Heart of a Bad Boy (Bad Boys of Destiny #3)

by Sugar Jamison

  “I never agreed to any of that. Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

  “Why haven’t you agreed to it? This sounds like a no-brainer to me. You’ve got everything to gain and nothing to lose.”

  He wanted to have his own thing, to get out from under his brothers’ large shadows. This opportunity seemed too good and too big to pass up. But then he heard a door open and he looked to see Shelly walking down the driveway toward him.

  He did have something to lose. In the height of his racing days his entire life had been focused on getting faster, winning that next race. He had always been seeking something more and always failing to find it. He never saw his brothers or friends, and he never saw Shelly. He just carried around her letters, sneaking in phone calls here and there.

  And then he crashed and almost died. And when he was in that hospital he wondered if any of it was worth it. It took him a long time—all the way until this summer—to realize it hadn’t been.

  “Levi?” Fitz said as Shelly opened the door.

  “We’ll talk about this when I get back.” He disconnected.

  Shelly gave him a curious look but didn’t ask him anything.

  “It was a business call. My manager.”

  She nodded. “He wants you back?”

  “Yeah, but he can wait. We have more important things to do.”

  Chapter 14

  Shells,

  I’m sorry about your day. Don’t ever thank me for being your friend. If you weren’t there for me when Duke went away, I would have done something stupid.

  I miss you, too, Shells. I miss you a lot.

  “This is going to be fun,” Judy said to Shelly as she surveyed the bar full of people.

  “I hope so. I’ve never been dancing before.” She had asked Judy to come out dancing with them. She thought Judy would be fun, distracting even to Levi. She couldn’t say she didn’t know what was wrong with him. His old life in Vegas was calling. He had a new nephew. He wasn’t on the same page as his brothers and it had left him in a quiet, funky mood.

  He hid it well from everyone else. He had joked with Lolly at the hospital, told his nephew stories about his racing past. To anyone else he seemed like a happy-go-lucky guy, but Shelly felt his uneasiness. She hoped tonight that he could have a good time and relax.

  But she knew that even if he did have a good time, he wouldn’t feel better until he read that letter from his father. His father seemed to be at the root of everything.

  “I’m so glad you asked me to come,” Judy said over the music and voices of the crowd. “My plans for tonight were to deep-condition my hair and collect a stool sample from my cat, but this is better.”

  “What a pleasant thought,” Shelly said laughing. The more she hung out with Judy, the more she liked her. They had been working together for the past five years and yet they had mostly kept their relationship professional. That was part of Shelly’s problem. She’d never had a girlfriend before. Someone to gab with and shop with, someone to confide in. She had Levi, but he stopped being the person she could share all her thoughts with the day he started kissing her.

  “What can I get you ladies to drink?” Levi asked them when he came back from answering a call. He was with Ace and Shelly had to admit that the two of them together were an excellent-looking pair. Hard bodies, snug T-shirts, rugged looks. She was with the best-looking men in the room and if she was being honest with herself, it gave her a little charge.

  “I think we should have bay breezes.” Judy looked at her. “What do you think?”

  “I don’t know what’s in them.”

  “Coconut rum, pineapple juice, and cranberry juice,” Ace answered. “It’s the girliest drink of them all. I’m a little surprised at you, Judy.” He tilted his head and studied her. “I thought you were a little tougher than that.”

  “I am. I can shove a nose into a brain if I have to, but when I drink I want my alcohol fruity and colorful, preferably with an umbrella in it.”

  “You heard the woman,” Levi said, winking at her. “Let’s find these women some little paper umbrellas.”

  “Thank you, hottest of the King boys. Take lessons from this man, Ace,” she said, her eyes going to him. She smiled at him in a flirty sexy way that Shelly could never manage, but wished she could.

  The men left them alone and the music switched from whatever was playing on the jukebox to “Staying Alive.”

  “They’re playing disco?” Shelly asked Judy in surprise.

  “Funny, isn’t it? They play a little bit of everything on line-dancing night. Even salsa music. Destiny is a town made of a bunch of people. Not everyone wants to dance to country all the time.”

  “I love this song. I remember my parents dancing to it.”

  “Your father danced?”

  “Yeah,” she said softly, thinking back to those times that seemed a lifetime ago. “My mother liked to dance and sing. She was so much fun.”

  “Is that why you’re wanting to have a little more fun this summer? To be more like your mama?”

  “I never thought about it like that, but I guess I do. She didn’t have to try hard to be fun. She just was. She made everyone so happy. I’m not sure I could ever be like that, but I do know that she would want me to experience life a little more.”

  “I think you’re right. Let’s hit the dance floor.”

  “But the guys went to get us drinks.”

  “They’ll bring them to us, Shelly. That’s what men are supposed to do.”

  “Okay.” She glanced at Levi and Ace, who were still at the bar. They were chatting with the bartender, but it wasn’t Jim, the owner, this time. It was a woman in a tight white tank top with boobs so big they looked as if they were going to eat her head. Levi was doing what Levi did with beautiful women. He smiled at them, and flirted and was extra sexy and charming.

