CHAPTER TEN
EVEN BEING A few years old, Avery’s sporty little convertible was too valuable to be left in the parking lot. Rowdy rubbed the back of his neck, unsure what to do about it. He didn’t like the idea of her driving home alone any more than he’d liked the idea of her walking a block from the bus stop.
The security lights overhead would keep the area well lit. But with bright lights came heavy shadows, and even as he walked the lot, he felt an ominous stare. With plenty of daylight remaining, he looked around but saw that no one was noticeably watching him. That meant someone was trying to be covert.
Idiot.
He let his gaze wander, taking in minute details, studying everything, everywhere—and there. Parked on the side street, more hidden than not, he spotted the same damn BMW that had tailed him. That new, slick, silver four-door hybrid stood out even more noticeably than Avery’s little cherry-red ride.
Ready for a showdown, Rowdy took a step in that direction and the car peeled away.
You better run, you bastard.
“Trouble?”
Rowdy turned to find Cannon behind him. “Damn, but you’re sneaky.” Twice now, Cannon had come upon him without his noticing. It unnerved him and pissed him off. “Any reason you’re skulking around?”
“Just showing up for work.” Cannon grinned. “You were busy giving that car the death stare or you’d have heard me.”
Rowdy noticed that Cannon didn’t ask him why he’d been watching the car. “You’ve seen it before?”
“Haven’t been the recipient of that stare yet, thank God, but the car was here last night after you left for the hospital, basically doing the same thing.” Cannon shrugged. “Hanging around and looking suspicious. The windows are darkened, so you can’t easily see inside. I got the license plate number if you need it.”
Son of a... “Already got it myself.” Hands on his hips, cold wind cutting through his clothes, Rowdy studied his new hire. “Any reason why you noted it?”
“Sort of a habit to pick up on those things.” Cannon remained utterly immune to Rowdy’s death stare. “You know what I mean.”
“Yeah, I do.” He started for the bar, and Cannon followed. “So how’d it go last night?”
“No problem.” He grinned. “Your buddy Reese is handy behind the bar.”
“You met Alice?”
Cannon nodded. “The kid took to her.”
“So I heard.” Rowdy opened the back door and waited for Cannon to enter first. “Alice has a way about her....”
“Hard to miss.” Pulling off his hat, Cannon kept pace with Rowdy straight to his office. “If there’s anything I can do to help with the boy, let me know.”
“Appreciate that.” So far, Rowdy wasn’t sure what to do. He understood Marcus, but he feared making a misstep, doing something that would somehow sadden Marcus more. Though they shared a similar history, not everyone felt the same about things, especially such weighty issues as abuse and neglect.
“You have a nice place here,” Cannon said.
“It’s better than it was.” Rifling through a desk drawer, Rowdy found an employment form. “Any hours you can’t work?”
“No.”
“Got an aversion to mopping floors or doing dishes?”
“Love it.”
“You’ll be bounced around, doing whatever odd job needs doing.”
“Keeps it interesting.”
They both knew Cannon would be wasted as a fill-in. “Think you can handle being a bouncer?”
He didn’t miss a beat. “Long as you’re asking me to keep the peace and not suggesting I randomly bust heads.”
“Someone wanted to use you as muscle?”
Cannon stared him in the eyes. “Several have tried to insist.”
By his own admission, Cannon came from a rough area filled with rougher criminals. You either joined in, or you got the hell out.
Rowdy had a feeling that Cannon hadn’t done either. “Will I find anything in a background check?”
“Clean as a whistle.”
Relaxing a hip on his desk, Rowdy asked, “Now, why does that surprise me?”
“Maybe because I live in the slums, I understand the way thugs think and you don’t intimidate me.” He gave a slight smile. “And by the way, it’s because I understand how thugs think that you don’t intimidate me.”
“I’m a thug?”
“Nope. And see, I can tell the difference even if you’d rather no one could.”
“Here’s a tip—save the psychobabble if you want to stay on here.” Rowdy handed him the paperwork. “I can pay you cash for last night, but fill out the forms and get them back to me before you start today.”
Cannon looked them over. “Got a pen?”
Twenty minutes later, after showing Cannon around and giving him a rundown on what to expect—though Cannon had a handle on it already—Rowdy located Avery at the bar.
