“Two and a half solid months. And change.”
“I think we could have a lot of fun in two and a half months and change.” Oh my God, who was she? Who was saying these things? But honestly, the more they hammered out what they were, the better Adley felt about it. And that was so not her.
“I think so, too.” Sabrina said it so softly, with her eyes on Adley’s mouth, and suddenly Adley hopped off her stool.
“I need to get home. It’s getting late.” She looked pointedly at Sabrina, who caught on immediately.
“Me, too.” She signaled to Clea and closed out her tab like she was in a contest to do so as fast as possible.
Adley held out her hand, Sabrina took it, and together they left Martini’s and walked quickly to the parking lot, which wasn’t dark but was only dimly lit. Very bad for a woman walking to her car alone. Absolutely perfect for two people who were about to kiss like their lives depended on it.
And they did. Sabrina’s back against her car, Adley pinning her there, bodies touching from breasts to thighs. Adley kissed her, softly at first, tentatively. Yes, they were ridiculously attracted to each other, but they didn’t know each other’s bodies. Yet, Adley thought as she explored Sabrina’s mouth with her own—soft, warm, the slightly sweet nuttiness of the bourbon still lingering on Sabrina’s tongue, and Adley wanted more. Hand in Sabrina’s hair, she pulled her in closer—as if that was even possible—and pushed into her. One of them let out a whimpered sigh, and then hands were moving, stroking. Adley felt Sabrina’s on her ass, even as she slipped her own under Sabrina’s top, felt the heated softness of her stomach, her skin almost impossibly soft, and she wrenched her mouth away. Stood there, breathing raggedly, her forehead against Sabrina’s.
“Holy shit,” she said quietly.
“I was just going to say the same thing,” Sabrina whispered on a grin. “You’re sure you don’t do this all the time?” Her voice was teasing, but there was a glint of seriousness in her eyes that Adley could see even in the low light.
“I promise.” She toyed with a chunk of Sabrina’s gorgeous hair, like silk between her fingers. “Listen, if one of us should be concerned about how common this might be, it’s me. You’re the one who travels from city to city. Maybe you have a girl in every port.”
“I would be insulted if that wasn’t a very valid point.” Sabrina held her gaze and nibbled on her bottom lip for a second before saying, “I promise you, I don’t do this. I don’t have a girl in every port. I don’t have a girl in any port. Mostly, I just go to a new city, keep my head down, and do my job.”
“And I raised your head this time?”
“You so did.” Sabrina caught her mouth again with hers, kissed her hard and deep, and Adley knew that it wouldn’t be long before the kissing wasn’t enough. But she kept that to herself.
For now.
Chapter Four
Sabrina always told herself she’d sleep in on weekends. Ever since she began as VP of new markets for Sweet Heaven, she’d promised herself she’d try. Here was the thing with her job—she had time between cities. The traveling, the shipping of her stuff, the setting up in her temporary new home. There was time off there for her to acclimate and settle in. But once work began, it was intense. Ten-, twelve-, fourteen-hour days sometimes. Paperwork and meetings and phone calls. And even though she didn’t technically have to work on weekends, she often did. What else was she going to do alone in an unfamiliar city? She could explore, yes, and she would. She did. But first, she always promised herself she’d get some extra sleep on the weekends.
So when her eyes popped open at five fifty on Saturday morning, she groaned, rolled over, and pulled a pillow over her head. Yesterday had been a whirlwind. Fourteen hours of meetings and phone calls and email and more meetings. Zoom meetings and in-person meetings with fucking Bryce Carter. She lay there, staring at the ceiling. She really needed to learn to just accept him. Dealing with him was one thing, but he wasn’t going anywhere, and they had to work fairly closely at times. She had to find a way to not clench her jaw the entire time they met about something. She’d crack a molar.
As she lay in the warmth of her bed, her thoughts drifted to Adley. She didn’t even know her last name, but holy good God, did she have an effect on Sabrina. Yesterday had been too busy to see her, and honestly, that was okay. It was probably good because…well, because. Apparently, Adley had been busy, too, and Sabrina didn’t ask with what. That wasn’t what they were about.
What they were about was purely physical, and just like that, Sabrina was thrown back in time to Thursday night in the parking lot of Martini’s. Pinned against her car by Adley, who was a little taller and a little broader in the shoulders, and Sabrina liked to think of herself as a big thing in a small package. A little bit of a top. Somebody who liked to take and have control. But letting Adley take the lead Thursday night, letting her trap Sabrina between her car and Adley’s body? That was too many levels of hot for her to count.
The next thing she knew, she’d slipped her hand into her panties, totally surprised but not surprised at all to find herself very, very wet. Her entire body went tight in less than three minutes as her orgasm ripped through her, visions of Adley above her filling her head.
Even though she’d woken up early and gotten herself out of bed by six thirty, she allowed for a leisurely morning—coffee, scrambled eggs, then a walk around her neighborhood. It was bright and sunny, but still the tail end of April in upstate New York, so kind of chilly. She donned her super soft joggers and her favorite dark blue hoodie, piled her hair into a messy bun, and wandered the streets near her house. Nicely maintained homes, small but cozy. Not much in the way of flowers yet. A few crocuses or daffodils peeking their heads up, tiny pops of color in an otherwise somewhere-between-brown-and-green world. But the fresh air was heavenly, and she breathed it in, filled her lungs with it, let herself bask in the quiet sunshine of the crisp morning, nodding to a dog walker and his Cavalier King Charles spaniel. She liked this place, this Northwood, New York. It had charm. She’d been to… God, she’d lost count of how many cities she’d traveled to since she’d taken over the position four years ago. Ten? Fourteen? They kind of blurred together after a while, though Asheville was nice. But there was something about this current city. She was going to see more of it later today, and she was surprised to realize she was looking forward to it.
It was early afternoon when she left a little ice cream shop called Earl’s. Not bad. Well, not bad, but not great. Very dated as far as decor went—scarred and scratched tables, foggy glass on the display case showing its age. The flavor choices were in tubs purchased from a well-known national ice cream supplier, which was fine. The selection wasn’t bad, though the flavor she chose—chocolate almond—was slightly freezer burnt, and her cone was just this side of stale. The pricing was decent, and there were only a handful of patrons. She’d visit again next month when the season was closer.