by Nashoda Rose
I put my hand on his arm, and gave him my most annoyed look: lips pursed, eyes narrowed while giving an exasperated huff. “I love you, but clamp down on the overprotective brother for tonight. We’re celebrating Logan and Emily’s engagement.” I eased up on the annoyed look when I got that he wasn’t buying it. Gah … big brothers were the best and the worst. I softened my tone and gave him a big fake smile. “Talk tomorrow? And I’ll see a nutritionist, okay?” I kissed his cheek and that did it. He relented, although knowing Matt he’d be on the phone tomorrow looking for a nutritionist for me.
I sat in the farthest seat away from Ream, unfortunately it was also opposite him, so I had the pleasure of watching him talk to the brunette. Emily sat on my right and Kite on my left. Molly brought over a round of shots with two bottles of champagne—on the house. She chatted with Ream and I noticed his scowl and pensiveness as if he was trying to figure out something. I did my best to ignore Ream, and for the most part I did, except my body couldn’t ignore him. It knew he was a few feet away and every time I heard his deep voice, goose bumps jazz stepped across my skin.
“Oh my God. Kat. Dance. Come on.” Emily pecked Logan’s cheek and went to get up and fell back down into Logan’s lap. She giggled and he leaned in and whispered something in her ear which had her cheeks turning bright red. She went to stand back up and staggered a couple of steps. “Oops,” she mumbled and the corner of Logan’s mouth curved up as he took in his drunk soon-to-be wife. The way he looked at her it was as if he caressed every part of her with his eyes.
I stood and swayed for a second as the shots and champagne hit me. Having nothing to eat since lunch, everything went straight to my head. I caught Ream’s watchful gaze, and he was scowling with a quiet intensity. It was the same look he gave me when he’d found me trying to fix a fence rail by myself. Protective and consuming. I quickly looked away, grabbed Emily’s hand, and with my hips swaying, we walked to the dance floor.
Emily leaned into me and whispered, “Drunk sex tonight. Well, me drunk, Logan sober. It’s the ultimate ice-cream.” Emily twirled.
I did what I always did and let the music take hold of me and seductively came alive. I tried to take it slow, but the music was fast and soon pins and needles flared in my feet and then worked their way up to my thighs. I had to slow down or I was going to fall down.
“I’m going to go sit—”
“Oh my God, Coldplay,” Emily screamed above the sound of the music and grabbed my hands.
Shit. Okay, I could do one more song. Well, I thought I could do one more song before the tingles became numbness.
I was wrong.
I made it through half the song before I stumbled, losing my balance. Damn it. I went to grab Emily for support but hands seized my hips and pulled me backwards, and I slammed into a solid chest.
“Relax. I got you.” I stiffened when I heard Ream’s low, gravelly voice next to my ear. His arm slid across my abdomen, and he took most of my weight onto him as he kept moving to the music. His rock hard thighs rubbed against mine, and his groin pressed into my ass while he kept me locked up against him. I could feel his heated breath on my neck next to my ear, and it wasn’t only my legs tingling, it was my entire body.
Emily noticed us and smiled with brows raised. Then she trounced off the dance floor, leaving me alone with Ream.
“We should go sit—”
“Shh,” Ream ordered as he kept me glued to him.
“But—”
“Kat.”
“I’m dating—”
“Babe.”
“I don’t want to dance with you.”
“Shut it.”
“I want to sit down.”
“No you don’t.”
“What?” I tried to pull away from his arms, but he was like the locked bar on a roller coaster. “Ream,” I ground out between my teeth.
“You try and walk back to the table yourself, you’re going to fall. Your new boyfriend should be indebted to me for making sure you’re looked after. So relax. We’ll wait until your legs are better.”
Oh God. He knew. He’d been watching and saw me struggling to keep up with Emily. The overwhelming feeling encompassing me was too debilitating to do anything other than lean back into his arms and seek the support he offered.
Ream’s breath hit the spot just below my ear, and the fine hairs on my skin rose. His fingers touched my bare skin as my blouse shifted, and I swiftly inhaled. He hesitated when he heard me, and then his palm splayed flat on my abdomen, sending an animated need to pool between my thighs.