For such a small woman who’d been up all night, she had an abundance of energy, as if all her hundred and ten pounds packed unleashed power. She never complained about the workload, but now that he’d hired Cannon, she’d have help with that.
And he’d be able to get her alone more often.
They had half an hour before they opened, so he went to her, took her hand and dragged her off to his office.
“Rowdy! I have to finish setting up.”
“You’re finished.”
Only partially under her breath, and with only a little annoyance, she said, “You’re causing a scene.”
“If you mean Ella smiling like a sap and Jones elbowing her, so what? They already know I have a thing for you.” A big thing. A thing that was so damned unfamiliar he didn’t quite know how to deal with it.
“A sexual thing,” Avery said. “Yes, I’m sure everyone has picked up on it.”
“A lust thing, since we haven’t yet had sex.” He got her into the office and shut the door behind her. “But I’m counting down the minutes now that you’ve promised we will.”
She surprised him again by leaning into him, her nose against his neck. “You smell like the outdoors. All crisp and fresh and sexy.”
Damn, he hadn’t expected that reaction from her. Had she missed him as much as he’d missed her? And since when did he miss women anyway?
To block the disquieting thoughts, Rowdy caught a handful of her hair and directed her face up to his so he could take her mouth in a grinding, hungry kiss. He wanted to draw her into him, use her to ease the edgy angst that had begun creeping up on him as soon as he left Alice’s apartment—as he’d walked away from Marcus.
The signs were all there; it was going to be one of those nights, a night when he needed the release of sex to bury the ugliness.
But Avery still wanted him to wait. Shit. He lifted his mouth from hers and instead hugged her tight.
Picking up on his mood, she asked, “How is your back?”
“Forget my back.” If she forgot about it, maybe he could convince her to—
“Can I see?”
“Nothing to see.” He set her away from him, separating himself from her and that damned mothering instinct that was both jarring and annoyingly nice. “I picked up the pain pills after I finished my visit with Marcus. If I need one tonight, I’ll take it.” But he’d rather have Avery near again. She was more of a drug than a pill ever could be.
Avery touched her mouth, now swollen from his kiss. “How’d it go with Marcus?”
He watched the movement of her fingers over her lips and should have felt regret, but instead he wanted to taste her again, deeper this time, longer and hotter and... “He’s fine.”
“How can that be?” she asked too gently. “His world has been turned upside down.”
“His world was never right in the first place, not with his parents, not with...” He trailed off, almost hating himself over the telling outburst. Through his teeth, he said, “Forget I said that.”
“I’d rather you talk to me.”
He gave her a sharp look. Kissing her again seemed like a better idea than unloading his emotional crap. “I’d rather change the subject.”
“But this is important—”
No, it was depressing and infuriating. “I told you, it’s fine.”
She made a huffing sound. “Just tell me to butt out if that’s what you want!” Bristling with attitude, she stalked toward him. “But don’t give me that ‘fine’ business when we both know it’s a lie.”
Rowdy pulled back. “What’s got you fired up?”
“Your back is not fine. Marcus is not fine.” Grabbing a handful of his shirt, she went on tiptoes and still only reached his shoulder. “This whole dicked-up situation is not fine.”
“Okay.” Damn, he’d never seen her blow like that before. “Take it easy.”
“Know this, Rowdy Yates. Talking to me, sharing with me, won’t make me misunderstand.”
Every time she got pissed at him, she used his whole name. Made him feel like a kid being scolded. “Misunderstand what? You’re not making any sense.”
The hand she had fisted in his shirt thumped his chest once. “You. I won’t misunderstand you or what you want. I won’t misunderstand your interest, or...or take simple conversation as a proposal of marriage.”
“Marriage!” Jesus, way to stop his heart, tossing a word like that out there. No other woman had dared—
“Don’t swallow your tongue, Rowdy. You can have a relationship that isn’t too serious but also isn’t just sexual, you know.”
“It can’t be just sexual when we aren’t even having sex, damn it!”
Cannon tapped at the door. “Room isn’t as soundproof as you might’ve hoped. Should I come back later with the papers?”
Fuck and fuck again. “Yes!”
Cannon laughed. “All righty, then.”
Avery, all but huffing in ire, still had her small hand twisted in his shirt. He covered it with his own. “Ease off, will you?”
Horror crossed her features. “Oh, my God, did I hurt you?”
