"It's sex." I glanced back toward her. "It's not worth that."
"It might be." She stood up and straightened her skirt. "I'm going to walk by. Tell me if he looks my way?"
"No way. Stay here." I reached out to grab her, but she'd already taken off in Erik's general direction. I stood as she moved down the aisles toward him.
Sure enough, he glanced up and his eyes followed her as she moved toward the heart of the library. The smile on my face fell quickly as he turned and his sapphire eyes locked dead onto me.
Fuck. Did he know we were talking about him? Not possible. But he knew who I was... there was no way he wouldn't.
I hadn't been at the coffee shop for twenty minutes when Thomas, Grace's older brother, walked in. The smile on his freckled face was contagious. He was cute but far too much of a jock for my liking. Preppy was his middle name back in high school, and from the look of things, that hadn't changed much.
"Jenna Webb. My favorite barista." He smiled and stopped in front of the counter. "Don't you look beautiful today?"
"Just today?" I scrunched my eyebrows and gave him a pouty look. I shouldn't have egged him on. It was evil, but fun.
"Every day." He pressed his hands to the counter and leaned in a little. "Did Grace tell you that some of us are getting together this weekend at Kadia? Just an old reunion of sorts. Some of the guys are coming into town for a football game."
"She did." I wiped my hands on my apron and glanced over to see Nathaniel walk in the door. His leather jacket and black jeans made him look as dark and sexy as I had no doubt he was.
"So... that mean you're coming with us?"
"I'm not sure." I turned my attention back to Thomas, not wanting to be rude nor draw attention to my latest obsession.
Latest? It'd been a year. Something had to give soon.
"Well, it wouldn't be the same without you."
I smirked. "That so? When is the last time you and I hung out?"
"I honestly can't remember."
"It was spring break, my senior year."
"Four years ago? Shit. Time flies, right?"
"It sure does. I'll think about this weekend. You want a cup of coffee or did you just come by to bother me?" I smiled and Nate stepped up beside Thomas, his expression grim.
"Is he bothering you?" Nate's voice was ominous, the tone of it low and unbelievably sexy.
"What? No. Not at all." I tried to backtrack as Thomas turned to face the much bigger guy.
"And who the fuck are you if I was bothering her?" Thomas’ shoulders stiffened and he puffed out his chest.
"I'm the guy that would stop you dead in your tracks, mother fucker." Nate seemed quite comfortable in the middle of the confrontation.
I jogged around the corner and squeezed in between them, putting my back to Nate. I didn't know him well enough to know if he would back off thanks to me pleading with him, but I knew Thomas would.
"Hey." I put my hands on Thomas' chest and tapped until he glanced down at me. "Stop, okay? I'll be there this weekend, just get out of here and stop causing shit."
He glanced down at me and back up at Nate, his brown eyes filled with challenge. "Yeah. All right, but tell this asshole to back up. I don't like him on top of you."
"He will. Okay. Thanks for coming by." I slipped my arm into Thomas' and walked him to the door, giving him a quick hug before half-shoving him out. I turned back to Nate and gave him a stern look. "Really? What was that? You don't even know me."
"Do I have to know you to want to protect you?" He slipped his hands into the front of his jeans and gave me a smile that made me want to purr and rub against him.
"No, but jeez." I walked back around the counter and grabbed a cup. "Black coffee? No cream or sugar."
He tilted his head and watched me, not saying a word.
"Who was he?"
"Who? Thomas? He's my best friend's older brother."
"Old boyfriend?" He had no inflection to his voice at all. I couldn't tell if he was pissed or happy as a lark.
"Yes, but it was a long time ago." I crossed my arms over my chest as if to protect myself. What did Nate care who I dated? He was way the fuck out of my league.
"Hey, buddy!" A chunky guy with thick brown hair and a lopsided smile moved up beside Nate and patted him on the back. "You said we were meeting at your place, not the coffee shop."
"Hey, Mikey." Nate glanced down at the smaller man and back up to me. "I don't like it."
