“I doubt Veronica has trouble with that on her own.”
“You’d be surprised.”
“Well, I’m sure Jude would be down to help out,” I joked.
She lit up like a floodlight, her red lips smiling wide. “It’s perfect. This way I can see you, and Veronica can get the grump nailed out of her. Everybody wins.”
I shook my head, smiling at her. “Schemer.”
She shrugged and got back to work. “I get what I want.”
“I’m sure you do.”
As she worked, I considered the fact that she’d just asked me on a date. A group date, sure, but we would be going out with her friends, the important people in her life. In public. Not just getting together to hook up. No, we’d be hanging out all night, and then we’d hook up.
If that wasn’t a date, I didn’t know what was.
As she traced the lines of the ocean on my skin, I wondered if she realized it. I wondered if she knew. Or maybe things were just the same for her as they ever were. Maybe this was all just for fun, all for the thrill.
But I told myself not to overthink it. Because if I did, I might lose the glimmer of shine I’d found on Penny.
My eyes scanned the thick crowd at Circus, looking for Bodie. We stood clustered next to a gigantic painting of Siamese twins in an ornate gilded frame. Ramona and Shep laughed with Joel and Annika, leaving Veronica and me on the edge of the circle, a little isolated. I considered canoodling with her, but she seemed as edgy as I was. Setups weren’t her thing. Waiting wasn’t mine.
Not that Veronica wasn’t great company, but after having my hands on a half-naked Bodie all day and not doing anything about it, I was anxious to see him. And by anxious, I meant I felt like my insides were trying to get outside.
I should have gone home with him like he’d asked me to after his tattoo. But I wanted to see him tonight even more than just the afternoon, and I was afraid to overdo it with both. In hindsight, I should have just committed. God knew I couldn’t get my fill of him, so it wasn’t like I had to save myself.
I laughed to myself at the thought. The most he’d gotten out of me in a day was six orgasms. Six. The last one had taken him a full hour, but Christ almighty, was it a ringer.
My phone buzzed in my hand, since I was holding it like a needy girl in preparation of him getting there, and when I saw it was him, I fired off a response, navigating him to us.
I caught sight of him and hopped over, my heart doing all the warm and squeezy things in my chest. I slipped my hand into his much larger one and popped up onto my toes to kiss him for a brief, fluttering second.
“Come on!” I yelled over the music. “This way.”
I led him, Jude, Phil, and Angie over to the group, standing between the tightrope walker in pasties with a sparkly thong and a platform for two hoop dancers who might have been naked — they were covered in body paint and glitter and sparkles.
Veronica perked up as we approached, and I smirked.
I doled out introductions where necessary, saving Veronica for last.
“Jude,” I said, grabbing him by the arm and pushing him toward her with my free hand, “this is my friend Veronica.”
She smiled. He smiled.
“I dunno. I’d say you were more of a Betty.” One of his brows rose salaciously.
Her smile flattened faster than you could say douchebag. So did mine — that look meant he didn’t have a chance in hell.
“Hey, Jude. Don’t make it bad,” Veronica snarked, throwing the Never heard that before back at him.
A girl in a top hat and red tails mercifully interrupted the awkwardness to take drink orders before disappearing into the ocean of people, and I leaned into Bodie, smelling him like a weirdo. I couldn’t help it. The smell of his soap and whatever other products he used made me think of my face buried in his neck or his pillows or his chest. Other places too, places where I’d like to be buried in at that moment.
He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me closer, pressing a kiss to the top of my head.
“How’s your arm?” I asked, sliding my hand around his middle.
“Still works,” he answered with a flex.
I giggled like a dum-dum and leaned away, though I kept my arm around his waist, my fingers fiddling with the top of his pants.
“Thanks again for today,” he said. “I wish you’d let me pay you.”
“I’ll tell you what — you can pay me back later.”
He angled toward me, pressing his lips against my ear. “Oh, I plan to,” he whispered straight to my vagina.