"Hah, do you usually manhandle women you don't know?" She glared up at me from her perch on my lap. She'd started out holding her body stiff as a board, but in the last few minutes she'd relaxed enough to rest back against my chest. I guess that could have something to do with the way I kept running my finger soothingly up and down her arm, taming her with my touch.
I hadn't even been aware of doing that shit and that was a little unsettling. An hour ago, I would’ve sworn all I wanted from the short beauty with the magnificent ass was a quick hard fuck and a chance to get my hands on that ass. Now I’m not so sure, the game had already been changed way off course from my usual playbook.
Nothing about this was going quite how I imagined. By now I should be in a back room or bathroom stuffing her but good with my cock. But somehow I find myself relaxing and enjoying just having her close. Waiting for whatever sassy remark she’d throw at me next, and breathing in her scent.
Shit, that's not what I was after. That shit smacked of relationship bullshit and she still hadn’t answered me. If I was gonna lose my shit over this girl I should at least know her name.
I squeezed her waist and gave her a look. "Name pretty girl."
She pouted and looked away. "Traci."
She’s fucking adorable and she wasn’t fooling me. She might be a tad bit wary of the situation, but I know when a woman is attracted and this one was. She was just better at hiding it than most.
"I'm Wyatt."
"Yes I heard, you plan on releasing me anytime soon? I think they close this place in a couple hours."
I grinned at her and felt something inside me shift. It had been way too long since I’d had this with a woman, this feeling of lightness and just plain fun. There was no simpering, or coquettish looks. She wasn’t playing games and I was more than a little surprised to realize that neither was I. Oh boy.
"Are you always this mouthy?" She looked up at me and bit into her plump bottom lip. I wasn’t sure about the look that flashed into her eyes just then, but I was sure I didn’t like it. I let it slide for now, sure there will be time enough to get to the bottom of whatever that was later. As someone who’d been raised with love, light and laughter I wasn’t accustomed to seeing fear in a woman’s eyes, but I’m pretty sure that’s what I’d seen there.
"I don't know, I'm not accustomed to strange men plopping me down on their laps in public so it could be a direct result of that." Such an enigma! Even as she gave me tit for tat I could feel the tension in her. “Relax Traci girl you’re safe, promise.” I let my eyes fall to her lips but thought better of it. The little sample I’d had earlier told me I was going back for more but not here, not now. When I taste those babies again we’re gonna be joined in more ways than one, or at the very least I want my hands on that ass for round two.
I couldn’t resist nuzzling her neck though, finding it next to impossible not to be touching her in some way or another. I had a quick flashback to high school. That first blush of love, the heart pounding, pulse racing feeling you get when you know you’re about to see your girl. But high school lust had nothing on this shit. She did one of those toss and tilt things with her hair that sexy women everywhere have been doing for eons, and I felt that shit in my dick.
Damn she's something. Chad had rounded up her girls by now and the boys were dragging tables and chairs over to join with ours. She seemed to relax a little more with them here, which was good, because I didn’t have any plans on letting her up anytime soon. My hand had slipped a little lower on her hip but I still kept it clean even though the roundness of her ass tempted me to cop a feel.
Jace brought over a chair for her. Mr. Fucking Congenial. "Here you go..." The hard glare I gave him had him backtracking fast. I kicked the offending chair back across the room and she glowered at me.
"She stays." I looked into her eyes as I made that announcement.
"What am I a dog? First they're cattle and now I'm a canine? What's with you and animals anyway?” Oh yeah this one is gonna give my cock a workout if she brings even an ounce of that fire to the bedroom, or kitchen counter, or wherever the fuck I happen to take her down first. That was going to be up to her though. If that shade of innocence I saw hiding in her eyes was for real, we’d do the bed first, after that all bets are off.
I lowered my head to whisper in her ear. "I'm trying to be good here, but if you keep that lippy shit up you're gonna get more than you bargained for." I adjusted her body so she could feel my meaning. She didn’t bolt but her body locked and her nostrils flared before she got herself back under control.
When she finally peeped at me through her lashes, her yes widened and she turned beet red. Fuck, she's one of those Marie girls. That's what I call any woman I could take home to ma. There hasn't been one of those since high school. When she lowered her head and plucked at the hem of her dress nervously I all but fucking whined. There was such innocent sweetness in that move, something I hadn’t seen in a female in a long damn time.
Something in my gut loosened and swear to fuck I felt it, that something old timers talk about when telling tall tales about meeting ‘The one’. “Look at me.” I lifted her chin with my fingertip and for the longest time I stared at her and she stared back. I don’t know what the fuck she was thinking but I know what was going through my mind. I need to get the fuck out of here and fast.
I all but growled in frustration at the situation. This is pure bullshit. Sure she had a fine ass and the greatest pair of tits in the known world, and yes I’d love the chance to bury my face in all that hair that smelled like wildflowers in sunshine and reminded me of the best days of my youth, while pile driving my cock into the sweet heat between her thighs. But did a man have to lose his freedom for that shit?
