He narrowed his eyes at me, instantly pissed that I’d blocked him from her.
Natalie gasped, leaning back toward me as she craned her neck to look up at me.
“Hey, fuck off, man,” the third said. “We saw her first.”
I set my hand on Natalie’s side, feeling her ribs lift up with a sharp intake of air.
“No.” She shook her head. Worry crossed over her face, similar to the shocked expression she wore when I twisted that punk’s arm that first night. Violence scared her. That alone should’ve prevented me from stepping in as her savior. I lived and breathed nothing but violence, issuing death sentences on so many who didn’t deserve to take up space in this world.
But for her, I couldn’t shut off this need to protect her, this charging urgency to defend her and erase those worry lines from her sweet face.
“No, he did.” She cleared her throat. “This guy, um…”
The trio of men smirked and tried to make a grab for her again, doubting her ability to tell them to leave her alone.
“I’m with him,” she said shakily.
“Him?” The shortest one scoffed, giving me a mean stare. “You’re withhim?”
She nodded, stepping toward me again as if she were more nervous with her lie. “Yeah.”
I could play along. Curling my arm around her, banding it over her stomach, I stared the men down.
“Bullshit,” one argued. “Someone like him isn’t going to be interested in some little mouse like you.”
“I’m with him.” Natalie furrowed her brow. “He’s… he’s my boyfriend.”
Two of them laughed and rolled their eyes. The third man shook his head. “You’re lying. Just playing hard to get and?—”
Lowering my free hand, I used two of my fingers to tip her face up. With a firm but careful touch under her chin, I guided her to face me. Just in time for me to dip down and press my lips against hers.
That bolt of lust thickened and zinged through my veins again. A live wire couldn’t have electrocuted me more with the instant pulse of red-hot need that she made me feel.
From just this. One kiss. A simple brush of her soft, plump lips beneath mine.
She stole my breath. She made time stand still. And as I pulled back, staring into the depths of glittering green of her irises as she opened her eyes wide with surprise, I was tempted to steal another.
Not enough.
I lowered to kiss her again, sliding my hand along the base of her skull to hold her in place for a longer press of my mouth over hers, keeping her right where I wanted her to trace my tongue over the seam of her mouth.
Her responding gasp taunted me. The faint clutch of her fingers curling around a fistful of my shirt thrilled me.
Yeah. Hold on tight.
Because if these idiots needed another demonstration of how much I wanted to be hers, how much I was getting hooked on the idea of her being mine, I’d slant her back over the bar and devour her until I had her taste committed to memory.
Drowning under the bold desire she couldn’t mask as she stared up at me, I fought the urge to kiss her again.
6
NATALIE
What the…
What?
What just?—
