Chapter Four
L exi
How could I have been so stupid? I cover my mouth with my hand when a sob slips past my lips, trying to hold in the overwhelming feeling of my world crashing down around me. What the hell am I supposed to do?
“I have nothing.” I whisper the words out loud. I spent all my savings on that rental and the trip to get me here. Not a single cent of my emergency fund is left. It‘s all gone.
My legs feel weak, and my chest gets tight.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Easy moves quickly, lunging forward and slipping his arm around my waist when my legs threaten to give out.
The panic is real. I can’t catch my breath, and my body starts to shake. “I can’t… breathe,” I croak.
Wide-eyed, Easy watches my chest rapidly rise and fall, and a look of real fear washes over his handsome face. “Look at me, babe. That’s it. You need to calm down. Inhale through your nose and slowly let it out, yeah?” His voice is calm, steady.
Without letting go, he maneuvers my body until my front is plastered to his. Deep brown eyes lock onto mine as he goes through the motions, urging me to follow his lead, and I do.
“That’s it. Good girl. In. Out. Good.” He repeats the praise over and over and I feel a blush hit my cheeks.
Good Lord. Leave it to me to get aroused while in the middle of having a damn panic attack. What the heck is wrong with me?
I peek through my lashes, embarrassed by the whole situation and gasp at the heat in his eyes.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” I blurt.
“How am I looking at you?” Even in a state of panic, I recognize the desire staring back at me.
“Like you’re sizing up your next meal.” I swallow thickly.
“Lex,” he rasps. Nobody’s ever called me that before, and I like it.
“Yeah?” I whisper back.
His Adam’s apple bobs before he asks, “You going to pass out on me?”
“No.”
“Good,” he growls. Before I can put together why he’s asking me this, his lips crash into mine, tongue slashing across the seam, big hands squeezing my bottom.
I gasp at the suddenness, and my mouth opens, allowing his tongue to slip inside and dance with mine.
I can’t explain it. I know it’s insane to lock lips with a complete stranger, but there’s something about his hard body pressed against mine that has me sinking into the kiss.
And what a kiss it is.
Desperate to touch him, I lift my hands to the wall of his chest, then further up and around his neck.
His answering growl tells me it was the right move.
Seconds, minutes, hours—I didn’t have a clue how long we drink each other in.
Jesus. Never have I felt fireworks like this.
“Mm,” I moan, sinking deeper against him.
And then, just as quickly as it started, it’s over.
Easy’s hands fall away from my backside and go to my arms, pulling them free from around his neck before his body jerks away from mine like he’s been burned.
The rejection stings until I see his eyes are as wide as saucers.
What the?—
“Shit!” His words are clipped. “Shit, shit, shit! I don’t know what got into me. Shit!” he snaps again.
I put my hand over his mouth to stop his apology. I don’t want one. Somehow, he seems to have missed the fact that I was kissing him back. “I liked it,” I admit.
I should be all kinds of not okay that I just locked lips with a man I don’t even know, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. There’s something about Easy that feels safe. And as bizarre as this whole situation is, I want to know more about him.
He rubs at the back of his neck, a boyish grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Yeah?”
“Yes.” I grin.
“I liked it, too.”
A car door closing from somewhere up the street clears the lust from my head and drags me back into the here and now.
I’m homeless.
“What am I going to do?” I am still in one hell of a pickle.
“Do you have family or a friend you can crash with for the night or—” I shake my head as tears start to well up again. I don’t have anyone in Miami.
“Fine. You’ll stay with me.” He says it likes it’s the most logical solution.
“With you?” I whisper brokenly. “But… You don’t even know me. I could be a killer or a robber or something.”
Easy’s relaxed grin turns into a full-on megawatt smile that almost takes my breath away. “I think I’ll take my chances.”
“You’re really handsome when you smile.”
His smile widens, and I realize what I just said. My cheeks heat. “I mean, I thought you were handsome before when you opened the door—you’re handsome without the smile—but then you smiled, and… wow, I am only making this worse.”
He folds his arms across his chest, causing the muscles to bunch as he blinds me with his smile. “I thought you were doing pretty good.”
My eyes flick back and forth between his laughing eyes and impressive biceps as I try to remember what we’re talking about. “What were you saying?”
“Are you going to come in or not?” he chuckles, shaking his head.
Right. He was offering me a place to crash.
I glance back at my car on the street that’s overflowing with all my stuff. There isn’t any room to sleep in there.
I turn back to Easy, standing in his open door. “It won’t be too weird? I mean, we just met, and letting a stranger who just knocked on your door come inside and crash isn’t normal.” I’m not sure why I’m asking. The fact we just met and he kissed me already makes it beyond weird. Who kisses a complete stranger who knocks on their door in the middle of the night? That’s gotta be a red flag. Right?
He lifts a brow. “Sweetheart, I’m a biker. I do whatever the fuck I want. I don’t care what anyone else thinks is ‘weird’.” Guess that answers my question about kissing strangers.
Although, I’m not too sure what riding a motorcycle has to do with him giving me a place to stay, but at this point, beggars can’t be choosers.
“If you’re sure you don’t mind.” I bite my lip. “And… uhm… thank you. I just need to lock up my car,” I thumb over my shoulder.
“Do what you need to do, sweetheart. I’m going to finish my shower. Make yourself at home.”
And with that, my temporary roommate spins around and stalks back into his house, leaving me wondering what the hell just happened.