Chapter Three
Amelia
I shouldn’t care that Gage’s all but dry humping the blonde he was with earlier, but it doesn’t stop my heart slamming against my ribs in disbelief.
Stupid. I swing away before he can guess how messed up I am and make my way back to the bar. I’d assumed she was just some girl, but what if they’re together?
My stomach churns. I don’t know why I’m so hung up on the possibility that he’s in a relationship. It’s not like anything happened between us. Well, nothing outside my overactive imagination.
It wasn’t all my imagination. He might not have touched me, but he almost had me trapped against the wall. And the promise in his voice with that one word—later—definitely wasn’t work related. Rex was right. Gage is nothing but a lowlife.
I already knew that. He’s Axle Reynolds’s son, and this is a great wake-up call. Gage isn’t my secret hero, and I’m not going to spend the next week dreaming about how things could’ve been in another life.
Jesus, my head hurts.
Kat nudges me in the ribs. “Take a break.”
She doesn’t wait for an answer, just takes my arm and steers me through the storeroom toward the stairs that I guess lead to the upstairs apartment. What the hell’s she doing? The last thing I want is a lecture from Gage’s sister.
“I’m fine.” I pull free. “Should we even take a break together? Can Tod cope?”
“Tod’s a useless ass, but yeah he can cope for ten minutes.”
I glance over my shoulder. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”
Kat’s already halfway up the stairs, and she leans over the banister and waves her finger at me. “Make him sweat, Amelia.”
That’s so not what I expected her to say that I’m following her before I can stop myself. “What?”
She smirks and leads me up to the apartment and straight into a small kitchen with ancient, mismatched units. “My brother hasn’t been able to take his eyes off you all night. It’s hilarious. Are you leading him on, or are you really not interested?”
This is the kind of conversation you have with best friends and sisters, not a chick I’ve only known for a couple of hours. The irony isn’t lost on me. If I were still going through with my plans for payback, getting friendly with Kat would be a massive bonus.
I imagine a big pair of crossed fingers in my mind’s eye. “I’m really not interested in him.”
Kat pulls a couple of bottles of beer from the fridge and offers me one. My head’s already pounding, and I glance at the coffeemaker. She sighs and pours me a cup, and the prolonged silence grates on my nerves. Does she know I just lied?
She sits on the counter, her ankles crossed, and waits until I take a sip of the strong brew. How long’s it been standing in the carafe? All day by the taste of it.
“So you didn’t screw him in the cellar, then.” She’s matter-of-fact, as though she’s asked the same question a hundred times in the past.
She probably has.
“No, I didn’t.” I’m not lying this time, but I feel like I am, whether I’m blushing or not.
She takes a long swallow from her bottle, her gaze sweeping over me from head to foot. When she’s done, she rocks the bottle on her knee. “What happened then?”
“Nothing.” I stare her out because it’s the truth, even if in my head a whole lot of something went on under the surface. “I don’t know why you think anything did. Unless of course that’s his M.O. with every girl who starts work here.”
She shrugs, but I’m not sure she believes me. “He has this rule about not fucking girls who work for him. I thought he’d broken it tonight. Shit, that would’ve been fun to ram down his throat.”
Well, that doesn’t quite fit with what Rex told me. Although I’m starting to think he got more than a few facts skewed. Gage might be a douche, but not in the way I was led to believe.
I decide I need to make things crystal clear. “In any case, I don’t date guys who are already seeing someone.”
Kat looks as though I’ve just said something funny. “I never mentioned dating. And Gage isn’t seeing anyone the way you mean. Wow, you’re kind of adorable, aren’t you?”
It’s not a compliment, but I give her a stiff smile so she doesn’t guess I’m pissed off by her remark. It’s not that I believe in fairy tales, or think for one minute Gage is the type to date. But I do like a happy-ever-after, and while I don’t mind my sisters laughing at my romantic notions, there’s no way that extends to a virtual stranger.
If that isn’t bad enough, Gage strolls into the kitchen, and a little piece of me just about dies. Did he overhear our conversation? Shit, what exactly did I just say about him?
He glances from me to his sister, and there’s no way to tell from his face whether he thinks I’m kind of adorable, too.
“I don’t pay you to sit on your ass half the night, Kat.”
She slides off the counter, drops her bottle into the sink and gives her brother a sweet smile. “Just getting to know Amelia better while you were busy with Ruby.”
“I wasn’t—” He cuts himself off and shoots me a glance. I take another sip of the foul coffee to show him I don’t care what he was or wasn’t doing with Ruby, and he lets out an impatient breath. “Kat, get back downstairs before Tod has a fucking heart attack. You”—he rounds on me when I place the cup on the counter—“stay right there.”