His hand moved upwards, slowly stroking, caressing, touching, until his thumb was just beneath my breast. Every time I exhaled, the tip would graze the underside of my breast and send a burning wave of heat through me.
I closed my eyes.
Then my head fell back onto his shoulder as I shuddered. I couldn’t control it. Ream was in me. No matter how much we fought or hurt one another, it was always the same when we touched. It was a want so powerful that it gripped the edges of my sanity and made me insane with need. Maybe that’s why we had tried to hurt one another? Because we were both fighting so hard to hate when we felt the exact opposite.
But Ream wasn’t fighting it any longer.
I wanted to let him in. God, just to be held in his arms again made me feel warm and safe and yet … it terrified me too. Because Ream could hurt me. He had once before, and I couldn’t afford to waste a single day on a guy that had already proven to me that he would run as soon as things got rough. And things would get rough. I had no misconceptions that I could be in trouble at some point. Did he know that? Had he a clue what being with me would entail?
“Kitkat,” he murmured into my ear then brushed his thumb over my nipple that strained against my lace bra.
Oh God, yes. His cock was hard and pressing into me, and I swallowed the tightness in my throat as I thought of him thrusting it inside me. His muscles contracting, sweat gleaming off his skin, hands locking my wrists as his weight pinned me down.
I was breathing fast, my chest rising and falling, as he continued to sway to the music. I wanted to whirl around in his arms and kiss him then drag him into the back of the bar and rip off his clothes and have him take me hard against the wall.
Ream groaned then nibbled on my neck. Shivers trickled across my skin, and I licked my dry lips. “I’ll be there for you. He doesn’t get you like I do.”
I jerked at his words, stiffening. Lance. Fuck. What was I doing?
The tingling in my legs had faded, and I knew it was safe for me to go back to the table. I tried to yank myself from his arms, but he only tightened his grip. “Let me go.”
“You’re making this messy between us. Call the guy tonight. Tell him you’re with me.”
“What? I can’t do that.” I didn’t do well with any guy telling me how it was going to be.
“Can’t or won’t.”
“Both.”
He spun me around, looped his hand around the back of my neck dragging me back in close, then took my hand and put it between us and pressed it up against his cock.
“You feel that?” He didn’t wait for a reply. “It hasn’t touched another fuckin’ girl since it was deep inside you.” His fingers tightened on my neck. “You know why? Because it wants no one else. I want no one else. We started something and it was good. No, it was fuckin’ great. I’ve never had that, baby. Never thought I could.”
Holy shit. He hadn’t slept with anyone since me? I tried to think of something to say. I was good at hurtful remarks. Shit, I’d called his dick melting ice cream, but he threw me off my game and it took me a minute to pull myself back together and find my voice. “Could’ve fooled me. I seem to recall you saying...” I pushed hard on his cock “...it shrunk every time I was around.”
“You’re feelin’ it right now, beautiful. Tell me if I lied.”
Neither of us moved for several seconds, our eyes locked, my hand on his cock, his hand coiled around my
neck. People around us danced and sang to the new Hedley song while we stood frozen in the middle of the dance floor.
“You getting shot was the second worst day of my life. And I’ve had some seriously fucked-up bad days. I spent eight months wishing I wasn’t on tour so I could be with you. Now, I’m back and the only way I’m running again is toward you.” He lowered his voice, and the gravelly, deep tone drummed into my chest. “Fight me all you want, Kat. I’m going to keep coming.”
I thought of the only thing I could to try and get him to back off. “Shows you don’t give a crap about me. The worst thing for me is to get stressed out and you’re the cause.”
Ream threw his head back and laughed. The reaction to my excuse was one I hadn’t expected and I glared at him. “Oh, baby. That excuse won’t work with me. You see, I know how you quiver beneath my touch. How your breath quickens. I know you’re soaking wet right now. You’re putting the stress on yourself by denying us.”
“I may want to fuck you, but that’s semantics. I have a perfectly good guy I’m dating that will look after my needs.”
