by Zoey Parker
“I…” The fluttering in my stomach and the hitch in my breath made coherent thinking harder than usual.
“So you are going to stop throwing what I said to you yesterday in my face. I did that for your protection, and I’m here now for your protection. And you are going to start taking what I say seriously, because I don’t play games, Lauren. I’m not a patient man. When I want something, I take it, and when I say I’m going to do something, I do it.”
I swallowed hard. Our eyes were locked in a mental tug of war. I wouldn’t look away. I refused to give in to him, because if I did, I would find myself lost. “What is it you want?”
He didn’t answer me. Not with words. Instead, his hand snaked up my body, under my hair, and cradled my head. His lips came down hard on mine, crushing me with the force of him. His tongue lashed out against my lips, demanding entrance. No asking, no wooing, just a hard dominance, and I caved. Parting my lips, he swooped in, his tongue mingling with mine, showing me the power he held over me. A low moan escaped into the air. From me? The pad of his thumb rubbed my neck, behind my ear, drawing my attention to every tingling sensation running to my core.
When he finally broke the kiss, pulled back, and looked at me, his eyes were dark. Large pupils stared back at me. My breath came quicker and I tried to regain some composure. His own breath matched mine, his hand still in my hair. “That’s what I wanted,” he whispered, and kissed me again. A quick, hard kiss before he released me.
My skin became electrified under his gaze. He released my neck, but he didn’t move back. His body pressed still me against the wall. If I had thought what my stomach felt before was fluttering, it had quickly turned into full on twists and jumps at the way he looked at me—as though he had only had a taste of what he wanted. An appetizer to satisfy him until the big meal. In that moment, I could have easily given myself to him. I could feel the strength of him just through is his gaze.
“Now, we’re going to go back to your class and you are going to point this Pierre asshole out to me.”
“What are you going to do, Michael? Threaten him? I have to work with these people. This is my last semester. Please don’t do anything to make my life harder here.”
He let out a short burst of air and stepped back. “That’s the last thing I want to do, Lauren. But your safety comes first. Now let’s go.” He held out his arm, directing me to go ahead of him. When I tried to grab my bag from him, he shook his head and raised his eyebrow.
“Fine.” I tossed my hair over my shoulder and walked ahead of him, making sure not to look back at him. No need to encourage his Neanderthal behavior, or to let him see how much his kiss affected me.
I walked into the room, hoping he’d just stay outside, but I should have known better. He followed me to my seat and put my bag on the table for me. “Where is he?” he asked, looking around the room. I wanted to stomp my foot. The foolish man actually thought Pierre would do something to hurt me just because he didn’t get his first pick internship? His second pick nabbed him, he had a solid future ahead of him. It wasn’t like I’d stolen away his only chance.
Sweeping my gaze around the room, I found the twerp in the corner talking with his current crush. Aside from considering himself the brightest in the class, he also believed himself to be the Casanova of our group. Brittany wanted nothing to do with him. Her eyes wandered over his shoulder as he talked, and every so often she checked her phone. The blatant dismissal was lost on him, however.
“There. In the corner.” I thrust my chin in his direction. A few of the girls in the class started casting glances our way, letting their eyes linger longer on Michael than made me comfortable. I took a small step closer to him.
“That little guy?” He did a pretty good job at holding back his laughter. Pierre stood only half an inch taller than me, and probably only carried an extra twenty pounds than myself. I could have easily tackled him to the ground.
“You see, nothing to worry about.” I shook my head and unzipped my bag, pulling out my book for my Case Studies of City Form class. “Class is going to start, so unless you have the sudden urge to learn about Milwaukee’s city structure, I suggest you get out.”
“Where’s your sling?” Damn. So close.
“I left it at home. It was too hard to use my hand with it tied up like that.” His eyes darkened but he looked away before I could determine what set off the change.
“That’s the point, Lauren.” He picked up my bag once I had my stuff out, and hung it over my chair. “I’ll go get it. Is Asya home?”
“You are not going to go get it. My shoulder feels a lot better this morning. I’m fine. Please. Just go.”
He looked over at Pierre again then back at me. “What time does your class end?”
“Mike…”
“Either you tell me, or I’ll just sit out there until it’s over.”
Of course he would. “Ten.” I threw myself into my chair, ignoring the shot of pain the movement caused in my shoulder.
“I’ll be here. Don’t talk to him.” He pointed a finger at Pierre. I rolled my eyes and nodded. I didn’t remember him being so damn pushy and controlling. I felt his presence before I realized he’d leaned over me. “I’m serious, Lauren. Stay away from him.”
“I heard you.” I wanted to turn and glare at him, but he was too close. His lips hovered to close to me for me to trust myself.
My professor walked in, saving me from having to endure another moment of the heat of Michael’s company. He pressed his lips to my temple and then was gone. From the corner of my eye, I watched him saunter from the room. His hands shoved in his pockets as he made his way out, the muscles in his back tight, and the manly sway of his hips displayed his ass well enough to catch the attention of most of the girls in the class.
