“Good idea,’’ someone says. Everything is fuzzy and disoriented.
“Where are your keys?” I finally turn to see what looks to be Holly with a sly smile on her face, holding her hands out. I just hand her my purse. What was that look about?
“Oh, wait. I need that back. I haven’t paid for my drinks.” I reach out for Holly, to grab for my purse, but Slade pushes my hand back down.
“I’ll get them.”
I look up at him. “I don’t need you to buy my drinks.”
“I’ll get them,” he snaps as his baby blue eyes land on me.
My heart rate picks up and I take a deep breath. I scowl at him, looking to Holly. I watch Holly give me a knowing smile while Slade pays for the drinks. I narrow my eyes at her. She loves that I am drunk right now, and I’m mad at myself for letting Slade affect me to the point that I consumed so much alcohol.
“Come on, Angel.”
I start laughing again.
“Bring her car around back. I don’t want everyone to see her stumbling out the front entrance.”
I hope that’s not Slade saying that.
“I’m going to help get you through the back exit, where your car is going to be waiting for us. Then I’m driving you home.”
He said it close enough to my ear that he gave me goose bumps. I couldn’t hold back that shiver that ran through my body. “What were you thinking drinking that much?” He starts helping me walk to the back entrance.
“You.” His sexy body, deep voice and cocky attitude were getting me too hot.
“Me? What about me?” He sounds amused as he wraps an arm around me. I can’t help but lean into him.
“You pissed me off, so I started drinking to get happy.”
Did I just say that? I need to quit talking before I call him sex on a stick and try to kiss him. I laugh.
“Well I guess it worked because you’re laughing.” He gives a little chuckle.
Smart ass.
We become silent as we walk through the back door, and the night air feels so good on my skin that I sigh.
“What? Are you okay? Are you going to get sick?’’ He panics as he holds me a bit tighter.
“No, I’m just enjoying the fresh air on my skin. It feels so good.”
He doesn’t say anything else; he just holds me up. I feel my muscles getting heavier. I feel so good up against his body. I wrap my arms around his waist and snuggle into the side of him, and he hisses in a breath. I lift my head up to look at him. His blue eyes are looking down at me, and he lifts his hand that’s not holding on to me, up to my face. He runs the back of his knuckles softly over my cheek. The feel of his fingers on my face makes me weak in the knees. Thank God I’m already hanging on to him for dear life.
“You are so beautiful. You know that?” His baby blue eyes search my face.
I just continue to look at him because I don’t know what to say. He thinks I’m beautiful? How could he think I’m beautiful? There’s nothing beautiful about me.
I want to ask him to stay the night with me and do what he was thinking about earlier. I wonder what he is thinking about right now. Because all I can think is how I want to feel those hands all over my body. I want him to show me how beautiful he thinks I am. Jax never made me feel beautiful. Pretty? Sure. Beautiful? No. Slade’s words alone make me feel more than Jax ever had.
I shake my head to clear it, but he must think I’m shaking it in response to his question. He cups the bottom of my chin in his hand while he runs his thumb over my bottom lip. My body is tingling, and I have to tighten up my thighs. The way he touches me is light as a feather, and my body hums with the softness. It’s as if he can control my entire body with just a touch.
“You’re right. You’re not just beautiful. You are gorgeous, the most gorgeous woman I have ever seen.”
He leans his head down, and I think he is about to kiss me. I look into those blue eyes and long dark eye lashes. If I could move my arms, I would tangle my hands in his hair, but they are too heavy. I open my mouth, letting him know I want him to kiss me. He snaps his head back when headlights shine in our faces.
I let out a long breath, and unwrap my arms from around him. What the hell was that? Did that just happen, or was it my drunkenness? All of a sudden my legs give out, and I can longer keep my eyes open.
