Chapter Nine
Gage
I lock the door and turn to Amelia. Her hair’s soaked, she looks like she’s entered a wet T-shirt contest, and damn if my dick doesn’t want more of her mouth right now.
“I’m soaked,” she says, unnecessarily. She glances down at herself, and her smile vanishes. “Oh my God. My tights are ruined.”
She sounds like that’s a bad thing. “What’s the problem? Who’s gonna see?” She sure as hell isn’t going back into the bar looking like that. The only place she’s going is into my bed.
“Everyone.” She sounds mortified as she plucks at the ripped material, as if that’s going to magically make the holes disappear. “They’ll all know what we’ve just done.”
I’ve lost count of the number of girls who’ve given me head and don’t give a shit who knows about it, either during the act or right afterward. Hell, some of them seem to think it’s a badge of honor, the way they brag about how many of the brothers they’ve had. It’s kind of funny that Amelia’s so worked up about it. Especially since I’ve no intention of allowing anyone to see her while she looks so unbelievably fuckable.
“Hey, Gage.” Dani, one of the chicks who’s worked here for over a year, pushes open the door from the bar. I turn around, making sure I’m shielding Amelia. “Ready to lock up?’
“Sure. I’ll be right out.”
Dani nods and the door swings shut behind her, and Amelia lets out a loud sigh of relief. “I can’t believe I just did that.”
I don’t have time to discuss it, but I can’t leave. “Believe it, baby. You were amazing.”
Even if she did insist on using a rubber. Sure, I always do safe sex, but oral…
“Huh.” She wraps her arms around her waist and shivers. “I bet you say that to all the girls.”
“You’re crazy.” I have the equally crazy urge to give her a hug, but then I won’t want to let her go. Instead I unlock the door that leads to the apartment. “Get upstairs and dry off. I’ll be there in ten.”
“Okay.” She grabs her purse, and I watch her sweet ass as she goes up the stairs before I take a deep breath and return to the bar. It’s almost empty, and when I show my face, the last few stragglers beat a hasty retreat. Except for Ty, who’s leaning on the bar finishing up his beer.
I see the girls to their cars, and when I get back, he’s still there. “Beat it.” I hold the door open so he knows I’m not screwing around.
“Coming back to the club?”
“Nah.”
He leans back against the bar. “Where’s Amelia?”
Ty doesn’t miss anything when it comes to hot chicks. And if we were talking about any other girl, the knowing leer on his face wouldn’t annoy me. “None of your business.”
“For real?” He looks as though he’s trying not to laugh. “Hope you’re not gonna fire her a week before Christmas, bro. That’s harsh.”
“No reason to fire her.” I widen the door. “Catch you tomorrow.”
Ty pushes himself upright, and as he passes me, he punches my arm. “Lucky bastard. Sure you don’t want to share?”
I’ve shared chicks with various brothers in the past, usually at the club, but not always. It’s a valid question, and there’s no disrespect behind it, but I’ve the powerful urge to ram my fist down Ty’s throat for even thinking it.
“No.” There’s a deadly note in my voice I’ve never used before when speaking to a brother, and Ty’s grin fades into a frown.
“Sure. You should’ve said she was more than just a piece of pussy, man. You know I don’t poach.”
He strolls out into the rain, and I shut the door and lean my forehead against the wood.
My natural reaction should be of course she’s just a piece of pussy. That’s all chicks ever are. Except there’s this kind of hard knot in my chest at the thought of her blowing another guy the way she did me just now, and that’s anything but normal.
I slowly straighten. It’s not normal that I haven’t been with another girl since the night I met Amelia, either. Not for lack of offers, but none of them appealed. All I wanted was her.
Tonight, I’ll have her every which way. Maybe then I’ll get her out of my head, but I have the weirdest feeling if I’m not careful I’ll end up like Zach.
Pussy-whipped.
Instead of the thought pissing me off, I start to grin because that’s the craziest thing ever, and I make my way to the apartment.
She’s cross-legged on the floor in front of the heater in the living room, drying her hair. Her legs are bare and guilt stabs through me when I see the state of her knees. That’s not fucking normal, either. I crouch by her side, and she gives me the sexy smile that’s been haunting my dreams for the last two weeks.
Thank fuck she has no idea how much I want her.
I brush my finger over her knee. “Didn’t realize you were on stones.”
