Acting on Impulse (2 page)

All she could see was the front of his shirt and when she looked up to catch a glimpse of his face, she saw that he was looking down at her. She felt her heart skip a beat. Jane had never experienced that feeling before. It wasn’t the too many cocktails and the sheer exhaustion of trying to be positive. This feeling came from somewhere deep inside.

She felt herself looking back up at him to see if he was still looking at her. He was, so she smiled. He gave her a slightly shy smile back. She noticed that his smile was crooked. It was also very warm and inviting. He still had his hand on her back. She didn’t second guess herself. She didn’t do any of the things she usually did. She just focused on the man and the moment. The heat between the two of them was almost visible.

She breathed his scent in and turned her head slightly, her cheek brushing against his shirt. She felt the crispness of the fabric and the undertones of sandalwood. It was so masculine and seductive she actually felt her mouth water. She wished she had the nerve to reach for him and see if his chest was as firm and delicious as she imagined. She didn’t dare; that really wasn’t the kind of thing she did, and she was pretty sure she would lose her nerve. She sighed.

***

Michael felt the heat coming off of the girl’s skin. She kept sneaking glances at him. She was quite lovely. The crowd jostled them a little closer together and now she was a few millimeters away from his chest. He could feel the rhythm of her breathing and it affected him much more strongly than the room full of scantily clad women gyrating to the beat of the music. He looked down at her and he felt that twinge of a longing. It was too bad that he wasn’t the kind of guy who picked up strange women in bars. He sighed.

The evening wrapped up pretty quickly after that. The music slowed, people began to drift away. Jane got her friends to drop her off at her apartment. She took a quick shower to rinse the last remnants of the smoky club off of her skin and out of her hair, but as hard she tried she couldn’t wash the thought of the man out of her head. The feel of the water usually lulled her into a peaceful drowsy state, but tonight it just made her more conscious of how alive she felt earlier.

She would never have believed that the nearness of someone could change her point of view. She wasn’t going to start frequenting clubs and bars, but maybe she would start doing things in a different way. Still, that wasn’t going to help her sleep tonight. Her stomach growled. She hadn’t eaten nearly enough earlier and now she was hungry. She knew without looking that she didn’t have any food in the house and as resourceful as she was, she wouldn’t be able to put anything edible together from the spice rack. She sighed and put on her favorite sweatpants and cozy sweater, pulled back her hair and dashed out to the corner coffee shop.

***

Michael was exhausted from the day and after dropping his sister off he just wanted to unwind with a cup of coffee; real coffee, the kind served in thick cups by waitresses who called you, “Hon.” He stopped at place nearby. He sat at the counter, smiling when the waitress brought him a cup of coffee without being asked. He took a sip and looked up in the mirror over the counter.

The door behind him opened and there she was, the girl from the bar. She looked different, more relaxed. Her hair was tousled and pulled back, but he would have recognized that hair and that face anywhere. He had spent at least three songs worth of time staring at the top of her head. He didn’t wave her over; he hadn’t even gotten her name. She looked up and caught his eye in the mirror. She gave him a look of startled recognition. He wasn’t sure if he should go talk to her or if she would run away from him. The waitress leaned over and said, “You might as well go over, she’s staring at you. It would be rude not to.”

He smiled gratefully at her and took his coffee over to the booth where she had settled in.

***

Jane had no idea what she should do when she saw the man at the counter. Her she was with no makeup and dressed in comfortable clothes, which by definition were unattractive. He was just as handsome in the bright fluorescent light of the coffee shop. She barely had time to decide if she should go introduce herself when he appeared at the side of the booth. She didn’t know what was more welcome, the sight of the man or the smell of the coffee in his hand. He gestured towards the empty seat across from her. She nodded and he sat. The waitress appeared with a cup of coffee for her. She took a sip and smiled. He smiled back and said, “I’m Michael.”

“I’m Jane.”

“Do you usually wind up here after a night out?”

“I usually wind up here instead of the night out.”

Michael liked the soft low tone of her voice. He was also happy to hear that she wasn’t a party girl. He knew that she was different. Normally different didn’t look so good at this hour. The halt in the conversation was interrupted by the waitress appearing for their orders. He listened as Jane ordered something with a lot of cheese and bacon. She was definitely not like any other woman he had met. She didn’t dither. She just ordered. It sounded fantastic so he ordered the same thing.

Jane was glad to finally know his name. She couldn’t keep referring to him as “the man.” Or “that guy”, which was what her friends had called him. Outside of the trendy club he appeared almost normal. She wasn’t a big fan of the clothes, but he seemed nice enough. She did like looking at his face. His eyes were long lashed and perfectly framed intensely grey eyes. She felt a little twinge as she thought about how they would look in a moment of intense passion. She didn’t realize that she was running her tongue over her lower lip. She did realize that he had asked her a question. She took a sip of her coffee to buy herself some time.

“I don’t usually go places like that. My friends dragged me out.”

He fiddled with his collar and reddened slightly.

“Me either. My sister dressed me up and forced me to go out with her tonight. I’ve been uncomfortable all day, but I love my sister and she insisted that this is what looks good. I’m finding it constricting.”

“What do you usually do on the weekends?”

“As little as possible.”

