Lick Is A Four-Letter Word (6 page)

Chapter
Four

Felicity
leaned back against the elevator’s rear wall and closed her eyes tiredly.
Moving into a new office was always exhausting, and this time she had to do it
in the midst of a big project. They were trying to meet a deadline for a new
line of self-help books, but the big boss didn’t take into account the fact
that moving to an entirely different building in the middle of the project
could possibly be a bad idea.
The idiot
, she snarled to herself.
He
doesn’t have to do a damn thing except take off for a week and come back when
it’s all done.

Today,
the first day of the move, she’d had to deal with her laptop dying. Then, when
she’d tried to use another machine, she discovered that their access to the
server where the most updated copy of the books they were working on was stored
hadn’t been set up yet.
Even
though I arranged for it to be ready weeks ago.
She banged her head
on the wall. It didn’t help. Last, she’d somehow lost her most prized office
possession: the cushion she’d kept under her desk to support her bad ankle.

The
only good thing about this day is the shaved ice machine Barney brought in
, she thought. She licked her treat absently, enjoying the cold,
sugary sweet in the heat of the elevator. She wasn’t sure she liked the new
office building. It was June and already hot outside, but for some reason, the
building’s maintenance people hadn’t turned on the air conditioning. The shaved
ice cups were the coolest items in the office, and she’d managed to score two,
despite the intense jockeying among her colleagues for them. The one now
melting all over her hand was better than the last one she’d had, earlier in
the day. She liked the lemon flavor, how its tart sweetness burst over her
tongue.

She
licked it as the elevator stopped, not bothering to open her eyes. She wasn’t
in the mood to make nice after the day she’d had. Her new building-mates would
have to deal with her ignoring them. She licked her treat again as the doors
closed.

“Felicity?”
a deep male voice asked.

Her
eyes flew open. The last voice she’d ever expected to hear echoed in the
elevator. It was
Troy
.
Felicity almost dropped her shaved ice as she stared at him. He wore khakis and
a dark purple shirt. Josh stood next to him, looking bemused in a pair of black
pants and blue shirt. “Troy?” she asked tentatively. What were they doing here?
“And Josh,” she said with more certainty. It was definitely them.

“Felicity, hello.”
Josh smiled. “I
didn’t think we’d ever see you again.”

Felicity
shrugged. “Me neither.” The elevator clanged and gave a rough bump, knocking
some of her shaved ice onto her hand. She licked it off, not wanting to get it
all over her nice clothes. She was wearing one of her favorite dresses: a silky
floral fabric that draped over her curves flatteringly. It had a string tie at
the waist. The reds and pinks of the pattern made even her mousy hair look
good. More ice fell on her wrist and she licked it off, too.

“Jesus,”
Troy
muttered,
staring at her mouth.

Felicity
froze. Abruptly, the remnants of their last encounter flickered into her brain.
A flash memory of him at her feet, smiling up at her, raced through her mind.
She licked her lips, trying to suppress the flare of arousal that shot through
her body, hot and wild. “Um, want some?” She held out the ice.

Troy
blinked and looked up. The heat in his hazel eyes made her gasp. He took a step
forward and she felt her hand shake as the muscular height of him came closer.
When he put his hand on her forearm, bending down to take a lick, the elevator
jerked again. She stumbled into him, almost dropping the cup of frozen sugar,
but Josh was suddenly there, holding her up. The elevator jerked again, and
then the lights went out.

As the
emergency light in the corner of the tiny box flicked on,
Troy
muttered, “Shit.”

Felicity
heartily agreed. “Did we just get trapped in an elevator together?”

“Yup,”
Troy
said,
a hint of disbelief in his voice.

“Wow.
This is weird.” Josh laughed, still holding onto her. “You okay?”

She
nodded, looking at him. The dim light threw his face into shadow, making him
look mysterious and somehow even more attractive. Felicity licked her ice, not
sure what to do. He didn’t let go of her waist, and she didn’t really want him
to. He smelled good.
Troy
still had a hand on her forearm and his handsome face loomed close to hers.
“Seriously?
Does this happen often in this building?” she
finally asked. “My company just moved in.”

“No.
Never,”
Troy
answered, lifting her arm and taking another bite from the mound of shaved ice.

Felicity
let her head fall back against the wall, letting him keep custody of her arm.
If he wanted to hang onto her, she wasn’t going to stop him. “This is literally
the first day here for my office. We just moved onto the fifth floor.”

“Our
office is on the fourth floor,” Josh said, dropping his arm from her waist.
Troy
moved back, too,
giving her a little space.

Damn
, she thought,
disappointed. Felicity felt almost chilly without their body heat radiating
into hers.
Feeling cold is absurd in this ridiculous heat,
she told herself
. A trickle of sweat
ran down between her breasts. “What do you guys do?” she asked to fill the
awkward silence.

“Video
game design,”
Troy
said, pushing on the emergency call button.

A tinny
voice came through the intercom: “Yes, elevator three. We know you’re stuck
between floors. We should have you out of there in an hour or so.”

“What?
An hour?”
Felicity said, outraged.

Troy
pushed the button and spoke. “Why so long?”

The
intercom came on again. “There were a series of rolling blackouts today and a
bunch of elevator systems got messed up. They told us it would take a while
because we’re not an emergency.”

“Are we
safe in here?”
Troy
asked.

“Yes.
The mechanical brakes are fine. The electronics are fried. The camera isn’t
working either, by the way.”

“If the
electronics are fried, how is the intercom working?” Felicity asked.

“Older
system,” Josh said, rubbing his eyes. “Damn. I really wanted to go home early
today.”

“Thank
you,”
Troy
said, then let go of the button. “
Me
too, Josh. Now
that the latest update is done, I was looking forward to a long weekend.”

