by Payge Galvin
“Any other time, I’d be begging for you,” he said. Dev didn’t want to piss Lana off, but the truth was, she wasn’t Cass. She never would be. And Cass was who he wanted right now.
“Damn shame,” she said with a sigh, shoving away from the wall. “Maybe some other time.”
“Maybe.” He watched her walk away, mentally cursing himself.
Storming back into the bar, Dev threw himself back on his bar stool. Baron was still there, another Crown in front of him. “Double Jack!” he shouted at the bartender, wishing he could punch something.
“I would have thought getting laid would have mellowed you out,” Baron observed. “Did Little Miss Tribal change her mind?” Baron stared at him closely. “Or did you?”
Dev growled at him, not wanting to talk about this. If he couldn’t beat the shit out of something, he at least wanted to get blind, stinking, falling down drunk. Maybe then he wouldn’t keep seeing the way Cass looked when he drove away from her.
Slapping some bills on the bar, Baron grabbed Dev’s arm, hoisting him up. “You’ve had enough. I’m taking you home.”
“Piss off,” Dev snarled, yanking away from Baron’s grip and stumbling.
His friend shook his head, crossing his arms over his massive chest. “You want to do this thing? With me?” Baron hauled Dev across the bar and chucked him out the door.
Dev staggered, vision blurring. All the liquor he’d had over the last few hours was finally hitting him. About god damned time. He turned to face Baron, who stood in the dirt of the parking lot watching him.
“You must really love that girl,” he said.
Dev howled, swinging at Baron. He didn’t want to love Cass, not after hearing about Wrex. He wanted her scrubbed from his mind, from his memory. He wanted the thought of her pounded out of his head.
Baron ducked his clumsy punches, easily keeping out of the way. He rolled his eyes. “Don’t make me do this, man. It’s embarrassing.”
“Fuck. You.”
Sighing, the other mechanic swung. Dev took Baron’s ham of fist right across the jaw, his head snapping back from the force of the punch. He went down on one knee, blood filling his mouth where his teeth had cut into his cheek. He spat some out into the dirt, and then climbed to his feet.
He ran at Baron, his steps uncoordinated. Dev swung again, this time going for a body blow. The big man blocked his punch, striking out again. His fist buried itself in Dev’s stomach, and he folded around it. He gagged, coughing, unable to find his breath.
“Stay down, Dev. I don’t want to hurt you, man.”
Dev shoved Baron away from him, disoriented. He leaned over and hacked out a stream of bile into the dirt. He dragged his mouth across his sleeve. “Come on.”
Baron shook his head again. He didn’t wait for Dev to swing again; instead, he walked over and jerked Dev’s arm behind his back, twisting his wrist as he did so. Dev arched up, feeling the pain radiate from his wrist all the way to his shoulder. He could feel the tips of his fingers touching the nape of his neck. Every time he struggled, Baron ratcheted his arm up just a little higher, until he was panting with pain.
“You done?” Baron asked after he’d held Dev still for several minutes.
Dev nodded. Baron let him go, shoving Dev away from him. Stumbling to keep his feet, Dev rubbed at his sore shoulder. “Damn, that hurt.” He staggered, bracing himself with one hand on the hood of a nearby car.
A few patrons had gathered at the double doors to watch. Dev flipped them off. Baron waved them back inside before putting a shoulder under Dev’s arm and hauling him to his car. “Stop being such a dumbass.”
Dev shook his head, finding it harder and harder to think. “Not a dumbass.”
“Yeah, you are. You’d rather have me beat the hell out of you than tell a girl you love her.” Baron opened the passenger door and dumped Dev inside. “And all because she hurt your pride by trying to take care of things herself.” Dev watched him walk around the front of the car, his words hitting harder than the punch had.
“Is that what I’m doing?” he asked as Baron lowered his bulk behind the wheel.
“Damn straight that’s what you’re doing. Now I’m going to take you home so you can stop being a public embarrassment and sober up. I think you owe someone an apology.” Baron turned the key in the ignition and the Barracuda’s engine growled awake.
