“What if I asked you to stay?” Fuck it, there was no point in beating around the bush, maybe the direct approach would work this time.
She looked up and our gazes locked, an intense rush of heat and something far more powerful than lust zipped between us like a live wire. As angry as she was with me and as determined as Elka was to leave, she couldn’t look anyway any more than I could. “Are you asking me to stay, Antonio?” She stood and shook her head, waving her heads to discount my words before I even said that. “Don’t answer that. It doesn’t matter.”
“The hell it doesn’t,” I growled. “If it didn’t matter, I could answer. Right now. And it wouldn’t bother you.” She opened her mouth to tell me just how wrong I was but nothing came out.
Twice. “You’re wrong.”
“Fine, then yes I’m asking you stay. Asking you to give me, give us a real chance.”
“I can’t do that.”
Her voice wavered and I smiled, and took another step forward. “Can’t or too afraid to?” I had a feeling it was a little bit of both.
“Why shouldn’t I be afraid? You hurt me, over and over again and from what I can tell, for no reason at all.” Arms crossed, Elka was resolute. But she was open to being persuaded.
Persuading would me talking. No, not talking, ripping myself open and spilling my guts all over her bohemian designed, semi-packed living room. “May I?” She nodded and slid from the sofa to the chair, curling into herself until her arms were wrapped around her legs, chin resting on her knees. “When I lived in New Orleans there was a girl. A woman named Sadie. We dated for a couple years but I wouldn’t say we were serious.”
“Did you live together?” Her eyebrows pinched together adorably and I wondered if it was jealousy or idle curiosity.
“No. I spent most nights at her apartment but she had a key to mine. And that little fact right there is why I was such an asshole to you. Sadie was killed by a serial killer.” She gasped as I knew she would but I couldn’t look at her, not until I finished. “Who targeted prostitutes.”
“You dated a prostitute?” Realizing what her question sounded like, her blue eyes went comically round. “Not that I’m judging, but when you’re not being grumpy you’re kind of hot.”
“Good to know.” Her lips twitched but the smile never came and she motioned for me to keep talking. “I didn’t know she was until after I found her body. In hindsight it was obvious. Her place was bare of personal effects but who was I talk to when mine was too?”
“I’m sorry that happened to you, Antonio.”
“Me too,” I said, my words sharp and bitter. “I’m sorry that I let physical attraction blind me to what was right in front of me.”
“Bullshit.”
I looked up to see Elka staring at me, a defiant glint to her blue eyes. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. Bullshit. Don’t dismiss the love you had for her because she lied to you. Admit you’re angry about it, even angrier because you can’t confront her. You just have to accept it,” she said with a certain amount of wisdom and I knew she was talking about Austin.
“Just like that, huh?”
“No, not just like that. It takes time and effort. If you want to move beyond it, you will. Eventually.”
“And in the meantime?” It felt like were talking about more than my grieving over Sadie and for the first time since I walked in, I had hope.
“You take it a day at a time, as trite as that sounds. Try to drown out the bad memories with the good. Learn from your mistakes. I don’t know, I’m not exactly an expert.”
“You sound pretty wise to me.” Too wise for a woman her age. Elka should be out there making mistakes and learning from them, trying and failing before she found success. “Stay, Elka.”
“Why? Because you feel bad? Good, I’m glad about that. Maybe you’ll treat the next newcomer better.” She shrugged and flashed a sad smile before she pushed out of the chair. “Have a good life, Antonio.”
“I don’t feel bad. I mean, of course I feel bad because I was a complete dick to you but that’s not why I want you to stay.” I stood and went to her, less than a foot separated us and this close up I could see the flecks of brown swimming in her blue eyes.
“Why?” The question came out breathless, expectant. Almost hopeful.
“Because, I…because.” Christ, this was harder than I thought it would be. “Dammit, because I love you Elka.”
She gasped and put a hand to her mouth while her head shook slowly, side to side. “You don’t…you…can’t.”
