Chapter Four #3
“Uncomfortable, how?”
She bit into her bottom lip, and her gaze skittered away. “Just…uncomfortable.”
The awareness he’d felt on the elevator came back, heavy and deep. It was the first indication he’d had that she saw him not as a threat, but as a man.
He wanted another.
But he didn’t know when he’d ever get it.
She was skittish around him. Guarded. The closest he could get to her was in meetings. Stuffy, mind-numbing meetings. Right now, her defenses were down. He couldn’t. He shouldn’t, but he wanted to know…
He reached for her.
Ever so gently, he ran his fingertips down her bare arm, all the way from shoulder to elbow. As he watched, goose bumps popped up on the warm flesh. She shivered and her breath caught. When she looked at him, her gaze was a little wild.
“You make me uncomfortable too,” he said gruffly.
They stared at each other, the music throbbing and the air hazy around them.
“Really uncomfortable,” he muttered.
Closing the distance, he sank into her. He watched her closely as their bodies pressed from chest to knee.
The heat was intimate, the contact electric.
For a moment, she was stunned still. Then all those emotions she’d kept tempered for so long rushed forward to meet him.
Her anger. Her heat. Her sweetness. He felt it in the way her body melted.
He heard it in the catch in the back of her throat.
“Lexie.” He kissed her. Firmly, fully, mouth locked on mouth. He sealed their lips tight, and the sensation was so good, it damn near made him groan aloud.
Her lips were soft, velvety and they clung. The kiss deepened, their mouths opening wider for more contact. For a woman who was as strapped in and lashed down as she was, she knew how to kiss.
And then some.
That hard-on he’d gotten when he’d seen her dancing atop the bar came roaring back to life.
He kissed her harder, letting his tongue slide over hers.
A sound left her throat, and her fingers bit into his shoulders.
He did it again, loving her heat, loving the way she responded.
She moved restlessly, her body grinding against his.
Softness against hardness. Heat against heat.
Cam wanted to pick her up and carry her right out to his car. He could feel her nipples poking him and her hips rolling sexily. Her arousal was like every other emotion the alcohol had freed. Hot, immediate and right on the surface.
What had started as an exploratory kiss was quickly turning into a blistering-hot make-out session. They were hidden together in the corner. Music pounded around them and bodies shifted nearby. They were in public. Anyone could see them.
And he didn’t care.
He moved closer, rocking his hips into her.
She let out a soft whimper as her hands glided from his shoulders to lock around his neck.
Their bodies fit together like yin and yang.
Her breasts pressed tighter against his chest, and he settled his growing erection right where it wanted to be, in the warm nook at the top of her legs.
He tangled his fingers in her hair as he nuzzled the feminine curve of her jawline.
God, her hair… He clenched his fist in the dark curls.
If the rest of her was this silky, he’d never last. Hungry for more, he sent his other hand down her side.
His blood thundered hard when he found the not-so-professional slit in her oh-so-professional skirt.
“You want the truth?” he whispered into her ear. “The billboard wasn’t pretty enough.”
“Cam,” she gasped as he slid his hand around to the back of her thigh.
But her knee bent. And she arched back against the jukebox.
It took their weight as he caressed smooth, warm flesh, until the tips of his fingers brushed against panties.
“Ahem.”
The sound barely registered. Lexie rubbed the tip of her tongue against his, and Cam’s reaction was immediate. He was hard and ready.
“Maybe I should make that ‘Hey!’” The word was accompanied with a none-too-gentle shove to the shoulder.
Cam’s first instinct was to protect Lexie. His grip tightened on her as he turned, yet he was met with the sight of a woman identical to the one in his arms.
“Should I get you two a room?” Roxie asked, her eyes narrowing.
Lexie hissed. Even in the dim lighting of the bar, Cam could see the red creeping into her cheeks. She lifted her hand to cover her eyes, and he swore. It had taken him months to get close enough to talk to her. He’d leapfrogged quickly to get her into his arms, but this was not a mistake.
“Who is this guy?” Double Trouble asked.
Lexie’s lips moved but, as close as he was, even Cam couldn’t hear her.
“Who?” Roxie repeated.
“Ruthless Rowe.”
The twin’s eyes flared. “Oh really.”
Her gaze raked over him, from the way he was leaning into her sister to the way his hand still caressed the back of her thigh. “You didn’t mention he was hot.” One brow arched. “Or that you like his tongue down your throat.”
Lexie’s reaction was immediate. She stiffened and pushed at his shoulders. “Get off of me.”
Cam backed away, but he didn’t go far. It took everything inside him to remove his touch from her bare leg, but when he turned, he planted himself between the two women. He looked at the one who’d so rudely interrupted them and went straight into battle mode. “You got her drunk.”
