Justin shot him a dark stare, then turned his attention back to Chloe as she lowered herself to a chair across from another fucking clean-cut Ken doll wearing a button-down shirt and tie.
“Looks like a date to me,” Blaine said, handing Justin a beer.
Justin took a swig, his eyes trained on Chloe.
As though she could feel him watching her, she looked over. Their eyes collided with the scorching flames of a blowtorch. Her lips tipped up at the edges, and Justin felt a tug deep in his chest. There it was, the moment that burned past the heat to the something more he couldn’t name but knew existed.
In pure Chloe fashion, she narrowed her eyes and shifted in her chair, crossing her long legs. He fucking loved her legs and she knew it. She lifted her chin in that defiant way she’d been taunting him with since the day they’d met and turned her beautiful eyes on the geek sitting across from her.
Justin ground out a curse. He tried to focus on the shit his brothers and cousin were saying, but like metal to magnet, his attention was drawn back to Chloe. She looked bored, and her eyes skirted back to him. That’s it, baby, you know you want me.
Her date pulled out his phone and pressed it to his ear as he stood up. He held up one finger to Chloe and walked away from the table. Fucking idiot. Justin took advantage of the opening and headed over to her. She watched him approach. Her poorly stifled smile didn’t hide a damn thing.
“Hey, blondie,” Justin said as he took the seat across from her. “What kind of douchebag leaves a gorgeous woman alone?”
“The most boring kind on earth,” Chloe said, stealing a glance in the direction the guy had gone. She leaned across the table, eyes dancing with mischief, and said, “Any chance you want to pretend to be my jealous ex-boyfriend?”
Justin scoffed. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Is he being disrespectful? Because if he is—”
“No. He’s just a total dud, and I don’t want to sit here anymore.” She sighed and said, “I’ve ended so many dates before dinner, I’m starting to feel like a bitch.”
“Maybe it’s time you stop making those dates in the first place.”
“I’m not so sure you’re wrong about that.” She cocked a brow and said, “I’ll owe you big-time if you save me the notch in my bitch belt and be that jealous ex-boyfriend.”
“I’m not into debts. And trust me, babe. I will never be your ex-boyfriend. But I will be your last, because once you realize you’re meant to be with me, no other man will ever be enough.”
She rolled her eyes. “Never mind. I’ve got this.” She sat up straighter, readying for battle, and looked directly at the soon-to-be-ditched guy, who was now heading back to the table.
Justin knew damn well she could handle herself, but he’d take great pleasure getting rid of that asshole. “What’s the dude’s name?”
“Jeffrey.”
“Figures.” He pushed to his feet and strode over to the loser, planting himself between the guy and Chloe. “You Jeffrey?”
“Yes. And you are?” He tried to peer around Justin.
Justin moved with him, blocking his view. “I’m Chloe’s friend. She’s done with this date. It’s time for you to leave.”
Confusion riddled his brow. “What…?”
“Sorry, man, but she’s not into you. Now turn around and walk out of the bar.” Justin had at least twenty pounds of muscle on the guy. But it wouldn’t matter if Jeffrey was as big as a house. Justin was fearless, and he backed down for no one.
“But—”
Justin stepped closer.
Jeffrey uttered “bitch” and turned to leave. Justin grabbed his arm and spun him around, getting right in his face, fuming through clenched teeth, “Say one more word about the woman that you never should have been allowed near, and it will be your last.”
A bead of sweat appeared on Jeffrey’s forehead.
“Now get out of here.” Justin waited until the guy was out the door before returning to Chloe, who was shielding her face in embarrassment. “Come on, dollface. I’ll give you a ride home.”
“I told you I could handle it. You didn’t have to go all caveman on him.” She reached for her purse and said, “I have my car. I met him here.”
“Then I’ll walk you to your car.”
“I appreciate the offer, but you don’t need to.”
“No shit. But I’m not the kind of guy who lets a lady leave alone, so let’s go, sweet thing. Smile and head for the door.”
