by Jessa Eden
Na-uh. Not happening.
Marla tried to pull her wrist away from her would-be admirer as I arrived on the dance floor.
I stepped in front of the guy, getting in his face. “Whoa, buddy. Hands off,” I growled, trying to control my temper.
“I was here first,” he barked, as if in some universe he could claim her.
I stared hard at the young punk. “Let go of her. I’m only going to ask once,” I snarled, ready for battle.
I took a menacing step forward, which made the guy flinch. He was all bark and no bite as he released Marla. I chased him off with another confrontational step and he high-tailed it to the bar, like a scared little puppy.
“Thank you, Beau,” Marla offered, staring at me with relief in her doe eyes.
“I’ll be with you in a moment,” I snapped, mad she was even there.
That asshole needed to be thrown out. I signaled to one of the bouncers, pointing at the guy. He would be banished for good.
Satisfied, I turned my full attention to Marla, who looked too sexy in a tight pink dress, showing off her hot body.
“I can’t have you here, looking like this, acting like that!” I pointed toward her dress and then the dance floor.
Her brown eyes went wide with shock. “What? You don’t get to tell me where I can go.”
“I can kick you out of here!”
“Fine! I’ll go somewhere else.” She turned to walk away from me.
“Oh no, you won’t!” I said, picking her up in a fireman’s hold and slinging her over my shoulder with one hand.
“Put me down!” she demanded, as her legs flailed out in front of me.
I had always loved her curvy calves and I ran my hand along her soft skin as she struggled.
“No! I’m not putting you down!” I yelled, carrying her toward the office in the back.
I weaved my way through the thickening crowd as Marla continued to struggle against me. I made it down the hall, away from prying eyes. Once we were inside the office, I shut the door and put her down.
“Where are we?” she questioned sharply.
“My office.”
“Why do you have an office at Scorch?” she asked, glancing around at the dark green walls with wooden panels running along the bottom third of the paint.
“Because I own the damn club.”
“Is there anything you don’t own?” she shot back.
“Yeah, you.”
She shook her head. “That’s not happening, Beau. You will never own me. I can’t be bought.”
“So you’ve made known. But I will not have the mother of my child dancing like that in public.”
“Charlie’s not six, anymore,” she countered.
It didn’t matter. “I didn’t get to do this when he was six, so I’m doing it now.”
She narrowed her furious gaze at me. “That doesn’t even make sense. You’re acting like I was some kind of neglectful mother, who went out and partied all the time and I wasn’t!”
“How would I know that? You could have been fucking any Tom, Dick, or Harry walking around for all I know.”
“Like you, then?” she zinged back. “I bet you don’t even know how many women you fucked in the last twenty years.”
Same old fire.
Giving as good as she got.
God, she made me hot.
“You’re probably right, but it doesn’t really matter. What matters is how you need to be fucked good.”
She gasped as I bent down and forcefully claimed her mouth. She fought me for a second, but there was no use denying our chemistry. I took possession of her beautiful lips as she melted against me. My tongue played with hers as I fucked her sweet, lush mouth.
She moaned in her throat, thirsting for more as I held her close.
God, I wanted her.
Sucking her bottom lip into my mouth, I slowed things down. I needed to extract every last morsel of pleasure out of her.
Panting, she pulled back, her glance soft. “Do you remember how good it was between us?” she asked, her doe eyes filling with a vulnerability I didn’t want to acknowledge.
I wasn’t about to confess I remembered every moment I spent with her. “You know...it’s a blur. We happened a long time ago.”
“Then what do you remember?” she asked, as I ran my hand down her side.
“How good the sex was,” I murmured hotly against her ear before turning her around, so her backside was against my body.
Her hands clutched at my thighs, desperate for what I was offering. I pushed her up against the door, lining my swollen cock up with her ass.
“Do you remember that?”
“Yes,” she gasped as she arched her back, shooting her bottom into me.
We both groaned as I went from hard to steel in an instant. My blood roared with the need to take her with the same intensity I had in high school.
I sniffed her hair, lime and coconut this time. “Why can’t I let you go?” I breathed against her ear.
CHAPTER TEN
Marla:
It was turning into a wild night.
I was trapped against the door, Beau daring me to be as wicked as I wanted to be.
This wasn’t exactly what I had planned for the evening.
It was much hotter.
But I couldn’t let Beau know that.
I turned back toward him. “I don’t know why you can’t let me go,” I answered. “Maybe you just had it too good with me.”
He scoffed. “That’s not it.”
“What is it, then?” I parted my lips, too worked up to deny my attraction to him.
“We just need to get all our sexual tension out of the way. I’ll do you good, Marla Matthews,” Beau promised in a husky voice, his eyes roving over my mouth.
“No,” I managed to breathe out, but it sounded more like a plea.
“Are you telling me you don’t want it?”
“Yes, I am. Not like this.”
“Like what? If I touch you like this?” He ran his fingers down my right side. “Does that do anything?”
“Na-uh,” I said, even as shivers shot down my back.
