“No. Your sister told me. McKenna, I believe.”
Oh.
Oh yes.
It all made sense now.
And far be it from Julia to ever doubt her big sister. Because McKenna’s assessment was one hundred and fifty percent correct. He was smoking hot. Un-be-lievable. And he was no longer a stranger. He was sister-approved, he wasn’t a cop, and he wasn’t a heavy, so she shucked off her worries. “Clay Nichols,” he said, offering a hand to shake. Nice firm grip. Before she knew it, she was thinking of other uses for those strong hands.
“Julia Bell.”
“So how’s your day working out for you, Julia Bell?”
She laughed once. Not because it was funny, but because it was such a simple and direct question. It wasn’t a cheesy line. “It’s not too shabby,” she said. “And yours, Clay Nichols?”
He shook his head, let out a long stream of air. “Long, annoying, but ultimately victorious.”
“What, are you a fighter?”
“Nah. Just a lawyer,” he said then took a drink of the beer. He nodded to the glass in admiration. “Insert lawyer joke here.”
“A lawyer walks into a bar,” she said, then stopped to shoot him a playful stare. “Actually, that’s not a joke. That’s me giving a play by play.”
He laughed. “You are an excellent commentator so far.”
“Why thank you. I can keep it up all night,” she said.
“All night? Is that so?” He raised an eyebrow, and his lips curved up in a wickedly sexy grin.
“It just might be. So, you were victorious. Does that mean you won your case?”
“Just won the right terms in the negotiations. My client is happy. That’s what matters.”
“What kind of law?” she asked, praying he wasn’t going to say something seedy or sleazy – like personal injury law.
“Entertainment law,” he said in that deep, rumbly voice that she was already digging.
“I’m a big fan of entertainment. Movies and me, we’re like that,” she said, twisting her middle and index finger together.
“Likewise. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t enjoy the work. But I know what it is, and I know what it’s not. I’m not saving the world. I’m not putting the bad guys behind bars. I’m just trying to help actors, directors, and TV show hosts get the best deals they can get. Put on a show, make some people happy. That’s all I do.”
Julia tapped the side of his beer glass. “And I believe I’m in the same field then. I’m not curing cancer. I’m not saving the whales. I’m just mixing a drink, or pouring a beer, and trying to make someone’s night a little better. That’s all I do.”
A grin spread across Clay’s face and Julia admired the view. He was a fine specimen of man, with a chiseled jawline, and hair that could be held onto hard when you needed to. But more than that, their simple conversation was just that – nice and easy. If someone asked her to define the meaning of life lately, then as far as she could see was to try to be happy as best you could. Right now, she was enjoying the way it was easy to talk to Clay Nichols.
Nothing more. Nothing less.
He wasn’t pretentious. He wasn’t pushy. He had a directness about himself and what he did for a living that was refreshing.
“To entertainment,” she said, raising an empty glass in a toast.
“And to being entertained.”
“Let’s see if you can keep that up,” she said, issuing a challenge, because she craved a distraction like this. The last few months of her life had been far too tightly wound. Too much pressure. Too much trouble. Too many things she shouldn’t have to deal with, but was stuck with anyhow. Tonight, she wasn’t going to think about all the things chasing her. Tonight was for fun and for admiring the fantastic view. Sometimes, a woman just needed to flirt off her stress.
“I’m up for it, Julia. I’m definitely up for it.”
That McKenna was right. Hell, she was more than right. Her sister was hot as sin with those curves, those breasts, and the perfect kind of hips that he’d like to get his hands on. Her hair was lush and reddish brown. Her lips were full and ripe for kissing. As well as other things. But more than that, she was feisty, with that smart mouth firing off innuendo with every word. She could dish it out, and she could take it. After the day he’d had, after the way his days went in general, he wanted a night like this.
So they chatted on and off as she served more customers. She asked him about the deal he’d worked on today, and he told her what he could tell. He asked her about the night she’d had, and she nodded to a skinny guy slouched over the corner of the bar, and there was something so easy – so completely lacking in the bullshit and abrasiveness of office hours — about talking to her.
As she mixed up a purple concoction with sugar on the rim, she crooked a finger toward him, signaling for him to lean closer across the bar. He obliged; he wasn’t going to complain about being near to her.
“Do you want a Purple Snow Globe, Clay?”
He met her gaze straight on, her green eyes so inviting. “If it’s a drink, no. If Purple Snow Globe is a secret code word for something naughty, I’m game.”
“Well played,” she said, raising an eyebrow. She eyed the drink she’d just made with a proud sort of look. “It’s my signature cocktail. Some day, I’m going to win an award for this bad boy.”
He leaned back in the stool and took a slow measured drink from his beer glass, then set it down. “Will I regret not ordering then? For the chance to say I drank a Purple Snow Globe once at a bar in San Francisco?”
She flashed a sexy smile. “It’s absolutely delish, so you might regret not tasting it. But I’m glad you didn’t order it because it’s nothing a man should ever ask for at a bar and expect a woman to want him,” she whispered near his ear, her hair brushing his cheek, making him instantly hard. But that wasn’t entirely true. He’d been borderline hard for most of the conversation. The feel of her silky strands along with the words want him just ratcheted things up a notch or two.
