Chapter Nine
ALEX
It didn’t matter how high Parker cranked up the air conditioning, cramming hundreds of sweaty men in a club on a sweltering summer night resulted in hot-as-fuck staff.
And not the hotness he wanted us to exude.
Sweat poured from my hair down the sides of my face and over my torso.
I grabbed a towel from behind the bar to mop myself off.
“You put that nasty thing back on my bar, and I’ll rip your balls off,” Dom, one of the bartenders, grumbled. “We’ll see how Ryder likes you when you’re nutless.”
I snickered as I lifted my hands in surrender. “I wouldn’t dream of contaminating your laboratory with my sweat. This towel will go straight to the laundry bin. Cross my heart.”
Dom grunted. “Ryder looks good. Ran into him getting coffee recently, and he looked like toasted shit. I worried for a minute that you two broke up or something, but seeing him tonight…” He waggled his eyebrows. “The dude can’t keep his eyes or hands off you.”
My face heated. He wasn’t wrong. When not staring at me, Ryder had followed me around half the night, trying to get his hands on me. Not that I was complaining, but I did have a job to do. “Yeah. He’s in a good mood tonight.”
“Sure, seems to be. You waiting on something?”
I nodded. “Marty is making me a round of Liquid Golds for my other table. Not gonna lie, I’m hoping he takes his sweet time. They are a serious bunch of assholes.”
Dom’s smile turned evil. “Don’t insult assholes that way. We all love a good asshole around here. They are straight-up shit stains. Fucking telling me I don’t know how to make a martini.” He grunted. “Next time one of them sends a drink back, I’m gonna go over there myself and shove it up his ass.”
Ryder’s table was a dream. Only three guys, all of whom I knew, and one of them was my boyfriend?
Sign me up a hundred times over, but my other table was a group of frat brothers who demanded, bitched, and hit on every guy in the place.
Every drink I brought them had something wrong with it, which pissed Dom off to the max, hence why Marty got stuck making this round.
“Maybe don’t threaten them with a good time, yeah?” I said, making Dom laugh, which was better than his murderous glare.
“Take your sweaty rag and get the hell out from behind my bar,” he said, snapping his own towel in my direction. After years of working behind the bar, he could crack that thing with the force of a whip. We’d all ended up with a welt or two on our asses for lingering too long in Dom’s territory.
Chuckling, I jumped back to avoid the sting. “Going, going. I’ll toss this in the bin then come back to grab my drinks.”
“I’ll put a fire under Marty.”
“Thanks.” Marty was a good guy and a good bartender, but he tended to enjoy chatting with customers more than making the drinks some nights.
I rushed down the dark hallway toward the supply closet, where I deposited the dirty towel. As soon as I stepped back out into the hall, a hard body hit mine, muscling me face-first against the wall. Strong hands grabbed my ass cheeks, squeezing as teeth grazed the back of my neck.
Any other time, I’d have panicked, but the scent of Ryder’s expensive cologne hit my senses immediately, causing a very different reaction. My dick spiked in an instant, trapped between the wall and my horny body.
“Mmm, you look so hot tonight.” Ryder kicked my feet apart as he grabbed my hands and planted them on the wall beside my head. Then he notched his bulge in the cleft of my ass, making me groan. “I love watching you work all night. Your biceps look so sexy and bulgy when you carry the tray.”
“Bulgy?” I said with a chuckle.
He sucked at the back of my neck. “Mm-hmm. And walking around practically naked with those delicious tattoos on display, teasing every dick in the place. But they don’t get to have you, do they?” He ground his cock against my ass, and my eyes crossed.
“Christ, Ryder, how much have you had to drink tonight?”
He chuckled. “A lot.”
I should know. I’d been the one to serve him, and I could smell the expensive liquor on his breath.
“I’m drunk. Drunk and horny. Wanna help me with that? Wanna give me this fuckable ass?”
Of course, I fucking did, but I was mid-shift and had a table waiting for a round of cocktails. “Parker will murder both our asses if he finds you back here.”
He was practically humping me against the wall, fully clothed, as he mouthed my neck and pinned my hands.
My blood boiled. I was so hard, I had to be leaking a damn puddle into my shorts.
Thank Christ they were black and the club was dark, or I’d spend the next few hours working with a noticeable wet spot.
As it was, I’d be walking back out there with a hard-on the size of the Eiffel Tower.
“I know,” he mumbled against my skin. “I just want you so fucking bad. Can I have you at home? Please? Can I sink my cock between these thick cheeks?”
