Up All Night Long: From Lust to Love (Romance Anthology)

by Ali Parker

  "Sure." The woman moved past me, trying not to touch me at all.

  I couldn't blame her. I was fucking fuming. How dare that little shit slip out on me? What had I done besides open up to her, share my favorite place to eat and a little of my history? Was it the comment about her being so fucking hot as she licked her spoon?

  She played it off well, but I knew without a doubt that she was aware of my attraction to her. Her bringing up fucking some guy at the house while I was there was almost it for me.

  I growled in the hall as another woman slipped in front of me. I turned and walked to the other end of the hall, not comfortable with looking like a total creeper hovering by the door.

  The small Chinese woman stuck her head out and shook it. "No, Sir. No one in here."

  "Thank you," I responded tightly and turned, walking from the restaurant like my ass was on fire. I was going to strangle her. Jogging back down to the car, I got in and slammed the door, texting her twice more before heading back to the house.

  The traffic was incredibly heavy and it took me more than an hour to get back to the house. By the time I got there my anger had shifted from rage to a slow simmer. She was crying in the shower earlier and had mentioned that her emotions were off the charts.

  Maybe I said something that upset her. Was it me denying her a hard fuck? As if she really wanted one from me. Surely not. The girl was a hundred miles above me in class and status. It had to be the big-brother act I kept pulling out, but I couldn't help it. She acted like a spoiled child and left me no fucking option.

  My phone rang and I grabbed it as I pulled into the neighborhood.

  "What?" I prayed like hell it was her. It wasn't.

  My brother chuckled. "Damn... your tone sucks. What if I was Mitch?"

  "I'd tell you to take this job and shove it up your ass." I got trapped behind a large moving truck and let out a long growl.

  "Whoa. Slow down, buddy. Tell me what's going on."

  "This chick is bat-shit crazy. That's what's going on."

  "Ian, you think all chicks are bat-shit crazy." Jake chuckled again, which didn't help my mood.

  "Because most of them are. I swear if she's not slinging her panties at me, she's storming off or screaming in my face."

  "Slinging her panties at you? You know she's off limits, dude. It's been one day."

  "I know that, Jake. Say one more mother fucking thing to make me feel stupid and I'm hanging this goddamn phone up." The truck pulled out and I sped around him, hating the small car I was crammed in on top of everything else.

  "Okay, man. Tell me what I can do. You want me to come over and talk to the girl?"

  "No. She just gave me the slip because I guess I once again said something to upset her."

  "Walk me through what you said."

  "No. I'm almost there. I'm just going to strangle her and scream the rules in her face."

  "Ian. Tell me what happened. Make me feel better. I feel like I'm the only guy who can't talk to girls. Give me something here."

  I parked and got out of the car as I caught sight of her out on the beach. She paddled toward the surf and I let out a long sigh. The beach was the only place that gave her peace. Fuck. Something I did unraveled her, but what?

  Plopping down on a large rock on the side of the house that gave me a perfect view of her, I let out a long breath. "I took her to Fashion Valley to eat."

  "Not the Chinese place."

  I smiled. "Duh. No one else will go with me."

  "That's because it's fucking nasty."

  "You wanna hear this or you wanna insult my passions?"

  "Keep going." Jake made a gagging sound and I laughed, my anger running out. How he did that shit I would never know.

  "We had a good dinner and shared dessert. I told her about you and getting the job. She mentioned bringing someone to the house and I told her if she wanted to that was cool, I just needed to check the guy out. She bristled and said that sex was a part of her life and she reminded me that she's twenty-one."

  "That makes sense. Go on."

  "I told her I didn't care how old she was. If she wanted to get laid, the guy would have to come through me." I glanced out at the water and took her in, my heart swelling at how beautiful she was against the setting sun. Shit.

  "It's the daddy thing she doesn't seem to like. No one wants to be locked in a cage, Ian. You don't either."

  "I didn't cause this shit to happen to her. I'm just trying to do my fucking job."

