Gazing at my manicured nails, I licked my lips as I studied my red polish. I think they called the color Bloody Massacre. Kinda fitting since I was pretty sure I was gonna commit cold blooded murder if this guy didn’t get a freaking clue. Soon. Eyeing him critically, I couldn’t deny that my thirsty body found his all kinds of nice, but the brain I still managed to possess despite his attempt to drive me crazy screamed at me to run. Because even my poor brain knew if this remarkable example of modern day man-meat ever really caught up to me, I was never getting away.
Luka tilted his head to the side as he smirked at me. “Aw, don’t tell me I’ve stunned that sassy mouth speechless,” he taunted me. “Should I take a photograph to preserve this moment?” he asked, lifting my phone to shoot a picture.
“Incorrigible,” I muttered darkly under my breath, tilting my head back to look up at the textured ceiling. “Absolutely freakin’ incorrigible.”
“At least I’m not boring.”
Dropping my gaze back to his, I laughed. “Don’t knock boring. Boring is predictable, and predictable is safe. I like safe,” I persisted insistently. I was a girl that liked safe… that needed safe. In fact, safe was my favorite flippin’ word. Venturing a quick look at Luka’s relaxed face, my brain reminded my lady business that Luka Templeton would not be a safe choice for me. A charismatic man like him? He could easily crush a naïve girl like me if he misused all that sexy charm and worldly experience I could tell he had. I wasn’t a girl looking to be flattened by heartache. I’d already seen that happen to both my mom and my grandma. So, no, sir, he needed to keep all that hotness far away from me. Which meant I needed to get the hell out of Maybelle’s and away from this almost magnetic pull I felt toward him.
“You like safe, gorgeous? Good. I can solemnly swear that you will never be as safe as you are right now here with me. Why do you think I feel slightly homicidal at the thought of you placing your life in some stranger’s hands when you accept rides from places like Uber or Lyft? I know I’ll get you home with all your parts intact. I can’t say the same about some faceless asshole I don’t know.”
Shit! He was making a good argument. But that didn’t change the fact that I wasn’t his responsibility to worry about. And I certainly hadn’t been claimed by him. A person couldn’t be claimed without their knowledge and consent, could they? No, of course not. Closing my eyes for a moment, I tried to catch my breath. Too much was happening too fast to a girl who’d lived a relatively boring, safe, and predictable life. This little merry-go-round I was on needed to slow the fuck down. Fast.
“Michelle,” Luka called softly
Opening my eyes, I looked at him. His dark eyes seemed to catalogue my every feature and I knew by the slight softening in his gaze that he got the fact that he was stressing me way the fuck out. “What?”
“I don’t like the fear I see swimming in those pretty eyes.”
“I’m not scared,” I denied automatically, squaring my shoulders and lifting my chin defiantly. It wouldn’t do to let him see any weakness in me. Men exploited weakness, at least most of the ones I’d ever known had. “You aren’t seeing fear, Luka. Maybe distrust, but not fear.”
“Okay,” he acknowledged with a slow nod as he shifted carefully in his seat as if he feared he’d spook me. “I can’t blame you for not trusting me. You don’t know me well enough yet. So, you need to get to know me. We can start by me taking you home,” he suggested.
“I thought I wasn’t supposed to give strange men my address,” I quipped mockingly, flipping my long hair over one shoulder.
Luka chuckled. “Touché, hummingbird.”
“Thank you,” I replied with a haughty smile of my own. I work hard at being a smartass.
“Let’s say you make an exception for me… just this one time, of course,” he added with a wink.
One look at my watch confirmed it was getting close to midnight. We’d been here for hours, and it was later than I usually liked to call an Uber ride. I’d never tell Luka, but I didn’t particularly like riding with strangers anyway. I enjoyed the control that went with driving myself wherever I wanted to go. It’s one of the reasons I’d never wanted to live in a big city where cabs and subways were the norm. I was much better suited to small town life with my trusty red Jeep Cherokee. “Alright, Luka. You win this round. I’ll let you drive me home,” I yielded, trying to ignore the way his handsome face lit up at my concession. “But don’t take this to mean I’ve surrendered the battle entirely. I most definitely haven’t been claimed by you or anybody else.”