Jane laughed out loud. He had put it perfectly. That’s exactly what she liked to do. He smiled at her a little startled as if he didn’t know he had said something funny. Before she could say anything else, the waitress swooped in and dropped off their food. She was famished. She picked up her sandwich and took a huge bite, noticing that Michael was staring at her. She swallowed.

“That’s rude of me. I’m sorry, I’m just really hungry.”

“No, I just don’t ever see a woman actually enjoy her food.”

Jane smiled at him and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. His grey eyes sparkled at her and she felt a little flutter deep down. She wasn’t used to this kind of attention. She stopped herself before her mind could drag her down a negative path. She focused on the wonderful greasy food. He was enjoying his as well. She sipped at a glass of water and tried not to stare at his hands. She loved looking at a man’s hands. Michael's were strong looking with long lean fingers and neatly clipped nails. His palms were broad and she wanted to know what it would be like to have those long fingers tracing the curves of her body. She sighed and moved ever so slightly. He gave her a quizzical look and she took another bite of her sandwich.

Michael almost bit his tongue when he heard her sigh. He would love to hear that sigh in his ear as he pulled her close to him. He looked across at her and saw that hair was escaping from her ponytail and was curling seductively around her face. She made a slight movement and he noticed the sexy curve of her neck and shoulder. He knew he couldn’t keep up this kind of cat and mouse game and he couldn’t let her go after they finished. He saw the tip of her tongue run across her lower lip again. That decided it for him.

“I’m going to be up for awhile; the coffee, you know. So I was wondering . . . do you want to go somewhere . . . anywhere to talk?”

Jane never did anything like this, but the change she had made in her attitude was working well so far. She might as well keep going.

“I’m pretty sure I will be up for a while, too. I live pretty close; do you want to go to my place?”

Michael didn’t think about this invitation twice. He signaled for the check and once they had both paid they left. A gust of wind whipped around the corner and she shivered. He took off his jacket, his narrow, overly stylish jacket and draped it over her shoulders. She looked up at him and smiled gratefully. She led him around the corner to the apartment. It was the same building his sister lived in. He thought it only housed girls like his sister. He was going to have to do something about these snap assumptions he kept making.

All Jane wanted to do, now that she was fed and alert and dressed in comfortable clothes, was cuddle up on the couch with Michael. But could you go from zero to cuddle with a stranger? And was he really a stranger? She had danced with him and had a meal and thoroughly enjoyed his company. That was practically three dates with anyone else. She gestured towards the living room and he started to sit. She turned and tipped her face up to his just as he was about to sit.

There was a moment of awkwardness, but then Michael relaxed into the kind of kiss she had been waiting for. She didn’t think about anything but the feel of his lips, soft on hers, and the feel of his tongue poking tentatively out to touch hers. His hand rested on the curve of her waist and she reached up for him, nudging him towards the couch. He sat and she climbed onto his lap. He wrapped his arms around her and she tightened her legs around him.

The kiss deepened, her lips parting to taste as much of him as she could. His hands slipped up the back of her loose shirt and she felt the warmth of those long fingers stroking her back. She sighed with delight and he gave an answering moan of pleasure. She rotated her hips into him and began kissing his chin, his jaw and his ear. He moaned again and wrapped his arms around her even more tightly. She arched her neck and he leaned forward and kissed her throat. She slipped off of his lap and tugged him on top of her. She tossed the cushions off of the couch and lay back.

She draped her legs around his hips and he traced the length of her throat with his tongue. She moaned and arched her back and pressed her breasts against him. She reached for the top button of his shirt. He tugged it out of his pants as her fingers swiftly unfastened it. She moved her warm hands over his shoulders and stroked his back. He shivered a bit and she smiled. He shrugged his way out of it and dropped it over the side of the couch. He continued to kiss her and she relaxed into the waves of passion. She felt his bare chest and reached for the edge of her shirt. She pulled it off of herself and leaned up to unfasten her bra.

As soon as it was undone she discarded it, pressing her bare breasts against the warmth of his skin. He moaned again. She pulled him even closer. She felt his hardness pressed against her. She suddenly wanted to feel all of him against her and in her. She had never felt such strong and impulsive passion. She reached between them and unbuckled his belt. She heard him take a sharp intake breath, his hand moving down to help her. Soon his pants had joined their shirts on the floor. She had to have him as soon as possible. She tugged at his boxers and whispered against his lips, “Do you have anything?”

“Not in these pants...”

“In the bedroom.”

Without breaking the kiss or saying anything else, Michael had swept Jane into his arms and was carrying her towards the bedroom. She didn’t stop to think that she was really too tall to do this and instead giggled at the feeling of being airborne. He deposited her on the bed and she rolled to the side to find what she was looking for. She danced her eyes across his slender figure as he prepared himself for her. She opened her arms and pulled him close. He kissed her with the same passion as before. She tasted the dark sweet coffee on his lips and inhaled the smoky sandalwood of his skin.

She scratched her nails lightly across his shoulders as he gently tugged her in place. She sighed as she felt every heavenly inch slip into her. She gave a little gasp as his length filled her. He kissed the tip of her nose and she inhaled, just breathing in the magic of being in his arms. Her legs draped around his slender hips. He moaned deep in his throat. She smiled at the sound. He kept up a steady, deep pace and she welcomed the sweet pressure of him moving on her and in her. It had been so long since she had felt this relaxed and even longer since she had been so moved by a man.