“You just said—“
“Shit,” he sighed. His dick rubbed against the denim of his jeans. “Are you this much of a ball buster to everyone you’re about to fuck, or am I just that lucky?” he huffed out, his body tensing when he realized he’d said that out loud. Her eyes blazed.
“You’re such a—“
“Val, I didn’t mean it the way—”
“Put me down,” she muttered, not meeting his eyes.
“I didn’t mean it the way—“
“Right,” she scoffed, but he could see the hurt in her eyes.
“I…” He swallowed hard. His heart was like a damn drum in his chest, and he had a weird feeling it had nothing to do with the fact he wanted her. It did, but it was more than that. Eyes locked on her, he gave in. “I meant I want you so fucking bad, I don’t think I could wait to get us to a bedroom to get inside of you.”
“Sure,” she whispered, her hands still on his face. “I’m heavy, you should just—“
“You are not. You’re perfect,” he told her sincerely. He didn’t know this girl at all. But he knew, somehow, someway, deep down in his gut and soul that she was special.
She was his.
His? His heart stopped for a millisecond. His. No. He couldn’t have anyone. What he was, was just horny. He needed to get laid. He started to give himself a million reasons why she couldn’t be his.
He heard her make a noise between a sigh and a laugh, and it snapped him out of his thoughts. She hid her face in the crook of his neck, and he held her tighter to him.
“What are we doing, Bryan?”
“Right now?”
“I … I don’t do this. I’ve, ummm… I’m…” she nervously whispered, and he kissed her neck and really liked the soft mewl that came from her. She pulled away, her face an inch from his, and he braced, preparing for anything. “I’m not usually…” A phone rang out and she looked toward the couch. “I should answer that.”
He wanted to tell her she should just ignore it. He didn’t want to let her go.
“Handsome, you have to put me down.” She smiled.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t want to.” He smiled and liked the way her face blushed. It gave her an air of innocence, adding a girl-next-door vibe she didn’t have the day before.
“My phone. It could be work.” She raised an eyebrow, and he really liked the way she didn’t back away from him, how she challenged him. He really liked her fire.
He sighed and took them to the couch, but instead of setting her down, he sat with her straddling him. “Bryan…” Her hands were on his shoulders, while one of his left her ass and skimmed its way up almost like he didn’t want to not touch her. Cupping her face, he lifted his chin toward her still ringing phone.
“Answer.” She reached for it, leaving the crook of her neck at a perfect angle for him to breathe her in.
Her scent soothed and riled him up all at the same time. What the fuck was up with that?
His, the recesses of his mind whispered, but he chose to ignore it.
VALERIE
With shaky hands, I answered my phone without looking at who it was. I couldn’t, because my eyes were closed. He was breathing me in. It was primal and sexy, and even if his breath and mouth at that spot tickled a little, I liked it. A lot. I had the ruined panties to prove it.
“Hello?”
“Hey Val-doll!” My body tensed.
“Vaughn?”
“The one and only, honey!” I moved off Bryan, and surprisingly, Bryan let me.
I stood, even if my legs were a little weak from everything Bryan. I seriously needed to put some space between us. “Hold on, okay?” I told Vaughn, my voice a little out of breath.
“Hey, if you’re workin’—“
“No, just, umm, wait.” I muted my phone. “I need to take this,” I shared with Bryan.
“Blondie…” His stupid nickname sounded like a plea, and silence fell between us. Even standing away from him, I could feel his lips on mine, his hands on me. He wanted me and I wanted him. Badly.
“I… this… umm…” I didn’t know what to say but knew that sleeping with my new roommate, who was a cop, was not smart. And if life had taught me anything, it was to always make the smart choice.
He stood, and I stopped talking, taking another step back, not sure of what he would do. His body leaned in closer, pushing my back against the wall. His strong, muscly arms in that white tee made me press my thighs closer together to find relief. He caged me in without touching me, while all I could think was how sexy he was. He dripped masculinity and testosterone. I had never met a man who could do that. Who made me want him like I wanted him right now.
