“Yeah, sounds about right.”
Dino gives Hayes a nasty glare and then walks to the door while pulling me along. I pause before we leave.
“I’ll tell you what. We’re nice people with good manners. You’ve been a sugary sweet host, so we’ll do you a solid and go quiet tonight. We’ll also call our boss and tell him to find his balls. Does that make you happy?”
Hayes leans back in the chair again. “Was that so difficult?”
“No, but if you talk shit about my fabulous ass again, I’ll stop being so fucking cooperative. Now be nice to your temp so I don’t have to learn a new name the next time I visit.”
My extended eye contact with Hayes leaves Dino in nearly a rage. He wraps an arm around my shoulders and directs me to the car and away from the competition. I’m laughing by the time he joins me in the SUV and slams the door.
“He’s disgusting,” Dino growls.
“I think he’s hot for you honestly.”
Dino glances at me and shakes his head. “It’s not funny.”
“I feel a genuine spark between you two.”
“That guy wants you. He’s used to getting what he wants. You shouldn’t be alone with him.”
I’m laughing so hard by the time he finishes that Dino turns off the SUV.
“Stop,” he demands.
I can’t though, not when a vein next to his temple is actually throbbing from him being so damn pissed.
“It’s not funny,” he mutters, nearly pouting.
Choking back my laughter, I wrap my hand around the back of his neck and pull him towards me for a kiss. His lips devour mine until my giggles turn to moans.
I take his hand and place it snugly over my left tit. Dino immediately leans away from me. My lips feel abandoned, and the throbbing heat between my legs begs for the nice man to return.
“People can see,” he says.
“Good. Claim me in front of everyone.”
Dino gives me a dirty look that makes my nipples harder. His prickly nature is so sexy. He’s got a lot of rules about shit in his head, and no one will break them without inspiring his wrath. Even loving this side of him, I plan to break every single one of his rules just to see what he’ll do.
13
~ Dino ~
Shit Ain’t Funny
Minka won’t stop laughing. Well she tries, and the giggles do taper off occasionally, but they return once she looks at me again. I don’t know what she finds so funny. I just know she’s pissing me off.
I pull the SUV into the parking lot of a shopping mall and turn toward her.
“What?” I demand.
“You’re actually jealous of Hayes and me. How is that not funny?”
“He was making eyes at you.”
“No, he wasn’t. And even if he was, what makes you think I’m interested in him?”
Studying her face, I’m unconvinced. A man like Hayes is always on the prowl for pussy. I should know. I was like him until I met Minka.
“So you’re saying you don’t find him attractive?”
“He’s not hard on the eyes, but I’m rather taken with the dumbass right here.”
Minka pats my cheek. Before her hand pulls away, I press it down tighter.
“I don’t know. You were giving me all kinds of grief, and now we’re suffering from fucking sickness. How do I know you won’t try to switch off to his dick?”
“Fucking sickness? Speak for yourself. I could go again right now.”
“Me too,” I say, challenging her.
When I reach for my zipper, Minka laughs again.
“This ain’t a joke.”
“Isn’t it? I mean you can’t really be this wound up over Hayes.”
“It’s not about that asshole. It’s about you. How you walk into a room, shaking your ass for everyone to see.”
Minka’s tongue makes a quick, sexy swipe at her bottom lip. “I have a sweet round ass. No harm in showing off what God gave me.”
Smiling despite my bad mood, I can’t argue with her having a great ass.
“You got me wound up, Apples. With the good fucking, comes the circle peeing.”
“If you really cared about me, you’d stop calling me Apples.”
“Naw, baby, every man’s got to have a nickname for his woman. My father called my mother, Apron Strings.” Minka frowns at this information, and I realize her shitty upbringing made her weird. “Because she was such a great cook and mother, you see?”
“Yeah, that’s sweet. In our case, you just butchered my last name.”
Now I’m the one laughing. “That’s not why I call you Apples. It’s these perky tits of yours,” I explain while taking in the sight of them hiding behind a tight black and gray striped tee. “I noticed them the first damn day when you were hurrying out of the office to tell Rafael something. Those girls are ripe as hell.”
Minka glances down at her tits, studies them for nearly a minute, and then looks back at me.
“Romantic.”
“Well, I think the Apron Strings thing might have been an inside sex joke between my parents, but I wasn’t gonna ask.”
“Did your mom have a nickname for your dad?”
“She called him master.”
Minka gives me a sly grin that makes my dick painfully hard. I love when she knows I’m fucking with her.
“You don’t need to worry,” she says in a loving voice, “about Hayes or anyone else. If you and I end, it’ll be us who end it. Not a third party.”
“We’re not ending.”
“I didn’t say we were.”
“I don’t mean now. I mean ever. You’re the one.”
Minka leans back against the door and studies me. “Do I get a say?”
“Of course, but I know what I know.”
Minka’s dark eyes study me again, and I wonder what she’s thinking. I’d love to crack open her head and see what goes on inside her mind. I bet it’s a wild place.
“Did you park here because you were too angry to drive or because you want to go shopping?” she asks, changing the subject.