“Jesus, Ryder.” I pressed my forehead against the cool wall as I willed my cock into submission, unsuccessfully.
“My ass is yours anytime you want it. You never have to ask. You can do anything to any part of me whenever the fuck you want.” I tended to top most of the time.
While I craved a good fucking now and again, Ryder loved it always, but I’d never turn him down.
I meant it when I said he could do whatever, whenever.
Nothing was off-limits when it came to him.
“Good,” he said against my ear. “Tonight I want to fuck you for hours. Fuck you and edge you until you’re fucking begging me to come.”
My cock jerked, beyond interested in that idea. “You’ve got one hell of a mouth when you’re drunk,” I said as I breathed deeply and tried to lower my damn blood pressure.
“You inspire me. How many hours until you’re done and we can fuck?”
“Too many, though you’re making some big promises your drunk dick might not be able to cash in on later.”
Ryder laughed, and it was the uninhibited hoot of someone who’d downed many ounces of alcohol. “There isn’t enough alcohol in the world to make my dick uninterested in your ass. Promise, as soon as you walk through that door, I’ll be hard and waiting for you to ride me as hard as you can.”
I was going to come here and now if he didn’t stop dirty-talking to me. “Fifty bucks says you’re passed out in these clothes when I get home.”
He nipped at my earlobe with a chuckle. “I’ll take that bet.”
“Shit, Ryder, I have to get back to my table. They’re waiting on drinks, and I’m going to need a second to get my dick under control.”
“Okay. We’re gonna take off in a few, but I did want to leave you with one thing.
” He latched onto the side of my neck, sucking with enough force to make my knees wobble and my skin bruise.
I tilted my head, giving him better access when I should have shoved him away, but it felt too damn good.
I couldn’t stop myself from thrusting my cock against the unforgiving wall, anything to get some pressure and relief.
“There we go,” Ryder said, breathless as he released my neck from the hold of his lips.
“Stamp of ownership?” I panted as hard as he did, needy and unsatisfied as hell, wondering how I’d remain for the rest of my shift.
“Damn straight. Now those frat fuckers will know to keep their fucking hands to themselves.
Unfortunately, I didn’t think a hickey would keep them from getting handsy, but I sure as hell appreciated the effort.
“You’re mine,” he whispered against my ear. “Don’t fucking forget it.”
Damn, I loved possessive Ryder. I’d nearly forgotten how insane he went when customers showed interest in me. “As if I ever could.”
“Keep it that way.” His voice dipped even lower despite being alone, and the pounding music made it impossible for anyone to overhear. “I love you.”
I turned my head and found his lips. “Love you too,” I whispered back before taking his lips in a fierce, sloppy, awkward angle kiss.
We went at it until an “Alexander Morgan!” could be heard from the mouth of the hallway. We broke the kiss, both sighing with regret.
Trevor stood twenty feet away, hands on his hips, a smirk on his lips. “I bought you as much time as I could. Your drinks are ready, and the frat boys are getting restless.”
“Thanks, Trev,” I said. “We got a little carried away.”
“Oh, I know. I watched for a few minutes.” He didn’t have an ounce of apology in his voice. “Feel free to record yourselves and send it my way anytime. That was H-O-T.” He fanned himself for good measure.
Ryder snickered and, after a final peck to my lips, pushed away, freeing me from the erotic cage against the wall. I stared at his ass while he strolled down the hallway with a slightly unsteady gait. It was a stellar ass.
A few seconds later, when I was certain my legs wouldn’t betray me, I walked to Trevor, who burst out laughing as I got closer. He laughed so hard that tears came to his charcoal-rimmed eyes. “Oh my God,” he said, pointing to the way my cock was trying to explode through my damn shorts.
“Keep laughing,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I’ll be limp in one second listening to your cackle.”
He smacked my shoulder. “Well then, you can thank me because you need to tame that bad boy right now, or you might poke one of those frat boys’ eyes out.”
Well, that did it. Thinking of the annoying table of eight rich, egotistical man-children who complained every five seconds was enough to have me going soft. I looked up at the ceiling with a pained groan. “I hate those guys so much. Bet they leave a garbage tip too.”
Trevor shrugged his narrow shoulders. “Yep, they’re the type. Lotsa big swinging dick attitudes and yapping about their fat wallets, but they don’t deliver with either.”
No lies. They were the type who peaked before they hit twenty-two but didn’t realize it. “Ugh, lemme get back out there before I get fired.”
“Keep an eye on my tables for me while I take a leak, will you?”
I nodded. “I got you.”
“Thanks, Ally.”