Repeat Offender

by Vale, Lani Lynn

  People always wanted to know about my nature documentaries, and I’d get to play them up and gather support for them. Which in turn got me money.

  “Give me back my pen,” I ordered. “Or I’ll bend over this table and get it myself. Possibly, it could cause a nip slip.”

  My father’s eyes narrowed on me, flicking down to the dress that was barely covering my boobs.

  Then he leaned forward, grabbed the pen that was closer to Lynn than him, and slapped it down on the table in front of me.

  I picked it up and went back to my puzzle, finishing out the row before I replaced it into my purse with careful movements.

  When I glanced back up, it was to find Lynn’s eyes, hot and angry, on me.

  I looked away, unable to keep my gaze on his.

  I was losing patience fast and seeing the curiosity and anger on his face only made me angrier at my father.

  I didn’t know what the hell his problem was.

  He was being quite obsessive today.

  Normally he didn’t give a flying fuck about what I did or didn’t do, but something was different.

  Something was making my usual ‘I don’t care as long as you’re here’ father impatient and short with me.

  Usually, he didn’t confront me in public. He usually saved it for later to do in front of his staff or close friends, and really make the barbs hurt.

  Today wasn’t one of those days, and I was guessing it was due to who was around him.

  Lynn and Natalia.

  Though, Natalia had steadily been typing away on her phone, so I doubted she’d even caught any of what had just transpired right in front of her.

  William had heard, though, based on the grin on his face.

  I ignored him and crossed my arms over my chest, which in turn caused my breasts to press up and inward, creating a crease that somewhat fascinated me because I didn’t normally have that big of boobs. They were more than a handful, but I didn’t ordinarily have cleavage.

  When I finally drew my attention away from my breasts, it was to find Lynn studying me hard.

  The anger was gone off his face, and in its place was… something. Something that I couldn’t quite decipher.

  I watched him for a few seconds before the next course was brought out.

  This time a salad.

  “No thanks.” I looked at the wedge salad with the blue cheese that I hated and no dressing. “You can keep it. Bring me extra dessert.”

  The waiter’s eyes twinkled as he held my plate instead of giving it to me.

  My father made a grumbling sound from beside me, and the woman next to Lynn once again laughed.

  That laugh turned to a smirk when her phone pinged.

  She pulled it out of her purse—the lucky bitch—and showed it to Lynn.

  Lynn nodded and jerked his chin toward what I suspected was the front exit.

  I wasn’t sure, but that was the only thing that was behind me.

  When she got up and left, I was surprised to find Lynn’s eyes return to me instead of following his date out the door.

  I looked down at the empty spot in front of me while I listened to those around me eat their salads.

  I picked at the linen tablecloth, wondering if my father would notice if I went to the bathroom and didn’t come back.

  I mean, I was here, wasn’t I?

  Deciding that I’d give it a try, and beg for forgiveness later, I stood up and turned my back on the table.

  “Where are you going?” my father hissed.

  “Bathroom,” I answered. “Doody calls.”

  Someone—I refused to think it was Lynn—choked on the other side of the table on what they were drinking, making my heart soar.

  My father grumbled something under his breath, causing me to smile really fucking wide.

  “May I accompany you?” Dick asked.

  I rolled my eyes. “And have you ‘accidentally’ spill something else down my back? I think not, Mr. Minute Man.”

  “I do not prematurely ejaculate,” he hissed, leaning forward. “I have staying…”

  I walked away on his words. Likely causing him to get even more pissed.

  But whatever.

  I really wanted to leave.

  This party was horrible, and I still had to drive two hours home.

  Which sucked even more because I didn’t feel like driving.

  I felt like taking a nap.

  Maybe I’d just pull over at a roadside rest stop and take a small nap there before driving home. That, and change out of this dress, because honest to God, it was really comfortable, but I felt like I was falling out all over the place.

  My boobs especially.

  I headed toward the dark corridor where the bathrooms were located.

  Sadly, my day didn’t get any better as ol’ Dick followed me.

  After doing my business, washing my hands, and contemplating making a run for it and coming to the conclusion that I might get away with it, I walked out of the bathroom.

  Right into Dick.

  “Oh, where ya going so fast?” Dick—had I mentioned how much I liked the nickname Lynn had given him?—asked, running his hands down my shoulders to the bend in my elbow.

  I stepped back as far as I could, my back hitting the bathroom door.

  “Don’t touch me,” I ordered.

  “You would have fallen,” he soothed.

  I was already rolling my eyes, having expected that comment.

  “Actually, I wouldn’t have done anything had you not been crowding the doorway as I left,” I snapped. “Now kindly move.”

  “I’ll move when I’m damn good and ready.” Dick’s entire demeanor changed. “What did you think you were accomplishing, embarrassing me like that out there?”

  I had no idea what he was talking about.

  “Dick…” I started, but he moved so suddenly that I was pushed back into the door behind me. It slid open, and I was literally on the way to falling straight on my ass when Dick was roughly pushed out of the way. Seconds later, I found myself in Lynn’s arms.

  Holy shit, where had he come from?

