by Arianna Hart
If she couldn’t keep her mind on the business at hand, instead of trying to pick a fight, or jump his bones, it was going to be a long six months.
Chapter Four
The bar was packed wall to wall with twenty-something kids all trying to impress one another.
Hunter couldn’t believe it. He had been standing just outside the door since seven that evening and the flow of people hadn’t stopped. He had to turn away several for no ID’s, or obviously fake ones, but that didn’t seem to deter anyone else from trying.
When he had the chance to look up from the multitude of driver’s licenses he’d been checking, he could see Marley through the open doorway. She was busy at the bar pouring beers with both hands and working the crowd.
Working alongside Marley, were two other bartenders; one tall, bulky male whom Marley introduced as Tiger, and a petite blonde named Sandy.
When Hunter had offered to bartend he’d had no idea he’d have to do anything more than pull a few beers or pour some whiskey. No wonder Marley had scoffed at his offer.
Tiger was at least six feet five inches tall. He looked like he could play middle linebacker for the NFL with no problem. His black head was completely bald, and gleamed in the overhead lights. Hunter was glad to see him behind the bar with Marley; that would dissuade any troublemakers pretty fast. It also made Hunter think twice about continuing their earlier argument.
Sandy was handling the drink orders from the waitresses. There were two on that evening, but Hunter couldn’t remember their names for the life of him. Marley had told him that Sandy was new, so that was why she was doing service bar.
Hunter couldn’t have cared less who Marley had working the bar. She obviously knew more about running the place than he did, or wanted too. He was perfectly happy standing outside checking IDs in the cool evening air. He’d let Marley do what she did best; boss people around, and he’d do his job and charm the customers.
He thought back to their earlier argument. As much as he hated to admit it, she did have a point. He could have visited his father more over the last few years, and it wouldn’t have killed him to come into the bar and have a beer with some of his dad’s cronies. Maybe if he had been willing to bend a little more, he wouldn’t be in this situation now.
Well, there was no sense worrying about 'maybes'.
He couldn’t change anything now, so he might as well make the best of it. He could use the time off to work out a little more. The stronger he got, the better he would be able to control the car. He could scope out a plan for a new engine, maybe get some information on mechanics. He hated to be away from driving, but there was a lot more to racing than just sitting in the car. But God, how he missed it. The sights, the smells, the camaraderie, the feeling of almost flying when the car was really cruising, he loved every minute of it. Hunter wasn’t sure how he was going to survive six months away from the track.
Just then he looked into the bar and saw Marley, her head thrown back, laughing, presumably at something one of the patrons said. Her hair was still in a ponytail, curling wildly down her back. Her face had a light sheen of sweat on it, and her whole body was shaking with merriment.
It was the first time Hunter could remember seeing her laugh, he desperately wished he could hear her but the noise from the bar was much too loud. He felt a surge of jealousy. He wanted to be the one who made her laugh. He wanted to be close enough to see if her eyes twinkled when she was happy. He already knew they snapped and sparked when she was angry.
He wondered what they looked like when she came.
Hunter felt himself harden instantly at the thought.
He watched her now, staring at her blatantly.
Watched her with hot, hungry eyes as she flirted with the customers and moved efficiently around the bar.
She worked the bar like it was a ballet; she would pour a beer with one hand, scoop ice with another, snag an empty glass, then collect the money all while keeping a running conversation.
She moved with a fluid grace that had Hunter picturing her in bed, gliding over and under him, wrapping those gorgeous legs around him, looking at him through sultry half-closed eyes.
Oh, he knew how he could stay away from the track for six months, all right. If he could get Marley into his bed, he wouldn’t get out of it for six months.
First he would have to get a bed. A big bed. After watching her move around the bar all night, he had great plans for watching her move around him some night in the near future.
—
Marley took a quick glance out the front door. The place was hopping tonight, but that didn’t stop her from looking at Hunter six or seven times a minute.
Her plan to use his looks had definitely worked; several of the women in the bar had asked her about him. Some of them had recognized him from his Wall of Fame, but others just wanted to know who the hot new bouncer was.
He seemed well suited for his job as eye candy. He flirted shamelessly with the women as they entered, but she noticed he took his job seriously. She had seen him turn several people away when they failed to have proper identification. That was a load off her mind. The fines for serving minors were huge, and could include shutting the place down for a period of time if there were repeated violations.
She knew some bars turned a blind eye to fake IDs, but Seamus had been staunchly against underage drinking, and that was one thing Marley wasn’t about to change. O’Malley’s had never been cited for a single violation, and she wasn’t about to start now.
Marley looked over at Hunter again. This time he was staring right at her. She could feel the force of his gaze all the way to her toes. His eyes drifted to her breasts and her nipples tightened in response. A tingling spread through her, making her feel like her skin was too tight for her body.
She turned away and looked in the mirror behind the bar. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips redder than normal from where she had unknowingly bitten them, and her nipples were standing at attention, as if Hunter had touched them with more than just his eyes.
