‘Was it me? Did I just do that? Did I just go straight to that gorgeous piece of man and shoved my tongue in his mouth?’
Wobbling slightly, Navy returned to Paige. But it seemed that while she was gone, her friend had made a… friend of her own. Navy watched Paige as she talked to a guy who had taken up residence at their booth.
Feeling kinda bold after two drinks and a quick session of French kissing, Navy scooted in on the far side and looked straight at the stranger. Looking at her and Paige, that guy thought he was getting lucky. He started smirking at Navy, in his head already planning a threesome.
“Not going to happen… Beat it, buddy!” Navy exclaimed.
She hooked a thumb over her shoulder and scowled. When he left with a confused shrug, Navy buried her face in her hands.
“Oh, my God… Paige, what did I do?! I can’t believe I kissed a stranger! I went to him, put my arms around his neck, and stick my tongue down his throat… And now I need a fucking drink!”
Realizing that her own glass was empty, Navy reached across the table and snatched Paige’s beer bottle from her hands.
“Hey! Keep your paws away!” Paige yelled, attempting to take back her drink.
Navy assumed that Paige was more upset about her stolen drink than she was about the newly vacated seat next to her.
“I can’t believe you dared me to do that… Why did you do it? Why, Paige?”
“Oh, my God… Would you just calm down?!” Paige said.
Navy looked back at the bar and saw that the man she had kissed was gone, but the bartender was still there. She was suddenly parched, and she certainly couldn’t go back up there. She didn’t think she could even face him again.
How was she supposed to get another drink? Or even pay her tab when they were ready to leave? Navy didn’t think of those damn things when she had made the stupidest, most impulsive decision of her life in kissing the stranger at the bar.
“I can’t calm down… I just can’t… And I need another drink.”
“Well, leave my beer alone and get your own drink,” Paige countered, snatching back her bottle. “But, just for the record… I cannot believe you actually kissed that guy! I’m super impressed, my friend!”
Navy measured the distance between herself and the bar and caught the eye of the bartender, who was watching her with curiosity.
“I can’t go back up there, Paige… That guy was talking to the bartender like they were best friends or something. I just can’t do it.”
Paige pushed herself up from the table.
“Oh, my God… Fine! I’ll get you something. You’re such a drama queen… What do you want? A bottle of vodka? Or do you want something a little crazier in celebration of your turn as a woman who kisses strange men in a bar?”
Navy brought her forehead to the table.
“Just another vodka cran would be great,” she muttered.
With Paige gone, Navy had a chance to think about what she had done. What if the man wasn’t single? She hadn’t seen a wedding ring, but that didn’t mean anything. He could have taken it off… If he really did that, he’s the scummiest guy in the world… Or maybe he had a girlfriend… a fiancée…
‘Oh, God… I just kissed another woman’s husband… or boyfriend… or fiancé…’ she thought, burying her face in her hands once again… ‘Does this make me a home wrecker? Nope… I don’t think so… Not if I haven’t actually wrecked his home.’
And she wasn’t going to do that. She had no intention of actually seeing him again. It was a one-time thing and…
“Oh, God… I basically assaulted the guy…” she whispered.
Navy began to panic even more as the thought overtook her. If a man had walked up to her and just kissed her, forcing his tongue in her own mouth, she would be absolutely outraged! He would definitely be rinsing her pepper spray from his eyes and icing his groin all night.
‘How could you do it, Navy Remington?’
If she ever saw him again, she would definitely have to apologize, grovel even. She felt awful. This would be the absolute last time she would follow Paige’s advice on ‘living a little’.
She didn’t understand how Paige could do whatever she wanted without worrying about the consequences of her actions. But it certainly wasn’t how Navy chose to live her life. Not by a long shot!
Navy was almost shaking with panic when Paige came back to the table with their drinks and pushed the pink one toward her.
“The hot bartender, whose name, by the way, is Dustin, poured you a double, 'mon amie'. One look in your direction and he absolutely knew you were going to need it.”
“Kill me now, please…” she sighed looking at Paige like a whipped dog.
Her friend smiled and squeezed her hand.
“Maybe next week… if you ask again nicely…” Paige added. “For now, stop panicking over nothing and… bottoms up!”
Navy took a drink and grimaced at the taste of the extra alcohol. She drank again, and this time the pink drink slid down her throat more easily. She wasn’t a big drinker, but with the strength of the drink, plus the two or three she’d had earlier, Navy started to feel her uneasiness and panic slip away. A warm sensation rose from her belly and she felt herself relax a little.
“So,” Paige said, taking a sip of her beer, “tell me every single detail about that kiss.”
‘The kiss...’
Navy could still feel his lips on hers, his taste on her mouth, and the coarse stubble of the five o’clock shadow that covered that strong, broad jaw grazing roughly against the soft skin of her face.
She could smell his cologne, a blend of citrus, sandalwood, and innate maleness. And she could still hear his manly, low, sexy groan, which had vibrated through her when his lips parted and his tongue found hers.