“No.” Why did she have to consider him so weak? “You can’t hurt me. But I don’t want to be mauled by your temper, either.”
She threw up her hands. “Fine. Don’t tell me anything. But I’m still coming over tonight to change your bandages.”
“Glad to hear it. And from what Cannon said, everyone else probably heard it, too.” He caught her by her apron strings when she started to storm away.
She tugged, almost fell and he hauled her back, lifted her off her feet and plopped her up on his desk. Before she could slide back off, he stepped between her thighs, blocking her.
She went still.
Taking advantage of her silence, Rowdy suggested smoothly, “Let’s start over.”
A pulse tripped in her throat. She gave a cautious nod of agreement.
“Hello.” Only by sheer will did he keep his body from reacting to the suggestive alignment of their pelvises.
After one slow breath, she smiled. “Hi.”
It’d be so incredibly easy to lean her back on the desk, to cover her. He toyed with one long lock of hair. “You’re touchy today.”
“Not enough sleep.”
If he got her jeans off her, he could take her this way and it wouldn’t cause even a twinge in his back. “Because you stayed awake like a... What’d you call it? A pervert?” He liked how her face warmed. “Watching me sleep, right?”
“Yes, but it was worth it.”
“Personally, I don’t see the appeal. But I am more rested than usual.”
Ducking her head, she fiddled with his now-wrinkled shirt. “I’m glad.”
The crooked part in her heavy hair drew him. He skimmed his mouth there, inhaling the sweetness of her shampoo, of her. “I’m sorry I lost my temper.”
“Me, too.”
“It’s...difficult.” What an understatement. Talking about his past sent sharp claws of anger after his insides, shredding his heart, his guts.
Avery’s curious fingers moved over his shirt, teasing his chest, then up to his collarbone, over to his shoulder. “I know.”
Rowdy had to kiss her. He nudged her face up with small pecks along her temple, her jaw. He meant to take her mouth, to get some tongue action going, to lose himself in her taste.
Instead he heard himself say, “Marcus is so damned small.”
As if she didn’t realize how those words were torn from him, she nodded and carefully put her arms around his neck. “He’s a skinny little guy, but Alice will have him caught up in no time.”
Morbid reality settled over him, and he hid his face in Avery’s hair. “I saw him slip a cookie into his pocket.”
“Oh, Rowdy.” Proving she did understand, she said quietly, “Saving it for later.”
“Worried there won’t be more when he wants it.”
Sadness brought her closer. “I am so glad that you interceded.” Her small, soft hands cupped his jaw. “Alice and Reese will be very good for him. But, Rowdy, I think it’s important that you’re there, too. You identify with him and the things he does—the things he’ll do.” She kissed him lightly, and her breath touched his lips when she whispered, “How he feels.”
No, he didn’t want to start delving into his own twisted past. No good would come from revisiting that black void. It was too much.
He put his hands on Avery’s lush little ass, his mouth over her soft lips and he got her as close as he could, his tongue licking deep, her breasts and pelvis crushed to his body.
The hungry little sound she made spurred him on. She opened to him, kissed him back, stroked over his chest—and somehow, in some unfair way, she gentled him so that soon he was only lightly kissing her, caressing her.
The tenderness of it overwhelmed him, and ramped up his lust to a fever pitch. “I want to be inside you, Avery.”
On a vibrating moan, she said, “I want that, too.” Another kiss. “So much.”
He squeezed his eyes shut. “Then—”
“Shhh.” She stroked his jaw. “You have to let your back heal.”
“Forget that. There are positions that’ll work.”
“Like this?” With her legs open around his hips, she looked down at his erection straining his jeans. “I’ve already thought about it, you know.”
“Good, because I’m having a hell of a time thinking of anything else.”
“But what if I forget and wrap my legs around you? I’d die if I hurt you or made your injury worse.”
It’d be pure torture, more for him than her, but Rowdy said, “Let me show you, okay?”
“Show me?” Scandalized, she looked around his office. “Here?”
“Not sex, honey. Not yet.” He wanted her ready, without reservations. “Just a demonstration. Okay?”
She bit her bottom lip, then nodded. “Okay.”
He took her shoulders and carefully lowered her back to the desk. Once she rested there, her gorgeous hair spread out everywhere, he caught her knees and, watching her, pressed them back.
