Page 15 of Come Take Me Now

Her eyes are wide as she studies my face. “I could ask you the same thing,” she replies breathlessly. I hear the door open behind me, and her eyes widen more with a gasp that leaves her pouty lips.

“What?” I turn my head, and Mick walks in. The group greets him, but he frowns when he spots Tilly and me. I didn’t expect him to show up or be affiliated with them.

“Look who it is… Um, hey, E. Tilly,” he says.

“Oh, hey, man,” I reply, looking him up and down.

“I haven’t seen you in a bar since your brother’s twenty-first. I didn’t notice your truck, either.” I narrow my eyes at him.

Don’t make me shut you the fuck up.

“Um, I’m driving Ma’s car. I had a meeting,” I answer, my jaw tightening.

“Oh, that explains the shiny new Escalade. Classic Valenti, right?” he says sarcastically. “And with a girl a decade younger than you. Nice. Guess the apple doesn’t fall far, does it?”

“Get fucked, Mick.” I drape my arm around Tilly’s shoulders to hug her tighter. He scowls at us and turns to his group. I clear my throat and blink a couple of times to re-center. “Let’s get the fuck out of here,” I say to Tilly as he sits with the group.

“Okay.”

As soon as the door closes behind us, my temper flares again. “What are you thinking? Were you here to meet up with Mick?” I ask.

She looks like a deer in headlights. “No, I just wanted to get out. It’s Saturday night.” She drops her eyes, and I have no business scaring her after that.

“I’m sorry. I just…if I hadn’t been in the area.” I stop myself from saying more. Not that she could have been assaulted in a public bar, but getting drugged and taken advantage of was a real possibility.

She lifts her gaze. “Yeah, why are you here?” she gently asks.

“I saw your car and wanted to see you. I was hoping it was you, anyway,” I add to turn the charm on.

Tilly smiles. “Oh. You know, I asked Mick for your number, but he wouldn’t give it to me. I told him to give you mine, though.”

“That’s professional of him…” I trail off.

And it was, but I knew he’d never give her my number. I should have given it to her when I met Tilly, but it felt too forward. And she was too wound up that day after getting lost and having car trouble.

“I’m supposed to take my car to him on Monday.” She glances over her shoulder at the bar. “Now, I’m not so sure.”

“What does it need?” I ask.

“Brakes,” she answers.

“I can handle that. I don’t blame you if you’re not comfortable going there.”

She lights up at the offer. I know she was interested in me, but she doesn’t know I won’t let go once she’s pulled into my gravity. She toys with her hair. Another giveaway. “That’d be great.”

I nod toward the building. “So, you trust me more than him?”

Her eyes meet mine, and even in the dark, her hazel eyes suck me in. “You saved me twice in less than a week. Of course I do,” she answers.

I gently grip each side of her head and lean down. “Don’t,” I whisper inches above her lips. Her hands find my side, and even though it’s premature, I crash my lips onto hers with the force of a hurricane. Her lips taste like maraschino cherries, and she moans into my mouth when I slip my tongue past her lips. She hastily slips her hands up my back and grips my shoulders like she’s the one who doesn’t want to let go. My hands find the small of her back, but I let one trail lower to her bubble butt.

No one’s ever touching this again, and I hope those fuckers are watching. I’ll always win.

“Can we go back to your place?” Tilly whispers, holding her grip on my upper back.

Hmm, she’s horny—that’s why she’s out.

“No, because I’ll fuck you.”