He hunkered down beside me and smiled. “No.”
“I think it’s too soon.”
“For what?”
“For me to meet your club.” I frowned. “I hardly know you.”
“Babe, it’s a casual get together. No pressure.”
“And just how many women have you taken to meet your club?” I asked.
“You’re jealous?”
“No,” I snapped. “I’m just wondering if we should wait to see if this goes anywhere before we start dragging our friends and family into it.”
“Stop fuckin’ around, Dani, and get dressed.”
“No.” I rose to my feet. “I’m not going.”
“Yeah, you are.”
“No, I’m not. It’s a bad idea and you know it.”
“How’s it a bad idea?” he demanded.
“You’re going to bring a kindergarten teacher who happens to be the daughter of a cop to a place filled with criminals! They’re going to see me coming from a mile away and they will hate me just because I’m not like you.”
His eyes widened. “Well, fuck me, baby. Thanks for puttin’ words in their mouths and judging them before they can judge you.”
“You’re welcome,” I retorted, and moved past him, but he caught my arm.
“Dani, the club’s clean and no one’ll hate you.”
“You can’t know that.”
He smiled. “Babe, I can know that. We’re not one percenters.”
“I don’t even know what that means.”
“I’ll explain it to you one day. I promise.”
“I’m not good with crowds,” I confessed.
Austin gave me a sexy grin. “We can go to my room anytime you want to. Just say the word.”
“You live there?”
“No. But I have a room there should I need it.”
“See? I don’t even know where you live,” I said.
“I’ll take you home sometime, baby. We’re gettin’ to know each other. It’ll happen.” He cupped my neck and thumbed my pulse. “What’s really goin’ on inside your head, Dani?”
“It’s just that I know nothing about you and you’re taking me to a place with people who know everything about you and with whom I have nothing in common. What will I talk about?”
“Whatever the fuck you wanna talk about.”
“Well, that’s helpful. Thank you.”
“Babe. Get dressed. It’s gonna be fine.”
I drew my eyebrows together. “What if I follow you?”
“What?”
I bit my lip. “I’ll follow you to the party. That way, you can stay if you want to, but I can leave if it’s too much.”
“Hell no.”
“Why not?”
“My woman is not driving herself to a fuckin’ family get together, Dani. That’s why.”
“I’m not your woman!” I pointed out.
“What the fuck?”
“We’ve known each other for less than a week,” I continued. “I’m not your woman. We’re not anything yet.”
His mouth landed on mine with an intensity I wasn’t prepared for. He tugged the towel from my head and slid open my robe, cupping my breast and rolling my nipple between his fingers. Guiding me to the bed, he pushed me down, placing one hand on my chest to keep me planted where he wanted me, while his mouth moved from my lips to my neck.
“Austin?” I rasped.
He didn’t reply as he drew a nipple into his mouth and bit gently. I gasped at the sensation. Austin pushed open my knees, sliding my thighs over his shoulders and began a delicious assault on my clit. I whimpered as he sucked, licked, and kissed his way around my most private area.
He slid one finger inside of me, and then two, and as much as I tried to resist the fire burning inside of me, it was useless. I cried out as my orgasm hit and he kissed my inner thighs before releasing my shaking legs and climbing back up my body. “You are absolutely my fuckin’ woman, Dani. Got me?”
I squeezed my eyes shut.
“Dani,” he pressed. “Do you get me?”
“No, Austin, I don’t,” I admitted as I pulled my robe closed again and sat up. “You confuse me.”
He leaned up on his elbow and raised an eyebrow. “How so?”
“Like you care,” I ground out.
“Oh, I do care, baby,” he droned. “Please tell me all the ways I confuse you so that I can clarify things for you.”
“Screw you, Austin.”
He laughed and sat up. “I was just tryin’ to do that, baby. You stopped it.”
“You are such a jerk!”
“I’m not tryin’ to be, Dani.” He dragged his hands down his face. “Tell me what’s on your mind.”
I sighed. “You’re everything my parents warned me against. You’re secretive, but you’re also honest. I feel wholly protected by you, but then you scare me more than anyone I’ve ever known. You’re a bad boy, but when I dated a so-called good one, he turned out to be the devil, so, yeah, I don’t get you because you’re not what I expected. You drive me crazier than anyone I’ve ever met, but then you make me feel complete. I’m feeling things I don’t quite know how to process and that makes me want to run. I don’t want to give up something that might be really, really good, but I also don’t want to be stupid and fall for a boy just because he’s super pretty and makes me come.”
He shrugged, his nonchalance back in place. “I did tell you I would.”
“You also promised you’d do it more than once.”
“Happy to oblige, baby.”
I tied my robe with an angry swoosh. “I’m pouring my heart out to you and you’re talking about making me come again?”
He sighed and dragged his hands down his face. “Dani.”
“What, Austin? I don’t know what kinds of women you’ve dated in the past, but I’m not one who can be manipulated with your ability to be really good at oral sex, or kissing, or… well, anything oral,” I said, lamely. “I deserve to be treated with respect and if you’re not willing to do that, then see you later.”
“Pain in my ass,” he grumbled.
“Then leave!” I stepped into the bathroom and slammed the door.
My tirade had completely counteracted my body’s sated state just moments before and that made me mad. I wanted to go back to my post-climax glow. I stared in the mirror and scowled at myself. I shouldn’t look this way. My eyes were bright, my skin was flushed, and I looked more alive than I had in a long time. Despite my tirade, I felt happy. Austin did that for me. I knew that I could be totally honest with him. Show him one hundred percent of myself, even if it wasn’t pretty. The door opened and I caught Austin’s eye in the mirror. “I thought you were leaving.”
He wrapped his arms around me from behind, pulled my hair to the side, and kissed my neck. “You show me that and expect me to leave?” he challenged.
“Yeah, kinda. It’s been three days and I’m showing you everything.” I sighed. “So much for wanting to be sexy and mysterious.”
He turned me to face him. “You couldn’t be more beautiful to me, Dani.”
“I think there’s something psychologically wrong with you.”
“You could be onto something.” Austin chuckled. “Meeting my brothers is a big deal, baby, but I’ve been trying to downplay it, so you don’t panic on me.”
“Maybe it’s too soon, then.”
He shook his head, cupping my neck. “They need to know who you are to me.”
“Who am I to you?”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.