Disclaimer: "Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off" – Joe Nichols. I don't own anything.
Rating: PG-13
A/N: Ashley, I'm sure you were thinking of something a little different when you gave me this challenge but I decided to go with what I first had in mind. It's not very witty but I don't mind it. Better luck with the next one.
Kate: Don't worry, you'll get use out of you're A/C soon enough. Nick's accent… that's hot. -strangles self-
Cherry: I like how you made Jack Daniels a separate category from alcohol.
I pre-apologize if I mess up the order of the salt, lime, and tequila. Granted I don't believe a lot of people do it but it's the easiest way to make Sara lick Nick, right?
Chapter Two
By the time Nick had returned with something in each hand, Sara was far too busy to notice much else except for the manner of which the people were dancing. The look on her face was a hybrid of disgust and intrigue. Nick noticed immediately and laughed at her fascinated expression.
"Never seen people dance before, Sar?"
"Not like that," she stated, nodding her head to a couple that were grinding not far from where their table was. "I mean, wasn't that what we did in college?"
"Yeah, and to think some fifteen-year-olds do it too."
Sara screwed up her face in disgust but the look faltered when Nick set down two clear shot glasses and a bottle of tequila.
"You bastard," she breathed out. It was too quiet for him to hear but he knew she had said something.
"Come again?"
"Tequila?"
Nick pulled out two lemons from his pocket and several packages of salt, dumping them onto the table.
"Something wrong?"
"Are you trying to kill me?"
"Not really. Why?"
"Tequila?" she said again in disbelief, looking at him like he was supposed to know exactly what she was talking about.
"Um, yeah? You don't like tequila?"
"Tequila doesn't like me. We're not buddies."
"Then this is perfect."
"Excuse me."
"You'll be smashed after two shots and the rest will be for me," he remarked with a smile. "Now be quiet and start cutting the lime."
Sara grabbed the knife that was in front of her and brooded over it, muttering things about what she was going to do to him with the knife in her hand. When she looked up, Nick had already opened the bottle and had poured some of the clear liquid into the shot glasses.
"I'm assuming you know how this works."
"I have done shots before," she murmured darkly, grabbing a packet of salt.
A devious smile crept across her cherry red lips a moment later, causing Nick to frown when he saw the look on her face.
"What?"
"So Nicky," she practically purred, "how are we going to do this?"
"Do what?"
"Well, the salt. We going to lick it off each other or ourselves?"
Nick swallowed hard and stared at her. She couldn't have looked any smugger with herself as she sat there holding an opened salt package in her hand.
"Whatever you want, Sar."
"Come 'ere, cowboy," she smiled.
His compliance was almost immediate. They sat by side and Sara was busy telling Nick to lick his wrist. He had half a mind to tell her to lick it herself but thought better of it. Sara sprinkled some salt on it and then made Nick hold a lime by the rind with his teeth.
She was grinning at him silkily while she had her shot in her hand. She quickly knocked it back, feeling the familiar burn in the back of her throat, before she grabbed Nick's wrist and licked it. She thought she felt him shiver. When it came to the lime, Sara leaned in close and slowly bit into the flesh of the fruit, all the while keeping eye contact with Nick. He relinquished his hold of the lime and Sara took it out of her mouth a moment later.
"Your turn," she smirked, grabbing a slice of lime to put in her mouth.
"All right," he drawled out evenly.
When Sara offered up her wrist, Nick lightly shook his head and then gently pulled her closer to him by the back of her neck. He briefly looked into her eyes and then gave the side of her neck a long, languid lick. This time, it was her that shivered and although Nick saw it, he didn't comment on it to her relief. He placed a bit of salt on her neck and then took up the shot in his hand.
Sara was busy trying to get a better grip with her teeth on the rind of the lime to watch Nick swallow the tequila in one mouthful.
"Hold on a sec," she muttered but apparently not loud enough.