Before I know it she'd have a damn noose around my neck, and life, as I know it, would be at an end. She had that look about her, that look you wanna see across the breakfast table every morning while two or three rugrats with your fucked up hair and her amazing face ran around like heathens. Fuck me.
All I wanted was to stuff something for Thanksgiving, this shit isn't right. I knew I shouldn't have come to this rinky-dink place. I wanted to go to the city, but Chad bitched like a little girl about mom getting after us if we weren't back in time for the holiday.
In the big city, I was sure to meet some fast and friendly type that would let me fuck and walk away, that's my usual fare; but no, he had to drag me off to Salem's newest hotspot. Now I'm fighting off gorillas with bad breath and getting tangled up with this one. I should kick his ass just on principle.
"Why are you glaring at him, isn't he your friend?"
"No that's my brother and I think he might've just cost me a life sentence."
"Who'd you kill?"
"The Champ."
She gave me a look of confusion before reaching for the drink one of her girls had placed in front of her.
I sat there like a stump trying to make sense of what the hell was going on with my life. I watched her for the next ten minutes without saying a word, just listening to the chatter that was going on around me.
I think I was trying to take her all in, trying to figure out why her, what was it about her that had flipped that switch in me, because I’d be fucked if she hadn’t just turned that shit all the way on. I could hardly get my thoughts together past the growing angst in my chest.
Say what you will but at twenty-five, I was nowhere near ready for a ball and chain. I had at least another ten years before I even started down that path, or so I’d always thought. The one time I for sure needed my head on straight, I couldn’t hold shit together for longer than a second. It was worse than facing the reigning champ for the first time before I took him down. Somehow I didn’t think I was gonna win this bout. And yes I was pissed the fuck off.
Cole, one of my oldest and dearest friends seemed to be the only one at the table who caught on to my dilemma. The questioning look and raised brow he gave me told me he could sense my dilemma. I just shook
my head at him, what else could I do? I’m so fucked. And all the while she sat there looking innocent and feeling like forever. The Champ got sucker punched and he didn’t even know the fight was on.
My mind kept going around and round in circles as I tried to make sense of this shit. The only thing I knew for sure was that there was a fuck of a lot more going on here than the one nightstand I was after. So why was I still here, why did I have her all but cornered and marked like I knew she was mine. I’m not into that love at first sight, happily ever after bullshit. It’s just not real; is it?
Yes, I grew up in a happy home with a mom and dad, who were crazy about each other. But I’ve been out there and I knew that that shit’s not the norm. So just what the fuck was she doing to me anyway? How could she tie me up in knots when we hadn’t even fucked yet? Didn’t there have to be more before a man felt like he was sinking fast? One hour, that’s about as long as she had taken to turn my shit upside down.
She fidgeted about and tried to escape my hold a time or two but the third time she did it I wrapped my arm around her middle and bit into her neck. She stopped all movement and sat frozen until I released her flesh, which I did only when I was sure that I had left my mark.
She clapped her hand over the spot and glared over her shoulder at me. “Stay still, you try getting up again I’ll give you more of the same.” She huffed and turned back to the others while I left my arm where it was and nuzzled her. She tensed up until she realized I wasn’t about to maul her again, and then I felt her relax.
Conversation was flowing easily at the table as the new acquaintances got to know each other. I wasn’t interested in that shit anymore than I was interested in the looks being sent my way from the other women in the room, all my focus was on her. My every sense seemed tuned into her and I wondered if she knew, if she was feeling the same high voltage currents running through her that were zapping me.
“So tell me about yourself, you live around here?” I had to shake my leg to get her to answer. “What do you want to know?” She seemed a little more relaxed as she took sips of her fruity drink. I’d all but forgotten my beer. Any woman who can make a man forget why he came to the bar in the first place was one dangerous fuck. “Everything.”
So I sat there like a fucking chump and let her reel me in as she told me about her childhood, growing up in a town a few hundred miles away, before coming here for college. It was then I learned she was only three years younger than I and that she was studying to be a lawyer.
“Any men in your life?” I felt the change in her but held my peace, giving her the opportunity to tell me herself. I wasn’t sure why, but the thought of her being with anyone else made me feel murderous. Chances are at twenty-two she’d already had a relationship or two, and I myself have had my share, but it pained my gut to think that someone else had had her. Had ever tasted those lips or held her naked flesh against theirs.
I had to cut my thoughts off when I found my body tensing for the fight. Just what the fuck? Really? You’re gonna be one of those Wyatt? Fucking caveman? I hate guys like that, always thought they were weak little insecure assholes, especially when I was the guy on the receiving end of their girl’s supposed adoration. Please don’t let this shit be poetic justice I’d lose my fucking mind.
In that split second, I thought of what our lives would be like, me having to go off and leave her while I travelled the world fighting to keep my title. How the fuck was I gonna do that shit if I turned into an asshole? And why the fuck are you thinking about this shit? You just met for fuck sake. Even as I thought it I knew I was just fooling myself. Whatever this was time didn’t seem to matter a damn.