“We shall see,” I heard him murmur as he smiled, scooting back his chair to rise and circle the table to me. Holding my breath as he pulled my chair back the way I’d seen gentlemen do in old movies, I tried to ignore the butterflies I got in my belly at the small gesture. The feminist in me was sneering that it was an outdated practice and I was perfectly capable of getting to my own two feet without his help, but the girly girl in me was jumping up and down on that feminist’s head, squealing, ‘He likes me! He really likes me!’ Maybe I needed medication. Hearing all these voices in my head couldn’t possibly be a sign of mental health and stability, I thought as I sedately walked towards the door to the restaurant, hyper-aware of Luka’s warm palm resting on my hip just above my ass.
Reaching the steakhouse’s lobby, Luka murmured, squeezing my waist gently. “Just give me a second, gorgeous. I need to tell Greta that I’m leaving for the night.”
“Greta?”
“My floor manager,” Luka clarified with a smile, jerking his thumb toward an attractive dark-haired woman behind the hostess’ podium. He nodded toward one of the brown leather sofas in the nearby lobby alcove. “Would you rather have a seat here or wait outside in my car? It’s the black Lexus parked near the building.”
“I’ll wait,” I murmured.
“I’ll make this fast,” he promised, lifting a hand to stroke my cheek in a way that made me feel all melty before he turned away.
I nodded and took a seat as I watched Luka quickly head toward the hostess. Dressed in a sky blue silk sheath, the woman looked effortlessly beautiful, and it was clear by the way her clear grey eyes brightened when they landed on Luka that she was interested in being a whole lot more than his floor manager. When she laughed at something he said and dropped a manicured hand to rub his arm, I felt a flare of jealousy shimmy down my spine.
Shamelessly eavesdropping as they had a conversation about a schedule change for tomorrow, I tried not to let it bother me when the bitch ran her hand up and down Luka’s arm. I couldn’t help my wide smile when Luka shook his head at whatever she said and took a step back from her. Take that, you handsy bitch, I thought uncharitably as her eyes moved from Luka’s face to me. He’s not even a teensy bit interested in your skanky ass.
“Everything else looks good here, Greta. Just don’t forget to call Simon and tell him we need him in at three rather than four tomorrow,” I overheard Luka say when he finished reviewing yet another report the chatty heifer put in his hand. “Anything else that comes up can wait until tomorrow. I need to get my woman home. I will not be available the rest of tonight unless it’s an emergency.”
I made sure to smile prettily and offer Greta a finger wave when her envious eyes found mine. The one thing I’d learned about catty bitches was nothing pissed ‘em off more than not being able to rattle their target. If I was a lesser woman, the cold glare she shot at me might have frozen the blood in my veins, but I kept my own smile unthreatening and ambivalent, my face giving away nothing of my private thoughts. Obviously, little Greta thought she had something special with her boss, and the green-eyed monster had a firm grip on her. I would have pitied her if I wasn’t busy seething about the way she kept edging nearer to Luka, her breast repetitively brushing his arm as she sidled closer.
“Your woman? I thought you told me you weren’t seeing anyone seriously right now,” I heard Greta reply, her voice both annoying and shrill as her eyes narrowed on me. I cou
ld feel her sizing me up, assessing how much of a threat I was to whatever her active imagination thought she had with her boss. “I thought we agreed that when you got ready to get serious about someone around here, you and I would have a discussion about us,” she pouted, purposefully raising her voice so that I’d be able to overhear everything she said.
Wow, I thought, growing angrier by the second. This bitch had some serious lady balls on her, and Luka was a certified fool if he thought I was gonna stick around to watch this shit show. I’d never been the “other woman” and I wasn’t gonna start now. Getting to my feet, I called, “Luka, I’m just gonna call a friend for a ride. I’ve got too much crazy in my life as it is, and this whole scorned woman drama you’ve got unfolding is not my scene. You have fun with all this,” I said, waving a hand at Greta.
