Chapter 25 #2
By the time we reached The Sage and Thistle, Sienna had warmed up and her fingers were tracing over the skin of my stomach in a way that was doing nothing to help the hard-on I was rocking.
Yet, I missed her touch when she pulled away, eyes slightly wide like she’d forgotten where exactly her hands had been for the car ride.
Haven was already up and out of the truck, flirting with what looked like an entire group of women with a confidence that was enviable.
I’d never had that much trouble hooking up, but Haven put even playboy-August to shame.
Not that it mattered now anyway, there was only one woman here I wanted to go home with tonight — and I’d arrived with her hands already under my clothes.
We waved to Haven as we headed inside and he barely noticed us leave, too enraptured with talking to a guy who’d caught his eye as he leaned against the brickwork and grinned.
The building looked more like a chalet than a local bar, the doors were made of heavy wood and the exposed brick somehow gave it a well-worn cozy feel. Inside was a different story.
Music washed over us as soon as the doors opened, apparently Sage and Thistle had sprung for a live band. A small stage was at the far end of the room and the lead singer threw us a wink as she twanged into the mic.
It was loud, but not overwhelmingly, so when Sienna raised a challenging eyebrow and said, “Buy me a drink?” I could hear her just fine.
“My pleasure.” The sign at the bar said tequila shots were two-for-one, so I grabbed us one each to warm us up and then placed an order for a cocktail for Sienna and a beer for me.
A large space had been cleared, free of the tables that lined the edges of the room where a few early patrons had grabbed seats. Everyone else mingled on the makeshift dance floor and a cheer went up as the band strummed the first few notes of Shania Twain’s Man, I Feel Like A Woman.
“I thought we’d be two-stepping,” I said, snorting as I watched a flock of women pour onto the hardwood floor to dance.
“That comes later,” Sienna reassured me. “But for now, shall we?”
I wasn’t sure anything could have made me turn her down at that moment.
Her hips swayed as she pulled me through the light crowd and then spun to drape one hand around my shoulders, fingers curling into the bottom of my hair and tugging lightly.
Our eyes locked as the drums kicked up, one song melting seamlessly into another as the energy of the room ratcheted.
Sienna laughed as she let me go, her face lighting up as she bounced in time to the music.
I grinned back, loving the ease that she moved with, the relaxation in every line of her body.
The small crowd pressed in, jostling us slightly. Then two large hands slid across the front of her dress as a guy I didn’t recognise attempted to dance with her. Attempted.
Sienna’s gasp was lost in the music, but I didn’t miss the shock, the flash of panic, on her face. I stalked forward, teeth grinding until my jaw creaked.
One second his hands were on her, the next she was tucked against my side as I glowered down at the short and stocky cowboy who thought they could swoop in and take what was mine.
He had to look up to meet my eyes and I smirked, my expression saying what my fists longed to: just fucking try it.
There was a beat of tension before he raised his hands, palms out in supplication, and I turned my back dismissively on him. Sienna was watching me with big eyes, surprise and something else churning in her gaze as I caught her chin in my grip, lifting it slightly as I analyzed her expression.
Desire. That was desire in her eyes, wetting her lips.
So she liked it when I was possessive?
My hand gently closed around her throat, holding her to me as close as possible as awareness crackled over my skin. The music thumped in time with my heart, the drums leading my pulse as Sienna’s fluttered delicately under my thumb.
Her eyes fluttered closed, her breath hitching under my palm as my mouth descended.
We were stood still in the middle of the dance floor, sweat and alcohol rising up in the air all around us, but all I could feel was her soft in my arms, hot under my fingers, arching up for the kiss I’d yet to give her.
An elbow came out of nowhere, jostling us until the moment was lost.
I looked to my right, glaring, and rolled my eyes when I found Haven grinning at us with his eyebrows raised. Bastard.
“Another drink?”
Sienna nodded, taking the hand Haven extended and letting him spin her around while I headed up to the bar, shaking my head.
It wouldn’t have been a bad idea to kiss her on the dance floor, but maybe Haven had done us a favour. Until I talked to Sienna about how I felt, that I didn’t want my time in Lavender Creek, with her, to end any time soon — if ever — it was probably best I kept my lips to myself.
I accepted another shot of tequila from the bartender and drank Sienna’s for good measure before heading back over to the dance floor, and to the woman who held my heart in the palms of her hands.