“No.” That’s all she said but it was enough to loosen the knots in my gut and relax the fists I’d formed in readiness. What an ass. We exchanged small getting to know you talk after that and before long she seemed to be getting used to my touch; at least she’d stopped trying to escape me and her body was no longer so stiff. That could be because I never stopped touching her in some way.
If I wasn’t running my hand through her hair it was a finger trailing down her arm or around her ear, and still my other hand stayed close to that ass that had so tempted me from the start. There was laughter and cheap shots flying around the table as my boys and her girls settled down for a nice pre-holiday night out. I wonder if they noticed that neither of us participated? Too caught up in our own little drama.
The gorilla and his friends were long gone but I knew my boys, like me, were still on the alert just in case. Still it had been a while and it didn’t look like they were coming back for more. That’s why I was surprised when this guy came in and just walked right up to us and grabbed her arm. What the fuck?
“Let’s go.” He tried pulling her off my lap but I was holding her around her middle, it was just reflex. She’d told me there was no man in her life, but in that split second I didn’t care, no one else was going to have her, not after I’d seen her, not after she’d made me feel.
Still, I glared at her for deceiving me, why else would this asshole be pulling on her arm like he owned her? For the first time in my life my ethics took a nosedive. I was never one for poaching, never even flirted with another man’s woman, but I knew I wouldn’t let her go.
I was pissed the fuck off though and the terrified look on her face wasn’t helping her case any. “Are you married to this fuck?” What the fuck was she doing sitting here with me if she was already taken? Before she could answer one of her girls did it for her.
“No she’s not, get out of here you piece a shit before I call the cops. She doesn’t want anything to do with you why can’t you get that through your thick skull?” It was only after that outburst that I was able to relax. That’s good, that’s real good, she’s not his, I’m not about to become a home wrecker. I’ll have to think really hard about the fact that I was willing to walk down that road later, but right now there was a more pressing matter at hand.
I kept my eyes on hers and the stark fear I saw there made my gut turn over. There’re only a few reasons for a woman to react that way to a man and I didn’t like any of them. “Give me the condensed version, make it quick.”
“This has nothing to do with you mister.” I ignored his ass until he tried pulling on her again. By now, my boys were on their feet waiting for my next move, before they made theirs. I wasn’t worried about the asshole, only how much damage I was gonna have to do to him according to what she told me in the next five minutes.
“Talk.”
“We went out once a while ago, I didn’t…” I didn’t let her finish she didn’t need to. I just stood up, passed her off to my brother who was closest to me as usual and punched the fuck in the face sending him to the ground. “Get her outta here.” This idiot wasn’t as big as the one I’d just taken down but he had mean written all over him.
“Get up you fuck.” I kept seeing the fear in her eyes, hearing the tremble in her voice as she told me about their one date. I knew this story all too well and could see why the fuck would lose his shit over her. Too bad for him she was off the market.
Like all cowards, when he got to his feet he didn’t come at me. Instead he wiped the blood from his lip, looked around as if searching for her and threw me a withering look before heading for the exit.
Jace had hung back as I knew he would, that was part of the bro creed; we never left anyone alone in a situation like this. “Where is she?” I kept my eyes on asshole number two as he left and all the while my only thought was for her. What the fuck had he done to cause that fear in her and what was it gonna take to erase it?
“Chad and Cole took her to the truck. You cool?”
“Yeah let’s go.” I dropped enough bills on the table to more than cover our drinks and a tip before we left. It wasn’t lost on me that I’d just met this girl and already had to lay two motherfuckers on the ground over her. Not sure if that was a good thing or not, but I knew it was through no fault of hers.
I’m gonn
a have to do some serious thinking before the night was over. Things were moving fast but not in the way I’m accustomed to. I knew five minutes after putting her on my lap that she was going to be more, mean more than anyone ever had before. The longer she sat there the more I knew she was going to be there for a long fucking time. Now it looked like I was going to have to decide real quick how long that was going to be.
I think in my gut I already knew, it was a feeling that couldn’t be put into words, just something I felt down to my soul. But it had come from so far out of left field, blindsided me actually, that it was almost hard to grasp, to accept. Shit like this just didn’t happen in real life, not for me anyway.
How could you not know in some way that you were about to meet your destiny? I had no clue when I got off that plane earlier this evening that at the end of the day I was going to meet the woman who was going to tie me in knots. Even thinking about her makes me feel like I’d won and winning never felt this fucking good. Fuck I am so screwed.
Outside in the parking lot there was no sign of the asshole and my brother and friend had the situation under control. The girls were all piled into the truck with Chad and Cole, with Traci sat in the middle of the guys up front so they could protect mine. Looks like they already knew too.
I opened the door and looked in past Cole. “You okay?” She nodded her head yes but I could see that she was still shaken up. I should’ve kicked his ass. Once I was sure that she was just scared and not hurt I turned my mind to other things.
“How did you ladies get here?” I looked in the back where her girls were huddled.
“We drove, our car’s over there.” Her mouthy friend, Christine I think was her name, pointed out a dark colored SUV across the lot. “Come on we’ll take you home. Cole you drive them, where we headed ladies?”
The Champ: Bad Boys Book 5 (The Bad Boys) Page 3