Thirteen

by Scarlett Finn

  It pissed him off. He wanted to warn all of them to stay away from her. For a brief minute, he considered telling them she was a viper that they’d be smart to avoid. But if he did that, he’d be tagged as an ex and would be precluded from attending future dating events with her, like this one.

  Pure chance was all that made him leave at the back of the pack when it was time for the men to go. One of the employees had recognized him and waited until the end of the night to compliment him on his use of MatchMate services. The conversation was short, but it was enough to hold him back.

  Leaving the bar, he saw the other guys were already in their cars, getting into cabs or walking away down the street. All except one.

  Number six.

  Six was standing in the dark parking lot holding both hands of the woman who stood in front of him. With her head tipped all the way back and her face lit in a smoldering smile, there was no mistaking the woman’s identity.

  That was his woman.

  Oak only watched for five seconds. The couple exchanged a few words and a laugh before Six dropped one of Evie’s hands to begin leading her toward a vehicle at the back of the lot.

  A perverse and silent laugh made Oak shake his head and look at the ground. Yep. This was going to happen.

  Striding in the direction of the couple, Oak saw the lights on a car flash, but he kept on going and only called out when he saw them move down the passenger side of the vehicle.

  “Evie,” Oak shouted.

  She heard but didn’t look at him. “Go home, Oak,” she responded.

  Six was the one to stop and look at the man who was following them, giving him a once over with his gaze when Oak came to a halt between the headlights. “Who the hell are you?”

  Evie moved to press herself against Six. “He’s the MatchMate guy,” she said, in her pouty, innocent voice. “He’s here to get us into trouble for breaking the rules… Do you think I’m worth an official warning in your membership file?”

  Six made the mistake of looking down at her. Once the guy was in the focus of those simpering eyes, he wouldn’t be able to think straight. Oak knew their power; he’d been ensnared by it himself more than once.

  “Oh, yeah, I do.” Hooking an arm around Evie’s neck, Six waved at him. “Sorry, dude, she’s a ten.”

  Six opened the passenger door of the car. Evie peeked over it. “You hear that? I’m a ten.”

  “I didn’t need him to tell me that,” Oak said. “Don’t get in that car, Evie, I’ll slash every tire before I’ll let it leave this parking lot.”

  She shrugged like she couldn’t care less. “So we’ll have our fun right here, who needs to go anywhere? You want to watch through the windows? That has a name doesn’t it…?”

  Tapping her finger on her lip, she seemed to be considering what that name might be.

  Oak wasn’t playing. “This guy doesn’t want me smashing out his windows and scratching his paintwork,” Oak said and was pleased when the guy tensed to turn on him.

  “Hey, you don’t fucking think about touching my baby,” Six said and started toward him.

  This guy might care about his car, but that would be nothing to how Oak felt about Evie. “You don’t touch mine and we won’t have a problem,” Oak said.

  Adrenaline made him stand his ground. He’d take a beating, or he’d beat the crap out of this guy; whichever way it went, he didn’t care. By the time the cops were called, and they were hauled away to the station, Evie would be tucked up inside, probably waiting for Taylor to show up. He’d be a prick. But his woman would be safe and untouched. That was all that mattered to him.

  “That what this is?” Six asked. “You wanted this girl? Well fuck you, she chose me.”

  Oak heard the car door close and hoped to God that Evie was on the outside of it and not the inside. “You don’t have a goddamn clue what you’re doing,” Oak said to the guy, matching his stare as Six came to bump his chest against him.

  It had been years since he’d been in a fist fight, but he was pumped, ready to go, and when Six shoved him, he shoved right back. “No,” Evie called out. The proximity of her voice was enough to throw Oak from his game. Six’s punch blindsided him, but it didn’t knock him off his feet. For a big guy, he had a weak right hook. “Oh my God!”

  Evie’s panic fired Oak’s instincts and he swung back at the guy, getting him across the jaw in the same place he’d been hit.

