Gift From The Bad Boy

I slid around the edge of the room until I was facing her from a few dozen feet away. She hadn’t noticed me yet, but I didn’t want to sneak up on her from behind. When I bore down on a girl, I wanted her to see me from a distance. Let the tension build until I arrived—half fear, half wondering what was coming next. Just the way I liked it.

I squared my shoulders and started a slow, smooth glide in her direction. Her mouth was painted with a dark, neat streak of lipstick. I couldn’t help but wonder what it would taste like. Above a slim nose, a pair of gray eyes sparkled. I did a double take. I’d never seen eyes like that before. They were almost unnatural. The pale shade of her irises and her blonde skin gave her an angelic sheen. There wasn’t another girl like her in the building, or even the whole damn state. This one was special.

And I wasn’t going to stop until I made her mine.

“I don’t know you,” I said bluntly as I strode into their small cluster. “Why’s that?”

Her friend whirled to her side to look up at me. I felt her eyes boring into the side of my face, but I kept my gaze locked on the blonde girl. Hawkeye looked at me, then away again. He knew the score. He knew who was in charge around here. I liked the guy, but if he was going to try to be protective of this innocent little peach, he had another thing coming indeed.

“I’m not sure,” the girl said after a long moment.

I didn’t want to take my eyes off her for a second, not even to blink; she was that beautiful. Christ, where did girls like this come from? It was a strange attraction, too. On any other day, I probably would have focused on her brunette friend to my left. That one had more of the wild vixen vibe to her, the kind I usually went for. One glance, and I knew she’d be down for anything.

But tonight was a special night. Another feather in the cap for my presidency. I was going to celebrate in style. This angel would be my treat.

She started to drop her eyes, but then she caught herself and looked back up. I liked that. She didn’t want to be afraid of me. Of course, no one could ever resist that feeling for long, but half the fun was in finding the breaking point in a girl like this. Seeing how far I could take her before she moaned for release.

The room was pounding with the noise of music and conversation, but I didn’t notice a thing. Her friends, the room around us, it all faded away to nothing as I took a step closer and asked, “What’s your name?” One hand drifted from my side to hers and came to rest lightly on her hip. She flinched, but softened immediately afterwards.

“Carmen,” she whispered. I was close enough to hear her hushed voice despite the chaos raging on all sides.

“I’m Ben,” I told her.

“Ben,” she repeated.

I winked. “You got it, babe.”

“Do you work here?” Her voice was shy, hesitant.

I laughed at the question. “I guess you could say that.”

“What do you do?”

“I’m the president.”

She reached a hand to her mouth and started to chew on a fingernail. Fuck, girls just had the most adorable habits sometimes. They’d look like ice queens one moment, damn near untouchable, and then with just a little bit of pressure they’d go and reveal that inner quirk, the one little behavior that made you want to dive in and crack them wide open, see the whole world the way they did. It baffled me how something so simple could make my whole body twinge so damn hard.

Slick staggered past behind us, one arm around the girl he was with. He gave me a wild nod and wink, but his foot caught on a loose floorboard. I saw it all happen in slow motion. His drunk smile turned into a look of surprised horror as he lost his balance and tipped forward. He was on track to barrel into Carmen, and the sloppy bastard was big enough to do some damage to this girl if he hit her.

Just as he was about to knock into her, my palm slid around to splay widely on the small of her back. I pulled her slightly into me to avoid the collision. She was close enough for me to feel her warmth. Her skin beneath my hand was damp with the beginnings of sweat, but soft and smooth to the touch. I growled low in my throat. Slick tumbled down and hit the ground right behind her with a heavy thud.

I looked down at Carmen. She was so tiny in my arms and so wide-eyed as she looked down at the accident we’d narrowly avoided and then back at me.