  He didn’t flirt with her. He never had. He just was with her.

  Sometimes she was a little jealous of the way he lavished compliments on women, but she knew it was ridiculous because those women never saw the real him. The charm was a shield, she realized. It kept people away.

  “They’ll find us, Shelly.” Judy pulled her arm. “Let’s get a spot in the back so if we mess up no one will notice.”

  “That sounds perfect. I don’t want too many people to see me, because then they’ll know I’ve never danced before.”

  “What do you mean you’ve never danced before?”

  “I just haven’t.”

  “Not in high school at the dances?”

  “I didn’t go to them.”

  “Not at a cousin’s wedding?”

  “I don’t have a cousin.”

  “Not even in your house when you’re alone?”

  “Okay. Maybe there, but I’m sure I look like a spaz getting down to my old Shakira CD.”

  “I still dance to ’NSync. ‘Bye Bye Bye’ is a musical masterpiece that is completely underrated nowadays.” They found their spots toward the back of the dance floor. “Just look at the people in front of you. You’ll get the hang of it eventually.”

  Shelly stumbled at first. She used the wrong foot, pointed the wrong way, and when they turned around she got completely lost, but she found herself laughing. Really laughing and feeling lighter than she had in a long time.

  “You’ve got great rhythm, Shelly!” Judy was surprised, Shelly could tell. But Shelly was surprised herself. By the time the next song started she had gotten the hang of the moves.

  “Thank you, but I’m jealous of your butt. How do you get it to move like that?”

  “There’s a lot of it. I’m fairly sure it has a mind of its own.”

  *

  “What’s going on with you and Shelly?” Ace asked him about an hour later. “You haven’t taken your eyes off her all night.”

  It was true. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was so damn cute the way she stumbled through the complicated steps of the country-western song that was blasting, but she was
n’t self-conscious about it. She was laughing. Her eyes were bright. She was happy. And so incredibly sexy. She wore a blue halter top and the pair of jeans that hugged her bottom like a dream. It was the way she moved in them with her bottom wiggling and bouncing and driving him wild.

  He was so turned on by her, and with each passing day the feeling grew stronger and stronger

  “I don’t know what’s going on with us.” He pulled his eyes her and looked at Ace. “I don’t think I can say we’re just friends anymore.”

  “I wouldn’t want to be just friends with her, either. If I had known she had looked like that underneath all those baggy clothes, I would have tried a hell of a lot harder to get to know her.”

  “It’s not the way she looks. She could be wearing a garbage bag tonight and it wouldn’t change a damn thing.”

  Ace shook his head. “You’ve got it bad, but then again, you always did.”

  “Did I?” he asked as Shelly and Judy came over to them laughing.

  “Levi.” Shelly grinned up at him. “Why don’t you come out there and dance with us?” She wrapped her arms around him and wiggled a little bit, causing her breasts to slide across his chest. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you bust a move. Shake your tail feather with me, honey.”

  She was so damn sexy. Did she realize it? Did she have any idea what she was doing to him? How aroused she made him?

  “Shelly …” He leaned down and put his lips against her ear. “Don’t rub against me in public.”

  “Oh.” She looked startled. “I’m sorry.” She stepped away from him.

  Shit.

  She misunderstood him. He could see the little bit of hurt in her eyes and he knew right then she had no clue how much he wanted her, how much his thoughts centered on her.

  Maybe it was better that she didn’t know what he meant right now, because he was two seconds away from dragging her out of here and stripping her naked.

  He didn’t have much control when it came to Shelly in the first place, and now he felt it slipping through his hands like water.

  “I got you both another drink.” He reached to the high-top table behind him and grabbed the bay breezes for them. “You were dancing so long your other drinks got watery.”

  “Thank you.”

  “What good service.” Judy smiled at him and gave him a little wink. “Shelly is lucky to have such a good friend in her life. I would love to have a friend like you one day.”

  Judy got it. The whole damn bar probably knew how bad he had it for Shelly.

  “You want more friends, Judy?” Ace asked, coming to stand in front of her. “I didn’t know you were in need of them. You could have come to me anytime. I’m always here for you.”

  “Like you were in high school when you dumped me as your lab partner to be with Katie Myers? The girl couldn’t tell a vacuole from a ribosome and you dumped me. I was ranked second in our class. I got a full academic scholarship to college. I was—”

  “Flat-chested,” Ace cut her off. “Come on, Judy. I was sixteen and nerdy and Katie Myers did it for me then. But now”—he wrapped his arm around her—“you do it for me.”

  Judy removed his arm and gave him a wickedly sexy smile. “Now you can do it to yourself. Come on, Shelly. Let’s go where the air is a little less polluted. Oh and by the way, Ace, I was amazing in earth science, too. Amazing,” she said just before she walked away.

  Levi laughed. He liked Judy, who seemed to have mastered a down-to-earth sexiness. “You dumped Judy for another girl. That was stupid. Judy has way more going on than Katie Myers ever did.”

  “It’s not like we were dating. She was just my lab partner and she has been busting my balls about it for years.”