  “No!” Evie screamed out. “Stop it! Don’t!”

  Her body came between them. Six pulled back his arm for another hit, seemingly oblivious to the woman who’d just got in the way. Throwing both arms around her, Oak took her with him when he twisted away, curling himself over her to protect her body with his own. The maneuver meant he was guaranteed to take another punch from Six, and sure enough it landed between his shoulder blades, but he’d take it over any chance Evie might be hurt.

  Pushing her away, he spun back to face the guy who was coming at him again. “Get out of here, Thirteen!” Oak called, catching the guy as he threw his weight forward.

  “Hey!”

  “Hey!”

  The security guys from the bar were running across the parking lot. Six saw them at the same time Oak did.

  Backing away, Six glared at him and past him, probably at Evie. But he didn’t think for long and was quickly scrambling into his car to speed away, nearly taking the security guards with him as he went.

  Grabbing his jaw, Oak worked it and turned to see if Evie was still there; she was. She was standing about ten feet away from him wearing a blank expression.

  “Hey! Who the hell was that? What the hell’s going on?” Security Guard One asked as he and his buddy approached.

  “Nothing,” Oak said. “Just a misunderstanding, forget it.”

  Security Guard Two went toward Evie, but she took a reflexive step back. Was she afraid? “Are you ok, miss? You were at the event tonight. If you’re a MatchMate member, you’re entitled to report—”

  Sidestepping, she walked away from the security guard without acknowledging that he’d spoken. With her arms folded, she approached Oak. Despite the ache across his shoulders and the throbbing in his jaw, he was most pained by the distance in her eyes when they met his.

  “Oakley?” she asked.

  Didn’t she recognize him or was it an explanation she wanted? “I know you don’t like violence, Sweet. I’m sorry. But I couldn’t…” He tried to touch her arm, but she twisted from his reach. Her brows lowered a fraction. “I’m sorry.”

  “You put yourself between us,” she murmured. “You took that hit… for me.”

  “Yes,” he said.

  What the hell else was he supposed to do? Was she mad? Sad? Disappointed? Shit, this was worse than upsetting Taylor. He’d thought he felt bad earlier in the night, now he thought maybe he should’ve just let Evie have the night she wanted.

  “Oh,” she said on a rush of quiet breath and moved forward to caress his face with both hands. “Oh… My Oakley.”

  Pulling him down, she slanted her mouth and slid her tongue into his. Damn, she tasted good. He’d kissed her yesterday, but he felt like he hadn’t kissed her for months. Hunching probably should’ve hurt his shoulders, and maybe it did, but Oak didn’t feel anything other than the slick heat of his woman’s grateful mouth.

  When she took her lips away, her fingers stayed stretched on his face, and he couldn’t release the tension of his arms that pinned her to him. “Let me give you a ride home?”

  Her nod was dazed. Her attention stayed on his mouth and he didn’t argue when she kissed him again.

  The security guards were gone by the time Oak made himself move her toward his car. With her pulled to his side tight, she probably wasn’t really walking on her own, but he needed to hold her close. Easing her into his car, he didn’t want to let her go, but had no choice once he put her into her seat.

  Running around the hood, he jumped into his own side and put the key in its slot. But before he
could push start, Evie’s hand snaked to his inner thigh and began to rub his dick through his pants. He’d never been great at refusing her physical advances, but tonight he had to.

  Taking her hand away, he laid it on his thigh and rested his other hand on the wheel. “Why?” he asked the badge in the center. “Sweet, I have to know why—”

  “You were supposed to hate me,” she whispered and when he looked at her all he saw was sorrow in her gaze. “You were supposed to walk away hating me.”

  Touching her face, he needed to understand. “But, why?”

  “I thought if I made you mad that you’d hate me, like you did in Washington before I… before I told you about Beth… I wouldn’t have slept with him, didn’t even promise him that I would, all I said was that I wanted a ride home.”

  “You didn’t kiss him?”

