Page 9 of Sin for You

I pressed my hands to his chest to keep him back. He was strong and didn’t budge. “Back up. Now.”

“Kiss me,” he slurred.

He was probably harmless, but fear shot through me. He leaned in, his mouth coming toward mine.

I pressed harder against his chest and turned my head away from his lips. “No,” I said, a weird gasping, panicked sound coming from me I’d never heard before. “Get the hell off me.”

“Come on, don’t be like that. I know I’m not the only one feeling this thing between us—”

One minute he was there, the next he was lifted over the bar like a toddler. I stared in shock as Bull held him in the air by his shirt.

“You deaf?” Bull said in a low rumble that I felt from my feet up.

Ezra, still dangling from Bull’s fist, shook his head vigorously.

“You didn’t hear her say no?” Bull said in a soft menacing voice that lifted goose bumps all over me. “Because I was over here and I heard her. So the way I see it, you had to have heard her as well, yes?”

The guy nodded.

“That’s what I thought.” Bull flung him toward his bandmates, who had come back into the bar to get more of their gear and were watching with their jaws slack. “Pack up your shit. Get the fuck out. You won’t be coming back here again.” Then he stood there, arms crossed, watching them rush to gather their stuff.

I watched all of this, mouth open. I’d never seen Bull like that before. His eyes were bright with anger, his nostrils were flaring, and those big rough-skinned hands were curled into fists. He looked brutal and beautiful, and it was probably wrong of me, but I loved it. Loved that he cared enough to do that for me.

The band rushed out of the bar, and Bull locked the door behind them then strode toward me. His nostrils were still flaring and his color was high, and to anyone else he was probably terrifying. Not to me. Never to me.

He stopped a foot in front of me, looking down with those melted-chocolate eyes, doing a sweep of my body. His gaze lingered on my mouth a spilt second before coming back to my eyes, searching mine.

“Okay, sweets?”

Sweets.

Bull was still scaring away my bullies, just like he had when I was ten.

I swallowed, mouth dry. “Yeah…yes. I’m good, really. Thanks for doing that. I realized he was wasted, and I guess I freaked out a bit.”

He was watching me intently, which meant he didn’t miss the way I was shaking, and he cursed, wrapped one of those big paws around the back of my neck, and tugged me forward, pulling me into a bear hug…a Bull hug.

His massive arms came around me, smooshing me against his huge, warm body, his scent filling my head with every breath I took. Up close he smelled even better than I imagined. Like outdoors and whiskey, with a hint of the soap he used. I lifted my arms and wrapped them around him as well, cuddling him back and shuffling forward even more, getting closer, because I couldn’t help myself.

It was everything I’d ever imagined. Better. And I melted against him.

His hand was moving on my back, sliding up and down from the base of my neck to my lower back, doing his best to soothe me. But I didn’t need soothing. I’d gotten a fright, but I really was okay. And the more Bull held me, and the more I breathed him in, the more all right I became.

In fact, my skin was kind of tingling and my heart rate had picked up speed.

His mouth lowered to my ear. “He comes near you again, I’ll snap the fucker in half,” he said.

I shivered, the deep rasp of his voice moving through me, lifting pleasurable goose bumps all over my body, and God, my nipples stiffened, growing tight and achy.

I nodded and shivered again at the feel of his beard against my cheek, his warm breath against my ear. His face was so close, his mouth right there. I could feel his heart beating, thumping heavily. I wanted to shove my hands up under his shirt and feel his hot skin against my palms.

Was it possible? Was he feeling what I was, this thing between us, this heat?

Honestly, I’d never even allowed myself to think my fantasies could become reality, because I was sure I’d only be setting myself up for big-time rejection. But standing with him, thinking about what he’d said to Dane and the way he’d reacted when anyone touched me, made me think that maybe I might be right.

Was he as turned on as I was?

The way he’d been acting since I moved back, how protective of me he was—there had to be more to it than just watching out for his best friend’s little sister. There had to be.