"And I'm not sure why you think I would care." I shook the cup back and forth slowly. "Coffee or not?"
"Yes. And whatever he's having." He moved down toward the pickup counter and Mikey moved up.
"I'll have a frozen chocolate coffee thing." His eyes moved from the board above my head down to my face. "I'm Mikey. Nice to meet you."
I extended my hand and shook his. "I'm Jenna."
"I'm aware." He chuckled and glanced down at Nate, who was wrapped up in a conversation with Cynthia. Surprise, surprise. "He needs to just get over himself and ask you out, but I'm not sure he's going to do it. You should do you both a favor and just ask him."
"What?" I snorted and shook my head. "No fucking way. I'm not that kind of girl."
"It's the twenty-first century. You guys would be great together." He glanced down toward Nate and visibly paled. "And that's my cue to shut the fuck up."
I turned my attention toward Nate as his eyes narrowed a little more. God, he was beautiful. Our eyes met, and I held his stare and pursed my lips tightly. I wasn't giving into whatever the fuck he was up to. Bringing in his friend to push me to ask him out?
No fucking way. He might turn me on in ways that would make a whore blush, but he wasn't the right guy for me.
Then who is?
Thomas? No way. Too pretty.
Erik? Hell no. Too damn deadly.
"Don't let him fool you, princess. I'm not the movie and popcorn kinda guy." Nate had moved back in front of me. The scent of his cologne wafted by my nose, driving lust deep inside my stomach. My nipples budded.
"And what kind of guy are you?"
"A dangerous one. Remember that." He turned and walked toward his regular table, sitting down and staring out the window like he always did.
His comment made me wanna whimper and crawl over the counter toward him. What the hell was wrong with me?
Bored. I was bored as fuck. I needed some action in my life before I made a real mistake. Going to Kadia with Thomas and Grace didn't seem like such a bad idea all of a sudden.
At least it was a start.
7
Nate
Fuck.
I dropped down in my chair and glanced out toward the street. The sun sat perfectly in the sky, creating a slight glare on the windowpane, and allowing me to stare at Jenna without her knowing it.
Anger burned through me, which I quickly reassessed as possessiveness. Whoever the preppy cock that had the nerve to get in my damn face was, he'd better keep his pocket-protecting ass away from my woman.
"Hey. What the fuck about meeting me at your place?"
"Hey." I glanced over at Mikey and tried to force myself to chill the fuck out. "Sorry. I thought we said here."
I stole a peek at her and ignored the thick swelling of my dick in my jeans. She could glance my way and I'd be hard as a rock and ready to fuck for hours. Why though? She couldn't be nearly as innocent as I'd made her out to be in my head, and in all honesty, I didn't enjoy innocent. I wanted a woman who knew her way around the bed and was ballsy enough to demand what she needed from me.
Maybe it wasn't innocent or virginal that I wanted. Maybe it was just whole, unbroken, tight, relatively pure. Not half-shattered and loose as a vacuum hose, like Ash had become over the years.
"Earth to Nate." Mikey waved his hand in front of my face.
I reached out and grabbed it tightly. "Stop, dude. I'm in a mood. Seriously."
"No shit. What happened?" He jerked his hand from mine and rubbed it. "Why you gotta be
violent? Damn. I didn't even do anything."
I glanced down at my coffee and forced myself to calm down. Nothing had happened and everyone was fine. Jenna didn't belong to me - yet. "Sorry. Some prick was in here hitting on her when I got here. It just got me riled up and shit."
"It's the stuff with Ash, right? Tell me what the plan is. It'll make you feel better to get it off your chest. You can't carry all this stuff around by yourself, Nate. It's going to eat you alive."
I glanced up into the warm eyes of my best friend. He was likely the only person on the planet who would weep at my funeral. Ashley would have at one time, but me refusing her more than a friendship with a few benefits over the years had closed that door - hopefully. I needed it closed.
"I don't want you getting involved in this shit. It's my darkness to carry around. The less you know, the better." I turned as Jenna walked from around the counter and toward the back of the shop. Their storage closet was down by the bathrooms, and it was small, but it would work.