Nick turned to face her and went for the lime that was supposed to be in her mouth but was actually in her hand. His lips touched hers softly and neither of them pulled away immediately. However, when Sara did pull back, her cheeks were faintly flushed with embarrassment.
"That was a set-up, wasn't it?" he jessed.
"I told you to hold on a second."
"Well, I obviously didn't hear you… not that I mind that I didn't hear you."
"Lime?" she offered, holding it up.
"No, your lips tasted it like it."
Sara didn't know what else to do so she poured more tequila into their shot glasses and then set the bottle back onto the table. She could barely feel the effects of the alcohol. It was only a shot but she felt like her head was getting light already.
"Oh, I almost forgot," Nick said simply.
"Hmm?" Sara replied, turning her head to look at him.
Nick's hand cupped the side of her face as he bent his head to her neck. His tongue lapped up the salt that had been forsaken on her throat. He didn't stop immediately, even though he had licked up all the salt. He was definitely making sure that he didn't miss a grain and it didn't appear that Sara minded much since she was leaning into him and arching her neck further to the side to allow better access.
Sara wasn't sure when something had changed between the two of them. Maybe it was when he asked her out for a couple drinks, or when he held her hand in the parking lot, or maybe it was right then in the booth off of one another. Either way, she didn't seem to mind and she knew it wasn't the two shots that she had already consumed thinking for her. She wanted this and had for a long time. It was sad that she had to get herself in front of a bottle to figure it out.
Already, Nick was leaning back in his seat as he refilled the shots glasses for a third time. Apparently, he hadn't grabbed enough packages of salt and there was half of the lime left forsaken on the table with the empty packets of salt.
Nick handed Sara her shot and then held up his in a toast.
"To tequila," he said, not able to think of anything else.
"And Greg for finding us this place," Sara added, giving the club a once over with mock disgust before downing her shot like Nick.
There was a silence that past between them as their shot glasses were dropped back down, bottoms first, onto the surface of the table. They were both staring at the swarm of people moving to the beat of the music that seemed to be blasting from speakers all around them. Nick broke his gaze first and smiled faintly as he gazed at Sara who was watching the crowds with fascination and maybe even envy.
"Care to dance, Miss Sidle?" wondered Nick, sliding out of the boot and holding his hand out for hers once he stood.
"That's a little too proper for this kind of place, Mr. Stokes," remarked Sara, nodding to a couple that was taking PDA to a new level.
"Fine. You wanna grind?" he smirked as her jaw dropped a little. "Better?"
"More blunt," she corrected.
"Well, you can't expect too much."
"I guess not."
Finally taking his hand in hers, Sara allowed herself to be swallowed up by the people who would have suffocated a claustrophobic in seconds with the close proximity of bodies. Sara stood still in front of Nick and was almost immediately knocked into by someone else. Lucky for her, Nick had quick reflexes and caught her in his arms.
"That's more like it," he grinned.
"Someone pushed me."
"You needed it."
"It's okay to move, Sar," Nick teased after a minute of just watching her standing in his arms, looking at all the people around them.
"I, um, don't really…uh, dance much…ever."
"Come on. I'm sure you've got some moves pent up in there," he smirked, tapping lightly on her sternum with his finger.
"No," she laughed nervously, "I really don't."
"All right, then. I'll just bring them out."
Placing his hands on her hips, he pulled her flush against his body and she instinctively wrapped her arms loosely around his neck. Her leg fit in between both of his and it wasn't long before Nick didn't have to move her hips for her.
"That's my girl," he drawled out.
One of his hands moved around to the small of her back and urged her closer to him. Her breasts were pressed against his chest just like her hips and his own. She felt the heat emanating off of his body and washing over her own not to mention his familiar scent as well. If she hadn't felt the need to not embarrass herself, Sara would have leaned in even closer to him and taken a large inhale of his cologne. It wasn't strong and overwhelming but it was slightly musky and all man.
"See, Sar. It ain't so bad."
