by Mari Carr
Jade studied her boss’s face and took pity on the man, letting the subject drop. Bruce was pale and sweating profusely. She wondered for a moment if she should take him to the hospital.
“Are you okay?” she asked quietly when Bruce turned to leave.
He turned around and gave her a weak smile. “Yeah. Got a bottle of Maalox by my bed. I’ll drink some of that before I go to sleep. If it still hurts in the morning, I’ll go to the doctor.”
Wow. He was sick. “All right. If it gets too bad tonight, call me. Okay?”
Bruce patted her on the shoulder. “You’re a good girl, Jade. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be back to normal in a few days.”
Jade pretended to shudder. “Damn. Don’t know if I should root for you to get better or not? Normal’s not exactly pretty on you.”
Bruce chuckled. “Little minx.” Then he looked at Liam, who’d claimed a stool at the bar and was watching their interaction. “Keep an eye on her. Don’t like her walking through that dark parking lot alone.”
Liam nodded. “I’ll take care of her.”
Bruce walked out the back door, leaving Jade and Liam alone in the quiet bar.
“I’d tell you I don’t need a babysitter, but I know it would be wasted breath.”
Liam gave her a smile that was too charming, too handsome. While she’d always acknowledged his hotness factor, it had never taken her breath away like it did lately, which was another reason she was hesitant to accept his offer. Sexual attraction was one thing, but falling for Liam would be outright insanity. She wasn’t about to play second fiddle to a ghost. Not that there was much of a competition. Celia had been beauty incarnate, graceful, intelligent, soft-spoken. She was no doubt the ideal girlfriend.
Jade? Not so much.
“I’m not going anywhere. You need help cleaning up?”
Jade appreciated the offer. “I’ve taken care of everything out here. Just need to pop into the backroom and tidy up there.”
Liam rose from the stool and followed her to the back. They spent a few minutes picking up trash, carrying beer bottles to the recycle bins, wiping the tables. Once they had the room in order, Jade started to head back to the bar.
Liam stepped in front of her, blocking her exit. “What’s your hurry?”
He’d been so quiet, she’d actually started to think she would escape tonight without having to give him an answer.
“It’s late. I’m tired.”
Liam gave her a knowing smile. “You’re part vampire, Jade. I’ve seen you close here only to head over to Compass Ranch for an all-night poker game with the hands too many times to buy that excuse.”
“I don’t have an answer for you.” Maybe if she just came clean, she could get out of here quicker. Too long in Liam’s presence was hazardous to her state of mind. She could already feel her pussy growing wet, her nipples budding. Her heart was racing, her lungs tight, and if she loosened her grip on the reins even just a little bit, she’d have Liam on his back on one of those pool tables while she straddled his hips and rode him like a mustang.
Liam—damn him—didn’t respond. Instead, he let his gaze wander down her body slowly, then back up. She was uneasy with his uncanny ability to see things she was fighting like the devil to hide. “Then you don’t have to give me one.”
She frowned, confused. “What?”
He reached out and cupped her cheek in his large palm. “I’m not going to force you into anything you’re not comfortable with. If you haven’t decided yet, that’s fine. Just be warned that I intend to work overtime to convince you to say yes.”
Jade swallowed heavily, wishing her body didn’t go into overdrive every time he touched her. It made it too hard for her to think.
Luckily, Liam saved her from having to come up with a response. He dropped his hand back to his side. “Wanna shoot a round?”
She frowned. “Now?”
Liam crossed the room and grabbed a couple sticks from the rack hanging on the wall. “Why not? We never get this place to ourselves. We should take advantage of it.”
She accepted the pool cue from him, instinctively reaching for the blue chalk cube. Maybe a platonic game was exactly what she needed to help her get a grip. She and Liam were cutthroat competitors. The contest would be a welcome distraction. “Fine. You’re on. Should we put a wager on it to make it fun? Say, twenty bucks?”
Liam shook his head. “Not interested in taking your money.”
