“Even if they’re wrong?”
“Ignore the numbers,” Aleena snipped and hung up the phone.
This was ridiculous. Nicola was an intern, not a dunce. No one would buy rolls of fabric at ten thousand dollars a yard. And it wasn’t like she was doing books for Prada or Gucci. There was no Louis Vuitton warehouse anywhere in their general vicinity. She was doing the books for a no-name corporation whose warehouse seemed dead except for the occasional flurry, and their profit margins were off. What she thought had been the perfect position was now just a big pain in the butt.
She hung up and continued to analyze the accounts and translate the bills of sale. She swore, if they weren’t actually giving her college credit for this internship, the job would amount to nothing but busy work. She checked the time on her screen. Time to go.
Nicola passed three huge guys as she walked out. They were broad, built, and looked scarier than a horror movie. They also looked out of place to be heading into a textile warehouse.
In the parking lot, she slipped into her car, frustrated that the job that she’d jockeyed for was turning to crap fast. “Whatever. It’s one semester. You need the credit.”
Yeah, talking to herself was a first sign that things weren’t going well. As she pulled out of the lot, another dark car with tinted windows arrived. She watched in her rearview mirror, curious to see a buyer of super expensive nothingness, but instead, she saw more huge guys flanking another guy—not as big—but definitely having a worse day than her. That sucked for him, and she channeled her irritation into driving away, slamming on the gas pedal.
Twenty minutes later, she had parked on campus and was walking up the SAC ramp. Her cell buzzed and the screen made her grin. A text from Cash.
How’s the bday going?
He’d called her that morning and wished her a very happy, very dirty birthday. It had made her stomach flip, and she hadn’t heard from him for the rest of the morning.
Tonight was her birthday party, courtesy of Roman and Cash and the rest of the TKX boys. Something about being Roman’s kid sister and Cash’s best friend had made her something like campus royalty when she first arrived as a freshman. They’d thrown her the same party last year, but it’d been a surprise. She’d arrived on Cash’s arm not expecting a thing. Tonight, one year later, she’d arrive on his arm again. Not a surprise party, but why break the tradition? God, had it really been a year? How things change.
She typed out: Good. Job’s driving me crazy.
The ramp was packed with people heading in and out of the SAC. Everyone had mellowed back into the swing of things, and the usual suspects were hanging out where she’d expect to see them. Football players held court at the top of the ramp. Sorority girls trailed after whichever frat boys their groups fell in line with, and a couple of credit card companies were offering free t-shirts and beer cozies in exchange for sign ups. Her phone buzzed again.
Forget about it. U have super secret date night tonight.
She bit her lip to hide a bigger smile. A second text came through.
I can see you.
Glancing over her shoulder, she stared down the ramp, and her phone buzzed again.
Wrong direction.
Her smile threatened to take over her whole face, a smile that said he made her giddy and giggly. She spun to find him and slammed into Jacob.
Nicola took a step back. “Shit. Sorry.”
The ball cap pulled down low looked good on him. Textbook good looking. Add on that he was the popular quarterback with a promising career, and Nic could see why girls swooned. But she could also see that he was confident her ear-to-ear grin had everything to do with running into him. “Look at you smiling like that. What’s up?”
“Nothing.” But she knew her cheeks were pink, and she looked like she had a secret to hide.
His eyes drifted to her phone. Before she could pull back, he snatched it. “Who you talking to?”
“Not funny, J.” What could be classified as harmless flirting had disaster all over it. If he read those texts… Shit! She jumped for it. “Give me.”
Roaring back with a laugh, he held it high overhead. “Try again!”
She jumped again, panicked. Jacob was about to out her and Cash, all because J thought he was a flirtatious hot stud and she hadn’t locked her phone. “Give me my phone.”
Jacob spun out of her reach, fake throwing it back to her, spun again like he was auditioning for some ESPN sport reel highlights. Ugh, asshole! He faked—no—he for real tossed it. The phone arched high over her head. Her fingers reached for it as she turned and slammed into Roman. What the fuck?
