Tessa had been sitting at the bar, nursing her now half water rum and coke. What the hell? Not a single person had approached her; it was kind of hard to get wild and crazy all by yourself. What hurt more was the place was packed. Not a single person seemed to have any interest in her whatsoever. At one point, she even did that total weird move where she tried to smell her armpits without anyone noticing, just to make sure she didn’t smell bad. She had worked her whole shift at the Shack, but her deodorant usually worked pretty well, at least, she thought she it did.
Damn, didn’t people say you couldn’t smell your own stink? Squirming on the bar stool, she tried to get another sniff, but all she got was the smell of the fabric softener she liked to use, and the smoke and stale beer scent bars were notorious for. That shit would seep into a person’s hair and pores and stay awhile. Tessa knew because she would immediately go home after work and take a shower washing her hair once and sometimes twice.
Tessa looked up and met the beady-eyed stare of two-tooth Fred. She had no idea if that was his name or not, but he had been watching her since she sat down. Well, she had at least gotten someone’s attention. The problem was she didn’t want it. What was it about her lately that she attracted assholes or weirdos like she had a sign flashing on her forehead, come and get me. Fred was an improvement over Grinder though. Small, older, dirty clothes, greasy hair, and missing most of his teeth. He also just stared; Tessa could deal with that, she would just ignore him, unlike Grinder who refused to be ignored.
Just thinking about that man sent a shiver down her spine, made her heart rate kick up, and made every hair on her body stand on end. Not a good feeling, he terrified Tessa. It wasn’t that Grinder was an ugly man on the outside, it was what was on the inside of him. His eyes were so cold, and every time she looked at him, it was like looking into the devil’s eyes himself, promising her pain, degradation, and humiliation. He wanted to ruin her, had told her as much many times, and Tessa was afraid if he ever did get her alone and vulnerable, he would do just that.
Deciding she’d enough of her wild and crazy night, Tessa downed the rest of her drink, liking the burn of the alcohol as it went down her throat. It was the cheap stuff and had apparently, all congregated at the bottom of her glass, but it tasted alright. Leaning forward, she placed her hands on the bar to lift her ass out of the seat. Strong arms caged her in, stopping her from moving. Whoever was behind her was big and very warm. Tessa had a moment of panic when she thought that Rena's had lied, and Grinder had found her, but then the sultriest, gruff voice she had ever heard whispered in her ear, “Such a shame sweet thing, I was just coming over here to see if you would have a drink with me,” sending the right kinds of tingles down her spine.
Tessa looked down at the man’s hands and forearms. Damn, had she ever once in her life thought hands and arms were sexy? Nope, not once. But this guy’s hands were large and scarred. This wasn’t a man who sat at a desk for a living. Tessa leaned forward a little to get away from him enough to turn her head, but he moved, pushing her ass back into him. The man groaned and whispered in her ear again, “Darlin, I was going to offer to buy you a drink first, but if you want to go straight for it, I’m game.”
She should be insulted or at the very least offended, but she was actually kind of intrigued. Maybe the booze was stronger than what she’d thought, but Tessa had decided to be wild and crazy. Pushing her ass back just a little more, this time she wanted the upper hand and was about to say something scathing, but he moved his hands from around her and grabbed on to her hips, pulling her closer to him. She didn’t even want to examine how good those hands felt on her body. One thing about being bold was you often got yourself into bad situations. Tessa knew this, but when she felt the hard ridge of his cock on the curve or her ass, she moaned. Oh lord, the man was hung.
She debated making her next move, the illusion she had going on was pretty good. Looking to her left, she made sure Two Tooth Fred was still at the end of the bar, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw him still sitting in the same place. Okay, good, she wasn’t into geriatric toothless men, bonus! But did she dare push this further or put a stop to it all together? She wanted to believe she wasn’t the type of woman who only thought of looks, but the truth was she needed to be at least attracted to the man she was playing with, right? This time, there was no moan, she groaned instead, thinking to herself she was that shallow. She hadn’t even seen this man yet, and his hands, voice, and well-placed boner had turned her on faster than a light switch.
Tessa tried to justify it; she could deal with a bad personality, but could she deal with someone she didn’t find attractive? Guys did it all the time if rumors were true. The problem was she didn’t know if she could do it. She had a friend once, totally sweet guy but not her type at all. She hadn’t known he wanted more from her because she never once thought of him that way, and it had ultimately ruined their friendship.
