New Year's Greetings - 1. New Year's Greetings

New Year's Greetings

Everything was the same: same time, same place, same music, and even, hopefully, the same people. Ah! And there she was.

Jack stood by the bar, looking up at the floor above and a pair of long legs peeking out from under a black leather mini-skirt. Glossy brown hair shone under the revolving lights, falling in a jumble of waves to about mid-back. He couldn't see them from where he stood, but God! did he remember those blue-green eyes and pert mouth.

No, he hadn't remembered wrong. If anything, she was far prettier than the fantasy haunting his thoughts and dreams for the past year. He grinned, and then took a deep breath. He squared his shoulders, ordered a drink -- no, two drinks. Something strong, he didn't care what. He gulped his down and ordered a Long Island Iced Tea.

A year spent combing the local clubs and chickening out any time he got too close, Jack had exactly one hour to make good on 2010's New Year's resolution. He was going to ask that gorgeous brunet for a date, a real date. He was really going to do it this time.

Really.

The condensation made the glasses slippery and Jack gulped from his again, eyes not leaving the person with whom he'd had simply amazing sex with last New Year's. They'd talked, briefly, he remembered that much, but there were gaps in those memories. Somehow they'd gotten back to his place and Jack had flashes of just how flexible those long legs could be. It was totally out of character for the conscientious, conservative citizen he tried to be, but he couldn't stop thinking about it. A girl who could give him the orgasm of his life was one that he simply could not let get away.

The holiday music mixed with a dance beat shifted with the flickering of the lights. Bodies shifted and moved as always on the dance floor, a constant swirl that cycled new partiers into the crowd. Jack knew he couldn't fight his way through and decided to gulp down the rest of his drink while he waited. By then, of course, he needed a replacement iced tea and a new drink for himself.

Okay, he was going up there now.

Really.

Really, really.

"Another?"

Jack started, turning to find the bartender standing by his elbow looking amused. He hoped that the dim lighting hid his blush. "Um, yeah. Thanks." He set the watery drinks down on the bar.

"You gonna make it up the stairs?"

"What? Oh, um, what makes you think I'm --"

"Please! You've been staring at Sam the last half hour."

"Sam?" Was that her name? It didn't seem to fit.

The bartender laughed, sliding the drinks over the counter. "Go get 'im, tiger."

Faced with the bartender's amusement and challenging stare, Jack took his first hesitant steps towards the stairs. Dancers brushed against him and he had to move quickly first one way and then the other to avoid being trampled. He sucked the spilled liquid off his fingers. He was half-way there, might as well keep going.

The echoy element of the music could only mean that he'd already developed a good buzz. If he went back for new drinks, he'd only end up drunk and that would end any hope of completing his New Year's resolution. The stairs only went up half a story to a wide catwalk over the dance floor. It wasn't that far. He could do this.

Each step made the stairs wobble just a little bit more. Jack had to stop at the top and lean against the rail in order to settle his pounding heart and head. Oh, good. She was still there.

"H-Hello." Jack held out one of the drinks, but when there was no response, he awkwardly eased forward another half-step. "Drink's on me."

Blue eyes behind long, dark lashes flicked his way and Jack held his breath.

"Yes, it is."

The voice was just as soft as he remembered, going right to the base of Jack's spine and making his whole body tingle.

"I'm Jack."

Again, the half-sweep of the eyes. Blushing again; stop it!

"We, uh -- here, I brought your favorite drink."

The head on that slender neck twisted to fully face him. Jack shivered under that discerning look, staring at the sculpted eyebrows on a face with just enough make-up to highlight all the good parts while masking the parts not as flattering. Sam had a long, angular face with a high brow and strong chin. Small, bow-shaped lips, a cute little nose, a smatter of freckles, and a very disconcerting stare.

"Thank you," she said, plucking the tall glass out of Jack's trembling fingers.

She sipped the drink without dropping Jack's eyes. He shivered again. His face felt hot while the rest of him was cold. He was going to start panting at any moment.

"I remember you." Red lipstick-covered lips smiled thinly. "That was a hot night." The left eyebrow went up again and the smile grew more genuine.

Jack squirmed under that amusement. "Uh-I --" He coughed and cleared his throat, and then sipped at his drink to get some moisture back in his mouth. "I was wondering if, maybe, you want to go out again sometime?"

She looked away, drinking from her glass, but Jack felt certain he'd seen something of sadness in her eyes. He frowned with concern, taking another step forward so that they were side-by-side, shoulder-to-shoulder. Down below, on the dance floor, men and women bumped and grinded, a display of coordination Jack could never hope to duplicate.

