“Victor pushed for me to help him. ‘Deliver this bag here, Val.’ ‘Take this package there.’ I was so stupid. So fucking thankful when he would pass me a twenty here or a fifty there for helping him,” I shared, remembering how naïve I had been.
“Val—“
“I’d just turned seventeen when he asked if I could maybe help out one of his friends. He needed a waitress. I thought ‘Wow, better pay! How nice of Vic to watch out for me!’ What I didn’t know was that it was at a seedy strip club. But even after I found out, I kept working there. Delivering an envelope here or a backpack to a friend. Completely fucking clueless.”
“Baby—“
“I worked myself ragged! All to save up as much as I could. Taking the bus back and forth to school to the couple of classes I could get, because the idea of a car felt like an impossibility. But see, I didn’t know, I swear as stupid as it sounds, I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t know he was going to try to talk me into more. He thought the apple didn’t fall far from the tree…”
“Fuck it,” he snapped, marching his beautiful, broad body toward me. I had nowhere to go, so my back dug deeper into the counter.
His body came right to my front, so close I could smell him. He smelled like the delicious manly body wash he used, that I’d scoped out in the bathroom, and the sun. I fought every cell inside of me from sighing or doing something stupid like putting my face in the crook of his neck and breathing him in deeply.
Without a word, he picked me up, his hands on my ass lifting me up, and my legs instinctively wrapped around his waist, my hands on his shoulders, our faces a mere two or three inches apart. “Put me down!” I ordered unconvincingly.
“No.” His serious face was right in front of mine.
“Yes!” I childishly pouted, not scrambling to get down. If anything, I held tighter to the muscles below his shirt.
“No,” he repeated, his blue-grey eyes more grey than blue for the first time. I wasn’t going to think about how beautiful they were. Bryan smoothly sat us down onto the couch, settling us in as if we’d done it a million times before.
Another thing I am not going to think about.
With my ass on his lap, his hands moved slowly north to my waist, gliding and stopping at my hips a little too long. Making my body react further to his touch.
“I got off the bus and was walking to work. I got stopped by cops. I had no idea what I had in the bag, Bryan,” I whispered and felt so tired I leaned forward, resting my forehead on his. “I served six months, and while I was there, Vaughn found out and left school,” I shared. The squeeze he gave my hips made me keep sharing, “He was so close to finishing. Graduating. Finally having that chance to get out of where we grew up.” Shaking my head, I looked away. “He lost that chance because of me.”
“What happened?” he asked, one of his hands leaving my hips to caress my face, and I dared look at him.
“Victor was there when I got out and without an apology told me he wanted me to start turning tricks so he could impress Lenny,” I whispered.
“Lenny Veracruz?” he growled, and I nodded, pulling away.
“He was, umm…”—I cleared my throat, feeling my face turn hot—“was recruiting. He liked the look of me. He said I was young and blond, I looked like a good girl with a dirty mouth. An easy money maker.”
“What did you do?”
“I told them to go to hell,” I whispered with a grin. “And I wouldn’t budge.”
“Of course you wouldn’t.”
“I was, umm… I was a virgin. I hadn’t even kissed a guy then.” I didn’t know why I felt the need for him to know that, but I did. It was an inner battle of trying to push him away and holding on with everything I had, though holding on seemed to be winning.
”Vaughn was waiting at Victor’s place when we got there and took me away from them. Set us up with an apartment. He found a job at some factory, worked a line putting remote controls together. I still had the little money I’d saved up, and I pitched in. We were a team,” I told him, remembering those couple of months of breathing easy.
Easier than I had in a very long time. No men trying to paw at me. No pinchy shoes, or druggies leering at me like a piece of candy.
“He got hurt. Some boxes fell on him in the middle of loading a delivery, hurt his back. Started popping pain pills like freaking tic-tacs. That led to using of, umm, other things.”
“He got arrested,” he prompted, and I nodded.
“Had to bail him out. I knew this girl from school who I had kept in touch with. We had a class together, and she told me about a place her sister, Vikki, was working. I met her boss, and her boss took a chance on me.”
“Where?”
“Why are you asking me, handsome? You already know this.” I couldn’t mask the defeat in my voice, and he looked at me.
“I only read about Vaughn.”
“What?” I asked, my voice so soft I barley heard it in my own ears.
“I think you know I like you, Blondie.” His hand stroked the hair at my temple gently, tenderly, and my body shivered, my eyes glassy with emotion. I had feelings way too strong for a man I had only met a couple of weeks ago.
“Bry—“
“I want to get to know you. I want you to tell me about things. That was a Pandora’s box I couldn’t open.”
“But Vaughn was okay?” I asked, not angry or hurt, simply curious.
“Absolutely,” he answered immediately. “The guy who was here last night was not good news. No one sitting in the dark, waiting for a woman, uninvited, could be. I could tell the moment we walked in that you didn’t like the asshole. I know the grown men you’ve been around have been shit, but you gotta know I’m not that kind of man.”
“Bry—“
“I protect what’s mine.”
“I’m not yours,” I whispered, my heart beating in my ears.
