Jen

I was nervous as hell. But I was going to do it. I was not going to back out of at least drinks with Benz. If I couldn’t do that, then I may as well give up any idea of trying to get dirt on The Dark Saints. My career undercover would be ridiculously short if I couldn’t at least have a drink with Benz.

The place was crowded. Friday night at Cups Sports Bar in Port Azrael was the place to be.

Bar hopping wasn’t my scene, even when I was in college.

Maybe the librarian act was more than an act. Some days in the academy were harder for me than others. But I learned. I got tougher.

Though right now I looked like fresh meat and I knew it. So did all of the Frat Boy assholes that were populating this place at this moment.

I wondered if Benz was going to show up. Maybe he’d do to me what I’d done to him and stand me up. It would serve me right. I was as hot and cold as a Katy Perry song.

I stood at the bar and as I waited, a trio of drunk college guys decided I did not want to be by myself. Great.

“So, you don’t go to Texas A &M?”

“No.” I thought quiet and terse answers would maybe get them out of my hair faster.

“You’re the fucking hottest bitch here,” said another one and I felt him move in way too close behind me. Ugh.

“The frat has rented an entire floor over at the Marriot across the bridge. We could party there. It’s a lot less crowded than this place.”

“No, please leave me alone.” I rolled my eyes.

The guy on my right took his beer bottle and dragged along my arm, which was bare due to my latest librarian dress. I had half a mind to smash it against his face. Did librarians do that?

“Listen, ass–” The word asshole was headed their way, but I didn’t have a chance to get it out.

“You fucking heard her!”

The guy with the beer bottle was on the floor, the one behind me was at the end of Benz’s left arm, and the third guy, who thought I’d like to party at the Marriot, looked like he was about to wet himself.

“Jesus dude, chill, we’re cool.” The trio crawled, backed up, and ran from my general vicinity. I looked up and stared at this mountain of a man. He also did not belong in this sports bar.

“I could have handled them on my own, you know?” I said to Benz who looked, at that moment, like he might kill someone. It was frightening and sexy as hell, all at the same time.

I was completely unaccustomed to having someone come to my defense.

“No need,” he said.

“Are you buying the librarian a drink now or just throwing frat boys at the wall?”

“They put their hands on you.”

“I– what? I’m okay.”

Benz still looked pissed. “Let’s get out of here. This place is too crowded.”

“Lead the way.”

Benz helped me off the bar stool. He put his hand on the small of my back. I could feel each of his fingers lightly pressed there, but at the same time, he expertly guided me through the crowd. Smart people got out of his way.

I really was okay, but still couldn’t believe what he’d just done when those men touched me. It gave me a strange thrill to know he wanted to protect me.

No one in my life ever had. I’d always had to do it myself, so it was strange to have him do it.

“Where are we going?” He didn’t answer me. We walked down an ally to another building.

“My place.”

He hadn’t asked. He just thought it would be okay. I may be playing the part of the librarian, but I was still me. I tried to stay meek and quiet and in distress. But I failed.

“Hold on, you’re ready to throw three guys through a wall who want to buy me a beer, and yet you don’t even ask if I want to go to your place?”

“Are you saying you want to hang out there and have those idiots continue to harass you? Is that what you’re into, librarian? ‘Cause be my guest. I don’t play games. I want to be alone with you for a while. What happens after that is your call.”

He had that look again; like he could see right through me. He didn’t take bullshit. There was something palpable between us.

He took a big step forward and we were face to face. I could end it right then. I could lie and get out of there. I could come up with an excuse.

But I didn’t want to. I wanted him.

It was wrong. The place. The man. The moment. Everything was wrong. But as Benz got closer with that one big step, I felt something inside me turn over.

I wanted him. I wanted his unruly beard against my cheek. I wanted him to put his arms around me and pull me to him. God help me, I wanted him to kiss me as rough and wild as he had the other day.

I knew better. I was raised to hate him. And I’d bet he’d been raised to hate me, and would, if he really knew who I was.

But there we were.

His breath mingled with mine. I tried to control the way my chest rose. It brushed against the leather he wore. We were that close. Benz’s hands were on both sides of the wall now. He had me caged. I could break free. Even if he didn’t want me to, I had the skills.

No man who’d ever tried to hold me could. I always slipped away.

But the hell of it was, I didn’t want to. I knew what he tasted like. I knew what he did to my body, even when he was across the room.

So I did something stupid, reckless, and wild. He had challenged me with his look, his walk, and his body. And I accepted it.

I leaned forward and took his lower lip in mine and bit down. Not hard, just a tug, and then I sucked it into my mouth. Then I leaned back.

“That’s right, Benz. You’re not the only rough one.” I gave him my best stare. The one I’d used in the academy, the one I’d used when I meant business. I gave him the flinty look I’d inherited from generations before me.

“You got no idea, Guffy. Turn around.” Before I could move, he'd moved me, flipped me around. I was dizzy. My cheek was pressed against the wall and I felt his hands all over me. I braced myself and could hardly stand to wait for what I had fantasized about to be real.

This was happening. What the hell had I done?

He pushed up the skirt of my dress and pushed aside my panties. I felt his hands on my ass and I leaned back. His leather pants were hard against my bare skin. What had I unleashed?

I leaned back into him. I was frantic, desperate for him to do more, take more. I had never felt this unhinged around a man in my life.

He reached around and freed both my breasts from the top of my dress.

Anyone could have walked by at any time and I didn’t care. I felt my core clench and somehow reach for him, but I couldn’t move my hands from the wall. It was the only thing keeping me upright. Benz grabbed both of my hips in his big hands and he was there. Right there. I gasped at the size, the sensation.

I heard him make some sort of growling noise and I swear he’d gone part animal. Each thrust had me nearly screaming and nearly coming. It was a frenzy and I was caught up in it.

“Go,” he said to me, as if I’d had a choice not to. An explosive orgasm ripped through my body in tight waves, with Benz like a piston behind me. I felt him go over the edge right after me. I could no longer see anything but white spots in front of my eyes. He’d taken me somewhere so fast and hard I could barely keep up.

“What was that?” I didn’t really know, other than that it felt incredible, wild, and over way too fast. I needed more from Benz. I wanted more from him right then. He smoothed my skirt down and turned me around. As rough as we’d just been, now he was gentle. He took off his leather and put it over my now nearly shredded dress.

I leaned up and kissed him. I’d drawn blood on his lip. Oh my God.

“I’m sorry. I hurt you,” I whispered. He lifted me up and kissed me hard.

“I’ll live,” he murmured and kissed me again. “You feel incredible.”

He felt incredible too: hard, brutal, and perfect. I’d never even imagined what this type of man would be like and here I was, still reeling from what it felt like to have him take me up against this wall. I’d started it with my bite and he’d finished in a way I didn’t know was coming. But I wanted again.

“I, uh– ” I looked down at myself, hoping to recognize something of who I was. Hoping to find a semblance of something familiar. But from the moment I had walked into Port Azrael, my life was changing in ways I hadn’t predicted.

“Come on, we’re a few steps away from my place.”

Benz took my hand and we literally did walk just a few steps to his building.

He was on the third floor. It looked like he had the entire floor to himself. His apartment was huge and surprisingly gorgeous. He had a wall of windows at the back that faced out to the water. On the one side, we were nearly in Downtown Port Azrael, and on the other, a resort.

It was unexpected. In my mind, he lived on his bike or something.

I guess I hadn’t even gotten that far.

He closed the door behind us and without planning it or thinking about it, I was in his arms again.