  She shook her head. “I did flirt.”

  The corner of his mouth upturned. “You always flirt.” Then he recalled their date. “Your phone? The notes you were keeping were—”

  “I knew you would look at it,” she said and twisted herself to face him. “Oh, I’ve been so selfish and I… I don’t have the emotional maturity to be able to give you what you need. I can’t be in an equal, adult relationship; I’m too caught up in my own crap.”

  Holding her face with both hands, he leaned toward her. “People who don’t have emotional maturity don’t say they don’t have emotional maturity,” he said. “And the last thing you are is selfish. Look at everything you’ve done with Taylor. You’ve looked after her, really got her through this Ethan mess. It played out exactly like you said it would. We had our fight on Wednesday.”

  “I know,” she grumbled. “She told me that night when she came over, she was upset.”

  “And she apologized to me on the Thursday, I apologized too and… we talked, Evie, my sister and I talked… for hours, about stuff we haven’t talked about for a long time. All of that was because of you… Yeah, maybe you and I haven’t covered all my family stuff or my history yet, but there’s no rulebook that says we have to do it all overnight. We’ve been together two weeks… There’s still plenty I don’t know about you, but we’ll get there. We will. Evie? We will get there.” Something like hope joined her sorrow. “But you can’t do this again, understand? I don’t mind the dating thing as long as it’s helping your social therapy. But if you think you can break up with me again and then—”

  “I won’t,” she said. He’d never heard such eager panic in her. Exploring her wide eyes again, he wanted to believe that she meant it. Oak couldn’t claim he hadn’t known what he was getting into. Everyone who knew the truth, including Evie, had told him that she’d do crazy, frustrating things. “You put yourself between me and him.”

  Why was that so incredible to her? Why did just saying the words make her eyes glisten? “I will always put myself between you and danger.”

  “But I was a bitch,” she said. “I was trying to make you hate me. You were supposed to hate me. To walk away and live your life and be happy without me. Why would you take a hit for a woman who was so cruel to you?”

  Was that what was tripping her up? It was sort of funny. “Didn’t you hear what I said to Noel? Nothing can change how much I love you.”

  “Oakley,” she gasped his name and then exhaled. “Push your seat back.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I asked you to.”

  As he did what she said, he watched her lift her hips to wriggle out of her panties. Climbing over the center console, Evie sat on his knees, loosened his pants, and pulled his hips down the seat.

  “We can go back to my place and—”

  “It’s too late. You have to take me home,” she murmured, rising onto her knees and shuffling forward to sink down onto him. Both of them shared a silent inhale as their bodies joined. Everything seemed better when they were connected like this. “Oh… Oh, my Oakley.”

  The gratitude and devotion in her whispered words made his pelvis rise to help her in her effort.

  Holding her hips, he gave her all the support he could as she rode him here in the parking lot. When he kissed her neck, she grabbed his head and pushed it back against the headrest, but she wasn’t preventing contact, she opened her mouth on his and shared her devouring kiss as their pace increased.

  Oak didn’t want to think about how close he’d come to losing her. If he hadn’t come here tonight, or if he hadn’t noticed her with Six in the parking lot, this night might have had a different ending. Even if she had just got a ride home from Six, Evie would’ve made Oak believe the encounter had gotten intimate.

  She’d said that she wouldn’t have slept with Six and Oak believed that, she was incredible at faking her intentions, like how she’d made him believe that she slept around when they met. But that guy had a temper, one that might have put her in a vulnerable position.

  Her panting became high-pitched; he recognized her pending release. He wanted her. Bad. Even when she was here on his cock, he was thinking about her in his bed, how he wanted to spend the night with her pussy wrapped around him.

  Oak would give anything to take her back to his place now, or to be invited back to hers. He wanted to be able to sleep with her in his arms, to wake up and reach for her to sate the need he had for her even when he was dreaming.

