The old me would be all over her within seconds of meeting. She was the kind of woman who screamed a wild, good time. But apparently my dick only got hard for one gray-eyed and obviously-too-young-for-me, woman.
I shot her a small, watered-down smile so she wouldn’t think I was interested. Her bright eyes gleamed, however, so she obviously wasn’t fazed by my disinterest. She was that confident. That was hot. Usually.
Now, I was just annoyed. All I wanted was to be left alone with a good glass of scotch and my obsessive thoughts about Lily Winthrop.
“What can I get for you?”
“A glass of your house scotch,” I said.
She gave me a flirtatious smile before turning away to make the drink. My eyes didn’t follow her. Instead, I directed my gaze to the huge flat-screen TV hanging above the bar, to a baseball game I had no interest in watching.
But it was better than watching her. I didn’t want her to get any ideas.
She placed the glass down in front of me, along with a napkin with a line of numbers written in black ink on it. I looked down and focused on the numbers, then back up again, my eyebrows raised.
She aimed a wink my way and offered me a wide smile. “I have the closing shift tonight, but just in case you’re interested later, text me after and I’ll make it worth your while.”
I opened my mouth to decline, but before I could even utter the words, another body landed in the seat next to me, sending waves of heat straight down my spine. I knew before I even looked who was sitting next to me, and it had nothing to do with the familiar slightly rose-scented perfume working its way up my nose.
No, it was based purely on my body’s instinctive reaction to her.
“I think you need to get back to work, Rachel, and not hit on the customers,” Lily said, a tinge of irritation in the tone of her voice. I bit my lip to hold back a smile. I loved seeing her possessive over me.
It was only fair—after all, I had been feeling the same way since the first time I caught sight of her. I didn’t look at the bartender to see if she left us alone or not, though she must have, since I didn’t hear her reply.
I braced myself, knowing that once I took Lily in, I would lose what little focus and self-control I did have when it came to her.
My heart stuttered something fierce in my chest, and much to my horror, my hands felt sweaty. Damn, I felt like a prepubescent boy all over again, about to interact with his crush for the very first time.
She was just as beautiful as I remembered, if not more so, if that was even possible. From her devastating gray eyes, which she quickly hid by averting her gaze down to her lap, to the lovely blush overtaking her cheeks, making her impossibly endearing to me. I couldn’t get enough of her, as my eyes drank in every single feature, like the desperate man she had made me.
She hadn’t changed since this morning, and I took in her clothes, noting with male satisfaction the slight creasing here and there, my eyes zoning in on her pink blouse, and my trousers seemed to be getting tighter and tighter with every second that she was near. I remembered the welcome surprise of discovering she hadn’t been wearing a bra, and that the only barrier between me and those soft, perky tits of hers was a shirt so thin I could have ripped apart with my hands.
My eyes moved to her long, soft hair that fell all the way down her back in dark waves, and my hands twitched with the urge to run my fingers through it. I waited with bated breath for her to look at me. The effect, I was sure, would be nothing less than the feeling of sharp daggers straight to my heart, and sure enough, when she looked up from her lap and met my eyes, my breath caught, and my chest constricted in the best way possible.
Why was I feeling like this?
“What are you doing, Dereck?” she asked quietly.
“I wanted to see you again,” I answered honestly. I never wanted her to leave my sight in the first place. Watching her walk out of my office this morning had felt like someone was taking a sledgehammer to my heart, and I wanted to get rid of the uncomfortable feeling that her leaving had caused.
I grimaced slightly at my own thoughts.
This wasn’t me. I had never felt so out of control. And yet I couldn’t stop it even if I wanted to. And I didn’t want to.
I would gladly be a fool for Lily than be in control for anyone else.
And that was a problem.
“I don’t get it,” she said, and she sounded forlorn. I wanted to do everything in my power to make her happy again, even if I had to make a deal with a crossroad demon to do it.
“What don’t you get, sweetheart?”
I ran my finger down her soft cheek, loving the sharp contrast between the textures of our skin. Whereas I was rough, she was so soft and delicate.
I wanted to hide her away from the world. Surely someone so sweet shouldn’t be out and about where any harm could come to her.
She closed her eyes briefly at my touch, and I swore she moved a little closer to me.
Then, as if getting back to herself and reality, she pulled away from me, and shot a warning look my way.
I bit my lip to hold back a smile.
“You were saying?”
“What? Oh, right.” She looked a little embarrassed to have lost herself to the moment there before collecting herself. “I don’t get why