“There is no us, and I never agreed to anything of the sort, Greta,” I heard Luka growl before he turned his head and pointed at me. “And you take a single step toward that door, Michelle, and I’ll paddle that hot little ass. I’m almost finished here. I just need to get a few things straight with my employee,” he remarked, emphasizing the word employee.
I watched as he shifted his attention back to his furious manager and shamelessly listened as he bit out, “As I was saying, there is no us, Greta. There never has been and never will be an ‘us.’ We will never have anything other than a professional relationship with an employer and employee dynamic. And I can personally assure you it won’t even be that if you continue to exhibit this rude behavior. Disrespect or insult my woman even once more by putting thoughts in her head that are both inaccurate and untrue, and I’ll put you out of here on your ass without so much as a reference. My personal life is not and has never been any of your business. Understood?”
I saw Greta’s chin tremble at his harsh rebuke. “Seriously? It’s not as if I don’t have a reason to be confused. You’ve walked out those doors with dozens of women before and never called any of them your woman. How was I supposed to know she was different?” The woman huffed.
“First, you know that’s bullshit. The only women you’ve seen me leave this building with have either been family or business associates. Second, you’re supposed to know Michelle is different because I just told you she is. Get a grip, Greta, before you find yourself on the unemployment line,” he snapped at the angry woman through his clenched teeth before whirling around and stomping toward me. Feeling his palm at my elbow, I tried to keep up with his long strides as he guided us outside, snarling, “Let’s get out of here before I really do lose my temper.”
Because I didn’t want to make a scene, I waited until we put a few feet between us and the well-lit entrance before I ripped my arm from his grip and hissed, “Let me go! I’ll call somebody and get my own lift home, Luka, because I sure as all hell am not taking a drive with a guy that’s allegedly already given dozens of women the same ride. No freaking way, playa!”
“Hummingbird…”
“Don’t you hummingbird me. Don’t gorgeous me. Don’t try to placate me. Don’t patronize me. And if you value your life and the use of all your limbs, don’t lie to me, either. Just tell me if what she said in there was true,” I ordered, lifting my chin toward the building. “Are you really that big of a player or were you telling the truth? Were those women she saw you with really just family and colleagues?” I asked, disgust leaking from my question as I propped my hands on my hips and faced off with Luka in the middle of the almost-empty parking lot.
“You sure you wanna do this here?” Luka questioned as he dropped his hands to curl around my hips and backed me up against what I assumed was his shiny black Lexus.
“Wouldn’t have asked the question if I didn’t wanna know the answer,” I retorted, shivering when my back met the cool metal of his automobile.
Luka’s lips pressed together for a long moment as he stared at me, silently debating how to answer my question. “I can’t lie to you and say that I haven’t dated at all since I’ve moved here. I’ve been out a couple of times, but it wasn’t anything remotely serious. A couple of dinners and a movie once,” he admitted softly. “Before I moved to Tennessee, I was a single, free agent. I dated fairly often, but I wasn’t a jerk about it. Every woman I went out with knew that I wasn’t interested in pursuing anything long-term.”
“Well, aren’t you just a peach,” I sneered, feeling a wave of anger swamp me. Damn it, I’d wanted to believe he was better than… well, every other man on earth. Sadly, he wasn’t.
“Babe, I’m being real with you here. Just like you asked me to,” Luka pointed out as he crowded me against the car.
“Great! You want a cookie?” I snarled, lifting a hand to push him away from me.
“No. I want you to lose the resting bitch face and nasty attitude and hear me out. You’re different, Michelle,” he stressed softly, keeping his black eyes trained on mine. “All of this is different.”
“Is that so?” I drawled sarcastically. “How? How am I different from all the other women you’ve walked out those doors with before?” I asked, lifting my arm to point a finger at the door to the restaurant.