Roman caught her cell, holding it above her head. “What’s going on?”
“Nic’s got a secret.” J clapped twice, and Roman tossed it back to him.
Seriously, for all the bullshit overprotective crap that Roman said about Jacob, he was going to get all kinds of hell from her for participating in this little game.
“Damn it, Roman. We’re not playing monkey in the middle. Give me.” She jumped again as Jacob lofted it. “My phone.”
“Over here.”
Cash. She spun to face him as Roman tossed the phone. He held it up, lazy grin and gorgeous eyes. “You looking for this?”
Her cheeks were on fire. “Yes. My phone. Please.”
Cash looked at Roman and Jacob. “Why are we torturing her?” He looked back her way, all knowing. “Not that we need a reason to drive the girl crazy.”
In her head, that came out of his mouth loaded with sexual innuendo, probably having something to do with that fact that he drove her crazy, constantly. And even now, with his hand holding her phone high, his chest was broad and cut, while the muscles in his arm were chiseled to tan perfection.
Jacob motioned for Cash to toss the phone, and if he did that, he was a dead man. A hot sex-god of a dead man because she’d kill him.
“She’s all smiles and giggles over something.” J acted like he was cute. “Seems like we should know, given that she never smiles and giggles.”
“Ah, Nicola has a secret boyfriend.” Cash teased. “Let’s see.”
“Give me my phone, Cash.”
He scrolled through her cell and bunched his forehead, mock-studying her screen. “She loves… Wait for it… Accounting.” He shook his head. “Sorry to get your hopes up, Double-deuce—”
Jacob scowled at Cash. “No one said anything about hopes up, dude. Just giving the girl hell.”
Roman nodded. “No one’s getting any hope up about Nic. Shit. Not now. Not ever. Certainly not you.”
“I’m still here, you know.” She snagged her phone from Cash, and he let his fingers drift over her skin. Oh… He did that on purpose, and it was insanely awesome. A cascading rush of shivers ran up her arm. “I can see whoever I want. Thank you very much.”
“I didn’t say I was trying to see you.” Jacob’s bruised ego was on PR duty. “And I’m not as bad as Cash.”
Roman chuckled. “No shit.”
Now it was her turn to furrow brows. “No one asked you.”
Cash crossed his arms over his chest and didn’t join in the banter. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing—because he looked to be one snide comment away from kissing her to stake a claim.
She locked her phone and took off up the ramp. J said something about going to class, Roman said something about ditching class, and Cash said nothing but fell in step with her.
“Hey,” he said.
“That was close.”
He shook his head. “It was fine. Don’t sweat it.”
“I’m serious, Cash. That was almost awful.”
“You need a distraction.”
“Maybe.” Really, she needed to hang out with guys who didn’t find entertainment in torturing her.
“Don’t forget about super-secret date night, birthday girl.” He threw his arm around her shoulders. “Come on. We’ll grab some lunch, and I’ll walk you to class. The entire time you can think about�
�” He leaned over and whispered, “Exactly how I’ll make you come tonight.”
All over again, hot cheeks and stolen breath. God, she loved him.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Classes were done for the day, and Cash was ready for tonight. He shut the front door behind him and saw Roman kicked back on the couch, tossing a football in the air.
“Heads up.”
“Hey.” The ball sailed over, and Cash snagged it. Heading to the fridge for a beer, he tossed it back at the couch.
“You ready for tonight?” Roman went back to tossing the ball in the air.
Twisting the cap off the bottle, he took a long pull before facing the couch. “Yeah, should be fun.”
“You think something’s up with Birthday Girl?”
After another long pull, Cash shrugged. “What do you mean?”
Roman tossed the ball at him. “She seems preoccupied.”
Sounded about right. That was how he felt too, and she was the root cause, but that wasn’t a conversation he needed to dig into now. Better to redirect. “I think she hates her job.”
“Maybe.” Ball toss. “But that’s not it. I haven’t seen her much lately. Hell, you either.”
Cash choked on his beer. “She’s doing her own thing. That’s cool, I guess.”
