Honey on Your Mind Read Free Page A

the place a fun personality that shouted Look at me! I’m a super-cute New York apartment! I adored it.
    I’d chosen to live in Brooklyn not just because it was cheaper than Manhattan, but also because, to be honest, I was a little afraid of Manhattan. I’d been there several times over the years, and while I liked to think of myself as reasonably sophisticated, I secretly felt overwhelmed by the crowds, the shrieking of ambulances, and the constant chaos in general. Brooklyn Heights was neither scary nor sleepy. In fact, it was charming and clean, with tidy rows of brownstones and a village-like coziness that made me feel instantly at home. During the weekend I’d spent there looking for an apartment, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the main street teemed with more foot traffic than most neighborhoods in San Francisco. And it was right on the other side of the iconic Brooklyn Bridge, just one subway stop away from the infamous corridors of Wall Street in Lower Manhattan.
    “So how’d you sleep on that thing?” Jake pointed to the blow-up mattress in my empty bedroom, where I’d just spent two uncomfortable nights.
    I put my hands on my lower back and grimaced. “Let’s just say I’ve aged a bit since Wednesday. An air mattress may feel like a normal bed at the beginning of the night, but at some point you inevitably wake up lying on the ground, surrounded by mattress.”
    He laughed and slid his arms around my waist. “Want to give it another try?”
    I looked up at him and raised my eyebrows. “You mean now ?”
    “I mean now . What do you think?”
    I glanced at the mattress, then back at him. My cheeks flushed.
    “I think…I think I could be convinced.”
    He smiled. “Well then, let me convince you.”
    He took a step toward me and gently placed one hand on the back of my neck. I lifted my head as he leaned down to kiss me, his lips warm and soft. I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him back.
    “You smell so good,” I whispered, suddenly feeling a little tipsy.
    He briefly nuzzled my neck before straightening up and taking a step backward. He stared at me for a moment, the look in his eyes speaking for him, then pulled his T-shirt over his head and tossed it onto the hardwood floor. I admired his strong chest and abdomen. He was nearly thirty-six years old, but he looked like he could still be playing college basketball.
    “Come here,” he said softly.
    I inched toward him. He gently pulled on the spaghetti straps of my tank top, then slowly removed it and lobbed it in the general direction of his T-shirt. He put his hands on the small of my back and pulled me toward him. We began kissing again, and I reached for the top of his jeans. I unbuttoned them and began to slide them over his hips with both hands.
    Then I stopped.
    “Are you going commando?”
    He nodded.
    I laughed. “Is this new? I’ve never seen you like this.”
    He shrugged. “It’s fun once in a while. Sort of liberating. Plus, I like to keep you on your toes.” As he said this, his jeansfell to the ground, and he quickly kicked them away, along with his flip-flops. I was wearing a jersey skirt, which took approximately one second for him to remove. I pushed it with my bare foot toward the growing pile of discarded clothes.
    “This is sexy,” he said softly as he kissed my shoulder.
    “Mmm.”
    “ You’re sexy,” he whispered, nuzzling my neck.
    “Mmm.”
    We kissed some more, and as the heat began to spread through my entire body, I couldn’t think about anything other than how attracted I was to him. We both started breathing harder, but we didn’t stop kissing.
    He unhooked my bra and lightly threw it on top of the clothes pile. The look in his eyes, which were locked onto mine, made it clear that neither of us wanted to be standing up anymore. He pressed his body against mine and began to move us toward the mattress.
    When my foot touched the bed, I reached down with one hand and eased myself onto my back.