“There’s nothing in White Horse to do. The bars are closed. The bowling alley is in Hickory Creek, while the movie theater is in Common Bend. So we can walk around this mall, or we can go back to the hotel.”
“Since you’re suffering from fucking sickness, I guess I should give your dick a break.”
Minka opens her door and climbs out. I bolt from the SUV, worried about trigger-happy assholes or even horny men making eyes at Minka. She waits for me to join her.
“I like when your hair gets messy like this,” she says, playing with my non-slicked-back hair. “This is how you look when you’re on top of me.”
“Do you want me to fuck you right here?” I ask, groaning as my dick grows too big for my slacks. “Let’s go back to the hotel.”
“Ice it down, Dino. I want to walk around and see if I find you as attractive dressed as you are naked.”
I grip her hand in mine before noticing a dozen college-aged men near the mall entrance. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, I keep her pressed against me.
“You could carry me like a baby on your hip if you think that’d make your point better.”
I frown at a smiling Minka. “What happens when women make eyes at me? Will you let them?”
“Sure. I don’t own you.”
Sharing her smile, I open the mall door. “You’re full of shit.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time.”
I give the college boys a nasty look, and the little one appears ready to wet his fucking pants. My ego welcomes the shot of confidence after Minka plays everything too cool. I want her worshipping me, not weighing her options.
“Were your parents ever married?” I ask as we sit on a bench near Macy’s and watch people walk by.
“For about a year. They tied the knot when she was a few months into the pregnancy with me and were divorced not long after I was born. Mom said she wanted to have all her kids i
n wedlock, but marriage wasn’t for her.”
“Is that why you refuse to submit to me?”
Grinning, Minka slides her right leg over mine. “I’m not submitting to anything. If you want that to happen, you’ll need to break me.”
I shake my head and pat her knee. “No breaking. I want you in one piece when you walk down the aisle.”
“Stop talking about shit like that. You think it’s sexy, but it’s not.”
I wrap an arm around her shoulders and gently poke her in the chest. “You know what I think? Your mom put these ideas in your head about how men aren’t necessary. Now you’re a slave to her bullshit thinking.”
“You don’t know anything about my mother.”
“I know you don’t talk to her. Since I’m on your side, I’d assume that makes her the bad guy.”
Minka shrugs, but I know I’ve hit a nerve. She glances at a passing mother pushing a stroller.
“I don’t hate my mom.”
“Then why aren’t you in contact with her? That’s your choice, right?”
“Yeah, I pretend I hate her because it makes avoiding her easier. I’m more disappointed in her than anything else. I wish she were different, but she isn’t.”
“Different how?”
“Less selfish. Never satisfied. Even when she had things, she wanted more. She was always comparing her life to other people doing better. She never felt blessed. I didn’t mind the crime. Her family only knows one way to make money, and they don’t care how they take from others. But they don’t appreciate what they’ve taken. They only want to find someone else to take from.”
“I gotta say, I don’t have a lot of respect for thieves. The jewel thief, maybe, or a bank robber. Most thieves steal from people barely scraping by. That ain’t how life should be.”
Minka purses her lips, and I know she wants to change the subject. A minute passes before she speaks up again.
“I talk to Verina every month, and she says Mom lives comfortably. I don’t want to know more than that. Imagining her as an old woman makes me feel guilty for never visiting or calling. Of course, my grandmother was even more manipulative once she got old. She really played up the elderly angle. Oh, and her memory was always iffy when it came to her sins.”
“I’m lucky in that my family are pretty good people. I never had to cut any of them off. If I did have to, maybe I’d feel bad after a while.”
“I feel guilty because she’s my mother, not because she deserves it.”
My thumb caresses her tense jaw. “I know. I ain’t saying you should feel any different. What do I know anyway? I’m just thinking maybe it bothers you because it’s unresolved. Not for her, but for you. I mean, you left when you were young. Time has passed, and thinking of her as an old lady all alone makes you feel bad. Maybe if you saw her or talked to her, you’d see her the way she really is.”
“I don’t know,” Minka mumbles, frowning at the thought.
“Look, I’m no therapist, and I ain’t pretending to know about things. I did have a friend Johnny from middle school. He and I were tight. We were just getting into girls, and we’d play pranks on people. He was like a brother to me. I loved the guy, but then his dad got another job, and they moved. It killed me. All these years, I was thinking of him as the Johnny I knew, and I couldn’t stop thinking I’d lost something important. It nagged at me, so I looked him up a few years back.”
The memory makes me frown. Minka nuzzles her lips against my throat, and I shake off my bad mood.
“Johnny was living in Florida with his wife and kids. I came down for the weekend, and you know what? I couldn’t stand the guy. All the stuff I used to think was so damn great about him was annoying as fuck. He was too loud. He talked about girls like we did when we were twelve. The guy had a daughter but talked about pussy all the damn time. Not like a man would talk about it, but like a twelve-year-old boy who don’t know about pussy would. He never changed, but I did.”
“That sucks.”
“Not really, because I got the need out of my system. I was always thinking I lost something huge, but I realized we’d have grown apart anyway. We weren’t going in the same direction in life. Meeting him again put things in place for me. I’m not saying that’ll happen with your mom, because she’s your mom. Might not hurt to try, though.”