Once he was out of sight the appreciative eyes moved from the empty doorway to where I sat. Heat crept up my neck and over my cheeks. I ignored the surprised looks and the jealous glares and opened my book, getting ready to make it through another lecture. If I could keep the image of Michael DiMarco out of my damn mind.
Chapter 6
Michael
I never went to college. No surprise there, but I never wanted to either. I worked with my hands. Taking apart and putting back an engine took skill, and I excelled at it. Lauren never thought going to college would be something she would be able to do. When I heard she had gotten a scholarship to City Colleges of Chicago, my chest swelled with pride for her. Even when she thought there was no hope, she reached out for it.
Working at the women’s shelter, which didn’t surprise me, she couldn’t be making much money. And even though I knew her mom was steady on her own feet, I knew she couldn’t be getting cash from her, so how the hell did she afford that apartment and school. I decided to pin her down about all of that as soon as I got this Pierre asshat checked out and cleared. Whoever was gunning for her had a reason. If it had nothing to do with her internship, it had to do with money. Maybe it was how she earned it, maybe a pissed off husband of one of the shelter women had tracked her down.
First, I needed to check out Pierre.
“Officer Bixby, please. Michael DiMarco calling.” Over the years, I’d met my share of cops, and a few of them weren’t too bad to deal with. Bixby saved my ass a time or two. He’d been a healthy part of my life when everything around me was laced with poison.
“Hey, kid.” His gruff voice came over the phone line. “What’s up?”
“Hey, Bixby. I have a favor to ask.” I made my way to my bike in the parking lot, squinting from the damn sun and wishing I had remembered my sunglasses. “Can you do a quick check on a guy for me? Pierre Leonard. He’s a student at UIC.”
“Well now, you know I can’t just go digging around. What’s this about?” A door shut behind him, and the background noise dropped. “What’s going on, kid?”
“An old friend of mine was hit in a hit and run yesterday. A Dodge Challenger plowed right into her and took off. Tony
’s positive the car picked up speed just before it crossed into the intersection. My gut tells me someone was gunning for her.” Jamming my key into the ignition, I sat back on the seat and kept an eye on the windows of Lauren’s class.
“I think I heard about something like that. The girl hasn’t given her statement yet; when our guys got to the hospital she had already left.”
“She’s a little stubborn. I can get her by the station this afternoon if you need.” Figures passed by the windows, but I couldn’t see well enough to know if it was her or not.
“That would help, thanks. Now, tell me again the name of the guy you want me to run.”
***
At five minutes ‘til class ended, I started walking up the steps to meet Lauren. I hadn’t been able to get back to the garage to get any work done while her class was going on, so I handled a few errands. Bixby hadn’t been able to come up with anything on Pierre, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t something to find. Just because he hadn’t been caught didn’t mean he wasn’t a violent asshole. And if he were as much of a spoiled brat as his polo shirt and khaki pants told me he was, it would be more plausible that he hired someone to do the dirty work. Hell, his daddy could probably buy him out of any scrape he found himself in.
I found Lauren still in the classroom doing the exact thing I told her not to do, talking to Pierre. He sat next to her at her table, leaning close into her. I couldn’t see her face, but I saw his. Scrunched up with narrow eyes. He was pissed about something.
Lauren shook her head at him and got up, putting the chair between them. “It’s not my fault, Pierre. I’m not switching with you. Please stop asking me. The answer is still no.”
“You think I don’t know how you got picked over there?” His accusation sent my body into protective mode. Lauren would be the last person in the world to use anything other than her skills and brains to achieve a goal. I doubted if she even knew how to use her body to manipulate someone. Although she definitely had the body to use if she wanted to do that.
“If you think I could so easily get the internship by flaunting my chest around, why would you want to work there? How would you ever make partner or get any good clients if the company valued sex over brains? Just face it, they wanted me because I impressed them more. My designs were more in line with their vision and my grades are higher.”
Good for her! I almost stopped myself from walking in the room. Almost. She held her own pretty well, but Pierre’s face suggested he was about to spew some venomous shit, and I wouldn’t let her hear that. Not from him. “Lauren?” I stepped between them, shoving the chair out of my way. She gave me her best exasperated look, but underneath the eye roll I saw the truth. Relief. If nothing else, I saved her from that goon’s verbal attack.
“Who’s this?” Pierre snorted, making a show of looking me up and down. Like I couldn’t squeeze his guts out of his nose with my hands. The man barely stood taller than Lauren, and I doubted he weighed much more than her, too. The balls this kid had glaring up at me. He probably never came across someone who didn’t back down from him just by waving his name and money at them. Well, he had never met me before.
“Michael, let’s just go.” She tugged on my arm, but I already had Pierre in my sights. I squared off with him, staring down at him with as calm of an expression as I could muster. His oversized Adam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed hard.