Navy recalled the sense of loss she had felt when she’d pulled away. Kissing him was wrong, but that didn’t stop her from wanting to feel the dark, handsome stranger all over her body…
To find herself naked under him… Having hot, passionate sex… Preparing for the orgasm of her life… A mind-blowing orgasm like she’d never experienced… Keeping him inside her until they both stopped shaking…
“Navy? The kiss…?”
She looked at Paige… Her friend wanted her to tell her about the kiss… How could she put it into words? Were there any words to describe the feeling of being pressed against that gorgeous god’s perfect body? She struggled to find them, to come up with anything that would even come close to relating the experience to another person.
“It was… good,” Navy said simply, knowing that ‘good’ didn’t even come remotely close to describing the entire experience.
“‘It was good’…” Paige repeated, clearly unconvinced. “Just ‘good’?”
“Actually, it was… very, very good,” she added with a shrug.
Paige laughed.
“Oh, please… The way you looked when you came back to this table, and how you behaved, rambling and panicking, told me that it was more than just ‘very, very good’.”
Navy flushed, suddenly warm. From the temperature of the club? The alcohol? Her reaction to the man?
“Okay, it was AMAZING! But what does it matter, Paige?” Navy said, finishing her drink in one long swallow, dismissing the entire thing. “He’s a great kisser and I’ve never felt like that before… But it was a moment... It’s not like I’m going to see him again tomorrow…”
Her friend smirked, pursing her cherry-red lips.
“Seattle might be the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of North America, but I still think it’s way too small. Amongst its over 4 million people there’s the guy you just kissed, and I’m pretty sure you’re going to see him again… and soon.”
Navy leaned back in the booth, the back of her head resting on the plush leather upholstery. She inhaled deeply. Yeah, the alcohol was definitely pumping through her veins. She quickly put the gorgeous man at the bar out of her mind. She was now ready to have some well-deserved fun.
When a song she loved drove through the speakers of the club’s sound system, Navy stood quickly. A little too quickly, as evidenced by her slight wobble. She grabbed Paige’s hand.
“Come on, sweetie! No more talking about kissing strangers… Let’s hit the dancefloor! I need to shake this feeling away.”
Paige’s mouth dropped in surprise and she squealed with glee.
“It’s about damn time, Navy! Hell, I absolutely LOVE the new Navy Remington.”
At that moment, Navy did, as well. The music pumped, as did her body to the beat. She focused on nothing else but how she felt right then and there. She dismissed all thoughts of her upcoming final exams and her 9 a.m. class, and she allowed Paige to pull her into the center of the dancefloor, something she never did.
But neither her mind nor her body could forget the gorgeous stranger. In an attempt to shake his image from her mind and the feel of his lips burning on her own, Navy danced harder.
She tried dancing even harder, but it was no use… He wouldn’t leave her alone. Perhaps instead of just kissing him, Navy should have talked to him, asked him his name, and gotten his number.
Something… a movement caught her eye and Navy stopped dancing and looked around. The music went away, the people around her disappeared… What was going on? Was this an out-of-body experience?
Navy turned slowly to her right and… It was him…
The gorgeous stranger was standing on a staircase that overlooked the dancefloor. He stood with his arms crossed over his chest. And she was transfixed when he raised his hand to scrub along the rough bristles of his jaw, before dragging it through his brown hair.
It would have been her chance… to go up there and talk to him. If only she had time to cross through the packed dancefloor to get to him.
She felt a sharp pang of remorse when he turned and walked up the dark staircase, forever relegating himself to her memory as the gorgeous stranger she kissed one night.
