As Quaid opened to door to the truck, Matt stopped her. The moment his hands went to her waist as he turned her around and pressed her gently against the truck, she locked gazes with his eyes. He looked fierce, wild, angry, and every inch of her reacted the same way. With desire, need, and a sensation she never experienced before.
He was breathing through his nose as he looked her body over in the outfit she wore to the dance hall. “Matt?” she whispered, but he shook his head, indicating for her to not say a word. She swallowed hard.
He looked at her bandaged arm and then stepped closer, he reached up, maneuvered his hand over her shoulder, under her hair and cupped her head before his mouth crashed down upon hers.
She moaned into his mouth and allowed his access. He tasted of whiskey and mint. Had he been drinking? Were they out, too, and maybe not at home but somewhere nearby? Who was he with? Who was Quaid with?
Her thoughts were scattered, her body feeling so tight and odd, she thought she might cry out in excitement. His hands moved over her thighs and to her ass. He squeezed her against him. She felt the pain to her hipbone and pulled from his mouth.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” he asked as she placed her hand over her belly to her hipbone on the left side. Her left arm was the injured one.
“Sage, are you hurt somewhere else?”
Matt started to lift her top.
“Matt, someone might see.”
“No one is around, and Quaid has the door blocking anyone’s view.” The light inside the truck illuminated them, as Matt inched her top up.
“It’s lower. I think I got knocked into a table or something,” she whispered, looking down at his large hands as he gently began to push the waist of her skirt down.
“Don’t, Matt. I’ll just look at it later.” He applied just enough pressure for her to tilt back against the truck to get his point across.
“Let me see how bad it is. We’ll look closer when we get you to our place.”
He began to press down the material as his words registered in her head.
“You’re place? No, you’re taking me home.”
“Son of a bitch. This is a nasty bruise. What the fuck happened in that dance hall?” he reprimanded. She couldn’t help but to shudder at his tone and the fatherly way he reprimanded her. Her belly twisted at the thought. She didn’t think of him as fatherly. Hell no, she thought of him in the most lust-filled, inappropriate ways her mind could conjure up. Too bad she was such a freaking emotional mess of fear and distrust.
She pushed his hand away and fixed her skirt, as she turned to get into the truck.
“Sage.”
She turned to look at Matt and Quaid.
“Don’t do that. Don’t try to reprimand me as if I’m some child, a teenager who was caught drinking at a party and got hurt.”
Matt lifted her up, shocking her as he gently placed her onto the leather seat.
“Sage, you’re no fucking teenager, but we’re going to set some rules. Rules you damn well better follow, or I swear I’ll spank that sexy, round ass of yours until you get it. You don’t seem to understand how much we care about you. Enough bullshit. I’ve had enough.”
He held her gaze with a determined, firm expression that successfully gave her a shocked and awed feeling.
When he reached up and gently caressed her cheek, then softly ran his thumb over her lower lip, and she was done for. Lust filled her body, made her pussy ache, and her heart race nearly out of control. He stared at her and she wondered if he would kiss her again. She wanted him to, but he stepped down from the truck and walked around to get into the driver’s side.
She glanced at Quaid who hopped in next to her, as her mind tried to process the things Matt just said to her.
A spanking? Rules? Why am I feeling so aroused by this? Shouldn’t I be afraid that he’s going to hit me?
She looked at him and could tell he was so upset, but when he kissed her, she felt that wall inside begin to weaken. Sage was confused, and as they headed out of town and back to Pearl, she thought about her friends. Tonight she realized how bored, how more mature, and beyond drinking and partying she was from her friends.
It was part of why she felt leaving Pearl was a good idea. Moving to the city, being an adult in a professional field, and earning a living on her own was the epitome of being self-sufficient and not needing anyone but herself. But after tonight. After the way Matt kissed her, and how he and Quaid came here right away to see her, changed those thoughts. She couldn’t help but wonder, and feel an ounce of hope that perhaps staying in Pearl would bring her that feeling of love, fulfillment, and completion she’d been fighting and searching so hard for.
* * * *
Amanda was really liking this guy Jet she just met. He was so good looking and seemed like he had a lot of money. She was feeling a bit tipsy. When Corey came back an hour ago and said that Matt and Quaid London showed up at the urgent care after Kenny did, it made Amanda smile. Those men were so incredibly hot and mysterious. Every single woman in Pearl found them attractive. Sage never found any interest in dating, and Amanda knew it was because of her past. Maybe it was going to take men like Matt, Quaid, Dale, and Virgo to finally convince Sage that falling in love was a good thing.