“But what if she doesn’t love you back?”
I snorted and met Jake’s eyes. “She’d probably be smarter not to, but it doesn’t matter either way.”
“You’re crazy.” He shook his head, though I saw his mouth form the barest of smiles.
“Crazy doesn’t even cover it,” I replied. “I’m fucking nuts, and that’s why Gromley needs to watch his ass.”
I never went inside Satan’s Perch before my exile, and I’d never wanted to. It seemed like the perfect place to catch an itch I didn’t want, and worse than that it was Preston Gromley’s crown jewel. Now I had even more reason to stay away, but I was about to go inside for the second night this week.
I didn’t know the bouncers tonight, though I’d seen Rob out front once before and was careful to keep an eye out for him. It made sense that the gigantic oaf would work as one of Gromley’s bouncers. Back in our football days, he was an unmovable mountain—or at least he was until I took a shot at him. Wounded pride made him the most dangerous of Wes’s bunch, and I was caught between wanting to avoid him forever and seeking him out to wound his pride a little more.
Tonight, however, my objective didn’t include fighting. I just wanted to see Dallas. She’d been on my mind all day, and I couldn’t stop kicking myself for not kissing her outside her dad’s shop. The way she blushed when I got close to her heralded back to a younger, more innocent Dallas, and further reinforced my belief that her diamond-hard walls went only skin deep.
Coming to find her at Satan’s Perch was a risk, but since my other option was waiting around outside Preston’s place, it was a risk I was more than happy to take.
Dallas was just finishing her set on stage when I entered. A crowd of salivating drunks watched her every move with undisguised lust and I wanted to knock out each and every one of them. I couldn’t blame them though, not when one look at the curves on display made me hungry enough to eat her alive.
She wore only a black bustier and black frilly panties and strutted across the stage in blood red pumps that made her long legs seem limitless. The swell of her tits jiggled with each movement, and her plump ass formed a perfect apple bottom. She crouched low and rolled back up again, shooting a seductive smile at the crowd, and my cock jumped in anticipation. Every dick in this place was surely hard as rock.
I moved past the crowd and found a door backstage, but a beefy bouncer with a give-no-fucks expression was guarding it. I would have to improvise.
I pushed one of the guys milling by the door into another guy, melting back into the crowd before either could see me. As I suspected, inciting a fight in Satan’s Perch wasn’t rocket science. The second guy started yelling at the first, and not thirty seconds later he threw his fist at the first guy’s face.
The bouncer by the door rolled his eyes and surged into the crowd, grabbing both fighters by the scruffs of their necks. I slunk behind him and slipped through the door.
The crowd erupted into enthusiastic applause as Dallas finished her set, and I hung near the curtain while I waited for her. A second later she stomped into view.
Dallas’s eyes flew open wide in panic. She raced forward and grabbed my arm, hauling me down the back hallway.
“What are you doing here?” she hissed.
“You seem to ask me that a lot.”
She opened a door and shoved me through, taking one last look down either side of the hall before entering and closing the door behind her. The lock clicked into place, and she rested her back against the door, glaring at me.
“Do you realize how much danger you’re in?”
I stepped up to her until I could feel the heat radiating from her skin and smell the perfume of her sweat. She smelled sweet too, and it reminded me of my secret meadow in the springtime. If there was anyone who embodied springtime, it was Dallas.
“You’re so worried about me,” I teased, resting a hand on either side of her face. “It’s cute.”
“Cute?” her expression soured.
I leaned in a little closer. Her pupils spilled outward, and she kept her eyes laser-focused on mine.
“Yes,” I murmured. “Cute. Adorable even.”
“You know what’s not going to be adorable?”
“What?”
“You after Wes and his friends beat the shit out of you.”
I watched her mouth as she spoke, wondering if her lips would still taste as good as they did the first time. Of course they would. Hell, they’d be even sweeter for the waiting.
When I met her eyes again, Dallas’s expression had lost all conviction, all irritation. She stood stock straight against the door, but her eyes seemed to reach out to me.
“Well, since my demise is imminent...” I lifted one hand to her face, running my thumb over her satiny lower lip. “I guess I better make the most of life while I can.”
I couldn’t wait any longer. I captured her mouth with mine in an explosion of passion and desire. She moaned and threw her arms around my neck, curving against me. I was delighted to find that her mouth did taste even sweeter than I remembered, and I could have escaped into that honeyed kiss forever. I held her waist at first, only letting a single finger brush over the strip of skin beneath the hard curve of her bustier.
The tempo of the kiss grew. She became more demanding, pulling my face down and sucking my lip between her teeth. Electricity zapped my cock and I pushed her back, grinding into her until we were both breathless.
I wanted her. I craved her. And now I was devouring her, giving as much as I took but always taking. Parts of me that had lain dormant for years sizzled to life. It was like turning on a room full of neon lights.
Three years of waiting suddenly seemed like a negligible amount of time.
For this kiss, for Dallas, I could have waited a hundred years.
Chapter 25
Dallas
Shane was my first kiss, and after such an electrifying first I always assumed that the next one wouldn’t measure up, which would have undoubtedly been the case if I’d let Wes kiss me. Sure, he tried now and again, but I didn’t count it when I didn’t kiss back or when it ended with me shoving him off me.
