How Beauty Saved the Beast (Tales of the Underlight)

by Garren, Jax

  The thought threw ice on her anger. From the overheard conversation, it sounded like they’d had sex—no, not sex, it sounded like they’d made love the last time they saw each other. And that was after they’d broken off the engagement. Ugh. Engagement. She shuddered at the word.

  Did she really want to spend the night at her condo pounding pillows and trying to sleep while Hauk’s ex-fiancée explored his skin and he showed her exactly what he could do with that first-class tongue? Did she really want to toss and turn and not getting a damn wink of sleep while Ashley gave Hauk his first orgasm in years? To wake up alone, knowing Ashley was waking up in the world’s strongest, most comforting arms?

  Oh, shit. A wave of pain rippled through her, and she reached for something to steady herself.

  Paul happened to be the nearest thing. “You okay? Dizzy?” He threw an arm around her again to help hold her up. His fingers petted her cheek. “Started the party without us, eh? Sure you can drive?”

  She hadn’t had a drop to drink. You didn’t drink and aerial dance; that would be a hospital visit. But Jolie could barely explain what was going on to herself, much less to Paul. “I’m fine. I’d better find Mercy and the others.”

  “Are you sure?” Paul sounded so solicitous. She had to convince him nothing was wrong or he’d follow her to her car.

  Knt itoAct, Jolie, act. Pretend nothing is wrong. You got this lesson while you were still in diapers. She straightened her spine and managed a coy smile. “Too much rotating around a pole. Takes a while to regain equilibrium sometimes.” She winked.

  Paul laughed, his eyes back to sparkling mischievously as he leaned into her space. “Only when you do it right.” He kissed her cheek. “See you at the club!”

  As the band headed back to the stage to load up their gear, Jolie numbly went in search of Mercy to offer that ride she’d so blithely claimed she was giving.

  Would Hauk even be at the party? Probably not. He didn’t do public events. He and Ashley might be on their way home now. To do what, though? Go to sleep? Or something more intimate?

  Catrina came out of the dressing room with a stack of photocopied maps, her satisfied grin showing how thoroughly pleased she was with the night’s event.

  “Where’s Hauk?” Jolie blurted.

  “Good show, sweetie! The crowd loved you! I believe Hauk and Ashley already left.”

  “Oh.” Fuck. If they’d left with the first of the crowd, they could be back home already. If they went straight to his room from there, there was no way she could catch him. And there was no way in hell she was interrupting them once they got to his room. Of course stupid Underlight residents didn’t own stupid phones, so she couldn’t call him and…what? Beg him not to take his ex-fiancée to bed? Yeah, that was not pathetic.

  What business was it of hers anyway? So she and Hauk had kissed. So what? People did it all the time. Didn’t have to mean anything.

  Though clearly it meant a lot to her. Far more than she’d realized.

  “Did I kick your puppy?” Catrina asked with a sympathetic tilt to her head.

  “I don’t have a puppy to kick.”

  Catrina patted her head. “Go have fun at the party. I made sure they’ll have potato vodka for you.”

  So this was her social life, getting drunk on celiac-safe alcohol and going home with cute singers who had no interest in a relationship. She should have her own reality TV show.

  She shook her head. Despite twenty-four years of experience to the contrary, Jolie still believed life could be so much more than that emptiness. Wesley Haukon could be her path to a more meaningful happiness. If he was interested in her.

  And if she hadn’t fucked it up by taking so damn long to figure that out.

  On the other hand, getting drunk and going home with Paul was a helluva lot better than not getting drunk and going home by herself to think of Hauk and Ashley and whatever they were doing.

  Jolie clenched her jaw. She couldn’t catch them before they got home, and she’d already promised Catrina she’d dance at the party. However the night ended, her next move was already set. She nodded at Catrina. “I’ll see you there.”

  * * *

  Hauk hated parties.

  “Do you normally run security Krunnt>

  Usually he was happy to let normal security handle the regular problems and Mercedes Salvador, who was a cop in her day job and plenty handy with a gun, handle the irregular ones.