“And this?” He nuzzled my neck.
Oh, god. My favorite.
“No, not at all,” I squeaked out, more turned on than I’d been in years.
He flipped me around, so my stomach was pressed against the door again.
“You feel that?” His cock rubbed hard against the cheeks of my ass.
“Yeah,” I purred before I could control myself.
It was so damn hard to contain myself around him. I bit my lip, trying to hold back another moan desperate to escape out of me as his hands landed possessively over mine, surrounding me in his hotness.
I closed my eyes, overwhelmed by his magnetic presence as his hips pumped against mine, promising to ease the ache. I arched back as his dick pressed urgently against my butt cheeks, his desire very evident.
“Just give in,” he whispered against my ear.
He ran his hands up my arms, across my back and around my sides landing on my stomach. His fingers spread out against my ribs, holding me in place as his other hand slid along my hip and then down my leg.
“I’ve dreamed about touching you here.” His hand skimmed along my inner thigh. “And here.” His hand tenderly cupped me between my legs.
I gasped at his intimate touch as his fingers moved gently against the cotton border of my panties.
“Still a cotton underwear kind of girl, huh?” he asked, amused.
I giggled. “Yep, they fit me the best.”
“Yes, they do. I always liked the way they molded to your hot ass,” he confessed against my back as his hand dipped into my panties. “Oh yeah, I knew you were wet for me.”
I gasped again as I spread my legs, wanting more as his fingers sunk deep into my pussy. He found my clit and rubbed softly as I tried to tell myself I should walk away. Now.
But pleasure was overriding my common sense.
Oh...oh...
he felt so good pressed against me. He moved my hair to the side, kissing the spot between my neck and shoulder as his fingers worked their magic. His touch was amazing; I knew I was inches from giving in and surrendering to his need to seduce me.
But, somehow, with the last shred of my self-control, I removed his hand from my panties and turned back around. I watched as he sucked on his two fingers covered in my honey while his heated gaze told me how much he wanted to bury his cock inside me.
Oh, dear lord. That just made me wetter.
“You want it?” His lips hovered over mine as he put both his hands on either side of my head.
“I do, Beau. God, help me...I do!” My glance pleaded with his smoldering one. “But I’m not interested in revenge sex. You mean too much to me.”
His desire turned to suspicion. “Oh, cut the crap.”
“I’m serious, Beau. This is too dangerous for me.”
He scoffed as a loud knock came through the door I was leaning against.
“I know you’re in there, Beau Shepard! You better let my friend go!” Stacy hollered as she pounded away.
Thank god.
My hand found the doorknob and pulled before I could talk myself out of it.
“Beau fuckin’ Shepard,” Stacy said as she stepped inside Beau’s stylish office.
“Stacy fuckin’ Obermeyer.”
She broke out in a wide grin. “That’s right. How the hell are you?”
Beau nodded curtly. “I’ve been better.”
She wasn’t fazed. “Okay. Everything all right in here? Am I interrupting something?”
She knew very well, she was.
Beau wasn’t about to talk about it. “I’ll let you ladies get back to your evening.”
Guess that was our cue to leave.
I grabbed Stacy and hauled her out of there, back into the crowded club.
“What have you been doing?” she asked as I dragged her through the million bodies between the door and us.
“You don’t want to know. Can we get out of here, please?”
“Only if you promise to tell me what happened.”
“I’ll tell you in the car.” I wiped my mouth, which was still tingling from Beau’s kisses.
*****
Beau:
I paced the office after Marla left, primal lust running through my veins.
I lost control whenever her sweet body was close to mine. I was back in that damn greenhouse, fighting the pull to possess her.
FUCK!
I couldn’t stand it.
I left the club, driving aimlessly around the city. Restlessness gnawed at me as I fought a battle I was unequipped to handle. I wanted to get some serious distance from Marla.
So I flew to Tokyo the next day on the pretense of a business deal, but really, I needed to get my head on straight.
After meeting a business associate for an elaborate tea ceremony, which involved sitting on the floor for two hours, I wandered around a market bustling with activity and breathing in the life of the bright city.
A constant flow of people streamed back and forth as vendors sold exotic foods like fried crickets, octopuses, and grasshoppers. I could smell rice cooking in the air along with a pungent combination of soy sauce, exhaust fumes, and cigarette smoke as I passed two old men yapping at each other and laughing loudly.
They seemed to have life figured out.
I wished I did.
I continued to meander down the narrow street, feeling completely anonymous. Just one of the crowd as I was jostled along with all the people going about their daily lives.
I breathed deep, trying to let go of everything that was so fucked up.
Charlie wasn’t going anywhere. I couldn’t put that genie back in the bottle.
I needed to give myself a chance to get to know him, if he was still interested after our last meeting. Marla seemed to think he wanted some kind of relationship, but I had my doubts. What twenty-two year old kid wanted to get to know a dad who hadn’t ever been there for him?
I sure as hell wouldn’t.
It tore me up every time I thought about Charlie. I knew what it was like to have a shitty dad, but at least he had been around all my life. It was a hundred times worse when your dad didn’t even show up.
