Joel was exhausted as he slipped back into his apartment hours later. It had taken a lot longer than he had hoped to move the shipment and they’d ended up having to split it amongst several different vehicles to keep it inconspicuous. But the real delay had been all the extra troopers circling wide swaths of their territory, just waiting for any excuse to pounce.
They’d had to be careful and he’d been so grateful he decided to go with, especially when Viper had suggested just charging them. The man was a good biker and was good at following orders, but he acted before he thought, and this situation was too delicate for that kind of shit.
He flicked on the overhead lights and stopped abruptly when he glanced over to the bed. His chest tightened painfully on an unfamiliar emotion. Carla was still there. The dark silk sheets wrapped around her creamy, pale limbs and the contrast had his breath stalling in his lungs.
She looked so peaceful, so calm, so relaxed, so goddamned beautiful it was almost hard to look at her and Joel clenched his hands as he walked closer. She also looked out of reach. Unattainable.
But you’ve already attained her, a sly, soft voice whispered in his mind, you attained her on the bed, you attained her against the wall, and afterwards you attained her bent over the kitchen table.
Joel shook the thought away, his body hardening instantly as the memories of the night before came tumbling back. Was this just lust? And if it was, why was it so intense, why was it so much more than he’d known before? He’d told her nothing but the truth last night. He didn’t have girlfriends, he barely even had relationships with the women he slept with outside of the bedroom and that was how he’d kept things for the past ten years.
So then why did this feel different? With her, with Carla. What was it about her that had him tied up in knots, and his thoughts constantly returning to her when she wasn’t with him? He stopped at the edge of the bed and just stared down at her. Surprised, he peered closer at her side, shocked to see the intricate tattoo that wound its way across her rib cage, twining up her back and around her shoulder blade. It looked like plants, or trees. Maybe a forest.
Well, well. It looked like his little bluebird had a wild streak in her too. His fingers itched to trace the artfully done ink, having plenty of tattoos himself. Not used to denying himself, he sank onto the bed next to her and pushed down one side of the sheet.
He noticed there were words inked in script next to each different one and he marveled again at the beauty of the piece, its delicateness, and yet there was a strength and straight forwardness there as well. It was a lot like Carla herself, he realized.
With one rough fingertip he started at the tattoo’s highest point that reached to her shoulder and traced it as lightly as he could, marveling at the detail. Down and down, across the smooth expanse of her back, her side, until it dipped to sweep across her rib cage. It grew up like a living thing from where it started at her hip and that’s where his hand stopped, no longer just tracing but caressing with every touch.
Joel felt like he could just feel her like this forever, and wondered briefly if he would ever have enough. As that thought shattered through him, along with the repercussions, his mind shouted for him to pull back, for him to check himself before things got too carried away, but his body had other ideas, and it seemed to have a will of its own as it drew the silken sheet down even further. Every inch of new skin revealed had his desire growing, drowning out any unease at the train of his thoughts.
Carla shifted in the bed, making a purring sound in the back of her throat and he was rock hard in an instant. But as she turned into him, her body soft and warm from sleep, he groaned as he forced himself to pull back. He didn’t have time. He was already supposed to be on his way to meet Hot Wheels to figure out their next move.
But he couldn’t make himself stop touching her, even if it was just a light caress against her soft hip, a hand pushing a stray lock of light brown hair from her face. She turned her cheek into his palm, rubbing like a contented kitten and it made it so much harder to pull his hand away, especially when she blinked open those eyes, the bluest he’d ever seen, and shining like polished gemstones at him filled with sleep and something else, something dangerous.
“Hey,” she whispered with a soft smile just curving her lush lips. Lips that begged him for a kiss. Before he could stop himself, his mouth descended on hers, and it wasn’t sweet or gentle. It was hard and fast and full of all the pent up lust, frustration, and doubt that had swirled through him, but she responded to him in a way that had him instantly gentling the kiss. Finally, he pulled back with one last nip of her lip and he loved the way her back arched, the way her neck strained, following him as if she never wanted him to stop.
“Hey,” he said after a moment, both of them breathing heavy now, staring at each other as he sat up slowly next to her. If he laid down next to her lush, willing body for another second he would never make it to his meeting with Hot Wheels.