We were in the alley. Of course she was kneeling on stones. Point is that’s something that never occurred to me in the past.
She tosses her head back and her hair stands on end. It’s funny and sexy, but I don’t laugh, since I have the feeling she wouldn’t find the state of her hair half as great as I do.
“That’s okay. It was all part of the experience.”
I ditch the crouch and sit next to her, slinging my arm around her shoulders and hauling her close.
“Don’t tell me you never gave your nice boyfriends head before.” I try and sound scornful, but it’s hard. I’m still kind of burned by her nice boys comment in the alley, although I’ve no idea why.
“Of course I did.” She sounds like she’s trying not to laugh, though I don’t see anything funny about it. “In bed with the lights out, thank you very much.”
“I don’t do lights-out sex.” I’m still kind of pissed, but not at her, which makes even less sense. Fuck, what’s going on with my mind?
“What I meant was it was my first time doing anything like that outside. And on my knees.” She traces her finger over my chest, and it’s kind of nice. “It wasn’t as degrading as I thought.”
“Degrading?” I can’t help it, and laugh. “It was the hottest thing ever.”
“Not for you, idiot.” She pats my chest, and for a second I’m speechless. No one calls me an idiot, least of all a chick, yet I’ve no urge to put her in her place. “But it was kind of hot, you giving me orders. Just don’t try doing it all the time, that’s all.”
“I’m not one of your nice boyfriends you can keep on a fucking leash.”
She gives a little hum of laughter, which vibrates all through my body to my dick. I stroke the inside of her thigh where she’s all soft and warm, and she wriggles closer.
“I didn’t keep them on a leash. They were just naturally…” She pauses as though she’s searching for the right word. If she says nice again… “Gentlemanly.”
I nearly choke on my goddamn tongue. “What?”
She’s shaking with silent laughter. “Yeah, they were. I dated my first real boyfriend for over a year before we had sex. He didn’t want to rush me, seeing as it was my first time.”
“Sounds like a jerk.” I scowl because obviously Amelia didn’t think he was a jerk if she also thinks he’s a gentleman. Who uses that word anyway? “So, what happened to the whole white-picket-fence shit?”
She stops smiling, and her fingers still on my chest. Is she still in love with him? Why do I care?
“He proposed on my twentieth birthday.” She sounds reluctant to share, and my arm tightens around her although I don’t know why. “I guess it was the wake-up call I needed to face the fact I didn’t really love him.”
I grunt, not sure what to say to that. All I know is a sense of satisfaction sweeps through me at the knowledge she didn’t love the other guy. No matter how nice he was.
She sighs. “I really tried. But you can’t love someone on command. It’s one of those fate things, you know?”
I don’t know, and it’s freaking me out that we’re talking about the L word in any case. “I don’t believe in fate.”
She twists in my arms and looks up at me. There’s a wicked smile on her face. “Ooh, interesting. You didn’t say you didn’t believe in love.”
My hand inches beneath her skirt, and there’s no thick woolen barrier hampering my progress. Just silky smooth skin and a flimsy scrap of lace. “You talk too damn much.”
Her legs part, just enough so I can stroke her pussy. Christ, she feels good. I slide under her thong, and she’s hot and wet. She might’ve gotten me off less than half an hour ago, but I’m more than ready for her again.
“Deflecting. Again, interesting.”
“I’ll give you fucking interesting.” I kiss her, and she’s sweet and sexy as she teases me with the tip of her tongue. I circle her clit until she can’t keep still, then I pull back, panting. “Still wanna talk?”
“Mmm.” She forks her fingers through my hair and tries to pull me back for another kiss. “Not really.”
I push my middle finger into her, and she shudders, her eyes flickering shut. It’s addictive and exciting, like I’ve never done this before, and I guess that’s true when it comes to Amelia.
“You sure about that?” I nuzzle her neck, before tonguing her earrings. I don’t know why they’re such a turn-on. “We’ve got all night.” Yeah, and I don’t intend to spend the rest of the night talking, but this chatting shit is kind of fun.
“Mmm…oh.” Her eyes spring open, and they’re dark and unfocused. “I can’t stay all night. They’ll worry.”
Instead of being pissed that she’s basically turning me down, I have the irrational urge to laugh. “Tell them to back off and get a life.”
