by Karen Renee
Fifteen minutes later, we pulled into a sprawling strip mall with a freestanding Bonefish Grill in front of the plaza. There was also a fancy-looking Cuban restaurant and a First Watch. I knew First Watch had lunch items, but no way would they have one of the best burgers, seeing as they were a chain.
I climbed off the bike and speared Beast with my eyes. “Where are we eating? I know you didn’t bring me to First Watch for a burger.”
He grinned. “No way, babe. We’re goin’ to Norma Jean’s.”
“If you say so.”
“I do. It’s March and the NCAA playoffs are down to the Sweet Sixteen. No better way to watch some hoops than with a damn good burger and a beer...and you.”
“Nice save, David.”
“Don’t worry, Clumsy. I’ll still give you plenty of attention. You ever watched basketball?”
“Not since high school.”
This was true. I wasn’t much of a sports spectator. My thoughts must have been written on my face, because he traced my jaw with his finger and a smile on his face.
He chuckled. “Well, hangin’ with me and eatin’ here, you’re in for a treat. Let’s go.”
Ten minutes later, I was perusing the extensive menu when the waitress came back for my drink order. I was uncertain what I wanted to drink until I had a handle on what I wanted to eat. That probably made me high-maintenance to a guy like Beast, but I couldn’t help myself. The moment I saw there was such a thing as an olive burger on their menu, I thought of ordering a dirty martini. My love for green olives knew no bounds, but then I spotted the corned beef on rye and that demanded beer or maybe a red wine. It was a conundrum.
“We ready to order?” she asked.
Beast widened his eyes at me, but his quirking lips told me he didn’t mean anything by it.
“Yes,” I told her. “I’ll have a dirty martini and the olive cheese burger.”
“Excellent,” she said to her notepad. Then she leveled her eyes on Beast, “And you, sir?” The way she enunciated sir told me she really wanted to call him ‘handsome’ or some other affectionate term.
“The Big Boy burger, onion rings on the side. But before you bring our food, we’ll take an order of six boneless wings, mild, with ranch.”
I watched her eyes move from Beast to me and back to him. “Yes, sir.”
It was hard to say what her eye movements were all about, but I decided to ignore it.
“You must be hungry,” I said after she left us.
He chuckled. “Nope. You’re havin’ some wings with me, babe.”
I was two sips into my martini when I began to wonder what we would do the next day. With a frown, I sighed. Even though I was trying to be quiet, it got Beast’s attention and he looked expectantly at me.
“What is the point of all this? We’ve put my toes in the sand. Are we headed back tomorrow?”
He looked up at a screen over my shoulder and I nearly thought he was going to ignore me, he stared at it so long. When I got his eyes again, his lips twisted with indecision. “Maybe we should. Maybe we shouldn’t.”
“What does that mean?”
An arm lowered a plate of hot-sauce coated boneless wings in the center of the table, and it was all I could do not to shoot daggers at our waitress for the intrusion.
“Your burgers should be up soon. You need anything else?”
Beast shook his head, and she sauntered away. When she was gone, Beast chuckled. “Hope you know you wear your every thought on your face, Clumsy.”
I took in a deep breath and regretted it because the pungent aroma of hot sauce assaulted my nose. “Whatever,” I muttered.
Beast took a piece of chicken, but spoke before biting into it. “I told myself I was gonna leave you be. Can’t even tell you how many times I told myself that.”
I waited him out as he struggled with his words.
“You told me about Roman and the fuck of it is that I was that close to saying the same thing.” His fingers were raised with scarcely a centimeter between them.
“Roman was wrong,” I muttered, grabbing a celery stalk.
“About what?”
“You. He said you wouldn’t touch me until I was out of my marriage.”
Beast shook his head. “Yeah. He would say that to you.”
“Why?”
He looked me up and down, even if it was limited to my upper body when he did it. “For a shot with you? He’s a man. He’d say whatever it took with you.”
I dunked the celery in the thick dressing. “What’s this have to do with leaving tomorrow?”
