AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She tempts my control with her wide, innocent eyes, the cupid bow of her lips, and her sweet, warm strawberry scent that drowns out the foul smells permeating this place.
“How did you find this place?” I press when she doesn’t respond.
“A-a friend brought me,” she whispers, her voice shaky as she blinks nervously at me, and damnit, I can’t think straight around her. Not when my body is drawn tight with need. I’m barely holding myself back from plummeting my fist into the faces watching her lustfully.
“And where is this friend of yours?” I ask impatiently, the need to take her away from this place growing by the second.
She breaks eye contact and looks around, her brows drawing in confusion as her eyes search the dimly lit room. “She was just here. I swear it.”
She spins around, her eyes growing panicked the more she looks for the friend she came with, and when she comes up empty, there is something akin to fear in her eyes as they finally lock on mine. It’s clear that whoever brought her here has already left, and something tells me that was the original plan anyway.
It must have been Sara, the meddling brat. She’s the only other person who knows both that I own the bar where she and my angel work and that I had a fight tonight. As my younger cousin, she’s privy to more information than most. I’m sure this is yet another of her misguided matchmaking attempts, but I can’t be too angry with the object of every one of my desires standing in front of me. That doesn’t change the fact that bringing her here was risky, though. This is no place for my innocent angel.
“Let’s go,” I say, grabbing her wrist and heading for the exit.
“W-wait,” she protests as I drag her out. “My friend . . . I need to find her.”
“You can call her later,” I grumble as I drag her behind me. Places like this are hot spots for crime. Though it hasn’t been as bad since coming under new management, plenty of fights break out among the crowd, and I won’t risk her getting hurt if that happens tonight. If Sara brought her here, she must have been damn sure I’d see her right away.
“Hawk . . . Wait, that’s your name, right? I’ve never heard anyone mention you by name at the bar, but the crowd was yelling that name, so I thought it must be yours unless it’s the man you knocked out . . .”
I listen to her nervously babble away as I drag her out of the abandoned building and across the empty lot. I decide getting her a taxi is the safest thing to do. My car is parked nearby, but I don’t trust myself to be in an enclosed space with Kirsten right now. I want to keep her with me, take her to my home and ravage her body in all the ways I’ve done so in my head, but . . . not like this.
I can’t have her when my body is bruised and stained with blood and sweat. She deserves better. She deserves the version of me that won’t terrify the hell out of her when I finally have her. And have her I will. Any reservations I had about taking her disappeared the second I saw her tonight. I am done fighting my desire for her!
“I’ll hail you a taxi home. I don’t want to see you come back here ever again,” I say firmly, walking to the street and raising an arm to stop a taxi, but she grabs my hand and pulls it down.
“No,” she says stubbornly. “I’m not leaving without my friend.”
“You can call her when you get home.”
“No!”
I narrow my eyes on her, which causes her to swallow nervously, but she doesn’t bend to my will as I expect. I breathe out a sigh and let go of her wrist, so she can fish for her phone and call her friend. “Fine, make it quick.”
She flashes me a sweet smile that causes a strange, warm sensation in my chest as she makes the call. The call goes through, and I can tell she was genuinely worried for her friend with how her face lights up.
“Sara, where are you?” she asks, confirming my earlier suspicion. “Wait, what do you mean you left?” There is a pause as she listens. “Oh, okay. No, it’s fine. I’ll find my way home.”
Her face falls as she hangs up, and a part of me hates that I let her make the call as it only confirmed what I’d already assumed to be true. “Are you done?” I ask, pushing back the need to draw her into my arms and wipe the hurt from her face, but I can’t touch her. Not when I look like this.
“Yeah, she got a call from home and couldn’t find me, so she left,” she whispers, trying and failing to hide the hurt in her voice.
“I’ll get you a taxi,” I say, but she stops me again, grabbing my arm before I can lift it to hail a ride. I let out an exasperated sigh at the stubborn girl and her apparent lack of self-preservation instinct. Instead, I choose to focus on the impatience and ignore the heat that rocks me from her touch. “Kirsten!”
“I’m sorry, I can’t leave just yet . . . Wait, you know my name?”
“That’s not important right now,” I say, grabbing her arms and shifting her, so she’s facing me, her pretty eyes threaten to undo me. “Do you know how dangerous it is for you to be out here this late? I can protect you from some guy getting handsy, but if a fight breaks out in the crowd, I might not be able to get you clear in time. You could get hurt, or worse.”
“I-I guess, I didn’t think of that,” she whispers, biting into her bottom lip, and my eyes drop to her mouth. I have to force back the need to lean in and kiss her, or better yet, give her something else to bite. “I just . . . I don’t want this to be a wasted trip.”
“What do you mean?”
“I came here looking for someone to teach me how to fight, and from what I saw back there, I think you’re my best bet.”
It’s my turn to look surprised, a feat few others have achieved before her. “You want to learn how to fight.”
“Yeah. I will pay you,” she adds quickly. “I don’t have much money, but Sara told me I wouldn’t have to pay as much here as I would at a gym or if I got a personal trainer.”