“You’re so pushy,” she said as they cut through the crowd.
She’d said it teasingly, but he knew little Miss Independent better than that. She was proud of being self-reliant. What he didn’t know was why she was dead set against letting anyone else take care of her.
“What did you say to him?” she asked.
“I told him the date was over.” He held the door open, scanning the lot as he followed her into the warm night. “Do you see his car?”
“No. He was parked over there.” She pointed to the far end of the lot. “He’s gone,” she said.
Justin put his arm protectively around her. As they walked to her car, he slid his hand to her waist and pulled her closer. She lifted her eyes to his and the temperature spiked. Her cheeks flushed, and he knew she felt the same soul-searing impact he did.
She jammed her hand into her purse, moving out of his grasp as she withdrew her keys. “I owe you one,” she said a little breathlessly.
“You’ll never owe me anything, baby. Why do you waste your time with losers like that?”
She shrugged one shoulder. “On nights like this, I have no idea.”
“A woman like you shouldn’t be screwing around with dating apps and Ken dolls when you’ve got a real man standing right in front of you.”
“Justin,” she said apologetically. “You know I swore off dating bad boys a long time ago.”
“That’s what you keep saying, but you have no idea how good bad can be.” He stepped closer, trailing his fingers along her arm, loving the hitch in her breath. “When you realize the error of your ways, you know where to find me.” He kissed her cheek and said, “’Night, hot lips. Be safe.”
Chapter Two
TUESDAY AFTERNOON, CHLOE was in her office gathering supplies for an orientation meeting while she spoke to her younger sister, Serena, via her Bluetooth earbuds. “What about the grass skirt and coconut top you wore to that Halloween party a few years ago? Do you think you can find it for me?”
“Sure, but let me just remind you how much you teased me for wearing it. I believe you said I shouldn’t strut my tatas for every Tom, Dick, and Harry.”
“Yeah, well, this is a book club meeting with the girls. I think I’m safe.” Chloe ran an online erotic romance book club with her friend Daphne. They were reading a romance novel set in Hawaii, and Chloe had spent weeks planning an island-themed night for their next meeting, which was taking place on Cahoon Hollow Beach a week from Friday.
“What about leis and that kind of thing?” Serena asked. “Do you need any of that stuff? I’m not sure I kept any, but I can look.”
“I already bought them and everything else. I even found an awesome drink hut with a grass roof that I can set up over my card table. It came with a grass-skirted tablecloth. I’m going to play tropical music, serve fruity drinks in coconut cups, and grill kebobs over the bonfire. I’m ridiculously excited. I mean, it’s a book club meeting, not a banquet.”
“It’s too bad Harper and Tegan are going to miss it.” Harper and Tegan were two of their friends. Tegan owned an amphitheater and she and Harper had recently started their own production company. They were too busy preparing for the opening to join them for the meeting.
“I’ll take lots of pictures. They’ll feel like they were there.”
“Maybe one day I’ll become a reader and join your club.” Serena sounded serious, but she’d never been one to sit still, and now that she was married to their childhood friend Drake Savage, her downtime was spoken for
.
“I won’t hold my breath,” Chloe said as she opened her file cabinet drawer and fished out the files she needed. “You and Drake could probably write the erotic scenes.”
“We could write them better.” Serena laughed. “Hey, Mom called me this morning. Did she call you about going to her house Sunday morning to meet another new boyfriend? What is this, like number two thousand?”
Their mother introduced them to her new boyfriends several times a year, always with excited whispers about him being the one. When Chloe and Serena were growing up, their mother had spent more time hunting for a man to pay her bills than parenting. Sometimes Chloe tried to convince herself that she and Serena were lucky. At least their mother wasn’t an alcoholic or a drug abuser. She simply wasn’t a very good mother. Or a good girlfriend, apparently, since she’d been serially dating ever since Chloe was eight years old, when her mother had deemed Chloe old enough to babysit Serena.
