“No,” I answered. “Though, Lorcan still keeps asking me out.”
Grayson tilted his head and regarded me thoughtfully. “So, what? It’s been like a year, right?” I nodded. “What’s the problem? He an asshole, or something?”
The server delivered my drink, and I stopped her before she walked away. “Another one, please.” She glanced at Grayson, then back at me. “He’s my brother,” I blurted. “No taking advantage at this table.”
Patty-according to her nametag-smiled. “Very well.”
Grayson’s lips tightened in a sorry attempt to disguise a smile. “Need two drinks to discuss Lorcan Cavanaugh?”
“Shut up,” I muttered.
Grayson laughed. “What’s the problem, Row?”
I didn’t say anything for a while, but it was hard to admit that your cracked pieces might not have fused back together correctly. I knew I had no reason to be embarrassed with Grayson, but no one wanted to discuss sexual details with their sibling. I’ve done that once already, and it had been humiliating.
Finally, I said, “I think Lorcan Cavanaugh might be too much for someone like me.”
His whiskey halfway gone, Grayson twirled the glass around in his hands. “Someone like you?”
I nodded. “Someone like me.”
“Rowan, you’re a magnificent person. I think it’s the men who don’t measure up in this picture, not you. Never you.”
“So, you’re saying, as a man, you’d have no problem dating a woman with baggage?”
“Christ, Rowan,” he huffed out. “Everyone had baggage. Some just have more bags than others.”
Patty returned with my drink and another one for Grayson. We thanked her, and she went about her way. I also knew this was going to be Grayson’s last. With good reason, the guy took my safety seriously.
“But mine is a little more than an ex-husband or some kids, Grayson,” I pointed out.
“True,” he agreed. “But only a pussy backs off from a woman he cares about because of her baggage, Rowan. If he’s not strong enough to carry it for her when she’s struggling with it, then he’s nothing but a little bitch, and she’s better off without him.”
I grinned to lessen the seriousness of the conversation. “And you’re not a little bitch.”
“If I care about a woman, I’ll carry whatever the fuck she needs me to,” he replied. “Because that’s what a man does, Rowan. His only purpose in a relationship is to hold her up when she’s too tired to stand on her own anymore.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re perfect?”
“Well, isn’t this cozy.”
Chapter 24
Lorcan~
Two times in two days, and it was a wonder I could even speak to the woman sitting in front of me.
With another man.
Yesterday, I had to deal with witnessing that tool, Cole Dion, hitting on her, and now, after agreeing to a stupid late-night meeting over drinks, I find her sitting happily with some other guy, overhearing her telling him how fucking perfect he was.
Taking him in, he looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place him. But that was probably because anger was doing its best to cloud my judgement here. My vision was turning a little hazy.
With the color red.
Rowan looked up at me, her eyelids fluttering like a bimbo’s. “Why, Lorcan Cavanaugh,” she drawled out in an exaggerated feminine voice, “what a surprise.”
She was such a fucking smartass.
I looked at the guy. “How many of those has she had?”
He snorted. “I stopped keeping track at dinner earlier.” So, that was this asshole’s plan. Ply Rowan with alcohol, then easy access.
There was that red color again.
Rowan snapped her fingers in an ‘awe sucks’ sort of way. “I could have sworn my license says I’m twenty-nine and not nineteen.”
“Stupid drunk at any age is still stupid drunk, Rowan,” I practically growled down at her, pissed as fuck.
As. Fuck.
She jerked her head towards the guy with her. “Luckily, I’m covered for the night.” Her smile was full of condescension. “Thanks for the concern, though.”
“Yeah, you are,” I shot back. “Because I’m taking you home.” I gestured towards her purse on the table. “Grab your shit, and let’s go.”
Before she could grab her purse or tell me to go to hell, the guy with her stood up. And though I was taller by an inch, that didn’t take away from the underlining tension he was emitting. “I’m not sure what is going on between you and Rowan, but talk to her like that again, and we’re going to have problems.”
What this fucker didn’t know was that, as soon as I had spotted him sitting with Rowan, we already had problems. I had even cut my meeting short to come over here and find out what the fuck was going on. It wasn’t like I would have been able to concentrate anyway.
Oh, I had no issues with having problems with this motherfucker.
“Want to step outside and discuss this further?” I suggested, spoiling for a good fight.
“Why bother stepping outside?” he fired back, making my fierce temper happy as fuck.
“Oh, my God,” Rowan hissed. “Will you two stop it.” She made her way between us. “What in the hell is your guys’ damage?” She glanced around. “Not only are you guys about to cause a scene, but you’re also killing my very expensive buzz.”
“I’ve already told you about your boytoys, Rowan,” I snapped.
The asshole had the nerve to laugh. “Boytoys?”
So, he thought he was special then. “If you mattered, asshole, you wouldn’t have to be getting her this drunk.”
“You sonofabi-”
“He’s my brother!” Rowan cried out. “Jesus Christ, Lorcan. Grayson is my brother.”
And that was why he looked familiar.
When I had first met Rowan last year, I wasn’t ashamed to admit I had internet-stalked the woman, and there’d been a few pictures of her and her family on her social media feeds. And while I hadn’t had access to her accounts, she had tagged Mystic in a few of those pictures, and that’s how I’d been able to see them.
