Chapter 5
LANGSTON
The skin around my knuckles pulled and burned with every slam of my fist against the punching bag I’d been working for the last thirty minutes.
The muscle-memory motions combined with the sound of skin slapping the red leather and the smells of the gym soothed me in a way no amount of running or other cardio could.
It was also a perfect outlet for my mounting frustration, which made coming to Oliver’s gym a necessity after West’s announcement yesterday.
Several feet away, in the far corner among the dust bunnies and spider webs, my best friend’s feet pounded on the ancient treadmill, glaring at the cracked wall like it was the one who asked Juno out on a date.
It took a lot to make him this angry, but somehow she’d accomplished it.
We both had pent-up frustration that needed to be worked out before we exploded on each other or someone else, not only because of Juno’s date, but for me the two hours I’d worked side by side with her earlier, helping her with the information she needed for the scheduling system.
It was hell sitting beside her, her gorgeous eyes squinting in concentration, her naturally soft scent wafting off her fair skin every time she moved or flicked her hair.
When she spoke, I couldn’t help but stare at her lips, wondering how they would feel on me.
Plus, watching her work, her fingers flying over the keyboard and the determined focus she had while coding, was sexy as hell.
Not only was the woman feisty in how she pushed my many buttons and turned me on, but she was also a computer genius, funny, and the most strikingly, naturally beautiful woman I’d ever seen.
Our size difference made me want to pick her up and carry her around. Almost a foot shorter than me, with wide, sexy hips and thighs, and an ass that I wanted wearing my handprint on both cheeks, she was soft and feminine in all the perfect ways.
The subtle shift beneath my shorts from just thinking about Juno had me grunting in annoyance and slamming my fist harder into the bag.
It wasn’t smart to think about her while wearing nothing but a pair of thin shorts; everyone in the gym would get an eyeful of my massive dick standing at attention.
Even as a horny teenager, this never happened to me.
Juno was the only woman who could make me hard as steel just by thinking about her.
But even if my body reacted to her without my permission, it didn’t mean I was ready to let my guard down, not yet.
I still had to uncover what she was hiding from her past. And now with the mystery couple coming to surprise her tomorrow, I needed to be more cautious than ever around her.
The sunlight pouring through the glass front door shifted when it opened wide, bringing in a gust of cool fresh air to the musty space along with the object of my obsession.
Earbuds in, head bobbing to whatever song she listened to, Juno didn’t even notice me or West as she headed to the locker room, too focused on whatever she was typing on her phone.
I dropped both throbbing fists to my sides, shocked at her oblivious concern for her surroundings and safety. Had she biked the entire way here distracted and unable to hear someone if they came up behind her?
Anger and fear swirled in my chest at her complete disregard for her safety. How dare she put herself in danger like that, especially with everything going on with the unsolved missing women cases?
The soles of my trainers were slamming against the concrete floor before I even realized I was moving toward the locker room. Somewhere, West yelled my name, the sound echoing off the bare walls, while Oliver’s barked curses and demands for me to stop went in one ear and out the other.
I smacked my palm to the center of the door and forced it open, storming into the locker room, ready to lecture her on being aware of her surroundings and safety.
Inside the small room lined with lockers and a single bench between them, she stood at the opposite end, her back to me, earbuds in and eyes focused on her phone.
She didn’t even notice my presence until I wrapped my fingers around her ponytail and tugged.
Her soft gasp had my dick waking back up, ready to hear that sound again.
Bending low, I hovered my lips along the shell of her ear, fighting the urge to wrap her hair around my fist and tug, arching her back and forcing her round ass to press against my twitching cock.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Juno? You—”
I didn’t get to finish. The feisty woman caught me off guard.
Instead of freezing like West said she did when he surprised her, Juno folded to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
Her soft brown hair slipped through my fingers when she twisted around to slam a fist behind my right knee.
Any other time, I would’ve expected the attack, prepared for it by balancing my weight, but I was too stunned by her quick movements.
The hit had my leg buckling, sending me toppling forward.
Seeing the inevitable, Juno’s eyes went wide.
She clearly hadn’t counted on me falling directly on top of her.