"I want to know. I'm here for you."
"Stop trying to tell me you're in love with me and just say it already." I winked at him and stood up.
"Where are you going?" He glanced up.
"To make one more mistake in my life." I walked toward the hallway, not sure of what the hell I was going to say to her. I'd just told her that I was dangerous and she needed to back the fuck up. I needed to be tested for a mental illness. I obviously had one.
The door to the storage closet was open, and Jenna was on her toes, reaching for something that she was never going to get.
"Need help?" I walked in as she yelped and spun around.
"From you, Johnny Danger? No. I've got it." She turned and lifted back up.
The thick curve of her ass in her jeans made my heart skip a beat. Wonder if she'd let me press my face against her soft flesh and spend time memorizing her smell.
"It's Nate, but I think you knew that." I moved toward her and pressed myself against her back as I lifted up and grabbed the box of coffee she seemed to be after. The softness of her ass pressed against my cock, and fuck if I didn't wanna thrust forward.
She stiffened and dropped down, only to turn around and give me an accusatory stare. "I could have gotten it."
"Maybe I wanted a reason to touch you."
"You need a reason? Seems odd for a guy who looks like you."
"Mouthy. I like it." I didn't budge, and luckily enough for me, she wasn't getting around me. I filled up the small closet.
"What do you want, Nate?" She put her hand on her hip and tilted her head a little.
I gave myself a few seconds to appreciate her fully. Big tits, long thick brown hair, and a beautiful smile. Thin waist and full hips. So fucking hot.
"You for starters, but I'm thinking it's just a matter of time at this point."
"Me? A year of you coming in here and you've not said a word to me."
"It’s complicated." I reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear. "You smell good. Really good."
She pulled at her t-shirt, pressing the front of it to her nose. "I don't even have perfume on."
I reached out and jerked her around before pressing myself against her back and splaying my fingers out across her tight tummy. I leaned down and pressed my mouth to her ear, breathing in deeply as I did it.
"It's not your perfume I smell, Jenna."
She pressed back against me, rolling her hips just a little. It was enough. "We're going to Kadia on Friday night. Come with me."
"I thought you weren't the kind of girl to ask a man out." I slid my hand down her tummy and stopped at the top of her mound. "And why would an innocent girl like you wanna go to a shithole like Kadia?"
"My friends are going." Her hand slid over mine, her fingers wrapping around mine. "Please don't."
"Don't what?" I closed my eyes and breathed her in deeply again as I wrapped my free arm around her, above her breasts. "Make you wet?"
"I'm already wet. You know that." Her head dropped as if she were ashamed of the fact.
"Good. Then we'll both be in pain for the rest of the afternoon." I ran my nose by her ear. "See you Friday night."
"So you're coming?" She groaned as I let her go and turned to walk out of the closet.
"Not yet, but I will be soon. Mind if I borrow your name while I do it?" I spoke over my shoulder and kept moving.
Mikey looked up from his cup and gave me a quizzical look. "Everything okay?"
"Yep. I just wanted the girl to know that I was interested."
"I was thinking about that."
"Me and Jenna? You filthy pig." I winked at him and downed the rest of my coffee, grimacing as the cold sludge went down my throat. "Ugh. Disgusting."
Mikey waved his hand at me as if to shut me up. "Maybe I shouldn't have said anything to her. You know how Ashley gets about any other women in your life."
"Ashley is my partner in crime. Nothing more." I stood up and adjusted my dick.
Mikey growled and turned his head away. "Come on. Really?"
"Sorry, man. Is what it is."
"Where are you going?"
"I'm headed over to talk with Ash about Friday night."
"What about Friday night?" His eyes widened a little.
"None of your business. See you later." I tossed my cup in the trashcan on my way out and didn't turn back to find Jenna until I was too far to see her anyway. What the fuck was I doing?
I didn't deserve anything in life, especially not a woman like her.
