My mouth waters with the need to run my fingers over the words and the lines and curves that make up the angel wings. Then I’d caress along the sinewy muscles of his shoulders, arms, and abs before I drop kisses on his tattoos as I wrap my arms around his bulging biceps.
Bobby’s muscles are hard-earned from working out, and he withstood pain with each injection of ink that created the masterpieces on his body. My body hums with a deep-seated attraction and a powerful need.
“They’re beautiful. You’re beautiful.” A low pulse starts in my core, like a beat I can’t get out of my head and don’t ever want to leave my mind.
Being with Bobby has me thinking about disco balls, an empty booth in a crowded nightclub, and leaving the noise behind, eyes closed, as a stranger leads me to his lifted pickup truck.
“When can we go dancing again at Crimson?” I want to make memories with him.
“When you submit to my rules. Then we can go dancing until you tire of my arms around you, swaying to a beat that’s of our making.”
“What are they again?” I remember his rules, but hearing them will make what we agree to real.
A sliver of apprehension runs up and down my spine. Am I really doing this, starting something with a guy I’ve known for less than twenty-four hours?
“You give me full control in the bedroom. Protection for both parties. Exclusive. I don’t share. Outside the bedroom, if you want something, you give up something in return. If I call it off, we go full no contact. No exceptions.”
He repeats what he told me as we sat in an empty booth in a crowded nightclub, and now he’s in the owner’s office, sleeping off a hangover because he and the manager are close.
How does Bobby know Dom Costello, the owner of Crimson? Dom is friends with Midnight Sterling, and Midnight and Ty hang out when Ty is in Dumas. Dom, being the respected and wealthy acquaintance of Midnight Sterling, doesn’t have Ty and the crew hating him less. Crimson is and always will be Red Dahlia’s competitor, even though a two-hour drive separates them.
“Are you in?”
Said in a casual tone, but I have a feeling Bobby cares what my answer is. Bobby dislikes liars, cheaters, and manipulators, but what’s worse is getting rejected. I can’t imagine anyone rejecting Bobby, that he’s clamped down on his expression like he’s bracing himself.
“I’m in. But you’re wrong.”
“About what?”
“I’ll never tire of being with you.”
He scowls. “Never say never. Your words will come back to bite you in the ass and rob you of your heart and soul.”
“You know what I’d say to your ‘never say never’ BS?”
“What, baby?” His eyes darken. His lips lift in a smirk. Bobby is throwing down a challenge, and I am in.
“I’d say bring it.”
He stares intently at me, as if he can see my soul through my eyes and feel my heartbeat through the phone screen as this whoosh, whoosh, whoosh through my veins.
“I like that. A lot.” His finger traces over the screen. My heart beats faster. It’s a heart, a perfect heart. “Bring it, sweetness. I’ll be your villain, your bad boy, any fucking day of the year.”
13
BOBBY
I’m in. But you’re wrong.
About what?
I’ll never tire of being with you.
Never say never. Your words will come back to bite you in the ass and rob you of your heart and soul.
You know what I’d say to your ‘never say never’ BS?
What, baby?