“Sorry, man.” Dev tilted his head against the seat so he could stare at the ceiling.
Baron snorted. “I’m not the one you need to apologize to, dumbass.”
Chapter 18
There was a loud banging on her bedroom door. Cass pulled herself up from the depths of sleep only to shout, “Go away!” She pulled her blanket over her head.
She’d gone to bed somewhere in the avenue of four a.m. after using all the hot water in the shower. She had to get the smell of burning rubber out of her hair and skin, and it was always easier to deny tears when your face was already wet.
The knocking continued, and Cass chucked her pillow at the back of her door. She opened a bleary eye to check the clock. It wasn’t even nine o’clock. Who needed her awake at this hour? Mags knew that if she was sleeping she was to be disturbed only in cases of house fire or zombie uprising. Liam was still recovering at his place. There was no one else left to bother her.
The door creaked open and Mags stuck her head inside. “Sorry. He won’t take she’s sleeping for an answer.”
With a groan, Cass sat up. “Who’s he?”
“Dev. He’s in the living room.” She stepped into Cass’s bedroom, closing the door behind her. “What happened last night? He’s really upset.”
Cass dropped back down in bed, wishing she had her pillow back. Maybe Mags would suffocate her with it if she asked nicely. “Ugh.”
“That’s shorthand for I don’t want to talk about it, isn’t it.” When Cass nodded, Mags asked, “You want me to try and get rid of him again? I can call the cops.”
“No, it’s okay.” She pulled herself upright and swung her legs over the side of the bed. “I’ll go talk to him.”
Cass staggered to her feet, and Mags surprised her by giving her a hug.
“You look like you need one,” she explained when Cass looked at her strangely. “I was going to go to the library, but I can totally stay if you want me to.”
Cass rubbed at eyes gritty with sleep and tears. “Go on. I’ll be fine.”
“Text me if you need anything.”
She waited until Mags had gone before stumbling into the bathroom. She didn’t bother looking in the mirror—she didn’t want to see what was looking back at her. After she was finished with her business, she brushed her teeth and prepared herself to face Dev.
He stood in the center of her living room with his back to her. His presence was like a physical blow. Cass wanted to lean over, feeling like she’d been hit in the gut. Dev looked like sin made solid, his dark hair still damp from a shower. He had on his usual battered jeans and boots, and his broad shoulders filled out his black t-shirt so well it should be a crime against humanity.
This was so not fair.
Cass cleared her throat. He turned, gaze raking her body from the top of her bedhead to the tips of her bare feet. He put a hand up to his forehead, like he had a headache and snapped, “Put on some damn clothes.”
She looked down. There was nothing wrong with what she was wearing. It was a well-worn black tank and a pair of boxers. And it was her place. She could wear whatever the hell she wanted. He was the one who’d come over here to talk to her. He was the one who’d woken her up.
What little tolerance she had snapped like a frozen twig. “Excuse me?”
She stalked over to him, no longer caring how good he looked. He’d walked away from her last night. He’d left before she had a chance to explain. And now he was going to come in here and tell her how to dress? Oh, HELL no he was not. “I know you did not just tell me what to do IN MY OWN HOUSE!”
She felt lik
e she had when she found out how deeply Liam was in debt to Wrex; worse, even. She was hurt. Dev had hurt her. She wasn’t used to that from anyone. It was part of why she didn’t date. She hated feeling the way she did now.
“Just because you’ve seen me naked, does not mean you get to order me around. Wrex tried that and look where it got him!”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she realized what a mistake they were. Damn, she should never speak without at least two cups of coffee in her. How could she be so stupid? Why not just rub Dev’s face in last night’s revelations all over again? Maybe she’d suffered a brain injury last night without realizing it. She’d certainly been ready to bash her head into a wall after Wrex had spilled everything to Dev.
Dev didn’t just look pissed off. He looked honest to God, spit nails furious. “How about we talk about Wrex! Why the hell didn’t you tell me about him?”