“Stay clear of her, you got that? Accept defeat like a man, and back the fuck off.” Lauren’s nails dug into me, but I ignored it.
“You her bodyguard or something? I heard she had a little accident yesterday. She need someone to carry her books to class?” He tried, but the little waver in his voice gave him away.
“Michael. Please. Let’s just go.” She tugged on me again, but I only moved closer to Pierre.
“You stay away from her. I’m not going to tell you again. If I see you so much as breathe in her direction, you and I will have words.” Her nails really dug in then. My skin burned under her abuse.
“Yeah, I got it.” He leaned to the left, trying to see Lauren behind me. “Maybe your goon squad here helped you during your interview?”
“Seriously? I’m right fucking here.” I growled and took another step, my fists at the ready. He backed off, slinging his bag over his shoulder and rounding the table.
“I got it, I got it. I’ll stay clear of your princess. Don’t worry, your girlfriend is safe from me.” His sneer didn’t sit right with me, but when I turned to follow him, Lauren shoved me with both hands.
“Stop it. You’re making a scene.” It was then that I noticed the handful of students staring at me.
The blonde Pierre had cornered earlier walked over to us with a bright smile on her face. “That was awesome. I don’t think anyone has ever talked to him like that. That little twerp thinks the world is his just because his father owns a few buildings in the city. Apparently, money can’t buy you a personality.” She laid a hand on Lauren’s shoulder. “Keep this one close. I see a few girls here who would swoop in and nab him if you aren’t careful.”
“Thanks.” Lauren gave a weak smile. The blonde threw a wink at me over her shoulder and headed out of the room.
“Give me your bag.” I held out my hand. If she didn’t listen, I’d take it anyway, but for just once that day I wanted compliance. She must have seen it in my expression because she didn’t hesitate in handing it over.
“Can we go now?”
“Do you have any other classes?”
“No, just this one. I want to go home and take a pain pill.” She winced when she moved her arm.
Switching out my bike for the truck before I picked her up had been a good idea. She wouldn’t be able to hold on to me with one good arm. “That’s why you are supposed to wear your sling.” I pressed my hand to the small of her back to get her moving. She didn’t have a smart ass response for me. “If I tell you to stay in bed and just sleep today, think you can handle that?” I slowed my steps on the stairs for her; she seemed to be dragging.
“That actually sounds like a great plan. I wasn’t going to work this evening, but I think I’ll go in anyway. I want to see how Marnie did on her interview, and there are a few kids who started school today. I’d like to see how it went.”
The woman amazed me. “I can drive you; your car won’t be ready for a week or so. Tony had to order some parts and the body work is pretty bad.”
She shook her head, stopping at the foot of the stairs to look up at me. “I’ll be fine doing what I always did. I appreciate that you somehow feel this responsibility toward me, but you don’t need to. I fared just fine on my own all these years. I’m a big girl now, Michael. I can take the bus to work.”
“Maybe I just want to spend time with you. Did you think of that?” By the look in her eye, I could tell that hadn’t occurred to her. Why would it have? I told her I didn’t want her in my life, had been an asshole about it, too.
“You sure you can do that without being a body guard?” She tilted her head. The teasing smile I remembered from our youth snuck across her lips. Her very kissable lips.
“Probably not.” I shrugged, leaning down to get closer to her. “I’ll always protect you, Lauren.” Her tongue darted across her lips, her nostrils flared just enough to tell me she wanted more of what I gave her earlier. If I said the kiss had no effect on me, I’d be a lying fool. I pressed my lips to her forehead, grinning at the disappointed sigh she let out. If the woman knew how much she wanted my touch, I doubt she would have admitted it, but her body was aware of it. Her body wouldn’t be able to hold back in responding to me, but that couldn’t happen. I wouldn’t use her like that.
Kelly was good for a quick fuck, but never would Lauren be that girl, and I didn’t want her to become that girl. But that was all I could offer. I wouldn’t drag her into my world. She needed to find someone worthy, someone who would do everything for her but not have the shit past I did. Someone who could love her openly and honestly.
Fucking Lauren would be a mistake. No matter how much my dick ached to be inside of her, I wouldn’t do that to her.
“Take me home, Michael.” She turned and walked out the door, not even glancing back to see if I was following. Her princess act didn’t fool me. She was putting space between us, not wanting me to see how much she really wanted from me. Poor girl didn’t realize I already knew.
Chapter 7
Lauren
Working at the shelter meant more to me than just a pay check. Considering how small the check was, it was more about my desire to help others than earn a decent wage. I made enough to cover my rent and toss Asya money for groceries, but other bills and luxuries like clothes were harder to come by.
In order to make those ends meet, I took a second job cleaning offices. I only had to take on a few shifts a week, so it rarely interfered with school or my work at the shelter, but sometimes when I had to fill in for someone who called in sick, I’d be stuck cleaning until well after midnight.