She stepped away to deliver the drink to a customer and tend to more orders. As she returned to his end of the bar, he picked up where they’d left off. “What do you think a man should drink at a bar?”
“Scotch,” she said, punctuating the word with a perfect O shape to her lips. “Or whiskey,” she said, her voice a purr now. “Bourbon works too.”
“I believe you just named all my favorite drinks.”
“I had a feeling you might like those.”
“Did you?”
“I always know how to match a drink to a man.”
He tapped the side of his beer glass. “Then I’d like to know why I have a beer here in front of me. Tell me that, Julia.”
She paused, tilted her head to the side with a mischievous flare to her moves, then licked those luscious lips. Damn her; she was hotter than words, and she knew how to play. “When it comes right down to it, a man should drink what the bartender gives him,” she said in a sultry voice that made him want to hear her say other things. Lots of other things. Like Hold me down hard. Or Tease me with your tongue. Yeah, those sorts of things. “That’s the best match I can make.”
“I don’t want you making that match for anyone else then tonight,” he said firmly, giving her a hard stare, reminding her that he could play too. Because he knew exactly what he wanted. Her. And he didn’t want anyone else to have a shot. “Especially because I’m finding the bartender has excellent taste.”
She raised an eyebrow. “She does. She has impeccable taste, and she’s only making one match tonight,” she said, layering her words thick and hot with innuendo.
He wasn’t entirely sure where the evening was going next, only because he wasn’t the kind of man to take a woman like Julia for granted. He wasn’t going to make any sort of assumptions because assumptions got you into trouble in life. He knew that well from his line of work, and from the crap he’d dealt with from his ex, who’d brought heaps of heartache to him in their last f
ew months together before it ended. It was also entirely possible that Julia was a shameless flirt, angling for a big tip with her saucy little mouth. You couldn’t rule anything out, and regardless of where the night ended up, he planned on tipping her well for her bartending work because the woman was doing a hell of a job.
There were other jobs he’d like from her though.
Soon the crowds thinned, and Julia finished up the last call, and then she leaned across the bar, her lips dangerously near his jaw. “You don’t have to go when I lock up. In fact, you are more than welcome to stay.”
Oh yeah. He was entirely sure where the evening was going now.
Chapter Three
The sound of the lock snapping closed was wholly satisfying. It was the sound of one part of the night ending and another part beginning. A better part. A possibly delectable part.
Call it the no-strings-attached affair that she needed. This man, in town and then heading out of town, seemed like the absolute perfect fit for her.
She could act all prim and demure like she planned to just kiss Clay and send him on his way. But the thought of getting hot and bothered and then forbidding any south of the border activity had zero appeal to her. She was going for him, for all of him. She didn’t care if that made her sex-hungry. She was hungry for sex. She was jonesing for the kind of roll in the hay that would demolish the tension in her shoulders, let her forget the things she wanted to forget. She had so much trouble in her life, thanks but no thanks to her ex, who’d left town and saddled her with all his problems. Life had been non-stop pressure and worry since then, and she needed a break from it for one night.
Yeah, she was ready to screw the stress right out of her system, and this man seemed the ideal candidate.
Clay was waiting at the bar, tall and hard and sexy as hell in his jeans and button-down shirt. Julia wasn’t naive enough to think there was anything deeper going on than a chemical reaction. But what a reaction it was. Her body was drawn to him. His voice affected her, and his dark eyes were so mesmerizing they lured her in. But looks didn’t always make for a good lover, did they? No. A good lover took care of a woman, made sure she came first, and then again and again. And Julia could go for an orgasm or two tonight. Maybe even three.
Could this man deliver the goods beyond the surface? Were his hands and his tongue as worthy as the rest of him?
When she returned to him, she didn’t mince words. She didn’t have time for bullshit, or dating. She was a woman who spoke her mind. “So here’s the thing. I’ve got an idea of how I see the rest of the night playing out. What I’m wondering is if it aligns with yours?”
“Horizontally? That sort of alignment?”
She nodded several times. “I see we’re in agreement. So does that mean you’re going to put out for me tonight?” she asked with a wicked grin, teasing him with the teenage crudeness of her words.
He cracked up and so did she. Julia liked that he could appreciate her dry and dirty humor.
“Yeah. I think I’ll put out for you tonight,” he said, then stalked closer, his solid body nearing hers, erasing the space between them as he cupped her cheeks in his hands, and captured her mouth in a hot, wet kiss. It wasn’t a slow kiss or a dreamy kiss. No, it was a hungry one that sent a rush of heat flooding her veins. He spun her around, lifted her up on the bar, then edged himself between her legs as he slid his tongue over hers, explored her lips and her mouth as he kissed her hard and furiously. Like she wanted to be kissed, his stubbled jaw rough against her face. He threaded his hands into her hair and he wasn’t gentle with his touch, and she thanked her lucky stars for that. Softness was for kittens, pillows and pretty cashmere sweaters. Sex needed to be hard, hot and oh-so-rough around the edges.
She didn’t want to be coddled or cuddled. She wanted to take and be taken.
