I needed a drink—no—I needed a hundred drinks. I hadn’t been able to get that curvy redhead out of my mind. She left my mind in complete disarray, left me wanting more than a quick fuck, more than a one-night stand.
“You are stressed the hell out tonight, Rick,” Haden said, clapping me on the back as he lifted his other arm to signal the bartender. We decided to hit one of the main bars in town called Poppies. It was an Irish pub with good beer, crap music, pool tables, and darts. It was the exact thing I needed right now.
“It was a long day,” I replied, glancing around the pub to see if there was a woman there to catch my interest. I needed someone to take my mind off Lucy. There’s nothing better than having a woman under me, crying out my name, wanting more of my cock, and feeling her wet heat clench around my cock. That’s was what I needed.
“Tell me about it over the beers, come on.” Haden jerked his head to the side as he made his way through the crowd of people trying to get through to the bar. I followed him down the beaten wood floors, bypassing a few drunk guys trying to hit on a girl. They tossed darts, trying to impress the brunette, but once her eyes locked on mine, I knew she wasn’t interested in them.
The only problem was, I wasn’t interested in her. In fact, I wasn’t interested in one fucking woman in this pub, and that only pissed me off. How did Lucy get under my skin so quickly? It made no damn sense. She was just another girl.
A girl unlike any I had ever seen before.
“So what has your panties in a twist, Rick?” Haden leaned back in the booth and tossed his arm over the back. His eyes searched the pub, searching for the woman he wanted tonight. While I had seen Haden go on dates, talk to women, and even make out with them, I never saw him take a woman home. He never bragged about his conquests. He teased me, but Haden never talked about himself. It was a question I wanted to ask, but I had a feeling if he wanted to tell me anything personal, he would.
I had to be a patient friend.
I didn’t want to talk about Lucy yet. I still wanted her to be my secret. “I don’t want to talk about it. I’d rather forget it and just drink beer and play pool.” The guys playing pool next to us kept looking at me, not with interest, but with challenge while I watched them play. I hated guys like that. They felt like they needed to pick the biggest strongest guy they saw, probably the most Alpha guy, and try to pick a fight with them.
Which would be me. Anywhere I went, I was the dominant, I was the Alpha. I was not in the fucking mood for some douchebag who probably only had a part-time job wanting to flex his muscles for the half-naked chick he had hanging all over his arm.
It’s not like I wanted his girl. She was too messy.
I wanted someone put together, someone classy yet sexy. The first person that popped into my mind was Lucy. And since when did I want someone? What the hell had gotten into me? I chugged half my beer and licked my lips after I swallowed.
“After these guys, we will play,” Haden said. “I’m in no hurry tonight. I’m happy to just hang out.”
“Me too. It’s exactly what I need.” I still searched the bar for someone I was attracted to, but everyone woman who saw me checking them out, my cock laid soft. I was never fucking soft. I was always half-hard, at the ready, and now this Lucy woman had ruined me.
It was hard to see the poorly lit bar. The walls were dark, and the lights cast a dim yellow color. The place was disgusting and a welcome change of pace. Bells jingled above the door, and my gaze lasered onto the entrance and inhaled a sharp breath when I saw who walked through the door.
“Holy shit, why don’t you look at that?” Haden saw her too, and my teeth ground together when he noticed her. She was mine. “I have never seen a redhead that beautiful before. Ah, shit. She has someone,” he said, scoffing when he saw a man following Lucy.
Fuck, what a relief. It was Logan, her brother, and I wasn’t about to tell Haden any different. I sat back against the booth; the old cracked leather pulled the material of my expensive suit. A shadow fell over my face, but Lucy felt my gaze because she turned her head from her brother and looked around the bar. She felt someone looking at her.
I thought she’d like it, but a mask of fear fell on her face. She stood on her tiptoes as Logan bent down to meet his sister halfway. I wondered what she was saying to him, by the looks of it, it seemed it was bad because Logan straightened to his full height and he put his arm around Lucy’s shoulders, protecting her. He steered her to the closest table, right by the door. It was the worst seat in the entire place, but the closest to the entrance.
They were ready to leave, and they hadn’t even settled in yet. Interesting.
Lucy had changed out of the clothes she wore to the interview to a tight tank top and jeans. It was simple, and the outfit hugged her curves like a goddamn glove. Jesus Christ, never in my life had I ever seen a woman like her. Her ass was big, her waist small, smaller than what I thought, and her tits were big.
The things I wanted to do to her…I’d need more than one night.
I’d need forever.
“I’ll be back. I’m going to go get us more beers.”
“Get a pitcher,” I told Haden. “Get two pitchers.”
“My man! Out for a good time. That’s what I like to see. You’re too stressed, Rick.” Haden patted his hand on my shoulder as he left, and I settled in, getting comfortable as I watched my girl from the shadows.
My girl.
That was a dangerous thing to think, especially when I had never wanted to claim anyone as my own before. I watched her and Logan from the shadowed corner, ignoring the man to my left that wanted to pick a fight. He kept getting closer to me with his pool stick, trying to piss me off, but I kept my eyes on the woman who needed me.
Because she did need me. I couldn’t say how I knew that, I just felt it.
Logan reached across the small table that was only big enough to hold two drinks and took her hand in his. It was too hard reading his lips from this far, especially with the crowd encroaching on my view of them, but whatever he said, it made her smile and something released in my chest when she nodded.
But then Logan got up, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up when Lucy wouldn’t let go of his hand. The panic on her face was undeniable. She didn’t want to be left alone.