“And I’m a guy who takes what he wants.” He tugs his bottom lip between his teeth. His gaze is like fire dragging up my body. “You really think you can handle me?”
Holy fucking Jesus. I think I just came a little.
Given the way his voice and eyes make my knees go all wobbly, I’m actually not sure of the answer to that. But I square my shoulders and shoot him my most confident smirk.
“I think I can more than handle you.”
The guy leans a little farther over the bar, hooking one finger under my chin and tilting my face up toward his. My breath quickens. I feel submissive, exposed, and my chest heaves slightly. The sheer authority and power radiating from him makes me wet.
“Is that so?” he asks softly.
Fuck. Just one touch, one look, a simple murmured sentence, and I’m a puddle.
“I get off work in twenty minutes,” I blurt out, my voice a whisper.
He releases my chin, and his fingers ghost down my arm, making me shiver in anticipation. He’s looking at me like he already knows exactly how to touch me, how to make me scream for him, beg for him, and I haven’t been touched like that by anyone in so damn long.
For a horrible moment, I think he won’t say yes—that he’ll tell me twenty minutes is too long to wait. Hell, he could have anyone he wanted in this bar right now, even if he doesn’t seem to be actively looking for anyone. I haven’t flirted in ages, and I’m being really bold here. What if he doesn’t like it?
Elliot the Vixen may be about to crash and burn.
But then he gives me another small, knowing smile, like he’s reading my mind, and my heart thumps wildly in my chest. When he speaks, his words nearly make me come again.
“I’ll see you in twenty minutes, Reckless.”
Chapter 4
Every single one of those twenty minutes absolutely crawls by.
I’m about ready to jump out of my skin as the seconds slowly tick past. I don’t say anything to my coworkers about it when they ask why I’m so antsy. They’ve seen me turn down guy after guy, annoyed and irritated and not bothering to be all that nice about my rejections.
If I tell them I flirted with a customer and am planning to hook up with him as soon as my shift ends, they’ll never let me hear the end of it.
When it’s finally time for me to clock out, I practically yank off my bartender’s apron. After our little chat at the bar, Tall, Dark, and Handsome went back to his booth to finish his drink, but I felt his gaze on me the entire time I worked. It revved me up into such a state that I’m already practically panting. He sees me preparing to leave and smoothly slides out of his booth, casting me one more heavy look before striding out the door ahead of me.
My heart is hammering hard as I wave goodnight to my coworkers, trying to act cool and casual.
When I walk out of the bar, he’s right there, catching me around the waist, his hands at my hips, pulling me in. He’s so close I can smell him, whiskey and leather, and I have to grab his arm to steady myself.
He’s all muscle, firm and unyielding, and I was right—when I curl my hands around his bicep, they don’t wrap all the way around.
God, I’m already so turned on. He’s looking at me like he wants to eat me alive, and I wouldn’t mind in the slightest.
I could theoretically take him back to my apartment. Maddy’s not there anymore. But just because she’s not there doesn’t mean I’m okay with bringing a strange man back home, even one as fucking delicious as this guy. It’s still my place with Maddy. My home with her. I’m not quite ready to change our little haven by bringing hookups there—that would make it all so much more real. Like an admission that she really is gone.
“Your place?” I ask breathlessly, hoping he has one. He did say he’s not from around here.
The guy pulls back a little, and I see something on his face that’s almost a mirror of what I just felt—a hesitance, an unwillingness to let a stranger into that part of his life.
He shakes his head no, his hands still on my waist, his hard body pressed against mine.