No Time Like Mardi Gras Read online

  But playing tour guide today of all days had brought its own issues. He’d had her pressed against him so many times today, felt the soft skin of her inner thigh against his cheek.... All perfectly innocent and understandable in the situation, but what it was doing to him was far from understandable or innocent.

  And while part of him wanted to believe that Jamie would want to cross that line, he wasn’t entirely sure the signals he was seeing weren’t just figments of a hopeful imagination. Hell, he was sorely tempted to press her up against the alley wall and offer to lick every drop of that drink off her skin.

  Maybe Fat Tuesday wasn’t the best day to meet someone new. At the same time, the clock was ticking. At best, she might be in town only a day or two longer—he’d have to ask—and the knowledge of a deadline only made the need to touch her more acute.

  The hand holding his was sticky, which was one of the main reasons he was taking her back to the Lucky Gator. They slipped in the back door, past a long line of people waiting for the restrooms, and stopped in front of a door marked Private.

  “Just stay here for a second.” Jamie looked bedraggled, but she nodded. It took a bit of time to make his way to the bar, where Teddy and his staff were moving at high speed to keep up with the crowd that now spilled out the doors into the street, and even longer to get Teddy’s attention. “I need your office keys.”

  Either Teddy trusted him or was simply too busy to care, because he tossed the keys Colin’s way without question or comment.

  Jamie was where he left her, doing her best to brush the worst off, and she looked at him questioningly as he unlocked the door. “We can get you a dry shirt from Teddy’s office.” Looking her over, he saw the slush ran down her leg into her shoes. That wasn’t going to be much fun to walk around in. “Not sure there’s much we can do about the shoes, though.”

  “It’s fine. I’m going to burn them tomorrow anyway.”

  At least this hadn’t dampened her spirit.

  The hallway was quieter as the door closed behind him, and he grabbed a couple of clean bar towels off the shelf. After wetting one in the mop sink, he handed both to her as he unlocked the office and led her inside. It was small and untidy, and Jamie looked uncomfortable being in there. “You can get the worst of it off with those, and I’ll see about finding you a shirt.”

  “Thanks.” Taking the wet cloth, she wiped it over her arms and hands, then closed her eyes and sighed in pleasure as she wiped her face and the parts of her neck not covered in beads. “Oh, that feels so good.”

  He swallowed hard as he watched her. Jesus, he really was on edge, if that simple action was enough to send his blood running south.

  Shirt. Find her a clean shirt. He rummaged through the boxes of Lucky Gator T-shirts under Teddy’s desk until he heard her curse quietly. Looking up, he saw her fighting with the huge stack of beads around her neck. “You okay?”

  “I suddenly feel like I’m being strangled.”

  “Here. Let me help. Lean forward.” She gave him a look, but then did as he said. “All the way.” He slid his hands along the sides of her neck, under the plastic strands and lifted them away from her skin. “Now just drop your head forward...more. That’s it. Now pull back.”

  The mass slipped onto his arms and Jamie stood up. “Oh, my God. I feel ten pounds lighter all of a sudden.” She ran her hands over her neck and grinned. “Overaccessorizing is a bad thing.”

  He dropped the beads onto the desk and went back to the box of T-shirts. “Let’s get you a dry shirt. You’ll have to wear a gator across your chest.”

  “Thanks. This one is beyond help.”

  “It’s probably going to be big on you...”

  As he turned around, the rest of the sentence died in his throat. Jamie was already matter-of-factly peeling her shirt up, exposing a flat stomach and a bra so barely there that he could see the dark shadows of her nipples through the fabric. As the shirt cleared her head, she noticed him staring. He expected her to cover herself, to turn around, but instead, her movement slowed to a crawl. He looked up, expecting to see shock, or even outrage, but her eyes met his evenly as her shirt hit the ground.

  Just like that, the mood shifted, and the air felt close and tense. The noise just beyond the walls faded until Jamie’s shallow breaths and the blood pounding in his ears blotted it out completely.