"No, I suppose not."
Of course it wasn't bad. She was in the middle of a dance floor of some club for twentysomethings' and she was practically dry humping Nick Stokes in public without being arrested. How much better did it get?
The tempo of the song increased and they matched the speed with their movements. The move of her hips was more intense and defined, which Nick completely appreciated.
The hand that was not on the small of her back was now at the base of her neck, slowly slipping into her hair. When his fingers got tangled in her curly locks, he gently – giving her plenty of time to pull away if she wanted – eased her face closer to his, bringing their lips ultimately together. It was smooth and sensual kiss in the beginning, utterly defiant of the music that their bodies were obeying, until their mouths decided to match the tempo of the song, making the kiss hungrier and more fervent than it was before.
There wasn't much for Sara to think about except for how Nick's mouth fit perfectly with hers. She could taste the tequila on his tongue that was lightly gliding against hers. She ever wanted it to stop but since asphyxiation wasn't on her agenda, she pulled away, not realizing that her left hand had a fistful of Nick's short chestnut hair and her other hand had slipped under his t-shirt at the hip. His hands were exactly in decent situations either. The hand that he been on her back was now firmly gripping her behind and encouraging her hips to grind against him. His other hand was massaging the base of her neck and he had noticed now that it was beginning to slip, now resting just above her collarbone.
"Should we go sit down," Nick breathed out at last.
"Sounds good to me."
Taking her by the hand, Nick weaved them throw people until they were finally sitting in their booth. Sara might as well have been in Nick's lap at that point since she was basically sitting on top of him, pouring them some shots.
Half of the bottle was finished an hour later after more dancing and groping on the floor to the music. Sara was completely shot and Nick was almost there.
"I've never seen a woman so drunk before after," Nick paused and counted the number of shots on his fingers, "six shots."
"I tried to…" she paused and tried to set not spill the tequila in her glass, "that tequila and I aren't buddies."
"Yeah? Why's that?"
"It makes me do bad things."
"Name it, Sidle."
Sara slowly sipped at her shot glass and looked at him while she did it.
"I don't wanna. It's embarrassing."
"You're embarrassing yourself a helluva lot more sipping at a shot glass."
"I don't want it to spill," she defended.
The glass was empty and discarded as carefully as she could muster back onto the table. She leaned back half against the padded booth wall and half against Nick's shoulder. His arm was wrapped around her waist, his fingers touching the small patch of skin where her shirt had ridden up on the side.
"We should call a cab back."
"But we're not done yet, Nicky," Sara slurred, pointing in the bottle's general direction. "You can't let it go to waste. That's sacrilege."
"I wasn't aware that alcohol had its own religion."
"You're from Texas, Nicky. You should know that."
"Beer does. Jack Daniels does."
Nick tried to pull out his cell phone but it proved harder when light-headed. As he looked for the number of a local cab company in his address book, Sara had resorted to sipping from the bottle, not bothering with the glasses.
"That's why I brought you something to drink it in," Nick stated, taking the bottle from her grasp and having a fair swig.
"I always spill."
"Surprising since you always have a steady hand."
"Oh, I'll show you a steady hand," she purred, leaning into him and running her hand up from his knee to the inside of his denim-clad thigh.
Nick didn't get much time to respond to her innuendo since the operator for the taxi service picked up after it had been ringing several times. Nick told them where he was; glad to find out that they already had the address since he wasn't in his right state of mind to remember it.
Closing his cell phone and staring at the woman half sitting in his lap who was idly rubbing circles on the inside of his leg.
"What did you say, sugar?" he drawled out, his voice a little uneven.
"Hmm?" she wondered, completely oblivious.
Both of their eyes were heavy and since Sara was far more wasted than her counterpart, it took her longer to respond to conversation and the like.
"Something about showing me a steady hand?"
"What?"
The comment was lost on her despite the fact that she had said it.
"Come on, Sara. We should wait outside for the cab."