Page 11 of Blue Summer

The elevator cannot reach its destination fast enough as heat floods my cheeks. When the door dings open the old man leans over to Roan.

“It’s alright, son. I had to tie mine up with a silk tie before we got married. Handcuffs would have been so much easier.”

“Jim! Leave those poor kids alone.”

We walk out as the old man’s snicker comes floating over to me before the doors of the elevator swish shut.

“Oh, my fucking God! I can’t believe you! Those people thought… hey!” he quickly sits me down on the jeep seat and uncuffs one wrist and brings the still cuffed hand around before securing it to the door handle with the empty side. “What the fuck? Do you think I plan to fling myself out of the moving car? Really.”

“I asked. Now… we do things my way.”

“You asked? You didn’t ask. You just demanded I come home with you. There was no question there for me to have a chance to answer it.”

He pulls back but doesn’t automatically shut the door after stretching the seatbelt around me. “Okay. Would you have come home with me if I asked you to?”

We have a stare-off for a breathless moment before I set my chin in a defiant tilt. “No. I won’t be just an obligation - a job - you feel you have to do because you think you owe me something.”

“Thus, the handcuffs, sweetheart.”

Chapter Ten

Roan

I step back to close the door but stop before I do, “Oh, and Summer… you are never going to be just an obligation to me. You’re my angel.”

I take her lips with my own catching her gasp as it leaves her mouth. When I slide my tongue inside her sweet cavern it’s me who ends up shocked for a number of different reasons. First, the taste of her hits me hard and almost brings me to my knees. I knew she would taste good but damn! But there is something, a hint of something hidden, that has me even more intrigued, even more stunned. I pull back and study her face, her eyes still closed and her lips slightly puffy from my kiss. I rub my thumb over the soft skin of her cheek.

“You ever been kissed, angel?”

Either she was in so much shock from my forwardness or I’m about to get the surprise of my life because she didn’t act like a woman who had ever been kissed. Her eyes slowly drift open and stare at me with an innocence I don’t think someone can fake.

“What?”

“Have you ever been kissed before, angel?”

She does a slow blink before opening and then closing her mouth. It’s like she can’t find the right words which I can relate to since I am just as fucking speechless as she is. Eventually, she settles on a quick jerk of her head in the negative.

“You’re almost twenty.”

This has her stiffening in my arms and pushing at my chest with her free hand. “Really? I had no idea.”

“No, I’m not… I know…,”

With every word I utter she just gets madder and madder, her body is so stiff she could break at any second, her eyes narrow, and her brow furrow. There is no way to win this one. I know this, she knows it. So, I take a step back and admit defeat.

“Okay. Let’s go. Watch your hands.”

I close the door but the entire time I am rounding the back of the jeep I am remembering the feel of her lips on mine, the taste of her sweetness, and the fact she could bring me to my fucking knees without even trying. I fight down an overwhelming urge to do it again and again, but it sits heavy in my chest like I can’t take a proper breath until I have my mouth back on hers. She might have just made an addict out of me.

By the time I get back in the car and buckle up, she is frowning and attempting to cross her arms even if one of them is cuffed to the door. “I don’t know how this is safe. What happens if I need to brace myself or something? Or get out of the car quickly? It’s not like you have the best track record where driving is concerned.”

I take the vitriol, “He hit me, thank you very much. Let the record show I was in my lane, going the speed limit and everything. And you should know I’m not letting anything happen to you by now, angel.”

“Because you owe me for saving your life.”

“Because,” I turn to look at her, wondering if I should tell her the real reason and risk scaring her away from me, “You’re my angel and I will always take care and protect you.”

I start the jeep up and leave it at that.

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