The sunlight pouring through the glass front door shifted when it opened wide, bringing in a gust of cool fresh air to the musty space along with the object of my obsession.
Earbuds in, head bobbing to whatever song she listened to, Juno didn’t even notice me or West as she headed to the locker room, too focused on whatever she was typing on her phone.
I dropped both throbbing fists to my sides, shocked at her oblivious concern for her surroundings and safety. Had she biked the entire way here distracted and unable to hear someone if they came up behind her?
Anger and fear swirled in my chest at her complete disregard for her safety. How dare she put herself in danger like that, especially with everything going on with the unsolved missing women cases?
The soles of my trainers were slamming against the concrete floor before I even realized I was moving toward the locker room. Somewhere, West yelled my name, the sound echoing off the bare walls, while Oliver’s barked curses and demands for me to stop went in one ear and out the other.
I smacked my palm to the center of the door and forced it open, storming into the locker room, ready to lecture her on being aware of her surroundings and safety. Inside the small room lined with lockers and a single bench between them, she stood at the opposite end, her back to me, earbuds in and eyes focused on her phone. She didn’t even notice my presence until I wrapped my fingers around her ponytail and tugged. Her soft gasp had my dick waking back up, ready to hear that sound again. Bending low, I hovered my lips along the shell of her ear, fighting the urge to wrap her hair around my fist and tug, arching her back and forcing her round ass to press against my twitching cock.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Juno? You?—”
I didn’t get to finish. The feisty woman caught me off guard. Instead of freezing like West said she did when he surprised her, Juno folded to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Her soft brown hair slipped through my fingers when she twisted around to slam a fist behind my right knee. Any other time, I would’ve expected the attack, prepared for it by balancing my weight, butI was too stunned by her quick movements. The hit had my leg buckling, sending me toppling forward.
Seeing the inevitable, Juno’s eyes went wide. She clearly hadn’t counted on me falling directly on top of her. Vibrations shot from where my palms connected with the floor, stopping my full body weight from slamming into her. Nose to nose, our quick breaths mingled as we stared at each other, both in shock at the quick turn of events.
“What the fuck was that?” I growled, my voice shaking from the effort to keep my weight off her.
“You first, Langston,” she snapped, not dropping my glare. With a huff, she shimmied along the floor, attempting to slip away, but only succeeded in shifting her core beneath my hardening dick.
“Stop moving,” I hissed. Both eyes sealed shut, I inhaled deeply to cool the liquid heat pumping through my veins.
Fuck, this was bad. She was trouble, dangerous, and unknown. I couldn’t let my guard down around her. This was just to teach her a lesson about being aware and taking her safety into consideration, nothing more.
“Then get off me,” she demanded. When she moved again, I knew the second she lifted and shifted just enough to be very aware of how turned on I was. Stilling, she blinked those long dark lashes up at me. “Langston.”
“Juno,” I breathed, scanning her petite face. Fuck, she was even more beautiful this close. I folded my fingers into my palm until the nails bit into my skin to keep from stroking them along her jaw and throat.
I imagined my hand wrapped around her neck while I took her hard, West’s dick stretching her pretty lips wide as he fucked her throat.
“Lang.” My eyes slowly lifted from where they had fallen to her parted lips. “What are you doing?”
My throat worked with a hard swallow as I tried to figure that out myself. What the fuckwasI doing? Yes, there was attraction there—fine, obsession—but she was still an outsider, someone keeping secrets that could harm the family I’d found here in Anchor Bay.
With one last look, committing her faint freckles to memory, I pushed off the floor with a grunt and leapt to my feet.
Her hooded gaze tracked my hand when I adjusted my hard cock, attempting to make it less obvious.
“Just don’t go walking around town so fucking distracted again,” I barked. “It’s not safe.”
I spun around to leave the locker room when she stopped me in my tracks.
“I took you down just fine,” she called out with so much sass in her tone it was almost a taunt.
The fact that she took my warning as a joke, that she took her safety as something to make light of, sent that earlier frustration roaring through my veins once again, pounding in my ears. Which only made my dick stiffen more, emphasizing how fucked up I was in the relationship department.
Dropping to my knees, one on either side of her waist, I gathered her wrists in one hand and pinned them to the floor above her head.
If I were a smart man, I would’ve realized this was a terrible decision, considering our position, and aborted the safety lesson, but apparently I was a masochist and liked to test my limits.
Juno didn’t move a muscle, just kept her heated aqua eyes locked on me as I leaned in close.
“There are women being snatched off the fucking streets?—”
“I’m not on that trail. There were people around, and?—”
Her dismissive tone, the complete disregard for the danger lurking all around us, had me doing what I’d fantasized abouta dozen times since meeting Juno. I gently wrapped my long fingers around her throat, squeezing just enough to ensure I had her full attention so she would hopefully grasp how serious I was about keeping her safe, even if that meant from herself. Her throat moved beneath my hot palm when she swallowed.