Ream’s grin washed away instantly. “You said you haven’t fucked him.”
I didn’t say anything, even though I wanted to lie and say Lance and I had screwed and it was amazing. But I wasn’t stupid. Ream was hanging onto his cool by a thread, and I wasn’t going to be the one to break it.
He suddenly let me go, turned, and headed back to the table without a single backwards glance. And damn it, I was hoping for one.
I was going to have to address the Lance issue. I needed a safe relationship and Lance could be that guy except … I was dating him while wanting someone else. I had to get over Ream and stop this constant need that flowed through every part of me. Was it even possible to stop the feelings?
I went and sat beside Crisis, and he looped his arm on the back of my chair and leaned in. “Brett’s been watching you and Ream. You’re a wanted woman, sweetcakes. I’d kiss you right now, just to make both of them jealous, but I think I’ve surpassed Ream’s limitations.” He nodded to Molly who was serving drinks at a table close by. “She was watching too. Wonder if she’s interested in you or Ream?”
I smacked his shoulder, laughing. Then I sobered. “It was all on purpose, wasn’t it?” From the corner of my eye I saw Ream signing some girl’s stomach with a black marker. It appeared like now that Logan was taken, Ream got all the attention.
“He’s my best friend. Moved in with my family when we were sixteen. Asshole is like a brother to me.” Crisis lowered his voice further. “He was pretty fucked up. And a stubborn goddamn mule. We fought like a couple of testosterone driven mountain lions.”
I hadn’t known Ream moved in with Crisis. But I really didn’t want to talk about Ream anymore tonight. What I wanted was a few more shots to numb out that shit on the dance floor, and Brett was serving. “You getting to the point?”
“Yeah, sugar. I know Ream better than anyone. I saw what he was like after the two of you hooked up. He was so pissed off all the time. He was hurting, Kat. You did something to him. Women are objects to him. He doesn’t care about them, never has. Not one chick lured him into more than a basic sexual encounter, and trust me, they tried. But after you … something changed.” Ream had just said the same exact words to me. “Why do you think I pushed the flirting with you?”
“He nearly kicked your ass for it too. By the pool … he was so furious.” I had pushed Ream in the pool after he’d been arguing with Crisis about me. He’d retaliated by picking me up, throwing me over his shoulder, and jumping back into the pool.
Crisis chuckled. “Yeah. Fuckhead doesn’t like me touching your fine ass, but, sugar, just so you know, I love touching your ass. It fuckin’ rocks. And it sucks I can’t do it anymore.” I smiled. “Don’t know what went down between you two, but I heard the shitty ass crap you’ve said to one another. If he didn’t care about you, he’d have treated you like any other chick.” He nodded to the dance floor. “He was practically fucking you from behind out there.”
“And it was wrong. I’m seeing someone else.”
“Sugar.” Crisis’ boyish smile dropped. “Don’t know the guy, but you need to dump his ass then get some real fucking.” He shrugged when I rolled my eyes. “Just saying.”
“Well, don’t. It doesn’t suit you being a matchmaker.” I pushed back my chair and stood. “I’m getting a drink.” I turned and crashed right into Ream, my palms landing on his chest.
“Let’s go.”
I balked. “What?”
“You heard me. We’re leaving.”
Umm, I was thinking that maybe I missed something because no one else looked like they were leaving. “I’m getting another drink.”
“You’ve had enough.”
“Excuse me? What are you my pimp?” From the corner of my eye, I saw Crisis grinning ear to ear. His chair squeaked as he leaned back, hands behind his head, watching.
Ream’s expression tightened and his eyes narrowed. His voice was strained and controlled as he said, “Say that again and I will throw you over my knee and spank that ass of yours right in front of everyone.”
It was a low move on my part to call him my pimp, but I was tipsy and angry and so friggin’ sexually frustrated.
“Jesus,” Ream swore beneath his breath shaking his head. “Babe, do you really want to start our shit right here?” A young girl, who looked too young to be in the bar, came up beside him and tried to pass him her pen. He shook his head and the devastation on her face nearly had me grabbing the pen from her and shoving it into Ream’s hand, except that there was a trend happening. A number of girls hovered near the table now, and I suddenly got why Ream wanted to leave.
