“You didn’t hear me. You looked so lost in thought. So scared,” he said to her, his eyes gazing from her eyes to her lips.
She forced words from her mouth and for her brain to function. “Just relieved that I was somewhat prepared.”
“It’s obvious you took those classes to be prepared, and that you weren’t intimidated. Don’t intimidate easy?” he asked and eyed her over.
Was he flirting with her? She held her ground. She had plenty of experience handling horny men out for sex. So why when she looked at him did her mind challenge for some control? Like maybe it could be her decision to flirt with a man, even though the thought scared her and probably wasn’t a smart idea. Even with a man like Vacarro. One who surely didn’t do commitments.
“No, I don’t.”
“So you’re always up for a challenge?” he asked, closing the space between them, and she held steady.
She wouldn’t let him ease his way into her brain. She had seen how a lot of women acted when soldiers showed interest. They get stupid, and they didn’t guard their bodies or their hearts. Not her. She had gone through hell and back, had experiences most women wouldn’t survive, especially the psychological aspect of it all. Not her though. She was determined to have a life of her own, and to not wind up as Barishna’s sex slave again, and ultimately his wife.
“Something tells me that you’d be up for any challenge,” he said and stroked her hip, sent heat waves through her torso up to her breasts.
She was shocked, and she replied with more courage than she felt she had with this man so close and touching her.
“Depends on the challenge, Vacarro,” she stated.
He stared at her, and she stared up at him. She wouldn’t turn away. Wouldn’t let that burning in her core, the hard nipples, and the attraction make her look vulnerable and playable.
“Where do you train?” he asked.
She looked away. She didn’t want to be interrogated. It was no one’s business. It was her only connection to her brother, Nathan, and the team. Frankie was like family.
“I train privately.”
“So not with Hook or any classes at the gym?”
“No,” she said, hoping he would get her hint that she wasn’t telling him where she trained.
“So it’s a secret then?” he asked her.
She stared up at him and those chiseled cheekbones, the dimple in his left cheek, and the way he looked at her as if trying to read her mind while inhaling her scent. She hoped she didn’t smell from dancing so much and then, of course, getting into a fight. She stretched out her hand, feeling the aches. “It’s my business, and it’s personal, that’s all.”
He reached down and took her hand. She tightened up, and he squinted at her and then raised it.
“Got a great right hook on you. Followed through nice on the shot, hips turned perfectly, rotated on your back foot like a pro boxer or martial artist,” he said and slid his palm along her hip to her back, nearly to her ass. Her mind wondered what it would feel like to be touched by him, not because she was lonely, but because she felt an attraction. Instantly.
“I bet if that fight went on, you would have pulled out a kick or two to his head,” he said to her, but she didn’t let on to anything, to any emotion.
“You mean like a little Bruce Lee action?”
“Combined with some Ronda Rousey,” he teased and held her gaze, licked his lips, but squinted at her.
“You’re wasting your time,” she said and moved off the wall.
He placed his hand on her hip to stop her. “Whoa, slow down, what do you mean wasting my time? We’re talking, getting to know one another,” he said to her calmly, and she had to admit she liked how his hand felt, but she couldn’t let anything happen.
That’s what sucked about her situation—she had to remain single in order to protect herself and others. She would be lying if she said she wasn’t disappointed, and she almost wished she could defy this rule and live a little. Let down her guard some and feel free, feel pleasure or simply a connection. She wasn’t even looking for happiness, just an authentic connection.
“Listen, Vacarro, there are plenty of other women around who would be willing to welcome you back from a mission with open arms and legs, not me.” She moved her hip, but then he placed his hand on her hip and turned into her move, brought her against the wall where her back touched it. One of his hands was on her hip, still holding the beer bottle, and his palm up above her shoulder pressed to the wall.
She was surprised by the quick move but shouldn’t have been. He was a soldier, specifically a member of SOJ. Her lips parted, and she stared right up into his eyes, showing no fear, though she was shaking. The man was lethal, scary, sexy, and more man than she had ever known.
“No need to get all pissed off for no reason. I’m just making conversation and getting to know you.”
“Oh really? Thought you were antisocial like the rest of your team?” she asked.
He raised one eyebrow up at her as he looked at her lips and then her eyes. “That the rumor ’bout us?” he asked and inhaled as he inched closer.
She leaned back and could smell his cologne and also the attraction she felt to him. This was a bad idea. But then he began to slide his palm along her hip, and the one against the wall lowered under her hair and head.
“Baby, you’re the last thing I expected stopping in here for a drink or two with my team. The last fucking thing,” he said and then pressed his lips to hers.
She tightened up, but then his hold got firm, his technique conquering as he eased his tongue into her mouth, deepening the kiss while he held her in place. He didn’t try to feel her up or overdo the kiss. She didn’t retreat, or shove him away to try and stop him either—her mind made the decision instantly, and she kissed him back. She took complete advantage of the moment, and things got out of hand.