Navy shook her head at the events of the evening. She started to dance again, more calmly this time…
It was fun, but it was definitely over. Tomorrow she’s going to be the old Navy Remington again…
The next morning, Navy awoke with the worst hangover of her life… Not that she had many in her life to compare it to but this was definitely the worst one ever… maybe in the history of mankind! She groaned at the buzzing alarm on her cellphone and, with her eyes tightly shut, felt around her night table for it. When she couldn’t manage to turn it off with her eyes still closed, Navy threw it into the pile of dirty clothes in the corner of her room. But much to her despair, doing so did nothing to silence the dreadful noise, Navy groaned and pulled her quilt over her head. Once Navy managed to roll out of her bed, she pulled on a tank top and a pair of shorts.“Never again…” Navy whispered. She padded barefoot to the kitchen, where she found Paige sitting at the narrow breakfast bar, with her head on the table… Thankfully, her friend had managed to make some coffee.“Kill me… please…” Navy said to Paige. “This time I mean it…” “Too much work…
After one of the most uncomfortable hours of his life, Victor said goodbye to the class and wished them luck in their future careers. He shook Professor Behar’s hand and quickly left the classroom. He stopped in the hallway outside to pull out his cell phone to see how many calls, texts, and emails he had missed. There were many of each, and Victor sighed. Once again, he thought of the empty PA’s desk in the corner of his office and remembered that he had to get on with hiring someone new. Vincent wasn’t coming back, no matter what price Victor offered him. Victor put his cell phone to his ear when he felt the soft touch of a hand on his arm. He turned and saw her. ‘Navy Remington.’ The woman he saw last night, the one from the bar. The woman who had been sitting front and center during his talk. How many times was he forced to tear his gaze from her, only to have it roam, out of his control, back in her d
Curled up on the couch with a wool blanket over her legs, Navy settled in after she reached for her bowl of popcorn. She didn’t care what Paige thought. Curling up on the couch and binge-watching TV series was fun. ‘All the fun I need, in fact.’ She queued up the next episode and sat back, letting the plush couch cuddle her in a way that no man would ever know how. ‘Well, Victor Hook might know how, I’m sure.’ The man looked as wicked as sin, and those strong arms she’d felt wrapped around her, and those delicious lips she’d touched with her own, would certainly know how to hold and caress all of the most sensitive parts of her body. Realizing that she had been lost in thoughts of Victor Hook and not paying attention to the beginning of the episode, Navy stopped to rewind it when her phone rang. She picked it up to look at the screen and frowned when she didn’t recognize the number as she brought it to her ear.“Hello?” she m
Victor already regretted it. After he had sent her off to the HR department, Victor sighed and rubbed his hands through his brown hair.“Damn! What was I thinking hiring her?” he whispered and sighed. In the short time Navy Remington had been in his office, Victor found it impossible to think of anything but how her copper hair shimmered, the scent of her perfume, her sharp green eyes, and her amazing smile. How could he be expected to get any work done with her sitting in his office, day in and day out? Since the night that Navy had kissed him, she was all he had been able to think about. All Victor wanted to do, more than anything, was kiss her again and feel her hair in his hands. His hands were itching, willing to rip that amazing-looking suit from her body and feel her soft skin against his own.“Vic, my man… You’re in deep trouble… One of your own making,” he said and groaned in frustration. “Well, she’s here now. You’ve got to m
Around seven o’clock, Navy entered her apartment. She knew that Victor was staying late for a conference call to settle some things with a presentation he would be giving at an upcoming conference in Las Vegas. She had offered to help him and stay just in case, but Victor didn’t want to hear about it and dismissed her, sending her home, to rest and prepare for the next day.“‘Really, Victor, I can stay… It’s no problem…’” she told him.“‘You already did what was asked of you. For today, you’re done. Have a great evening, Navy,’” Victor replied and without adding another word, left the office. It still felt like a brush-off, all the same. She couldn’t shake the feeling that he was uncomfortable being in the same room with her, and Navy wondered why he hired her if her presence made him so grouchy… so cranky? Navy made her way to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of red wine, and when Paige ran into the kitchen to greet her, she poured one fo
Victor put the finishing touches on his presentation, and, satisfied with the result, sat back in his chair. The upcoming trip to Las Vegas was a critical turning point for him, personally and professionally, and he couldn’t leave anything to chance. His plans of expanding his empire were still a secret, but he knew that the Las Vegas Strip would be the place to start if he wanted to make an entrance people would notice. And there was only one person who could’ve helped him accomplish that… He was the most important name on his investors' list. Ben Randall, the most influential name amongst all. He desperately needed an appointment with the businessman but, so far, Randall hadn’t taken any of Victor’s calls, and that frustrated him to no end. He thought about the presentations and workshops that he and Navy would be attending during the conference. This trip would also be an extremely good opportunity for her as well, and he developed their sche
“Up to this point, this place is absolutely perfect for your plans…” Navy says looking thoroughly around.“I agree… This part right here… this is going to be the spa,” Victor told Navy as he opened the door to a large, dusty room and ushered her inside. He was taking her on a tour of the foreclosed hotel property he had bought in downtown Seattle, the one that he was in the process of rebuilding and renovating to turn it into the first ‘Mirage Hotel’.“This place used to be a ballroom,” he explained, taking a look around the expansive room. “It’s the only space big enough to install all of the features we want in the spa, and we’re going to renovate some old guest rooms to make smaller event and conference spaces.” Victor watched her eyes survey the room, no doubt envisioning all that he did when he looked around the old hotel.“My, God, Victor… I’m kinda speechless,” she whispered. “This is going to be the most incredible hotel in Seattle.” He smiled. He
Navy pushed the heavy door open using her hip as she held two large coffee cups in her hands: a latte for herself and a double espresso, no sugar, for Victor. She often worried about his caffeine intake as he would surely have at least three more before he went home for the evening. Victor looked up at her with a broad smile. Was he smiling at her because she was there, doing a great job as his PA? Or was he smiling because she was there holding his double espresso?“Navy Remington, how did you know? Woman, you are a true goddess… This was just what I needed… Thank you so much.” ‘Great! I am the goddess of… coffee… How pathetic am I?!’“Oh, it was nothing,” she told Victor. “I just thought… Well, I know that if I came in holding only the one for me, you would just spend your day pouting.” He stood and met her in the middle of the office. Somehow, without a reason in particular, Navy took a half step back.“Me, pouting?” Victor asked. “I think you