  Unable not to, Colin let his fingers glide gently over the plane of her stomach, tracing the indentation that ran from ribs to navel, enjoying the little gasp and the way the muscles contracted under his touch. Jamie never broke the stare, even as he retraced his path up between her breasts, to the hollow at the base of her throat that fluttered under his fingers.

  Jamie swallowed and her breath began to stutter. Her hand reached for the hem of his shirt, fisting in the fabric, pulling him closer to her until he could feel the heat from her skin. There was a moment where she seemed to inhale, her pupils dilating, and then Jamie rose to her tiptoes to press her mouth to his.

  The sensation rocketed through him as if he’d been hit by lightning, causing his knees to buckle as he pulled her close and her tongue slid inside his mouth. He grabbed onto the filing cabinet with one hand and slid the other around the firm curve of her butt, steadying them both. Jamie moaned deep in her throat, and the sound nearly sent him over the edge right then.

  Jamie’s hands tangled in his hair, holding him when he moved to taste her neck, the skin on her collarbone, the soft spot behind her ear, and her leg rubbed restlessly against his.

  He’d just wanted to touch her, nearly convincing himself that would be enough, but now... He wanted to explore her, devour her, lose himself in her.

  The bra strap marred the smooth skin of her back, but a quick twist of the clasp allowed him an unimpeded sweep from neck to waist. She dropped her arms, allowing it to fall the rest of the way to the floor, and leaned back against the door, giving him access to small, perfectly formed breasts. Jamie hissed as his thumb brushed over her nipple, and her whole body quivered.

  She pushed his shirt up until it caught under his arms, and he let go of her long enough to remove his own beads and pull the shirt the rest of the way off. He tried to capture her lips again, but Jamie’s head dipped to his chest, pressing hot kisses against his skin. He was having trouble breathing and then couldn’t breathe at all when Jamie’s tongue flicked over his nipple. He pressed his palms against the door hard, gritting his teeth as the pleasure seared through him.

  Then she was kissing him again, hitching herself up to wrap her legs around his waist, her hips writhing against him. Any hope he had of rational thought or restraint was lost.

  A tiny voice in the back of Jamie’s mind was trying to send out a caution signal, but the rest of her was able to ignore it completely. She’d known she’d go right over if Colin so much as touched her, but she hadn’t realized she could spontaneously combust in someone’s arms or that it could feel this incredible when she did. It was better than her imaginings, more than her hopes. Colin was a freakin’ gift from the sex gods, every inch of him designed to tempt and to please, and she didn’t care if it was a good, bad or indifferent choice; she was going to take every bit she could and enjoy it.

  Colin coaxed her legs back to the floor, then slid to his knees, hands grasping her hips as his mouth caught her nipple. The lights went dim as he sucked her, and without his support, she’d have collapsed altogether. Hot, wet kisses on the sensitive underside of her breast and across her ribs left her trembling. Then his tongue traced a path to her navel and beyond, inch by torturous inch until he finally reached the snap of her shorts.

  He paused, his breath hot against her skin, and she looked down to see him watching her face, as though he was looking for permission to cross this last barrier. At the same time, his fingers were tracing along the hem of her shorts, teasing over her inner thighs, so close but
yet so far from where she really needed them.

  She reached for the snap and the zip, letting them sag from her hips. Colin surged back to his knees, his hand clasping her neck and pulling her down for a hot, wicked kiss at the same time his hand slid inside her panties.

  Breaking the kiss, she gasped for air, holding onto his shoulders to steady herself. Colin’s fingers circled and teased, wringing tiny moans from her. Just as she was about to scream in frustration, his hand twisted and his finger slipped inside her.

  This time her knees did give out. Colin caught her in his lap, rolling to his back and then lowering her to the floor, never letting up on the sensations that had the edges of her mind fuzzy. She was panting, writhing, clawing at his back and the floor as he redoubled his efforts until she climaxed hard and fast.