“We stay here, I’ll finish what you started by staring at me cookin’.”
I held my breath, thinking no way I heard him right.
“Problem is, Trent found your ass, we disabled that capability, and he isn’t likely to react well to that.”
That was the God’s honest truth, but I kept quiet.
“Means he might come down here. Or send a lackey, seein’ as how I don’t know what a politician’s schedule looks like.”
I pressed my lips together. “You’re right. He’ll send someone if he can’t get away.”
“Right. Problem is I don’t let anybody dictate my life.”
Shame filled me because I’d let Trent do that for nearly six years now.
“That ain’t about you, Janie. Fact you’re gettin’ out now’s a sign you won’t put up with that shit either.”
I couldn’t let his nice words penetrate. So, I said, “Okay. Are we going back tomorrow?”
He looked at me a long moment. “Don’t know yet.”
I threw big eyes across the room and two pot-bellied older men who caught my gaze grinned at me when I did. Looking back to Beast, I did my best to keep my voice level. “How can you not know yet if we’re headed back? It damn sure sounds like we should hit the road. The sooner the better.”
When he spoke, I knew something in him snapped. I wasn’t sure if it was what I said or if it was simply pent up with him fighting to hold back for so long. “You’re gonna let him walk on you? You’re gonna let him cheat on you?”
I was midway through reaching for my martini, but his first question stopped me. His second question all but flayed me. Pulling my hand back, I narrowed my eyes.
“I’m not letting him do a damn thing. The cheating happened before I even filed papers. As far as I know, I’m not letting him walk on me right now. You need to make up your damn mind. You just said something to the effect that in ‘getting out’ meant I wasn’t letting him dictate my life any more than you are. Not two minutes later you say I’m letting him walk on me? You’re wrong.”
Beast’s eyes narrowed. “You’re okay with his cheating? You’re gonna wait until you’re completely free and clear before you find a man to take to your bed?”
“This shit isn’t all about sex.”
“Christ. We shouldn’t be talkin’ about this shit here.”
“What?” I breathed.
“Been tryin’ to do right by you, but fuck if I’m inclined to do that any more. We go back to the condo, I’m gonna strip you of your prissy clothes, tear off my clothes if you don’t beat me to it—and for the record, I fuckin’ dare your ass to beat me to it— and then I’m gonna sink into your tight, wet heat every way I can. With my fingers, with my tongue, and when you’re moaning, squirming, fuckin’ whining with want, I’ll sink into you with my cock.”
“Cheese and rice,” I whispered, even though I didn’t mean to.
He belly laughed. “I did not just hear you whisper ‘Cheese and rice!’ You can’t even trouble yourself to use the lord’s name in vain about this.”
I wanted to roll my eyes at him, but for once in this bizarre dining experience our waitress showed excellent timing and arrived with two plates and set them in front of us.
“You need anything else?” she asked, her face pointed at Beast and not me. Since an immediate cab ride was not something she could help me with, I kept my mouth shut.
I
T WAS DEBATABLE IF it was luck or something else, but Beast’s phone rang the moment we walked in the door. My anxiety was through the roof and I wondered if there was some way out of this. Then another part of my mind asked me why on earth would I want that? I set my purse on the end table, and sat on the sofa.
“Are you fuckin’ serious?” Beast growled from the hallway. The condo was small and cozy, but his anger was making it feel stuffy and cramped. I looked to him, but his eyes were focused on the carpet at his feet.
“They can do that shit without a warrant?”
A shorter pause than the last one, then, “Jim, I know you and your anal retentive ass. You keep your records tight, the fact you’re doin’ something for the club, I know you’ve got your shit together. No way you don’t have–”
During this conversational lull, Beast’s eyes went round. “You think they planted a gun you never took in from a customer?”
My stomach dropped, and I knew this was Trent complying with that asshole who wanted to cause problems for Riot.
“The bar and grill, too? Christ.”
“And the storage facility? How in the hell would the club–”
Pause.
