Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
Nora
B rendan must be punking me because there’s no way a man like him could be real. Ruggedly handsome, with the chiseled jaw and sculpted body of a god, a business sense, money in the bank, and looking at me like I’m the cherry sitting at the top of his decadent seduction sundae.
Men just don’t look at me like this.
And I don’t know how to handle it.
I claim a second raspberry macaron and let the blend of tart and sweet explode in my mouth. The soft murmur of voices is enough to remind me we’re not alone, but distant enough that our conversation is private.
Would he be so outwardly flirtatious if people were around? Does a guy like him worry about optics? I’m certainly not the arm candy people expect when they see a man like him.
“Hey, where’d you go just now and how do I get your smile back?” Brendan sets his spoonful of stew back into his bowl and leans toward the table. “Is something wrong? Did I say something to upset you?”
“Yes,” I say before my mind can catch up with me.
He looks stricken. “What? Whatever it was, I?—”
I wave away his concern. “Sorry. I’m very uncomfortable with compliments and having you go to such lengths and saying things like me being beautiful or intelligent, it just strikes a chord of dissonance in me.”
A look of sheer violent fury darkens the emerald green of his eyes before it’s pushed away and replaced by sadness. He reaches across the table, captures my wrist, and brings my palm to his lips. His kiss is warm as he bends his head, his full lips brushing over my racing pulse.
But even with his head down, his gaze remains locked on mine.
Tingles spread across my skin and up my arm as something wicked flashes in those piercing eyes. He pinches the fleshy pad of my thumb between his teeth, a startled gasp escaping my lips before he releases his bite and kisses away the sting. “Do I have your full attention, angel?”
I swallow and dip my chin, my mind too scattered to speak.
“I never say things I don’t mean. And if me telling you how I see you is uncomfortable, you’ll simply have to take my word for it until you accept it as truth. What I find most upsetting is that you don’t already know it. Someone or many someones have failed you, gorgeous, because you should’ve been showered with praise your entire life and know how special you are.”
I drop my gaze, blinking quickly, fighting back the sting of tears.
My pulse is whooshing loudly in my ears, and I fight to pull myself back together. Brendan sees too much—it unravels me.
“I’m ruining this.”
He doesn’t need to answer.
When he gets up from his seat, I know it’s the truth.
Lost in my self-recrimination, I miss his movements until he is suddenly sliding into the booth next to me, taking my jaw in his gentle grip. His hand is massive, his fingers strong and warm as they grip my cheeks.
“Look at me, Nora.” There’s a growl to his voice that resonates inside of me, speaking to something dangerous and carnal. It’s in his eyes, too, a warning of something I don’t yet understand. “You’ve ruined nothing. I wanted to get to know you and let you get to know me. We’re doing that. We may not be making small talk about our favorite colors or what we do in our spare time, but this is better—it’s real.”
Is it? It feels more surreal to me than real…but maybe that’s just me.
“Now, I’m aching to kiss you, and normally I’d push in and do my thing, but you’re special and skeptical, and I don’t want to rush you.”
My mind blanks out, all my girl parts weighing in at once. What topsy-turvy world have I been transported to? “You want to kiss me ? Seriously?”
He scoffs, a low grumble tearing from his throat. “From the moment I laid over you, I’ve thought of little else.”
There’s not an ounce of hesitation in his words and how sexy is that? I can’t imagine being so confident that I could put myself out there like that. Then again, look at this guy. He’s probably never had a woman turn him down in his entire life.
That reality cuts with a double-edged blade. It’s super flattering and hot that he likes me, but wow, how am I supposed to stand up next to the women who have come before?
“ Annnd I’ve lost you again.” Brendan frowns, rubbing his thumb over my cheek. “What’s going on in that head of yours, Nora? One moment you’re here with me and you’re smiling and then the light drains out of you, and you shrink into yourself and become small.”
Is that what I’m doing?
Has my father’s paranoia and doubt rooted itself so deeply in me, I instinctively shy away from things that might make me happy?
“I’m sorry.” I let out a long sigh and swivel on the bend to face him fully. “You’re not wrong. Tanya was the one who made me realize my home life situation was toxic. We had big plans. We were going to get better-paying jobs, rent our own flat, and live life with gusto.”
His gaze softens. “It sounds like she was a great friend.”
“She was.”
“Does her death mean the end of your big plans?”
“I hope not. Kate and I—Kate is the third in our little trio of dysfunction. Well, in Tanya’s honor, we went for our interviews at Legend and are still planning to move forward. If we get the jobs. We expected a call by now and have heard nothing.”
He eases back and his brow pinches. “You want to work at a nightclub?”
“I want to earn big money fast and Kate says the tips at Legend are, well, legendary.” I laugh at my own joke, and he chuckles along with me.
I glance down into my drink, swirling the whipped cream with my finger as my mind whirls. “It was a shock to lose Tanya, but Kate and I are determined not to let her dreams die with her. We’re going ahead the way she’d want us to.”
A smile tugs at the corner of his full lips. “That’s both brave and admirable.”
I shrug, but his admiration means a lot. He doesn’t seem to have any intention of going back to his seat across the table, so I reach across and pull his stew and baguette in front of him. “Eat. You were hungry, and it’s getting cold.”
He hesitates for a moment, but when I point to his spoon, he gives in and starts eating again. Good. It’s easier to think when his attention isn’t solely focused on me.
