by L. A. Casey
Alec looked up at me and smiled. "Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why would you slap the shit out of me?"
Really?
I huffed. "Because I wouldn't let you work in an environment that treated you like dirt. You're a good fuckin' man and should be treated with the damn respect you deserve. It makes me mad that you willingly put up with that shite-"
I was cut off when Alec surged forward and pressed his mouth against mine. He gripped onto the sides of my face with both his hands and pressed my head back into my pillow. He kissed me hard and fast, but after only a few moments he slowed the kiss down to a painfully slow rhythm that only caused me to groan. While it was sexy and satisfying I wanted it hard and rough and to leave me floating.
"Thank you," Alec breathed against my mouth when he detached his mouth from mine.
I swallowed and pecked his lips before I said, "What for?"
Alec kissed me once more before he pulled back and said, "For caring."
Wow.
I blew out a breath onto Alec’s face and it caused him to smile.
"Anytime," I murmured, feeling slightly in a trance.
Alec laughed and kissed my nose. "What are you doing to me?"
I blinked as I looked to him. "I don't understand what you mean."
"I’ve only known you a few days and you have already made an impression on me. Nobody has ever made an impression on me. You've worked your way under my skin and you've done this by pissing me off."
I blew air out of my nostrils.
"Yeah, well you make me mad so it's your own fault if I annoy you."
Alec chuckled. "See? This is what I'm talking about. You're crazy."
I widened my eyes. "I'm not crazy."
"Yes baby, you are."
"No, I'm not.
"Yes, you are."
"I hate when lads do this!" I snapped.
Alec rolled back onto his side to look at me. "You hate when we do what?"
"Call a woman crazy to make her crazy just to validate you telling her she’s crazy."
Alec's eyes crossed indicating he was confused.
"You have a way with words, kitten."
"Bite me."
"Tell me where and I will be happy to oblige."
I scoffed in disgust. "You can be so repulsive."
Alec grinned. "You will get used to it."
I snorted. "I don't think a few days are enough for me to get used to how repulsive you can be."
"A few days? Kitten, there is no time frame on our relationship."
I raised my eyebrows. "Wait a second, you're sayin' if we're still civil after this trip that you still want to date me?"
Alec shrugged. "Why not? I like you, and I'm finding being in a relationship fun. I don't know what Dominic and Ryder complain about all the time."
I felt a huge smile take over face. "They have both got some mileage in with their girls, give us a few days and you will probably want to ring my neck."
Alec snorted. "I'm remembering Dominic's Man Bible here so I'm just going to nod my head and agree with you."
I reached over and patted his head. "Good boy."
Alec snickered as he swatted my hand away from his hair.
I relaxed back onto my side.
"Can I ask you a question?" I asked.
Alec smiled. "You just did."
"Don't make me beat you to death."
Alec coughed and rubbed his face, trying to hide a smile but failing.
"Sure, fire away."
"Do your brothers have... similar jobs to what you used to do?
Alec stared at me and looked like he was trying to decide on whether or not he wanted to answer my question.
"We all worked for the same man, but they weren't in my... field of work. We were sorted into jobs that our talent and skill set could be of use."
I raised my eyebrows. "What talent or skill set is require to be an escort?"
"I have a big cock, so I guess that is my talent. I can make people come easily, so that would be my skill set. I know how to pleasure the human body, I've had a lot of practice since my teen years."
I swallowed. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I think you might be the biggest slut I have ever met."
Alec burst out laughing.
"I think you may be right, kitten."
I shook my head. "You and your family are so exotic compared to me. I'm borin'."
Alec reached out and playfully knocked my chin with his knuckles. "I don't think so, you're a writer, you make it possible to live several lives in the space of a few hours. Your mind is more exotic that you realise, sweetie."
I blushed.
"You think so?" I asked.
Alec winked. "I know so."
I smiled. "Well, thank you."
"Since we're on the topic of your writing, what genre do you write in?"
I felt my face go super nova red.
"You're so pretty when you blush, kitten."
I covered my face with my hands. "Comments like that don't help, Alec."
I heard his chuckling, and for some reason it calmed me down.
"You gonna answer my question like I did yours?"
I groaned.
Way to play fair.
"Fine, I've only started writin' me first book and it is in the contemporary romance genre... with a little erotica mixed in."
Alec waggled his eyebrows at me.
"Wooooo."
I covered my face again when Alec started teasing me, but it only made him laugh and pull me closer to him.
"I'm only playing."
"Uh huh."
"What is the book going to be about?" Alec asked as he played with my hair.
I licked my lips and said, "It's goin' to be about a sweet girl who gets mixed up with a bad lad and they have to deal with a lot of shite before they can be together. I haven't worked out all the details yet, but that is what I am goin' for."
Alec kissed the top of my head. "It sounds like our relationship."
I chuckled. "You aren't a bad lad, Alec. You may be dirty minded - and mouthed - but you're a good person."
Alec hugged me to him. "Thanks, kitten."
I looked at him and smiled. "We're totally bondin'."
Alec grinned. "Yep, bonding while we're almost naked. It's the best moment."
I rolled my eyes. "Shut up."