Her fucking brother.
I took my eyes off her fuming sibling and glanced down at her. “Well, how in the fuck was I supposed to know that?”
“It shouldn’t matter,” she snapped.
“You’re out of your mind if you think I’d let some guy, who I think you’re on a date with, get you drunk and take you home,” I told her. “I don’t give a fuck what rights you think I don’t have. It’s dangerous, and stupid, and over my fucking dead body, Rowan.”
“He’s my brother,” she repeated. “As in, we have the same parents.”
“Row-”
She whirled around to face her brother. “Don’t you dare be on his side, Grayson.”
His eyes narrowed at his sister. “Say that again, Rowan.”
I watched her entire body deflate. “Sorry, Grayson…I-”
Stormy blue eyes that I now recognized as belonging to Rowan also, flashed my way. “My sister and I would like to get back to our evening.” It wasn’t a request, and normally, I’d lose my shit, but he was her brother, and I was the intruder here. I could respect a man protecting his sister. Hell, protecting any woman.
My integrity demanded I do the right thing, no matter what my temper-ridden caveman wanted to do. I stuck my hand out. “My apologies.”
Grayson Lewis took my hand and showed me what a class-act he was. “Not needed when you were just trying to look out for my sister.”
The Rowan I knew and loved was back when she piped up, “Are you guys sure you don’t want me to leave and give you some alone time? I wouldn’t want to stand in the way of such a budding bromance.”
“You are a such a pain in the ass,” I replied, because, well, she was.
“Duly noted,” she retorted before sitting back down in her chair.
Properly dismissed
, I turned and went back to the bar, leaving her and her brother to their evening.
Stewing the entire way.
Why did the woman have to be so fucking stubborn? And it wasn’t because she wasn’t attracted to me because I knew she was. I felt her bones melt-if only for a second-when I had wrapped my arm around her yesterday before asking her to dinner again.
So. What. The. Fuck?
It was possible that Rowan genuinely didn’t like me, and if that were the case, then I probably needed to ask her pointblank.
And when I saw the blonde stunner making her way to the restrooms, brother-free, I decided to do just that.
Chapter 25
Rowan~
I stared at the woman in the mirror, and it was time to cut her off. Even though Lorcan’s macho bullshit had very nearly killed my buzz, the red-rimmed eyes staring back at me told me it was time to call it a night.
Going into the stall, handling my business, then coming back out to wash my hands, I realized my face was in dire need of the old fingers-underneath-the eyes move. After pushing my faded black eyeliner back in its place, I pulled my compact out from my purse and did my best.
After a few minutes of primping, I studied my reflection, and while I didn’t look as if I needed an intervention anymore, I’ve looked better. Then remembering that Grayson has seen me poop myself, even if he was only four-years-old at the time, and I was two, I figured the woman looking back from the mirror was good enough.
I opened the door and turned the hallway corner, only to have my arm grabbed and drug back into an alcove near one of the emergency exits.
“What the hell?” With my back pressed up against the wall, an irritated Lorcan Cavanaugh was staring down at me. “What are you doing?”
“I just want to test something.”
I pushed my hands against his chest. “Get out of my way, Lorcan.”
“One kiss,” he replied. “One kiss and if you really don’t want to explore anything after that, I’ll leave you alone.”
“You’re lying,” I said accusingly.
“You’re right,” he admitted. “But I nearly got into a fight with your brother, Rowan. I’m losing my mind here.”
His honesty was quick to weaken me. Lorcan Cavanaugh was not the type of man to chase a woman. He wasn’t the type to show his vulnerability. The man had the reputation of a shark. He was a powerhouse you didn’t want on your bad side. And for a full year, he’s been asking me out.
I stared into those stunning grey eyes of his and agreed to make the mistake of kissing him. “One kiss, Lorcan,” I negotiated. “That’s it.”
“One kiss,” he agreed, though we both knew he was lying. He had admitted as much.
Glancing around, we were still in the view of people, so I grabbed him by the lapels of his suit jacket and pulled him deeper into the shadows. As soon as I felt confident that we were hidden, I gave him the permission he’s been asking for all these months. “One kiss, Lorcan. That’s-”
The man’s lips came crashing down on mine, and holy shit.
With his hands cradling my face, I never imagined his lips would feel so soft against mine. The fullness made me think of how they might feel on other parts of my body, but I quickly shut down that avenue of thinking. But I quickly got caught up in that line of thinking again when Lorcan’s tongue swept along the seam of my lips, encouraging them to open for him.
And I did.
My fingers fisting the fabric of his suit, I opened and let him in, and he tasted like expensive bourbon and tempted sin. He tasted like he knew exactly what to do in the bedroom.
Entangling my tongue with his, a low growl vibrated from his throat, and while keeping my face anchored with one hand, the other slid down and around my back, now my entire body anchored to his.
It felt good to be in his arms like this.
When Lorcan’s leg nudged its way between my legs, there was no mistaking the hard baton of steel pressed against my body.
The fucking dude was huge.
