Lou studied him for a long moment, the leader of our coalition even though I was the one they were all there for. Her face softened, the badass fading into the angelic.
“You got things to say to Lila, you make sure you think before you speak,” she advised. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
“Love ya, Lou,” he said in a way that seemed like he didn’t mean it. “But I’ll fuck Lila right here, right now in front of all of you if you don’t get outta my sight in the next thirty seconds. You got somethin’ to say about my life choices? You wanna stick your nose in my business? Be my guest and critique my fuckin’ form.”
Lou blinked then turned to face us with her mouth in a little ‘o’.
“We’re gonna head out,” she mouthed at me then whirled her finger in the air, and the girls stepped together into a little group and fled the shop.
Harleigh Rose was the last to leave, whispering with a wink, “Good luck, and use a condom,” before she shut the door behind her.
Slowly, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up, my system flooded with adrenaline like prey sensing it’s being stalked by a predator, I turned to face Nova again.
He stood in the middle of the shop, arms crossed in a way that made his tatted arms bulge, the muscles beneath his skin like coiled rope. There was an expression on his face, a determination to the set of his jaw and the flare of his nostrils as he breathed like a bull before the sprint, telling me I was in trouble.
Heat arrowed straight down my spine and pooled between my legs.
Because I wanted that, whatever trouble Nova wanted to dole out. I’d take his ire, his frustration, even a degree of violence if it meant he would take it out between my legs.
I had a feeling angry sex with such a man would eviscerate me for good.
“Now what?” I asked, breathless because even the feel of him in the empty store with me was too much for my nervous system, the air stripped of everything but the scent of him, rich with spice and musk and leather.
“Now…” Nova said as he prowled toward me in an aggressive swagger, the right side of his step slightly more exaggerated than the right. It shouldn’t have been sexy, but it was, the movement of his broad shoulders, the flex of his muscles through the thin, worn denim of his old jeans.
My mouth went dry, my tongue glued to the roof of my mouth as he stopped in front of me. He slowly lifted a hand so we could both watch as it moved to my chest, flattened to the upper curve of my breasts above the top of my cropped Harley Davidson tank.
“Now,” he practically purred, “you’re gonna take off this sexy little top and spread yourself out for me in my chair. I’m gonna spend the next hour tattin’ the sweet curve of your waist knowin’ you’re gettin’ wet just from the feel of my hands on your skin and my breath bein’ close to your pussy. Then, you give me a good answer for why the fuck you left me cold and alone this mornin’ like some piss-off one-night stand, I’m gonna peel off those shorts and tend to you with my tongue.”
There was a low, heavy pulse in between my legs, growing stronger, weightier with every rough word spoken from Nova’s bruised, plum mouth. By the time he finished his tirade, I was swaying into him, unable to find my equilibrium in the force of his gravitational pull.
“I don’t think,” I cleared my throat because it was as hoarse as a four pack a day smoker, “I don’t think sleeping together again is a good idea.”
His thick, dark brow angled high on his forehead. “Yeah? I slide my hand down these tiny denim cutoffs, you sayin’ you wouldn’t soak my fingers with your wet?”
“I’m saying I don’t think it’s the smart thing to do,” I corrected. “I don’t want things to get messy.”
“Didn’t seem worried about gettin’ messy last night when you made a mess of your fingers comin’ hard just from the sound of my voice,” he teased, his mild voice a mockery, his smile so wicked the sight of it hooked into my heart and drew me closer still, even as I fought his pull. “Not that I’m complainin’. The sight of your drenched cunt, you splayed out so wanton and hot, beggin’ for my dick…Not gonna lie, Li, never seen a damn thing hotter.”
I snorted. “I’m sure.”
Instantly, his hand lashed out to pull me close. I smashed into the hard wall of his chest and gasped with the force of it so when he spoke, it was into my open, panting mouth.