Cuffs - Cara Lockwood Page 0,26
other customers. And Mags was watching them a little too intently for Gael’s tastes. For a woman who didn’t believe in jealousy, she sure seemed...jealous. Gael didn’t like it. Not one bit.
“You’re not going anywhere with Clint.”
“Who says?”
“I say.” He almost thought Mags would fight him on that. But, instead, he realized, she only approved of him putting his foot down. Something shifted in her then. He could almost feel it. She reached out and grabbed his hand.
“Come on then,” she murmured, voice low, as she pulled him off the stool.
“Where?”
She glanced at him, eyes full of mischief, a wicked tilt to her pink lips. “My place.”
* * *
Mags hadn’t been planning on inviting Gael to her bed. All she knew was that when Gael laid down the law, she wanted to lie down beneath him. That’s it. As backward as that might sound, she couldn’t help it. She knew it was barbaric, out-of-date thinking. But when she’d seen the flash of territorialness in his eyes, she’d felt the want, warm in her belly. She liked strong men. She’d make no apologies, either. Only a strong man could handle her. And she yearned for one who wasn’t afraid. Gael might be egotistical, might even be a suit, but he wasn’t afraid.
What she wanted more than anything was to lean against his strength, yield to it. Wanted a cleansing, mindless fuck, so that she could get on with her life and put this November behind her as fast as possible. Gael was the perfect option.
They were barely in the rideshare before Mags was on Gael, hands in his dark hair, mouth against his. Mags never did this, never let her feelings overwhelm her common sense, never made out with a guy in the back of a rideshare, not caring if the driver saw or cared. But she’d never felt this kind of attraction before. It was electric, addictive. It was as if all along she’d been hooked on him and didn’t know it until he walked into her life.
Mags didn’t believe in love at first sight, but lust—that was something she understood. Just not quite at this urgent level. She prided herself on keeping her feelings—and her desires—neatly stored away in a steel box in her brain. She let them out when she wanted. Except with Gael, it felt like her whole body was a Pandora’s box. It wanted to open. For him.
She knew he was full of himself, knew that he was bad news, but that was what she wanted right now. Bad news. Something to help her forget Clint, help her forget it was November at all.
Gael matched her enthusiasm, his hands roaming down her back, exploring her curves, sliding territorially down her ass. Yes. Own me, she wanted to tell him.
His left hand slid down the back of her leggings, and she welcomed the electric contact, his heat against her lower back. She wanted his hands everywhere all at once, and the fact that they still had clothes on felt infuriating. She barely cared they were in a car, speeding to her apartment just blocks away.
When they arrived, the driver cleared his throat, uncomfortable. She didn’t care. She leaped out of the car, tugging Gael out by the hand. He laughed as she keyed in her passcode at her old condo, a converted warehouse on the near west side. She and Gael tumbled into her narrow foyer lined with the eight mailboxes of the other renters.
She pulled him up the flight of carpeted stairs and at the first landing managed to get the key into the lock of her door and push inside the darkened one-bedroom. She flicked on a lamp sitting on the foyer table but wanted to keep the rest of the lights out. Her kitchen was a mess, her living room barely better. Her bedroom was the only room semiclean, and that was only because behind her closed closet door was another mess.
She hadn’t been expecting company, after all. Not that she cared what Gael thought. Hell, this was going to be one night only. She wasn’t going to make a habit of seeing him so he could tease her about how far behind she was on her laundry.
Laundry seemed to be the last thing on his mind as they both kicked off their shoes in the foyer, barely stopping their frantic kiss to do so. She liked the feel of his warm hands, liked the fact that they felt like they belonged on her.