Consolation Prize

by Linda Kage

  I eased back and glanced around, hoping no one had caught me starting to act on the instinctive need to keep him away from Julianna. It was a stupid instinct, and I didn’t like that I’d been following it.

  Rubbing the back of my neck in humiliation, I started to turn away. Except another dude popped forward and caught hold of the tall friend. Seeing Juli’s two friends greet their boyfriends, I paused, curious if Julianna’s significant other was going to appear and surprise her too. But she only smiled tightly at the two couples and took a tiny step away from them. I knew then no one was coming for her. She looked too uncomfortable, too much like the fifth wheel, too much like the very reason why I’d declined to go to supper with Caroline and her family earlier. She didn’t feel as if she fit in.

  Hating that she felt left out, I moved toward her without thinking. She didn’t see me coming; she was too busy watching her friends and their boyfriends talk animatedly amid the four of them.

  So I leaned in and said, “You told me you didn’t dance.”

  She gasped and spun toward me.

  Pressing her hand to her chest, she sucked in more air, her chest heaving with surprise. After taking a moment to collect herself, she shook her head. “I told you I didn’t want to dance that night.”

  “Right.” I nodded. “You just hadn’t wanted to dance with me. I remember now.”

  She scowled. “No. That wasn’t it at all. I was just too uncomfortable to dance at all. It had nothing to do with you.”

  “Sure,” I murmured in a tone that let her know I didn’t believe her.

  With a sniff, she said, “We ended up dancing, didn’t we?”

  “We did,” I allowed. “After I forced you into it.”

  Huffing some more, she set her hands on her hips as if she were about to give me a piece of her mind. I lifted my eyebrows and took a drink, letting her know I was all ears and ready to hear what spiteful words she had to deliver this time.

  But her gaze focused on my cup and she instantly narrowed her eyes. “I thought I told you no more alcohol tonight.”

  When she reached for it, I pulled the drink away. “Relax, there isn’t any this time.”

  After sending me a telling look, she reached for my cup again, less forcefully this time. I let her take it, and instead of dumping it out on the ground, she took a sip. My body tensed as I watched her lick an excess droplet of pop off her top lip. She swallowed some more, and I couldn’t recall if I had ever seen anything look so freaking sexy before.

  Something about watching her drink after me made me want to go into caveman mode, just pick her up, haul her over my shoulder and carry her back to my lair so I could turn into a primal beast that rutted until dawn.

  My stomach clenched as I physically restrained myself from reaching for her. “You know,” I murmured, masking all outward signs of arousal. “If you think going protective big sister on me and keeping me sober is going to win you brownie points with Brandt, I should probably just clue you in now…he doesn’t give a shit if I sneak a drink every now and then.”

  Her mouth opened, but no words came. I could tell I’d caught her off guard, and I wasn’t sure if I felt smug or shitty about that. I probably shouldn’t have even mentioned Brandt, but hell…he was the only thing between us.

  Clearing her throat, she straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin before saying, “I thought you promised to stop all that contention you keep slinging my way.”

  I took my cup out of her hand. “It’s a work in progress.”

  But I didn’t get a chance to take a drink. She once again swiped my cup from my clutches. She didn’t dump any liquid on the ground, though. No, she threw the whole damn thing down, cup and all.

  A split second later, her finger began to wave madly in my face. “Let’s get one thing straight, Little Gamble.”

  “Yes, let’s,” I growled right back, pulling out my own pointer finger and aiming it at her nose so that we could damn near start dueling with them. “Stop calling me Little Gamble. You compare me to him every time you say it, and I don’t like that. I’m not Brandt. I could never be Brandt, even if I tried. So this is who you got, baby doll. Colton David Gamble, and no one else.”

  Again, I managed to stun her speechless. “That’s not what I…I mean, I didn’t intend to—shit!” Her eyes grew big as she caught something behind me when she glanced over my shoulder.

  I started to turn to see what had stolen her attention, but she grasped my arm to keep me facing her. “We should probably talk about this somewhere else. Yeah, let’s talk about this somewhere else.” Then, tightening her grip on me, she yanked me forward, hurrying through the crowd away from whoever she’d spotted.

  I glanced over my shoulder but didn’t see anyone I knew, or anyone chasing after us for that matter.

  “Who the fuck are we running from?”

  “What?” Julianna glanced back at me, her eyes frantic and whole demeanor filled with disorder. Then she shook her head, trying to play it off, but totally failing. “No one.”

  I snorted. “Right. Because I run from no one all the time.”

  “We’re not running.”

  “Uh huh,” I murmured. We were totally running as we wound around a group of loud, drunk guys talking in a cluster so she could use them to provide a shield for us. “And now we’re not hiding, right?”

  With an irritated glance, she waved a hand. “It’s just…some guy.”

  I nodded, suddenly understanding. “Ex idiot who can’t accept no, or straight-up stalker?”

  She sighed. “Ex.”

  “Ah.” I nodded once before frowning and glancing sharply at her. “Wait, how recently of an ex are we talking, here? You weren’t dating him when you and I—”

  “What? No! Good God, no. He and I have been through for way over a year. Almost two years. Before you and I ever met. Before I even met your brother.”