I feel Slade’s hands slide behind my knees as he picks me up in his strong arms, holding me tightly against his muscular body. I use what strength I have left to wrap my arms around him as I put my face in the crook of his neck. He smells of man and a hint of spicy cologne. Makes me want to moan.
“Slade,” I whisper next to his ear.
I can feel the shiver that runs through him. “It’s okay, Angel. I’ll get you home safely,” he promises.
“Is she going to be okay?” someone asks.
Slade clears his throat. “Yeah. Let’s get her home.” His chest vibrates as he answers.
I take in one last deep breath, letting his smell fill my nose as everything around me goes silent.
*****
I wake up as the sunlight comes through my bedroom window, and groan. I feel like a train ran over me. I look down at myself and notice I’m in my bed, dressed in a pair of black sweat pants and a white t-shirt. I never wear anything to bed, I prefer to sleep naked. This has Holly written all over it. Did she bring me home?
One by one the events from last night flood my mind.
What the hell happened? I think back to standing out back of Larry’s with Slade and decide that was just a dream. There is no way I let all of that happen.
I need to get up so I can shower. I stand up, and the room sways. Wow. Guess I’m still a tad drunk. I will have to take a bath. I don’t want to fall down in the shower.
As the steaming hot water fills my big Jacuzzi bathtub, my thoughts wonder back to Slade. I don’t know why I can’t get him out of my mind. I guess it could be because I’ve heard so many sex stories from women he has slept with; how he’s always up for trying something new, no matter what it involves. Jax was never that way. He had only dated one girl before me, and I guess she was too much of a freak for him in the bedroom. It turned him off to anything that wasn’t vanilla. I’ve read my fair share of kinky sex, but I know life doesn’t mimic books, so I’m pretty sure most couples don’t do half the stuff I’ve come across.
My thoughts are interrupted by my cell phone playing Taylor Swift, I Knew You Were Trouble. I pick it up and look at the screen.
SLADE.
I start to laugh, thinking how my ring tone fits him. I had saved his number after the night I called him looking for Jax, but now I wish I wouldn’t have saved it. I don’t think I could hit ignore, even if I wanted to.
It’s like my body already craves him, and I have a feeling that is not a good thing. I pick up my phone, hoping that he doesn’t say I called him sex on a stick last night.
CHAPTER SIX
SLADE
“Hello?” she answers sleepily.
As soon as I dropped her off last night, I couldn’t think of anything else but her. I drove her home in her car, and I looked over at her sleeping face every chance I got.
I had carried her and placed her in bed. Holly said she was going to stay, wake her up, and get her changed. I hated to leave her. I wanted to crawl in bed, and pull her close to me. I just couldn’t get enough of her. Her soft skin touching mine, that sweet voice, her wonderful smell...it just felt right, me holding her body so close to mine. I knew I was going to have to see her again. I just hope she feels the same way. I almost kissed her last night, and I know she would have kissed me back, but I can’t be sure if that was the alcohol acting.
I’ve never held back what I wanted to do when it comes to a woman. She has made me think twice about what I wanted to do with her, or any woman for that matter.
After I dropped her off, Micah took me back to the bar. I tried to have another drink and hang with my buddies, but it was pointless. My thoughts were consumed by
Angel, so I decided to go home and drink alone. I was thanking my lucky stars that I had saved her number to my contacts when she called looking for Jax. I just knew I would need to hear her voice again. When I woke up this morning, I decided there was no better time like the present.
“Hello? What do you want, Slade?”
“I just wanted to tell you I’m sorry about Jax and…”
She doesn’t let me finish my apology.
“I don’t want an apology from you. I’m tired of hearing ‘I’m sorry’ from people. What I want is for you to drop it, and never bring him up again.” She says in a rather light tone. “Slade,” she sighs.
There she goes again. Saying my name like her life depends on it.
I stand in my bedroom and look over at my bed.
I can picture her laying there, watching her as my name flows off her lips. I lay over her, kissing those plump lips, touching her soft skin, fucking her as she calls out my name...