“You are.” The steady confidence in his voice when he said those two words told me he wasn’t messing around. My skin broke out in goose bumps, but my heart warmed over at the possibility.
“I—“
“Even if we didn’t have the electric current rushing between us, which we most definitely do, I live here.”
“That doesn’t mean—“
“Val. I do what I do for a living. I take care of what’s mine. No way would I let the person I live with flail in the wind.” My heart pitter pattered at the confident steadiness in his voice. Not only was he confident, but I believed everything he was saying. I didn’t know him, but I knew he would have been protective of anyone in his circle. Swallowing hard, I leaned in, closing any space between us. My arms wrapped around his shoulders, and he held on to me. God, this was perfect. How can it be this perfect?
Turning my face into the crook of his neck, letting his scent and warmth fill my senses, I tried to calm myself for what I knew I had to share next. He was a good guy from a good family, and I was so far from that.
“Baby?” He could feel my hesitation, so I kept talking in a hushed whisper into his ear, tears prickling behind my closed eyes.
“I needed the money to keep us afloat, so I went to work at Shine.” His body tensed completely, and my shut eyes tightened.
Being in law enforcement, especially in an affluent area like Pasadena, I knew he would have at least heard of the exclusive members-only club that the movers and shakers of the west coast frequented. By the way he tightly held his body, I knew I was right.
Belle Garibaldi, Shine’s proprietor, was the Madame of the west coast. A woman who ran a club with pretty surroundings and even prettier people inside. People who stripped, escorted, and then some. A woman who I had no idea how she got away doing the things she did without being arrested for half the things that went on at Shine. But she did.
Belle Garibaldi held more power in her pinky than anyone I had ever met.
She was also a woman who had given me a chance, and because of her, I’d been able to transfer from a small
community college to a state university and keep a roof over my head, clothes on my back, and food in my belly. She never pressured her girls to do anything they didn’t want.
“I’m sure,” he mumbled, his body still held tight, and I realized I had spoken my last thought out loud.
“She didn’t, Bryan. The girls who work for her, they go to her, if they, umm, wanna move up.”
“Babe, you shouldn’t tell me—“
“She gave me a stage, and I danced once. Topless, not nude.” I was still whispering in his ear. His head came down to my shoulder, and I heard him growl. “Bryan…” I started to shift in his lap, but his hands moved to my hips to keep me still. Then I felt him. He was hard. “Bryan,” I spoke softly.
“I’m a man, baby.”
“I know that.”
“As much as I hate that you did that at the age you were—”
“I was eighteen when—”
“You talking about that, I can’t help imagining it.” His voice rasped against my neck. Wetness hit between my thighs. “But this isn’t the time for that. Fuck,” he rumbled, holding his body still, and I opened my eyes, breathing in and out, trying to cool off the way he’d just ignited my body.
And burst out into a fit of giggles.
“This isn’t funny,” he muttered, and I laughed harder, moving away from the safety of his neck.
“Thank you,” I told him once my laughter died down. I held his face with both my hands, and he looked more than surprised at me.
“For?”
“For letting me tell you. I’ve never told anyone all of this. Not like this.”
“You’re safe with me.”
“I know,” I responded immediately, part of me hating how vulnerable that left me. The other part didn’t care, because I knew he could handle it. Handle me.
“I danced once and couldn’t do it ever again. She saw that and for some reason cut me some slack and gave me a job in the kitchen.”
“What?” The surprise in his voice was evident. I smiled at him. “I washed dishes for her, handsome. That’s all I did. Three months later, I saw this scholarship for women who were turning their lives around, and since I had gone to juvie, I qualified. I applied and got it. I worked hard and studied harder. Got my degree and went to work at Cedar’s.”
“How’d you get in there? Right outta school, that must have been tough.”
“Belle helped me,” I confided, and his jaw twitched. My fingers traced his lower lip. “Not in a bad way. She got my resume into the hands of the right people. My grades and test scores and internship more than spoke for themselves. I got myself in there. She just helped get my stuff looked at.” He nodded.
“Thank you,” he said, and now it was my turn to be confused.
“For?”
“For sharing. For trusting me enough to tell me.”
“I thought you already knew most of it.”
“I could tell.” He grinned. “I like you, Val,” he repeated, and I smiled.
“I like you, too.”
“But…” And there it was, the proverbial other shoe dropping.
“I get it.” I fake smiled at him, catching him off guard when I stood up and straightened my top, running my hands through my hair.
“You don’t,” he pressed.
“I do. Bryan, a guy like you, a girl like me…You can do better and we both know it.” I tried to smile, but it was fake and I knew it.
“Don’t do that,” he warned, his face becoming serious.
“What? It’s true and it’s okay.”
“It’s not. It’s just…” I wasn’t going to stand there and wait for him to give me a lame excuse. Life had taught me that when things shine, they sure as hell weren’t meant for me. And Bryan was brilliant.
“I need coffee and I gotta get ready. I have a heavy work week, so….” I lied, turning around, but he moved faster. The front of his body pressed close to my back, his hand on my belly, his lips at my ear.
“I’m divorced.” He told me something I already knew. “I’m divorced for a reason, babe.”