He rolled his eyes back at me. "Yes, sweetie."
I burst out laughing. "You sound like a man agreein' with his wife just to keep her happy."
"I suppose I am."
"So we're actin' like a married couple now? Great."
He snorted. "We have been bickering since we met so we're practically already married."
"There is more to marriage than just bickerin', you eejit."
"Yeah, like what?"
I gave him a look that told him he was a moron.
"Eh love, maybe? That's why people get married - they are in love with each other and want to spend the rest of their lives together. I don't think the bickerin' starts until a few years after marriage."
Alec grinned. "Let's say we get married in the future, okay? I give it an hour before you and me are bickering," he paused then laughed. "Actually, I guarantee that you would find something to argue about at the altar."
I punched him in the chest making him wince then howl with laughter.
"Just because I fight with you all the time doesn't mean I do it with everyone else. No one gets under my skin like you do, Alec Slater."
"Really?" Alec beamed.
I stared at him slack-jawed. "You seem proud."
"I am," he replied.
"Well don't be, I'm a dangerous person to those who get to me, a very dangerous person."
Alec smiled at me. "Good thing we're datin' then, wouldn't want you to harm me in some way."
I laughed. "You're an eejit."
"An eejit who is dating you, but doesn't fully know you. Let’s rectify that now."
I was curio
us. "How?"
"Twenty questions, obviously."
I smiled. "Okay, I'll go first. What is your favourite colour?"
"Green."
"Mine is pink, you go."
Alec scratched his chin. "What is your favourite thing to do besides writing?"
"Easy, reading. What about you?"
Alec ran his finger through my hair. "Being at the DSPCA with the animals."
I sighed. "You know it's really not fair that you're hot; you just have to help underprivileged animals as well, don't you?"
Alec chuckled. "You'd love it, I'll bring you there sometime when we go back home."
I felt my stomach burst into butterflies.
"Yeah, I'd like that."
Alec gave me a little squeeze then said, "Who was the first person you had sex with?"
"Ask me a different question, I'm not answerin' that one."
Alec grinned. "It's twenty questions, you have to answer. As Bronagh would say 'It's like, the law'."
I turned my head so he wouldn't see me smile.
"I don't have to do anythin' I don't want to, playboy."
Alec pinched my calf. "Answer it, you big baby."
"Fine... it was with Jason... and I was twenty-two."
Alec stared at me for a long time without blinking.
I lowered my head. "I know, it's embarrassin'."
I looked up when Alec touched my cheek.
"It's not embarrassin', he manipulated you."
I shrugged. "I'm over it."
"Are you?"
I chewed on my inner cheek and shrugged my shoulders. "I'm over any feelin's I had but I'm still mad at him. He used me."
"Look on the bright side, at least it's your cousin that is stuck with him and not you."
I know that was a good thing but I found it hard to find the bright side of anything.
"I'm not that much of an optimistic person Alec. I don't look on the brighter side of things"
"Why?"
"Because growing up I had no bright side to look at and I didn't imagine about a different life because that would have just been teasin' meself."
Alec placed his hand on my intertwined ones. "You had it tough grown' up?"
I slightly smiled. "I had everythin' growin' up. I lived with a parent who was wealthy and would buy me nice things. I was never hungry, thirsty or cold. I had a roof over my head, and a good education. On paper, I had a great childhood."
"And off paper?"
I chewed on the insides of my cheeks for a few seconds before I spoke. "Off paper I grew up in a loveless home. My mother is just a woman who gave birth to me, nothin' more. She doesn't love me, and she never has. She loves her money, all her materialistic things, and she loves Micah."
I spat out Micah's name and looked away as my eyes filled with tears.
"Keela," Alec whispered.
I shook my head. "I'm not jealous over my mother favourin' Micah instead of me. I am just so mad about it. I mean, I'm her daughter and she doesn't want me, she never has," I whispered then quickly wiped my eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm bein' stupid."
"Stop that. If this is how you feel, then it's not stupid. I'd be pissed off if my mother loved one of my brothers more than she loved me, but like you, my mother loved things she bought, not the beings she created."
I blinked my eyes and turned to Alec who was lying on his side on the hotel room bed, watching me.
"Your ma wasn't lovin'?"
Alec humourlessly laughed. "She was loving, just not to me or my brothers."
I blinked again shocked that someone who was so different to me shared something so personal in common with me.
"And your da?"
Alec shrugged. "My dad wasn't loving in the traditional way, but he showed his fondness for us by keeping us around I guess you could say. My mother ignored us and probably would have giving us all up for adoption had my dad not needed sons for the business."
I frowned. "You mentioned the business before. What business?"
Alec stared at me for a long moment before he said, "I don't want to tell you, you will think less of me"
I felt my shoulders slump. "Alec, I'm sorry, I hate that you think that. I don't, and won't, think less of you. I actually like you."
"You like me?" Alec smiled.
I reached over and playfully shoved his shoulder. "I wouldn't have agreed to be your girlfriend if I didn't like you is some way, even if it is only tiny bit."
Alec stuck his nose up at me. "You only like me for my voice, eyes, and my ass. I remember that conversation on the plane."