She blinks a couple of times as though she’s trying to figure out what I mean. “I can’t do that.”
“Sure you can.” I tug her thong over her hips, and she doesn’t try and stop me. “Who the hell are they, your keepers?” I don’t expect her to answer, but hey, this is Amelia.
“No.” She drags out the word as she lifts her ass so I can pull the thong to her knees. “But Mom still worries. I can’t do that to her.”
My hand freezes in the process of sliding up her thigh.
“Your mom?” She lives with her mom? I thought she lived with friends. Didn’t she tell me that? I can’t remember now.
“Yes.” She sounds defensive. “And my two younger sisters. They’ll freak if I’m not there in the morning.”
Girls never share this kind of personal stuff with me. Hell, I don’t want to know it, but coming from Amelia it’s kind of cute.
“Text them. Tell them you won’t be back tonight because you’re fucking your boss.” I grin, since I think that’s pretty damn funny, but she doesn’t laugh.
“Text them at two-thirty in the morning? They’ll think I’m dead.”
That doesn’t make sense to me, since how could she text them if she was dead? I don’t think my logic will go down well with her right now, though.
“You’re not leaving yet.”
She relaxes against me again. “I can stay a little longer.”
I can’t believe I’m the one who doesn’t want her to leave yet. It’s always the other way around when I’m with a girl. “You’ll stay until we’re done here.”
“That sounds like another order to me.”
“You bet your ass it’s an order.”
She slides her hand beneath my T-shirt. “You could try asking me nicely.”
That does it. I roll her onto her back and straddle her hips with my knees, imprisoning her wrists with one hand. “I’ve told you before. I don’t do nice.”
“I don’t know about that. This is quite nice.” She’s laughing at me again, and the strange thing is I like it, even if no girl’s ever dared say anything like that to me before.
Maybe that’s why. Or maybe it’s just because she’s Amelia.
I shove the thought aside. I don’t need all that heavy shit right now.
“Oh yeah?” I tug her tight black T-shirt up to her throat and lose my thread as I gaze at her half-naked body and plain black bra. “Your tits are fucking gorgeous.”
She wiggles, trying to free her hands, but I’m not having that. She gives a little huff and gives up. “Stop staring at them.”
“No chance.” I glance up at her, though, because I like looking at her face. “I’ve been jacking off thinking about your tits for the last two weeks. Now I don’t have to imagine how they look.”
Her cheeks turn pink. Make that red. Much as I want strip her naked as soon as possible I can’t drag my fascinated gaze away.
“That’s…” She gives a choked cough. “That’s disgustingly dirty on so many levels, Gage.”
I snort with laughter and trail a finger over her hot cheek. “You like it, though, don’t you?”
“I guess.” She sounds reluctant.
“Admit it. Underneath your good-girl gloss there’s a very bad girl trying to get out.” And I’m the one to help her escape.
“That’s not true.” She sounds put out, like I was trying to insult her. “I’m not trying to hide who I really am.” Her blush deepens, and there’s no hint of a smile on her face now. For a second she looks as though she’s about to call the whole thing off.
Not a chance. I don’t know what suddenly upset her, but there’s no way she’s walking out on me tonight.
“I know you’re not.” They’re only words to calm a chick, except I mean them. She’s given me the runaround, more sass than any girl I’ve met, and flirted in front of me with all the regulars, but she’s never pretended to be something she’s not. Right from the start, she told me our first hookup was a mistake, and she wasn’t going to sleep with me.
The fact she’s here with me now is a gift I’m not about to screw up.
It goes against everything I believe in, but I manage to ignore her tempting body and lean in for a kiss. It takes a few seconds before her tense muscles relax and her mouth opens for me.
What the hell was that all about?
I decide I don’t care. Not when she’s obviously over it.
I’d forgotten how addictive her kisses are. My dick’s so hard it hurts, and it’s no good, I have to pull back. She pants into my face, her lips all swollen and pink, and for a moment I’m tempted to fuck her mouth again, just because.
“Hey,” she gasps. “Don’t like to point fingers, but this is the missionary position.”
“You don’t wanna know what I just thought, then.”
She flexes her fingers. “Are you going to let me go?”
“Haven’t made up my mind. Are you going to be good if I do?”
I don’t know how such a sweet smile can also be so dirty. “No. I think I might be really bad.”