Besides, Mikey was right. Ashley would find out about her and go apeshit and then what? Would I defend the girl who'd stood beside me my whole shitty life, or the one I'd fallen in love with over the last year?
Something told me that Jenna would be getting my vote. Why the thought bothered me so much was a mystery, but it did. Loyalty meant something to me, but for the first time in a long time, love did too.
"You're late." Ashley glanced up from the couch as I walked back into the apartment.
"I didn't realize we had a time set up to meet." I shrugged before pulling off my jacket and hanging it up near the door.
She sauntered up to me and slid her hands up my chest and around my neck. "Where have you been?"
"None of your business." I reached up to pull her arms off of me.
She grumbled and pushed at my back as I walked toward the kitchen. "Don't tell me you're in another mood. That shit is getting old."
"So is you showing up at the apartment that we have as a hideout. This place doesn't exist, remember?" I walked to the kitchen, ignoring her jabs. It was for the better. One of us would end up playing abuser, and I wasn't in the mood.
"You know I can't go anywhere else. Did you want to meet in that fucking preppy-ass coffee shop you sit in day in and day out? Wanna discuss killing my asshole husband while everyone listens in closely? How dumb are you."
I popped the top on my beer and turned to face her before taking a long drink. I let the silence settle between us, wanting her to know above all else that she didn't matter a bit. It was a lie, but it felt good to spew it.
"And how exactly do you know where I go to drink my coffee? You getting a little paranoid?" I chuckled low in my chest as she wrapped her arms around her chest.
"I don't like it, Nate. Something feels off about it."
"What's that? You spying on me, or us killing off your second husband in four years?"
"Both." She leaned against me as I walked over and wrapped my arm around her shoulders, half dragging her to the couch with me.
"Fuck you for watching me." I dropped down on the couch and leaned back.
"You like it." She smiled and tugged her skirt up her thighs before crawling into my lap. "Tell me you got me a few pills from Kadia."
"I did." I reached up and squeezed her tit. "I've had them in the bathroom for a few weeks. You knew that."
"I forgot." She spread her legs wide and rubbed herself against the thick lump in my jeans. Where I didn't love
her, I'd fuck her a few more times before transitioning over to Jenna. The possibility of me having a long-term relationship caused something dead in me to resurrect, but I had to be careful. No one survived too long around me but Mikey and Ashley and that was by design.
"So you're going to come to Kadia on Friday night and bring some of your girls with you. Make sure there are several so you have an alibi."
"Yes." She pressed her hands against my chest and rocked harder, jerking her thin hips back and forth. "Fuck you feel good. Take off your jeans and I'll ride you."
"No, just come and get off. I'm not in the mood." I slid my hand down from her breast to her hip. "And don't get upset. I don't need your shit today."
She closed her eyes and let her head drop back as she continued to work herself against my erection. "I'll have him take one pill while I'm there and another a few hours later."
"It takes three for Zandra to be toxic. Tell him to take two a few hours after you leave." I reached down and slipped my fingers into her panties, diving into the hot wetness of her pussy and bringing her over the edge fast. Her jerking around on my lap left me wanting more than I'd allow myself. Too much sex with her and she'd get the wrong idea. Marriage, kids and white picket fences. Funny how the whores of the world still wanted all those lovely pure things too.
"Fuck," she cried out and bucked against me.
"So hot, Ash. Now, get up and I'll see you Friday night. Play your part right and our bank account will be twice what it is now."
She leaned down and kissed me hard, continuing to fuck my fingers with long, slow thrusts. "I want more."
"Good. I'll give you more this weekend. Get up." I pulled my hand from her body and leaned back. "Now."
8
Jenna
Two Days Later
I'd emptied my closet out by the time Grace showed up at my doorstep. The small apartment I lived in down in the center of the city was one of the many buildings owned by my family. Where they didn't pay for my rent, I wasn't charged a penny for taking up a tiny space on the third floor either. It was a good way to let them feel like they were doing something and yet I didn't have to feel like I was getting a handout.
Captain Hotness: A Single Father Bad Boy Novel Page 63