Page 69 of Cross To Bear

I just chuckled as I nodded to Maddie to grab her drink before I wrapped an arm around her waist and directed her towards a table that was near enough to watch the show without getting the full blast from the speakers.

“So what was that?” she asked me. “With Roxy and this Hunter guy?”

“Fox shifters don’t have the best reputation in the shifter community,” I told her as I pulled out her chair for her. Once she was sitting down, I set mine down beside it. “I dunno if it’s because of the cultural bullshit around foxes, or just because they’re a lot smaller than the usual predator shifters, but they’re seen to be unreliable at best, thieving pricks at worst.”

“So Roxy’s a fox shifter and so is Hunter?” She looked up at the tall, silver blond haired man on stage. I nodded, barely suppressing the urge to redirect her attention back to me, but she turned of her own accord. “Are they fated mates or something?”

“Interested in that idea, are you?” She flushed, which told me something, though I wasn’t sure what yet. In the end, I shook my head. “I’m not sure. We don’t know who each other is fated to be with.” My fingers traced lazy circles on her arm. “Only our own mates.”

Maddie looked up at me then, her lips parting, ready to say something, when I reconsidered the idea of letting live music play in my bar.

“How we all doing tonight?” Hunter’s voice boomed out the PA system, drowning out any reply she might want to make. Whoops and screams from the crowd let the musician know how they were feeling, a stream of scantily clad women appearing in the space before the stage. But it was when Maddie caught sight of Krystel in the company of Mongrel’s latest side piece that she stiffened.

I needed to ask why, to interrogate her about what had happened to make her uncomfortable. I’d already terminated Krystel’s employment here, the downfalls of having her work the bar now outweighing the benefits. Thought if those bitches were making Maddie’s life difficult? No Mongrel, no Jesse, no one would get between me and my girl ever again. Right as I was about to step in, she leaned back in her chair, and all I could feel was the soft fall of her hair and the heat of her body.

Everyone watched Hunter as he played classic rock songs and some of his own compositions, getting the whole bar jumping, but I just watched her, seeing her eyes light up, her fingers tapping the arm of her chair as she watched the performance. My plans of taking her riding out into the darkness, away from here, away from everyone else, died then and were replaced by something else.

“Want to dance?” I asked her.

Chapter 40

“Dance?” I asked dumbly, staring over at Razor. “Oh no, I can’t—”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m a total gumby,” I told him, then moved my arms around in a weird flapping movement. “Accountants: good with numbers but this one is kinaesthetically challenged.”

“You think you can’t dance?”

That fucking grin of his widened as my eyes went to slits.

“I know I can’t, but if you want to…” I looked over at the crowd, at women that seemed to move like reeds, swaying gracefully in time with the music. “Actually scratch that. You’re staying here.”

“Don’t want no one else touching what’s yours?” That hectic light danced in his eyes. “Don’t worry, baby. There’s no one else I’ll be dancing with but you.”

I thought that was it, when he got to his feet and held out a hand for me to take, the same way each one of them did when they were about to take me on yet another wild journey.

“Didn’t you hear me?” I put a finger in my ear to block out the loud blast of rock music. “No can dance.”

“They call it rock music for a reason.” He pulled me to his feet and before I could protest, I was pressed against him. “You don’t have to dance.” He shifted back and forth, taking me with him. “Just rock against me.”

“So you want me to dry hump you in this bar?” I went to pull away but he held me right where I was. “Weren’t we going for a ride—?”

“Later.”

Those too full lips quirked up at the corners, right before I was dragged after him and into the messy fray of dancers. Bodies gyrated around us, though his presence earned him a bubble of space around him. He grabbed my hands and put them around his neck, forcing me to plaster my body against his, something he reinforced by sliding his hands down on my hips and that’s when he demonstrated what he was talking about.

You couldn’t have called this dancing. Maybe some kind of slow wave perhaps, his body rocking mine back and forth, back and forth, in time with the beat of the music. I couldn’t even manage something that simple without fucking it up, stumbling and treading on his boots.

“You see!” I said, trying to pull away. “I’m rhythmically challenged, a lost cause. If you want to dance, you should just—”

“I should just what?” He drew me closer, forcing both of my feet up onto his boots, which had me looking down, then at his face, sure this had to be uncomfortable. When I said as much, he just laughed. “These are steel capped boots, love. There ain’t nothing you can do to crush my toes, not even if you wanted to.”

Then he picked me up and spun me around, forcing me to stare out into the crowd, my arms placed back against his neck as he moved us in slow sinuous movements that seemed a perfect bodily interpretation to the raucous music coming from the speakers.

“Whatever you find hard, I’ll work out a way to get past.” His voice was a low buzz in my ear. “You’ll work that out after a while, but you’re still getting to that point. Learning just how far we’ll go to make sure you’re happy, comfortable, but more than that, free. Free to feel pleasure.” He traced the line of my body with the backs of his hands. “Free to feel valued, cared for.” His hand slid up my throat and tilted my head back. “Free to be loved, because that’s the sweetest freedom of all.”

I had things to say, protests to make, but they died in my throat as his lips came down on mine, kissing each one of them away until I was breathless. He nuzzled into my neck, making me feel so damn hot, my muscles unlocking, finally letting him take the lead. I didn’t need to dance right now, just let him dance the both of us and that had the music taking on a whole other meaning.

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