Brendan
Fuck. Me. This woman is so fucking sweet—but not the angel I first imagined. There’s something wild in her…something curious edging forward, just below the surface, waiting to break free. I want to be the man to corrupt her—to show her the dark world of danger and desire.
The Charger’s engine rumbles low as I pull to the curb before getting to Nora’s place. She’s mentioned more than once that her father is strict and controlling and the last thing I want to do is make things difficult for her by having her father bombard her with a lot of questions. But I also don’t want to rush and have to say goodbye and drive off to keep things quick and simple.
I have a feeling nothing about Nora will be quick and simple. All night, I’ve been imagining how perfectly she’d fit into my life. What she’d add. What I could add to hers. I don’t know how I’m so sure she needs to be there, but I am.
I barely know her, but everything in me wants to claim her as my own—I want to touch and taste and possess every part of her.
The streetlights cast soft shadows through the windshield, creating an intimate cocoon inside the car. I kill the engine but leave the key engaged, so the radio plays quietly in the background.
“Thank you for agreeing to come for coffee.”
“Thank you for waiting around to check up on me.”
“My pleasure. I even brought my car in case your father came home. I didn’t want you to get read the riot act because a biker hoodlum wanted to take you out.”
“I appreciate that, more than you know.”
I turn in my seat to face her better, drinking in how the dim light plays across her pale features. Collecting her hand from where it sits on her lap, I take it in both hands and run my thumb gently against her palm. “It was grand spending time with you.”
She drops her gaze, and I know if the lighting were better, I’d see the blush coloring her cheeks. “You’re not at all what I expected.”
“No? Did you think me a mindless thug who would woo you with grunts and flexes of my manly muscles?”
Her laughter bubbles free and I take it as a victory. I’m drawing her out of her shell and she’s relaxing. “Nothing quite so caveman, though the flexing wouldn’t have been terrible.”
“I can arrange that for you next time, if you like.” I wink.
“Next time?”
“Aye. The past two hours prove we’ve got chemistry. I’d like to get to know you better and see where that takes us.”
She bites her lower lip, drawing my attention to her mouth. Man, what I wouldn’t give to have those sinful lips wrapped around my shaft. I bet she’d take me balls deep and have me wound up and streaming cum down her throat in record time.
Sure, she’s cautious, but beneath the veil of control and well-behaved, there’s a firecracker about to ignite.
I reach over and tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, letting my fingers trail along her jaw. Her breath catches and the air between us charges with electricity. “You’d like that too, wouldn’t you, angel?”
“Yes. I would.”
Thank fuck. My pulse throbs in my cock and it’s taking every ounce of restraint I have to keep from hauling her out of her seat and into my lap. It feels like we’re sharing a pivotal moment. I want more, but don’t want to push for too much too soon and risk ruining this.
“I should go,” she whispers, but doesn’t move.
“Probably a good idea.” I don’t move either, too captivated by how her pulse jumps beneath my fingertips.
It’s taking everything in me not to reach into her skinny jeans and see just how wet she is for me right now. The click of her buckle releasing warns me I’m about to miss my chance. Something in my chest clenches. I don’t want her to go. Before she can open her door, I tighten my grip on her wrist and tug her back.
“Nora.”
Her blue eyes widen, questioning in the darkness. I slide my hand from her wrist to cup her cheek, giving her time to pull away if she wants to.
She doesn’t.
Instead, she leans into my touch, her eyes dropping to my mouth. That’s all the invitation I need. I close the distance between us, brushing my lips against hers in a sensual caress.
She makes a soft sound in the back of her throat and presses closer, her hand coming up to grip my shirt. Her lips are like silk and my fingers sink into her hair, pulling her closer. I deepen the kiss, drinking in her sweetness mixed with the lingering taste of vanilla and raspberries.
When I slide my tongue along the seam of her mouth, she opens up, letting off a feminine mewl. Fuck. That sound calls to the brute in me. I meet her tongue with mine and the kiss ratchets up another level.
Her hold on my shirt tightens and if I had a bench seat instead of buckets, I bet she’d be climbing into my lap. My angel is hungry. And if this beauty wants to break free of the shackles of her life and unleash her desires, I’m her man.
But making out in my car within eyeshot of her house is not the place. Because when I unleash the woman Nora is meant to be, I want no distractions and no interruptions. Slowing the kiss, I fight my way back from the need to take this further. Patience has never been one of my virtues, but with Nora, I want things to be perfect.
We ease apart, both of us panting to catch our breath.
I rest my forehead against hers and brush my thumb across her lower lip. “That was some first kiss, angel.”
She nips my thumb and sucks it into her hot, wet mouth. My cock is granite hard and fights to twitch, trapped behind the constraint of my jeans. “Yeah, I think I may have blown an ovary.”
I laugh and sink back into my seat. “Then I better get you home so you can tend to that.”
When I stop in front of Nora’s house, there’s a black sedan in the driveway. After she hustles up the walkway and shuts herself inside, I open a text window with Finn and type in the plate number.
Dig into this guy when you get a chance.
When do you need it? I’m helping Piper and Laine with Sunday.
After fight night is fine.
K. Np.
I don’t know Nora’s situation, but I gleaned enough from our conversation tonight that I know her father is controlling and doesn’t support her the way he should. He has my interest and that won’t work out for him if I don’t like what I find.
The next text I send is to Sean:
Who do we have at Legend?
GM. Jay Leone.
K. Thanks.
Problem?
No. Just want to reach out about something.
And with that, I shift into gear and head off to visit the local nightclub.