"I'm not the dating kind."

Jack looked up at her from where he leaned against his elbows on the railing. Was she crying?

"Hey," he said softly, the word lost in the heavy beat. Reaching out, he covered her free hand with his. The skin was supple and soft beneath his fingers. His thumb slowly caressed the back of her hand. She said nothing, but she downed the remainder of the drink in one long draught. Jack bit his lip. She was so sexy!

The hand he held twitched, as if Sam started to take it back and then changed her mind, and then changed it again. She withdrew her hand to wipe tears off her face. There weren't many and under all the prettiness Jack saw strength, a strength that made something inside sing.

"Thanks for the drink."

"Hey, wait!" Jack grabbed for her elbow.

Sam stopped, but didn't look back. "You don't want me. Not really."

"What?" He couldn't hear a thing with all the music, but he didn't want to let her go. He tugged a little instead. When she turned back around, Jack wasn't sure who was more surprised: himself or Sam.

Jack swallowed to unstick his tongue. He looked back out over the dance floor and shook his head, tired now, and with a pounding headache. Looking back over his shoulder, he saw Sam still watching him steadily.

Her lips smiled a little. She held out the glass. "Thanks, though."

His hand was half out-stretched to take the glass back. He stopped and looked up at her. There was a sinking sensation in his gut but he smiled anyway. "Just one date."

Sam rolled her eyes. Instead of giving him her glass, she took his hand and brought it down, down to press against a leather-covered bulge ...? Jack gasped, fingers tracing what his mind struggled to comprehend.

Then Sam shoved him away. "See?" she demanded, turning back to the dance floor. "You don't want me. Not really."

"Oh my God." Sam blinked, knowing that his eyes were too round, face too red, breath too fast, but he struggled to think, to speak. "Oh my God." His eyes told him there was a woman there, from those flashy high heels to the perfectly coiffed hair, but ... but ....

"Oh. Oh, I thought I had remembered that wrong." He shivered. Far from being repulsed, with his mind free to believe, some of the disjointed memories of that one, hot night grabbed him by the balls. Jack was never bold. He watched his hand reach out, clasp the back of Sam's neck, and yanked the startled brunette into a kiss. "That is so hot."

She just stared at him when he let her go, but she was finally looking at Jack, just at him, and he remembered something else from that night: he'd called her by a different name.

"Give me a chance. Please."

"But ... I'm ...."

Jack could see that she was completely at a loss and he smiled, straightening his shoulders with only the pride a man could have when someone had that look, the look that gave away so much trust. Jack's finger slipped over her jaw, pulled on her chin a little to kiss the corner of her mouth.

"Do you think I care?" Now Jack was the daring one. He smiled at Sam's astonishment, rocking into her hand with a groan. Then he was pulling her down for another kiss, sucking on her tongue. Water dripped down his back from the glass Sam still held and he shivered. He stepped back. His hand trailed down her arm to take her hand.

Around them, the music cut off and people started the countdown. Jack stared into Sam's eyes; she looked back. He smiled. The smile sneaked up on Sam, starting on one side and bursting out from the other. As people started cheering, Sam began laughing.

"You've got to be kidding me!" she said. Circling her arms over Jack's shoulders, she leaned forward to whisper in his ear, "I'm a man."

He kissed the skin by his mouth. "So?"

She jerked away. "So?" she echoed. "You have no idea --"

"That you're unbelieveably sexy? I don't care! I've been looking for you ever since that night, a year ago tonight."

"You're drunk."

"Not that drunk! I don't care what you've got under that skirt! Well." He laughed a little, hand going to his head. "That's not true; I care. Oh, I care a lot -- but it's not what you think!"

Sam stepped right into Jack's space, pinning him against the rail. "What if it is what I think?" She took both their drinks and set them on the floor.

Jack shivered as Sam's arm pressed against him all the way down. Her body was so close, sliding against him as she stood back up. Her hands went to his waist and already he was weak in the knees, almost trembling in the desire to do anything this sex kitten demanded of him.

She leaned forward and nibbled on his ear. Then she said, "If I take this chance and you screw me, you will so regret it."

"Oh! Ow!" Jack pushed up on his toes as Sam's hand squeezed tight enough to make him light-headed. "Okay, okay, Jeez --"

A kiss muffled the curse, turned it into something different, something better. Hands ghosted up Jack's sides and he moaned, grabbing Sam to pull her even tighter against him. When they separated and Sam brushed confetti out of his hair, Jack stared up at those laughing, teasing eyes. He smiled.

~ The End ~