This kiss was everything our first had been and more, and I was glad that Shane’s were the only lips I’d kissed in earnest. I suspected nobody else in the world would be as good at it.
It wasn’t just the way he kissed. It was the way he touched me, the way he held me, the way he moaned into my mouth and made me feel like I was the sexiest girl in the world. I had dozens of guys fawning over me several times a week, worshipping the ground beneath my six-inch pumps, but that feeling didn’t compare to what I felt now.
I didn’t want to be sexy in front of a crowd. I wanted to be sexy right here, right now, with Shane’s hands sliding down toward my ass, his tongue spearing into my mouth and laying claim to the very air I breathed.
His fingers dug into the flesh of my butt and dragged me closer to him. I could feel his arousal just below my naval, hard and long. My first kiss was so innocent compared to what I felt now, the throbbing need in my core that begged me to take things all the way. I’d never felt that before and it would have scared me if it didn’t feel so goddamn right.
Shane began to kiss down my chin, my neck, stubble scraping over my skin and sending a shiver of pleasure down my spine. I dug my nails into his back and held on tight as he sucked on my throat, teasing me with his lips and teeth until I could barely stand. The husky moan that escaped my mouth barely sounded like me. I was another person now, in another place. The four walls of the dressing room fell away, and darkness enveloped us.
“Shane,” I whispered.
Was it a warning? Was it a plea? Even I couldn’t tell.
“Yes, sweetheart?”
I gasped as his teeth nipped my skin. “I—I want to...”
He pulled back and stared down at me, eyes dark. “Tell me what you want, and you can have it. Anything.”
I licked my lips. “I want you to fuck me.
”
The words rolled out of their own accord, but I felt them with every fiber of my being. I wanted him in me, around me, crushing the life out of me. It was like my desire for him had been growing without my knowledge in the background all these years, and I was feeling the full power of it now.
A low rasp escaped his lips, and he slammed his mouth against mine again, ratcheting up the intensity of the kiss until my toes curled. The fire in my belly burned through all my thoughts, sending them drifting away on the breeze as nothing more than smoke and ash.
All thoughts except one.
“Wait,” I said breathlessly. “Wait just one sec.”
He stopped immediately and his eyes filled with concern. “What’s wrong?”
“No, nothing’s—I guess I just want you to know before we go ahead that I’m still a virgin. Just...I don’t know. Be gentle with me.”
Shane’s eyebrows rose, and he blinked, then he took my face in his hands. His rough thumb stroked my cheek, and I leaned into the caress.
“Soon,” he murmured.
I frowned. “Soon? What’s wrong with now?”
“It shouldn’t be like this.” He leaned in and kissed my forehead. “I want you to have all the sweetness you never had. I want it to be special.”
I wasn’t so sure about that. Nothing in my life was sweet or special—why should this be any different? Besides, I didn’t want him soon. I wanted him now.
Before I could protest, the door handle jiggled.
“Why is this door locked?” Wes boomed, banging on the door.
Panic ripped through me and I pushed Shane toward the closet.
“Give me a sec!” I called.
“Fine,” he said, irritation giving his voice a hard edge. “You get five. One...”
Shane’s jaw tensed and his fists clenched at his sides. He looked like the closet was the last place he wanted to be, but I forced him in with an angry look and pulled it closed as Wes continued to count. I pulled on a robe just as he finished counting.
“Five!”
I hastily unlocked the handle, and Wes barged in and stood, grinning. He was in a good mood tonight. Ordinarily, I’d make a concerted effort to spoil his mood in these instances, but tonight it worked in my favor.
“You were amazing tonight, baby girl.” He approached me, grabbing me by the waist and pulling me close. I could practically hear the steam screaming from Shane’s ears in the closet and knew that if I didn’t get Wes out of there soon, there would be trouble.
“Thank you,” I said. “Uh, have you seen Sasha today? I had a question I wanted to ask her.”
Preston was at the club tonight, which meant Sasha would be around somewhere. She was never far from him, and I’d even once overheard Preston calling her his “slutty lamprey” to one of his friends. Whether Sasha knew how little he thought of her or not was up for debate, but it wouldn’t matter if she did.
“Yeah, she’s up in my dad’s office.” Wes grabbed my hand, and I let him, internalizing the cringe it evoked. “Let’s go.”
I stumbled after him as he led me from the room. I was glad that drawing Wes away would keep Shane safe, but Preston’s office was the heart of the danger zone for me. I tried my damnedest to avoid Preston when I could. He was unpredictable at the best of times and had a ruthless edge to him that so far his son was unable to match. Since our first meeting at that fateful party, he’d gone through periods of seemingly forgetting I existed to near obsession, and I could always tell which state he was in based purely on Sasha’s level of warmth toward me.
