“You have a stalker until I can get my hands on him. And it might be a bad idea, but it’s a bad idea that is going to happen one way or another, so fighting it seems stupid and takes energy I can sure as hell put to better use. Let me take care of you for one night, Brysen. I promise you won’t regret it.”
Of course I wouldn’t regret it. I wanted him, was entrapped by him, and after I ate it all up, took everything he had to give, lived in the pleasure and passion he broke loose inside of me, it would for sure kill me to know I would never be able to have it again. I blew out a breath, lifted a hand to wrap around his thick wrist, and fully intended to tell him no, that it just wasn’t worth the impending heartache, but what came out of my mouth was:
“I don’t know what to do with you, Race.”
His warm hand slid under the fall of my hair at the back of my neck and his head lowered toward mine. His mouth hovered right over mine and my lips parted in their own invitation.
“Yes, you do.”
When he kissed me, my mind was made up. I wanted this—wanted him—and I hadn’t had anything just for myself in far too long. I knew it was bound to lead to really bad things, but on the way there I really, really wanted to enjoy everything that came with him. Including the way he pulled me close. The way he slid his hands down over the curve of my ass. The way his tongue lured mine out to play, and maybe mostly the way he made everything else that was always hounding me fade away. With his mouth on mine, with his hands roving over me, there was no crumbling home life, there was no failed math class, there was no lurking and unidentified threat . . . all I could feel was heat, burning desire, and desperation. It was such a welcome reprieve from what I usually felt that there was no way I could tell him no.
He took a step back and squeezed the back of my neck. I was breathless and his eyes had shifted to that sexy, deep, opaque forest green.
“I can’t offer you anything fancy. You’ve been on my mind and under my skin for a minute now, but I promise that I’ll make it worth your while.”
I breathed out a sigh and took the hand he offered me.
“You already have, Race.”
He flashed that dimple at me again and inclined his head toward the mouth of the alley.
“Where did you park?”
“Around the corner.” He gave me a look that indicated I would be lucky to find the BMW in one piece once we reached it.
“I saw your friend, the one from the party. She doesn’t have any clue what she’s doing running around in a place like this. She’s loud and flashy. Things like that are like bait in the water for predators. Anyone actually from here, anyone who knows how the Point works, knows the less attention you can draw to yourself, the better. She also tried to grab my junk when I walked past her.”
That was the last straw. Adria was off the friends list. I looked up at him under my lashes and hoped against hope that the gunk I had fallen into wasn’t spreading onto him as he pulled me closer to his side. I loved the way I could feel the ripple of all that lean muscle against me as he moved. Knew I would love it even more when there weren’t so many clothes separating our skin.
I jerked to a halt when we rounded the corner. Because my luck was so stellar, and because, of course, that was how my night was going to end, the BMW was sitting on the ground, the tires and rims long gone. The driver’s-side window was busted out, meaning my radio and whatever else wasn’t tied down was probably missing. Luckily, I had locked all my school stuff in the trunk, and it still looked closed.
“Shit.” I breathed out the word and let Race pull me into a tight hug.
“That’s what happens out here.”
“It sucks.”
He didn’t argue, but pulled out his phone and started barking orders into it. It sounded like he was arranging to have someone tow the heap to the garage.
“More minions?”
He gave me a grin that had my insides turning liquid and slippery.
“Sometimes they serve a purpose. Let’s go. The Mustang is behind the warehouse.”
“I need to see if my computer and books are in the trunk still.”
He gave me a hard look and shook his head.
“You shouldn’t come down here with that kind of stuff. People get carjacked for a cell phone, let alone a new computer.”
I made a face and went to collect my stuff. “Like I said, I don’t know what to do with you and I have no idea what to do in this place, and yet I keep finding myself here.”
I breathed a sigh of relief when the Mac glinted up at me. I grabbed it and went back to my sexy escort.
He took my hand again and pressed a kiss to the back of it. It made me want to literally swoon. No one person should be that smooth. It was like he didn’t have any kind of edges, even though I knew for a fact that wasn’t true.
“Whether you want to be here or not, you have to know how to take care of yourself once you get here. The Point eats pretty girls like you alive.”
“What about pretty boys like you? Does it eat you alive too?”
He gave me a look that was dark in a different way from the ones he gave me when he was turned on. There were shadows there, deep places that had marked him, and it made me a little afraid, not just of him, but for him. Getting into bed with Race Hartman came with risks. I knew it, and the look on his handsome face told the truth of it.
“It does until the pretty boy grows a really sharp set of teeth to bite back.”
Yikes. That made him as much of a predator as everything else hiding in the darkness and shadows of this city, and I was about to go willingly with him and let him “take care” of me. It looked like I couldn’t avoid messy situations no matter how good my intentions might be.