  Maybe his usual absence at these events should make him consider his motivation for being here, but he chose to ignore any doubts. Both Atropos and a crazy asshole with his own agenda had showed up to the rally. They could show up at the after-party. He was here at this hellhole of a club doing his job.

  Okay, fine, he was here because he was horrifically jealous and wanted to break up Paul and Jolie before she went home again with the playboy. Hauk wasn’t sure how he was going to do it without getting noticed, but with that goal in mind, he’d watched through the curtain for some sign he needed to make a move. So far he’d had a clear view of Jolie gyrating with every man in the building.

  Every other man.

  He used to love parties, back when he was on the floor with high hopes of having a good time. But when he couldn’t join in, it was an exercise in frustration. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Go have fun, Ash. You shouldn’t be stuck back here with me.” How many times had he said that? He’d lost count.

  “Oh, this isn’t really my scene.” She yawned, covering her mouth with a weary hand.

  “I can take you home.” He should leave. Trouble didn’t seem to be starting, but if pretty-boy didn’t get his hands off Jolie, Hauk was going be the one to cause it, landing his own ass in prison for the rest of his natural life. It would be awful satisfying to terrify the shit out of that boy. He had no doubt he could do it. The consequences, however, weren’t worth it. Close, maybe, but so far sanity had won out.

  “And let you come back here and sit by yourself? Nah, it’s okay.” Ash settled back into the corner, resting her head against the peeling black paint. “If you can stay up ’til all hours, I can do it too.”

  But her eyes were already closing, and in spite of his dark mood, Hauk chuckled. “I think you lie. You always were the morning person.”

  Eyes still closed, she shot him a sleepy grin. “True.”

  Hauk scowled back out the curtain. There Paul was again, with his pelvis glued to Jolie. Oh, while some woman in a skirt so tiny it barely existed ground against him from the back. Pretty-boy sandwich. He must be loving this. Or who knew, this could be a normal night for the wannabe rock star. Par for the course. Nothing exciting. “Would you do me a favor?” he asked Ashley.

  She opened an eye. “Sure. What do you want?”

  “Could you get me another drink?” Or three.

  “Do you normally drink while you…” She noticed his expression and trailed off. “Okay, then. Another beer?”

  He managed to soften his tone from the growl he wanted to make. “Please.”

  Ashley stood up and dropped a hand on his shoulder with such genuine concern he had to look away. “I’m so sorry, Wes. I can lov Ks. -1">But imagine what this is like for you.”

  He shrugged, trying to stay casual. “It is what it is.”

  Her mouth moved like she wanted to say more but couldn’t find the words. As far as he knew, there weren’t any. Finally she said simply, “I’ll get you that drink. Tomorrow, let’s do something fun. Something without these.” She tapped the empty bottles with her foot. “You can show me the town.”

  He sighed. “I’m not like my dad, Ash. I don’t spend all my days off work getting drunk.” His dad hadn’t been a true alcoholic, nor was he unpleasant to be around when he was lit up. The tight household budget Hauk’s family lived on, though, could’ve been improved with a couple less bottles of Jack a month.

  “I didn’t accuse—”

  “But that’s what you meant, isn’t it?”

  It was her turn to lo
ok away. That was exactly what she’d meant. It had been years since anybody had known enough about his past to question his choices, and Hauk didn’t appreciate the reminder.

  He tipped his head back and rolled his shoulders, trying to unknot them enough to stem his overreaction. Ash was just trying to take care of him. Same as he’d do for her in his own way. He jerked a halfhearted nod her way. “Yeah, tomorrow I’ll take you around Austin. It’s got a lot of cool sights. I think you’ll like it here if you give it a chance. It’s different than we’re used to from before.” He caught her eyes. “Not all change is a bad thing, though, Ash.”

  “Of course it’s not. And thank you.” She squeezed his shoulder. “We’ll have a good time.” Turning on those two-inch pumps with a deep exhale, like a boxer heading into the ring for a big match, Ash pushed through the curtains into the club.