She was in his arms so quickly, tugged deeper into the darkness of the side wall as he ravished her mouth, slid his palm along her ass, and squeezed. Holy shit, she felt so much. Too much, yet she didn’t pull back. Why couldn’t she enjoy this moment? A kiss, sensual, erotic? She was into it, into him until she heard the deep voice, and turned from Vacarro’s lips.
“What’s going on here?”
Basile.
She started to retreat, but then as Vacarro released her lips and was suckling on her neck, he tilted up, touched his forehead to hers, and then eased back as he stroked her jaw with his fingers.
“Just talking.”
“Didn’t look like talking, looked like a little tasting,” Basile said.
Now he was on her side, and the two of them were blocking her in. She felt claustrophobic as she swallowed hard. She needed to get out of this situation. One man kissing her was one thing, but two was an entirely different ballgame.
“Why did you kiss me? You don’t even know me,” she said and went to put some space between them by stepping forward. He gripped her hips.
“Just sort of happened. You looking so sexy, leaning back against the corner here, blond hair sparkling in the evening moonlight, just asking to be held and kissed. That lost look in your eyes, needy, submissive, and it called to me, baby. That was one hell of a kiss.”
“Man has a point, Talia. You look damn edible,” Basile said, and he stroked her cheek, placed his finger under her chin, and started to lean toward her like he would kiss her next.
“Don’t, Basile. It was a mistake. It shouldn’t have happened,” she said, but he pressed his lips to hers as Vacarro held her hip with one palm, both of them double-teaming her, and it was too difficult to resist. Basile’s fingers stroked her chin, tilted it up and toward him and, a second later she was in Basile’s arms, and he was plunging his tongue into her mouth and then gripping her hair and head.
When she felt the second set of hands on her hips and then the mouth against her neck, she lost the ability to fight this attraction at the moment and moaned. She was having a total make-out session in
the dark by the side of the outdoor dance floor with two psycho soldiers who she hardly knew at all. This only had one way of ending. Disastrously.
* * * *
Basile was shocked to find Vacarro kissing Talia, but damn did it turn him on, and he had to join his buddy. Holding her in his arms, he couldn’t believe what he was feeling. A protectiveness just evolved with every stroke of his tongue into her mouth and caress of her feminine, curvy, sexy body as his hands explored. He had to explore. He wanted to and did, moving his palm along her lower back and then to her perfect fucking ass that stuck out just right, felt toned and muscular, and he knew she was fit. That she had skills. Well, he had skills too and could only imagine what fun they could have with her in a bedroom or on the mats in their private gym at home. He could feel her pulling back, wanting to hit the brakes, but damn he didn’t want that. He reluctantly released her lips, and she pressed away from him and Vacarro. She wiped her mouth and cringed at the pain in her hand.
“Slow down,” Vacarro said to her.
“No. Shit, damn it, why did you two have to do this? I don’t want any problems, okay?” she stated and threw her hands up in the air.
“Problems? Baby, what we’re feeling right now won’t bring problems—it will bring pleasure,” Basile said.
“Oh, we guarantee pleasure,” Vacarro said to her, eyeing her over.
Basile knew they pissed her off the moment her eyes squinted and her hands went to her hips despite the pain in her hand.
She shook her head. “I’m not interested in being a piece of ass tonight for the two of you. Go find some bimbo without a care or a clue.” She walked by them and right into the crowd of people.
Basile looked at Vacarro.
“Well, we kind of fucked that up,” Vacarro said.
“You fucked that up. Usually you’re smoother with the ladies, and where did all those great lines disappear to?”
“Did you feel her ass? Holy fuck, she’s got one hell of a body on her, and she smells incredible, too, I wanted to inhale against her neck over and over again, what the fuck,” Vacarro replied.
“Yeah well, she thinks we just want to take her to bed,” Basile said and looked back toward where Talia disappeared.
“It crossed my mind, despite kind of feeling like a dick, especially when you came over. Things changed,” Vacarro said to him.
“Ain’t gonna lie, bro, it was my first thought the moment I saw you kissing her and then joined in, got a taste for myself and a feel of that super, sexy, toned ass. She’s big up top, too. More than perfect, but she isn’t like other women. She got my full attention and then some. Hell, I still feel desperate,” Basile told him.
He looked at Basile. “Like you want to go find her and explain?” Vacarro asked, eyes squinted and his tone hesitant.
What the hell was happening here, Basile wondered.
“Same. Which should make us back off,” Basile added.
“What the hell happened here tonight? Seriously, Basile, what the fuck.”
“There are other women around if you feel the need to get off or whatever.”
“Yeah, right. This is why we stay clear of women, of dating, of even feeling any sort of deeper emotion to the opposite sex. It’s safer that way, less messy. We have our freedom to come and go as we please, and no worries about anyone but the team, one another, and I’m fine with that.”
“Sounds like you’re trying to convince yourself that she isn’t what she thinks we thought of her as—a piece of ass to take home and fuck tonight,” Basile said to him.
“She had my attention, and my cock’s, when she threw that right hook at that guy. We are so fucked,” Vacarro said and then tossed his empty beer bottle into the recycling bin.