  "I know that. Anything else?"

  "She just mentioned that if she wasn't getting dick from anyone else that I'd have to let her use mine."

  "She did not say that shit." Jake laughed again.

  "Something like that. I laid down the law again. She needs to know that I'm not putting up with her dicked up advances. I'm not a piece of meat for her to play around with."

  "You rejected her. Did she leave right after that?"

  I thought back on it, not agreeing at all with Jake. The bitch rejected me, which was a good thing.

  "I guess. I gotta go, dude."

  "All right buddy, but this isn't about you. It's about her being put into a new life with rules and regulations. She's not used to that, and if she's sensitive, then rejecting her in any sense of the word is going to hit her far harder than you think."

  "All right. I'll call you tomorrow." I hung up and pulled my knees up, wrapping my arms around them.

  I thought back to earlier in the day when she reached out to touch my tat and I told her not to. Did she think that was rejection? The sad look that brushed across her features said that she did. It wasn't. I just couldn't have her soft fingers brushing all over my skin or I was going to lay waste to my agreement with her father and teach her how to scream my name from muscle memory.

  Pulling at my hair, I growled and stood, hating like hell that the angst inside of me had bubbled up again. She walked down the beach as I approached her. I was pissed all over again. Being left at a restaurant could do that to a guy.

  "I'm not sure what part of this you don't get, but let me reiterate it for you." I stopped in front of her, locking my eyes onto hers and not glancing down at the incredible amount of skin she left on display. "Your father almost died two weeks ago. Have you been to a funeral for someone you loved? Stood over their casket while they lay there all fake and stiff? It sucks, little girl. That's what's going to happen to you if you don't stay close to me. He's worried about your safety."

  I barely got the word safety out before she slapped me - hard.

  "Fuck you. You don't know anything." She jerked around me and walked to the house as the sound of her crying hit me in the chest. I didn't care.

  "I don't? I know how to stop someone from putting a bullet in your head, but you know what, Chloe... You have to help with that. If you run from me, I can't protect you."

  "I don't want your protection," she screamed as she continued to the house, flinging the door open and dropping her board on the porch. "Stay away from me. My father can get someone else. I can't stand you."

  There was no reason why her words should have bothered me, but they did. I let out a long sigh and walked up on the deck, picking up her board and pulling it into the house. I locked up and set the alarm before opening the windows to the back porch to watch the sunset.

  How nice it would be to be dealing with a woman and not a child, but it was probably a good thing I wasn't. I would have taken the woman on the beach and made love to her until the sun came back up from wherever it disappeared to.

  Chapter 15

  Four Days Later, Sunday

  I couldn't remember having a more miserable week than the one we finally made it through. Ian and I spoke maybe ten words to each other, moving around one another like shadows in the night. My heart ached to apologize for my actions, but that would lead to me having to explain myself, and the fact that I was falling in love with him, which wasn't happening.

  So, I just kept to myself. Jessica came ove
r a few times and fell in love with him too, asking me a million times if I was okay with her wanting to ask him out. I didn't care. He was off limits for me and he was sure to stick to that no matter what I did to try and change it.

  Sunday morning came and I woke to the smell of bacon, my stomach growling loudly as I slipped out of bed. I tugged on the robe that hung on the hanger by my door and padded into the kitchen, hoping like hell that since he was cooking for me, we were moving toward being amicable again.

  No luck. Pauly turned and smiled, lifting a piece of bacon from the plate and freezing, as if caught.

  "Hey." I smiled and moved toward him.

  He opened his arms and pulled me into a warm hug, kissing the top of my head. "Hey kiddo. I figured a good home-cooked breakfast might do you some good."

  "Oh. I thought Ian was cooking. You almost scared me. Him cooking means the apocalypse is on its way." I forced a laugh and Pauly eyed me.

  "He's off on Sunday, silly girl. He left at five this morning when I got here. He looked like hell. Everything go okay this week?"

