Following Me by Linde, K.A. (best books to read in your 20s .txt) 📗

she couldn’t rememberthe last time that smell had been on him.

Never breaking contact, Brennanwalked her backward into one of the lockers, and their bodies melded together. It was all Devon could do to keep her mind focused on what they were doinginstead of jumping a million steps ahead of where they were.  She wasn’tsucceeding.

Devon clawed at his shirt,untucking it, as she pressed her hands against his flat, toned stomach.  Theheat from his skin sent electricity coursing through her body, and the roomsuddenly felt stifling.  Her mind couldn’t register a time she had ever wantedsomething this much.  Maybe it was the knowledge that they were in a publicplace and could easily get caught, but mostly, she thought it was just Brennan.

He located the bottom of herskirt and hiked it up.  Grasping her thigh in his hand, he pulled it up to wraparound his hip.  Between kisses, her breath came out in short spurts as herhands roamed down to the hem of his jeans.  Devon felt so rushed, so clumsythat she snapped the waistline of his boxers.  Brennan grunted and pressed morefirmly against her, like he had enjoyed it.  She continued running her fingerslightly along the inside of his boxers, just enough to tease him.

“Belle,” he whispered, notpulling back but not moving forward.

“Yeah,” she said, her voicestrained.

“We have to work,” he said, likeit pained him.

“Yeah.”  She would wait for himto make the first move.

“I can’t go out there like this,”he said, gesturing down.

Devon took the moment to lookdown, and when she saw what she did to him, her smile grew.  “Maybe…I should gofirst.”

He swallowed.  “Probably.  I’mgoing to need time to calm down or else we’re going to need to finish.”

She preferred the second option,and it must have been clearly written all over her face because he groaned andpressed his forehead against hers.

“Belle, you can’t look at me likethat.”

“I’ll, uh…just go,” she said,easing away from him.

Brennan grabbed her one lasttime, pulling her in for a slow kiss before releasing her.  “You’re stillcoming to my place tonight, right?”

She smiled brightly.  “Yeah,definitely.”

“Good.”

His eyesroamed her body as she backed away from him.

DEVON EXITED THE break room and madesure her clothes were in good enough condition before she went out onto thefloor.  Jenn was right; it was a pretty light crowd.  Amy was having no troublewith the few people in the restaurant.  Devon just figured it was slow becauseit was the weekend after the Fourth of July.  Most people wouldn’t be able totravel two weekends in a row.  Plus, the traffic from the sailboat race wasconcentrated in the morning and the evening.  She would probably get a rushtonight.

“About fucking time,” Amygrumbled when Devon walked up.  “Think you could be any later?”

“Probably,” Devon said with ashrug.

“I mean, was it not enough thatyou got yesterday off, too?” Amy snapped.

“Amy, lay off, alright?  Ialready got yelled at by Jenn and Brennan for this.”

“From Brennan? Riiight.”  Amyrolled her eyes.

So, that’s what this is about,she thought, realizing it was about Brennan.

“Yeah, they were both prettypissed,” Devon told her.

“Well, maybe they’ll fire you.”

Devon gripped the menu she washolding as tightly as she could, so she wouldn’t snap back at Amy.  Couldshe get much bitchier?

“Thanks for the vote ofconfidence,” Devon said sarcastically.

Amy just rolled her eyes againand walked over to one of her tables.  Devon busied herself by rollingsilverware, filling salt and pepper shakers, and wiping down the tables.  Atsome point, Brennan returned, and she smiled as she felt his eyes follow heraround the room.  She wondered if he even knew that he did it so frequently.

The day passed with a steady flowof traffic.  It wasn’t anything that one person couldn’t handle on her own, butit was nice to have both Amy and Devon on the shift.  The dinner crowd was moreobnoxious than normal, and Devon felt like punching one of the customers.  Sheeven heard Amy swear at a guy who grabbed her ass.  Jenn’s wasn’t that kind ofplace.

Devon was more than irritatedwhen she found the shitty tips from the rambunctious groups after they had exitedthe restaurant.  Amy was fuming across the room, and Devon suspected she haddiscovered the same problem with her tables.  What kind of assholes came inwith a huge party, acted like hellions the whole time they were here, and thendidn’t tip?  Who had raised them to do that?  Devon wanted to throttle themand explain to the worthless human beings that just because they had neverworked a day in their life didn’t mean they couldn’t appreciate the hard workshe had done for them.  But, of course, she couldn’t do that either.

“You go ahead and take a break. You look like you need it,” Devon told Amy.

She didn’t want to do Amy anyfavors, but Amy had been there longer. Plus, it didn’t help Devon any to haveeveryone hate her.

“Thanks.  I need a fucking smoke,”Amy said, pressing her hand to her forehead.  “I’ll be back in fifteen.”

Devon watched Amy’s tables andkept Brennan busy with drink orders. Leaning forward, he kept offering hershots of tequila like the first time they had ever really talked.  Devondeclined, but he just kept offering.

“Just one shot,” he whispered,pushing the drink toward her.

Devon shook her head.  “Not onthe clock.  Give it to Amy.  She will flip her shit.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Oh, don’t play dumb.  That girlis obsessed with you.”

Devon giggled as Brennan pouredthe rest of her drink orders.

“What?  No, she isn’t,” he said.

“Brennan, really?  You are notoblivious to the world.  You have to know that her and Hannah are so into you.”

“Huh,” he said, his eyes goingdeep into thought.  “That explains a whole hell of a lot.”

Devon rolled her eyes.  “How didyou not see that?”

“Only have eyes for you, Belle.”He smirked, placing a drink on her tray.

Her stomach flipped as she pickedup the tray.  She made a round of her and Amy’s tables.  Amy returned tenminutes past her allotted fifteen minutes with the smell of smoke announcingher presence.  She didn’t apologize for her tardiness, and Devon suspected itwas because she had been late earlier.

“Your turn,” Amy said with ashrug.

“Thanks,” Devon said.

Devon walked past Brennan intothe back and took a