“Is it weird that I’m scared?”
“Naw, Apples. It’s your fucking mom. Parents have a sick power over their kids. My mom can call me and whine about a plumbing problem, and I’ll want to fly home to fix it for her. I’m lucky my ma don’t try to use her powers to make me her fucking poodle, because she could.”
Minka smiles slightly. “I guess I ought to visit her. Facing my fears worked with heights.”
“I could go with you if you want.”
Still nervous about discussing the future, Minka shrugs. “Let’s see if I still like you in a week.”
“Baby, in a week, you’ll be kissing my feet. I oughta get you kneepads to make the process easier.”
“Asshole.”
“I’m an honest guy. What can I tell you?”
Minka stands up. “You’re pissing me off.”
“Because I’m making you feel what you don’t want to feel. You should thank me.” I stand up and take Minka’s hand. “What do you want to do now?”
“Let’s walk around awhile. Seeing these happy people makes me feel better about how miserable those people were this morning.”
“You have a sweet heart,” I say, kissing her forehead.
My arm wraps around her shoulders possessively. This time, Minka doesn’t try to squirm away or give me an amused look. Talking about her mom soured her mood. I ought to feel guilty, but she needs to face facts about both her mom and us. I’m not going anywhere. While I have no intention of breaking this powerful woman, I do plan on getting her a pair of kneepads for all of the worshipping that she’ll do soon.
14
~ Minka ~
Playing Heroes
Dino and I watch an episode of Deadliest Catch while he tells me that he can’t fish because of his deep-seated fear of boredom. I pretend to be turned on by the dirty men on the show, leading Dino to change the channel.
“They’re not your type,” he says, looking for something else to watch.
I’m laughing at his ridiculous jealous nature when the phone rings. I answer and hear Hayes growling before he even speaks. Dino immediately gets a possessive glare on his handsome face, and I roll my eyes at him.
“Pay attention, fuckwit,” Hayes demands.
“This better be important.”
“You talked to Ruby at the titty bar, right?”
“The bartender?”
“Yeah, dumbass, the bartender.”
“You seem tense. Is something wrong?”
Hayes growls so loudly Dino finally rolls his eyes.
“Ruby called me to ask for help since Black got nervous about you talking to her. He sent his deputies after her. She’s hiding out and wants me to save her ass. If I say no, she’s planning to turn to the Serrated Fuckers.”
“I’ll be honest and admit I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
Hayes exhales loudly. “Ruby lives in Hickory Creek Township and knows those Rutgers shitheads. If she calls them for help, they’re going to take an interest in Common Bend. While I don’t give a shit about them taking out Black, I’m sure your boyfriend does. That means you need to go to the Bend Over Bar and help Ruby.”
“I think you’re confused about the boyfriend thing. I’m dating Dino, not Johansson.”
“Are you trying to piss me off?”
“Is that a real question?”
“I’m hanging up now. You do whatever the fuck you want.”
Once Hayes hangs up, I look at Dino.
“I’m your boyfriend. Interesting,” he says, smirking.
“Don’t get excited. I consider anyone who fucks me more than twice a boyfriend.”
“S
o, what was that about?”
“We need to find that bartender from the strip club. The cops are after her. Apparently if we don’t save her, she’ll call the biker club from Hickory Creek.”
“So, let her call?”
“That’s bad for Cooper Johansson,” I say and then add when Dino shows no concern, “The guy paying us.”
“Oh, yeah, the paycheck thing. I have a nice nest egg, so one less payday won’t kill me. Let’s stay in bed.”
“Ruby might end up dead before her biker friends show up.”
Dino sighs. “I guess I don’t want to get a pretty girl killed.”
Laughing, I slide out of bed. “Was that an attempt to make me jealous?”
“No. In fact, you ought to get used to me calling women pretty. I like to flirt.”
“We’ll see if I care in a week.”
“Kneepads.”
I flip him off before running into the bathroom to pull on clothes. Returning to the bedroom, I find Dino dressed like he’d spent an hour getting his hair just right.
“Men suck.”
“Don’t we?”
I switch on the cameras in the room and grab Dick Richey’s phone before following Dino out of the room. We make our way down the stairs and use the back exit. Before we head to the bar where Ruby’s hiding, I decide to stop and pick up a few bottles of whiskey. Dino grins at my stash, understanding we’re about to make a mess for Sheriff Black.
I dial the Sheriff’s Department and leave a message for the man in charge, who is conveniently unavailable to take calls.
“Dick Richey wants him to know the bad people have a video of the bad stuff. They put it in an envelope. I don’t know what to do. I’m going to light a cigarette and think about it.”
I hang up and smack a laughing Dino. “What?”
“Was that accent supposed to sound Australian?”
“Yes.”
“Good thing you’re beautiful.”
“Shut the fuck up and get us to the bar before they kill that girl.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Dino presses down on the accelerator as we race into Common Bend’s city limits. We both put on ski masks and gloves. On the way to the bar, I spot a parked cruiser. Dino sees it too and slows down.
High Voltage (Ramsey Security Book 3) Page 7
