by Hazel Parker
“Hey, stranger. Haven’t seen you around.”
I shot her a smirk. “Been busy.”
“Hmm.” And then Ulysses was talking and calling her attention, and I had never been so relieved in my life.
I got back to talking to Marlene, although for the life of me, I couldn’t really concentrate much anymore on what she was saying. To her credit, Marlene didn’t call me out or act all huffy about it. She was a good sport as she shifted her attention to her girl pal beside her and left me to my thoughts from time to time. I did my best to mingle with the others, too, and listened in as Ulysses regaled the table with one funny story after another.
Julie couldn’t stop laughing, and her pleasant voice seeped into my bones.
I needed a distraction. Fast.
I tapped Marlene on the shoulder, watching as her head turned and she looked at me expectantly.
“Want to dance?”
A slow smile was now on her face. Normally I’d have been all over her already. Maybe I was just a slow learner tonight.
I decided to amend it by holding out my hand.
Marlene took it. Then she was the one tugging me to the dance floor. “It’s about time you asked.”
The table shifted again as others wanted to dance. I pulled her towards the dance floor as Matt goaded Ulysses into singing on stage.
I didn’t look back.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
JULIE
Scott was flirting with another woman and was doing his best at ignoring me.
It shouldn’t have bothered me, except it did. I should have taken it in stride, except I wasn’t.
I was feeling damn miserable about it, to be quite honest.
Still, I did my best not to let it get me down. I knew what he was doing—he was keeping to his promise and thinking that ignoring me was the way to do so. So I let him be and kept bonding with the group, never once looking in his direction as he took the woman beside him to the dance floor and continued flirting with her there.
Eventually, I forgot enough about him to actually have fun as Ulysses got steadily drunker and talked our ears off. The oldest person on the table was Henry, who was listening to all of us in amusement as we jabbed at each other. Despite my dress and the initial admiration from some of the guys, they were back to treating me like a little sister in no time, and I returned the gesture by being my usual annoying self to them. I also befriended the girlfriends and the female dates and got to talking with Henry’s wife, Darla, about her home-cooked meals and how I should visit them sometime.
After a while, Scott and the woman returned, and the woman’s face was flushed and very pleased. I felt my eyes narrowing but managed to maintain a calm expression, watching as they squeezed back in and sat very close to each other. Incidentally enough, they didn’t sit beside me anymore.
Jealousy coursed through me, dark and intense, and I tamped it down. Then I turned to Ulysses.
“I think you need to dance and get that drink off your system,” I suggested. I looked Anthony in the eye, and he nodded, grinning as he goaded Ulysses to stand up and tugged him to the dance floor. I downed my margarita in one go and went after them as they deliberated in front of the jukebox. I shooed them off and inserted some coins in, then pushed buttons for all the fast dance songs.
Maybe I needed that dance, too.
Soon, some of the other crew members were also pulling their partners to the floor, and we were all pretty loud as we danced to the beat. I distanced myself from the couples a bit and closed my eyes, feeling the tune out and loving the tiny buzz I was getting from the drinks I downed. I wasn’t tipsy yet, but a few more glasses and I was on my way there.
Someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned and found a stranger smiling down at me, his eyes full of interest.
“You’re very pretty.”
He didn’t waste time, did he?
I beamed at him. “Thanks.”
“I’m Kyle,” he shouted over the music.
“Jules,” I shouted back.
“Want to dance?”
Well, duh. “We’re already dancing,” I yelled again. The twinkle in his eye indicated that he had a sense of humor, which I liked.
We got to dancing. The music kept on, and soon the songs I picked were out, and someone else picked more dance songs—sensual beats this time. Kyle moved closer and placed his hands on my hips, and the suddenness of the movement had me startled. I made a move to back away, but he kept following.
Not entirely uncomfortable yet, I let it be and just swayed with the music. We didn’t talk. We merely watched each other, me slightly bored and Kyle looking more interested by the second. The beat changed again to a slow one.
Kyle slid his hand up just below my right breast.
This time, I kept backing away, flashing him a smile. “See you.”
His other hand tightened on my waist, alarming me. “Hey—”
The protest died on my lips as the hand was gone as suddenly as it came.
Then a low, familiar voice had me freezing.
“The lady said no.”
My eyes widened as I looked at the scenario. Scott had his hand on Kyle’s, and he held it as if to twist it. Kyle wasn’t in pain yet, but his strained face indicated he was going to be if he made the wrong move. Or gave the wrong answer.
“Fine,” Kyle bit out, shooting me a glare. Then he was stalking off.
In an instant, Scott’s eyes bored into mine.
“I’m taking you home,” he snapped, his eyes cold. I had never seen him this cold to me before, and it made me shiver. Then my mind absorbed his words, and I was shaking my head.
“I don’t—”
“If you don’t come with me right now, I swear to God I am going to drag you out of here and call your father to tell him every little thing that went on here.”
Something slammed inside me as he stalked off—a combination of irritation and humiliation. Reluctantly, I followed him, thankful that none of the others dancing noticed the scene. But the ones at the table did, and I saw Henry give Scott’s furious expression a puzzled look before glancing over at me.
