Chapter 12 #3
“Yes. I am claiming you. Sorry. However, if you think the tax stuff is bad? Think about how many people have asked me to diagnose their car as I’m just trying to have a beer.
I mean, I was at Lake Bar a few weeks ago before you got here, and I couldn’t even drink in privacy without people coming up and talking about every single little sound they’ve ever heard in their car. ”
I snorted. “Well, now that you say that, I think my steering’s a little off.”
“It’s not. I fixed it.”
I blinked. “What?”
“Of course I fixed your car. You’re driving along these mountains. I’m not going to let you get in a wreck.” All thoughts of humor fled from me as I reached out and squeezed his hand. “I’m sorry.”
He shook himself, as if brushing it off. “I was just kidding. I did fix it, but it’s because I want to.”
“Still. I won’t make light of it. Promise.”
“I was just teasing. I wasn’t thinking of my parents until that moment.”
“I’m still so sorry. About everything.”
“It was a long time ago, and while I miss them every single day, we’re okay now. It sucks, but we’re okay. One of the hardest parts of that whole thing was leaving you behind though. And well, you’re here now. For however long.”
We both sat in silence for far too long, the rest of our dinner growing cold. We were doing the one thing we had silently promised we would never do.
Talking about our relationship.
Instead we needed to just live in the moment because I didn’t know when those moments would end.
“You know, I’ve never been to Lake Bar,” I said, trying to change the subject.
He raised a brow. “Oh yeah?”
“Yes. Why don’t you take me?”
He looked down at my jeans and double tank top with a sweater and shrugged. “You don’t look too fancy. Which is good,” he said as I glared at him. “You look too fancy, then you’re a mark. But I’ll take you. Show you the darker side of Cage Lake.”
I blinked.
“Is there a darker side of Cage Lake?”
“You’ll see.”
We paid for our dinners and walked the two blocks down the street to the Lake Bar.
It really was a hole in the wall, a small building with wooden slats strategically placed over the windows.
It wasn’t fully caved in or downtrodden, in fact I had a feeling that the owners, possibly my brothers, made their best effort to make it look like a dive bar.
We walked inside, the floor sticky underneath my boots, and I just smiled.
“This reminds me of that place we went in Arvada. Do you remember that?”
“Oh I do. Though, I’m really grateful that smoking isn’t allowed anymore.”
I shuddered. “Oh, thank God.”
A few people turned our way, but then went back to their own beers, not really caring.
There was a pool table and dartboard in the back, and a few people dancing to whatever music was playing.
But the centerpiece of the business was a large wooden bar, shiny in some places, dented in others.
And it just felt like a good dive bar. Somewhere I hadn’t gone in far too long.
After all, I was the prim and proper Isabella Cage Dixon.
I had a family and siblings to take care of. I didn’t do shots and beers at a bar.
“What will you have, Weston, and Ms. Cage?”
I didn’t bother to correct him about my real last name, I just looked over at Weston and grinned. “How about a shot of whiskey and whatever local beer you have on tap that would go with it?”
“Well then,” Weston said with a laugh. “Make it two. You know what I like.”
The bartender whistled through his teeth before he went to pour.
“Whiskey and beer? You’re asking for a hangover on a work night, Bella babe.”
“Well if we’re living in the moment, I’m going to pretend.”
“I can do that.” He put his hand around the back of my neck, tilted my face up, and crushed my mouth to his.
Somebody whistled beside us, as others clapped, and I just ignored them.
“Just making my claim,” he said, though he wasn’t looking at me.
I rolled my eyes and gestured toward the drinks the bartender had handed over.
“Thank you,” I said with a grin.
“No problem, Ms. Cage. You keep this one on his toes. He needs it.”
“That I can do.”
I held up my shot. “Ready?”
“Oh, I think I can handle you.”
I rolled my eyes, tapped the shot glass to the bar top, and tossed the whiskey back down my throat.
It burned, but it was a good burn, so I swallowed without coughing and licked my lips. Weston had done the same thing. As everybody shouted in cheers, I knew we had done the right thing.
“That was the hottest fucking thing I’ve ever seen,” he said as he leaned forward, whispering in my ear. His warm breath on my neck sent shivers down my spine, and I reached for my beer, needing something to quench my parched throat.
“We’ll just have to see about that.”
We drank our beers as I laughed with a few of the regulars, getting to know another side of Cage Lake.
Nobody here seemed to care that my family owned much of the town and I was still a newcomer.
All they cared was that we bought our drinks, didn’t make too much of a ruckus, and when Weston pulled me to the back room, I didn’t think much of it.
But when he closed the door behind us, and put my back to it, I frowned.
“What are you doing?” I asked, my voice low.
“What I’ve wanted to do since I first saw you tonight.” And then he crushed his mouth to mine.
I shivered in his hold, a little drunk, a little warm from the whiskey, and raked my hands through his hair, before sliding them down his back.
He was on his knees then, my breath coming out in pants as he undid my zipper quickly.
“Weston. We can’t. Not here.”
“Oh. But we can.”
More aroused than I had been at any time in my life, I spread my legs and helped him wiggle my too-tight jeans over my ass. And when he shoved them down past my knees, I held on to the edges of the door.
“We have to be quiet. So quiet,” he whispered, as he slid his finger over my panties.
“I don’t know if I can be that quiet.”
“You will be. If you want to come. Look at you, so swollen. I bet your clit is throbbing, just thinking of me.”
“If you don’t put your mouth on my pussy right now, I’m going to scream.”
“We wouldn’t want that, would we?” Then he shoved my panties to the side and feasted.
His tongue flattened against my clit, and my knees shook.
When he spread me, continuing to eat and lick, I rolled my hips, rubbing myself along his face.
I put one hand over my mouth, keeping my moans in, knowing that anybody could walk in at any time.
There was no lock on this door. But with Weston’s mouth on my pussy, it was hard for me to think.
And when the orgasm came, my toes curled in my boots, and I couldn’t breathe. The floor was sticky with old whiskey and beer. The place had old cigarette marks, and gouges from bar fights, and yet all I could think about was coming against Weston’s face.
And when he finally stood up, holding me tight, he crushed my mouth to his and I could taste myself on him, tart and sweet.
“I don’t have a condom,” he growled.
“I’m on birth control and we’re both clean,” I muttered.
He froze. “I can have you bare?” he asked, his voice guttural.
“Please.”
And with that, he kissed me again, and then whirled me to face away from him. Cheek against the door, he shoved my pants down even more, before I heard the sound of a zipper, and then he was inside me. One plunge, one thrust, and I was stretched to the limit.
He put his hand over my mouth, keeping me silenced, as he put his other hand on my hip.
“You feel so fucking good, Bella. I can’t breathe.”
I couldn’t answer him, not with him keeping me silenced, so I rubbed my ass along him, needing him to move.
We both shuddered, and then he was sliding in and out of me, hard and fast, and I knew anyone outside could hear us.
We weren’t keeping it quiet. The door banged, and finally his hand slipped, going down to cup my breast, playing with my nipples, and we were both moaning, and when he came, my knees shook, and I followed him, mumbling his name as he leaned against the door, pressing me tightly.
I could feel him warm inside me, seeping between my legs as he pulled out, and I couldn’t help but want to keep him there, in all the ways that mattered.
And I knew right then and there, I was in so much fucking trouble.