He kissed her greedily and she was sure she’d still be able to feel this kiss tomorrow, in her bones, in her knees. It flared through her whole body like a comet, igniting her. She grabbed his firm ass, yanked him closer until she could feel the full length of his thick cock in her center.
Oh, he had it going on. He definitely more than met her requirements. She rubbed herself against him and he groaned, then broke the kiss, moving his mouth to her ear. “You like that?”
“I do like that.”
“You like feeling how hard you made me?”
“I don’t like it. I love it,” she said.
“I’ve been rock hard for you all night, Julia. All night, I’ve been like this.”
“That’s a long time to be so hard, Clay. I bet you need me to do something about that.”
He pulled back to look at her, arching an eyebrow. “Yeah? What do you think I’d like you to do?”
“It’s not a matter of what you’d like me to do. It’s a matter of what I’m going to do,” she said, reaching for his hand that was looped through her hair, freeing it, then bringing his fingers to her face. She drew his index finger into her mouth, wrapping her lips tightly around it, and sucked hard. She watched as his brown eyes filled with heat. Then she pushed her hips against his, grinding against his hard cock, leaving no question as to where she wanted him next. She released his finger and hopped off the counter, missing the press of his body, but wanting to do this her way. She walked behind the bar, reached into her purse, and took out her favorite accessory, dangling her handcuffs for him to see.
She was a woman who knew what she needed, and she needed control.
His brown eyes widened with lust. “You keep handcuffs with you?”
“Never been used. Been waiting for the right man. And I have a feeling you’d like it if I cuffed you right now.”
“I’m not going to deny you.”
She walked to him and swiveled the stool around, so the wood slats on the back were easier to reach. She grabbed his wrists, pulled them behind him, and cuffed him to the wood. The sound of the metal locking into metal sent a thrill through her. He was hers for now. When so many other things slipped through her fingers like sand – money, hope, her future – this she could hold onto. This moment – his pleasure – was in her hands.
“Now, Clay. Tell me. How do you like it?”
“Deep,” he growled. “Take me in deep.”
“You want to fuck my mouth, you’re saying?”
“I would love to fuck that pretty mouth of yours.”
She slipped her fingers into the waistband of his jeans, sighing deeply as she felt the hard planes of his belly. She unzipped his jeans, pushed them down to his knees, and marveled at the thick bulge of his cock, the outline of his size deliciously visible through his briefs. Rock hard and all because of how much he wanted her. Heat tore through her as she pressed a hand against his length, palming him.
He hissed as she touched him, his broad chest rising and falling, a dark look of hunger in his eyes. There, that was it. That was what she wanted so badly it sent her body into overdrive – his reaction.
“Now, you’re starting something, gorgeous,” he said. “And you’re going to need to finish it. When you take me in your mouth, you need to take me all the way in.”
“Oh, I will. I most definitely will.”
She pushed his briefs down, and hot sparks shot straight to her core, turning her molten as she looked at him for the first time. He had a beautiful, majestic cock. Long, thick, and perfectly shaped. She couldn’t wait to taste him.
Clay rolled his head back in pleasure and breathed out hard. This woman was more than fiery. She was scorching and she was a giver, and he couldn’t have scripted a better combination as she toyed with him. She gripped him hard in one hand, the way he liked it, squeezing the base, but then teasing the head with her talented tongue, swirling little lines around him that made him want to piston his hips into her lush mouth.
She licked him up and down, lapping him up like a lollipop, all while making the sexiest little murmurs as if she were enjoying it as much as he was. Was that even possible? Because his body was bu
zzing all over. Then he felt as if electricity had been shocked into his bones when she stopped licking and dived in, taking him all the way in.
“Oh, that’s perfect, Julia. Yeah, I want to see those lips of yours nice and tight on me.”
She glanced up at him, answered with the wicked look in her pretty green eyes that she intended to ride him hard with her warm mouth.
“You take me in deep, now, okay?”
He might be the one handcuffed, but he still wanted her to know that he liked to be in charge. He couldn’t move his hands, and that was a shame because he wanted to pull her head closer to him.
With her lips gripping him, she stroked him with her tongue.
“Keep doing that,” he rasped out. “But I want it harder and faster.”
She didn’t need his direction, but she took it, sucking him in as far as she could. He felt her throat relax as she drew him in, and he loved that she wanted all of him. That she inched her body closer, that she moaned as she tasted him.
“You’ve got all of me now. But I can’t touch your hair with my hands like this, and it’s killing me not to grab hard on all that luscious hair,” he said as he began thrusting into her. The view of those red lips around his cock sent waves of pleasure through his body, hitting him deep in his bones with the intensity. “So I need you to know that when I take you soon, I’m going to have my hands all wrapped up in your hair and I’ll pull harder to make up for what I’m missing right now having my hands cuffed.”
She wiggled her eyebrows playfully, then swirled her tongue against his dick. She was the sexiest sight in the world, those gorgeous red lips opened wide and holding on tight. But as much as he wanted to keep watching her, he could barely focus anymore as his climax started to build, and he shuddered. He closed his eyes, rocked into her mouth, and told her what was coming next.
Girl Meets Billionaire Page 122