Avery gasped. “Rowdy...”
His gaze locked with hers, he nudged in against her. “Just like this, babe.” Oh, God, he could almost feel it, how hot and slick it’d be to press inside her. “No pain or problems. Just me sinking in and us both coming apart.”
Her face flushed, but her heavy gaze stayed focused on his. He watched the rise and fall of her breasts as he continued to slowly rock against her.
He’d meant it to be only a short example, but then her breath caught, and he watched her hands curl, felt the muscles in her thighs tense. “Damn.”
She parted her lips to breathe more deeply. Her dark eyes glittered; her cheeks warmed.
Half disbelieving the telltale signs of her rising excitement, Rowdy studied her every reaction. No way was she...
“Rowdy.”
Yeah, maybe she was. His heart started hammering and his cock swelled more. She arched her back a little. He should have taken her shirt off her so he could see her breasts.
Next time he’d make that a top priority.
Readjusting, he hooked his arms through her knees and leaned down to kiss her. The new position freed up his hands so he could cup each breast.
Liking that, she moaned brokenly.
Her nipples were tight little points, pressing up through the material of her bra and T-shirt.
“Jesus, I wish you were naked.” Still thrusting rhythmically against the apex of her jean-covered thighs, he took her mouth, cuddled her breasts and when she gasped, stiffened, she took him right to the edge.
Even caught up in the moment, he made sure to muffle her sudden cries, to hold her steady so that she couldn’t buck too much.
Arching her neck, her hands fisted tight in his hair, she keened under his kiss.
It was so fucking awesome that he gave up and did the unthinkable.
He joined her.
Fully dressed, on a hard desk, in the bar...but with Avery.
It felt too damned perfect.
With his brain now depleted of dark thoughts, his muscles gone utterly lax, all his worries and pain just faded away. As the sizzle ebbed, he became more aware of Avery’s soft body cushioning his, the muskiness of her natural fragrance, how her fingers now stroked lazily through his hair.
It took Rowdy a few more minutes before he really got his brain to function again, and then he wanted to kick his own ass.
Way to go, Romeo.
His first time with her...and he hadn’t even gotten her top off. Worse, there was a barroom full of people nearby—and her work shift was due to start in...Rowdy glanced at the clock. Hell. Three minutes ago.
Dreading how she might look at him, he levered up to his forearms.
Avery kept her eyes closed.
For some reason, that amused him. “Coward.”
“Hush.” Her brows knit together as if in concentration. “I’m still recuperating.”
Damn, but he...what? Wanted her. That’s all. He wanted her, and until he had her his brain would keep getting muddled about things. “You see?” He kissed her parted lips. “Entirely possible.”
“Be quiet so I can find my brain cells.” She frowned more. “And my legs. I think they’ve gone missing.”
He stroked both hands along her soft, wide-open thighs. “Feeling weak, huh?”
“Boneless, if you want the truth.” She put a hand over her mouth and yawned. “I think I could sleep here, just like this.”
“With me crushing you?”
“Mmm.” She moved enough to wind her arms around his neck. “You’re a warm, heavy blanket, and you smell so good.”
He’d just made the biggest sexual faux pas of his life, and yet Rowdy realized he was smiling. “Tell you what, babe.” He touched her cheek and knew if he lived to be a hundred, the picture of her across his desk, replete and so damned sexy, would be emblazoned on his brain forever. “I’ll have Cannon start behind the bar. Take as much time as you need.”
She got one eye open. “You are not replacing me with Cannon.”
No one could replace her— Damn it. There he went again with those intrusive, alarming thoughts. Drawing her arms down to her sides, he levered up and off her.
Avery didn’t move. She had both eyes closed again.
“I told you, he’ll give you breaks.”
“And fill in when I’m otherwise occupied doing debauched things in the boss’s office?”
“I like the way you think.” Walking around behind his desk to the locker, Rowdy drew out a change of jeans and shorts.
Avery twisted around, looked at his face, then at the clothes in his hands. “No way.”
He was just disturbed enough to say, “You already know me, hon. Do you think I’m ever unprepared?” He kept the change of clothes mostly for spills, which happened often at bars. But no reason to share that detail with her.
Let her think what she wanted. Maybe it’d help him to keep his head on straight if she got pissed again.
