo mein. You like lo mein?”