  Evie was his again, their separation might have been brief, but it was too long for him, and he’d do anything to make sure it never happened again.

  twenty-two

  It was probably autopilot that made Oak answer his phone the next morning; he couldn’t recall hearing it ring or picking it up. The sound of her voice was the first thing to slip through a crack of his awareness.

  “Oakley,” Evie whispered.

  At first, he thought he imagined her voice. But he got more with it and realized there was a device at his ear. Lifting his head from his pillow, he looked at the screen. Yep, the call was connected to Evie… had she called him, or had he called her in his sleep?

  Dropping her off at her place last night had been difficult. He’d been able to feel her internal conflict, either she didn’t want to get out of his car or some part of her wanted to invite him up to her apartment. Figuring out the best course of action, given her issues, wasn’t easy. But, he’d promised to be patient, so hadn’t pushed for anything more when she kissed him goodnight and slipped out of the vehicle.

  But he’d thought about her all night, dreamt about her. Evie Dewar was never far from his psyche.

  “Yeah, Sweet, what’s up? What time is it?”

  “About five AM.”

  Clearing his throat, he glanced around at his bedroom to see vague light barely breaking around the edge of his curtains. “Are you ok? Is something wrong?” When she didn’t respond, he sat up. Fuck, had something scared her? “Baby, if you need me to come over to—”

  “I’m standing outside your front door.”

  What the hell? He stopped scrubbing his hand through his hair and tried to process that. “What?” he asked, leaping from his bed to rush across the room and out to the living room. “Why are you outside my door? Didn’t you get the keys I couriered to you on Friday night?”

  “I did, but I… I thought if I came in while you were asleep that I might scare you.”

  Scare him or fulfil his fantasy? “You don’t have to call me. You don’t have to knock,” he said, frustrated with the door. He’d never remembered it taking so long to unlock the damn thing. “Shit, hold on.” Pulling back the lock, he opened the door to see her standing there in his dim hallway. “Hi.”

  She hung up her phone and dropped it into her trench coat pocket… that was a trench coat he’d seen before. “You put yourself between us,” she said, and he smiled.

  How many times was she going to say that?

  Taking her hips, he drew her forward and slid his arms around her. His limbs came up against a sports bag that was hanging across her back, but he didn’t let that slow him down, he just squeezed his
arms between her body and the bag and pulled her into the apartment.

  “It wasn’t that big a deal.”

  “It was to me,” she said and unhooked the clip of her sports bag to let it fall onto his floor. “Oakley Orion, you make it so very difficult for me to keep my clothes on…” Untying the belt of her trench coat, she shrugged it from her shoulders and yep, his woman was a walking fantasy. “Are you going to tell me to put my coat back on like last time?”

  Bending to scoop it from the floor, he balled it as tight as he could and lobbed it into the dining room. “What coat?”

  She laughed at his mischief. Scooping an arm around her waist, Oak picked her up and pulled her in for a kiss.

  But as he took a step backwards, she pushed away. “Lock the door,” she said. “Please.”

  He didn’t put her down when he went back to the door and fastened every lock he had. “Done.”

  “Mmm,” she purred at him. Running her hands through his hair, she nuzzled his mouth. “Thank you, baby.”

  Carrying her through to the bedroom, he reassured her some more, wanting her to know he took her misgivings seriously. “All the windows are locked, and there are phones in every room.”

  It wasn’t completely dark out and she’d managed to overcome her fears enough to travel here; Oak had never been so proud and appreciative. She hadn’t asked about the other things, but he guessed she was grateful when she kissed him.

  “Thank you, baby,” she whispered.

  “And if you want to tie me down…”

  Tossing her head back, Evie laughed, relaxing into his bed when he laid her down and moved on top of her. “I might take you up on that,” she said, pushing his underwear from his hips.

  Tasting her neck, he loved the way her body responded to his, rising and angling to better accept him as close as she could. “My woman,” he said, kissing her throat. “My bed… five AM… do you know what really completes this fantasy?”