Roman scowled. “Long as it’s not with Jacob.”
“No shit.” Cash stared at the long neck, feeling like a piece of shit for keeping Roman in the dark. “If she wanted to though, you probably need to give her a break.”
“Good thing she’s not stupid.”
Agreed, but jumping on the Jacob-hating bandwagon wouldn’t do any good. “Here’s the thing about Nicola.”
Roman’s brows rose. “You’re going to tell me something I don’t know about my own sister?”
Cash shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Right.”
“She’s smart. Sweet. Popular. Like it or not, the girl’s hot.” Roman pegged the ball at him. Cash caught it and laughed, shaking his head. “See, dude?”
“And all that has nothing to do with her being distracted.”
“She’s not a kid anymore, and, really, hasn’t been for a while. So maybe she’s distracted. Or maybe she’s just scared to talk to you about whatever.”
Roman jumped up, headed to the kitchen, and grabbed a beer. He cracked the top and drained half of it before turning back to Cash. “I’m glad you’re bringing her over to the house tonight. If she showed up with Brandy or Hannah or whoever, she’d look like fair game.”
And Cash would have to kill someone. Then everyone would know whether Nicola liked it or not. “Well, then I guess we just have to pretend she’s with me.”
Roman threw his head back. “The devil we know.”
***
“You’re not my super-secret birthday date if everyone sees your hands all over me.” Nic walked like a robot. Her arms and legs moved choppily, and Cash would’ve laughed if she hadn’t been so nervous. Every few seconds, she tugged on her shirt, checked her cell phone, or pushed his hands off of her.
He loved it. “That’s what’s fun about this.”
“What? Having to ignore you on my birthday?”
“Loosen up. Just like last year, nobody will think twice that you’re here with me.”
“Last year, you weren’t touching me like you are now.”
“Don’t think I didn’t want to, sweet girl.”
They stood near the side door to the TKX house. Base bumped through the windows. A couple of folks were outside smoking cigarettes, but everyone else was inside. “Think of it like foreplay.”
Her jaw dropped, eyes bugged, and she looked around like he’d said it with a megaphone. “Oh my God, Cash.”
Foreplay it was, because her acting all innocent and untouchable was about to drive him clean off the edge.
“Happy birthday,” came from a few folks.
She waved and giggled. A couple wandering sets of eyes drifted over her, poking his possessive-alpha tendencies, and he was losing his cool before they’d even walked inside.
“Cash?”
His chest felt tight. “Yeah, babe.”
“Your turn to calm down. Take a breath already.”
That transparent, huh? Maybe just to her. They were getting good at reading each other. “Trying.” He realized that this may be harder than he’d thought. As long as he kept his hands on her, he’d be fine.
“Hey.” Even in high heels, she had to go up on tiptoes to reach his cheek. She pecked him quickly. Flirty, friendly, nothing that would raise too many eyebrows. “Think of it like foreplay.”
Her cheeks blushed as she said the word. It took about everything he had not to celebrate her birthday someplace else far, far away, and totally naked.
The side door flew open, and a few girls he knew squeaked and squawked, drunk and eyeing him like they all wanted his attention. He took a step forward, passing them, and grabbed the door. “Here we go.”
He pushed up behind Nic, letting the crowd of bodies hide his hands roaming on her waist, and whispered, “Alrighty, let’s have some fun, so I can take you home.”
There were people everywhere, and he needed to get her some fruity chick drink and him a beer, or they’d never relax. With Nicola in front of him, he leaned over, arms draping over her shoulders. “Move it, people. Birthday girl coming through.”
Finally at the bar, he grabbed a beer and shouted for something pink. A nod from one of the pledges on bartending duty, and that something pink with a straw arrived. She looked pleased enough and took three long pulls.
He sipped his beer, surveying the room. Everywhere he looked, people waved hey. Some offered Nic birthday shots. Wasn’t really her thing to down as many shots as her age, but if that was what she wanted, he wasn’t going to tell her no. But she smiled, scrunching her nose, waving away some offers, downing others.
