But I couldn’t resist, and she didn’t stop me when I wrapped my fingers around her calf, my thumb brushing lazy strokes across her skin. Her only response was her toes curling into my shirt.
Setting her glass down, she picked up a chilled Coke bottle she’d set on the counter and placed the top to the edge of the counter. Then with a quick hit, the heel of her hand came down on the top, popping it off.
My brows rose, impressed. “You know that’s a twist-off?”
She shrugged. “One of my party tricks,” she admitted with a wink. “Don’t take the fun out of it.”
I shook my head with a smirk. “You’re something else.”
“I know,” she said, tipping the bottle to her own smiling lips. I watched her obsessively while her mouth wrapped around the top, her throat bobbing while she took a swig.
“Fuck, sweetheart. You’re making it hard not to touch you.”
The woman knew exactly what she was doing, the little tease. Her mouth released the bottle with a little pop before she handed it to me.
“Your shower soda, sir.”
It was cool in my heated grasp, and I needed my thirst quenched in more ways than one tonight. I looked at it. Some of her lip gloss was left behind. Putting my own mouth where hers had been felt more than sensual. It felt downright intimate. My eyes studied her while I drank it. The cold, refreshing taste of cola cooling my insides while I gulped. Her eyes quickly became heavy with desire.
Winking back at her, I turned to head toward the shower.
“No jerking off in there,” she called after me. “I want you fucking desperate for me.”
I groaned. “I already am, sweetheart.”
This fucking rodeo was trouble.
But so was Lina Larsen.
I wantedto take her on a date. A real date. With limited options out on the road, and knowing my girl needed to unwind, I didn’t mind taking her out to the rodeo bar. It was full by the time we got inside, and people were already getting kicked out. They were probably trashed before they even walked in, drinking half their body weight in beer during the rodeo.
“Fucking amateurs,” I grumbled, my hand resting on the small of Lina’s back as we headed to the bar.
On a compact platform by the dance floor was a stereo system. A DJ was busy running the tracks, spinning classic country music. I scanned the room, immediately looking for any threats, taking in the dudes who sat at the bar alone, registeringthe ones who appeared as though they worked out and were spoiling for a fight—or eyeing the drunk girls who might be willing to go home with them.
I pressed through the crowd, keeping close to Lina, feeling as though I needed to advertise to this whole fucking shithole that she wasmine.
I didn’t even ask what she wanted, already knowing her order. “Whiskey sour and a Coke,” I told the bartender as soon as they were ready for our order.
Lina raised her brows at me. “You’ve been paying attention.”
“I’m always paying attention when it comes to you,” I told her honestly, wrapping my arm around her to bring her closer.
It was already suffocatingly hot in here with all the bodies. By the looks of the bouncer at the door, though, he was ready to show some of them out. There was some blonde crying and arguing with her girlfriend by the restroom hallway, and I could tell the bouncer was waiting to give her the boot.
“Keeping an eye out for trouble?” Lina pushed up on her tiptoes to ask in my ear.
“Always looking for threats.”
It felt like it was ingrained in me at this point—part of my wiring. Something that only intensified when I became a dad. Now whenever I was out with Lina, I was on high alert all the fucking time.
Once we had our drinks and found a high table by the dance floor, I pulled her chair toward me so her knees were bracketed by mine. I wanted her as close as possible tonight. I didn’t want any prick thinking they had a chance with her.
Feeling possessive, I put a hand on her knee while I sipped from my glass, letting my thumb draw circles on her skin.
“We don’t need to make it a late night,” I told her, already impatient. I wanted to take her back to the trailer. My dick wasalready hard against my zipper, and my balls were fucking black and blue at this point.
She gave me a flirtatious tip of her lips above her cocktail, as if she could read my thoughts. “We just got here. I think you can last a while longer.”
