by Misti Murphy
Only she wasn’t there, either. I got back in the truck and texted her. Where the fuck are you hiding, Hurricane?
Minutes later I got a one-line text message back. Where I’m going, you can’t follow.
I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel. What hell kind of message was that? Furrowing my brow, I rubbed my temples, trying to shake loose whatever memory was ebbing at the corner of my mind. It was a definite reference. There was something. Like the words of a song, it came slowly, line by line. Shit, it was a club in Carlton. They had Casablanca quotes on the walls, a piano in the corner, and last time we’d been there, she’d danced on the bar until dawn.
I tore out of the lot. Last time I hadn’t minded her dancing. In fact I’d enjoyed it, but it had been my hands all over her, my mouth on her belly while I took a shot from her navel. We’d been wild, crazy, and insatiable for each other. Those were some heady days, driven by booze, an insane amount of fucking, and the belief we were invincible.
Well I wasn’t invincible, and I was tired of chasing the hurricane. Not when she should have known by now she could run to me. How she’d never worked that out during our relationship, and even after, as friends, was beyond me. Hell, she called me when a one-night stand went wrong, but not for her father showing up in town. I slammed my hand down on the steering wheel. Not anymore.
***
I stormed across the hardwood floor of the club toward the blonde dancing wildly on the bar. Jaw clenched, I hustled through the unusually large group of people crowding her. Didn’t these people have anything better to do on a Thursday night? Jostling them out of the way, heedless to whom I elbowed on my way, I finally moved into the spot right in front of her.
She did a slow wobbly spin, shaking her ass at the next closest guy. His hands found her knee and tried to pull her to him, but she staggered out of his reach and yelled at the bartender. “Where’s my drink?”
“I’m cutting you off after this one.” He shook his head then fetched the scotch from the top shelf.
“Cut her off now,” I roared. Her gaze landed on me, the grin on her face crashing. “Get your ass down here.”
She shook her head, her hair whipping around her face while she continued to sway out of time with the blaring music. My chest tightened under her lingering gaze, the yearning in her eyes, before she lifted her chin and yelled over the noise. “Everyone, this is Mike. Best shag you will ever be privileged to meet.”
One of the girls at the edge of the table giggled, then hiccupped, her hands racing to cover her face. A fist on her hip, Mellie’s grin didn’t touch the smouldering pain in her gaze before she shuttered it from me. “He’s available if you want a piece.”
Glaring at her, I growled as fingers pinched my ass. “You’re full of shit, Melanie Albrict, now get down before I drag you down.”
“I don’t think so, Tiger.”
It had been years since she’d called me Tiger, and it stunned me, causing me to lurch back. She was still so undeniably mine, but she was pushing me even harder than she had before.
In the moment it took me to recover, she whirled on the bar and fell on her ass. “Ouch. That’s going to bruise.” A giggle ripped from her, and then she started tugging off her boots.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“You used to like it when I danced.” She hauled off the second boot, and held it up in her hand. “I’m sure these people would like to see what I can do.”
A collective titter of agreement went up among the group, and I sprang at her. “You’re in a bar, Hurricane. Keep your damn clothes on.”
Scrambling to her feet she yanked her leg free before I could get a decent grip on her thigh. She fumbled with the waist of her skirt, and it tumbled down to reveal black silk and suspenders. “I’m having fun. Go home, Mike. I don’t need you here.”
Pissed off and hard as fuck at the idea of how I should have been removing those damn suspenders at the end of the night, I snarled at the crowd, and climbed up on the bar. “I know you’re upset, idiot. But when are you going to realize making a scene isn’t going to solve the problem?”
She winced, her eyes watering, and then she pushed her chin out, her neck cording, and hissed through her teeth, “I’m making a scene? You’re the one who’s ruining our fun.”
“Let her finish her dance, dude,” some guy at the end of the bar yelled.
I wanted to smash his face in. Instead, I focused fully on her and the way her fingers clutched at the edge of her shirt. “Are you really trying to tell me you’re having fun? You’re running again. It’s what you fucking do best.”