  “Wow.” My eyebrows spiked, impressed. “And he’s still having a hard time getting over you?” She must be pure magic in the sheets. I mean, the sample I’d tasted had been nice, and I’d been messed up since then, craving her, but to pine after her for damn near two years after having her… Maybe it’d been a good thing we’d never gone all the way. I wouldn’t want to miss her that much.

  On the other hand, now I was really curious to know what it was like to get inside her if she left that kind of effect on a guy.

  “I know. Thank you.” She sent me a grateful glance, and it took me a second to realize she was thanking me for being incredulous over her stalker ex’s persistence and not over the fact that I wanted to fuck her really bad. “And we were only married five months too, so why, why, why hasn’t he gotten a clue and moved on yet?”

  “Whoa! Married?” I slowed to a stop, gaping at her. “Did you—hold up a second there. You just said married. You were married? He’s an ex-husband?”

  When she tried to tug me back into gear but met with resistance, she sighed and sent me a harassed scowl. “Unfortunately, yes. I was married when I was twenty. It was a big, stupid mistake, but it happened, and I can’t erase it…as much as I’d like to.”

  “Twenty,” I repeated blankly. Then I shook my head, too discombobulated by this entire information bomb to think straight. “You realize I’m still a year and a half away from twenty, and you’re throwing the number around like it was eons ago. Holy shit, how old are you?”

  She scowled. “Not that it’s any of your business because it’s totally rude to ask a woman her age, but I’m almost twenty-two.”

  I calculated in my head. “So you must’ve started working at Forbidden as soon as you hit twenty-one. Because your one year there is coming up in, what...March?”

  “That’s right.” She blinked at me strangely. “How do you remember that?”

  “Hmm?” I glanced at her before shrugging. “I’m a genius. So why, again, are you having me run away from your ex with you? I seriously doubt he gives a fuck about me.”

  “Oh.” Startle
d by my question, she let go of my arm. “You’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking. You can totally go.”

  “What the fuck ever.” I grabbed her hand. “I’m not abandoning you when you’re acting like this.”

  “Like what?” She paused to scan the crowd. “I’m not acting unusual.” Then she must’ve spotted him, I guess, because her entire body gave a little twitch and her eyes filled with…what was that emotion? Fear? Tightening her fingers around me, she set off again, tugging me along with her.

  “You’re acting completely unusual,” I argued, frowning as I glanced back. When I caught some dude scanning the crowd, I figured that was probably him.

  The ex-husband.

  He started to look our way, so I moved to block her. And he kept scanning his gaze past. Blowing out a relieved breath, I returned my attention to the woman weaving us through people.

  “You’re the Julianna Radcliffe,” I said. “You make grown men cry at your feet when all they want to do is worship your beauty.”

  “I do not!”

  “You totally do. You’re a ball breaker to the extreme. Cool and unaffected by pretty much everything, except really annoying pests like me. But I bring out the scrapper in you and make you want to fight. I do not send you running and hiding, so…what the fuck did this guy do to you? Jesus, baby doll, did he hurt you?”

  We reached the edge of the crowd, so she came to a halt as if afraid to step into the open night air and expose herself.

  Spinning to me, she stared wildly into my eyes and shook her head. “I can’t talk about this here.”

  I nodded and set my hand against the side of her throat, where I could feel her pulse beating violently against my hand. I didn’t like seeing her scared.

  “I’ll get you to your car.”

  She began to nod, only to wince and shake her head, gulping. “No, I didn’t drive. I rode with Tyla and Sasha. Shit, they’re still here somewhere.” She began to look around for them, but I squeezed her fingers, regaining her attention.

  “Let them know you’ve got another ride home. My truck is this way.”

  “Okay. Okay, thank you.” She nodded without a fight, which told me exactly how rattled she was. She’d never not-argued with me. And the fact that she actually accepted a ride from me…yeah, she was wigging out big time.

  As she pulled a cell phone from the pocket of her tight jeans, I slipped off my jacket. “Here, put this on.”

  Julianna glanced up from the screen where she was typing frantically and immediately shook her head. “You’ll get cold.”

  “I still have two layers on.” I tugged up the hem of the hoodie I was wearing, so she could see the T-shirt under it. “I’ll be fine.” When she just stared at me stubbornly, I sighed. “Do you want him to catch sight of you, or not?”

  She put the jacket on.

  After bunching the long sleeves enough to poke her hands through the ends, she flipped the hood up and shifted closer to me, right up against my side, like right against my side. I looped an arm around her shoulders, glanced back for the ex, and when I didn’t spot him, I started us toward my truck.

  We didn’t speak all the way there. For some reason, I knew anything I said would ruin the intimacy of the moment, so I just enjoyed the feel of her heat and soft body plastered against mine. When I pointed out my baby, Julianna slowed to a stop, her eyes widening with horror.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “What?” I asked, confused, glancing down at her.

  She pointed. “I can’t ride in that. That has got to be the whitest, white-boy truck I’ve ever seen!”