I waved and nodded, my face turning hot. He nodded back, indicating that he was going to let everyone know we left.
We were both silent as Scott drove his car towards the direction of my apartment. I could feel his anger radiating off him in waves, but I didn’t care. I was put out myself for getting dragged off like that, like I was some kind of little girl and he was my protector.
I didn’t need a protector, especially not him.
By the time he parked the car in front of my apartment, I was seething—and I was never quiet when I was seething.
“That was uncalled for,” I said.
“What he was doing was uncalled for,” he readily answered.
“I could have handled that,” I bit out.
“Apparently you couldn’t.”
Anger turned to indignation. I whirled to face him, refusing to get out of the car until this was resolved. “I could have. I didn’t need some damn alpha man trying to act all macho and save me.”
His jaw tensed as he gripped the steering wheel, but he didn’t turn to face me. His gaze was straight up ahead, and for some reason that only infuriated me further.
“If I hadn’t saved you, he’d have been all over you,” he said tightly.
“Maybe I wanted him to be,” I shot back. God, I couldn’t stand being with him inside the car anymore. Just his nearness was even affecting my brain cells from thinking properly. “God knows you don’t want to be.”
I placed my hand on the door handle. I yelped when his hand shot forward and kept it closed.
“You’re giving up that easily in your so-called plans of seducing me?” he growled.
“I never even had a shot,” I snapped. “You were all over that goddamn woman.”
And then, because my pride was in tatters and I just wanted to prove that I wasn’t the only one affected by this, I threw every logic out of the wind
ow and removed my hand from the door handle.
Then I used that hand to drag him closer so I could plant one final kiss on his lips.
It was swift. It was spontaneous. Scott’s shock at the movement allowed me to slip past his defenses and slip my tongue inside his lips, where I began to explore and kiss him for all I was worth. He tasted the same, and suddenly I realized the mistake I was making when I found myself drowning in the kiss more than I should.
Heat erupted in my belly, intense and erotic. I sucked on his tongue and bit on his lower lip, my head spinning even when nothing but our lips were connected.
Already out of breath and heating up more by the second, I pulled away, shaken, and let him see my still-simmering anger.
“That’s what you’ve been missing out on,” I said, willing my voice not to shake. “And I’m going to find a man who’s going to appreciate it and sleep with me tonight.”
My hand shot to the door again. But my fury turned to shock when I found my hand suddenly moved, along with my body. In one singular movement, I was being lifted off the passenger seat and hauled into the lap of a very furious Scott McCall, who looked like he wanted to murder someone—probably me.
My back came up in defense. “Unhand me, you arrogant, rude idio—hmff!”
My words were interrupted as he pulled me down by my neck and began to kiss me hard. It was a punishing kiss, and I could taste the fury and the frustration in his kiss as it assaulted my system.
My shock increased when his hand—his large, calloused hand—branded my skin as he dragged the hem of my dress up so he could touch the skin of my thigh. Then it was sliding up, his thumb sinking into my lace panties, where he began to rub me insistently.
Pleasure sang in my bones. My mind scrambled and blanked as all I could focus on was the feel of his thumb rubbing against my slit.
“Is this what you wanted?” he rasped, his voice harsh. He dragged his kiss from my mouth to my neck, where kissing turned to sucking. “You wanted someone to touch you like this, didn’t you?”
More punishing movements. More punishing kisses. Then his hand jerked my panties to the side, and he was plunging a finger inside my throbbing core.
Shock made me jerk. Then he plunged again and again, and shock turned to pleasure unlike any I’d ever experienced before. Whatever restraint I put on shattered as I clung to him, fisting my hands on his shoulders and moving my hips in time with his finger. I sobbed at the building ball of heat in my belly, helpless against it.
The harshness died from his voice. Scott cursed once, then a second time.
Then he was dragging those sensual lips from my neck and back to my mouth, and this time, I could no longer taste the anger. There was only hunger—lots and lots of it, as if he would gobble me whole.
His finger kept moving, but the harsh words were gone as he murmured soothing words in my ear instead—words that only served to turn the heat higher. He instructed me to keep rotating my hips, and I found I was so wet that his slow finger-thrusting became smooth and slick. He had long fingers with rough pads, and the ensuing friction it caused had me moaning out sounds that I could no longer control. Scott kept kissing me, his tongue tasting every inch until I couldn’t breathe with the intensity of it. My nipples ached as they rubbed against his clothed chest, and all I wanted was for our clothes to be off so I could feel the warmth of his rock-hard abs.
“Tell me if you want faster,” he whispered.
“Faster,” I gasped against him.
Thrusting turned to plunging, and the hot ball grew bigger. Then he hooked a finger in, touching my clit—at the same time he sucked on my tongue over and over, and his other hand slid up my breast and rubbed against my poking nipple.
It was too much. It was sensory overload, and suddenly I was exploding in a mass of pleasure and shock, my body shaking with the intensity of it. I cried out as I came, and Scott swallowed my cry with yet another mind-blowing kiss, one that lifted me higher and higher into that pinnacle of bliss before easing my way down.