“Yeah, I was taught well.” She whipped the shirt over her head and ran her palms over her bra. “You want these, tiger? You licked it, you own it, right?”
“You’re damn right. I licked it, I own it, and I’m taking it home.” I shoved her shirt back over her head, and she winced as her hair got tangled in the lace. “Now put your fucking skirt back on and say goodbye to your friends. We’re done here.”
I jumped down off the bar, whirled around and snaked an arm around her thighs, dragging her skirt back up before hauling her down like I should have when I first walked in the door. She struggled for a moment, beating at my shoulders with her fists. “You’re supposed to hate me. You’re all kinds of fucked in the head.”
What the hell? Here I thought we were getting a second chance, and instead, she was trying to drive me away. “You’re pushing my buttons, Hurricane. You want to make me angry, you’re succeeding, but if you think I’m going to go away so easily, you’re dead wrong. You forget how fucking well I know you.”
She sobbed, her arms winding around me she smashed her mouth to mine, her lips clinging to me as though she could never get enough, frantically moving over my jaw and throat to settle against my ear. “Why do you always have to show up to save me? I don’t need you. I don’t need anyone.”
“Of course you do.” I squeezed her tighter, while the storm raged inside her.
“Why? Everyone leaves. They say they love you and then they leave.” She pushed back to face me. There was a tautness in her face, in the way she brought her nose to mine, staring deep into my eyes. “I’ll leave, too, you know. I’ll break your fucking heart two times over if you let me. You know that, right? You fall in love with a storm, do you really think you’ll make it through in one piece?”
I flicked a glance at the roof, rolled my eyes. It was getting hot in here, the music overwhelming, and my patience waned. I grasped her jaw tightly between my fingers. “I know I’m going to fuck that stupid idea right out of that pretty head of yours.”
She pushed me away, slid down my body. “I’m not going home with you. I’m not yours, tiger.” Her face clouded, and then she whirled around. “Do you know why I call him Tiger?” She sniggered and rolled her eyes. “Because he purrs when he cums.”
A few of the people still watching her making a spectacle of herself chuckled. Every muscle in my body bunched, and I gripped her arm, growling as I yanked her back into me. “That’s enough.”
She shivered against me, then pushed out of my grip. “Don’t you get it? I don’t want to be the person you have to save.”
She stalked over to the closest guy, the one who’d had his hands on her earlier. “Hey, you.” She curled her fingers in his shirt, pulled him close. “Want to take me home?”
“Touch her.” I stared him down while I advanced on them, my fists clenched, a homicidal tick jumping at the side of my jaw. “And I will break your fucking hand.”
He stepped back, palms up, and I snaked an arm around her. “Fine, you want to do this the hard way, we’ll do it the hard way.” I lifted her up, pinned her over my shoulder with a slap to her ass. “This shit is over. Do you hear me? You can hate on me as much as you want, but we’re leaving.”
“Put me down,” she snapped, struggling against my hold, but the only way she was getting down was when I poured her drunken, ridiculous ass into the truck
.
“Not a fucking chance.” I huffed and pushed my way through the crowd.
“I was having fun,” she whined as we hit the pavement. “Why did you have to ruin it?”
The fresh air cooled my skin, pulled the heat from my insides. “You weren’t having fun. You were pushing me away in there. It won’t work.”
“It should.”
“Yeah.” I scraped the back of my head with my hand. “It probably should, but it won’t. Now let’s get you home.”
“I don’t want to go home.” She stopped struggling, hung limp over my shoulder. “I know I’m being a brat, but could we not go back tonight? I don’t want to be in the same town as that man. I’ll be okay tomorrow.”
What would it hurt? “Sure. I’ll find us a hotel.” The truck was only a block from the bar, but driving would distract me when I needed to keep a firm grip on the situation. In her current mood she was liable to do anything, and I wasn’t going to give her the space to try and push me away again. Instead, I hailed a cab and pulled out my phone to find the nearest available room, keeping her over my shoulder while the taxi stopped in front of us, and then stuffing her in the back before climbing in beside her. Giving the man directions, I stared at the back of her head since she kept her face turned to the window. In the morning, I’d come back for my truck and work out where the hell she’d parked her car.