It’s not all physical with her, though. Yes, she is fucking gorgeous, and I want to fuck her in every way possible, but something about me wants more from her. A part of me wants to claim her in a way she has never known.
I wonder what I’ll have to do for her to open up to me. I want her to allow me to open up to her. I want to explain to her why I couldn’t tell her about Jax the moment I saw them in bed together. I want to tell her that I’ve wanted her in a way I’ve never wanted anyone ever since the first time I heard her voice. She’s obviously still very hurt over what Jax did, and I can tell that a little bit of her wants to blame me. I should have told her that Jax was here and that he was with Bridgette. I shouldn’t have been a prick, but it’s too late to think that now.
I want to ask her to give me a chance to make her forget about Jax. And I know just the place I could do that; in my bedroom. I would take my time with her body, cherish her, not treat her like shit the way Jax did. I want to run my hands through her soft hair, push her up against a wall and ravish her. She’s so feisty which totally turns me on. I can’t help but wonder if she’s that way in the sac.
“Slade! If that’s the only reason you called, I’ll be getting off here.”
I take in a deep breath. “Yes,” I say as I give my head a little shake.
I have to quit thinking about fucking her. It’s causing me to get off topic, and has made me hard in the process.
“Look, it’s early. I feel like shit and I have to work today. I’m trying to take a bath right now…”
She stops speaking.
I don’t think she meant to mention that to me. Thoughts fill my head of her wet and naked, her hands running up and down her body as she soaps up. I can picture her head thrown back as she runs her hands over her breasts, and her lips parting while she takes in a breath of pleasure.
I frown as she interrupts my thoughts, again. “Let’s push all the past to the side and just call it good. Friends?”
Friends? Hell, no!
I need to be more than just her friend. I need to be deep inside of her, fucking her until all of her words are breathless and her body is shaking. But for once, I am willing to work for that, if that’s what it takes to have her.
“Friends. What time do you work today?”
“I have to be there to open at noon.”
“Well, do you mind if I come up there?” Did I just ask her that? And why does it matter? I’ll go, even if she tells me no.
She is silent for a few seconds. “It’s a bar, Slade. Anyone can come in.” She sounds annoyed.
“Okay. Well, maybe my friend and I will come up there.” Josh is always up to hit the bar.
“You’re friend Megan?” she asks sarcastically.
Megan? Oh right. The blonde from last night. Is she jealous? I think she’s jealous.
“No, actually. I was going to bring my friend Josh.”
“Oh, okay. I have to get off here and get ready. I’ll see you later.”
She hangs up, but I’m still smiling. I won’t tell her that Megan didn’t come over last night because I couldn’t do it. Angel is the only woman I want, and I am going to have her.
Eventually.
I pick up the phone to call Josh while walking towards my bathroom. I need a very cold shower.
*****
Josh and I pull up to Larry’s around noon. I’m pretty sure Josh is still drunk, so I’m hoping he doesn’t make me look like an ass, but I usually do that well enough on my own.
“Dude, why are we here at the bar? I feel like we just left,” Josh says as he gets out of my car.
I shrug my shoulders because I really don’t have an answer. I know Angel would have kissed me last night, but I don’t know if she will now that she is sober. I guess this is a trial session.
“Just going to have a few beers,” I answer, opening the front door.
“I think I should drink water.” He looks rough. His eyes puffy from lack of sleep, and he’s still in the same clothes from last night. His fiancé dumped him about six months ago, and he is still trying to drink her memory away.
“Hey guys,” Holly greets us as we each sit on a bar stool up at the bar. “What are you up to today?”
“Nothing,” Josh answers as he puts his head down on the bar.
I laugh. “Josh, why did you come if you’re still drunk? You could have stayed home and slept all day.”