He bent so that his face was right in front of mine. “To be continued,” he whispered against my lips.
“I don’t think that’s such a great idea,” I whispered out loud, and he pushed his body away, his eyes pinning me in place.
“Lucky for you, I think it’s the best fucking idea I have ever had.” He smirked arrogantly before walking away. The door to his room shut.
Shaking my head, I unmuted the phone. “Hey.”
“Hey, you okay? You sound funny.” I scoffed while walking to my own bedroom, my body still aching with arousal, but I had to focus.
“Yeah, just tired. Where are you?”
“Babe—“ Vaughn said too joyfully, and I closed my eyes, trying to shut away what could get Vaughn to sound that hyped up.
“Vaughn. Where are you?”
“I left you a message…”
“Seriously?”
“Val, don’t be a worry wart. Look—”
“Where are you, Vaughn?” I asked, my head starting to hurt.
“New Mexico.” New Mexico! What the hell was there to do there?!
“You got a new roommate without telling me!” I hissed, shutting the door to my bedroom to try to prevent Bryan from overhearing me.
“I know, Val, and if you got my voicemail—”
“He’s a cop, Vaughn.” Silence I expected met me from the other end, letting me know what I had suspected. Vaughn had no clue what Bryan did for a living. How could he bring someone to live with us, leaving me with him without knowing?
“No shit?” he finally whispered, and I squeezed my eyes shut. One. Two. Three.
“Yes.”
“This is a good thing, Val, baby. He will keep an eye on you.”
“Eye on me?”
“Anyhow, a detective from Pasadena has no jurisdiction in Santa Monica, Duncan.” I hated when he called me by my last name.
“I didn’t tell you he worked in Pasadena,” I whispered, sitting at the edge of my bed. He knew. He had done it on purpose.
“It’s a good thing he’s a cop.”
“Why is that?”
“I’m just thinking a pretty girl like you, you should have someone to look after—“
“No lies, Vaughn.” I sighed, and his end of the line went silent. I swallowed the dread I started to feel. “Please tell me you’re in New Mexico because you wanted to check it off your bucket list.”
“Val…” he sighed, and I opened my eyes.
“That’s what I thought.” Worry hit the pit of my stomach.
“It’s not,” he huffed, and I knew him well enough to know he was probably running his fingers through his hair.
“You were doing so well.”
“Was I? Shit, babe, you see the house? The mortgage?”
“We are getting by. The house is getting fixed up. I’m gonna start the bathroom tomorrow. Plus, with your buddy living here, his share of the rent helps.”
“But all the change he pulled up front, you know what I can do with that here?” The mild throbbing at my temples picked up, and I wanted to cry. Vaughn was the only person, the only string I kept to my past and ‘family.’
After he’d left me behind to go to college, he’d come back to the trailer park where we’d grown up. He was who saved me fro
m ending up in an even worse situation.
“I told you what would happen if you used again, honey. I wasn’t kidding. I will walk away this time.” I would, too. Even if it broke my heart in the process, I would. I’d walk away and not look back. I’d promised myself I wouldn’t live life like that anymore.
“I’m not using.” He sighed, and I hoped to God he wasn’t lying.
“Vaughn,” my stern voice warned.
“I’m not.”
“Then come home. Come back, and we’ll keep fixing the house; you can stay on track here—”
“I can’t, Val. I’ve been to a couple of games here and told them about how I used to host shindigs back there. They wanna talk about expanding.” Damn it! Gambling. He was gambling.
“He’s a cop!” I hissed. “Are you seriously thinking about doing this shit while living with a cop? Have you lost your ever-loving mind!”
“No. No. Look, I bumped into B’s roommate at a game; hell, they’re more like brothers than friends—“
“Get to the point, Vaughn.”
“Donnie mentioned Bryan and what he was into. B’s cool.”
“He’s a cop. Plus, you said you would stop. You said you were done with this shit.”