  “I think it’s time for you to go back to the table to your mother, since you’re acting like a child right now,” Lynn ordered quietly.

  My heart was beating so hard that there was no way in hell that Lynn didn’t feel it against his skin.

  But the surprising thing was, I could feel his beating just as hard.

  “Lynn,” I breathed.

  He squeezed me tight, and that was when I felt his hand on the bare skin of my back.

  I shivered, causing his hand to move slightly to the left, underneath the fabric that covered my lower side, and squeezed me to him even tighter.

  He was likely thinking I was scared because of Dick.

  I wasn’t.

  I was completely and utterly affected by the man at my side.

  Which fuckin’ sucked because he had a date likely waiting for him at the table.

  “I will not go back to the table until she apologizes.” Dick enunciated each word. Clipped, precise.

  “She’s not apologizing to you, child,” Lynn said. “It was a joke. Learn to take it.”

  “Kind of like when you spilled your drink down my back.” I glared at Dick. “It was a joke, right?”

  Dick narrowed his eyes, his jaw clenched, and then he whirled around and left without another word.

  I rolled my eyes and waited until he was completely out of the corridor before looking up. And up. And up.

  With my head practically tilted all the way back on my neck, I glared at the man who had his arms around me.

  I hadn’t been this close to his mouth before and certainly hadn’t had myself planted in his arms like I currently found myself. Which disconcerted me because I liked how it felt. A lot.

  “I can take care of myself,” I told him, squirming now to get away.

  He had a girlfriend. He had a date. No, no, no. I was not that person.

  “Lo
oks like you were doing really well at that,” he teased.

  I stiffened in his arms, and I didn’t miss how good his hand felt on my lower body, nor how he hadn’t let me go or moved his hands to more appropriate places.

  “Listen, Woody,” I said, trying to piss him off. “I don’t need, nor do I want, your help. I’ve been playing this game for a very long time, and you can’t come in here and push your nose into my business.”

  His eyes went hot. “Don’t call me that.”

  “Wood?” I whispered.

  He tilted his head sideways slightly before saying, “I guess as long as when you say it I’m inside of you.”

  I blinked at his words.

  Inside of me?

  What?

  “What?” I breathed.

  “Your bad fucking attitude, paired with your penchant for not giving a fuck, really fuckin’ works for me.” He growled as he pressed closer. “Why are you here?”

  I gritted my teeth as I was reminded about the woman that he’d come with.

  The woman on his arm that wasn’t me.

  The woman that was devastatingly beautiful.

  “I’m here because I was forced to be,” I grumbled, this time succeeding in pulling away. But I didn’t delude myself into thinking that I got away on my own. He’d allowed me to go. “Why are you? And don’t you have a date to get back to?”

  He pressed forward the scant few inches that separated us, and I gasped.

  He was so hot. And muscular.

  And hard.

  His shoulders were broad, his waist was tapered down to trim hips, and his hips led to a piece of his anatomy that I couldn’t miss.

  “All right, ladies and gentlemen!” I heard from the announcer right before I heard a softly called, “Lynn?”

  Lynn reluctantly pulled himself away, his eyes hot and possessive.

  “Wait for me,” Lynn ordered, eyes hot. Then, turning, he addressed his date. “Mina.”

  I pushed back even farther until I was once again in the bathroom with the door closing.

  When it closed, I pressed my ear to the door, wondering if I could hear what was being said. But the announcer for the night was way too loud, and there was no way that was happening.

  So I waited. And I waited. And I waited.

  While I waited, I finished off my brownie, my flask of Kool-Aid, and then waited some more.

  Finally, I worked up the courage to look outside, and I was more than relieved that Lynn wasn’t anywhere in sight.

  I was even more relieved to find that there was an exit at the end of the hallway that I was in, meaning that I didn’t have to go all the way across the entire banquet to get to the front door.

  When I pushed out into the dark night, it was to find myself in a completely different parking lot than the one that I’d parked in.

  I looked down at my shoes and grimaced. “Let’s do this, feet.”

  CHAPTER 12

  Be Happy. (Bitches hate that.)

  -Coffee Cup

  SIX

  I’d made it to Terrell before I decided that I couldn’t make it any farther.

  Even luckier, there was a Buc-ees, meaning that when I was done with my little nap, I could grab a bite to eat and get back on the road.

  Stupidly, before I fell asleep, I got out of my Range Rover and walked to the back where I kept my spare clothes. Only, the only spare clothes that I had in the back since I hadn’t replenished them from the last time was a pair of short shorts that had this little string at the sides of the thighs that also turned them into bathing suit bottoms and a tight black tank.

  Thinking that was better than wrinkling the dress any more than I already had, I slipped the shorts on under my dress, turned my back on the parking lot, and shucked my shirt.

  Luckily, this late at night, there weren’t many people.

  Even more lucky, I managed to get my tank top on fast, meaning the only person that really got an eyeful of anything was the woman walking her dog behind me. And all she saw was my naked back.

  Once fully clothed, I hung the dress up in the back and slammed the hatch closed.

  I ignored her and the sound of disgust and walked to my back passenger seat.