She laughed. “Doesn’t matter. I didn’t intend to give you any. It’s you who’s going to be forking over the pot when I wipe up this table with you.”
He took the chalk from her with a cocky grin. “You’ve never beaten me. What makes you think tonight will be any different?”
She didn’t confess that she’d been practicing. A lot. If there was one thing Jade hated, it was losing. After her last defeat at Liam’s hands, she’d started coming in to Spurs a half hour or so before they opened to run through some drills and trick shots. Bruce—a former hustler himself—had given her some pointers as well.
“Just put the cash on the table.”
“No. I want something else when I win.”
Jade tilted her head, intent on continuing the trash-talking, but Liam cut her off.
“After I win, I pull down those tight jeans of yours, bend you over the table and fuck you from behind.”
Jade blinked several times, then jerked away from Liam when he reached over to close her open mouth with a strong finger on her chin.
“Is that your idea of convincing me?”
He nodded. “Yep.”
“Fine,” she said when she was finally able to speak. The static roaring in her ears was almost deafening. “And when I win, you...”
What the hell was she supposed to ask for? The list of sexual things she wanted to try with Liam rolled through her brain like the credits at the end of a movie—only in fast-forward. It occurred to her there were too damn many things she desired, every single act kinkier than the one before it.
Liam grasped a handful of her T-shirt and pulled her closer. “I what?”
She wasn’t ready to give in just yet. “You owe me twenty dollars.” Jade held out her hand and she and Liam shook on the bet.
“Deal.” Liam racked the balls, then looked at her. “You want to break?”
She nodded, approaching the end of the table. Just as she bent over to line up her shot, Liam stepped behind her. His crotch rested firmly against her ass. She started to rise, but Liam’s hand landed on her upper back, holding her close to the table.
“What the hell are you—?”
“Just giving you some incentive...” Liam gripped her hips tightly, rubbing his obvious erection against her. He leaned over her upper body, caging her beneath him until she could feel his hot breath. “…to lose.”
The bastard swept her hair to one side before placing the sexiest kiss on her neck. Jade’s pussy clenched with need. She pressed closer to his cock, wishing there weren’t so many clothes between them.
Liam was fighting dirty. And winning.
If he kept this up, the game would end before it even started. Jade forced air into her lungs, tried to beat down her desires. “You finished?” Somehow she managed to put just the right amount of boredom in her tone.
Liam chuckled. “You’re not fooling me, gorgeous. But yeah, I think I’m good for now.”
He stood, the air on her back suddenly cool without his presence. Jade pushed herself upright, the effort almost painful. She was hornier than she’d ever been in her life. Her body was telling her to stop fucking around, give in to what she wanted. However, her brain insisted she’d be smarter to call off the game, drive home at the speed of light and take care of business with her vibrator. Unfortunately her libido rejected the idea of another night of lackluster orgasms brought on by a lousy piece of plastic.
“Jade?”
Liam pulled her out of her thoughts. How stupid must she look standing there while her brain and b
ody battled out exactly how she was going to get lucky tonight? Sterling was right. She was overthinking all of this. Denying herself wasn’t part of her chemical makeup and yet, with Liam, she couldn’t channel the impulsive, throw-caution-to-the-wind woman who’d always reigned supreme.
Why couldn’t she?
Pushing her needs aside, she glared at Liam over her shoulder. “You’re a cheating bastard.”
His shit-eating grin was less than contrite. “Break the balls, Jade.”
“Oh, I’d like to break a couple balls,” she muttered as she resumed her previous position. This time, Liam left her unmolested, walking to the side to watch her shot, chuckling over her quiet threat.
Jade knocked the cue solidly, managing to place a stripe in the corner pocket. Pleased, she moved around the table and sank two more balls before missing on her third shot.
Liam was clearly surprised by her improvement. “You been practicing?”