  He almost laughed. Maybe somebody would drag her onto the dance floor. He used to do it all the time. Ashley acted all prim, but she’d dated him for a reason, and he’d often thought it was because he was bullheaded enough to make her have a good time despite herself.

  He stood up and paced to the back door, just to keep his eyes from the dance floor. If he watched through the curtains he wouldn’t follow Ashley’s progress or lack thereof, amusing as that might be. No, he’d watch Jolie. And he’d work himself up into a worse temper.

  The fabric parted behind him more quickly than he expected. He turned back around, wondering what Ashley had to say.

  But it wasn’t Ashley.

  Jolie stood backlit from the party. A purple halter-neck showed off her killer shoulders, jeans clung to every muscular curve in her legs and loose red curls tumbled down her chest. Fists balled on her hips, one eyebrow arching, she looked ready for a fight. He still hadn’t figured out why. “Well, that didn’t take long,” she said.

  He tried to play it cool, but the heat resonating from her had his mind reeling on how good her mouth tasted. On how badly he wanted to taste the rest of her. “What didn’t take long?”

  In two strides she was in his space. She walked two fingers up his chest from navel to collarbone. The touch put his body on alert. “What’re you and Ashley doing back here, huh?” It sounded like she was insinuating something.

  Him and Ashley? Why would she think that?

  And why would she care when she’d been pasted to her singer for the past hour?

  As she strolled aroun Ktro"-1d him, her fingers sparked pulses of electric lust from the front to the back of his shoulder. When she stopped, he turned to keep her in sight.

  She removed her hand, and he caught her wrist in the air. He didn’t know if he should push it away or put her hand back where it was, so he simply held on. “We’re guarding the back door. That’s all we’re doing.”

  Jolie nodded. “I bet she makes a good guard pup. Cute little thing.”

  “Ashley’s not a dog. How much have you had to drink?”

  “My, you are quick to her defense.” She looked away from him to the floor by the bench. “Ashley a Shiner fan?”

  “I’m sure she’d like it if she tried one.”

  Jolie twisted her hand from his grasp and pointed to the same empty bottles Ash had. At least Jolie wouldn’t be sanctimonious about them. She poked his chest again. “Then I’d say we’re on equal footing.”

  He tried to assess if that was true, but her proximity and her touch had his judgment so destroyed he couldn’t tell.

  “Just guarding the door with her, huh?” she asked. “Nothing else?”

  Nuts as it sounded, she was acting jealous. Like she had any fucking right to be. “We’ve also been talking. I can talk to my old friend, yes—”

  “Old friend, huh?”

  “—or does casual conversation with other women cause us a problem? I’m terribly sorry. I didn’t realize we were in a no-talking-to-other-people kind of relationship. I didn’t realize we were in any fucking relationship at all.”

  She straightened up. “I guess we’re not. I guess you can do whatever you want with whatever minuscule humans you want.”

  “Yep. And you can dry-hump pretty-boys on the dance floor all you want.”

  “Dry-hump?” She threw an arm around his neck. “I was just dancing.” She rolled her body up next to him, grinding to the rhythm of the song. “We can dance if you want. Back here in the dark. Curtains hiding us from everyone’s eyes.”

  Gods, she was driving him crazy. He pulled her tight against him, moving with her as he pressed every piece of her body against his. She fit so nicely. Her curves were soft and her movements strong. But best of all, she clung to him and moved like she couldn’t get close enough. He couldn’t get close enough, either.

  She leaned up and her warm breath murmured in his ear, “But then, you were back here with Ashley, too. Hidden away in the dark. What were you thinking about, hidden in the dark back here with Ashley, huh?”

  Innuendo filled her voice. He grabbed her chin and turned her face so they were eye to eye. She cocked her head and her green eyes narrowed in a sly sparkle that was as fake as her smile. But beyond that façade she kept so tightly in place, she looked hurt.

  The question wasn’t the joke her expression clai

  med. His answer meant something to her. Which implied he meant something to her.

  Now or never, soldier.

  His voice barely managed a husky whisper, but he said it. “I was thinking about you. All I ever think about is you.”