“Then leave. Alone.”
Ream’s fingers caressed down my arm until they settled around my hand. “Kat.”
“Hey, Kat,” Brett shouted. “Molly says this is yours.” I pulled my hand out of his grasp and walked over to the bar. Brett pushed a shot glass of clear liquid toward me. “You and Ream an item now?”
I shook my head. “No. He’s just having issues taking no for an answer.”
Molly came up beside me, plopping her tray on the counter. “Tell your new guy. Maybe he’ll get Ream to leave you alone.”
I raised my shot glass to her in thanks for the drink, and she smiled.
“Another?” Brett asked.
I’d really had enough, and being stupid and drunk with Ream around was just plain … well, stupid. Brett stiffened and I noticed the easy, calm expression he always had about him vanish.
“Guess he might be able to look after the problem right now.”
“Oh, he’s here,” Molly said.
“What do you mean? Who’s here?” I looked in the direction Brett nodded and saw Lance walking toward me.
***
Lance’s long, lean body cut easily through the crowd. It was like everyone knew to get out of his way. It didn’t help that he was the only one wearing a suit. Frig, this was so not going to be good. Ream was talking to Crisis with his back to the bar. Okay, I could diffuse this.
“I’ll see you later, Molly, Brett. Tell Emily I got a ride with Lance.”
“Sure thing,” Brett said.
I met Lance halfway and his arm went around my shoulders and drew me in before he leaned down and kissed me. He tasted like he’d just brushed his teeth as his mouth, gentle and warm, slid over mine.
He was at least six foot two with an olive complexion, and I suspected he was part Asian. Smooth skin and defined, sculpted features with dark penetrating eyes. Definitely, he was in the hot category, and even more so that he was a master in Tae Kwon Do.
His kissed the tip of my nose while keeping his arm around me. “I thought I’d surprise you. I’ve wanted to meet your friends you’ve been talking so much about.”
I couldn’t recall talking about them that much. Actually, I’d probably mentioned Georgie and Emily and the band in general, but never the guys. “I was jus
t heading to the condo.”
“Then we’ll be quick. One drink. Or are you trying to hide me from them?”
“Don’t be silly.” Okay, maybe this was good. Ream would have to get that we were over and I was seeing Lance now. “But you need to get that the band is close. Been friends for a long time. And I used to date … well sorta dated Ream, and he won’t like you so don’t take offense to—”
Lance chuckled. “I can look after myself, love. And I already know what you’re trying to warn me about because I see his eyes on us right now.”
I stiffened then glanced back over my shoulder to our table. Ream was standing beside Kite and Kite’s hand was on his shoulder. It wasn’t a friendly gesture; this was to hold Ream back. The fury in him made my stomach roll, and I didn’t like seeing it. Instead, I had the instinct to soothe it. What was wrong with me? I seriously had issues. I’d always been the strong one, the girl who knew exactly what she wanted and went after it. Now, suddenly, Ream was throwing it all out of balance and I was floundering. I hated floundering.
“We should just go.”
Lance looked down at me, put his finger under my chin, and kissed me again. This time it was hard and possessive as if he was making a point to everyone who was watching us. “You still interested in him, Kat?”
“No. It’s just … complicated.”
He kissed me lightly on the lips. “Kat, I like you. A lot. I want this to work between us, and I think you do too.”
Oh God.
“Kat?”
Shit. I wanted nice, right? I liked Lance. He was a gentleman, and yeah, sure, he didn’t know about the drugs or what came with them, but he was gentle and patient. He loved my art and had no drama in his life. No fans, no arguing, and no having to leave for months at a time. He was stress free and he’d be the guy who didn’t run the second he heard something he didn’t like. I needed that in a relationship. I had to have the rock that would stand by me no matter what.
“Precious. Whatever you need, okay? We’ll keep it slow. Let’s have one drink with your friends so we aren’t rude, and then we’ll go.”