I didn’t know how to fix this mess or make it better. Money wasn’t going to do anything. It was useless unless I wanted to bribe the kid and I wasn’t interested.
It was going to have to be me as a man.
I hadn’t taken an emotional risk since Marla. I had shut that part of me down. Life was easier when I didn’t care.
But that attitude wasn’t going to fly anymore.
I hated to admit it, but having a son was changing me, a little bit at a time.
*****
When I got back, I refocused my efforts to get to know Charlie. I called him up and asked if he wanted to play some hockey. He readily agreed, so a couple of days later I arranged a little ice time for us.
The glide of my skates took me back ten years as I stepped onto the ice at the Baltimore Arena. I could almost imagine the crowd there, cheering the Gators on.
Memories rushed through my mind as I remembered the nervous flip-flop of my stomach and the surge of adrenaline pumping through me as a game started. I missed that feeling. Missed what it meant. My career had ended too soon.
But I couldn’t complain. Life had showered money and power on me. It was good to be king with unlimited resources that allowed me to vet people anytime I wanted to.
My usual procedure when I wanted the goods on a person was to have my security team comb through someone’s life and give me a detailed breakdown of everything I needed to know.
But I didn’t want that with Charlie. My intent was to get to know him the old-fashioned way, by spending time with my son. I had no idea if Charlie played sports growing up, but I hoped he had my love of hockey.
At the moment, I was kinda wishing I had the report.
I knew I was in trouble, when he came blazing onto the ice, like he was in a bad version of Blades of Glory. He wore a blue and white camouflaged speed skating suit as he swept across the rink.
Leaning forward, he had one leg up in the air behind him while his arms were out straight in front of his body. He looked good for about two seconds until he wobbled badly and went down in spectacular fashion, crashing into the boards.
“You all right?” I asked as I helped to steady him on his feet.
“I’m fine,” he said, teetering on his feet like a newborn foal as he got up from his spill.
It didn’t get better from there.
The next thirty minutes were very amusing, but my patience was wearing thin. When I tried to show him how to score a goal, he abandoned his stick, shooting the puck with his hand and chasing it like he was participating in a curling tournament. And that was after he sang, “Row, Row, Row Your Boat,” as loudly as he could, trying to create an echo off the walls of the arena.
Currently, lying on the ice, he was moving his arms and legs up and down, trying to make some kind of ice angel.
“Are you having fun?” I asked as I leaned on my stick, studying his gleeful movements.
“Yeah, it’s so warm in here,” he said in a voice that reminded me of Will Ferrell in Elf.
He was definitely pulling my leg.
“You know, you can’t make snow angels on the ice.”
“Doesn’t matter. It’s still fun. I’m just gonna take it easy down here.”
“You’re taking it easy on the hard, cold ice?”
“Yep.”
“Why don’t you get up so we can practice some shots?”
“Again?” he groaned, rolling over on his stomach.
We had already tried skating—a complete disaster.
“I thought it might be fun to get out and learn a little about hockey today,” I encouraged.
“But I’m having a good time right now.” He rolled back over again, his belly covered in ice chips.
“Why don’t you get up, so we can do something hockey related?”
“Okay,” he agreed, trying to get to his feet.
He still had trouble finding his skating legs as he planted his skates on the ice with little success.
“Do you want some help?”
“I can do it!” he insisted, as he struggled to stand up.
With his butt in the air and his hands on the ice, he managed to have some kind of balance. “When I’m like this, I can stay on my feet,” he told me through his long wobbly legs.
He definitely did not have my skating ability. I didn’t know what to do with him. I needed help. Micah was supposed to join us, but he was taking his sweet time getting there.
“What did you think we were going to do today?” I asked as he proceeded to skate bent over.
“I don’t know...maybe work on my mad ice skating skills.”
I hid my grin at his ridiculous statement. “Are you always this goofy?”
“Sometimes.”
“Cut that shit out, Charlie,” Micah said as he stepped out on the ice with his skates on. “I can see you’ve been up to your old tricks. I think you’ve tested him long enough.”
“Oh, man, I forget you knew about that,” Charlie said, standing up and skating with ease.
“What the hell? You can skate?” I asked in sheer surprise.
“I can do a lot of things,” he said, skating backward with a grin a mile wide.
“I thought you were just uncoordinated.”
“Nah, I was messing with you.”
“Did he ever tell you what he did to me when I was dating Emma?” Micah asked, as Charlie skated circles around us.
“Nope, but I’m interested in hearing about it.”
“Charlie has a habit of acting bad when he wants to see what you’re made of, don’t you?” Micah pointed his stick in my kid’s direction.
He shrugged innocently. “Sometimes.”
I gave him a suspicious glare as I crossed my arms. “So what did you do?”
“I may have given him a hard time.”
Micah snorted. “Yeah, right. He rammed our golf cart Dukes of Hazzard style into a disgusting pond just for the hell of it, after he dressed like a fool and convinced my teammates he was special needs.”