“Babe, it’s just a couple of games. I’m doing good. The other night, I had doubled the money.” That was code for he had tried to triple it and lost.
“Come back, and we will fix this, Vaughn. We didn’t even need a new roomie to do this.”
“It will help. Hell, I got plans—“
“If you use, I’ll know,” I promised him. “And I won’t stick around anymore.” I threw down the gauntlet.
“Val…”
“I’m sorry, honey, but I told you last time you fell off the wagon.”
“I know you did…”
“I can’t be around all that mess, Vaughn. I’m done with that. I walked away from them. I won’t blink twice at walking away from it again.”
“Thanks a lot, Val,” he clipped, obviously angry.
“You know what I mean, honey.” I softened my voice, feeling bad but mostly worried. Gambling and the adrenaline mixed in with stress always pushed Vaughn to the edge, which took him to use whatever he could get his hands on. He was an equal opportunity junkie.
“Whatever. I just wanted to make sure Bryan was behaving and you were okay. I was checking on you. Like a good friend. Your only friend,” he reminded me. He liked to remind me about that every possible time he could.
“I called you,” I pointed out to him.
“But I called back. If I was a dick, I would have kept ignoring your call.”
“So, you admit you were ignoring my call?” I pushed. Angry and hating the whispers in my head telling me everything was about to change. Not letting him answer, I sighed. “Just take care of yourself, Vaughn.”
“For sure.”
“And be careful.”
“Always. You. too. okay? As for Bryan, he’s behaving. right? I mean. I might have lost a bit of touch with him, but I know he’s a good guy, Val.”
My cheeks warmed thinking about the way his hands had felt on my body. The easy way he’d picked me up, like I weighed nothing. Closing my eyes, I could almost feel the way he’d squeezed my ass as he walked us over to the couch.
“Val? If he’s being a dick—“
“He’s okay, I guess.” Freaking fantastic was more like it. Greek God, masculine body from top to bottom, paired up with the most beautiful blue-grey eyes. What wasn’t there to like?
“He’s a good guy to have around.”
“He’s also a cop,” I reminded him. Not that I had anything against police officers. I liked them, but if Vaughn was gambling, that only meant trouble.
“Yeah, well, it might be good to have him around the house in case anything turns bad.” The hairs on my neck stood at attention.
“Vaughn?” Dread hit and I realized that it was a lot worse than I’d first thought.
“Nothing will blow back on you.”
“Vaughn—“
“Look, I gotta go. I will call you later. Say hi to B.” Without being able to say anything else, I gently tossed my phone on my bed and ran my fingers through my hair when the line silenced.
My day was not at all what I expected it to be. At all.
Yesterday, I had plans to wait up and talk to Bryan and tell him we should stay out of one another’s way. As attracted as I was to him, he was my roommate, which was a disaster waiting to happen. Not to mention, I was attracted to him. I wasn’t a blushing virgin, but I wasn’t very experienced, either.
When I woke up to Bryan’s blue-grey eyes on me, the silence between us had felt oddly familiar. Almost right. So, I went into my spiel about us staying away from one another. He was the kind of man I couldn’t handle, anyhow. Way out of my league, I reminded myself.
But the moment he touched me, his hand at my hip, it felt like a bolt of lightning, sparks, and electricity. All the silly, heart-stopping things you read about in a romance novel. But it was more than that. It was the sparks mixed with a sense of comfort thrown in all at once. Completely contradicting sensations. And I wanted to have him touch me again. I wanted him to look at me, too. The way he looked at me, passion and hunger swirling in his stare, it surprised me. It made me think he wanted me.
I wasn’t hideous, but I was a realist.
Life had taught me that. And I knew I wasn’t anywhere close to being a Victoria Secret’s angel. Which was fine. But Bryan looked like the kind of man who would have a stunning beauty type of woman on his arm. Someone who felt as comfortable in a string bikini and lacy lingerie as I did in yoga pants.
