Elizabeth nodded slowly in response, neither trusting her voice nor wanting to shout over the growing noise of the crowd. Her head felt somehow disconnected from the rest of her body, but appeared to obey her instructions.
Jackson smiled. “I thought so,” he said, looking Elizabeth over with an expression of sympathetic understanding. “I don’t usually get that smashed on just a two-day pass.”
Elizabeth felt her cheeks begin to burn. She looked down at the glass in her hand. It took a moment for the observation to register, but she saw that only about a quarter of its contents remained. In a slow and deliberate effort, she turned and placed the glass down on the bar. She then turned back and faced Jackson sheepishly.
“Sorry.”
Jackson’s eyebrows rose in surprise at her admission.
“For what?”
His eyes surveyed the area around them and then in the direction that Elizabeth happened to be looking. Along that line of sight were several mingling and wandering patrons and a young female couple dancing close together on the dance floor.
Although he tried hard to hide it, Elizabeth could see the wave of disappointment cross his expression. She frowned, unable to understand it, until she looked too. Even then, it took her mind several moments to follow down the same path that his thoughts had taken.
She started to giggle, managed to suppress it, but could not hold back a sharp laugh.
“What?” she said. Her eyes grew wide with further understanding. “No!”
Jackson looked confused.
Elizabeth started to giggle again, opened her mouth to explain, and then decided on a much less ambiguous course of action.
Her mouth found Jackson’s on the first try—which would have surprised her, had she been thinking about it, given her inebriated state. She kissed him hard and then deeply. His faltering response told her that she had caught him by surprise, but hesitation was short-lived. He returned the kiss with equal intensity, his tongue probing for hers as their mouths remained locked together.
After some immeasurable time, they broke. Elizabeth gasped for breath, but more from her the erupting rise of her passion than the need for oxygen after the prolonged—and very thorough—kiss. Jackson appeared to be in a similar state. His eyes were slightly unfocused and the hand holding his drink trembled slightly.
0 comments:
Post a Comment