  She was vaguely aware of Colin reaching over her head, rummaging through desk drawers while she fumbled with the zipper of his shorts and palmed him. He stilled, his breath hissing out in pleasure, the muscles in his thighs shaking slightly as she worked her hand, trying to give him even half of what he’d given her. With a groan that sounded nearly painful, Colin grabbed her hand, planting a kiss in the palm and placing it on her stomach while he turned his attention back to the desk.

  A second later, she heard a mumbled, “Thank God,” and the distinctive sound of a foil packet being ripped open. Suddenly desperate, she shimmied her shorts down over her hips, letting Colin help push them to her ankles as he knelt between her thighs.

  Dear God, he was absolutely gorgeous, eyes hooded and burning as he slid a hand from her pelvis to her neck, then met her eyes with a smile that was somewhere between pleased and predatory. It sent shivers of desire slicing though her, and she kissed him almost desperately as he slid slowly inside until their hips finally met. The sensation sent tiny shocks through her system, causing tremors she couldn’t control. Bracing himself on his elbows, Colin held still as he kissed her, keeping the tremors going until Jamie began to buck and arch under him, demanding more. Slow and teasing quickly gave way to hot and frantic, and Jamie lost control, the intensity of it all both scary and exhilarating.

  * * *

  Jamie’s breathing took almost a worrying amount of time to return to normal, but then, so did his. He’d come with a force that should have blown the top of his head off, so Colin was having a hard time gathering thoughts—any thoughts.

  He heard Jamie sigh. He mustered enough strength to turn his head toward her and saw her staring at the ceiling. She sighed again. “Wow. That was...unexpected.” A little smile tugged at her lips and she faced him. “Can I ask how you knew there’d be condoms in the desk?”

  According to Teddy, one of the perks of owning a bar in the French Quarter was what happened after closing time. But he didn’t really want to share that information with Jamie. “Um...”

  She laughed. “On second thought, maybe I don’t want to know.”

  He pushed up onto his elbow. “No, you really don’t.” Quite a bit more of her hair had come loose from her braid, and he toyed with a piece. Jamie leaned up and kissed him, a sweet, basking-in-afterglow kiss that had almost the opposite effect, reawakening his blood just when he thought he was half-dead.

  He deepened the kiss even as the phone on Teddy’s desk began to ring. It was annoying, but ignorable, even as the ancient answering machine picked up and the Lucky Gator’s outgoing message played.

  Teddy’s voice was also the incoming message. The bar noise in the background was loud as Teddy shouted into the phone. “Dude, I don’t know what you’re doing in there, but I need change. I’m trying to run a business, for God’s sake.”

  Jamie collapsed into giggles. “Busted.” With a satisfied groan, she pushed to her elbows and sighed as she reached for her clothes. “Did you say something about a fresh shirt?”

  Silently cursing Teddy—but applauding his timing nonetheless—he dropped a kiss on her bare shoulder. “Oh, yeah, that’s why I brought you back here. I got a little sidetracked.”

  She took the shirt and slid it over her head. “Now we match.”

  “Consider it a Mardi Gras costume.”

  As he dressed, Jamie stuffed her ruined shirt and bra into the trash can and managed to untangle a few of her beads from the pile on the desk to put back around her neck. Holding the hopelessly tangled mound of remaining beads over the trash, she hesitated. “This seems wrong, somehow. I worked so hard to get them.” With a shrug, she dropped them in.

  Dressed now, Jamie tried to push the strands of hair that had fallen out of her braid back from her face. “I don’t even want to know what I look like right now.”

  “You look amazing.” Although Jamie rolled her eyes, as far as Colin was concerned, it was true. Her eyes were bright, cheeks pink and glowing, lips slightly swollen from his kisses. It was enough to make him decide to ignore Teddy’s eviction attempt.

  But even as he reached for her, Jamie had the door open and reality rushed right in.

  “So what are we going to do now?” she asked.

  Go back to my place? “Whatever you want.”

  “You know, I’m kinda feeling like I should give the French Quarter experience another try.” She seemed to have a fresh burst of confidence—as well as a burst of energy he couldn’t quite claim for himself.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Well, maybe we should start on Chartres and work our way back up to Bourbon Street.”

