“Come on, let’s get out of here.”
His eyes were still dark as he took my arm and propelled me towards his car.
“Wait, my bike!”
“Fuck your bike.”
He ignored me, putting the car into reverse and snarling ‘put your fucking seatbelt on’ as he revved off into the night.
Chapter Forty-One
Clay
I followed the signs to Wright’s beach. It was a camping spot I’d been to a few times with my folks when my mother was alive. She’d been into that. Nature stuff. My father had pretended to like it. I don’t know what made me drive all the way to the coast this late at night.
Probably because it was so far away.
I’d driven for an hour to get here.
That’s exactly how long it took me to calm down.
I could still see all those men looking at her. Wanting to touch her. Wanting to fuck her. Thinking they actually could. It made the bile rise in my throat.
Nevada was mine, dammit.
I pulled into the parking lot and finally looked at her. We hadn’t spoken a word. Not fucking one.
Nev’s arms were wrapped around her as she stared straight ahead.
She was shivering. I cursed. And I’d had the top down during the entire drive.
“You should have told me you were cold.”
She stared at me, her mascara smudged around her huge, beautiful eyes. She looked fucking tragic.
“Don’t you have anything else to put on?”
She shook her head no.
I felt rage welling up inside me again.
“Are you fucking saying that you biked to the club looking like that?”
Her mouth dropped open. She obviously had no idea the effect she had on men when she was fully dressed. Being half naked was just asking for trouble.
Not that that was any excuse for the bullshit women put up with. But it still bothered me. I wanted her safe and in my bed, dammit!
I jumped out of the car and popped the trunk. I had some towels in there I thought… I fished around and grabbed two towels and a sweatshirt. I handed her the sweatshirt. Wordlessly she took it and slipped it over her head.
Then I walk toward the path, glancing over my shoulder at her.
“You coming?”
I heard the car door slam and the click clack of her high heels on the pavement. When we got to the path I turned and hoisted her into my arms. She looked at me in surprise and I shrugged.
“I don’t want you to twist an ankle.”
We were both silent as I carried her down the steep path to the ocean. Out here the beach was wild with craggy outcroppings of rock and swirling rip tides. The moon was bright so we could see the waves. I lay the towel down and lowered her onto it. Then I spread the other towel over her legs.
That should do it.
We sat there staring at the water for a long time.
Finally we looked at each other.
Nev looked like she wanted to tell me off. But then she started laughing. I laughed too.
“I think that’s the booze talking, girl. You smell like a bar.”
Slowly our laughter faded. I brushed her hair out of her face. It had come loose during the drive and cascaded over her shoulders.
She blinked up at me, her feelings shining in her eyes.
She loved me.
She fucking had to.
I could see it. It was real. I wasn’t the only one trying to protect their heart. The trouble was, if you protected it too hard, you might miss out on something real.
Something like what we had.
“What am I going to do with you, Nev?”
She smiled, her eyes dipping to my lips.
“Kiss me?”
I groaned and pulled her into my lap.
“Yeah, for starters.”
I kissed her softly.
“But what am I going to do after that?”
She shrugged.
“I have a few ideas.”
I laughed. She was being really cute. I still had a big problem though. I could not let her work in that place. She was way too good for that shit. It wasn’t a place for a nice girl like her.
And it was 100% my fault that she’d ended up there.
Right now my body had different ideas. I slid my hand up her back, caressing her skin. It was warm under my sweatshirt. I guided her arms into the sweatshirt so I could pull her top and bra off. Then I slid everything down over her hips.
“Nev…”
I kissed her forehead softly and stood to pull my pants off. It was chilly but I didn’t mind. Even though I hated it, seeing her on that stage had done things to me.
She had been so sexy up there… even stripping, Nev didn’t look sleazy. She was so fucking gorgeous it had driven the crowd absolutely wild.
And me with it.
Nev stripped had lit me up in a way that was going to take a long, long while to cool down.
At some point, I was hoping to get a private show…