“Nope. My cousin. He figured you wanted to talk to me instead of just staring a hole in my head all night.”
“I don’t stare,” he glared, brows dipped low into an intimidating vee.
I laughed again because teasing Virgil was fun. I had a feeling he didn’t get a whole lot of teasing in his life.
“Whatever you say, Virg.”
Heat flared in his blue eyes and his jaw clenched, leaving no mistake what was on his mind.
“That’s more like it.” The super hot intense look in his eyes had my belly clenching and my nipples tightened.
“Wanna get out of here?”
Hell, yeah. But I had to play it cool, I couldn’t give in after he’d gone radio silent on me for two days. “Where do you want to go?”
His nostrils flared, proof that he wasn’t a man used to hearing anything resembling a ‘no’.
“Somewhere it’s not so damn loud and I know the perfect place.” He held a big hand out and I looked at it, remembering the ways those hands caressed my skin, gripped my ass, and pinched my nipples.
I wanted to be strong and make him work for it, but I also wanted to go somewhere and ride his cock again and again. In the end, my inner hoochie mama, as Peaches called it, won out, and I smiled before putting my hand in his. “Let’s go.”
With a satisfied smile, Virgil held my hand and helped me from the high bar stool, practically dragging me through Bullets & Beer and to a service elevator.
“So fucking loud,” he grumbled and flashed his key card toward the gold button until the doors slid open. We rode the elevator in silence to the parking garage.
“You know, Virgil, I’m not a fan of loud nightclubs but this is the second time I’ve run into you at one. The same one.” His lips pulled tight into an almost grimace and he shut the car door, jogging around the front before he slid behind the steering wheel.
“Are we going back to your mom’s house?”
He glared at me. “You’ve got a smart mouth, you know that?”
I shrugged. “You’re not the first person to tell me that.” And he wouldn’t be the last.
“No. We’re not going back to my house. Not yet, anyway.” He didn’t say anything else until we pulled into another parking lot a few miles away.
“We’re here.”
I looked up when I stepped from the car and smiled at the spot big bad Virgil had chosen instead of a nightclub.
“The Glitz Tower? How cute!” The Tower was a big tourist attraction, probably the biggest in town aside from the Emerald Isle casino, a strange mix of a sky wheel and observation deck. It was nearly two hundred feet tall with glass cars that spun in a perfect circle as it climbed to the top, allowing a beautiful view of Glitz, Vegas, and beyond.
“Cute?”
“Sweet,” I offered with a grin. “Is that better?”
He grunted and grabbed my hand, tugging me toward the Tower.
“Smart ass.”
“You said that already.” I leaned in close and put my other hand around his hard bicep, inhaling his masculine scent mixed with the night desert air. “Where have you been, Virgil?”
“Did you miss me?” His eyes lit up with amusement and it was my favorite look so far.
“I’m not sure yet, but I had expected to hear from you. Then again, maybe you’re a guy who just randomly buys girls jewelry and ghosts them.” I shrugged and stepped into the glass car, smiling when the attendant closed it behind us.
“I’m not,” he insisted and took the seat beside me. “I’ve had some family shit to deal with. I wasn’t ghosting you.”
I sighed, hearing the truth of his frustration. “Family. They have a way of interfering in your life, don’t they?”
His dark brow arched. “Yeah. Why? What do you know about it?”
“I’m from Texas. But my brother lived in Mayhem before that and the rest of my extended family lives here as well. Overprotective as hell.”
Not that I didn’t love the big lugs, but they’d definitely cramped my style freshman and sophomore year.
“What’s your family shit? If you want to talk about it.” I thought about what Bonnie had told me about the Ashby family and wondered if he’d confess to anything.
He shrugged. “It’s more like ongoing shit. Keeps me busy. Really fucking busy.” He slid in closer and wrapped an arm around me. “I didn’t come here to talk about my family.”
Damn, it was sexy when a man took charge, especially when he got all dark and growly like that. His lips crashed down on mine, and I speared my fingers through his thick hair and pulled him closer, allowing him to deepen the kiss.
I didn’t know how long we kissed like that, but his touch combined with the feeling of the climbing orb was intoxicating. Virgil’s hands roamed down my back to cup my ass, bringing me onto his lap and flush against his denim-covered cock. I moaned into his mouth just as the tower came to a stop. He pulled back and smiled. “Damn woman. You make me forget myself.”