“Because it wasn’t any of your business!” she shouted back, stepping toe to toe with him. “It was one night before I ever even knew you. I was feeling lonely and had too much to drink and—you know what? I don’t need to explain myself to you!”
“I don’t care about you sleeping with him before me!” Dev’s hands were clenched into fists, but he held himself still. “I care about you not telling me about the bet!”
“It was the only way he’d go through with it,” Cass answered, throwing her hands up in frustration. “Don’t you think if there had been any other way, I would have taken it? That was the only way I could get him to agree to my stakes.”
“And what if you had lost?” Dev was so close to her now that she could feel the anger radiating off of him in waves. “Did you even think about that? About what that would do to me? To us?”
Cass went completely still at his words. He stood in front of her, breathing heavily. She cocked her head, staring at his face. “There’s an us?” She paused, confused. “When did we become an us?”
“Jesus, Cass!” He scraped his hands through his hair, looking like he was one step away from shaking her in his frustration. “Do you think I do this with just anybody? I took you on my motorcycle!”
“Nice choice of words,” she reminded him. She couldn’t help herself. He’d just left it there, like a gift.
His lips twitched, as if he were fighting back a smile. “I don’t do this kind of thing with just any girl. I even let you meet Jake!” He huffed out a breath, like all the anger was leaving him. “So yeah, there’s an us.”
“You never mentioned it before now.”
Cass had never really been part of an us before. She preferred relationships that, well, weren’t. Much less complications. And she was still mad at him. . . at least she had been. It all faded away when she looked at Dev, standing across from her. He was everything she’d ever wanted. Everything she hadn’t even known she wanted. Standing here. Looking at her.
“I probably shouldn’t have stormed off,” he said, staring into her eyes.
“I maybe could’ve told you about the bet,” she offered.
They both grinned. It wasn’t exactly an apology, but it was for them. It worked.
He gave her a wry smile. “And as for why I said to put on clothes—it makes it hard to fight with you when my dick’s standing at attention.” He gave her a wry smile.
Her gaze skipped down to the noticeable bulge in his jeans. “Oh.” She shifted from foot to foot. “Well, this just became really awkward really fast.”
He smiled, lifting his hand to her cheek. He ran the back of his hand down to her jaw, a slow, gentle touch that made her tremble. Cass watched his face, cataloguing his expressions. Dev was staring at her like she was something precious, like she mattered. He took his time as he learned the lines of her face by touch. His blunt fingers lightly traced the line of her jaw, her cheek, her forehead, surprising her with his gentleness.
His head dipped low, his lips stopping just shy of her ear. His warm breath gusted against her skin as he asked, “Do you ever not say the first thing that pops into your head?” There was a fondness in his voice that filled her with a pleasant heat.
“Nope,” she smirked, his nearness making it hard for her to think. “I have it on good authority that it’s one of my more annoying traits.”
“I don’t know,” he whispered, running the tip of his nose along her neck. “I think it’s kind of sexy.”
“Are we good then?”
“Yeah, we are.”
She opened her mouth to say something else, but Dev captured her lips before she could speak—or remember what she was going to say.
He licked along her lips, pulling her lower lip into his mouth. Cass opened her mouth on a sigh. Dev drugged her on slow, wet kisses, his tongue stroking hers. She felt heat collect in her blood, lining her limbs in fire. His hands were on her waist, pushing her backwards until she hit the wall as all the while his mouth devoured her.
She threaded her fingers through his hair, tugging on the thick strands. In response, Dev scraped his teeth along her tongue, and then bit lightly at her kiss-swollen lips. Cass moaned, but he swallowed down her cry.
His hands mapped every inch of available skin that he could reach, leaving her weak kneed and wanting with each touch. Her fingers skimmed along his arms and back, kneading the powerful muscles there. Dev leaned against her, pressing his chest flush with hers, pushing her back flat against the wall. Cass thought she’d overload from the way he was touching her, kissing her. Everything was light and electricity inside of her. She felt like she might explode from the pleasure of it all.
