Page 5 of Offside Possession

“How old are you?” she asked. It took me by surprise that was her first question, but fuck it, I was going with it.

“Thirty-seven.” She nodded. “You?” I asked, fighting away a smile.

“Twenty-seven. That too much of an age difference for you?” she asked boldly, and for a moment, I hesitated.

Is she a puck bunny after all?

“To hang out with you? Hell, no.” Honestly, I liked to date women around my age. I’d done the whole dating younger women thing, and as fun as that was in the sheets, we had shit in common outside of them.

One-night stands were a thing of the past… or so I thought.

I had a feeling Miss Trouble would get me to bend a lot of my rules tonight.

CHAPTER 3

STELLA

“Would you rather line dance or wear makeup?” I asked, biting away a giggle.

The guy next to me was… fun.

Different like my gut had told me from the moment I’d spotted him from far away, but in a completely unexpected and refreshing way. After eating, we’d stayed at the bar, both of us sticking to club sodas, and the bartender hadn’t seemed to mind while we played “Would you rather” without exchanging names.

“Line dance, hands down. You wanna?” He pointed towards the dance floor. I snorted, shaking my head.

“No thanks.” I laughed. “I’d hate to break your toes.”

“I have a feeling dancing with you would be worth any broken bones.” The guy was definitely charming. Add handsome to that, and I was pretty sure sleeping wouldn’t be happening tonight.

“Hmm, you always this slick with the ladies?” He chuckled and stared at me. There was something about his chocolatey brown gaze that put me in a chokehold. That made me want so much more than I had ever thought possible. Even more than with my high school boyfriend, the last situation I ever let anyone even close to my heart.

“Don’t answer that,” I quickly added, unable to stop swaying just a little closer to him. I hadn’t had a drop of alcohol, but I felt a little tipsy. Like the world had shifted just a little on its axis and suddenly, Mr. Hot and Endearing had some kind of magnetic pull I couldn’t resist.

“What are you doing this weekend?” he asked, leaning in just that much closer, close enough that I could make out dark almost black spots in his beautiful brown eyes. Flecks of gold were there, too.

“This weekend?” I repeated slowly. What am I doing this weekend? “I don’t know. What are we doing this weekend?” I flirted, and he chuckled.

“Maybe we can go for a bike ride.”

“Bike ride?” I wanted to go for a ride, but not on a bike, that was for sure. I leaned closer, not missing the way his eyes skated to the column of my neck and down to the slight cleavage my top revealed. He moved with me, his hand resting on my knee. Goose bumps flared to life.

“Can I be honest with you, handsome?” I whispered, glancing up at him through my lashes.

“Always, trouble,” he rumbled. The nickname took me a little by surprise.

“Trouble?” I feigned being insulted, but his brown eyes just got warmer, like decadent melted chocolate I wanted to lick off my fingers.

“Honey, you’re trouble with a capital T.” Hmm, maybe he is psychic, too? I inhaled deeply, his scent soothing and a turn-on all at the same time.

“I guess that’s a fair assessment since my brother’s been saying something like that for, like… almost my entire life.” His lips twitched, and all I wanted to do was kiss him.

“What did you want to be honest with me about?” he asked, not allowing me to be distracted. I opened and shut my mouth, unsure about scratching an itch with this guy. Not because there was something off-putting about him but because there wasn’t.

I liked him.

He was great. Funny. Charming. Older but not in a gross way. Not to mention disarmingly interesting. The confidence which he held himself with and the stories I was almost positive he could share. But that would be dangerous on its own.

“I’m new here,” I blurted. His head tilted.