I gulp as I recognize the bike and the bearded man in Armani slacks who’s riding it.
“What the fuck does he think he’s doing?”
I put Cuddles down so she can try to keep him from getting through my gate. She barks and runs like a maniac to guard the gate as he pulls to a stop in front of it.
He climbs off his bike and opens one of the compartments on one side and pulls out a large grocery bag. It’s green and environmentally safe. So that means he’s worried about our planet.
Great, another wonderful thing about the man who will never be mine!
I watch and wait for my little dog to rip his expensive slacks as he opens the gate and then my mouth drops open in disbelief as my vicious guard poodle mix jumps up and down in excitement over the strange man.
He smiles and catches her up in one arm as she jumps into it like she’s always known him. “Who are you?” he asks in the little sweet tone everyone talks to animals and babies in.
“Her name is Cuddles, and she usually hates men. All of them,” I say as he walks up the stairs.
I have yet to get out of the rocking chair. He places the dog on my lap and smiles at me, then of all things, tweaks my nose as if I’m some cute little kid. “Just like her Momma.”
I set my jaw tight and glare at him. “Yep.”
He cocks his head to one side. “Well, aren’t you going to let me in so I can make you dinner? I brought the things to make spaghetti and meatballs.”
“I do believe I told you no about a hundred times, Benny.” I continue to glare at him and he acts like he doesn’t see it at all.
“You told me no to taking you out. You never said no to me cooking you dinner at your place. No, not once did you tell me no about that.” He smiles and his whole demeanor tells me he’s so proud of himself for coming up with the technical loophole he’s found.
I stand up as it’s obvious this lawyer is so ahead of me it’s not even funny. As I unlock the door I say, “You didn’t ask that or I would’ve told you no to that too.” I hold out my arm as a gesture for him to go inside.
“Ladies first, my Angel.” His smile is so wide I want to knock it right off his handsome face.
I walk in muttering to myself, “His Angel. Really!”
Cuddles bounces around his legs as he comes in and I find myself pissed at my dog for the first time ever. “She’s adorable. I usually don’t like animals in the house, but she’s like a little person, isn’t she?” he asks as he sets the bag on the tiny countertop.
“Yes, she is like a little traitorous bitch, that one,” I say as I look around the room to make sure there are no unmentionables lying around.
I do live alone and on more than one occasion have slipped out of my bra while watching television and left it lying around. My sweep of the area doesn’t show me anything I need to rush to hide so I look at my dog.
The pop of a cork makes me look at him, the man who can’t take no for an answer, as he opens up a bottle of red wine. “I’ll just let this breathe while I’m cooking.” He pulls a six pack of beer out and breaks a couple off and hands me one after he opens it for me. “Here you go, my lady. Go take a load off and watch some television. I can find what I need in here.”
With a shrug of my shoulders, I do what he’s said to. The beer is good and cold and goes down easy. I watch my dog helping the intruder find things.
Keeping the television low, I listen as he talks to my dog, “Cuddles, huh? I like something a little bit tougher. How about Rambo?”
“She’s a girl!” I call out. “And you can’t come into someone’s home and immediately rename their dog, Benny.” I take another drink of the beer and find him smiling.
He waves a wooden spoon my way as he says, “So how long do we have to be together before I can do that then?”
I look away and mumble, “More than five minutes.”
After a little bit of clanking of pots and pans as he gets together what he needs to make dinner, he comes into the room, wearing my white, frilly apron.
I nearly spit out the beer I had just drank as he takes a seat on the coffee table I have my feet propped up on. His long fingers begin to untie my boots as he looks at me. “You’ve had a long day, haven’t you? Let me get these off for you, my Angel.”
“Yes, I did. There was this weirdo who asked me out over and over all day and made it one hell of a brutal day, Babycakes.” I laugh then take another drink, finishing the beer off. “Wanna beer me again, Pumpkinhead?”