“Number one, you’re different because I say you’re different, Michelle. I’m also a man who doesn’t waste my time and energy on lies. Constant reassurance isn’t really my thing, so you’re just gonna have to accept I’m telling you the truth. Second, you’re different because I don’t want to share your bed for just a single night. That could never be enough to sate me. I want you to give me every night with you. Third, I’ve never given a promise to any woman before—but I’m swearing to you right here and now that this thing between us means something to me. This chemistry we have is the once-in-a-lifetime shit my parents told me about when I was a kid, but I never really believed existed. Glad to find out I was wrong. Doesn’t change the fact that when I look in your pretty green eyes, I feel like I’m staring straight through a window into your soul, and I don’t just like what I see. I love it.”
“Luka…”
Luka waved a hand between us. “Nuh uh. I’m talking now, gorgeous. All you need to do is keep that pretty mouth closed and listen. I know you think I’m feeding you a line, but I’m not. You give me time, and you’ll see it, too. I got patience for that. What I’m not going to do is pass up the chance to have all that sweet that makes up YOU in my life, and I’m not gonna let you or your fear of commitment screw it up either.”
“I’m not scared of commitment!” I blurted as my face went hot, equal parts angry and embarrassed.
“Michelle, when a woman that looks like you…that acts like you… “
“And how exactly is THAT?” I growled, my body almost vibrating with anger, gasping when he grinned and his eyes slowly traveled up and down my body.
“You serious, gorgeous? Look at you! Legs that make me drool, an ass that won’t quit, hair a man would cut off an arm to see fanned out on his pillow—and factor in that sassy, sweet mouth—baby, you’re a man’s wet dream come to life.
Staring into his eyes and finding only brutal honesty shining there, I faltered. “I’m pretty sure I should be offended by that,” I mumbled, “but…”
“But you like me, too,” he claimed as his lips twisted into a smirk I found entirely too sexy for my peace of mind. “At any rate, when a woman that looks and acts like you is still walking around unclaimed and ripe for some asshole to steal you away, a man like me can’t afford to waste any time. I know you got issues with men, babe, and I’m sure you got your reasons for that. Somebody burned you, and in time, you’ll tell me who that someone was and we’ll work through it. Until then, know that I want you, Michelle, and understand that I’m gonna have you. First though, I gotta prove that I deserve you, and I’m all in with the work that will take. Got it?”
I could only nod wordlessly, too overwhelmed by everything he was saying to form a coherent sentence.
“Now, I got one last way you should know you’re different from all the other women I’ve got in my rea
rview mirror,” Luka continued calmly. “If you were just some random woman I’d met tonight, I’d make it my mission to fuck you tonight. Your body? Beyond tempting, Michelle. Your little attitude? It gets me hard. And if you were any other woman, I’d take you home and bang you long and loud, gorgeous. But as much as I want to take you home, strip you bare, and bury my cock inside the heaven I know your pussy would be, I won’t. Not tonight.”
“You won’t?” I echoed, swallowing hard, wiggling against the car as his big body brushed mine.
“No.”
His flat denial stunned me. “W-why not?” I probed faintly, not quite sure if I was ready to hear his answer or not.
“Because I know you’re not ready for me or what I want from you yet. Taking you tonight wouldn’t be fair to either of us.”
“And what is it exactly that you want from me?” I questioned weakly, lifting one eyebrow as I stared at him with guarded eyes.
“Everything, Michelle. I want every-fucking-thing from you,” I heard Luka’s deep voice rumble, my keen ears instantly honing in on his unspoken warning. “I won’t settle for less. So when I finally do take you to bed and pop that cherry you’ve been saving for me, you need to know that it’ll be me and only me that owns that sweet little body of yours for the rest of your life. It’s not gonna happen tonight, but wrap your head around the fact that it is eventually going to happen. Real fuckin’ soon if I get my way.”
“And I’m guessing you get your way a lot, huh?” I couldn’t resist challenging him, lifting my chin rebelliously.
Luka’s lips twisted into a smug grin. “More often than not. I’m a persistent fucker, gorgeous.”
“Yeah, I’m unfortunately beginning to get that, but Luka, you need to get this through your hard head: I am not going to be sleeping with you. Certainly not tonight, and very probably not ever.”
Happily Ever Alpha: Until Sunrise (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 4