Wes was chatting excitedly to me the whole way up, but I only caught snippets of it. Something about how he nearly stabbed some guy in the crowd for looking at me the wrong way, and how he was going to take me out to the fanciest restaurant in town tonight and treat me like a real lady. I was too distracted to listen. I could still feel Shane’s mouth on mine like a brand. I could still feel his hands on me, holding me, grabbing me. Wes had no idea that all this was going through my head but if he felt my pulse, he’d find my heart still racing. I worried that he might somehow read my thoughts, that I’d give Shane away just from the glassy expression in my eyes. I had to rein myself in before we reached Preston because if anybody was going to be able to tell, it would be him.
Wes knocked on Preston’s door, and a second later it opened. Rob peered at us and nodded, permitting us entry.
Sasha was there, sure enough. She was on her knees behind Preston’s desk, wiping white powder from her nose. Preston held a rolled up bill in one hand and was about to lean over the remaining line on the table, but instead paused as we came into view. His eyes were hard and focused as they took in my robe and heels combo. I could always tell when he was on coke because his gaze cut like knives down to the deepest part of me. He was looking at me like that now, and it couldn’t have been a worse time for me to have a secret.
Sasha barely noticed that we’d entered. After she finished rubbing her nose, her hands disappeared under the desk and Preston, still looking straight through me, smirked. Thankfully we stopped far enough away from that I couldn’t see what she was doing.
“How nice of you to visit us,” Preston said. “Would you care for a refreshment? A little nose candy, perhaps?” He held the makeshift straw aloft.
I shook my head. “No thank you.”
“Why not?” He grinned malevolently.
“I’m watching my figure,” I replied in a flat tone.
Preston laughed.
Sasha rolled her eyes. “You’re such a bore.”
“I agree. Why not have fun with us?” Preston asked. “Just this once.”
White-hot irritation flashed through me.
“I’m not interested, Preston. And for the record, no amount of cocaine would make me hate you less.”
Sasha, determined not to let me hog the spotlight, dropped her head into Preston’s lap. He glowered at me for a second, then grabbed her by the back of the head and pulled her away. “Go make me a drink.”
Sasha eagerly rose to her feet and hurried over to the bar while Preston adjusted himself.
“Dad, we actually—“
“Shut up.” Preston’s gaze flicked to his son for less than a second before returning to me. I didn’t like the look in his eye but refused to look away.
Fuck. I’d pushed him too far. Preston was obviously in a mood, as well as high and most likely drunk. The more fucked up he got, the more he felt like a god. And gods demanded tribute.
Preston stood and stalked toward me, grinding his teeth. I felt like slinking behind Wes but held my ground.
“Dallas, my patience is wearing very thin. We’ve been doing this dance for long enough now, don’t you think?”
Before I could say anything, he snatched me by the arm and yanked me toward the desk. I stumbled and slammed my palms down on the edge of the desk to keep from falling into it face first. Preston dug his fingers into my hair and dragged my face toward the line of coke. I tried to stand, but his grip was too firm. He shoved the rolled up bill just below my nose.
“We can do this the hard way or the easy way, dearest,” Preston growled. “Make your choice before I make it for you.”
“Why are you doing this?” I shrieked, fighting back tears. I was powerless against him, and nobody was going to help me. Unless Shane busted through that door with the A-Team at his back, I was about to get my first taste of cocaine. That wasn’t what terrified me the most. Preston was enjoying this, and my ultimate submission would please him even more. He already had a taste for it. Who knew what Preston might force me to do next?
“Get off of her!” Wes cried. “She’s mine!”
Preston pulled me upright, hand still tightly wound in my hair. He turned until we faced his son, who looked positively murderous.
“Is she?” Preston sneered. “You haven’t even sealed the deal with her yet. The way I see it, she’s up for grabs.”
I was wise enough to stay silent, even though I despis
ed them talking about me like a piece of property. I was too rattled to form a sentence anyway. This was the closest I’d ever been to seeing Preston snap, and I wasn’t out of the woods yet.
“That’s none of your fucking business,” Wes snarled.
“Isn’t it? Everything you have you owe to me, including this little piece. I’ve watched her drag you around by your balls for long enough. When are you going to man up?”
“When I’m good and ready!” Wes spat. “That doesn’t change the fact that she’s mine and what I say goes.”
“I think somebody’s in love,” Sasha cooed from behind me.
Wes’s jaw ticked, but he didn’t respond. He just glared at his father, who finally released me, and shoved me toward him. Wes wrapped a protective arm around me and it was the first time I’d ever taken comfort in his touch.
“Fine. Fly away then, lovebirds.”
Preston’s booming laughter filled the room, but Wes was already leading me away, his hand rubbing gentle circles on my back.
Chapter 26
Shane
I woke up to the sound of the office door opening and cracked an eye just as Jake lowered a steaming cup of coffee onto the table beside my head.
“Good morning,” he said in a sing-song voice. “It’s a beautiful March day! The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the homeless guy on my couch is snoring.”
“Good morning to you too.” I sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. “What time is it?”
“It just turned seven.”
I was surprised I’d slept in so long since I was used to waking up at six or earlier without having to use an alarm. It must’ve had something to do with kissing Dallas. That kiss had finally fed a three-year-long craving, and not having that gnawing at me sent me into a deep and restful slumber. Even with a lumpy couch at my back, I suspected the only way I could have slept better was if she were beside me.
First Time Lucky Page 15
