CHAPTER FOUR
Sean
Sweat and dust sting my eyes as I lie waiting, focusing on the bird not hindered by space or time.
It can fly away any time it chooses, unlike me, and I’m jealous.
It should fly away. It should get the fuck out of this fucking desert, but it doesn’t.
Instead the music plays. Over and over it plays while the dove looks down on me as if it’s guarding me, and I use it to keep my focus for as long as I can, willing myself to stay awake as the sound of the chopper gets closer.
“Why don’t we come here more often? Fuck.
” Kai cuts into my flashback as I arrive at our pool table from the bar with my drink in hand.
My back is tight after riding so far and I know the whiskey will soften the tension there for me, even if it’s only temporary.
I watch as Kai takes his shot and sinks the yellow ball in the side pocket, glancing back over his shoulder at two brunettes in the corner.
“All this uppity pussy just does something to me, bro.” He shakes his head with his bottom lip between his teeth and smiles wide.
“Mmmm-mmmm-mmmm,” he hums as he takes in the woman and her friend.
Both of them look to be in their mid-thirties, older than he is.
I scrub my face with my hand. Fucking whore.
Mason chuckles and stands to line up his shot.
“I think maybe I hooked up with that one once. I swear I’ve seen her at the club.
” He nods to the blonde leaning over the bar.
She’s smiling at the woman who stole my attention and hasn’t let it go since the moment I walked through the door.
Something was leading me to her, telling me to seek her out.
It wasn’t just her beauty; it was something more.
I never doubt my instincts, and the second she turned to reach for my bourbon, and those long copper tresses trailed off her shoulder, I saw why.
Call it an epiphany of sorts, but I knew I wasn’t done with her yet.
So I watch her work now, planning my next move.
The curvy hips that lead up to her small waist and full tits that would fill my hands so fucking perfectly.
The long copper waves, high cheekbones, big brown doe eyes and a heart-shaped face with full pouty red lips.
Her soft skin is tanned and silky-looking.
She’s got a highbrow way about her, like she was raised on the upper-class side of town, but she’s full of a sass and feistiness I didn’t expect when I first saw her.
I can’t tell whether it’s real or if it’s just the armor she wears.
But real or fake, watching her in the dim bar lights I find myself imagining all the ungodly things I could do with those full hips, namely gripping them tight while she rides my fat cock.
Her beauty is undeniable, but when she turns and holds my eyes, still speaking to her friend, I feel it again.
Something deeper that is pulling me in. But while I’m cataloging her details, I can’t yet form the root or solution of her—and that leads me to need more, because usually women don’t entice me, they don’t perplex me or call to me, yet she does.
I sip my drink thinking of how she looked at me with such disregard yet her nipples hardened under her thin white shirt as I approached her. How she shuddered under my touch but her eyes went wide when they met mine, screaming please worship me and defile me all at the same time.
I look out toward the rain and see it isn’t letting up yet, then back to her.
“You gonna take your shot, motherfucker, or keep making eyes at that stunner behind the bar?” Kai jokes. “Christ I may have to—”
I push past him, hard enough that he steps back a bit. “Don’t even think about fucking looking at her,” I mutter.
Kai and Mason both guffaw at my words.
“She’s fucking tasty. I’ll give you that, so if we’re gonna have to wait while you rail her in the bathroom, let us know and we’ll rack another game without you.
” Kai’s eyes drift toward the bar and I move to stand in his way, flexing my fist and pissed off at myself more than him.
I have no idea why I’m instantly so protective of her, because it isn’t my fucking style.
“I said, don’t fucking look at her.”
Kai pats me on the shoulder. “You got it, boss, but you better make your move quick. Looks like she’s heading out, and we should too, as soon as that rain lets up. Shel and Prez will have our fucking heads for being late.”
I glance toward the bar again and find her eyes across the room; she involuntarily licks her lips.
Fascinating. It’s clear that she has no idea the look she’s wearing is one of pure unfiltered lust. Her cheeks pinken as we lock eyes, but she doesn’t look away how I would expect her to and I let myself imagine all the other ways I could make her blush like that for me.
Then she turns, her eyes fluttering as she casts another glance at me over her shoulder before disappearing behind the doorway to the back, her hand sliding down the frame as I hear her words in my head.
Do your best, babe.
I flex my fists as I contemplate her words.
An invitation she didn’t even understand herself.
With just the memory of those words, I feel the same sort of itch that spreads under my skin when I’m about to hunt a man down.
It’s this hyperawareness of not letting go, of making sure I follow through, cleanly and precisely.
Only, I don’t want to kill her. On the contrary.
I want to make her feel alive—and then, if I discover she is like every other woman I’ve ever touched, I can just move on with my fucking day.
Mason hits the pool table when he sinks an impossible shot and I give my head a shake, though my mind is already made up as I set my cue in its holder and turn it so it lines up perfectly to match the rest. “I’m not finished here yet. Text Prez and tell him we’re gonna be late.”
“Christ,” Kai breathes out. “Just don’t get us arrested. This face wouldn’t last a day in jail.”
I hear him chuckle as I leave them behind and begin my hunt.
I’ve learned over time that if I move with enough confidence, no one will ever question me. Even when I walk right into the back of a restaurant where I clearly don’t belong.
The servers scurry like roaches under a Maglite as I stride to the back in a steady, even pace, breathing in the sweet scent she left behind.
All of the employees pretend they don’t notice me because no one wants to be the one to tell me I’m not authorized to cross the threshold of the bar.
They’re best to stay out of my way anyway.
I’m full of unbridled need, and I don’t know what I might be capable of if someone gets in my way, because in all of my thirty-two years, I’ve never chased down a woman like this before.
The more I think about her, the more the anticipation and need to find her consumes me. The sweetest hint of vanilla and peach fills my senses, and as I walk I grin with the satisfaction of knowing she’s close and that my chance to unravel her, to find out if I’m right, is coming.