Out of the Dark

“I have to use the restroom,” she told Luke as the song slowed a little and gave them a chance to breathe. “And find my cousin’s friend. She’s probably in there.”

Luke nodded but looked reluctant as he let her go. “Hurry back.”

Impulsively, Celia touched his cheek. “You’re sweet.”

He groaned, clutching his heart. “Kiss of death!”

“No, no,” she laughed, shaking her head, “it’s a good thing. Really.”

Luke caught her hand and kissed the knuckles, but let her go as she tugged away. She backed up to keep him in her sight as long as she could before turning with a giggle and a grin as she pushed through the swinging batwing doors into the corridor leading to the bathrooms. That was where she found Dana, headfirst in the toilet. Recoiling, her exuberance punctured like a balloon, Celia covered her mouth and nose and peeked into the stall again.

“Dana?”

Without lifting her head, Dana flung up a hand. Thumbs up. “’M’good!”

“You don’t look good.”

“’M’okay!”

A tall, broad-shouldered gal in a denim skirt and a black Harley-Davidson tank top came out of the other stall to flash a grin at Celia. “She’s okay. She’s been in there for about an hour. Let her get it out of her system, she will eventually.” The woman washed her hands at the sink and gave Celia a look from the mirror’s reflection. “Can’t hold her liquor, huh?”

“Apparently not,” Celia said, then added like an excuse, “bachelorette party.”

“Yours?”

“Oh, hell no. I’ll never do that again.” It came out more vehement than she’d intended, but the woman just nodded knowingly.

“I hear you, honey. I went through it three times before I learned my lesson.”

“Once was enough for me.” Celia looked dubiously into the stall. Now Dana was cradling her cheek on her palm, right there on the toilet seat. Eyes closed. A strangely blissful smile on her face. “Um…”

“She’ll be okay. Get her home, try to get her to drink some water. She’ll be hurting tomorrow though. She’s not the one getting married tomorrow, is she?”

“No, it’s my cousin Lisa’s party. And the wedding’s not until next week.” Thank God, Celia thought as she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Eyes bright, face flushed, hair wild. If the wedding had been a few hours from now, all of them would’ve been hurting.

“Need me to call you a cab?” The woman turned from the sink and studied Dana.

“You can get a cab out here?”

The woman grinned. “Sure. Depends on how far you have to go, but sure.”

The plan had been for Celia to drive everyone home to Lisa’s house in Palmyra, about thirty minutes away, but as tempting as it was to toss Dana in a cab to let a stranger deal with the possibility of puke in his backseat, she couldn’t do that. “I haven’t been drinking. I’ll drive her home.”

“Good luck, hon.” The woman winked and left the bathroom.

Celia leaned in. “Dana, I’ll be right back. I’m going to find Lisa and get out of here, okay?”

No answer but a soft snore. If Celia had been the sort to snap a picture with her camera phone and upload it to one of those embarrassing photo blogs, this would’ve been the perfect shot. Instead, she sighed and headed back into the bar to round up the other bachelorettes. No easy task, she discovered, when Lisa decided she wasn’t ready to go home until everyone danced with her to the Cha-Cha Slide. Twice.

Everyone but Celia, who’d only do that sort of dance at the point of a knife, which is what it felt like someone was doing to her toes. Screw it. She didn’t trust her bare feet to the bar floor, but she could grab a pair of her sneakers from her trunk and put them on. It was that time of night, anyway.

“You’re not leaving are you?” Luke caught up to her at the front door.

“Soon. I’m going to get something from my car.” She tipped her chin toward the parking lot. “Wanna come with me? I hear the gravel’s really special.”

“Rock jokes,” Luke said as he followed her. “Nice.”

They reached the car in moments. This was a different kind of dance. Celia turned, meaning to make another joke, and found herself backed up on chilly metal that felt good on her hot skin. Her ass rested against the hood, Luke already between her thighs as she pulled him closer by the belt buckle and offered him her mouth. It happened as naturally as his hands had earlier fallen to her hips, as skillfully as he’d turned her on the dance floor. His tongue stroked hers and sent shivers of pleasure trickling through her like water through stones.

The kiss softened. Ended. He rested his forehead on hers, his eyes closed, and Celia noticed one of his hands had cupped the back of her head, the other her hip. She’d hooked her heel over the back of his thigh. All in the space of just over a minute, not quite two.

“Hey.” Luke looked at her.

“Hey,” she said. “You’re a good kisser.”

“Oh, I can do much better than that,” Luke said and proceeded to show her.

It went deeper this time. A little harder, but not too much. It was what Celia’d always thought of as a starburst kiss, one explosion after another. This time she gasped a little when he pulled away, and she had to blink rapidly to unblur her vision.

“You sure can,” she said. “Wow.”

“Geologists really know how to rock.”

“Oh, bad. Bad, bad joke.” She groaned, letting her head fall back against his hand. Above her, the night sky was deep and dark and alight with stars. Luke shifted between her thighs and his belt buckle pressed against her, far too delicious and tempting to ignore. “Where are you staying?”

“Motel down the road.” He leaned in as though to kiss her but kept his mouth a scant breath from hers.

“Damn it. I have to take my cousin and her friends home. I have to go,” Celia said with true regret but also a little relief. She had an excuse for not giving in to the horny devil on her shoulder.

“Don’t go just yet.” He kissed her again, slower this time.

The hand on her hip squeezed gently, slid a little higher. He rocked her against him, just enough to make her want to wiggle and press herself against his belt buckle just a little harder, and she kept herself from doing just that by the barest grasp on her self-control. Luke was a great dancer and a great kisser, and Celia hadn’t had anything this sweet between her legs in a long, long time. What better way to water her dry spell than with a handsome, sexy stranger who would be gone in the morning?

“Luke. I have to go.” Her voice rasped, rough and raw with the rush of desire she hadn’t felt in months. How long had it been since she’d even let a man turn her head? Too long. Her hands slid up the front of his chest to toy with those too-damned-sexy snaps.

His mouth breezed along her jaw to her chin. His teeth nipped softly, just the right amount of pressure. His breath, hot in her ear, sent more shivers trembling through her, peaked her nipples, pulsed her clit. Her thighs opened wider, the soft fabric of her dress shifting against her bare legs as he pressed harder against her. The hand on her hip slid down, beneath her ass, to lift her the few inches onto her hood. She clung to him with another gasp at how easily he lifted her even that short distance, at how their tongues tangled and teeth clashed.

Breathing hard, she broke the kiss. “How long will you be in town?”

He licked his lower lip. “Not long enough. We go in tomorrow, take some samples. In and out fast, so we can get them back to the lab and see what’s there before anyone else does.”

“Where do you live?” It was against hope that he’d say Harrisburg, a forty- minute drive from her house. Or Philadelphia, just over an hour.

“Pittsburgh,” he said.

“Shit,” Celia muttered. Four hours away. A little long to drive for a coffee date.

The front doors banged open, spilling light into the parking lot, then a gaggle of bachelorettes followed. Dana was with them too, at least there was that. Lisa cupped a hand to her mouth.