“Better now?” he asked.
“Getting there.” She leaned against him, and his hands had her hips. “You?”
“Getting there.” The place smelled like stale beer and too many bodies, but with her this close, he could smell her shampoo. The swell of her ass swayed against him. “Where you want to go? Upstairs? Out on the deck?”
Nicola sighed. “Think anyone would notice if we left?”
“Are you trying to take me home already?”
She wiggled her eyebrows. “Absolutely.”
“You haven’t seen your roomies or Roman.”
“I can see them anytime.”
He leaned over, letting his lips tickle the top of her ear. “But you can have me anytime too.”
She turned in his arms, and nothing about the way they were pinned together looked like friends. He took her drink and set it at the bar. His heart beat into his throat, and his mind raced. His hand snaked around her waist and pulled her closer. Just to taste her lips. Just to hear her sigh. To say his name like she’d done before. Breathy and wanting.
“Cash…”
Just like that. “Yeah?”
There was no space between them, and he didn’t care. The base thumped around them, and the lights were low. Too many people were too close, but the crowd was their camouflage. No one could see how they clung together. No one noticed how her eyes locked to him. Or if they did, he didn’t notice them.
Cash backed them toward the center of the living room, a makeshift dance floor filled with people dancing, talking, drinking. But it was only them. The brash and the booze, it drifted away as her fingers crawled up his chest and locked behind his neck.
She went on tiptoes, he thought to say something. Acting like it was a secret that she had to whisper, he leaned to her, still holding her close, the curve of her breasts firmly against him. But her tongue teased his ear. Hot breath tortured him. A sly kiss hidden by her arms wrapped around his head, holding them in place. Swaying to music—
“Nicola!” A drunk Double-deuce came out of nowhere. “Excuse me, Cash.” He tried to step between them. “Wan
na dance, babe?”
No way in hell. Primal possessiveness gripped Cash’s chest. “Back off, Jacob.”
Jacob threw his head back, laughing like he didn’t know he was about to have his face pummeled to a pulp. “Cash, man.” His eyes trailed over Nicola. “Goddamn, Nicola.”
Hell no. Dude was going to have serious problems if he looked at his girl that way again. Drunk hands reached for her.
“Not in the mood, J.” She smacked the reaching hand. Smart girl. Definitely less problematic for her to slap him away than for Cash to break his wrist.
“Nicky.”
She smirked. “Don’t call me that.”
“Get out of here, Jacob.” The words rumbled out of Cash’s chest as his hands clasped around her waist.
Cash spun them away, grinding his teeth together. One step away, and Jacob clapped a hand on Cash’s shoulder. His jaw flexed, and a whole lot of the fuck he did coursed through his brain.
“Get your motherfuckin’ hand off me.” Cash turned, seeing red, but also saw Roman out of the corner of his eye. Cash shook off Jacob. “Nic, head toward your brother.”
“What? Wait. No.” She tried to turn back, but the crowd jostled around them.
A staggering Jacob reached for Nicola, but Cash stepped in front of him. “Back off, Jacob.”
Nicola jumped between him and Jacob. “Don’t do this, Cash. Don’t.”
Jacob swayed on his feet, pawing at her. She batted him off, but he leaned for her again. “Nic wants to dance. Dontcha?”
The music pumped loud as the beat in Cash’s heart. Blood rushed in his ears, and tunnel vision was fast approaching. She needed to go. Jacob needed to back the hell off. “I swear to God, Nicola, go find Roman—”
Roman arrived, hooked an arm around her, tugging her back. “Let’s go.”
“Damn it, all of you,” Nicola yelled.
Jacob squared off against Cash. “What’s your problem?”
A few football players lined up behind Jacob. They looked more curious about the happenings than ready to throw down. But even if they did, Cash was sure his anger and agility would topple Jacob. Hell, the way he was feeling, bring on the entire team. A couple of TKXs buzzed behind his back. Nicola was a few feet away, giving Roman ten shades of hell and cursing both Cash and Jacob.
Sweet Girl (Titan) Page 9