She shrugged nonchalantly. For the next few minutes, neither of them spoke as the spirit of competition did indeed begin to overpower the sexual tension. The more things changed, the more they stayed the same. Jade felt a strange sense of comfort in that. Despite this newfound—and not entirely wanted—attraction to Liam, deep down, they were essentially the same people.
She watched him attempt a difficult shot, studying his face in his distraction. As he concentrated, she pondered how much he’d changed over the years. When she was younger, Jade had considered Liam one of the grown-ups. After all, she’d only been sixteen when they met, and he’d seemed practically ancient at twenty-one.
Now that she was twenty-four, she understood that he’d been young the night they’d met in the cemetery too. “Do you ever wonder where you’d be right now if Celia hadn’t died?”
Liam froze, his gaze lifting to her face. “Where did that question come from?”
She lifted one shoulder. She didn’t have a clue, but she wasn’t willing to back away. Liam was an open book with her—except on the topic of Celia. No matter how many questions she’d asked about the woman over the years, Liam always found a way to dodge the conversation. “Don’t you think twenty-one was sort of young to get married? I mean, I’m twenty-four and that’s the last thing on my mind.”
“I thought forever wasn’t on your mind at all. You always say it’s not for you, that you’re never enduring that sort of long-term commitment.”
“I’m not. And you’re changing the subject. As always.”
Liam stood up slowly, leaning his hip against the pool table. She stood on the opposite side. Even the distance between them wasn’t enough to quench the fire she felt igniting.
“I’m not really sure how to answer that. When I proposed to Celia, there wasn’t a question in my mind. I was one hundred percent certain I was doing the right thing. That I loved her and wanted to spend the rest of my life with her.”
Jade hated the part of her that was actually hurt by his words. Jealousy?
“Of course, now—at the ripe old age of twenty-nine—I can’t imagine ever being so sure of something. There’s a confidence in youth that definitely fades with time.”
“You miss her.” It wasn’t a question. She knew he did. Saw it in the way he disappeared inside himself whenever Celia’s name was mentioned.
He nodded. “Yeah. I miss her. And I wonder from time to time where I’d be if she were still here. But those kinds of thoughts can drive you crazy if you dwell on them.”
Jade understood that. Vivi had said something similar once when Jade mentioned JD, had wished that cancer hadn’t taken her grandfather before she’d had the chance to meet him.
And God knew Jade had suffered too many sleepless nights as she considered her life with George in it. If he’d lived, how different would she be? Would she still be this tomboy or would she be softer? Sometimes she felt as if she’d tried to assume both the daughter and son roles, feeling sad that her father had never gotten his boy. As a result, she’d taken up fishing and shooting guns and riding motorcycles in an attempt to fill that void. Would she have chosen to do those things if George had lived?
She shook the wayward thoughts from her mind. “Did you ever play pool with Celia?”
Liam laughed and shook his head. “Nope. I never did, and I’m pretty sure Celia would have hated Spurs.”
Jade reared back, shocked. While she knew the place was a dive and on any given day she wanted to punch at least a dozen of the patrons in the mouth for just being annoying in general, Jade truly loved Spurs. “Why?”
“Are you sure you want to hear about this?”
She nodded. “Yeah. If you’re comfortable talking about it.”
Liam didn’t reply immediately and she expected him to shut her down once again. Then he released a long sigh. “Maybe it’s time I did talk about her.”
Liam rested the cue against a sidewall and pulled out a chair at one of the few tables in the room. He gestured for her to join him, so she did. “Celia and I were pretty young when we were together. She’d only turned twenty-one a couple of months before she died. Bars weren’t part of our dating scene.”
“She didn’t come here on her twenty-first birthday?” Jade had been at the front door of Spurs the second Bruce unlocked it on the day she was finally deemed old enough to drink. Bruce had taken one look at her, rolled his eyes and muttered something about retiring early. Then he’d poured her a beer from the ancient keg and slid it across the bar to her, declaring it was on the house. Jade knew at that moment she’d found her place.