  There, I grabbed a pillow I always kept back there for emergencies like these, my blanket that I was fairly sure had mud on it from the last time I’d used it for this purpose and went to sleep.

  My mistake was not locking my cruiser after I was back in it. Because if I had, I wouldn’t have been so rudely awoken however long later.

  The moment my head hit the pillow, I was out.

  I slept deep, too.

  I was one of those sleepers that did not wake up pretty. Nor did I understand all that much when I did wake up. It took me a solid minute and a half to realize that I wasn’t laying down anymore.

  I’d sit up on the side of the bed and try to get my mind to focus before I could do much of anything.

  And being rudely awakened? That was even worse.

  Which was why, when this happened to me an undetermined amount of time later, I was confused.

  The door to the Rover was yanked open and my legs fell out.

  I gasped, jackknifed up, and whirled around only to be yanked out of the vehicle.

  My head was spinning, and my heart was pounding double-time.

  I gasped and whirled, trying to find purchase on where I was, but strong arms enclosed around me and a very pissed off person whispered in my ear.

  “Don’t fuckin’ move,” Lynn hissed in my ear.

  I immediately slumped forward, so relieved to hear his voice that my knees went weak.

  “Wood,” I breathed.

  I didn’t know why I called him that.

  Maybe it was because of the pleasure I’d seen in his eyes when I’d called him that earlier. Maybe it was because I liked that no one else had ever called him that before.

  I didn’t know.

  What I did know was that my body was all of a sudden hot, and Lynn being pressed against me was making me even hotter.

  “I told you to wait,” he growled against the back of my neck.

  The sheer relief I felt at knowing it was him was debilitating.

  I swallowed. “I didn’t want to wait.”

  “My date is my nephew’s wife.” He bit the lobe of my ear, causing my entire body to jolt.

  “Fuck.” I gasped, unable to say anything else.

  “If you’d have waited like I’d asked you, I would’ve explained that,” he continued.

  I snorted. “And you would’ve waited while I wrapped myself around another man?”

  He stiffened.

  “I didn’t think so,” I growled, trying to pull away. “Let me go.”

  He tightened his arms further.

  “No,” he disagreed. “I’ve been searching for you for half the night.”

  I frowned as I looked at him over my shoulder. “What? Why? Why didn’t you just call me?”

  I mean, I wouldn’t have answered, but he would’ve known I was okay since I would’ve sent it to voicemail.

  “I did,” he said. “And it rang, and rang, and rang.”

  “Oh,” I paused. “I had it on silent. For the event, but it was dead anyway.”

  “The event that you left,” he growled.

  I squirmed in his arms, and he moved his arms so that one was around my chest, right under my breasts, and the other was around my hips.

  My feet were now dangling off the ground.

  He stiffened at my back. “What the fuck are you wearing?”

  I licked my lips. “Shorts and a tank.”

  “These aren’t shorts,” he said, running his fingers along the hem of one leg. “These are indecent.” I would’ve laughed had he not continued to follow the hem of my shorts until it curved to the inside of my thigh. “If they were shorts, I wouldn’t be so close to your pussy right now.”

  I shivered at his words.

  “You should probably let me go,” I told him. �
��We’re in the middle of a parking lot that gets a lot of traffic.”

  I looked over my shoulder at him, and that was when I spotted an SUV, blocking me on one side with my SUV blocking us on the other.

  The only people that could see me would be the ones that were driving past on the interstate at a high rate of speed.

  “Not letting you go,” he said before he turned and opened the back door of his SUV.

  I blinked when I found myself deposited into it.

  But before I could say a word, he followed me inside.

  I went to move over, but he caught my leg and yanked me, causing me to fall.

  That leg was then pressed upwards and out before his entire body followed me down onto the seat that I now found myself lying back on.

  “Looked for you for two hours and couldn’t find you. Didn’t think you could get as far as you did. Your last known signal pinged you in Terrell. Didn’t see you on your back seat. You blended in with the blanket. So I went searching inside for you. Around the property. Went over to the IHOP. Didn’t see you anywhere. Came back here, and then realized you’d been sleeping, with the door unlocked, the entire time.” He growled against my lips. “Opened the door and just stared at you for the longest fucking time. You didn’t even have a clue.”

  And he got pissed.

  That was more than evident by the way he was punishing me with his kisses.

  “What are you doing?” I gasped in between kisses. “We’re in a parking lot.”

  Why did I ask that?

  Because he was slowly pushing my shorts down my hips. So slowly that I hadn’t even realized he was doing it until now, when they were halfway down my backside.

  The only thing keeping them in place were my legs being spread.

  “What do you think I’m doing?” he growled.

  “I think that maybe you should stop,” I whispered, my head overwhelmed with everything that I was feeling.

  I didn’t want him to stop.

  But I was supposed to sound responsible, wasn’t I?

  I wasn’t supposed to want to do this in the middle of the brightest parking lot with half a dozen strangers around pumping their gas… right?

  I mean, I really should be asking him to take his hands off of me.

  But I couldn’t.

  I didn’t want to.

  I wanted this more than I wanted to eat cookies at midnight.