She sat up in a rush, pushed the mass of her disheveled hair from her face and watched him until he’d kicked off his shoes and opened his zipper.
Abruptly she turned. “Well, I’m recovered.”
His gaze cut to her again. As he stripped down to his bare ass, he asked, “Did you expect to cuddle on the desk?”
“Nope.” She scooted to sit on the edge, her legs hanging over, her hands braced beside her hips, her spine rigid. “With you, speaking strictly of sex, I have no expectations other than that you be good—and you were.”
Huh. Now, why did that insult him? Did she think him incapable of anything more?
Stop being an ass.
Rowdy zipped up the fresh jeans and sat to pull his boots back on. “If you count that as good, I can blow you away with the real deal.”
“Bragging?” She glanced over her shoulder, saw he was decent again and hopped off the desk.
Her legs wobbled, making him smile. “Just forewarning you.”
“Well, let me forewarn you, too.” She lifted her chin. “I did some preparing of my own.”
“Yeah, how’s that? Got an extra pair of panties tucked away in your purse?”
“No!” She drew a calming breath, laced her fingers together, rocked back on her heels and finally said, “But I did set an appointment to see my doctor so I could get started on the pill.”
Rowdy froze in the process of tying his boots. “When?”
She lifted one shoulder. “The other day, when I came in early to get my phone... That’s why I needed it.”
So she’d wanted him all along and just hadn’t bothered to tell him? Sneaky. But also satisfying.
“After walking in on you, well, I’d rethought things, but...I do know my own limitations, and you, Rowdy, are too much temptation to resist. So...” She shrugged. “I have an appointment next week.”
Was that one reason she wanted to wait? To ensure, on her own terms, that they didn’t have any mistakes? “Responsible, intelligent women are so sexy.”
“Based on your past relationships, no one would know you felt that way about it.”
“Don’t confuse yourself, honey. I already told you I don’t do relationships.” Except for now, with Avery. He shook his head as something else occurred to him. “Why weren’t you already on the pill?”
“I wasn’t doing anything with anyone, so why bother?” She pulled her hair over her shoulder and tried finger combing it. “I also packed a toothbrush and pajamas in my car. In case, you know, after I change your bandages, well...” She stopped fidgeting and gave him a direct frown. “I still want to follow doctor’s orders and wait a few more days.”
“You know that’s not necessary.” He pushed up from the chair. “I thought I just proved that.”
She didn’t meet his gaze and she didn’t acknowledge what he said. “Now that I have my car, I can help you get settled and still have a way home—”
“No.”
“No?” Her gaze shot up to his. “You’d rather I not come again?”
“I definitely want you to come.” The way he said it left no misunderstandings as to what he meant. “Again.”
“Rowdy.”
He appreciated the picture she made, somewhat timid, a whole lot tempting and still chiding him. “You know you want it, too.”
“I do.” She sighed. “But we need to wait, so it’s just as well that you don’t want me to stay over.”
“But I do want that. In fact, I insist.” Keeping her around all night gave him the twofold pleasure of knowing she was safe while he got to enjoy her sweet little body.
Rocking again, she looked at the office door, then back at the small closet that held a toilet and sink. “I’m glad you have a bathroom in here.”
“Need to do your own refreshing?” He wished they had more time and privacy. He’d love to feel her all hot and wet.
And damn it, he sort of wanted to cuddle.
Her nose wrinkled. “I think so, yes.”
When he finally got her naked in his bed, he’d tend to her himself. But for now, he didn’t want to embarrass her more than he already had. “Take your time.” He stopped in front of her, took her shoulders and kissed the tip of her nose. “No reason for us to walk out together, looking like we’ve just done the nasty.”
“Cannon knows.”
“Forget Cannon.” Now that he knew she considered Cannon good-looking, it irked him even to hear her say his name. Rowdy kissed her again, this time on her mouth, only briefly. She stared up at him, her tumbled hair framing her face, her uncertainty showing even though she tried to hide it. “You are so incredibly beautiful.”
The compliment earned him a sweet smile.
Knowing he was losing it, Rowdy brushed his knuckles over her cheek and made a fast getaway, closing the door quietly behind him.
His mood was improved, his lust temporarily slaked, but his damned heart bounced around in his chest in a strange sort of warning...that also felt like a triumphant yell.
What the fuck had Avery Mullins done to him?