“Who had monkey sex?”

Sheepishly, I point to the couple sitting on the other side of the room, still looking terribly uncomfortable.

“They didn’t have monkey sex, Babe.”

“How do you know?”

Raising an eyebrow as if to say “duh…” he takes a swig of beer and turns to canvas the room.

“Tall skinny guy in the black sport coat talking to the brunette wearing...,” he falters, looking for a word, “not much.” Vinny moves to stand next to me. Our backs to the bar, both of us lean casually with elbows supporting our weight. I guzzle from my glass and waste no time in developing my story.

“Brendon.” I turn my head to look directly at Vinny, a mask of seriousness readily in place. “That’s his name.”

Vinny’s eyebrows arch and he smirks, amused, waiting for more.

“Is a computer programmer,” I continue. “He was with his ex, Julie, for six and a half years. Being a computer programmer, he spends a lot of time on his laptop. Julie was feeling frisky one night…”

Vinny interrupts me, “Frisky?”

“Yes, frisky. There’s no interrupting during a forensic recreation, Mr. Stone.” I smile, arching one eyebrow, silently daring him to challenge me.

Playfully, Vinny puts his hands up feigning surrender and motions for me to continue.

“So anyway, Julie was feeling frisky one night and went looking for Brendon in his home office. Not expecting anyone, the door was cracked open, giving Julie a front row seat to his show. She caught him red-handed, getting himself off as he video chatted with a woman he had been secretly chatting with online for almost a year.”

I pause and drain more from my glass. Damn this thing tastes good, it’s so easy to forget how potent it really is until you feel your head begin to become weightless.

“And the woman there, is she Julie or the video woman?”

“Neither. Julie left him. Moved out the next day. Turned out the video woman was married herself, so poor Brendon got dumped twice in twenty-four hours.”

“So who’s the girl then?”

“He met her at Nordstrom’s. He went in to buy a sports jacket. Was planning on spending about $300, but met her. She works in the men’s department, sold him that overpriced $1,500 jacket. He had to put it on a credit card because Julie took everything from their bank account. Sweat was starting to form on his brow as little miss no clothes rang him up…worried his card would decline.”

A real, full laugh tells me Vinny appreciated my story. “You made that whole thing up just now from your head?”

Feigning offense, I retort, “It’s not made up, it’s their story.”

Ally’s bubbly voice pulls my attention back from my playful banter with Vinny. She’s jumping from side to side, doing what’s commonly known as the pee-pee dance. “Come with me.”

Kissing Vinny on the cheek, I smile and push off the bar and allow my friend to begin dragging me in the direction of the restrooms. I make it three steps when a strong arm wraps around my waist, stopping me in place.

“What?” I turn to find Vinny’s face serious.

“I’m coming.”

“To the bathroom?”

“Yeah, I’ll wait outside,” Vinny growls his response.

“Why, what’s wrong?”

“I just saw the back of your dress.”

Two hours later, Ally’s in rare form and I’m feeling no pain. Two of Vinny’s friends disappeared into the crowd, never to return. Me, Ally, Vinny, and Shaved Head hang out at the bar, being entertained by Ally’s crazy antics. The last round of Bar Forensics consisted of Ally slurring her words while depicting a tale of mommy issues that the poor couple we picked struggled to overcome.

After Ally drags Shaved Head to the makeshift dance floor, Vinny pulls me close to him, my back to his front, and wraps his arms snuggly around my waist.

“You wanna dance?” I ask, although I’m pretty sure I know the answer before he responds.

“I don’t dance.”

“Never learned how?” I inquire as he dips his head into my hair and finds a tender spot on my neck to nibble on inconspicuously.

“Didn’t say I don’t know how, said I didn’t dance.”

“You can dance?” My voice begins to show my distraction as his nibbling moves to my shoulder. He roughly tugs at my dress to expose more flesh, trailing little nibbles on my sensitive skin.

“Of course, but I prefer to dance with you horizontally.”

Oh my. Me too. Keeping me close, he turns me in his arms and locks his arms behind my back, pressing our bodies firmly against each other.

Looking up at him, our eyes locked together, it makes me wonder what he’s thinking. Except I’ve had too much to drink and that wondering is done aloud. “What’s our Bar Forensics story?”

Pulling his head back, he looks into my eyes, his quiet confidence captivating me as I wait for his response. “The guy? He wandered around for years looking for something, only he had no idea what it was he was looking for. Just felt like a piece to his puzzle was missing. Then he met a smart, beautiful, funny woman who liked to get lost in her head.”

The icy wall I’ve built around my heart to protect myself from this man melts, leaving me vulnerable. Emotions I’m fighting to contain get the best of me, showing in my strained voice. Barely a whisper, I prompt him to continue as I wait, hoping the story has a happy ending, “What happens after they meet?”

Gathering me even closer in his arms, Vinny places a soft kiss on my lips. His hypnotizing, beautiful eyes warming my thawed heart, he continues, “Slowly, a little bit more each day, she let him into her head and one day he woke up and realized he wasn’t wandering around anymore. He wasn’t sure when it had happened or why, he just knew. Whatever he had spent the last seven years looking for wasn’t missing anymore.”

Unable to speak, my breath literally stolen from my lungs, his words wash away all my doubt, leaving the path to my heart free and he takes one step closer to owning it. Again.

Two hours later, I’m tipsy as Vinny opens the car door for me to get in. Throwing my arms around his shoulders instead of climbing in, I catch him off guard and he smiles as I kiss the tip of his nose. I feel badly for ending the party before Ally was ready to go, but the drinks went right to my head. Plus, Shaved Head had already promised to see her home and she looked more than excited at the prospect.

“You’re cute when you’re drunk.”

“I’m not drunk.” My words come out with just a hint of a slur, no matter how sober I try to sound.

He kisses me chastely on the lips and surprises me by scooping me off my feet and gently placing me in the passenger seat. He buckles me up, closes the car door, and jogs around to the passenger side.

“Your place or mine?” He starts the engine.

“You’re awfully presumptuous.” I giggle and turn myself in the front seat to face him.

“Just want to take care of my girl.”

Furrowing my brows, Vinny sees the confusion on my face.

“I owe you a dance.” His voice turns low and thick.

I swallow, shifting in my seat to calm the throb between my legs as I think of the rhythm I can’t wait to feel pounding through my body. “Your place.”

Vinny smiles, putting the car into drive.

“Drive fast,” I whisper, resting my hand on his thigh.

“Sweetheart, you were going to my house either way. It’s closer and I’m not sure I can make it ten more minutes after staring at the back of that dress half the night.”

Liv

Vinny doesn’t turn on the lights as we enter his apartment. Instead, he keeps a firm grip on my hip and maneuvers me through. Turning left from the hallway in the darkness, I lose my bearings, unsure of where we are, but certain the bedroom is the other way.

Guiding me slowly until I bump gently into something in front of me, he’s quiet until we reach where he wants us. “Bend.” Moving behind me, he applies pressure at the nape of my neck, pushing me forward until I reach something hard and cold. The island in the kitchen.