Liam shook his head. “Hell no, she didn’t come here. She made me drive her all the way over to that dance club in Clarke called Genesis.”
Jade crinkled her nose. “Why the hell would she want to go there? That place is packed to the rafters with a bunch of tools all listening to deafening techno music and drinking those fruity daiquiris that cost a small fortune and have practically no alcohol in them.”
Liam leaned back in his chair, kicking his feet out straight in front of him as he crossed them at the ankles. “Yep. That’s an accurate description and that’s where we went. A big group of her friends met us there. I crawled into bed after I got home that night and could still see those blinding, flashing lights when I closed my eyes. Woke up with a migraine at three a.m.”
“Sounds like hell.”
Liam shrugged. “It wasn’t that bad. Not my favorite place, but we had a good time. Celia was more interested in going somewhere that let her get all glammed up. She spent hours doing her makeup, fixing her hair. She’d bought this sexy-as-sin leather miniskirt.”
From what Jade had learned over the years about Celia Woods, she’d come to realize she and Liam’s fiancée were polar opposites. Celia had attended beauty school prior to her death, intent on working in the Compton Pass hair salon, and had been Homecoming Queen during her senior year. “I bet she looked pretty.”
That same odd feeling of resentment clawed its way to the surface. She was definitely jealous of a dead woman.
Liam didn’t respond. Instead, he studied her face intently as Jade fought to school her features. When Liam sat up straighter, then moved his chair closer to hers, she knew she’d failed. Again.
“Celia was pretty. But so are you, Jade.”
Jade snorted, then winced at the decidedly unattractive sound.
Liam placed his finger under her chin, forcing her to look at him. What was wrong with her? She’d never put value on physical appearance. Never needed a man to tell her she was beautiful. She liked herself and she didn’t give a shit what anyone thought about her.
So why was she sitting here, dying for Liam’s approval of her looks and feeling inadequate in comparison to Celia?
Liam reached between her legs and Jade felt her eyes drifting shut, hoping he’d touch her, give her some sort of relief. She’d managed to overcome her arousal during the game, but the second they’d claimed their places at the table, it had returned with a vengeance.
Unfortunately, Li
am didn’t touch her at all. Instead, he reached under her chair and pulled it closer to him, so close that her knees bumped against the wooden frame of his seat. Liam lifted her legs and tugged them over his outstretched thighs. Then he pulled her chair even closer.
Liam’s hand returned to her face, stroking her cheek, dragging his fingers along her jaw. “I think you’re one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever known.”
His words triggered something unfamiliar—unwanted—inside her, so she reverted to character. “Flattery won’t get you in my pants.”
“Why haven’t you ever fallen in love?”
His question pierced. “How do you know I haven’t?”
He continued to caress her face. “Because I’ve known you since you were sixteen. I watched you push away at least half a dozen boys from school until eventually no one else bothered to come around. Since high school, you’ve indulged in the occasional hookups, but nothing else. So unless you’re involved in some steamy, torrid online affair I don’t know about, I’d say it’s pretty obvious you’ve never given your heart to anyone.”
“I’m just not interested. I’ve got enough bullshit to deal with in my day-to-day life without having to put up with some redneck trying to tell me what to do.”
“What are you afraid of, Jade?”
She reared back and tried to put some distance between them, but Liam gripped her upper thighs, holding her legs in place on his. She didn’t bother to resist. She’d discovered plenty of new things about him lately—the main one being his sheer power over her. It was heady and exciting, enticing.
“Stop trying to get away every time the conversation takes a turn you don’t like.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Fine. You want to talk about all this mushy-gushy shit? Why haven’t you seriously dated anyone since Celia?”
“I haven’t met anyone I want to date, to commit to.”
“Isn’t that what I just said?”
Liam shook his head. “No. It’s not. I’ve opened myself up to that emotion before. I’ve let myself fall in love.”
“You were a kid, Liam, playing a grown-up game. Are you even sure that’s what it was? It could have just been lust.”