“I do, I love you and I want you to stay in Tulip. Give us a shot.” She didn’t look convinced but she didn’t look ready to bolt either so I closed the distance between us and put one hand on her shoulders, the other sifted through her hair. “Please Elka. Stay.”
Confusion flickered in her gaze and then hope. “Antonio, don’t just say it because you think its what I want to hear.”
“I’m not. I wouldn’t. Did you say it because you thought I wanted to hear it?”
“I knew you wouldn’t want to hear it.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” I told her and lowered my voice to a whisper pressed close to her ear. “I didn’t know how much I wanted to hear it until you said it. In the past tense.” She gasped and glanced over at me with a question in her eyes and I took advantage of the moment, pressing my mouth to hers and I kissed Elka until she was a boneless mass in my arms. “Now I want you to love me again. For real.” The more I said it, the more I felt it all the way down to my bones. Deep in my soul.
“I want that too Antonio, but I’m scared.” She put a hand on my chest while the other curled around the hairs at the base of my neck. “I want you but I’m scared.” Then before I could say another word, she was kissing me with her whole heart, her body.
Telling me she still loved me too.
Elka
“We shouldn’t have done that.” Not this time or the last time. Or the time before that.
“Which time,” Antonio asked, his voice was a smile filled with masculine pride. “Because there have been many times.” He kissed one side of my breast and then the other before kissing the nipple. “Many, many times.”
I shivered at his kiss, at the way his hands softly climbed from my calf up my thigh and over my hip until his thumbs brushed over hard nipples. “Any of them. I shouldn’t have attacked you like that.” Not without talking first, anyway.
“You don’t hear me complaining.” His hands stopped moving and his eyes bore into my soul. “It’s no secret that you want me, Elka. What I want to know is can you love me again?”
As if I ever stopped loving him. I don’t even know when it happened, or how. What did it say about me that I could so easily fall for a man who treated me the way Antonio did? Nothing kind, that much was certain. “It’s not about whether I can or not.”
“That’s all it’s about,” he insisted and kissed the warm skin between my breasts. “Can you?”
My eyes fluttered closed when his lips wrapped around my nipple and I arched into him, the word, “Yes,” ripped from my lips.
Antonio smiled and looked up me, hope swimming in the amber and green swirls of his eyes. “Yes you can or yes to this,” he asked and swiped a tongue across my breast.
“Yes to both, but yeah I could love you Antonio.”
“Again,” he clarified. “You can love me again.”
“No. I do love you.” Denying it would just be cruel and I wasn’t ashamed of how I felt, at least I didn’t think I was.
“But you don’t trust me,” he guessed correctly at the reason for my hesitation. “I don’t deserve it, not yet. But I can only prove you wrong if you stay.”
I didn’t want to leave Tulip but I couldn’t stay. “I can’t live this down, Antonio.”
“There’s nothing to live down. Nothing at all.”
As if proving his point, the doorbell rang and I groaned into his chest. “See what you’ve done?”
He chuckled and the sounded reverberated through my whole body, making it even harder to tear myself away from him. “At least they gave us a few hours before ambushing us.”
I glanced at the clock. Five-fifteen. “Crap, you’re right. Keep them company, will you?” My whole body caught on fire at the way his gaze raked down my body, slow and tempting until I could feel his hands all over my body, his body pumping into mine. “Keep looking at me like that and…,” I sighed or maybe it was a swoon. Who could say?
“And you’ll stay here and let me show you what we have to look forward too after work every day?”
That sounded amazing. “Every day? Now I’m intrigued.” The bell sounded again and I gave Antonio a look before disappearing into the bathroom.
Thankfully, he didn’t join me and ten minutes later I found my living room and kitchen filled with people. “Did my invite get lost in the mail?”
The rooms fell silent as more than a dozen pairs of eyes turned to me, all wearing matching smiles. “We came to celebrate your victory,” Janey said and held up a bottle of bubbly.”