I slumped onto him, and he still kept kissing me before dragging his mouth down again and resting it against the pulse point on my neck.
The bliss died out. I pulled back and looked him in the eye, and he looked back. His blue eyes were satisfied and hungry at the same time, if that was even possible.
Then I felt the erection against my lap, pulsing just beneath his pants—and something inside me rejoiced.
Unable to help myself, I smiled at him. “See? You are affected.”
Scott’s mouth quirked. “So maybe I’m attracted to you.”
“Maybe?”
“Stop fishing.”
“So we’re sleeping together?” I asked, my voice turning wary now. I expected him to reject me all over again, and I was prepared to fight for it all over again, too.
But instead of that happening, Scott only pulled me closer for a gentler kiss. Then, just when I could feel him growing even harder against me, and I was melting into the kiss, he eased me back into the passenger seat almost reluctantly.
“Yes,” he replied to my earlier question. “But only once.”
Once was all I wanted. Needed. I nodded.
“And no one will find out.”
I nodded again, understanding his concern. It was going to be a scandal when people did find out, and I didn’t need that in my life. I watched as the same line of thought crossed his face, his worry turning to satisfaction.
“And Jules, one last thing.”
“What?”
“Don’t you dare fall in love with me.”
I stared. Then I laughed, and his mouth quirked again.
“Not even in your dreams, McCall.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
SCOTT
It was difficult to wait, especially when Julie had been all over me and warm against me in the car just last night. But I didn’t want to take her then and there, especially with all that alcohol running inside her system.
If I had sex with Julie for the first time, I wanted her to be sober and experiencing every pleasure there was on earth before I slid my cock inside her. I hadn’t done virgins before, preferring to keep away from them and all the complication they presented.
But Julie? She had me hooked before I even knew it. The damn minx was too hot to resist, and I didn’t think anyone else could have handled all that fire accordingly.
I wasn’t sure I wanted anyone else to, anyway.
It was pretty selfish, but I was damn glad I gave in. The memory of that damn man all over her at the club? Not good. The jealousy I felt back there was insane, along with the fury as I watched how she was being handled. Suddenly, I wanted to be the only one touching her—for now. This often happened to me, anyway—lusting over a woman, feeling that great chemistry between us that would lead to very explosive sex.
After the sex, there wasn’t much to go by as I found myself growing bored again.
Perhaps if we worked our way through this lust going on between us, it would fizzle out soon enough and we’d be back to our old selves around each other. I could move on with other women, and she could go with Doug for all I cared.
But for now, the thought made me seethe.
In the meantime, I was back to being busy, going in and out of the racing track and the club all over again. While I could have slipped in a time to be with Julie, it would have been fast—and I didn’t want that. We needed hours to slake our thirst, and no quickie was going to do that.
Jay finally got back to Daytona on a Friday afternoon, much to my delight. He came barging in the office while I was reviewing the books, looking haggard but pleased.
Very pleased.
“Hey, McCall.”
I shot him a knowing look. “You just got laid, didn’t you?”
The pleased expression on his face intensified, and he gave me a smile that looked smug—like a cat that had lapped up tons of cream and was plenty full. I chuckled and shook my head, then closed the book and tossed it ove
r to him as he crashed down on the couch. He opened it, his eyes flying on the recent pages.
“Some woman you met in Los Angeles, I presume?”
The smug smile grew wide, though he didn’t take his eyes off the book. “Airplane, actually.”
Ah. Airplane quickie.
“And I assume there’ll be a second date?”
“Maybe,” he said.
Jay wasn’t fooling me. Unlike me, he wasn’t really a player, preferring to keep to himself and only date women he really liked, not just was sexually attracted to. He had this aloof kind of personality until one got to really know him. Coincidentally, it was one of the traits that had more women falling all over him—probably all that mysterious aura he exuded, like he was some piece of a puzzle they wanted to figure out.
I stood up from my seat and stretched, feeling my muscles creak. I’d been sitting there for a good two hours now, focused on working.
“You’re taking over tonight?” I asked.
Jay nodded. “Go do your thing.”
A glance at the clock determined it was still one in the afternoon. Now, what should I be doing that would last me for hours?
I smiled at the answer that came almost instantly.
*****
Me: Are you home?
Julie: Yeah. Why?
Me: Mallory?
Julie: Out. Why?
I didn’t respond anymore. Ten minutes later, I was already knocking on her door. I could hear her footsteps as she came down. A few seconds later, she was opening the door and looking all casual in sweat shorts and a loose gray shirt. Her hair was up in her usual ponytail, and she was wearing glasses that looked so damn cute and sexy at the same time.
Her eyes took me in from head to foot, and I didn’t miss the pleased expression. Then she was zoning in on what I had in my hands, and those hazel eyes lit up.
“Free food!” she exclaimed.
I chuckled as she ushered me in and took me upstairs to her room. Her and Mallory’s shared apartment was small but cozy, despite the lack of a proper living room. Since her bedroom was large and spacious, with a couch just near the door, I assumed Mallory’s had the same amount of space.
