AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Uh-huh. That’s what they all say until they trot down here with their dicks in their hands at 3 a.m. in the morning, begging for me to take the lock off the TV.”
I grimaced at the mental picture and wished I’d considered my lodgings with a little more decorum.
“Up the stairs on the right,” the bartender told me, but I didn’t move.
I was in no rush to explore the linens up there now.
“Give me a beer,” I told him, settling into one of the barstools.
I was in no hurry to stare at the four walls of my empty hotel room. And this guy was chatty enough. Maybe I’d get some answers from him.
Without a word, he placed a frothy pint glass in front of me and extended his palm for payment.
“Not a very trusting man, are you?” I mused, withdrawing my wallet from my back pocket.
“I don’t know you, friend,” he replied curtly.
“You sure about that?”
The barkeep jerked his head back, eyes narrowing slightly, and my chest tightened as I caught a glint of recognition in his eye. I’d gambled with my coy response, but had I gotten a hit?
“You do look a little familiar…” he agreed. “What did you say your name was?”
“He didn’t.”
The stool next to mine slid out with a terrible screech, turning my attention toward her, but I knew who it was even before I set eyes on her gorgeous face. The tightness in my crotch had been a giveaway without my mind realizing it. That spoke nothing to the burning in my chest that instantly set my entire upper body on fire.
The bartender grunted appreciatively and shuffled away, leaving me in the company of the woman who had left me at the diner hours earlier.
She was incredible up close, the smell of her hair firing pistons through every vein in my arm like shots of stow.
“Well,” I laughed, elated to see her, the pulsating burn searing at my breastbone again. “Fancy meeting you here.”
She didn’t smile, her aqua eyes glimmering, but I found myself looking over the magnificent surge of her breasts against her tank top. She was wearing the same outfit she’d had on earlier, and I wanted to rip off that flimsy shirt with my teeth.
“Really?” she demanded flatly, but I refused to be put off by her curtness.
She had clearly come looking for me this time, and I wasn’t letting her out of my sight.
“Can I buy you a drink this time?” I asked, reaching for my beer before I could succumb to my urge to bend her over the bar. “Or are you going to storm off again?”
“Cut the bullshit, Elijah. What are you doing here?”
My grin evaporated, and I peered at her, my flirtation dying.
“You know me?” I asked, stunned.
Earlier, I had mistaken her animosity for simple aggression, a dislike of the clear attraction between us. Strong women didn’t like being put off their game, but that was not what this was at all. She genuinely did not like me for reasons I didn’t know. She knew something about the past that evaded me entirely.
“How? How do you know me?”
Her aqua eyes narrowed, and she leaned close, her nose almost against mine, a strand of strawberry hair touching my cheek.
“I’m not buying this act,” she hissed, but I caught the gleam of wary curiosity in her eyes, as if she wasn’t entirely sure what to believe. “I know you better than anyone—even if you don’t want to admit that.”
I drew in a breath, catching her meaning.
We were together? Hot damn, I did hit the jackpot with this one. What did I do to get her so mad?
