Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
"Can I take you somewhere?" I whispered in Calvin's ear.
She was back to sittin' on a stool at the bar, my front pressed to her back.
I had my hands planted on the bar top on either side of her, cagin' her in.
The wood was sticky under my palms. She had her perfect lips wrapped around a straw, suckin' down water like she'd been stranded in the desert for weeks instead of one little spin on the dance floor.
We'd have to work on her stamina if she was gonna keep up with my twinkle toes.
She peeked up at me over her shoulder, lickin' her lips. The bar lights caught the gloss there, made it shine. "If somewhere means up to your bed, then the answer is an enthusiastic yes."
I stole a quick kiss, tastin' water and the faint bite of the tequila she'd had earlier. "Reel it in, little horn dog."
She rolled her eyes and polished her water off. When she turned sideways on the stool, I straightened.
"Fine, take me anywhere but to your bed where I could ride you until the sun came up."
Well, shit. When she put it like that, I started second-guessin' my plan. The air felt thicker suddenly, heavy with heat and spilled lager and the kind of tension that usually ended in either a kiss or a fistfight. At The BP, odds were fifty-fifty.
"I mean, we could still—"
"Nope. Moment's passed. I reeled it in." She stood, tossed a twenty on the bar, and took off toward the back door.
"Now, wait a damn minute," I called, chasin' after her. I'd be a fool not to. Boots thudded against warped floorboards as I followed. I caught up to her quick, but I'd learned from my mistakes. I didn't grab at her. Just spoke at her back. "Calvin."
She whirled on me beneath the dim hallway light that flickered almost as bad as the neon out front, shadows cuttin' sharp across her face.
And that's when I saw it. Saw what it cost her to all but ask to go home with me and have it thrown back in her face.
She said nothing. Just stared up at me, a heady fuckin' mix of fury and vulnerability colorin' her face.
"I'm sorry," I said.
She started to roll her eyes and turn back around, but I reached between us and gripped her hand. Her skin was warm, pulse jumpin' under my thumb. It wasn't the jump-attack I'd made when I'd reached her outside the bunkhouse. It was somethin' different.
A claiming, maybe.
She paused, but didn't meet my eyes. If she wouldn't see me, I'd have to make her hear me… feel me.
I crowded her against the wall of the narrow hallway as a couple passed us, the woman shootin' us a knowing smirk.
The drywall was faintly gritty where the paint had chipped from years of drunk shoulders.
When I leaned in, the dark strands of her hair tickled my nose.
"I didn't mean it like that. I want you. You know I want you."
Her scoff told me she didn't believe me, but I couldn't understand why. Somethin' to pick apart another time, I reckoned. The bass from the jukebox thumped faintly through the wall, steady as a heartbeat.
I took her hand—the one I still held in mine—and placed it on my strainin' cock. She squeezed me on instinct and I hissed in a breath, the sound swallowed by the hallway and the distant crack of pool balls collidin' on that damn crooked table.
"I've been hard as steel since the moment you kissed the tip of my finger, viper. Wished it had been the tip of my dick. Want you to paint me red with those lips."
The words hung between us, thick as the air in that bar.
She finally—finally—looked up at me. The fury had softened into somethin' soft but molten. "Take me somewhere," she nearly whispered. "Anywhere."
She let me hold her hand for the entire six-block walk to the house. It woulda been faster to drive, but neither of us was in any fit state to get behind the wheel.
We didn't talk.
There were no barbs, no jokes, no confessions.
Just quiet comfort.
It was new, and it was nice.
"Here we are," I said as I turned to walk us up toward the house.
"And here is… where?" She looked concerned, and I had to laugh.
"I ain't here to murder you, viper." She raised a brow and dropped my hand before she took the rickety steps up to the front door. "Bought this dump a few months ago," I said with a shrug. "Been fixin' it up."
"Dump is a strong word." She looked around. One of the porch lights flickered. A couple windows along the front of the house were boarded up with plywood. "It's a fixer-upper."
I barked out a laugh.
"You said you bought it a few months ago…" Her words trailed off as she continued scanning the space. Was she hesitating? Why? "Was that before or after you, um, called off the wedding?"
Well, ain't that fucking interestin'. Seemed like my viper was suddenly far more interested in my relationship history than she'd let on. But, once again, I was a quick study. I wouldn't toss her words back at her when she had her shields down.
I cleared my throat. "Before. It was meant to be, uh, a surprise for Sassy." I gripped the back of my neck with a rough hand. "A wedding present, I guess."
"Honey, I've known that girl a week and I already know she woulda hated this house."
Her laugh at my expense had my shoulders relaxin' a bit. Ever since she tried to bolt on me at the bar, I'd been walkin' on eggshells.
I grinned down at her.
"But, hey," she teased, "looks like a damn castle to me. Can I see inside?"
My chest puffed up with pride.
I tipped my head toward the door. "It's open."
She scowled at me over her shoulder as she twisted the knob.
"That don't seem safe, boy scout. They're bound to take away a patch or two for that."
I chuckled. Fuck, I liked her. A lot.
"It's a small town," I said, trailin' behind her into the house. "Plus, there's a cat squattin' here, so I had to leave the back door cracked. Don't see no point in lockin' up one door when I'm leavin' another wide open."
She looked back at me and wrinkled her nose. "I hate cats."
"Same, baby." Her eyes seemed to sparkle a bit as we stood across from one another in my someday-living-room with the streetlights cuttin' through the one window that wasn't boarded up. "And this cat is particularly irritating."
"Where is it?" she whispered, like it was seconds away from leaping out of the darkness and scratchin' her perfect skin off.
"Fuck if I know. I don't even know how it got in here in the first place. Hopefully it left."
The words had no sooner left my mouth before I felt somethin' brush up against my calves.
And, again, I shrieked.
That had Calvin dissolvin' in a fit of laughter until the damn cat must have done the same fuckin' thing to her because she screamed and leapt into my arms, wrappin' her legs tightly around my waist.
We stood there laughin' until tears streamed down both of our faces. And then something in the air changed. Sucked all the oxygen right outta my lungs. Suddenly I was all too aware of the stunning fuckin' goddess in my arms.
"Brody," she whispered against my lips. "I need you."