He lifts his head and leans over to whisper so that Holly can’t hear his response. “Because you’re going to need all the help you can get with Sam.” I stop laughing and raise my eyebrows. I wasn’t expecting that. “She’s not the usual type you fuck around with, Slade.” He lays his head back down.
What does that mean?
Is it that obvious that I want Angel? I’ve never been one to be secretive when I want a woman, but there’s just something different about Angel. It’s like I want her in a different way. I just don’t know what way that is yet. When I’m not with her, all I can do is picture her naked as I’m having my way with her. Though, when I was around her last night, all I thought about was holding and touching her, but not sexually.
I just want to show her that she can trust me; that I can take care of her, protect her. I know she doesn’t trust me because the first time she needed me, I had lied to her. I want her to understand that I’m sorry for that.
“I’d like a Bud Light, please.” I think Josh fell asleep. “And he’ll have water.”
Holly laughs. “Okay.”
She turns around to get our drinks, and I take the opportunity to look around the bar for Angel. Where is she? Did she end up calling in sick? She sounded a bit hung over but okay. There were only three other guys in the bar, sitting on the far side by the pool tables, each drinking from a pitcher.
“She’s in the back.”
I swing my head around to look at Holly.
“We just had a shipment come in. She should be back out in a few minutes.” She slides my beer over to me.
I just nod. What else am I supposed to do? It’s not like I can deny why I’m here. I’ve never came in here during the day, or without Micah for that matter.
“You like her.”
I look up to her smiling face. My brows draw together, and I start to shake my head but I stop. Do I like her? I mean, actually like her? I don’t like women. I fuck women. There’s a difference. They get on my nerves. I can’t stand to hear them whine about how all I want them for is sex, but yet they always show up at my door, ready and willing. Is she different? Hell, even my passed out best friend knows she’s different.
“Just be careful.” Holly gets my attention, leaning on the bar in front of me.
“What do you mean?” I place my elbows up on the bar as well, tilting my head to one side.
She gives me a sly smile, shrugging both shoulders before she turns around. I don’t know what that was about, or why she’s being so cryptic, but I know Holly. She can’t keep secrets. So if she has one, it will come out sooner or later.
I take a swig of my be
er, as I watch Angel walk out from the back room. She looks just as beautiful as she did last night, wearing a pair of skin tight blue jeans that sit low on her hips. She has a black spaghetti strap tank top that reads Larry’s across her full chest, her long dark hair up in a messy ponytail. My dick instantly gets hard.
“Hey, Sam.”
I look over to see Josh wide awake, smiling and sitting up. He looks like he never had a drink last night. What’s up with that?
“Hey, Josh.” She gives him a soft smile. “How are you guys feeling today?” She looks over at me for the first time, and her green eyes stare straight into mine. I smile as the feeling of warmth runs through me.
“Great,” Josh smiles.
Bullshit. Something very fishy is going on here.
“Hey, I think we should get a group together and go out on Friday to celebrate Slade winning his case in San Francisco,” Josh says, looking to everyone. “Are you girls off Friday?”
“Yep,” Holly answers. The scowl on Angel’s face says she wants to pick up an extra shift this week now, preferably Friday! She turns around, turns on the water in the sink and starts to wash her hands.
“I think that’s a fantastic idea.” I smile. Whatever her problem really is, we need to get it out in the open, and I know just the way to get her talking. Alcohol!
A phone starts to ring, and Angel turns around to look at Holly. “Will you answer that? My hands are wet.” She pushes her hip out for Holly to grab her phone out of her back pocket.
Holly pulls the phone out of the pocket and puts it on speakerphone as she holds it up for Angel.
“Hello?” Angel answers.
“Hi. Is this Samantha Hall?”
“Yes.”
“Hello, Miss Hall. This is Roger with the Edward Jones Dome. I was able to locate the seats you requested,” he says happily.
“That’s great.” She turns off the water and grabs a towel to dry her hands. “How many were you able to get?’’ She reaches out and takes the phone from Holly’s hand.
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