Kat struts from the room, but the look she slings over her shoulder at me before she pulls the door shut is triumphant. Did she plan this?
The kitchen’s a narrow galley, and it shrinks dramatically once Kat leaves and Gage takes a couple of paces toward me. I refuse to back up against the counter, so instead I cross my arms and give him my what-the-fuck-do-you-think-you’re-doing-invading-my-space glare.
Unfortunately, he doesn’t appear to understand my nonverbal demand for elbowroom.
He stops right in front of me, so close I can smell his intoxicating cologne, and the scent of leather and motorbikes and everything I’ve never wanted in a guy since I was thirteen years old invades my senses like a malignant drug.
His gaze roves over my face as though he’s searching for something. Has he somehow discovered the reason why I took this job?
Of course he hasn’t. I try and ignore my racing heart and clammy hands. Not even my sisters know. Rex said the fewer people who knew the truth the better, and I agreed.
“Everything all right?” He’s frowning as though he knows something’s wrong but can’t figure out what. If he thought for one second I was here to help bring his precious Bastards down, there’s no way he’d be asking questions. He would’ve thrown me against the wall already, with dire threats of God only knows what.
I wait a couple of seconds for my pulse to slow, but of course it doesn’t. Not with Gage all but devouring me with the heat from his body. Later is now, and there’s no mistaking that he’s abandoned his hands-off approach from the cellar.
“Why shouldn’t it be?” I shrug and refuse to be mesmerized by his gorgeous let-me-give-you-countless-orgasms eyes. Huh, yeah, that worked. I blink a couple of times. It’s so hard to breathe when all I want to do is lick my way over his body.
I didn’t just think that.
“I don’t know.” He sounds as though that’s something he’s not used to saying. “You’re blowing hot and cold and won’t look my way. You got a problem with me?” Even though he’s not touching me, every nerve-ending is on fire. It’s ridiculous. No one should be able to turn your body into a burning heap of need just by being there.
Would it make me really awful if we kissed…just once, just to get him out of my system? Then when I leave tonight, never to return, I won’t keep obsessing about him.
Because there’s no way the reality could ever match up to my fantasies.
And it’s just a kiss. It doesn’t mean anything.
…
Gage
Amelia sweeps her gaze over me, and there’s nothing icy about this look. “No, I don’t have a problem.”
I didn’t read her wrong. With any other girl, that’d be my cue to pull her into my arms. Hell, I’m tempted to do that right now with her. One kiss will be more than enough to melt the weird frosty vibe she’s been giving me downstairs.
Except she’s not just some girl. She works for me, and since I’ve no intention of firing her, she’s still going to be working for me in the morning. Is that the reason she’s playing so hard to get?
I don’t play games when it comes to sex. It’s an easy enough choice—yes or no—but that was before I decided to forget my no screwing the staff rule.
I trace the outline of her ear and those three irresistible hoops. She gives a little shiver but still doesn’t grab hold of me. Guess it’s time to ease her mind on things.
I move in closer, and she steps back until she’s flat against the larder door.
“What happens between us tonight doesn’t affect your job. You understand?”
“You mean if I knee your nuts, you won’t fire me?”
Instinctively, I cradle my junk. “That wasn’t my first thought.”
Her smile damn near takes my breath away. “I bet it wasn’t. I know exactly what you’re thinking.”
“Is that right?” I’m sure my package is safe so I twist a length of her hair around my finger. It’s as soft and silky as I imagined. “What’s that, then?”
“I think you’re trying to get inside my thong.”
The image of Amelia in nothing but a sexy thong fills my head. “You got a problem with that?”
“Yeah. It’s not happening.”
My gaze drops to her mouth. “Wanna bet?”
“I don’t need to bet. I’m telling you. All you get tonight is a kiss.”
Chicks don’t lay down the law to me. But then again, I’ve never been with a girl who confuses me as much as Amelia. If she wants to leave, she could easily walk away. I won’t stop her. But she stands there, like she’s daring me to take me up on her offer.
A kiss.
I give her a mocking smile. “You’ll want more than a kiss from me.”
She doesn’t answer right away, and I hide my smirk of victory as I lean in to claim her mouth. Her head tilts to the side, evading me, which is both frustrating and oddly fascinating.
“It doesn’t matter what I want. A kiss is my best offer. Take it or leave it.”
Despite the throb between my legs, I have the crazy urge to laugh. “That’s your best offer? You sure you don’t want me to go down on you?”
For a second, I swear she’s about say yes, but then she hitches in a ragged breath. “Totally sure. Keep your head right where it is.”