  I moved to pour myself a cup of coffee and shrugged. "I guess if you consider we didn't say more than five words to each other."

  "Wow. That's odd. He seemed like a talkative guy when I brought him over here last week. Maybe he's shy around girls?" Pauly turned and watched me like a hawk.

  I shouldn't have brought up Ian. There would be no getting around my father's main man. He knew me too well.

  I let out a long sigh and hopped up on the barstool at the breakfast nook. "He's pissed at me, and rightly so."

  Pauly pulled the last bit of the bacon from the pan and lifted his eyebrow at me. "Pancakes or French toast?"

  "Both?" I laughed. "No, French toast sounds great."

  "Talk. Spill for me and let me help you."

  I nodded, emotions crashing down on me from all angles. I set the coffee down and picked up a towel beside me, pressing it to my eyes. "It's all my fault. I just... want to be loved so fucking bad."

  "Oh, sweetheart."

  His arms wrapped around me and he pressed a kiss to the side of my head. "You know me and your father love you so much."

  "I guess." I tugged away and wiped at my tears angrily. "I know you're not the person to talk to about this, but I don't have anyone else. My friends are shallow asses and my dad's gone and doesn't know me any more than the guys who answer the phone in his call center."

  Pauly rubbed my shoulders before walking back to the kitchen. "I'm here. Talk about anything you want to."

  "Ian's pissed because I gave him the slip at the mall." I held up my hand before Pauly lit into me. "I know it was stupid, but I had one of those moments where I could see my life with someone like him in it and I could almost touch it."

  I reached out and imagined him in front of me before letting my hand fall to the counter. "But... it slipped away and he slammed the door in my face."

  "Literally?" Pauly worked on the French toast.

  "No. He put me in my place when I tried to flirt a little. He's all business, which I get, but I felt rejected and it's the last thing I needed." I took a sip of my coffee, shoving my feelings back down in the little black box where they resided. "So, I ran."

  "Did you talk to him about why you ran?"

  "Nope. I haven't said much of anything other than, 'fuck off' in the last few days." I glanced down at my phone, flipping back through his angry messages from earlier in the week.

  "Interesting." Pauly laid a plate of food before me. "Well, I know you don't want to hear this, but your father is hoping you'll attend church with him at ten."

  I glanced toward the clock, noting it was eight. "Don't you think God is offended that my father simply shows up in various worship services to look good?"

  "I don't know about God, but the people sure seem to like it."

  I huffed and started to eat, a moan leaving me as I glanced up. "You're the best cooker in the whole world."

  He laughed. "You've been saying that since you were knee high to a grasshopper."

  "It's true." I turned my attention back to the food.

  "I'll talk to the boy."

  "He's a man and no, don't do me any favors. We'll figure it out or we'll just keep this charade up for eight more weeks. It's going to come to an end one way or the other."

  "Well, I love you, butterfly. I'm here if you need anything of me."

  I nodded and used a large bit of French toast to push the pain back down in my chest where it seemed to live.

  The service was boring and done without any feeling. How people thought God would be excited to show up when none of them were was beyond me. I hugged my dad and got back in my beamer, promising Pauly that I would stop by the store and meet him at home. He was supposed to stay by my side, but his son had a flat tire and needed help.

  Against the voices in my head, I totally disobeyed the command, suddenly tired of feeling like a child. I was twenty-one years old. That had to mean something to someone. I wasn't getting death threats. Dad was.

  Driving out to the docks on Coronado Island was the plan. I took the large bridge over the water, the Navy ships causing me to feel comfort. As a child, Pauly would bring me out to the island and take me all over. He had a few friends in the service and they would get a day pass to bring us on and show us around. It felt like being part of something bigger than me. It was protection in the smallest of ways.

  A sob caught in my chest and I swallowed it back down.

  "No. You're not that wimpy-ass, emo girl. Get it together." I needed to go back to L.A. The summer was turning out to be anything but what I expected. I would tell my father that I was picking up a few summer classes and heading back. He would release Ian, the man having a family and life in San Diego. We could just up the security around my building on campus. There were camera's everywhere anyways.