“Well, thank fuck a lawyer was finally around to earn their keep. The brothers want me back in town?”
I stood and moved closer to Beast, and could hear vague hints of Liar’s voice. “Fine. We’ll stay just one more day. Keep me posted if any other bullshit goes down.”
He ended the call, and tucked his phone into his back pocket.
“I’m guessing Trent’s causing Liar problems after all.”
While he ran a hand down his face, he said, “Yeah, and the club’s restaurant, and a play was made at the storage facility but one of our lawyers happened to be there to thwart it.”
“I’m sorry. Maybe I should go visit my mother and distance myself–”
His gaze jerked to me, and his arm shot out to hook me behind my back, yanking me to his torso.
“Not fuckin’ happenin’, Clumsy. We’re here another day. Watched you sit on that couch not a minute ago, know you haven’t forgotten what I said at Norma Jean’s. Time to put that plan into action, for damn sure.”
I put my hands up to his chest and looked up into his mesmerizing eyes. “I thought you were tryin’ to leave me alone?”
His chin dipped. “He fucked you over, and with more than one woman. You need to get over on him. He’s fuckin’ with my brother’s and our livelihoods, so I’m definitely in the mood to fuck him over. The fact we’ll both get off and get relief is one helluva bonus.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but asking him if this was a good idea was not a question he would answer honestly. This thought had me biting my lip, and I noticed belatedly Beast was watching me do it.
“Kiss. Me.” he demanded, when he had my eyes.
Four other women, who knew how many times, and divorce proceedings were already underway. Not a chance in hell I would stay hitched to Trent. I supposed it wasn’t actually cheating at this point. Guilt was trying to edge in on me, but I pushed it away and slid my hands up Beast’s chest.
Rising up on my toes, I nearly smiled when I saw his eyes flare as my mouth went to his. Once my lips hit his, though, he took full control. His arms tightened, forcing my body closer to his, and his tongue slipped into my mouth. One of my hands went into his silky hair, and then my legs were moving because he was shoving us forward toward the doorway to the bedroom.
I knew we were in the bedroom even though my eyes were closed because the ceiling was lower in that room so the air conditioning felt stronger. Beast stopped pushing me, his fingers slipped under the hem of my shirt and our lips broke while my arms were forced away from him while I untied the neck of my shirt, before he whipped the garment over my head.
He looked down at my Simone Perele demi-lace bra and I saw his lips tighten. “Fuckin’ A, Clumsy. That bra’s fuckin’ hot, but it’s got to go.”
With a flirty look, I shimmied my shorts down my legs, and I heard him hiss a breath at the sight of my bikini cut panties.
“But it matches my panties,” I said in a sultry voice.
His arm went up and behind his neck so I saw his well-defined tricep pointed my way. Then his shirt was gone and his expansive chest was in my view. He looked me up and down one last time.
“Off,” he ordered.
Maybe it was the martini earlier, or maybe it was that I’d wanted to peel his pants off him many times since I’d met him. Whatever it was, I ignored his order and rubbed against his front while my hands set to work on the fly of his jeans.
I kissed his pec just to the left of his nipple. “Nope. I’ve been wanting to see you without any pants on for a long while now.”
I barely had the top button undone when he growled, his hands wrapped harshly around my hips, and he sent me airborne toward the bed. Part of me loved that, but most of me hated him for it, because he stripped his pants and underwear off and I was practically desperate to do the honors.
He was still a foot from the bed, and I was going to ask what the hold up was when he growled. “Get that bra and panty set off, babe. Unless you just don’t give a fuck about it, because if you don’t, I’m gonna shred it. But, if I had to guess that’s expensive, top-notch lingerie so get to it, Clumsy.”
Seeing as the set came from Sak’s, he was dead right that it was expensive and as it happened, I cared about it. Wiggling out of my panties was short work, but I had barely got the bra off my arms when he pounced on me. As in, pounced. His huge body was on mine in a way I nearly melded to the mattress beneath me. His hands gripped my arms and put them out to my side. He was up on his knees looking at my face and then down my body, and the hunger mixed with admiration in his eyes made me tingle in a way I never had before.