“Probably two thousand and five. Are you going?” Chloe asked as she entered the conference room. She set the orientation packets for the new program she’d created on the table. It had taken her months to develop the Junior/Senior Program, which would allow high school students to earn community service hours toward graduation by spending time each week with senior citizens at LOCAL. Chloe had worked with high schools in the area and had selected several students to take part in a six-week trial program over the summer. If the trial was beneficial, she would gain the stamp of approval she needed for future funding.
“Yes, I’m going,” Serena said with great disdain. “Drake is coming with me, and if things get too weird, we’re going to say he has a meeting at the music store and leave.”
Drake owned a chain of music stores, and he was co-owner of the Bayside Resort in Wellfleet with his brother, Rick, and another childhood friend, Dean Masters. Rick and Dean were married to two of Chloe and Serena’s closest friends, Desiree and Emery.
“Your husband is the best.”
“I know,” Serena said happily.
“You guys are so good together, you give me hope that I’ll eventually meet the right guy.”
“Speaking of the right guy, I heard Justin got rid of a date for you last night.”
Justin’s piercing blue eyes and ruggedly handsome face flashed in Chloe’s mind. She closed the conference room door and said, “How did you hear that?”
“You always forget that Gavin is Justin’s best friend.” Gavin Wheeler was Serena’s business partner at Mallery and Wheeler Interior Designs. Last month he’d married their friend Harper.
Chloe rolled her eyes. “Right. Sorry. My mind has been on overload lately. I could have gotten rid of the guy myself, but Justin did me a big favor. I’m kind of sick of making up excuses, but the guy was another dolt. I’m beginning to think it’s me. Maybe I just attract boring guys.”
“Um, hello? Justin Wicked is anything but boring. I wish you’d give him a chance. Not all bikers are like the guys Mom goes out with. Look at Gavin. He has a motorcycle.”
She glanced at the clock, noting that she still had twenty minutes before her meeting, and said, “Gavin isn’t a leather-wearing, tattoo-sporting, badass biker and motorcycle club member. He only rides because Justin got him into it.”
Serena didn’t know about the times their mother’s boyfriends had made moves on Chloe or that Chloe had sat guard in her sister’s bedroom many nights, watching over her. Even all those years ago, Chloe had been thankful it was her those men had gone after and not Serena. She had always been Serena’s protector, emotionally and physically, and that hadn’t changed as they’d gotten older. That was why she also hadn’t told her sister about the guy she had dated in college who had gotten so physical with her after an evening at the Salty Hog, she’d had to use practically an entire tube of makeup to cover up the bruises. From that moment on, she had sworn off tough guys, or anyone even remotely close, and she’d never returned to the Salty Hog.
Once again Chloe tried to downplay what had gone on without minimizing the realities. She paced and said, “You probably don’t remember how many of Mom’s boyfriends came over after we were in bed. They’d come around for a few nights, disappear into her bedroom, and then leave her brokenhearted.”
“Mom’s heart was never broken for long,” Serena said casually. “She was always back on the prowl days later.”
“I know, but the guys she dated never stuck, you know? I’ve seen enough motorcycle taillights to last me a lifetime. I know Justin is a great guy, and he’s an amazing friend, but we don’t know everything about him. I mean, we’ve met his brothers and cousins, but we don’t know his parents or what his family is really like. And yes, the Dark Knights do wonderful things for the community, but there’s a lot we don’t know about that biker world. From what I’ve seen with Mom’s boyfriends, we’re not missing much. There are too many unknowns that leave room for trouble where Justin is concerned. And don’t forget, he slept with Violet when she first moved back to the Cape, to help her try to fuck Andre out of her system.”
Their friend Violet was now engaged to Andre. They traveled several months out of the year, setting up medical clinics in newly developed nations, and they were currently in Honduras. When Violet had slept with Justin, she and Andre had been broken up and he’d been overseas. Chloe and their friends had been having breakfast at Summer House Inn when they’d overheard Violet and Andre arguing about her tryst with Justin. She didn’t know why it bothered her so much that they’d hooked up with the sole purpose of fucking Andre out of her system, but it did.