Halfway to the hotel, she stopped staring out the window and curled into me. The tension inside me transformed with the heat of her body pressed to mine, and when she moved to straddle me, pressing her mouth to mine, her tongue darting between my teeth, I cradled her face in my palms and owned her lips, demanding and bruising. My frustration poured out of me in a way she understood.
My hand wrapped around her nape, I commanded her gaze. “I want you. You’re my woman, and that insanity back there is going to stop.”
“I’m not good at being anyone’s person.” She winced. “I’m not even good at being human. I don’t want to be your woman.”
She tried to push off my lap, but I captured her wrists. “You’re a terrible liar.” I leaned forward, imprisoning her between my body and the seat in front of us and slipped my hand inside her top to roll a nipple between my fingers. “You want it more than you want to breathe.”
As if in reply her upper body arched, her breath hitching in her throat. “You’re meant to hate me. You’re not supposed to want me back.”
The cab pulled up in front of the hotel, and I dragged her out of the car. She swayed unsteadily, and I tightened my hold on her waist as I led her into the lobby, and organized our room. There’d been a time when I wanted to hate her, to make it easier to be around her all the time. I hated not having her, and I hated how hard it was to be around her and not be with her, but hate her? I’d never been able to manage it.
Escorting her to the room, I swiped the key card and shoved it in my pocket before guiding her over to the bed. “Do you really want me to hate you?”
“No.” She sniffled and collapsed back on the bed. “But you should. It would be better that way.”
“So you never have to worry about being hurt.” I kicked my boots off, ripping my shirt over my head and stripping out of my jeans before climbing onto the end of the bed and dropping the condom I’d had in my pocket on the covers.
“I’m not a good bet for you to make. I’m a flight risk.”
“Seeing your father did a number on your head, that’s for sure.” I crawled up her body, one hand planted beside her head, while I ran small circles around her navel with a finger and dragged my mouth up her throat and chin to reach those plump lips, already parted, welcoming me in, no matter what she said. “I thought we’d established you didn’t have to be like that asshole.”
My tongue in her mouth was a promise of the way I would take her. Lingering and intense, while I claimed the moan deep inside her that only came out for me. Her body shimmied underneath me, and I trailed a digit down to the bottom of her skirt before smoothing my palm up the inside of her thigh, making her gasp.
“What are you doing?”
“I warned you. You think bat shit crazy things like that, I told you I’d fuck it right out of your head.” Peeling her arms from around my neck, I leaned back on my heels and wrenched the skirt from her hips. “Do you know how much you pissed me off, pretending you were going to go home with anyone other than me?”
“I should have.” Her voice was husky, drenched with need that belied her conviction.
Squeezing both hips, tension rolled through me, releasing on a feral growl that had me flipping her onto her stomach. “You want to stick to that story, I’ll take you over my knee. Should I give you a reason to remember why you won’t be fucking with me like that again?”
She bowed her head, her face in her hands. “How can I convince you to let me go when you always get what you want?”
“Not always.” I slipped my fingers between her thighs, my mouth watering while her panties grew wet at my touch. There had been a few times we’d played this game. Not her pushing me away, but before that when our lives had been so perfectly intertwined, where she’d pushed my buttons to see how far I’d let her go, before I’d need to remind her she belonged with me. My cock jerked at the thought of torturing her on a sensual level. The intensity of those nights filled my senses. She’d enjoyed them as much as I had. The first time I’d glimpsed her I knew she’d be my brand of perfect. “This isn’t a battle I intend to lose. Do you think you can lie to me about what you want, and I won’t be able to tell? There needs to be a punishment for that, don’t you think?”