“And convince you to stay,” Penny said, looking fabulous in another of her no-nonsense suits.
“I second that,” Antonio said as he walked into the living room with two mismatched glasses of champagne, handing me one. “Stay,” he urged quietly kissed my jaw.
“Who said I was going anywhere?” Okay so that was a dumb question, but everyone looked so hopeful and I hated to disappoint them.
“All the boxes in your living room for one thing, and your no show at the courthouse,” Nina countered, eyebrow arched, daring me to contradict her. “Where are you going?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
“Good. That means there’s still time to change your mind. If Antonio hasn’t done it yet.” All eyes turned to the man and he smiled and raised his glass.
“I’m working on it.” He looked down at me and pulled me close, not hesitating to plant a big heart-stopping kiss on my mouth in front of everyone I knew in town.
“You shouldn’t kiss like that with your mother watching,” I whispered in his ear which sent his head tilting back as a loud laugh erupted from his belly.
“When should I kiss you like that, Elka?”
I shivered at the way he said my name. “Always.”
A smile brightened his face at my words and I realized they were true. As embarrassed as I still felt, Antonio was right. These people supported me. They liked me. Just for me. “I like the sound of that.”
“Since you’re staying and loaded,” Nina started without a hint decorum, “I want you to know that I expect a truly epic bridal shower gift.” She flashed a wide smile and winked. “I sent you a few links.”
“That explains the sex swing,” I shot back which sent everyone into a fit of laughter. Except Preston who had turned an alarming shade of pink.
“Oh good. I didn’t want to send duplicate links to anyone. We’re feeling hopeful,” she said with a fake overly enthusiastic smile on her face and I rolled my eyes.
I hadn’t been here long, but Tulip felt like home already. “Thank you all for showing up today. For supporting me.”
“That’s what friends do,” Ry insisted and smacked a kiss on Penny’s cheek. “Now put Antonio out of his misery and tell him you’re staying.”
Staying. It didn’t have a certain appeal which had a lot to do with the big sexy, raven haired man beside me. I didn’t have to trust him fully to stay because I wasn’t staying for him. “Excuse us.” I grabbed his hand and pulled him upstairs to my bedroom and into the master bathroom where I closed the door behind us. “I’m not staying for you,” I blurted out.
His smile dimmed. “Did we need this much privacy for that?”
Dammit. “I’m staying in Tulip but I’m not staying for you. I’m staying for me, Antonio. For me.”
“Okay,” he said slowly, drawing it out several syllables. “What does that mean?”
His words tugged a smile across my face. “It means that I love you Antonio and I want you to show me the guy I’ve seen glimpses of when he wasn’t being mean to me.”
“I will,” he promised.
“I challenge you to make me fall even deeper in love with you, Antonio.” I wasn’t sure that was even possible as I stared up at his confused but hopeful face, his hands on my hips and a gorgeous smile lighting up his face.
“Challenge accepted, babe.”
“Good,” I grinned and jumped up on the countertop, tugging his mouth down to mine. “How long before they expect us back downstairs?” Even as I asked, my hands worked on his button fly until I had him, hard and thick, in my hand.
“At least one orgasm,” he grinned. “Maybe two.”
“Promises, promises.” My legs wrapped around his waist and I closed my eyes, reveling in the way Antonio fulfilled that promise and so much more.
* * *
The End.
Preview: Mr. Savior
Nina
Some people might think working as a bartender in a small-town bar would give me the inside track on all the gossip that could be found in a town the size of Tulip, Texas.
Those people would be wrong, though. As it turns out, booze does not loosen lips nearly as effectively as a stare-down from a blue-haired old lady. That’s right — all the gossip was carefully released in a steady trickle by a group of three old women ranging in age from seventy-something to the high end of eighty.
At twenty-five, I didn’t qualify for their inner circle, never mind that I was an outsider who’d only been a resident of Tulip for the past seven months. Who knew how long it would take before I became a local, not that I’d planned to stick around that long.
