Imperfectly Real (A Series of Imperfections) (6 page)

I kissed her cheek.

“I don’t know what’s going on in that head of yours, Half-Pint—”

“You don’t have to,” she interrupted. “Just let me have some fun.” Her pleading eyes found their way back to mine and I couldn’t contain myself any longer. I pressed myself against her, hoping to somehow intimidate her and make her question her motives, but it did nothing but encourage her and her arms wrapped around my waist, grabbed my ass, and pulled me toward her.

My head fell back in ecstasy—it had been too long since I’d let someone touch me. “Goddamn it,” I managed to murmur before finally giving in and crashing my lips onto hers. Our tongues danced before I was suddenly aware of the precarious situation we were in, leaving ourselves open to discovery in the hallway. I grabbed her thighs and gently lifted her up. Encouraged and breathless with excitement, she wrapped her legs tightly around my waist, totally trusting me to take care of her. She was lighter than I could have ever imagined. I knew she was small, but damn that girl was tiny. Without my lips ever leaving hers, I carried her into the men’s bathroom. It was a total Rob move—sleazy beyond belief—but I didn’t give a shit. It was the only opportunity I would have, and I was going to seize it.

I yelled an intimidating warning to any guy that may be in there, in hopes that it would scare them off before shoving our bodies into an empty stall. I slammed the door shut behind me, locking it with my free hand. Elizabeth giggled with excitement as I pulled her shirt over her head, revealing her petite frame. My hands immediately began exploring. Her skin felt fucking fantastic next to mine, and with each kiss and touch I felt myself falling deeper into her.

My conscious kept trying to break through the moment, reminding me that the situation was wrong and that I should stop, but I pushed my morals aside and ignored it. Elizabeth fervently began undoing my belt, her face flushed with the heat of the moment. She pushed my pants down and paused. “Um, do you have something?” she asked, completely breathless.

I felt slightly deflated. I’d hoped she was on the pill or something. But of course she’d want to be protected regardless. She was married, and probably worried about STDs—of which I had none. I pulled out my wallet and opened it for her to see. I felt somewhat ashamed that I was so well prepared for moments like this, but she’d obviously expected nothing less. She grabbed the foil package and smiled as she handed it to me. I had her perched on my knee against the wall, when I heard the door fly open. I put my finger to my lips, urging her to remain quiet.

Much to my dismay, I heard an all too familiar voice.

Shane Strout, official cock blocker since 2001. The kid had been my voice of reason one too many times.

“I can’t find them anywhere!” he yelled franticly.

“I left them with you, dude,” Rob muttered, obviously annoyed that his night had been interrupted by our little disappearing act.

I was disheartened hearing their voices. My head fell onto Elizabeth’s shoulder and I sighed. Shane and Rob were on the other side of the door—Emma had most likely sent them in search of her sister. They were probably worried about the small town gal in the city. I couldn’t blame them, they had every right to be worried about her, because she was about to make a big mistake. I was considering giving up, walking away from her. We shouldn’t have been doing it anyway. I picked my head up to let her know that I’d changed my mind but just seeing the broken look on Elizabeth’s face I knew she needed this, and I needed to finish what I started—morals be damned. I wanted her to get what she wanted, even if it meant she was using me. She was just looking to be loved again. She was lonely and I wasn’t going to let her be alone—at least not in that moment. So, I did the only thing I could think of. I gave them a diversion.

“I’m right here, you shitheads,” I called out from the stall. Elizabeth nuzzled into my neck, and I stifled a moan. I needed to get rid of them. Quick.

“Where the fuck have you been?” Shane questioned, stopping just outside of the stall. I was thankful Elizabeth already had her legs wrapped around me, so at least he couldn’t see her feet.

“Well, obviously I had to go to take a shit.” I shared a smile with Elizabeth as she subdued a drunken giggle. “Is that okay with you?” I teased.

“Well where’s Liz?” he called.

I looked to her for some sort of help on this one. She shrugged in response, leaving me to my own lying devices. “I don’t know.” My breath hitched as she returned to kissing my neck, clearly enjoying this more than I ever thought she would. In fact, I was beginning to think Elizabeth Sloan was sort of a minx. “She said something about getting the drinks. Why don’t you and Rob go check the bar? I’ll meet you back out there in a few.”

“Alright,” I listened to Shane and Rob walk out the bathroom, the door slamming behind them.

Elizabeth and I immediately picked up where we’d left off—still having enough liquid courage. We devoured each other, our clothes still half on. With each heated moment that passed, her skirt pushed up farther and farther. Despite the ecstasy of the moment, my eyes caught sight of black ink on her hip and needless to say I was shocked.

“I didn’t know you had a tattoo …” I breathed as my lips brushed her neck again. I was impressed. I hadn’t taken her for the tattoo kind.

Her nails dug into my back and I winced with complete ecstasy. “There are a lot of things you don’t know about me, Tyler Johnston,” she moaned.