His head dipped and I felt his nose glide from the middle of my breasts up my neck to my ear. “Fuck, you’re so goddamn gorgeous, Janie. Part of me thinks I could come just lookin’ at you.”
My cheeks heated, but since his lips were near my ear, I turned my head and tried to capture him for a kiss. He reared back, and I had a hard time not growling.
“Oh no, baby. Gonna do what I said I was gonna do. Sink into your wet heat every way I can. Fingers first.”
His mouth lowered to mine and the kiss was even more gratifying when his fingers delved into my folds. My breath hitched and I felt his lips curling. Probably in a smile, but my hands were trailing down his back, over his lush derrière, to his thighs. Call me crazy, but I loved the feel of his leg hair.
Who was I fooling? I loved the feel of him, period. Any which way I could feel him.
His fingers gently twisted then, and I nearly lost my mind. I felt him curling two fingers inside me even as he worked them in and out of me. My legs spread and I swirled my tongue around his.
He hummed low in his throat. Taking that as I good sign, I swirled again while I maneuvered a hand between us so I could finally touch him.
I didn’t know how long I was able to touch and stroke him, but it seemed obscenely short. He pulled his head from mine, but the sheer fire in his eyes told me it was a force of will to do it.
“Fuck, Janie. You always this hot? No. Don’t answer that. Cause if you aren’t, I’m gonna make sure you are every. Single. Time.”
His fingers did one last delicious curl and I lost hold of his leg with my hand because his body moved so his face dipped direct to my core.
If his fingers were delicious, his tongue action was delectably scrumptious. Which scared me, because what was his strong, thick cock going to be like? And while I may have only touched it for a minute, I still looked long and hard at it before Beast had lowered himself onto me.
My thoughts were obliterated when he sucked hard on my clit. Expert. He was an oral sex expert, such was his skill, and that scared me too. But only briefly, because sensations were building in me quick and with monumental strength.
I swallowed a giggle because I didn’t want to mess w
ith his concentration. And concentrated he was! His eyes were focused like I was the most important thing in his life.
What I wouldn’t give to be just that! I jostled my head to shake the thought away. His tongue traced a slow path from my opening to my clit and my back arched as my eyes closed. I heard his low rumble of chuckles, which was followed by the sound of a foil wrapper being torn open.
I looked down just in time to watch him take himself in hand to guide his cock into me. Oh yeah. I had every reason to be scared earlier. Beast inside of me felt not just good, or right, but damn near perfect. Never had I felt anything so instinctive, but there it was in my gut, my core, and maybe even my heart. He was the right person to fill me. I was reminded of being turned on by his dancing and cooking. It was crazy. The thought that his cock was perfect for me was just as crazy. Wasn’t it?
He began to move inside me, and his lips trailed my neck down to my breasts, sucking a nipple into his mouth. My back again arched and I thrust against him for added friction.
Releasing my nipple, he said, “Knew you’d be fun, baby. But you’re so tight and so damn responsive, you’re damn near blowing my mind.”
He gently scraped his teeth from that nipple over to my other breast. I moaned and was surprised how loud it was in the small bedroom. I shoved my hands into his hair to hold him to me, clamped my legs around his hips and met his thrusts as well as I could.
Letting go of my nipple, Beast surged forward, and kissed me long, wet, and deep. His hand slid down my side and in until his thumb found my clit and he did a pressing swirl. The sensations were back and ‘monumental’ didn’t do justice to the strength of what Beast was building inside me. It was so good, I had to have more. I thought I might lose my mind trying to not just find it, but get it.
Determination to get what seemed to be an elusive but colossal orgasm overtook me, so I released my legs, planted a foot in the bed and took Beast by surprise in my effort to roll him to the bottom. When our lips released, I caught his eyes and the playful light in them told me he let me get the upper hand. Miraculously, his hand at my clit did not dislodge in my endeavors and that thumb was still working me there.