Maybe.
It was late afternoon and the Black Thumb was mostly empty, now that the lunch rush was over. But Janey Matheson, photographer extraordinaire, held court at one of the booths that split the restaurant seating area from the pool tables, dartboards, and foosball tables. And since the daytime waitresses had all left after counting their tips, it was up to me to make sure her crowd received their pitcher of margaritas and round of tequila shots.
“Here we go, ladies,” I announced, unloading my tray onto the table.
“Thanks, Nina.” Janey flashed a bright smile, her perky ponytail bouncing just from the force of her words. “Hey, would you sign up to be part of a bachelor and bachelorette auction? It’s for a good cause.”
I frowned back at her cheerful face. As nice as the people in Tulip were, they were also manipulative as hell. One kind word, and you were signed up to judge a meatloaf cooking contest and a senior beauty pageant.
“Hell, no. Guys can be weird and creepy and totally pervy. Best to put the control and the bidding in the hands of women.”
She beamed another smile my way, dimples winking from both cheeks, giving her a girl-next-door appeal I was sure the men of Tulip appreciated. “You are a genius, Nina. An absolute genius.”
I mean, I thought so but, big surprise, so did Janey. “You said bartender wrong,” I deadpanned, which for some reason made all the women at the table erupt in laughter. “Besides, I’m more of a look-but-don’t-touch kind of girl when it comes to men.”
Janey’s raven brows rose in surprise. “So, you’re… celibate?” She gasped, as though the idea was so far-fetched that she just couldn’t believe it.
“Since I moved here, yeah. And I’m fine with that.”
Honestly, I was. Sure, men had their purpose, but so far I hadn’t found one worth keeping, and until I did, celibacy was fine with me. “Batteries can do wonders for a girl’s disposition.”
She tapped her chin, her gaze thoughtful. “You do make a valid point, but men are just so big and strong and… delicious.” As Janey seemed lost in her own thoughts, I started to wonder if there was anyone in particular who put that wistful look on her face. “Oh. My. God. You really are a genius, Nina!”
I let that compliment sink in, because I didn’t get them all
that often from anyone other than myself. “You’re going to sell vibrators, instead of the men of Tulip?”
For the past three months, everyone in town over the age of fifteen had been trying to come up with the perfect fundraiser to repair the town center’s statue-fountain-garden structure, which featured the town founder Tulip Worthington.
“No, we’re going to do a calendar. A big ol’ beefcake calendar, showing off the men of Tulip.”
I shrugged. “I’d buy one.” As the saying went, they grew ’em big down in Texas and the men here seemed to be especially big, even for Texas.
“Oh, this is good. So good,” Janey muttered to herself, whipping out a red, white, and blue notebook with a cover that looked like a pair of distressed jeans. After a minute or two of furious writing, she was on her feet and rushing out the door.
I turned to the rest of the women and grinned. “Let me know if you ladies need anything else.”
“Salt, please.”
“Coming right up.” The thing I loved most about Texas was how friendly and open everyone was. Sure, I was still an outsider, but the people here said ‘please’ and ‘thanks’ automatically, never making me feel like the service worker I was.
The doors flew open and Janey breezed back in, smacking a couple twenty-dollar bills on the bar with a wide smile. “Sorry, and thanks.” Then, she was gone again, leaving the Black Thumb just a little quieter and dimmer than before.
My three occupied tables all had drinks while they waited for their late lunch orders to arrive. I slid behind the bar and busied myself with the boring part of my job – wiping down the counters, restocking empty bottles of booze, and checking the levels on the kegs.
The last task I needed to finish before my shift ended was cutting more garnish for the cocktails the good people of Tulip rarely ordered. But I liked working at the Black Thumb and I liked my boss, Buddy, even if he was a bit crusty and grouchy sometimes. So, I did all the tasks assigned to me without complaining.
Mr. Cop: An Enemies to Lovers Romance Page 15