Someone laughed. Someone cursed. Phones lit up across the bar as Wilder yelled, “Delaney, you paid your power bill?”
A bell clanged and then Delaney’s voice sounded out around the bar. “Looks like the whole town is down, folks. I’ll get some candles for you in a few.”
I saw Gunner stiffen and Cassidy put a hand on his which was flat on the table. The thought of candles evidently worried him after the fire at the stables.
“It’ll be fine,” Cassidy said. “Everyone will be careful, and it’ll be romantic.”
Gunner nodded. “I guess.”
Wilder leaned closer to me, his lips brushing my ear. “Talking of romance, follow me out back in a couple of minutes.”
I turned to him in the dark, catching just the outline of his jaw. “Where?”
“Just go past the bathrooms toward the door at the end of the hallway.” His hand found mine under the table. “You’ll find me.”
After Wilder had made an excuse that he needed to make a call, I managed to last three minutes before I told everyone I needed the bathroom. Full of anticipation, I just about stopped myself from running past the tables of people laughing and joking.
The hallway was narrow, dark, and smelled faintly of beer and cleaning chemicals. Nothing close to the romance everyone thought was happening inside the bar.
Exactly what Wilder and I needed.
As soon as I reached the door I was heading for, a hand shot out and dragged me into an alcove. My back hit the wall, hard enough to knock the air from my lungs, and Wilder was there, one hand braced above my head, the other gripping my hip like he’d just claimed it.
“You okay if we fuck here?” His voice was low, rough, already curling heat through me. His body pressed close enough to tell me he knew damn well what my answer was.
“Do you really need to a?—”
His mouth cut me off, crushing mine. It was not a sweet kiss, not even a hint of sugar. No slow build. Just tongue and teeth and hands tugging and unbuttoning until my jeans were halfway down and his belt buckle clinked as he loosened it.
I should stop it. We were in public, anyone could see, and yet the recklessness of it made me want him more. Made me wonder when ‘just sex’ started feeling like something I'd miss if it ended.
“I was planning to be a gentleman tonight, Brownie,” he breathed against my lips. “Then you walked in looking like this. Now I’m just going to have to ask you to ride me right here.”
He trailed his mouth down my neck, biting just hard enough to make my knees wobble.
“You drive me fucking insane,” he muttered, threading his fingers into my loose hair and tugging until I gasped. “You’re like whiskey…smooth, dangerous, burning in all the right places. And I can’t stop.”
My chest rose and fell fast. “Then do something about it.”
His answer was another rough, claiming kiss. His hand yanked my jeans the rest of the way down, the motion fast, urgent, a little desperate.
“Turn around,” he growled close to my ear. Gravel and heat.
I spun, palms flat against the cold brick wall. The noise of chatter and bravado from the bar thudded through the concrete, masking the metallic sound of his belt hitting the tile.
When he pushed into me, it was one claiming thrust that stole not just my breath but every negative thought I’d had since Kentucky, every promise I’d made myself about keeping this simple. The stretch of him filled empty spaces that I hadn’t known existed, and for a moment that lasted forever, we were perfectly, terrifyingly still. His mouth close to my ear, sharing the same shocked breath, the same realization that it felt different. That maybe we’d started to cross that line we’d drawn in the sand.
“Jesus, fuck—” I gasped.
His hand clamped over my mouth. “Quiet,” he hissed. “Anyone could walk back here…but I think you’d like that, wouldn’t you? My dirty little girl.”
The danger made me clench around him. He swore under his breath, hisother hand gripping my hip so tight it was going to leave his mark.
He took me fast and without mercy, every thrust pushing me closer to the wall. The brick scraped my palms, but all I could focus on was the way he filled me, owned me, used me like I was his.
“You love this,” he growled into my neck. “Love knowing I could get caught with you like this.”
I reached up and curled my fingers around his neck, fingertips digging in. He yanked my head back by my hair, slammed deeper, and my orgasm tore through me before I could brace for it.