She fiddled around with some of the bottles, trying to buy herself some recovery time. Her hand shook as she lifted it to push a stray curl back. What was wrong with her? She didn’t even like him that much, but her body was ready to crawl all over him.
Whether she liked him or not, she did have to give him some credit. He handled things better than she had thought he would. He’d helped Oscar out in the kitchen during the lunch rush, and made a point to spend some time with the regulars. He didn’t make a big deal about having to work the door tonight, even though she half expected him to balk at such a demeaning task. And he got bonus points for not trying to tell her how to do her job just because he was a man and she was a woman.
Overall she was almost willing to suspend her initial assessment of him as an arrogant, irresponsible playboy. If she could just get over this pheromone thing, it might not be so bad to have him around.
“Hey, Marley, are you getting that bottle of tequila or distilling it?” Tiger called from the other end of the bar.
“I’m just checking to make sure it isn’t Cuervo Gold, none of these guys could afford it,” Marley shot back. She needed to get her head on straight and stop worrying about Hunter; she had a job to do.
—
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people packed into this bar at one time,” Hunter said to Marley as Tiger ushered the final patron into a cab and locked the door.
“Well, get used to it, we’ll be like that tomorrow—and Saturday as well, God willing.” Marley stretched her back until it cracked. Twelve hours on her feet made her back sore as hell, and she still had the cleaning to do. No use whining about it. She grabbed the mop and filled the bucket with soap and water.
Tiger came back and began lifting the stools on top of the tables, while Marley started mopping behind the bar.
“What do you want me to do?” Hunter asked.
“You can see if Oscar needs any help in the kitchen, bu
t we should be in pretty good shape otherwise. I’ll stock tomorrow morning, so all we have to do now is mop the floor, clean the bathrooms and get the night deposit ready. If Oscar is all set, you can go to bed.”
“I’ll stay and help out. I wouldn’t want the boss to think I was a slacker.” Hunter tossed her a wink and went back to the kitchen.
“So that’s the famous Hunter James, huh?” Tiger asked, taking the bucket and mop from Marley.
“Live and in the flesh.”
“Never expected to see him bussing tables and checking IDs. Seems to me he was too busy racing those toy cars of his all these years.”
“Yeah, well, Seamus had some other ideas. I guess he wanted to make sure Hunter didn’t regret selling his half of the bar, so he stipulated in his will that Hunter had to work here for six months before he could sell out.” Marley didn’t tell Tiger everything; there was no need to scare him by revealing all the gory details of the will.
“Just as long as he doesn’t think you’re a fringe benefit.”
“Gee, I didn’t know you cared,” Marley said with a laugh.
Tiger didn’t return her smile.
“Ti, don’t worry about me, I can take care of myself. I’ve been doing it for a long time now,” she said laying a hand on his mammoth arm.
“You can handle yourself with those idiot college boys, but this is different. He ain’t no boy, he’s a man who is used to getting what he wants, and he wants you.”
“Well he can want until the cows come home, that doesn’t mean I don’t have a say in the matter. I appreciate what you are saying, but I can handle him,” Marley said confidently.
Marley wasn’t so sure about that half an hour later when she walked into the kitchen and saw Hunter naked to the waist. His shirt was hanging by the sink, and he was scrubbing his face under the spray.
God he really was good enough to eat. His back was miles of tanned skin over rippling muscles. She could see them bunch and roll as he washed. He had broad shoulders that tapered to a narrow waist, and she could just see the rise of his hips before his jeans cut off her view. Of course, seeing his firm butt encased in tight jeans wasn’t exactly a hardship.
Was there anything better than a man in nothing but a pair of faded jeans?
He turned the faucet off and reached for the paper towels near the sink. Marley caught her breath as she got a glimpse of his chest. She couldn’t see all of it because of her vantage point, but she saw enough to get her juices flowing. She kept her mouth shut in hopes he wouldn’t realize she was there and she could see some more.
He finished drying his face with the paper towel and turned towards her to throw it out. He looked a little startled to see her there, but not self-conscious or embarrassed to be seen without his shirt on.
Marley couldn’t speak. He had a body to die for.
Or kill for, or just plain drool over. She tried to pull her eyes away from the acres of exposed skin, but they weren’t obeying her commands.
His pecs were well defined without being bulky.
The hair on his chest was a mat of curls that trailed down to his washboard stomach and into the waistband of his jeans.
When Marley’s gaze strayed below the waistband she saw an obvious bulge in his tight jeans. Her face flaming, she whipped her head up to meet his eyes.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you were washing up in here.” Marley knew her face was bright red from getting caught ogling him and she cursed her fair skin.
“No problem, I got splashed with some grease when we were cleaning the grill, and I wanted to get it off me. Are you all finished out there?”
“Yeah,” Marley had to clear her throat, her voice sounded as husky as when she first woke up in the morning. “I just have to put the money in the night deposit bag for Tiger to drop off on his way home.”
She wished he would put his shirt back on; her eyes kept sliding down to get a better look at all that golden skin.