  “Women don’t forget shit like that.” Levi picked up the beer he had been nursing all night and took a long sip. “You’re going to have a hard time getting with her now.”

  “The fact that she turns me down so often makes me want her even more. I’m not sure what the hell is wrong with me. It’s like I like to be punished.”

  “I’m sure Judy would be willing to punish you.” Levi’s eyes traveled to where the women were. The line dancing had ended and now people were crowded on the little dance floor, shaking it to some hip-hop classic that he hadn’t heard in years.

  Shelly and Judy were dancing together, and were the most beautiful women there that night. It hadn’t gone unnoticed by the men in the bar. All night he had seen lingering glances going their way. Some guys were a little bolder and downright staring at them. Levi didn’t like it, but what could he do? Shelly was beautiful. Men would look. They would be crazy if they hadn’t noticed.

  His eyes followed a tall lanky guy as he made his way over to her. Levi thought he was going to try to chat them up, but the guy stood behind Shelly and started to grind his body against her backside.

  Shelly stepped away, not used to that kind of dancing. Levi clenched his fist and took a step toward her when he felt Ace’s strong hand on his shoulder. “She’s a big girl. Let her handle it.”

  He listened to Ace, just watching the interaction between the two. “I just want to dance, sweetheart,” he heard over the music.

  He couldn’t make out what Shelly saying, but he saw her shake her head and turn around to face Judy again.

  But the guy didn’t leave and when Levi saw him give Shelly a smack on her ass, his control snapped.

  He didn’t remember crossing the room—it was as if he blacked out—but when he came to, his hand was around the guy’s throat and he had him shoved against the wall.

  “Keep your fucking hands to yourself or I will break them off and shove them down your throat.”

  The guy gurgled out something, but Levi could smell the stench of too much whiskey on his breath and for a moment he was taken back to when he was a kid, when he could smell the booze coming out of his father’s skin.

  The scent churned his stomach and pissed him off even more.

  “Levi!” Shelly grabbed his wrist and yanked his hand off the man’s throat. “Take me home.”

  “Shelly …”

  He didn’t know what to say to her, how to explain to her what had just happened.

  “I want to go now!”

  “Okay.” A small crowd had formed around them. This was the last thing they needed. Colt had already been locked up. They were supposed to be staying out of trouble, not getting into it, but just like in his racing days he had a hard time controlling his anger when he felt he was wronged. And it was wrong for any other man to put his hands on Shelly.

  She took his hand and pulled him out of the back door, not saying a single word to him the entire ride home.

  He followed her inside to her bedroom, knowing that it would have been better for him just to go home, to cool down away from her. But he couldn’t force himself to leave.

  “I cannot believe you,” she said, rounding on him. “Have you lost your mind?”

  “I did lose my mind. That guy slapped your ass. He was rubbing his crotch all over you. What the hell was I supposed to do?”

  “Let me handle it. Do you want to be like Duke? Do you want to end up in prison because you tried to kill a guy for touching me? You told me you were going to stop fighting after the last time you nearly got kicked off your team.”

  “I was only thinking about you.”

  “Bullshit,” she yelled at him. “If you were thinking about me you wouldn’t have tried to choke that guy out. If you were thinking about me, you would know it would kill me if you got arrested and lost everything you have worked for. It would kill me if anything happened to you.”

  Something inside of him broke again and he grabbed her, pushing her against the wall as his mouth came down on hers.

  At first she melted into the kiss but then she broke it, shoving at his chest.

  “What the hell is your problem?”

  “I want you, Shelly. I want to be with you. To make love to you. To be your first.”

  She blinked
at him and then shook her head. “I don’t understand you. You told me you didn’t want me touching you a few hours ago.”

  “I said don’t rub against me in public. You were making me hard.” He grabbed her hips. “You turn me on, don’t you know that? I hear your voice and my dick wants to burst from my pants. How could you think that I don’t want you to touch me when the only thing I want is to pull you into bed and make you moan my name? I have been controlling myself, but I can’t anymore. I want you now. Tonight. I need you to say yes.”

  She looked at him for a long moment. “When did I ever say no? I don’t want you to control yourself. I just want you.”

  Relief and arousal coursed through him in equal measures. He crushed his mouth to her as he picked her up and wrapped her thighs around him.

  He knew he’d taken her by surprise but she responded to him, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him back with as much passion as he was giving to her.

  He was excited and more than just in a physical way. He felt a bigger rush than he ever had, knowing he was going to be where no other man had and knowing that he was going to be with a woman who was too good for him. He laid her on her bed, not taking his lips off her as he pushed up her skirt and stripped off her underwear.

  He reached between her legs, between her lower lips, and touched her, making her wetter, more aroused with each stroke of his fingers.

  She cried out and then pushed him away slightly so that she could pull off his shirt.

  Once it was gone, she ran her hands across his chest, her fingers tracing the outline of his muscles. And then she kissed him, right where his heart was beating so loudly that he could hardly hear.

  “I need you naked right now, Shells.”

  She nodded and got on her knees. Her little denim skirt was pushed up around her waist. Her legs were open. Her bottom was bare and round and looked so good he wanted to sink his teeth into her skin.