“You grew apart—“
“She was in love with someone else,” he quickly said, and I turned to look at him; confusion marked my mind and face. He was a great guy. One of the best. What kind of stupid bitch couldn’t see what they had with him?
“She’s an idiot,” I told him, and his lips twitched.
“Na. She was smart. I’m…”
“You are you, handsome. She had…” I’d broken enough of my rules for a day, showing enough weaknesses in my armor, so I rolled my eyes playfully. “A pretty piece of man candy on her hands.” I shrugged and could see that he saw through me, so he laughed and shook his head,
“Man candy?”
“You know, a sweet piece to look at.”
“Ouch.” With his hand on his chest, he feigned having been shot.
“I’m sure you’re much more than a pretty face.” I raised an eyebrow, cocking my hip forward, pressed against a delicious length behind his cargo shorts.
“Val.”
“I think we’ve had enough confessions for today. Don’t you?” I sighed.
“What about us?”
“There is no us.”
“There is,” he confidently spoke out loud, and I knew he was right. I just didn’t know what that meant.
So when he suggested coffee, I agreed and followed him into the kitchen, where we prepped our drinks and stood close but not close enough to touch. It was oddly familiar and comfortable despite the heavy emotional moments before.
“Wanna go to Home Depot later?” he asked me before taking a sip out of his mug.
“God, you are more than a pretty face. Keep talking, Detective.” I dramatically batted my lashes, fanning my face, and he laughed as his face turned a slight shade of pink.
“Smartass,” he muttered.
“Better than a dumbass,” I remarked, and to that, his arm went around my shoulder.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
VALERIE
Cuddling on the couch, his hard, warm chest behind me, we were sprawled out, and there wasn’t a better seat in the house.
“Have you talked to Vaughn?” he asked before kissing the back of my hair. I stilled.
We hadn’t talked about anything serious after we’d gone into the kitchen. After the French toast he’d whipped up for us, he had ordered me to get ready and we’d gone to the home improvement superstore.
Walking around, hand in hand, taking our time in the tile and paint aisles so that I could get ideas and grab a couple of paint chips. He was probably bored, but he hadn’t complained. Not once.
Afterwards, we went to a nursery, where I picked out a couple of succulents for the front yard, and then we went through a drive-in car wash, where he found a satellite radio station that played nothing but ‘90s pop songs. We sang out loud, off-key, and laughed so hard we both had tears in our eyes by the time the car was done being washed. When I saw him put the car in gear, giving me a smile so bright I swear I thought his eyes actually sparkled, my own smile grew. I quickly realized that every moment spent with Bryan Wright was better than the last. Regardless of where we were or what we were doing.
“No,” I told him, turning to look at him. His hand extended with the remote and he turned the TV off and let the remote fall on the floor.
“I need to find out how much shit he’s gotten into,” I confided. The thought of him somehow owing Lenny churned my stomach. “I was going to try to get a hold of him today, but we went out and…”
“I get it.”
“Is he really in New Mexico?” I asked.
“Yeah.” At least Vaughn hadn’t lied about that.
“That’s good.” I turned so I could face him. Our faces were centimeters away from one another, our bodies perfectly aligned. I suddenly found myself turned on and nervous.
“What is that dirty little mind thinking?” His hand was lazily stroking my hair.
“I should go to bed.
”
“We should.”
“Tomorrow’s my last day off.”
“Mine too.” He grinned.
“I have to go to the Laundromat.”
“Laundromat? I’m pretty sure I saw a washer and dryer in the garage, Blondie.
“They don’t work, stopped working about a month ago. I have my eye on a new set. I’ve been working doubles so that—“
“Gotcha.” His face went soft and he leaned in close, kissing my cheek.
“Go with me somewhere tomorrow,” he said, and I laughed.
“I just told you I have laundry—“
“We can take our laundry, do it there.”
“Where?” I frowned, wondering what he was up to.
“Trust me?”
“Yes.” And I wasn’t lying. I did trust him.
“We will get your cute nurse uniforms washed and ready for the week.”
“Cute nurse uniforms?” I asked, thinking about what I wore and how not sexy they were. ”You know I wear scrubs.“
“Shhh…” His smiling lips touched mine, and I opened for him to give me a soft, slow kiss before he slightly pulled away. “Let me have the fantasy, babe.” His breath tickled my lips, and I giggled.
“You’re such a guy,” I mouthed off, because I couldn’t help it.
“You like that, though.” He pulled us up into a sitting position with me on his lap.
“I’m not some doll, you know? You don’t have to move me around. I could have—“
“I like moving you around.” His hand pulled the ponytail holder out of my hair. “I also really fucking like your hair, Blondie.” His hands at my scalp rubbed, which felt like heaven. So much I couldn’t stop the moan that escaped from the back of my throat, and I didn’t try the others than came after. “So fucking soft. Thick.”
“Mmm…” I purred, my eyes shut. I just lent myself over to every sensation he brought out.
“Shit, babe. I think about touching your hair when I’m at work.”
“You do?” I asked him throatily, my eyes still shut, a smile on my face.
“Yeah,” he breathed in a heavy whisper. “Hands ache to touch it.”
STEAL (Right Men Series Book 2) Page 11