“What are you going to do to me?” Glancing over her shoulder, inviting, her eyes grew huge, her pupils as big as saucers, she gasped as I dragged the bit of silk down her thighs. She rolled her pelvis, lifting up a little, her legs parting voluntarily to me, and I spread them further with my palms, flicking the top of my thumb over her swollen clit.
“I’m going to lick what’s mine, every sweet inch of it. And when you’re screaming my name, when you’re begging me to stick my tongue in your precious cunt, I’m going to eat you out, my tongue so far inside you, all you’ll be able to think about whenever you say my name from now on is how no one else makes you feel the way I do.”
Wrapping her hair around my fist, I lifted it off her nape, nibbling and licking my way down her spine, paying attention to each bump and dip. She raised a shoulder, her head angled to one side. “No one ever came close to you. I didn’t want them to.”
“But you tried.” I dragged my teeth along her shoulder, kissed the tip. “How many times did I have to watch you try and fail?”
“Too many.” She turned into me, stole my mouth to her own. “You should have been long gone.”
“Not a possibility, sexy legs.” I rolled her to her side, cupped her breasts in my palms and watched her nipples harden before flicking my tongue over each one. “You’ve always been mine. No amount of time and distance changes that.”
“Doesn’t it?” She whimpered, arching to press her tit firmer against my mouth, her palms locking me to her while I rocked the metal bar with my tongue until she was panting.
“Of course it doesn’t.” I dragged my teeth over her belly and dipped my tongue into her navel, squeezing her hips as she arched off the bed.
“I don’t believe you.”
“Try to remember that while you cum in my mouth.” The scent of her arousal, the heat of her, dragged me in as I lapped at her clit, darted my tongue over the lips of her pussy. “Try to remember that you don’t believe you belong with me.”
She shuddered as I dragged her leg over my shoulder, my mouth pressed to her slit. I dipped my tongue inside her over and over.
She cried out, her hips jerking, as I stroked her from pussy to clit, swirling my tongue around it until she ground against my face, her hands scrambling for purchase on mine. Wrapping her legs around my shoulders, I grasped her waist and bowed my head to explore each sweet inch with my mouth. “I
never could get enough of this.”
I sucked her clit between my lips, tugged it gently with my teeth while she convulsed around me, and then I shoved my tongue deep inside her, claiming her in a way she would never forget, her taste in my mouth spilling into my senses.
When she came, I dragged her on top of me, while I grabbed the condom I’d dropped on the bed. She took it from me, tore it open with her teeth and took my cock in her palm. She gave a wicked smile while she stroked me harder, drawing me up to her, my already rock hard cock twitching in her hand. She’d always had that effect on me. One fucking look and I was hard for her. I didn’t even need her touch to get to the point of exploding. My instinct driving me to get inside her and fucking stay there.
Smoothing the condom down over me, she grasped my cock again and slowly seated herself until her heat surrounded me, her ass against my balls. I couldn’t fight the feral growl that rose in my chest, or the need to be on top, dominating her, protecting her with my body while I satisfied her every desire. She whimpered as I pushed her into the mattress underneath me, drew out of her, slammed in again over and over, my hands scraping over her skin, squeezing and kneading.
Capturing her mouth, our tongues tangoed, her moans belonging only to me. I slipped a hand between us, pinched her thigh, causing her to buck beneath me and take me deeper. Her nails dragged over my back, biting into my skin, leaving marks that would sting for hours to come. Fuck, she was already so close, and I wanted nothing more than to have her cum all over me, feel her tighten and contract around my cock while she orgasmed. I slipped my hand underneath her hips, spread her ass cheeks with my fingers and stroked the sensitive ring of muscles. Slamming into me, her body jerking hard, she cried out in my mouth as I pressed a digit into her ass. She came hard, screaming my name, screaming her pleasure for the entire hotel floor to hear. Letting everyone in the world know only I could do this to her. My chest swelled and I rammed into her over and over, keeping her on edge until she was sobbing, her breath dragging in and out like she’d run a marathon. Then I let go, let her body milk me dry, roaring out my own release.