Fear flashes through her eyes, our silent communication revealing everything between us.
I know your secret, my eyes say.
Hers narrow.I could kill you with the snap of my fingers.
My eyebrow lifts a fraction.Are you so sure? It would stir up a lot of trouble.
Are you here to stir up trouble?
I’m like you. I need to keep a low profile. I won’t fuck with you, you don’t fuck with me.
Rap interrupts the stream of explanations from her employee. “Goldie must have gotten her name because of that golden tongue of hers. Alright, you can hang out. But you step one furry paw out of line, and I’ll not only throw you out on your ass, I’ll neuter you. Got it, wolf?”
There are few humans I respect, but this woman immediately commands it. I don’t fear her, but I have no doubt she will do what she says. I wonder if her employees have any idea how much she is hiding. I bet my balls she doesn’t let anyone close enough to catch a clue.
I respect that too.
“Yes, ma’am,” I say.
A flicker of a smile tells me calling her ma’am was the right move. She sits back down to her laptop, dismissing us from her office.
When Goldie and I return to the bar, the girls are still busy prepping for their shift.
I’ve learned Red is a different person behind the bar. Not the girl who shrinks into her sweater, hiding behind a shell. Or the sexy she-demon possessed by the need to get off.
At work, she is a woman who commands the space and people around her with ease. Red isn’t afraid to flaunt her tattoos and piercings as she levels a steely gaze at the crowd demanding liquor and her attention. Watching her like that is. . . heady. I’m getting a taste for all the sides of her, and it only makes me hungrier.
“Rap said it’s cool,” Goldie pumps an excited fist.
Disappointment swells in Red’s eyes. The poor girl thought she could escape me. But she can’t. Not until I’m done.
“Great,” Red musters a halfhearted smile, remembering she must play the role of doting girlfriend.
Cinder is in equally risqué goth wear, clearly raided from a Hot Topic store. I get a sense the prerequisite to work at this bar is the ability to dress like a walking felony.
Which is why I can barely even glance at Red for longer than a moment since she took off her duster coat. The girl is wearing a black leather bra, and a skirt that looks painted on her perfect ass. A gold chain wraps around her neck and falls down the front of her chest to where it hooks into her gold navel ring. With her voluptuous red hair falling down around her exposed shoulders, and bicep cuffs, she looks like a goddamn Amazonian woman—powerful, sensual, commanding. The churning arousal inside me turns dark and angry.
Little Red looks like cinnamon, spice, and every delicious sin I want to run my tongue along.
The girl is staunch about not letting anyone touch her, yet here she is, exposing swaths of creamy, lightly freckled skin. Soon this bar will be packed, and I know countless eyes will be glued to her. It makes me want to drag her to a cave where I can fuck her until she can’t see straight.
Finance major. Fucking ridiculous.
Turning my back to the bar, I run an agitated hand through my hair.
Witchtits. I'm hard as a rock, and angry as hell. This is going to be a long night.
Goldie turns to me with a bright smile, though I see something devious lurking in her eyes.
“Since you are staying, why don’t you help me with some heavy boxes we need from the back?”
She thinks she’s a wolf leading a lamb to slaughter, but I’m the predator here. Still, I'd do anything to put a little distance between me and Red.
Once we are in the back storeroom, Goldie whirls on me.
I sigh, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. “So, it’s that time, is it? Ready to give me the speech and all that?”
“You’re damn right it is.” Her softness evaporates, and she looks ready to strike me with venomous teeth if I make the wrong move. She reminds me of a vengeful plus-size Barbie doll. Although Barbie wishes she possessed such a sultry face.