He had been hard. For me. He had wanted me. He had told me he had wanted to fuck me against a wall. And I believed him. Not only that, I would have let him. Shaking my head, I quickly changed into jeans and a tank top, knowing it was going to be a warm day.
A soft knock on my door snapped me out of my thoughts, and I see him standing there just as I slipped into my black flip-flops.
“Hey,”
“Hi.” God, why is this awkward? Imagine if I had fucked him. Though he looked like the kind to do the fucking. He gave me a sexy smirk as if he could hear my thoughts.
“What do you want?” I clipped, trying to feign annoyance rather than show how turned on I was, but the glittering amusement in his eyes flared and I knew we were both feeling what we had been a few minutes ago.
“Wanna go get breakfast?” he asked, surprising me.
“Oh.” I suddenly felt like a bitch for being snappy and having told him we should stay away from one another. “I should probably stay and…”
“Make toast? Because that’s all there is in the kitchen.“
“Shit,” I whispered, suddenly remembering all the things I had to do on my days off. I had to go to the grocery store and stop at Home Depot to grab some supplies so I could get started on the bathroom. “Thanks for reminding me. I need to run some errands; grocery shopping, that kind of thing.” Biting my lower lip, I extended an olive branch. “If you want to make a list, I can pick some stuff up for you. I usually do that with Vaughn,” I shared, but he didn’t say anything.
Instead, he stepped into my room, his footsteps weirdly quiet for a guy his size. My room was a decent size, but having him in it made the space feel smaller. Like shoebox small. He was so big. Broad and tall, all dark features with light eyes and beautiful, sun-kissed skin.
“What are you…” My heart went into overdrive. He was looking at me the same way he had been when I had opened my eyes this morning. Passion and hunger swirling with something I didn’t recognize.
“We aren’t going to avoid one another,” he stated, like I didn’t have a choice in the matter, and I frowned. Avoiding one another is the smart thing to do, I reminded myself. Be smart, Val!
“I just think—“
“Then stop. Because we’re not.”
“Where did you sleep last night?” I asked out of nowhere. Not that it w
as any of my business. Though, what if he had spent the night with another woman?
Oh, my God! What if he has a girlfriend?
“Whatever you are imagining, it wasn’t that sordid.” He grinned and then sighed. “One of my brothers is out of town on business, so I went over to his fiancée and kid’s house.”
“For?” I stiffened.
“Dinner and a game of Monopoly that went on too long, because I swear my niece somehow cheats.” My lips twitched at the image of this big man playing a board game with his niece.
“How old is she?”
“Six going on twenty-two.” He sighed, smiling. “Come on.”
When he gently grabbed my hand, I felt it again. Soothing sparks. How was that even possible? I watched his hand move slowly from my wrist to my hand, our fingers weaving together perfectly. My heart calmed completely as a feeling I had never felt washed over me.
Safe.
He made me feel safe.
And that alone was terrifying.
CHAPTER FOUR
VALERIE
“Wait, so you are telling me that this place looked worse?” he asked incredulously. I laughed, bobbing my head as I took a swig of my Corona.
“Yep.” I smiled, remembering the first day Vaughn brought me to the place. “It’s a five-star resort now.” I looked out at the water as my toes wiggled in the sand. “You know what they say about real estate?” I glanced at him and took in his manly chin lift.
“Hmm?”
“It’s all about location.” I grinned and winked before taking another sip.
“Pretty much,” he rumbled. There was something about the tone of his voice that made me want to cuddle into him. Instead, I turned my eyes toward the shore, watching waves come in slowly before taking their descent right back.
“It only has a couple of major things that need to get finished,” I shared, thinking about how far the house had come together. How the house felt more like my home than Vaughn’s, even if Vaughn’s name was on the deed.
“The bathroom looks great.”
“Yeah.” I grinned proudly. It really did.
With his help, after we ran errands, we finished installing and grouting the tile. In the morning, I would paint and then go back to Home Depot for a new vanity I had my eye on.
STEAL (Right Men Series Book 2) Page 4