  I pulled off the main drag on the island and parked at one of the open lots before walking down to the water's edge. Large sailboats moved about, and I found a good seat in the sand at the park, leaning against a palm tree. The thought of bringing Ian to this special little place rolled over me, but I let it go. He wasn't interested in anything, not even a friendship. No one worth my time was.

  What was his story? I hadn't really gotten too much into it, but I realized I wanted to know. The haunted look in his eyes and his threat of standing over a casket that he threw at me left me wanting to dig deeply into him. Death had shadowed his life as it had my own. He had no way of knowing that my mother had died when I was twelve.

  I couldn't fault him there. Everywhere else was game, but not there.

  How pathetic did I sound talking to Pauly that morning? I just want someone to love me? I closed my eyes and took a shaky breath. Had I really verbalized my deepest hurts and hardest hang-ups in one sentence?

  Yep, and it was so far beyond the truth that it threatened to push every ounce of hope from my future. I needed a drink, a one-night stand and a dose of fantasy. Reality hurt far too much.

  Chapter 16

  "You look like your mother died." Pinkie lifted his hand in the air as I walked into Billy's and took a seat next to the guys. Jake was at the bar getting beers from what I could tell.

  "She might have. I'm an orphan, remember?" I winked and Pinkie flinched.

  "Fuck, dude. Harsh."

  I shrugged and fingered the peanuts on the table in front of me, waiting for my brother to come over. I had avoided having a real conversation with him most of the week simply because if I opened the floodgates, a ton of shit was going to roll out.

  The money wasn't nearly enough to hold me to the emotionally fucked-up job I'd taken, but the need to push through and get to the girl... that's what was going to keep me there. She had retreated completely inside of herself. When she wasn't moping, she was walking around the house with the skimpiest shit I had ever seen.

  Poor Pauly. I almost ran passed him when he showed up at the beach house. I couldn't handle another minute of it. I was
like a tight rope that had been stretched past the point of snapping. One subtle movement from her and I was going to let loose.

  "Beers for my guys." Jake smiled back at me and started to pass out the beers.

  The band in the corner started up and my brother handed me the last cold one before nodding to the porch. "Let's go catch up?"

  "Sure. Why the fuck not." I got up and drained the beer before getting outside. I turned and lifted it to the cute waitress who walked by us. "I need three more of these."

  "Anything for you, Ian." She winked and walked back in as I eyed the nice way her shorts fit her. She was pretty, but no Chloe.

  "What's going on, brother? You look like hell." Jake reached over and rubbed my back as I pressed my arms to the railing in front of me.

  "I'm just trying to push through, Jake. Hoping to hang on to the end of the summer, or at least through this month. Just having one paycheck from the old man would set me up for a little while."

  "That bad?"

  "Worse. It's so much worse than I thought possible." I pressed my head into my hands and let out a long groan.

  "I never would have imagined that Mitch had a crazy kid."

  "Dude," I glanced at him, "she's not a kid and she's not crazy."

  He stiffened, lifting his free hand in a show of surrender. "Whoa there big guy. I thought that was the issue. Inform me what's up, seeing that I'm wrong."

  "I signed a contract that said I wouldn't touch her, wouldn't offend her and wouldn't seduce her. I'm so close to finding the mother fucking thing and setting it to fire."

  "Oh." Realization rushed over my brother's face. "You're attracted to her?"

  "I'm in love with her." I closed my eyes and took a long breath, not wanting to see the disapproval on his face.

  He laughed and I peeked at him through one eye. "Somehow I knew this was going to happen."

  "What? Why the hell didn't you warn me? I don't need this shit in my life. I can't sleep or eat or shit without thinking about her. I'm honestly starting to feel like the tender flower we joke about." I tugged at my hair and dropped the act as Linda handed me the three beers. "Put them on Jake’s tab."