He pulls off both boots then holds his hand out for the empty can. “I do want to beer you again. And I will after you shower.”
He takes my hand and somehow leads me right to the little bathroom that’s just outside my bedroom door. In he goes, pulling me along behind him.
Reaching into the small stand-up shower he starts the water. Then he turns to me. “Dinner will be ready in about a half-hour. So don’t stay in here forever, my Angel.”
The bathroom is very small and his body grazes mine as he walks past me to leave. I have to hold myself steady using the sink so I don’t fall into his arms.
He closes the door and I fall to sit on the closed toilet as my knees give out.
What is he doing to me?
Pulling my clothes off, I climb into the shower and put it on straight cold water. I have got to calm down!
After a quick shower, I get out and wrap myself in a towel and head to my bedroom to find something to put on. I settle on a pair of cotton shorts and a little pullover T-shirt with the only clean bra I have left, a black lacy thing that can be seen through the shirt.
It’s sexy but not over the top sexy. I could go out there in overalls and army boots and the man is still going to attempt to get into my panties. Which are black lace too.
Giving my freshly shampooed hair a nice scrunching, I make my way out to the living room with a freshly washed and make-up free face and find him sitting on the sofa, petting my dog and sipping on a beer.
His eyes go all over me and his mouth hangs open a bit. “Wow!”
I roll my eyes. “Come on, Benny! I have on no make-up. My hair’s a tasseled mess. My clothes are five years old. What’s to say wow about? Unless it’s like a wow, what a mess.”
He gets up and walks toward me, but I hold up my hand stopping him as he looks like he’s about to pick me up into his arms and hug the shit out of me.
He stops and says, “It’s a wow, you’re really gorgeous. Even without a stitch of make-up or your hair in that pretty braid, you’re still fucking hot as shit, Angel. I swear it’s that kind of wow.”
I look at him and shake my head slowly. Like I said, I could’ve come out in anything and he’d have acted this way.
It’s just an act. He’ll say all the right things in order to get to the goods.
“Whatever. So, are there any beers left?” I ask as I start to walk to the kitchen.
He turns and hurries in front of me. “Sit, and I’ll get you one.”
“I can..”
He stops and turns back. He’s too close and I feel my heart speed up. I step back and shut my mouth.
“I know you can,” he says. “But tonight I want to wait on you. I wanted to take you out and let someone wait on you. But you refused, so now it’s me who will be your personal servant for the evening.”
Walking around the other way to sit on the sofa, I say, “I see.” I sit down and look at the television to find he’s put it on one of my all-time favorite shows that makes me laugh even when I don’t want to.
He comes back and hands me a new beer. “You can change it if you want. I just put it here because I love this crazy show. It’s hilarious.”
I look up at him and want to slap the shit out of him because the fucker is perfect for me. Instead, I say, “It’s one of my favorites.”
A grin spreads over his face. “Cool. See, we like the same things. I also happen to love spaghetti. And it’s nearly ready. I’ll bring our plates in here so we can watch the show togeth
er and laugh our asses off while we eat. K?”
I nod and sit back then watch his fine ass walk away. “You know, you’re going to make someone a great wife one day, Benny!”
He laughs and says, “Thanks. And you’ll make someone a great hubby who comes home from work all grumpy and has them jumping through hoops to cheer him up.”
And then he goes and makes me feel bad about how I’m acting.
Mother fucker!
He’s done so many nice things for me today and I’ve been an uber-bitch the whole time. So I take a drink and get up and go to the kitchen to find him plating up the food.
“Hey,” I say and he looks at me.
“Hey, what you need, Angel?”
I take the three steps to close the gap between us as he turns toward me and run my arms around him and hug him.
His arms move around my body and hold me in a nice loose hug.
“I’m sorry about being such an ungrateful bitch. I really do love those flowers. They’re the first ones I’ve ever been given. And no one has ever gone out of their way to do all this before. You’re a great guy. I’ll rein in the attitude and make this a lot better evening for you.”