  Chapter Eight

  Jolie stilled, trying to get her focus back. After Ashley had stormed into the club, Jolie realized where Hauk must be. She’d come back here with her brain fogged from a smidge too many martinis, ready to give him a piece of her mind. His mere presence had made her skin buzz with desire while he stared at her so coolly. The words didn’t make sense with his actions, even as they filled her with unexpected hope. “Don’t lie to me.”

  “When have I ever done that?”

  She swallowed, trying to ease the sudden thickness in her throat. “Never.”

  Needy for him, she tugged on his shoulders, and he scooped her up in his powerful arms. His lips collided with hers. He smelled like leather and tasted of alcohol, igniting every wicked impulse she had. Energy sizzled through her. She pulled herself higher against him, climbing closer into the fire of his touch.

  “Gods, Jolie, I think about you every night. Every damn night.” His lips moved to her neck, his hot tongue rolling against her pulse.

  She moaned in pleasure. This was good. This was exactly what she wanted. Why had it taken so long to see that? He grabbed her ass and ground her against a wall. She wrapped her legs around his hips and held on as her pulse hammered.

  “Let me take you home, Jolie. Let me touch you.” One hand slid between them and he cupped her breast. She pushed herself into his touch, loving the feel of his fingers against her skin.

  “Yes. Yes, that’s what I want, too.” There would be nothing between them this time, just skin sliding on sweat-drenched skin as he made her come harder than before. And she would finally pay him back for his earlier generosity. With interest.

  “I’ll take such good care of you, sweetheart. I’ll take such damn good care of you.” As if to prove his point, he traced her stiffened nipple with his fingers as his teeth tickled her collarbone.

  “I know you will, Hauk.” She ran a hand down his back. How many pieces of clothing did he have on? She needed to get them all off.

  “You don’t have to do a damn thing.”

  “What does that mean?” She found the top of his leather pants and started diving her fingers through the layers of fabric to get to his skin.

  “You don’t have to touch me.”

  She jerked back. “Huh?” Focusing on his eyes, she tried to shake the daze of lust and alcohol from her head enough to follow what he was saying.

  “It’s okay. I don’t need anything from you.” He tried to kiss her again.

  She put her hands between them an
d pushed. “Whoa.” So he just wanted to get his rocks off in some meaningless way? “Not okay.” That’s what the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue was for. Not what she was for. All her pent-up emotion boiled over into anger and she shoved harder. “I’m not a fucking petting zoo. Put me down.”

  He didn’t put her down. “What’s wrong? You don’t want this?”

  “To be your blow-up doll? No. Now fucking put me down.”

  He let her slide down the wall but didn’t back up enough for her to escape. “I didn’t mean it that way. You’re not a b—” He actually blushe Stuap>

  “Then what the hell did you mean?” She glared up at him, and he seemed so frustrated and so…sad, actually, that some of her outrage deflated. When he took a step back she didn’t leave.

  He threw his hands up in anger. “Nobody wants to look at me. Why would you want to touch me, huh? So I’m telling you that you don’t have to.” His jaw clenched. “I’m okay with that.”

  She sagged back against the wall as all her anger drained, leaving her empty. “Well, listen to that.” She licked her lips; the sweet taste of him still lingered there. “You are a liar, after all.”

  He stood a little taller, a little more rigidly in control. “I can handle it.”

  “Hauk.” She reached up for his cheek. He watched her hand so warily she stopped before contact and clenched her fingers. “I already know what your face feels like.”

  His eyes widened in surprise, but he didn’t say anything.

  “Yeah. That’s the problem with falling asleep next to me. I get curious. And when I get curious and nobody’s watching…” She took a deep breath. “I appreciate what you’re offering. Or I do now that I follow the logic behind your crazy talk. But I think I made my opinion of that arrangement clear.”

  Hope, haunted yet real, filled his eyes with indecision.

  She reached up again and this time pushed his hoodie down, baring his scars and the intricate phoenix tattoo that had first helped her understand the incredible man he was. “Let me touch you, Hauk. I want to.”