“Listen, I need to talk to you about something,” Joel started, and Carla sat up slightly, her expression curious as she tried to blink away the lethargy of sleep and his kiss and he almost died right there as the sheet that had been covering her ample chest slid down. He traced the line of her curves with a hungry gaze as his mind turned red for an instant and as she scrambled to pull the sheet back up, he was reminded once more just how different she was from the normal club girls he spent his nights with.
Joel forced his gaze back up to her face to see her cheeks flaming a bright pink and couldn’t stop the grin that tilted lopsided across his lips.
“You know, Carla, I saw a hell of a lot more than that last night. You don’t have to be embarrassed around me.” In fact, he found he wanted her to be comfortable with him, comfortable with showing of her gorgeous body and knockout curves and he realized, as he looked into her bright sapphire eyes, that she didn’t even realize just how beautiful she really was. On impulse, he kissed her again. Because if he didn’t he was going to say something foolish and then they’d both be embarrassed.
“What–What was it you wanted to talk about?” she finally asked, giving them both a distraction they desperately needed and he leaned back on one hand, trying to put a little more distance between them, hoping it would ease the lust rushing through his body like a monsoon. It threatened to drown him.
“I was thinking while I was out moving the supply and I realized…maybe it’s not a good idea for you to go back,” he paused, fighting for the right words to say, to make her understand, “I think you should stay here. With me,” he said, looking down at the sheet, “at least until all of this is over.”
He added the last hastily, not wanting her to get the wrong idea.
What wrong idea? That sly voice mocked, that this is the first time in your life you’ve ever asked a girl to stay with you?
Joel waited impatiently as she thought over his words in silence. It was almost more than his nerves could handle and the thought would have made him laugh and call pussy-whipped on anyone else, but it wasn’t someone else, it was him, and he realized in those brief, quiet moments that her answer meant more to him than it should. More than it would if it was just a casual fling.
And what the hell was he supposed to do with that information? It didn’t change anything. She was still in danger, and the thought of her going anywhere near that sick bastard Maurice made his knuckles clench into fists and anger heat his blood. Carla was quiet for another moment and it gave him time to get the sudden rage under control.
“I don’t know, Joel,” she finally said, shaking her head in disagreement, “I don’t think that will work.”
“Why the hell not? You can’t go back there. What if Maurice is there? What if tries something again?” Joel finally burst out, unable to put all the reasons he wanted her to stay into words.
“Exactly! What if Maurice is there and I don’t show up to work? I’ve never missed a day, hell I’ve never even been late. Don’t you think he’ll be suspicious? Then he’s really going to believe that I’m involved. It will basically be admitting guilt.” She shook her head again, “No, I have to go.”
Carla was right, and Joel hated it. She glanced over at the clock that flashed red on the nightstand.
“Oh, shit. Speaking of which, I need to get going soon. I’ve only got an hour before my shift is supposed to start.”
“Wait, just…” Joel reached out a hand and grasped onto her wrist, stopping her she moved to leap out of the bed, out of his bed. “Just promise me something.”
She turned to him, sensing the seriousness of his words, “Sure, what?”
“Promise me that if something goes wrong, if you even get the slightest hint that things might go wrong, come back to the club.” Come back to me. But he didn’t say those words out loud. Those words he kept locked away in a place deep inside that he didn’t even let himself traverse often. A soft smile curved her lips and a second later she was kissing him. The pressure of her mouth was soft and so sweet he wanted to drink her in forever, but all too soon she pulled back.
Carla stood, the sheet still wrapped around her as she gathered her clothes from the night before. She threw a teasing look over her shoulder.
“Are you really worried about me?” she asked, a hint of sass in her voice as she drew the dress over her head, “Don’t tell me that lie I told Elle about you being my boyfriend is coming true.”
She looked back again to see Joel’s expression, suddenly tense, and her own smile faded and she shifted from foot to foot.
“Listen, Joel, I was just teasing. Making a joke, that’s all.” He stood, walking towards her as she spoke, “I didn’t mean anything by it, I know you said you don’t–”
He kissed her then, hard and fast and so full of the emotions roiling inside him that he couldn’t breathe. He fed all of it into that kiss, trying to tell her what he couldn’t with words, what he couldn’t even admit to himself.
After a long moment, he finally pulled back and she stared at him, her blue eyes so wide in her face that was all he could see. She touched one hand to her lips as if in wonder and he almost kissed her again, barely holding himself back from stripping that little scrap of dress off and taking her again.
“Just, be safe,” he said and the rough words were more a command than anything else. “Just stay safe.”