She yanked her mouth away. “Wait,” she gasped, needing a break from the sensations flooding through her.
“I don’t want to wait,” Dev growled. His eyes were dark, greedily drinking in her face. He grabbed the hem of her tank top. “I want this off.” He pulled it up over her head, dropping it to the floor. His fingers hooked into the waistband of her boxers. “I want these down.” With a twist of his wrist, he hauled them down, leaving them to puddle at her feet. “And I want to spend every day showing you how incredible I think you are.’
Dev stared at her naked body with a kind of reverence. “The question is, will you let me?”
Cass stared, her throat gone dry. Her eyes searched Dev’s face, looking for what she wasn’t quite sure. He stared back at her, his face open and easy. And waiting for her answer.
Did she want what Dev was offering? Could she handle it?
Dev was still waiting, patient as he always was where she was concerned. And just like that, she knew her answer.
“Yes, Dev.” She smiled slightly, feeling suddenly shy. “I’ll let you.”
A huge grin crossed his face, as he swept her up. Whatever she planned to say next was lost in an undignified squawk when Dev hoisted her into his arms and carried her into the bedroom. He set her on the bed and then returned to the door and closed and locked it.
“No disturbances,” he promised. “I want to take my time with you.”
Cass tried to hold still as he stalked over to the bed, but she couldn’t help the anticipatory shiver that went up her spine at the sight of him. Even with his clothes on he was a thing of beauty. She couldn’t wait to actually see all of him. He followed her down, kneeling on the bed between her knees.
“You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to see you like this,” he murmured, staring at her as if she were a feast laid out before him.
Her breath caught in the back of her throat as his gaze swept over her naked flesh, searing her. “I have some idea.”
Dev began at her shoulders, stroking her skin gently, the barest of touches. When she reached for him, he pressed her hands back down on the blankets by her side. “These stay here,” he told her, before going back to learning her body with his hands.
His palms swept over her chest, fingers dancing over the jut of her collarbones before sliding lower. The backs of his hands slipped along the outside curve of her breasts, his thumbs brushing over her nipples. Cass arched up from
the bed, feeling like an electric current connected her breasts to her clit, making everything throb in pleasure. Dev didn’t linger; instead, his hands dipped lower, curving over her stomach and down over her hip bones. She bit her lip to keep from crying out with want. He was taking forever.
Deft fingers kneaded the flesh of her thighs, urging her legs farther apart. Cass watched Dev as he skated his hands over the sensitive flesh of her inner thighs. His face was set in a determined expression, but she could see his pupils had nearly swallowed the iris. Bright spots of color bloomed on his cheeks. Just touching her was doing this to him.
His clever fingers skimmed over her sex and she bucked up, only to have Dev pull away. He resumed his path down her legs, hands gliding over her knees and calves. She growled, hips grinding down on the bed. This was torture.
When he reached her toes, he stopped. Cass panted, an aching vortex of need. Dev quickly undressed, dropping shirt and jeans to the floor by her bed. Then he settled back between her legs. “Tell me what you want,” he said, his fingers drawing patterns along the skin of her inner thighs.
Cass gripped fistfuls of blankets in her hands, feeling everything inside her clench. “I want your mouth on me.”
Dev grinned, keeping eye contact with her as he lowered his body down hers. Cass threw back her head in anticipation, unable to keep from crying out when she felt his tongue on her. He lapped at her with long strokes of his tongue, his hands holding her trembling thighs apart. She clawed at the sheets, forcing herself to keep her hands at her sides when all she wanted to do was touch him. His lips and tongue teased her mercilessly, drawing moans from deep within her.
She arched off the bed when he slid a finger inside of her, vision whiting out from the force of her orgasm. Dev chuckled, wrapping his arm around her leg and hip so he could hold her still. Cass tried to twist away, but he kept her pinned, his mouth still working on her. She felt another orgasm building and groaned as he slid another finger inside of her. The intensity ratcheted up until she wailed at the pleasure-pain of it.