I feel a wet tongue on my toes as Cuddles licks me and gives me kisses for doing the right thing. I laugh as it tickles and let him out of the hug.
I find his expression full of sincerity. “Thanks, Angel. I know that took a lot for you to say. Let’s just have a nice time then. That’s all I ever wanted was to show you a nice time.”
I smile then turn away to go back to the living room, then say over my shoulder, “Well, I might as well enjoy this while I can. You’ll be gone soon.”
“Yeah, I won’t be in your hair for too long, Baby.” Then he gives my ass a swift smack.
Oh hell!
Chapter 7
BLAZE
The change in her attitude lets me know the girl I’m so attracted to is in there. Trapped behind the walls she built because of that idiot who left her.
I have patience, though. And when I see something I want, I have a phenomenal amount of it.
Taking our plates to the living room, I place them on the coffee table then go get the wine and a couple of glasses. As I fill the glasses, I catch her gazing at me.
“Not quite the guy who came in the shop this afternoon. That badass biker was searching for some easy chick to play with his ding-a-ling. Not wait on an uber-bitch hand and foot,” she says and I flinch with her blatant honesty.
I sit down next to her. Close but not so close our legs touch. Holding up my glass, I gesture for her to pick hers up. She does and I tap mine to hers. “Angel, what you say is true. I came to Sturgis for all the wrong reasons, but then I found you and now I know why I was called to this Mecca in the middle of nowhere. It was you I was always drawn to this place for and nothing else.”
She looks at me for a moment and her eyes go soft then she smiles and nods. “And you, my sweet prince on a bike from Heaven, came to find this lonely wretched woman who longed for you to find her and take her away from the lonely existence she had placed herself in.”
We tap the glasses once more and take a drink. She places her glass on the table then pats the top of my leg. “Let’s eat. It looks great, Benny.”
I know those words we each said may have come out kind of like we were making them up and joking. But I think we both meant what we said.
I stab a meatball and hold it to her lips. She smiles then opens her mouth and takes it. A growly moan comes out of her and she nods as she chews. “It’s good. Did you make these in my kitchen? There’s no way!”
“You’re right. There is no way,” I say with a laugh. “I bought them already made and simply heated them in the oven.”
She laughs and bumps my shoulder with hers. “At least you’re honest. I’d have accepted the compliment and lied about making them.”
“Nah, you wouldn’t have,” I say as I take a bite of one myself.
“Yes, I would. At last year’s Christmas party at work, I didn’t make anything and when Uncle Phil told me I had to bring a pumpkin pie, I went and bought one. I put it in a pie plate from home and took it. Everyone was talking about what a great pie it was and what was my recipe. I told them it was a secret my grandma had passed down to me. The secret was it was made by Mona from the local bakery. All I added was a tub of store bought whipped cream!”
Her laugh makes me want to kiss her and I wish it didn’t. I want so badly to just hang out with her tonight. Let her know I really want to get to know her. The real her, not the front she puts on to scare away pursuers.
“Minx,” I say instead and tweak her cute little nose.
She wrinkles it up as I do and smiles. “I’m not a little kid.”
No, she is not!
“I know. But you’re adorable and your laugh makes me feel good inside. You’re sweet when you want to be.” I take another bite as she watches me.
She takes a large forkful of spaghetti noodles and crams them into her mouth. A thing my family would find appalling. I find it funny as she just can’t figure out when to stop twirling them around her fork.
So instead of showing her how it’s done, I load my fork up and take a huge bite too.
She quirks one brow up and says, “Wanna see who can get the most meatballs to fit into their mouths?”
I nod. “Bet I beat you.”
“Bet you don’t.” She stabs one and places it in her mouth.
I do the same then she places the second one in and so do I. A third one goes into her small mouth and I find a knot slipping down her throat and quickly chew mine up and swallow.
I point at her. “Cheater! I saw you let one slip down your throat!”