  I owned a red, 1980 lifted Chevy 4x4 Silverado short bed with a roll bar and flood lights. Shrugging, I silently admitted, okay, it looked like something the ultimate redneck might drive. I didn’t care; I still liked it.

  “Trust me, if you were fully prepared to ride me, I think you can ride in my truck just fine.”

  She sent me a scowl. “Don’t be crude.”

  “Don’t knock my baby,” I flipped back. Opening the passenger’s side door, I motioned her forward. “Do you want in, or not?”

  Heaving out a huge sigh, she stepped forward, muttering, “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” only to pause when she saw how high up she had to climb to get inside. “Running boards would be nice here.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “But it looks cooler without them.”

  “Cool or not, I don’t know how the hell you expect me to get up there.” She grabbed the door frame and lifted one foot into the cab.

  “Why, with a little help from your friendly chauffeur, of course.” Before she realized what I had planned, I set my hands on her ass and heaved her up.

  She screeched out her surprise and went stumbling forward, tumbling into the floorboard of the truck. Once she was inside and whirled around, settling into the seat, she glared outside at me, where I was grinning back.

  “Was that absolutely necessary?”

  “Oh, yeah,” I answered. “Think of it as my consolation prize for rescuing you from your ex and driving you home without getting any action from it.”

  She huffed out her aggravation, but then I swore I saw a smile of amusement seep through. “Well, I guess it was better than you trying to cop a feel of my breasts,” she finally allowed.

  “Don’t worry, I felt those too, when you put on my jacket and snuggled up against my side.”

  When her mouth fell open, I chuckled and shut the door. Then I hurried around to the driver’s side, only to pause with my fingers wrapped around the door handle.

  I was pretty sure spending more time with her would only lead to more heartache. But honestly, nothing was going to keep me away right now, especially when she was scared.

  Heaving out a bolstering breath, I opened the door and climbed in. The interior held a bench seat, so she could’ve slid all the way over to sit right next to me if she felt so inclined.

  She did not.

  She hugged the passenger side door and clutched my jacket to her as she gazed out the side window.

  I watched her huddle into my coat a moment, wondering if it’d smell like her when I got it back. Then I shook my head and started the engine.

  “So this guy’s pretty bad news, huh?” I asked as I set my hand on the gear shift and pressed the clutch before turning the ignition. “I mean, I didn’t think anyone gave you the creeps as much as I did, but if you turned to me for help, he must be pretty damn creepy.”

  She turned from the window to face me, blinking as if confused. “You don’t give me the creeps.”

  “Right,” I said slowly. “So, how many times did he hit you?”

  “You don’t creep me out,” she argued a little more forcefully. “You… You just…”

  When words failed her, I waved a hand before pulling out of my parking spot. “Don’t worry, you don’t have to explain it. I already got you all figured, baby doll.”

  Her eyebrows lifted. “Oh, do you?”

  “I do.”

  She let out an incredulous laugh. “Then please…tell me everything about me. I’m dying to know.”

  I shrugged. “Okay. Since you asked for it. You’re a fighter. You fight the things you like but don’t think you should like. You have some preconceived notion set up in that brain of yours, telling you what you think is good for you and what you want, but when something comes along that doesn’t fit into those boxes, you try to reject it. You do it every time you look at me, even though I know you like what you see, and you did it when I made you come. You fought it the entire way through.”

  I could feel her tense up from all the way across the cab of the truck. “I did not,” she muttered, clearly unwilling to accept such a thing. But then, who would like hearing that, I guess.

  “You did,” I murmured gently, “which you shouldn’t do, you know. Orgasms are meant to be accepted openly and appreciated through the full extent of the ride. Resisting them only hurts yourself.”

  “Well, I am s
o sorry I didn’t even come right for you.”

  “Don’t be.” I shrugged. “I liked the challenge it posed. It made me want to be the one who finally set you free, who made you come so hard there was no way to resist it, so you had to experience all of it to its complete capacity.”

  Hell, I’d wanted to break through her barriers so she would accept me to my complete capacity.

  “But…” I shrugged regretfully. “I guess we’ll never know what I could’ve accomplished, will we? Since I’m never going to fuck you.”

  JULIANNA’S CHAPTER | 12

  My insides shuddered madly when Colton glanced across the interior of his truck at me. Verbally, he’d just told me he would never have sex with me, but the look he blasted my way murmured, unless you want me to.

  I was tempted. Oh my God, was I tempted. But Colton really did have me figured out, the cocky jerk bastard.

  If I didn’t think something should fit into my life, I did try to resist it, no matter how much I liked it or not. Liking Brandt had fit. It’d made sense, so I’d been determined to make it happen. But then Colton had come along, and he’d been wrong…all wrong except for the little fact that he’d ignited things inside me his brother hadn’t even been able to touch.

  The more I fought my feelings for him and tried to convince myself he wasn’t the one I wanted, the more bottled up and miserable I felt. This wasn’t working. I wanted so badly to blurt out that I did want him, I wanted him so much it ached. But yeah, that rev limiter inside me kept me quiet.

  When I saw the intersection we were approaching, I said, “Turn left here,” instead of demanding he pull over so we could get it on right inside the cab of his pickup.