“I want you to kiss me so fucking bad,” she whispers, using the same words I said. And goddamn she talks slowly, teasing me with every single word she says, but it’s the look in her eyes—want and need—that has me closing the small distance between us.
My lips brush over hers, and I have to stop, our lips only just touching. Our kiss is like those middle school kisses where you barely do anything but it’s monumentally life changing at the same time.
This close and I can see how the colour of her eyes intensifies like rich, velvety tempered chocolate and her scent keeps changing slightly. With the smallest tip of her lips, she instantly takes all the reins of control when she licks her tongue from one corner of my lip to the other.
“Come on, handsome, I know that’s not how you kiss. You’ve got trouble written all over you,” she says on a throaty whisper as she pulls back enough so she can look into my eyes.
I chuckle under my breath before leaning back in for a another of our PG kisses.
“I am not kissing you in a dark corridor where we can be interrupted. And definitely not in front of an audience.” I wink at her before taking a step to block Ayden’s view. But I also knew her other security guard had arrived. “I am, however, taking you for something to eat before I take you somewhere so I can feel your tongue on mine.”
She hums, her fingers curl around mine, and a rush of warmth runs up my arm. She leans close to my ear. “Food, huh?”
I rub my cheek against hers. Jesus, she’s got me acting so out of sorts. I need fresh air. We start walking slowly out of the corridor, but it’s like we’ve done this so many times before even though it’s our first time. “Yeah, none of that cocktail nibble crap either. We’re eating, eating. You want to drive?”
She nearly trips up, and I drop my hand on her waist.
“Me, drive?” she asks, stunned.
“Yeah. We can take your car, or mine, I don’t mind.”
She laughs again, but there’s a depreciative tone to it that makes her laugh ugly. And I don’t like hearing it from her at all. Even worse though is when she eventually confesses she doesn’t know how to drive.
“I’ll teach you. I’ll teach you everything they haven’t,” I say back more firmly than needed but it shits me off these Alphas hell bent on protecting her have taken away simple survival skills every person should know.
And instead of getting defensive like she should, considering how shit it is that she doesn’t know how to drive, her energy shifts again.
We move quicker, and she keeps her hand in mine as I clock off and then grab my gear from my locker. Once we’re outside the back door, I pause at the gate to the carpark, waiting for her security to catch up with us.
“Hey, Bradley, I’m going to grab some food,” she says softly.
And look, I’ve got no fucking background to her story, but before when I was watching her handle her girlfriends and the pack circling around her, she was not like this. These fuckers have done something to make her unsure of herself.
Thankfully though, this guy is completely the opposite of her other bodyguard. At least this guy seems professional and hasn’t let his emotions interfere with doing his job.
“ID,” he says to me.
I’ve got no issue with passing every test any of them throw at me, but Heidi doesn’t like it. Interestingly, she also doesn’t pull him up for it. Her anxiety and frustration scents the air, but I tug her closer and direct her to stand against my hip with the smallest touch, so he can do his thing, and I can do mine.
Strangely, it’s the first time I notice her height too. Before she gave off this huge energy, but with her against me, I realise she doesn’t reach up to my shoulder. Not that I’m worried in the least; it just means she fits me perfectly.
“What are your plans?” He asks, his eyes locked on my face after he takes a photo of my driver’s licence.
“We’ll let you know once we decide,” I say, guiding her towards the gate, but I reach around her to open it while also stepping in front of her so I go out first. But first, I twist back to look at him. “Next time you want to know what we’re doing, you will address Heidi with the respect she deserves as your client.”
His chin drops slightly, his eyes hardening, but I literally don’t care if I bruise his ego, pulling him up for him and his mates shit behaviour. Before he can snark back, I fill him in. “Not sure what your gig is, but I know enough about security. And full attention and effort goes to the person they’re meant to be protecting. We don’t know each other from a bar of soap, which makes you asking me what our plans are instead of your client, even more offensive.”
I don’t wait for a reply before I walk out of the gate, her hand still in mine. And since he pissed me off, I also don’t give him a chance to get organised or get in his car; he can play catch-up.
Directing her to where I parked, I drop my hands on her waist and lift her up onto the passenger seat of my Wrangler. “So, pretty girl, you still okay with me taking you out for something to eat?”
Her face lights up, but she drops her eyes a little. “Yeah, I am.”
“What’s with you being all coy now?” I ask, digging my fingers into her waist so she looks at me again.
And while I wait for her, I drag her scent deep in my lungs. I know she’s okay, I can read her scent and body language pretty well despite barely knowing her, but at the same time I want to hear she’s good to go.
“I guess what you said to Bradley threw me a bit,” she says, her eyes eventually coming up to mine.
