Cold Hearted Bachelor

Ten

Vaughn

* * *

Paisley has and will always be my very own sick and twisted Tantalean punishment. She’s something I have in my life, but can never enjoy. Can never truly partake in.

Even though every fiber of my being wants her in ways I can’t even form into words.

Just watching her across the bar, laughing with that spineless piece of nothing by her side makes me want to wage war across the world. It makes me want to beat my chest like I’m some enraged Tarzan with something to prove.

Why does this girl make me feel so primal?

I’ve been with many women over the years, and none of them have ever had this kind of effect on me. I’m turning into someone I don’t even recognize anymore.

I don’t know why I even showed up here tonight.

Yes, I do. I couldn’t spend another second at my house wondering who the fuck Colby was.

He’s a shorter, stalky fellow who doesn’t know his dick from a hole in the wall. I didn’t like him from the first moment I met him. Something about his smile was off to me.

I wanted to punch him. Hell, I still want to. But not as badly as I want to turn the fuck around right now and continue kissing Paisley.

Her lips felt so good against mine.

My heart was beating so fast, I couldn’t stop. I still can’t.

Miriam smiles at me when I emerge from the back hallway. “Hey, ready?” she asks.

“Listen, we’ll have to go over the figures another day. I’m not feeling so well.” I leave her, and walk right out of the club.

I called Miriam to meet me at the club to discuss an upcoming project we wanted to seek after we lost those accounts. Miriam probably thought it was odd to meet in a club, but I don’t care. I’m also positive that if I wanted to fuck Miriam tonight I could.

No part of me wants to though.

I figured I could meet Miriam, discuss business while safely keeping an eye on Paisley and her ‘friend’. That was until I saw Paisley in that dress.

Fuck, that red dress should be illegal. It’s short, and sultry and oh so damn hot.

I pull out my phone, almost to my truck in the lot. I swipe my phone on, pulling up Paisley’s number. Fuck, I can’t think of anything to say to her to make myself look any less of an asshole right now.

I can’t leave her in this club right now. I just wouldn’t feel right. I shoot off a text to her. “Do you need a ride home?”

She answers right away. “I drove my own car.”

I toss my phone into the cab of my truck and climb in, and then I do something I’ve never done before. I stalk her, waiting in the lot until I see her not even fifteen minutes later walk to her car in the lot with Gwen and Colby at her side.

I watch as she gets in and drives away, happy to know she’ll be getting home safely and alone.

It’s been two days since the club incident. Since the kiss. I haven’t heard a peep from Paisley. I also haven’t tried to peep at her either.

I grab my phone and fire off a text. “How about I work on your place this afternoon?”

“Come by and pick me up.”

Her car’s in the driveway when I arrive, and I head on up the front porch steps.

“Vaughn, come in, honey,” Mrs. Watts says, opening the door wider for me to step inside.

“Thank you. I’m just here to grab Paisley.”

As if on cue, Paisley descends the staircase, and it’s like I’m transported back to high school. Like I’m the date waiting for her at the bottom.

She’s dressed in jeans and a cute flowery blouse, and I can’t stop staring at her ruby red lips. The exact same lips my mouth was all over the other night.

But, as she comes to stand right in front of me, I smile, pushing the thoughts deep down.

“Hi,” she says, standing just on the inside of her house.

Her mother leaves us, and I tug at the back of my neck. “Listen, about the other night,” she glances over her shoulder so we won’t be heard, “I should have never let any of that happen. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Her blue eyes pierce mine. “It’s fine. It was ok.”

I touch her arm, a bad move on my part because now there’s so many other parts of her I want to touch. “No, I shouldn’t have touched you.” To make my point clear I drop my arm, missing her soft skin beneath my fingertips.

She rubs her arm, the exact spot I was touching. “Why did you touch me?”

I don’t have an answer for her. Not an answer she would like. I can’t very well tell her the thought of that asshole’s hands all over her threw me into a fit of jealousy. That I’d been thinking about kissing her since the moment I saw her in that dress.