She had to clench her hands into fists to keep them from reaching for him of their own volition. She knew better than to get within ten feet of him, but her hands wanted to run her fingers across the muscles that gleamed so tantalizingly. He had a gold cross that hung down between his two chest muscles, and her eyes kept focusing on that little bit of gold.
“Well, I, um, I had better get the bag ready for Tiger.” Marley turned and practically ran into the office, forgetting entirely her reason for going into the kitchen in the first place.
She filled out the bank slip and stuffed the money in the bag. She had to force herself to concentrate on putting the correct amounts in the spaces so she didn’t mess up the deposit. Feeling like she was operating on half a brain cell, Marley handed the bag to Tiger and locked the door behind him.
She was glad he was too much in a hurry to leave to interrogate her, because she didn’t know if she could look him in the face and tell him again she could handle Hunter.
“That’s smart having him take the night deposit. I sure wouldn’t want to mess with him,” Hunter said from the doorway. He was holding his shirt instead of wearing it.
“He lives two doors down from the bank, so it works out well, but I don’t mind making the deposits when I have to. This is a pretty safe neighborhood if you aren’t stupid.”
“I’m too tired to argue with you right now about the intelligence of a single woman carrying a bag of money on the streets of New York at three o’clock in the morning. Do we have a clothes washer here? I got grease all over my shirt, plus I’m running low on clean laundry. I’ll need to hit the Laundromat before too long.”
So he wasn’t keeping his shirt off just to tempt her.
“We have a washer and dryer downstairs. I have a bottle of laundry detergent down there, feel free to use it.” Marley made her way cautiously towards the stairs. She didn’t know whether it was her traitorous body or him she didn’t trust. She focused on getting to the stairs. If she could just get to her apartment, she would be safe from temptation.
They got to the doorway at the same time. Tension filled the room. She was inches from his naked chest, and he was looking at her with hot, hungry eyes. Her pulse hammered, and she was having a little trouble breathing.
“Well, I’m going to head up to bed, uh, to sleep, it’s been a long night.” Marley cringed at the way her words stumbled over each other, but she couldn’t take her eyes off Hunter.
“Me, too,” Hunter whispered, closing the last few inches between them. Without warning he leaned down and captured Marley’s lips with all the power of a thunderclap, and all the heat of a flash of lightening.
Marley surrendered. His lips were soft and demanding, sending wave after wave of sensation crashing over her. With a moan, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer.
He echoed the sound, grabbed her derrière, and pulled her into him. She felt the bulge of his erection, felt her own body answering the challenge, getting wetter, tighter. She ran her hands over his still-naked torso, glorying in the feel of him under her hands.
Hunter pushed her against the wall and moved his leg between the two of hers to support her weight.
Marley felt the muscles in his thigh rub against her center, and uttered another moan. When his hands pulled her T-shirt loose and roamed up under the fabric, she thought she would explode.
“I’ve wanted to see you like this since I first saw you,” Hunter whispered in her ear, licking the delicate shell before trailing kisses down her neck. He found the front clasp of her bra and undid it with practiced skill.
When her breasts tumbled out of their restraints, Marley gasped in shock. What the hell was she doing?
“Stop. Hunter, stop!” Marley’s legs turned to water as his large hands stroked her. If she didn’t stop this now they would end up in bed in another minute.
She pushed at his shoulders and pulled her shirt down, not bothering to re-clasp her bra.
“We have to stop, this is getting out of control,” Marley said, sl
iding against his bare chest as he removed his leg from between hers. The feel of that chest was almost enough to make her regret stopping him. Almost.
Hunter stepped back and ran a hand through his hair. Marley was glad to see it was none too steady; she didn’t want to be the only one in this condition.
Her hands ran nervously up and down her thighs.
She didn’t know what to say to clear the tension boiling in the hallway.
“What is wrong with letting things get out of control?” Hunter asked finally. He was standing against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, looking hot and frustrated.
“I am not one of your trophy women that you win along with the race. I don’t sleep with men I’ve only known for one day, and I definitely don’t sleep with men I know are going to leave me in six month’s time. I’m sorry if I led you on, I don’t know what came over me. I don’t normally do that.”
“I know what came over you; the same thing that came over me the minute I saw you sitting in that lawyer’s office, lust. You can talk all you want about how you don’t sleep with men you’ve just met, but this isn’t just going to go away.”
“This isn’t anything but hormones. I have more control over my body than to let some chemical reaction control my life,” Marley said, painfully reminded of her mother. “I’m going to bed. You can go to hell for all I care.” Marley spun away from him and ran up the stairs.
Chapter Five
Marley looked at the clock for the tenth time in so many minutes and gave up the fight to get another hour’s sleep. She climbed out of bed and dragged some shorts on. It was seven o’clock in the morning and she hadn’t gone to bed until after four last night. Well, she had operated on less sleep before, but it wasn’t going to be pretty.
Deciding that she needed to work some of last night’s tension out of her system, Marley jumped on the stair machine and set it to ‘high.’ She normally blasted the radio when she was working out, but since the apartment walls were paper-thin she held off. Just because she couldn’t sleep was no reason to wake Hunter up at this ungodly hour.