A second eyebrow lifted to match the first. “And you’re using that to your advantage.”
Score tied. One to one.
Roxie waggled her finger at his face. “You’ve got a little lipstick on you, lover boy.”
He wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. He didn’t like this woman. He didn’t like her at all. “Do you have any idea how much trouble that billboard is causing?”
“I have to disagree with you there. It brought my sister to me. I think it’s fabulous.
” Roxie tilted her head, and her right foot rocked back.
She balanced her weight on her heel with her toe pointing into the air.
It was a gesture so tied with Lexie in Cam’s mind, for a moment he was thrown off his game.
“Yeah, well, reunion time is over.” He got over the similarities fast and caught Lexie’s hand. “She’s coming with me.”
“What? No, I’m not.”
“She is not.”
That got a rise out of both of them. They spoke in unison, as if they’d spent their entire lives together rather than a day. Lexie tugged on her hand, and Roxie’s foot slammed down.
“She’s not going anywhere with you.”
A big, scruffy mountain of a man smoothly took his place at the barmaid’s side. “Is there a problem here, Rox?”
Cam judged the bouncer. The guy had a good fifty pounds on him, but all that mass would slow him down.
“No. Skeeter, don’t.” Lexie stepped between the two of them but lifted her hand to her forehead. “Whoa.”
“Are you okay?” Cam asked.
“Lexie?” Roxie said.
Lexie wove on her feet. “I don’t feel so good.”
“She needs fresh air.” Cam threw another glare at the barmaid. Lexie was beginning to feel the effects of all that alcohol, and not the good ones. It was going to be a long night for her. He needed to get her somewhere comfortable and soon. “I’m taking her home.”
He took a step around the huge Skeeter, but Lexie didn’t budge.
“No,” she said, tugging on her hand.
He looked at her face, hoping she wasn’t about to get sick.
She wasn’t. On the contrary, her eyes were suddenly clear. “I don’t want to go back there, Cam.”
He stilled. It wasn’t home she was thinking about, it was the Underhills. “It was a mistake, Lexie. Everybody makes them. They owe you an apology.”
“I don’t want to go back. Not tonight.”
There they were again, those emotions bubbling up and up. Her breaths were shortening and her shoulders were stiffening. He saw the worry in her eyes and immediately changed plans.
“Okay, we won’t.” He wasn’t going to push her on this. “I’ll take you to a hotel.”
“Over my dead body,” Roxie snarled.
“I…I want to stay here,” Lexie said.
“That’s fine with me.” Roxie wrapped her arm around her newfound sister’s shoulders and faced him, her jaw set. “She staying, Hatchet Man. That is what she calls you, isn’t it?”
Cam felt his shoulders tighten. He’d expected a fight when he came in here, but not one like this. “This is not the right place for her,” he said, trying to keep his patience.
“And you’re not the right guy.”
Touché.
He stared Roxie down, a vein in his temple throbbing. He knew her type. Cocky and hotheaded. Bold with no sense of class or respect for authority. She was everything that Lexie wasn’t, and he hated that she wore the same face, inhabited the same body.
He glanced at Lexie, hoping to reason with her, but she was paler than she’d been only a moment before. He needed to get her out of here fast.
“Lexie, you don’t even know this woman. She’s your sister, maybe. You need to get a DNA match to prove it, but right now you know nothing about her other than she looks like you, wears half the clothes and lets anyone driving down the I-67 get a real good look.”
“I don’t wear that many clothes,” Lexie grumbled. She tilted awkwardly towards the jukebox as she reached for it. “Besides, we have a DNA test scheduled first thing tomorrow.”
“Hold on.” Cam wrapped his arm around her, steadying her. Her body was almost too pliant. He looked at Roxie. He didn’t like backing down to her, but he knew how to pick his battles—and he sensed a lot more coming. “Fine. You win. Where should I take her?”
The combat in the other woman’s eyes turned to concern. “My apartment is right upstairs.”
Lexie leaned more heavily against him. “I think I need to sit down.”
“You can lie down, hon. You can have my bed.” Roxie started moving across the floor. She glanced back at Cam as he helped Lexie along. “I promise she’ll be fine.”
“You’re damn right she will be.”
The barmaid blinked in surprise, her long strides slowing. “Is that trust or a threat?”
“Neither. I’m staying too.”
She came to a complete standstill. “You are not staying in my apartment.”
The smile he gave her was hard. She thought she could outmaneuver him? People paid him big bucks to see all the angles, and he’d found the only compromise that would work for him. “She’s with you? I’m with her. Get used to it. You just got yourself two houseguests.”