I burst out laughing and rolled forward onto his body. He laughed and rolled onto his back while pulling me onto his chest. I grinned as I sat upright and made his groin my seat.
"I like this view," Alec murmured as he trailed his eyes from where I sat on his body until they reached my eyes.
I snorted. "Because you're a dirty man."
"You love that about me," Alec said, his eyes burning into mine.
I looked away from his gaze. "I'm fifty-fifty on that right now."
"Oh, really?" Alec asked, his tone playful.
I smiled and looked back to him. "Don't even think about whatever you're thinkin'."
Alec's eyes crossed. "You confuse me."
I laughed and leaned down until my face was an inch from his. Alec straightened his eyes and smiled at me, but he didn't move.
"Why aren't you doin' anythin'?" I whispered.
Alec waggled his eyebrows. "I want you to kiss me first this time."
"Why?"
"Because it will show me that you do in fact, like me."
"A whole lottle?" I asked, grinning.
Alec smirked. "Something like that."
I lowered my head further until my lips almost brushed Alec's.
"Keela," he whispered.
"Hmmm?"
"Kiss me."
I smiled. "Why?"
"Because I need to taste you."
All playfulness vanished and before I knew it, I pressed my mouth to Alec's and buried my hands into his hair being careful not to pull it with my fingers. Alec's hands went straight to my behind and squeezed the living daylights out of each bum cheek.
"Arse. Pain," I groaned and tried to deepen our kiss, but Alec drew back and looked up at me.
"Are you calling me a pain in the ass?"
I blinked, pulled back and then laughed. "No, well, yes. You're hurtin' me arse right now by squeezin' so I guess you literally are a pain in the arse. Ha!"
Alec narrowed his eyes at me before he squeezed me hard again. I opened my mouth to either squeal or scold him, but he took my open mouth and used it to his advantage by sticking his tongue inside it. I groaned and let my eyelids shut while I used my hands to grip onto his biceps.
"Unless you plan on riding me bare back stop grinding against me, kitten," Alec said when he pulled back from our kiss and placed his cheek against mine.
My eyes were still closed and my heart was pounding. "I didn't even realise I was doin' anythin'."
"It's the effect I have on you."
If I ever needed a sentence to sober me up, that was the one.
"Are you takin' penis enlargement tablets?" I asked with a straight face.
Alec's eyebrows touched his hairline. "What? Why the hell would you ask me that?"
"Because you're bein' a bigger dick than usual."
Alec burst out laughing and slapped my arse which caused me to yelp.
"Bastard!" I growled.
I tried to slap Alec or claw one of his eyes out. I wasn't really sure which one I was going for, but it didn't matter because Alec grabbed my hands which prevented either one from happening.
"Not my face!" Alec shouted through his laughter.
"You're so fuckin' vain!"
Alec smiled at me then kissed me on my mouth.
He actually kissed me.
I latched onto his lower lip and bit down which caused him to whine in pain until I let go, which I did a
few moments later.
"That was uncalled for!"
"You will get over it," I said and ruffled Alec's hair before I climbed off his body.
"Where are you goin'?" he asked.
"The weddin' is in a few days, and after runnin' into Jason last night I want to get everyone else out of the way."
Alec rolled to his left then got up from the bed and stretched.
"Is there anyone at this wedding who you're looking forward to seeing?"
I smiled. "Me Uncle Brandon, he is me Ma's brother, and he is brilliant."
Alec smiled. "I like seeing you happy, your uncle means a lot to you?"
I nodded my head. "He means everythin' to me. He always made me feel wanted, unlike Micah and me Ma. Micah's ma died when we were kids, she was nice and treated me nicely. Unlike Everly, Micah's Stepmother, who is nothin' but a cunt to me. I never told Uncle Brandon about her and her bitchiness, because his face always lit up around her. I didn't want to cause problems since he was happy with her."
Alec frowned. "You're his niece, I'm sure would want to know-"
"Everly hasn't bothered me for years. I've handled her since I was a child, it's fine."
Alec shook his head. "You shouldn't have to 'handle' anyone, Keela."
I shrugged my shoulders. "It is what it is."
Alec moved towards me and halted my movements when he took hold of my arms. "Things are different now, you will be treated with respect, I guarantee you that."
I chuckled. "What will you do? Pound on everyone who isn't nice to me?"
"If I have to, yes."
I raised my eyebrows. "I never pegged you for the violent type."
Alec brushed my hair back out of my face. "I'm not, that trait is left to Dominic, Kane, and my other brothers, but where you're concerned, I'll make an exception."
"Thanks?"
Alec laughed as he reached over a grabbed my red sundress that was hanging from the wardrobe door and placed it against my chest. He then turned me in the direction of the bathroom and slapped my arse.
"Go get ready," Alec said
I cursed him as I stomped forward into the bathroom with his chuckling following me. Once in the bathroom I removed my pyjamas from my body then had a very quick body wash in the shower to clean myself up from the sweat that was stuck to my body. After that I dried myself with the hotel's towels and put on my dress. I groaned when I realised I forgot a bra and underwear.
"Alec?" I called out.
"What?"
"Will you do me a favour?"