She chews the others up and swallows. “Damn! You’re the first to catch me doing that!”
I want to kiss her long slender neck so damn bad it hurts. But I don’t. “So now I know, no more food challenges with you.”
She shrugs her narrow shoulders. “I’m a sneaky one. You have to watch me.”
“I can see that.” I take a sip of wine and find we’re both trying to grab the remote as one of the funniest parts of the show is coming up. “This is funny,” I say.
At the same time, she says, “Have you ever seen anything so hilarious?”
We stop reaching for the remote and look at one another. Her lips are halfway pulled up to the left and her deep blue eyes aren’t droopy like they were when she was at work.
Then she turns her head and looks at the television, only I can’t stop looking at her. She watches the show and bursts out laughing and all I can do is look at her.
Watch her erupt into laughter. Watch her light up like a firework on the fourth of July.
Why on Earth would that dumbass leave her?
I’m glad he did, though. Because now I can make her mine. All mine and forever if she’ll have me.
I finally turn my head to watch the show and we find ourselves laughing at the same times, over the same things. Taking bites and drinks at the same time.
We’re like a couple of people who were part of the same puzzle but the pieces got mixed up for a long time then they finally figured out we belonged together.
Sitting back at exactly the same time as we’ve finished dinner, I look over at her to test our sameness. “I have a container of gelato in the freezer. You ready for some?”
She lays her head back on the sofa and rolls it toward me. “Not yet. It was so good, I’m stuffed. Later on, it would be great.”
I knew it!
I always wait for a couple of hours after eating to eat desert too.
“Okay, let me know when you want some.” I lay my head back too and look at her as she gazes at me.
“It’s just that I always eat the sweets a bit later. So I can really enjoy them once my food has all settled. But I get it if you want to leave and get to the bar with your friends. I mean gang. Or whatever you call them. This was very nice of you, Benny,” she says then puts her han
d on my thigh.
Not in a, I want to grab your cock kind of way. In a real way that says thank you for being nice to me.
“I’d like to hang out with you if you don’t mind. You’re a lot more stimulating than anyone out there.” I place my hand over hers.
She stops rubbing my leg as her lips form a hard line. I think she’s about to tell me to go. And I so do not want to go.
Then they soften and she smiles. “I’d like it if you stayed for a while longer.”
Inwardly I’m hoping up and down with joy, outward I say, “Cool. Let’s see what else is on tonight.”
So my first night in Sturgis is going nowhere near what I had planned. First, I spent most of my day in a stinky garage. Second, I cooked for a woman who made sure I knew she didn’t want to spend any time with me. And third, I will not be getting laid tonight.
It should feel like it all has gone wrong. But instead, it all feels more right than anything I’ve ever felt in my life.
She picks up the remote and searches for a movie and when she stops on my most favorite of all times I don’t say a word to let her know that.
With a look like she knows I’m about to make fun of her, she asks as she shakes her head, “You probably don’t like the Johnny Depp, Willy Wonka, right?”
“I do.”
Her face blossoms. “Want to watch this then?”
I nod. “Want to scoot over here and lie your head on my shoulder?”
She looks very wary. “Do you really like this movie? Like you aren’t just telling me, yes and you secretly hate it?”
“When I saw you stop on it I was about to ask you if we could watch it. It’s my absolute favorite. I shit you not.”
With a press of the button, the movie comes on and she moves over next to me as I throw my arm along the back of the little blue sofa. Her body is close to mine. Her head is against my shoulder and I feel more at home than I have ever felt anywhere.
Including my own home!
I want to kiss the top of her head but don’t. Her hand moves over my chest then she looks up at me. “Benny, do you really want to be here, watching a silly movie rather than down at the bar having a crazy badass time?”
Hot Nights in Sturgis The Complete Series: A Billionaire, Bad Boy, Motorcycle, BDSM, Romance (Billionaire Romance Novels) Page 5