All these thoughts went through her head lightning fast. She needed to do something because, in about three seconds, this was going to become awkward for both of them. Him just standing behind her, rubbing himself on her ass, and her not saying a word. Looking at Toothless again, the jerk even raised his skinny little gray eyebrow at her silently, asking what are you going to do next? Tessa figured to hell with it, this was the most she had been turned on in months, maybe years, so she was going to go for it. If it didn’t work out, oh well, such is life.
Tessa pulled herself forward enough without losing contact with the giant behind her, turned her head, and was floored; this man was gorgeous, model gorgeous. Tall, dark, and badass. Beard - check, banging body - check check, and such a pretty face - triple check. The more she looked, the more checks she made. He had to be about six-foot-four and filled with rock solid muscles. Dark, slightly wavy hair, bright blue eyes, pouty bottom lip accentuated by a neatly trimmed beard. He was wearing a tight as sin white Henley that clung to every ripple of muscle and showed the deeply tanned skin on his chest. She was half tempted to take her finger and pull that opening down, just a little bit, to see if he had a hairy chest, but she couldn’t move. One look at the man and Tessa went deaf, dumb, and breathless, all at once. Every quick comeback, scathing remark, or inappropriate touch went flying out of her head, and all she could mutter was, “Damn” in appreciation.
That all changed when the asshole smiled and said, “Well, I’m here, what are your other two wishes?” Tessa was stunned for a second. She could gag him, take him home, and have her way with him because damn, just damn, but she wasn’t a fan of conceited assholes. Then again, that smile, body, and face, maybe, just well, maybe. Tessa decided to give him one of the many lines she’d heard and see how he liked it and handled getting the cheesy line back. Digging into her pocket, Tessa pulled out a twenty and held it out to the man.
“I got twenty, what will that get me?”
The guy looked stunned for a second.
“About ten inches in the bathroom stall for a couple of minutes, add on a couple more bucks, and we can see where it goes,” he said with that perfect smile on his face. The jerk totally topped her, and she couldn’t help but bust out laughing. The hot guy didn’t seem to take offense and sat down on the empty stool beside her, still smiling. Then he held out his hand. “Name’s Creed. I fuck for free when the mood strikes me, but if you feel the need to pay, more power to you.”
Tessa laughed, took his hand, and shook it.
“Well, in that case, Creed, how about I don’t give you my name, and we can play this like a real pick up. You can go on with your life knowing my second and third wishes weren’t to chain to you my bed and keep you there until I was done with you or worse yet, planned on keeping you for the long haul,” Tessa said complete with a dramatic hand to her chest and a shocked look on her face.
“That I can deal with, darlin, but I kind of like to know the names of the chick I fuck six ways to Sunday. It’s a thing, I write them down in a little book. A tradition really,” Creed said shrugging his shoulders. Tessa could see the small start of a smile on his lips, and she enjoyed this easy banter with him.
“Hmm, I don’t know. You know, some cultures believe when you give someone your name, you also give them power over you. I don’t know if I want you to have power over me, Creed.”
“Yeah, I think you have cultures mixed up with fairy tales, honey, and trust me, I ain’t no Prince Charming.”
“Wow, that’s really too bad, I came in here looking for Prince Charming, and all I got was you,” Tessa said shaking her head, adding a little pout. “I guess you’re just going to have to buy me that drink, instead.”
He shocked her again when he grabbed the twenty out of her hand and lifted his finger for the bartender to come over. The bartender came over—much faster, Tessa noticed, than when she first came into the bar.
“Corona with a lime and whatever she’s having,” Creed said.
The bartender, the big jerk, said, “You want another Rum and Coke, Tess?”
Creed laughed, and Tessa just nodded her head. Maybe she shouldn’t have talked the man's ear off earlier.
After the bartender left to get their drinks, Tessa could feel Creed’s eyes on her, but she was determined not to look at him for the moment because she knew damn well he would be all smiles, victory written all over his face. Yep, she was going to wait on that little show for just a little while longer. Taking her empty glass, she tried to suck the last drop out of it. Creed started laughing and put his arm around her shoulders.
“I feel it now, all that power I have over you, Tess. Guess what I’m going to do with it?”
Tessa remained quiet, she wasn’t going to answer him because really, what could she say?
“Hmm, no guesses? Too bad, I guess I’ll just have to show you.” Creed took his finger and placed it under her chin, making her look right into his eyes and kissed her hard and long, leaving Tessa breathless and her body on fire. Damn, he really did have power over her. He licked the edge of her ear, only stopping to suck her on her earlobe. “I like your name Tess, and I’m going to like using this new power I have.”