“Only if she never talks to us again,” Basile said, and they headed back inside to join Tat and Spadaro. Wait until they told them what happened. Tat was going to flip, and Spadaro, who the hell knew what he would do or say.
* * * *
“What’s wrong with you?” Marianna asked Talia as she kept looking around for Basile and Vacarro. She was fuming mad, and now that she was away from them, without their hands on her, never mind their lips, she could think straight. Well, maybe not straight, but with fire. They seriously thought she would be putty in their hands, and that line about bringing her pleasure? Holy crap, she actually thought she felt something for them, an attraction, which was completely insane. Completely ludicrous. She was so stupid and so was her thought process. She couldn’t get involved with any man, or men. Not with her background, the danger, hell, her emotional and physical scars. Besides that, they were crazy and wild, and had reputations as being dangerous, mysterious, and extreme. She had enough extreme in her life. Seriously, she must be losing her mind. A moment of weakness could cost her too much. Way too much. But oh, they were so incredibly hot, sexy, and well built. She felt the muscles, and combined with their colognes, the scent of cigar smoke, and all that masculinity…hell, if she thought she could sleep with them to find some relief instead of going home to a vibrator, she would.
“Hello? What’s wrong with you?” Marianna asked her.
She growled low and then took a sip from her glass of rum and Coke. She looked around them, and Avana and Tiana were talking to two guys at the bar who were friends of Eddie and Panther.
“I went to get some fresh air. You know, to just get rid of the adrenaline rush, and then Vacarro appears.”
Marianna smiled and leaned closer. “Holy shit. What happened?”
“Well…”
“What? Tell me.”
“He kissed me.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
Her mouth gaped opened. “Are you out of your mind? He’s crazy, and the others…Jesus, Talia, you went on a damn rampage tonight and must be feeling fearless to even converse with him. I mean, shit, they were obviously impressed with your abilities to defend yourself and Avana and Tiana, but I was thinking it was more like out of respect. Holy shit,” she said and looked around them.
“I know, I know it’s bad.”
“How was it?”
“What?”
“How was it?” she asked Talia.
Talia worried her bottom lip. “Good, so incredibly good.”
“Damn, they each look like they would be very experienced with women. I mean, we’ve seen a lot of the men around this town and women throw themselves at them. Those guys attract every type of woman.”
“Every type?”
“Uhm well, I mean, you know, ones willing to just accept whatever they will give.”
“Nice,” she said and looked away.
“I don’t mean that you were easy because you let him kiss you.”
“What?”
Marianna chuckled.
“Oh God, you liked it. Shit, you like him now that he kissed you? Did he feel you up, too? How heavy did it get? Just lips, or tongue action, what?”
“Oh God,” Talia said and felt her cheeks flush.
“You are turning very red. How far did things go?”
“I think I need to just forget about them.”
“Them?”
She swallowed hard. “Basile joined in.”
Marianna’s jaw dropped, and then she covered her mouth. She shook her head. “No?”
“Yup. They both kissed me, and while Basile kissed me after Vacarro did, Vacarro pressed up against me from behind and suckled on my neck. Oh God, I felt so aroused. I mean, it has to be because it’s been like three years since I had sex.”
“Three years?” Marianna asked, uncovering her mouth, leaning back and looking at Talia like she was crazy or something.
Talia laughed.
“I had a bad relationship, one that took a lot out of me, and when things ended, I focused on my career and my new life, and well, to be honest, I was either too scared or hadn’t met anyone who weakened my guard.”
“This is a situation. A potentially bad one.”
“Bad?”
“Well, let’s take a look at the positives and negatives.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, positives, let’s see, they’re fire hot, sexy with incredible bodies, big muscles, and hard-core attitudes, and totally what a woman fantasizes about to bring her to ultimate orgasm.”
“Jesus,” Talia said and pushed her hair behind her ear and then took a longer sip of her rum and coke.
“They’re soldiers, they live around town, they brought your lips out of hibernation, and well, I assume getting sandwiched between them and possibly felt up was a pleasurable experience since it’s been three years since you had a boyfriend, had sex, or got intimate with anyone. Another positive—they had the ability, in whatever crazy way, to bring your defenses down and get you to loosen up enough to get kissed. We’ve hung out enough over the past year, and you do not flirt, fool around, or date men around here.”
“True,” Talia said and took another sip of her rum and started to feel the buzz, thank God.
“Unless you date guys out of town?”
“Nope,” she replied.
“Hmm,” Marianna said and then squinted.
“Negatives?” Talia asked.
“They aren’t commitment material, not by a long shot. You’re now on their radar, so they’ll try to get you into bed, or at minimum oral sex.”
“Marianna.”
“Well, seriously, Talia, you could get some benefits from the encounter, you know. Since it’s been three years since your pussy saw any action, why not use them a little? They probably have huge—”
“Marianna!” Talia exclaimed, and Marianna started laughing so hard.
“I’m teasing. I’m teasing. That’s what vibrators are for—to not make stupid mistakes and be a piece of ass just because we’re horny.”
Talia laughed. “This is going to haunt me for quite some time.”
Sons of Justice 10 Deliver Us from Evil Page 4