  It wasn’t quite what he’d hoped to hear, but she wasn’t heading back to her friends just yet and the night was still young.

  This time Jamie followed him into the bar, only blushing slightly when Colin tossed the keys back to Teddy and Teddy gave her a knowing wink along with a couple of beers. “Great shirt. It looks much better on you than Colin. Y’all go have fun.”

  Jamie looked up at him and smiled. “I intend to.”

  THREE

  Okay, now she saw the attraction to the celebrations in the French Quarter. Maybe it was afterglow, maybe it was the fact that she wasn’t so uncomfortably conscious of Colin now—although she was still very conscious of him, it was different now and definitely not uncomfortable—but regardless of why, Jamie was truly enjoying herself and exploring that bit of her that was just a little on the wild side. There was an anonymity to being in a crowd of strangers that downright encouraged her to explore it. Anonymity was something she hadn’t had in a long time anyway, and it felt so damn good.

  Colin’s mood seemed to have shifted, too. More sure of her now, his charm was on full display, and he’d quit his best behavior, leaving her to discover he had a very wicked—and sometimes dirty—sense of humor. He’d kept it under wraps most of the day, making her question her initial judgment of his bad-boy tendencies, but they were there. Oh, yeah, they were there.

  But she’d worry about all of that tomorrow. Tonight, she had a bit of a buzz going, a gorgeous man on her arm and absolutely no reason not to enjoy them both.

  The entire Quarter was heaving with people, but she felt a part of the crowd, a part of the experience. She danced to the music that drifted out of the clubs and bars into the street, caught beads tossed from the balconies above, marveled at the costumes on display and in between enjoyed the feel of Colin’s arms around her, the press of his body against hers and the occasional kiss he’d drop on her lips or neck.

  It was the best night of her life and she was unwilling to let it end, even as Kelsey texted her repeatedly, wanting to go home now that she’d realized David wasn’t all she’d hoped he’d be. She’d delayed and stalled until Kelsey had gone home without her, and now Jamie felt a bit bad. But Kelsey had ditched her first—figuratively, at least, by fawning over David—so Jamie didn’t feel really bad about it for long.

  Colin returned with their drinks and caught her frowning at her phone as she typed. “Everything okay?” />
  “Yeah.” She hit send and stuffed the phone back in her pocket. “Kelsey’s going home.” She was pleased to see disappointment flash across Colin’s face. “I told her I’d meet her there later.”

  Colin moved closer, a finger hooking in her pocket to tilt her hips toward his. “There’s not a lot of later left of tonight.”

  She smiled up at him in what she hoped was a seductive manner. “Then I really need to enjoy what there is of it.” Now would be a good time for you to suggest we go back to your place, get a shower... “What do you suggest—”

  The question was interrupted by an earsplitting siren wail. She saw more than heard Colin curse as he grabbed her hand.

  “What’s going on?” she shouted, wanting to cover her ears as the siren wailed on and a surge of people pressed toward them.

  “It’s midnight. They’re clearing the streets.” Colin pulled her against his chest as he tried to move sideways through the crowd toward the sidewalk. More sirens and honking horns joined the din, and her head began to throb from the noise. Jamie peeked over her shoulder to see a horizontal line of mounted police officers visible above the crowd and the strobe of red-and-blue police lights as they moved down Bourbon Street, instructing people by loudspeaker that Mardi Gras was over and they needed to clear the streets.

  She was tripping over her own feet, being jostled from all sides, and only Colin’s grip on her kept her from falling. The noise, the surge of people...it was the first time all evening that she’d felt scared, and she worried what would happen if she did fall. She gripped Colin’s wrist with her free hand and trusted him to get them both through the melee.

  At the corner—Jamie wasn’t sure of which street—an influx of people caused a moment of gridlock. A girl bumped into her, and Jamie felt the heat of a lit cigarette against her arm. She jumped, trying to get away from the burn, and opened up a few inches of space between herself and Colin.