“Don’t you think that’s a little questionable?” Chloe asked. “It’s not something I would ever do. It’s not like they were even dating.”
“I think Long Dong Naked Man is a really good friend.”
Chloe felt her cheeks burn over the nickname their friend Emery had given him the summer after Justin and Violet’s not-so-secret sex romp, when Emery had been staying with Violet and she’d seen Justin walk out of Violet’s bedroom naked. Rumors spread as quickly as weeds around Bayside, and they’d learned that Justin had been posing for a sculpture Violet was making, and he’d stayed over. Violet and Justin had wanted to squash any untrue rumors, and they’d insisted they hadn’t had sex since Violet had first come back to the Cape right after she’d broken up with Andre. Justin had simply slept naked, which was another thing Chloe would never do with a man who was just a friend.
“You’d probably feel different if Drake had done that with one of your friends,” Chloe insisted. “But he’s loved you since you were kids. Don’t you see, Serena? You’re lucky. You’re with a great, stable guy who has nothing questionable in his background or in his life. I want to be lucky, too. Is that so bad? I’m sure there has to be one conservative guy out there who isn’t an automaton. Look at Tegan—she’d only just moved to town when she met Jett Masters, and he’s the love of her life.”
“They’re so good together. But you know how I feel about your dating decisions. I vote that you stop going after boring, vanilla doughnuts that can only leave you wanting something bigger and better and lose yourself in a thick, creamy éclair, with choco—”
“Stop! You’re going to make me gag. Why do you always connect doughnuts to sex?”
“Maybe because my man is as delicious as a cream-filled doughnut. Seriously, though. I bet Justin lives up to his Wicked name.”
“I’m sure he does, but I want more than hot sex, Serena. Sex is great while it lasts, but if there’s nothing more, then I’m left feeling even lonelier than ever. Can we please not talk about this anymore? My Junior/Senior Program starts next week, and I’m holding orientation this afternoon. I have to get ready.”
“You must be excited.”
“I am. I can’t believe it’s finally happening. Teenage exuberance is contagious, and these new friendships should go a long way to alleviate loneliness for the residents here. Something as simple as being read to, playing a game, or even taking a walk could brighten their
spirits and give them something to look forward to each week.”
“You know, those people who live there are lucky to have you. You’re always trying to make their lives better.”
“Thank you. You should see the collage I made for Louis Flessinger’s ninety-second birthday last week. I had taken pictures of him with other residents, his grandchildren, and his daughter and put them on a large board that I decorated with fabric and cute embellishments. He cried when I gave it to him.” She loved making keepsakes like picture boards, albums, and cards for her friends, the residents at LOCAL, and for herself and Serena.
“You’ve always known that the small things make the biggest differences,” Serena said.
“Well, I hope this program makes a difference because I’ve been researching another program I’d like to mention in my meeting with the board next week, just to feel them out. If this one does well and the board doesn’t shut down my next idea, I’m going to put together a formal proposal and pitch it to Alan. It can’t hurt to strike while the iron’s hot.”
“You’d know best,” Serena said. “What’s the other program?”
“Do you remember that puppeteering article I told you about a few weeks ago? The one about the benefits of using puppetry as a form of therapy for dementia patients?”
“Yeah, that sounded really cool. You should talk to Justin’s sister, Mads. She’s a puppeteer. Remember, we met her at his gallery opening last summer? I really liked her. She’s so sweet, it’s hard to believe she’s got all those tough brothers.”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking.” Although now she was also thinking of one particularly tough and brawny brother of Madigan’s. Trickles of heat moved through her. Why did the thought of him have that effect on her? She tried to push those thoughts away, but they lingered like the apple in the Garden of Eden. “Mads travels all the time, but I heard she was back in town and looking for work. I thought I’d pick her brain and possibly pitch a test puppetry program. But the Junior/Senior Program really needs to go smoothly if I have any hope of getting another program funded.”
A Little Bit Wicked (The Wickeds Page 2