I was curious so my hand pushed her skirt up farther allowing me to read the tiny block letters.

Reading those words made me wonder how broken Elizabeth Sloan really was. Even though I didn’t have a fucking clue what it meant, I wondered what had happened to her? And more importantly, why was she risking it all to be with me?

Tyler Johnston.

The brother she never had. Hell, he was more of a sibling than Emma had ever been. Always watching out for her, making sure she was okay. But she wasn’t. In fact she couldn’t recall the last time she’d even been close to ‘okay’.

She remembered looking up at him, complete and utter adoration in her eyes. He’d made her heart happy back then, and she was beginning to think he still did.

By the time we finished we’d sobered up. Elizabeth pulled her shirt back on and let out a heavy sigh. The heat of the moment had seemingly caught up with us and with every tense minute that passed, the seriousness of the situation pressed harder down on us. I turned away from her and pulled my pants back up to my waist, fastening my belt. I looked over my shoulder as she pulled her skirt back down and attempted to smooth it out. Her hands pulled through her hair then ran over her wrinkled clothes again and again, as if she would somehow erase what had just happened. Eventually, the defeat overtook her and she shook her head before finally throwing herself back onto the toilet. Her eyes met mine as she bit her lower lip in an attempt to prevent it quivering.

Tyler Johnston. The shithead.

“Fucking hell.” I knelt down in front of her and gently placed my hands on her knees. I’d gone ahead and fucked things up royally … again. I was getting pretty good at it—better with age in fact. I’d always had the tendency to think with my dick, but this one seriously took the cake. Obviously I just didn’t know how to use my head when it came to Sloan women. “I’m sorry,” I continued as a tear streamed down her cheek. “I should’ve said no.”

“I’m the one who should be sorry, Tyler,” she sighed. “That wasn’t fair of me. I put you in a position that I shouldn’t have. I used you, and you deserve better than that.”

I stood there, slightly aghast. She’d said it. She’d told me the truth. I hadn’t expected that. Even though I’d made assumptions about what she was doing, the bluntness of her motivation still stung more than it should have. In fact, it downright hurt.

Elizabeth threw her face into the palms of her hands and began to sob silently. We’d made a mess of an already precarious situation. I wanted to bail out of that bathroom in the worst way, but I couldn’t move. I just had to know what was going through her head and make it all right.

“We made a mistake, Half-Pint,” I ventured. “Nobody has to know about this.” I placed my hands on the sides of her head and made her look at me. “Do you hear me? Nobody has to know. This doesn’t have to be the thing to break you. It can be our little secret,” I promised with a smile. “A small indiscretion in the big picture of life …”

She wiped the tears from her cheeks and took a deep breath. “I just don’t want to hurt you,” she said coolly.

“I’ll be fine. I promise.” I stood knowing that I was the last thing either of us should be worrying about. She had way more to lose from this than I could ever imagine. She had a husband. A kid. A life back in Maine. All of that could be ripped away from her, just because we’d let the heat of the moment get to us. From living with two lawyers I knew enough about the law to know that the courts would not take her infidelity lightly. I assured her that everything would be fine, even though I wasn’t so sure of it myself. But I truly believed that as long as we could pretend like nothing had ever happened, and forgo the awkwardness that usually followed a drunken indiscretion, no one would be any wiser.

“It’s all good, we can do this. We can act like this never happened. It’ll be fine.” I looked back at her, before walking away from her, out of the stall and straight to the bar. But as I approached Emma, Shane and Rob, I questioned if this was something I could really do. Could I just forget what happened with Elizabeth? Wipe my slate completely clean of her? I liked to think that I could, but for some reason I already doubted myself. I just couldn’t wrap my mind around why I cared so goddamn much.

“What the fuck took you so long?” Shane questioned as he passed me another bottle of beer.

“I ate at McDonalds today,” I lied, before taking a long haul off the bottle. That seemed to suffice and the group immediately backed off. We’d all been there. McDonalds had done nothing for us while in college, so it went without saying that the tummy troubles would continue into adulthood.

The four of us attempted to chat over the thumping club music before I felt her presence. I knew the instant Elizabeth joined us again—moments before anyone else. I could smell the combination of her perfume and my cologne flooding in from behind me. I felt the electricity pulsating through my body when her skin brushed mine as she squeezed past me in order to get to Emma. I wondered if anyone else noticed the sparks between us, because they felt out of control to me.

“Where have you been?” Emma yelled over the loud club music. Elizabeth turned away from me and leaned in to whisper something in Emma’s ear. I wondered what lie she was telling her. Whatever it was, it seemed to work because Emma was suddenly serious. She nodded and shared a look with Shane, letting him know that she was ready to head home. I wondered what excuse Elizabeth had used for her early night.

Without questioning Emma, Shane nodded. He obviously understood what she was getting at. In fact, they had probably already discussed this before we came out. Dollars to donuts they’d established some sort of signal. Damn them and their freakish, lovey-dovey, mind reading bullshit!