Vibrations shot from where my palms connected with the floor, stopping my full body weight from slamming into her.
Nose to nose, our quick breaths mingled as we stared at each other, both in shock at the quick turn of events.
“What the fuck was that?” I growled, my voice shaking from the effort to keep my weight off her.
“You first, Langston,” she snapped, not dropping my glare. With a huff, she shimmied along the floor, attempting to slip away, but only succeeded in shifting her core beneath my hardening dick.
“Stop moving,” I hissed. Both eyes sealed shut, I inhaled deeply to cool the liquid heat pumping through my veins.
Fuck, this was bad. She was trouble, dangerous, and unknown. I couldn’t let my guard down around her. This was just to teach her a lesson about being aware and taking her safety into consideration, nothing more.
“Then get off me,” she demanded. When she moved again, I knew the second she lifted and shifted just enough to be very aware of how turned on I was. Stilling, she blinked those long dark lashes up at me. “Langston.”
“Juno,” I breathed, scanning her petite face. Fuck, she was even more beautiful this close. I folded my fingers into my palm until the nails bit into my skin to keep from stroking them along her jaw and throat.
I imagined my hand wrapped around her neck while I took her hard, West’s dick stretching her pretty lips wide as he fucked her throat.
“Lang.” My eyes slowly lifted from where they had fallen to her parted lips. “What are you doing?”
My throat worked with a hard swallow as I tried to figure that out myself. What the fuck was I doing? Yes, there was attraction there—fine, obsession—but she was still an outsider, someone keeping secrets that could harm the family I’d found here in Anchor Bay.
With one last look, committing her faint freckles to memory, I pushed off the floor with a grunt and leapt to my feet.
Her hooded gaze tracked my hand when I adjusted my hard cock, attempting to make it less obvious.
“Just don’t go walking around town so fucking distracted again,” I barked. “It’s not safe.”
I spun around to leave the locker room when she stopped me in my tracks.
“I took you down just fine,” she called out with so much sass in her tone it was almost a taunt.
The fact that she took my warning as a joke, that she took her safety as something to make light of, sent that earlier frustration roaring through my veins once again, pounding in my ears. Which only made my dick stiffen more, emphasizing how fucked up I was in the relationship department.
Dropping to my knees, one on either side of her waist, I gathered her wrists in one hand and pinned them to the floor above her head.
If I were a smart man, I would’ve realized this was a terrible decision, considering our position, and aborted the safety lesson, but apparently I was a masochist and liked to test my limits.
Juno didn’t move a muscle, just kept her heated aqua eyes locked on me as I leaned in close.
“There are women being snatched off the fucking streets—”
“I’m not on that trail. There were people around, and—”
Her dismissive tone, the complete disregard for the danger lurking all around us, had me doing what I’d fantasized about a dozen times since meeting Juno.
I gently wrapped my long fingers around her throat, squeezing just enough to ensure I had her full attention so she would hopefully grasp how serious I was about keeping her safe, even if that meant from herself.
Her throat moved beneath my hot palm when she swallowed.
“I don’t give a damn if you’re on the trail or even walking the main road in front of your cabin. There is a sick fucker out there taking women and doing who the fuck knows what with them. Take your safety seriously, Juno.” I flex my fingers, making her breath hitch. “Or I will.”
That did it; those last words of warning pushed the independent woman too far. All the heat in her glassy gaze vanished, replaced with anger I could almost feel burning into me.
“Fuck you, Langston,” she rasped, barely getting the words out around my hold on her throat. “I’m not an idiot, or helpless, or incompetent, or—”
The passion and conviction in her tone had me locking in on her choice of words. “That’s not what I’m saying, Juno.” My eyes flicked between hers. “Did someone say that to you, that you were?” I demanded.
A blank mask took the place of her shocked expression, and she pressed her lips together, clearly not wanting to answer.
“I’m not saying you are any of those things, more just careless. You walked into the gym, face in your phone, listening to the new Swift shit you love—”
Her hair slid along the concrete with the tilt of her head, her confusion clear. “How do you know I’m a Swiftie?”