Instead of taking a sip from my beer, I took a long swig, draining the rest of it in a single drink. Then sat the bottle down with a thump. “Look like I was nursing it then?”

She shook her head and turned on her barstool, and our knees bumped together. Her smile turned hungry on me, and I thought she’d eat me in front of everybody if I didn’t say something.

“You’ll have to forgive me for forgetting, but what’d you say your name was?”

“Jessa Rae Cash.” She put her hand out to me. I took it and noticed the softness of her skin. Jessa let the hold linger. “You remember wrestling against my brother in high school? He wrestled for Blackwood, and you would’ve gone on to the state finals if he hadn’t’ve beat you.”

I let my hand drop to the bar, turning back to my beer. “Guess you came over here to ruin my night?”

Jessa ran her hand across my back and dug her nails into my skin. “C’mon, sweet thing, that was almost ten years ago. There ain’t no way you can still be mad about that. Didn’t you win state the very next year?”

I turned back to Jessa and gave her my own hungry smile. “You some kinda stalker or something, girl? Sounds like you know as much about me as I know.”

Jessa leaned into me, and the front of her shirt fell open. She caught my eyes wandering down there and pinched my arm. When I looked back into her eyes, she spoke right into my face, and her breath smelled like peppermint and cinnamon. “Sweetheart, you ain’t famous enough for me to stalk. But I do remember you looking real nice in one of them wrestling singlets. Maybe you’ll wanna wear one for me later on tonight?”

I leaned away from her to make sure I wasn’t just hearing things and looked deeper into her eyes. Some women will say whatever when they think free drinks are coming their way. A good many girls ditched me after they got a shot or two of Fireball into their system. But if it was the Fireball talking, Jessa was doing a hell of a job of hiding it. She ran her hand up my thigh, digging her nails into the inside of my leg.

“I can’t even remember if I’ve still got my singlet.”

“It don’t matter if you do, sweetie. I would rather you show me some of your favorite wrestling moves.”

3.

Jessa led me out to her car without giving me time to tell Marshall I was leaving. She said he would figure it out whenever he noticed I was gone—and probably wouldn’t even miss me. Her hind end wiggled when she walked, making it hard for me to think and easy to bump into her trying to get her door. She grabbed ahold of me when she stumbled back, and I scooped an arm around her hips. Her eyes twinkled in the parking lot light above us, and I leaned in for another kiss. Our tongues did a slippery dance until they found a whirling rhythm, leaving us both breathless when we pulled apart.