Josh
sighed. “Well, in a sense this is good. I’ve been kicking myself for weeks for
not getting your number, Felicity.” He smiled at her, his dark eyes flashing
sex appeal and puppy-dog entreaty at the same time.

Felicity
swallowed. He was just too damn gorgeous for his own good. She pressed her
thighs together, willing herself to calm the hell down.
“Oh,
um.
Yeah,” she stuttered, at a loss for words. She’d really never
expected to see either of them again. Seeing them up close and in the flesh was
a shock to her system. She’d spent the last few weeks going over and over the
kisses they’d shared, and to have them suddenly appear in the elevator?
Weird.
Really, really weird.

“Maybe
we should sit down,”
Troy
said, startling her from her reverie. He offered her his hand.

Felicity
stared at it, confused. What? Sit down?

“Your ankle.
It probably will start
bothering you if you stand too long. And I bet it sucks getting up and down
from the floor,”
Troy
explained when she didn’t move. “Take my hand.”

“Oh,”
she said again, like an idiot. Her ankle ached, but not any more than usual.
The thought of squatting to sit made her wince.
“Um, yeah.
It does, actually. But I’m not sure I want to sit down.” She eyed the laminate
flooring dubiously. “I don’t want to mess up my dress. And my ankle isn’t that
bad. It’s not any worse than usual.” Not to mention how would she keep from
flashing them if she sat down?
They’ve already seen you naked
, a little
voice in her head said, but she stomped it down.

“The
cameras are down,” Josh said.

Felicity
frowned.
“Yeah?”
What did that have to do with
anything? She noticed
Troy
looking at him too, a confused expression on his face. She took another lick of
her shaved ice. Almost all of it was gone, leaving just sweetened syrup in her
cup.

“Can I
kiss you?” Josh asked, out of the blue.

“What?”
Felicity almost dropped the cup. “Are you serious?”

He
shrugged. “I’ve been thinking about kissing you for the past two weeks. We’re
stuck in here.” He smiled crookedly. “What else is there to do? Please,
Felicity?”

****

Josh
ignored his pounding heart as he waited for her answer. He could tell he’d
shocked her.
Troy
was giving him a funny look as well. Hell, he’d shocked
himself
when he
opened his mouth. He’d wanted to ask her if she’d like his help sitting down
and instead what came out was something he’d never intended to say out loud.

“You
don’t have to—” Troy began to say, giving Josh a dirty look that said
you’re
scaring her, moron
, but Felicity cut him off.

“Okay.”

Josh
grinned. He couldn’t help it. His heart gave a celebratory flip as he moved a
little closer. “Cool,” he said.

She
laughed. “Cool?”

He
nodded. “Yes, very, very cool.” He touched a finger to her cup,
then
slid it out of her fingers. “Hold this,
Troy
, would you?” He
deposited it in his friend’s hands before
Troy
could argue and turned back to Felicity. Her hair was done up haphazardly in a
messy bun, with small strands escaping all over, and he thought she looked
delicious. The pretty dress she was wearing emphasized her generous curves. He
wanted to mess her up more. Instead, he gently cupped her cheek, tilting her
face up to his. “You ready?” he asked.

She
nodded, licking her lips. Her beautiful blue eyes were wary. As he dipped his
head down, he wondered what she thought of him, kissing her like this, and then
his lips touched hers and all rational thought fled. She made a small, soft
sound that went right to Josh’s dick and he deepened the kiss, licking into her
sweet, sweet mouth. She let him in, kissing him back hotly. Josh groaned, his
cock suddenly hard and aching in his snug boxer briefs. He moved closer,
pinning her against the wall. She gasped as his erection touched her hip.

“Still okay?”
Josh murmured into her
ear. He licked the soft hollow just beneath her earlobe and she nodded.

“Yeah,
I’m good.” Her hands were on his arms, trembling. When she slid them up over
his shoulders and drew his head back down to hers, his hips jerked, grinding
into her. She moaned quietly and he kissed the sound away. Everything around
him faded: the elevator, the harsh emergency lighting, the sticky heat. He
kissed her until he had to come up for air.

“My
turn,”
Troy
said, voice hoarse.

Josh
jerked his head around.
Oh yeah
, he thought.
We made a deal to share.
He blinked, trying to force his sluggish brain into action.
Troy
’s hazel eyes had a look in them Josh had
never seen before: heated and desperate. Josh could tell he wanted Felicity
just as much as he did. He cleared his throat and looked back down at her pink
face. “
Troy
wants a turn.” His cock throbbed against her heat, and he really didn’t want to
move away, but he’d made a promise. He always kept his promises.

Felicity
glanced at
Troy
.
Josh watched as she licked her lips, thinking about it. When she nodded, he
stepped back, letting
Troy
slot in front of
him.
Troy
pressed the stupid cup into his chest
and Josh barely caught it before
Troy
let go. The heat of his friend’s body had him shivering, despite the
temperature of the elevator. He set the cup down in the corner and then leaned
back against the wall next to Felicity. He wanted to watch them together. He
wanted to watch
Troy
kiss her rather badly, actually.

Felicity
shot him a quick glance as
Troy
lowered his head. Josh stared into her eyes until they fluttered shut, and then
Troy
was
kissing her, devouring her mouth with the same single-minded ferocity he
brought to everything he cared about. Josh licked his lips as he curled his
hands into fists. He wanted to touch them. He wanted to slot up behind
Troy
and press his aching
dick into his friend’s spectacular ass. He wanted to kiss them both at the same
time. He watched as
Troy
slipped his fingers into Felicity’s hair and growled. Felicity melted into him,
her whole demeanor welcoming.