Breaking off the kiss, his voice was a deep, rugged snarl. “Fucking Christ, Rowan,” he panted against my lips. “Don’t tell me you don’t feel that.”
I did.
I did, and it felt slightly terrifying.
Exactly like I knew it might.
“Lorc-”
Refusing to hear any denials or objections, his mouth was back on mine, and I let him right back in. Only this time, he made sure to prove that my simple evening skirt and thong were no match for his muscular thigh. I was practically riding the man’s leg in a public place of business, and I was finding it hard to care because it felt so damn good.
Breaking off the kiss again, his lips were soft against the skin below my ear. “Come home with me, Rowan,” he said. “Let me do all the filthiest things to you and this goddamn body of yours.”
Like a water of ice bucket, I envisioned all those filthy things, and I knew-I just knew-no woman has ever said no to this man, in or outside of the bedroom.
I envisioned him kissing his way over a woman’s terrain, all her hills and valleys. I envisioned him taking his time with her breasts before moving lower. I envisioned how those big, strong hands would stretch her out, preparing her for that monster between his legs. I envisioned his control, and his dominance, and I envisioned the faceless woman enjoying every second of it.
I pushed at his chest as I turned my head. “Lorcan, stop,” I rushed out in an unfair panic. “Stop it.”
He quickly dropped his hands and stepped back. “Why? What’s wrong?”
The resentment still swimming deep in my bones had me lashing out unfairly. “Why does something have to be wrong? Is the word ‘stop’ a problem for you?”
I could feel him stiffen.
Hell, I could feel everything around us stiffen.
“Excuse me?”
I couldn’t look at him because I was wrong. I knew it the second the words flew out of my mouth. “I need to get back to my brother,” I said, using Grayson as an excuse. “I’ve been gone a while now.”
I felt his fingers grab hold of my chin, forcing me to look up at him. “Talk to me, baby,” he said, and that was it.
I was done.
I shook off his hold and practically ran back to my brother. When I approached the table, Grayson was immediately ready to tease me. “I thought you might have fallen in.” My eyes met his, and he stood up. “Row?”
“Take me home, Grayson,” I begged, my lips trembling. “Please.”
He flagged down our server, paid our bill with twenty percent, and ushered me through the tables and out the second-floor outside entrance. Once he’d gotten us a cab, he asked me what happened, and it all came spilling out in a shameful mess.
After a half hour of arguing, Grayson had finally left me to shower and go to sleep.
But sleep hadn’t come.
Chapter 26
Lorcan~
It was a full five minutes before I could walk back through the bar to pay my tab and leave. The first couple of minutes had been to calm the fucking steel in my pants, the other three had been spent counting to ten, pushing back my temper.
There were so many things I was pissed about at first, I hadn’t known where to start. But the most offensive had been Rowan’s remark about not taking ‘no’ for an answer.
I could admit to liking rough sex. I could admit to the sick fascination to leave my mark on a woman’s body. I could admit to the hair pulling, the imprint of my fingers on a woman’s skin, and watching her stretched wide by my fingers or cock. I could admit to the thrill of wrapping my hand around a woman’s throat, feeling the drum of her pulse, as she took my dick hard and deep.
But never without her consent to it all.
I’ve never fucked a woman while she was drunk, and I’ve never fucked a woman without an affirmative to the question I always asked. I have always made sure the woman I was with and I were on the same page.
Always.
Even the self-proclaime
d sluts who I could have double-teamed still had a choice as far as I was concerned. Two dicks in her face, ready for whatever, the woman has always called the shots. A woman’s sexual proclivities weren’t an issue for me. Consent, however, was a must.
And as badly as Vanessa had fucked me over in high school, the experience had still never lowered me to the level that consent was in question. Sure, I didn’t trust many women, and I was extremely judgmental when it came to gold-diggers, but I wasn’t a complete cad.
Those eight little words Rowan spat at me tonight changed everything, though.
I’ve been chasing her for a year, asking her out, trying to wear her down, and it was a bitter pill to swallow to realized how she could make that leap about me.
Walking out of The Highlands, I made the decision to leave her alone. However, before I did that, I needed to erase that opinion of me out of her head. We were going to be godparents to Gage and Mystic’s kids, and we had to respect each other, if nothing else.
Standing outside, I dialed Gage, not caring that it was past ten at night. If I knew the man-and I did-he was still up, working on whatever. And I was right. Because we were both workaholics, late-night phone calls were not uncommon.
“What?”
“Your phone etiquette is shit, Evans.”
“I knew it was you,” he said as way of an explanation.
“I need Rowan’s number and address,” I said, cutting to the chase.
Silence.
“Gage?”
“For what?” he asked because he knew me just as well as I knew him.
“I ran into her at The Highlands tonight.”
“And you couldn’t ask her for it then?”
“There might have been a slight misunderstanding where I mistook her brother for her date,” I admitted.
“I bet Grayson took that well,” he said, letting out a low whistle.
I chuckled. “He’s not a pussy, I can say that for him.”
“No,” Gage agreed. “No, he’s not.”
“You’d think, after a year, we’d have bumped into each other at some point.”
Our Cracked Pieces (The Pieces Series Book 2) Page 9