No chick has ever refused that offer before, and the way she’s so desperately trying to hide how turned on she is makes me grin. “Okay. But I’ll only kiss you on one condition.”
“Huh?” She sounds drunk, and blinks at me like everything’s out of focus. “You have a condition?”
“It’s only fair.”
She stares at me as though I’ve lost my mind. I think I fucking have. Not that I care, since crazy as this all is, I’ve never had as much fun hooking up before.
Finally, she speaks. “What is it?”
“I can use my hands on you.” I wave my fingers in her face, and she glances at them as though she has no idea what I’m talking about.
“Okay.” There’s a cautious note in her voice as though she thinks it’s some kind of trick. “But that’s all. Just your hands.”
That’s all I need.
I run the tips of my fingers along her body, from shoulder to hip. She gives a little shiver, which is all I need to know that she wants this as much as I do, despite the way she’s holding out.
“You like that?”
“I guess.” She sounds reluctant to admit it, as though it puts her at a disadvantage or something.
“You’re not leaving here until you know.”
I thread my fingers through hers and pull her arms above her head. Her back arches, and she glares at me like I’ve crossed her line.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Using my hands. That’s allowed, remember?”
“I didn’t say anything about…” She flounders for a second as she glances up at her trapped hands. “Bondage.”
“You didn’t say it was off-limits, either. Give me a break, Amelia. I’m only using my hands, like we agreed.”
“I didn’t think you were—” She cuts herself off and groans. “Okay, you win.”
I grin with satisfaction and move a little closer, so our bodies are all but touching. “I usually do.”
It’s the wrong thing to say. I know it as soon as the words drop from my mouth, because instead of wrapping her leg around me, she tries to tug free. When that doesn’t get her anywhere, she glares at me again.
“Can we just kiss and get it over with?”
I laugh. Can’t help it. I don’t know why she’s fighting against it so hard, when all that’s at stake is a kiss. “You sure you want this? Because if not, just say the word.”
“Oh my God.” She squeezes her eyes shut for a second before leveling me with her gorgeous green gaze. “Do you always talk so much before you kiss a girl? Or are you hoping to make me so desperate I’ll agree to do anything? Because I’ve already told you my hard limits.”
Her hard limits are killing me, but a promise is a promise, and the fact she’s just admitted she’s close to being desperate is enough for me.
“Okay.” I drift my mouth along the length of her throat. I don’t know what her scent is. Roses? Driving me crazy. “If you don’t come, I promise the next time we kiss I won’t say a word.”
She gives a choked laugh. “You’re so full of it. That’s not going to happen. Either the kiss or the other,” she adds, as though I need clarification.
I graze my teeth on the soft flesh where her neck meets shoulder, and she gives a delicate shudder. “Sounds like a challenge, Amelia. I never back down from a challenge.”
“I’m not going to have sex with you.” Her voice is all breathy, and I don’t know why she’s making such a big thing out of it. Not that it matters. She wants me to work for it, fine by me. I’ll have her on her knees before she knows it, begging me to take her right fucking now.
“Keep telling yourself that.” I release one of her hands and slide beneath her skirt, and drag one finger over her satisfyingly wet pussy. She rears back, banging her head against the door. “Yeah, I can tell how much you don’t want to fuck me.”
She digs her nails into my shoulder, but she’s not pushing me away.
“That’s cheating.” She sounds like she’s in agony. I slowly suck her earlobe into my mouth, and tongue her hoops before easing back. Her eyes are all glazed and her lips are parted, as though she’s having trouble breathing.
“I don’t cheat.”
“Your fingers…stop doing that.”
“Stop doing what?” I wrap my hand around her thigh. “Turning you on?”
“Yes. No.” She wriggles her ass, and her hand slips to grip my bicep. “This is a really bad idea.”
“I’ve had worse.” I grin at the glare she slings my way. “I’m playing by your rules. What’s your problem?”
“It’s a conflict of interests.”
“A what? There’s no conflict. Trust me.”
“No, I mean…” She flounders and looks at me with those hypnotic green eyes of hers, and I’m through playing her games.
My mouth claims hers. She gives a soft moan of surrender, and I push my tongue inside. There’s no lingering hint of beer or booze or even weed. She tastes fresh and minty, and there’s no reason in the world why that should be so sexy, but my dick thinks it’s Christmas already.
Our tongues tangle, and she’s not holding back any longer. She spears her fingers through my hair and holds me tight, as though she thinks I’m going to stop.
No chance. I can’t remember how many chicks I’ve kissed, but I’m damn sure none of them kissed like this. I shove my hand between her thighs. Fucking fishnets are in the way, but she’s so hot and wet and writhing beneath my fingers that I don’t want to break the moment.
I promised she’d come. And she fucking will.