Page 12 of Lulu

Her soft tone caught me by surprise though. “I know that’s what I was called, but it’s just a word. There’s nothing wrong with a woman who likes sex as much as a man. The only difference is that the woman gets an unflattering label, and the man doesn’t.”

I stared at her for a minute. Did she really believe what she was saying? “It was a fucking job, Lulu. Any time you get paid for spreading your legs—”

“No!” She shook her head with denial, staring off to the side at something only she could see. “It was a place to hide out.” She raised her eyes to me with a look that suggested that she hadn’t intended to say the words out loud. Suddenly she closed herself off. “The Desert Rebels became my home, my family. I love every one of them.”

A place to hide out? From who? I wanted to know more about what she’d meant by that. There was something ominous behind that comment. Maybe another time, when our emotions weren’t running so high, I’d ask her about it. Right now, I sensed her vulnerability and for some reason, I didn’t want to see Lulu broken.

“You got someone you can call to throw some plywood over the door ‘til morning?”

Her eyes cleared and she nodded. “I’ll call Dr. Bowers.”

As she reached for the phone on the desk, I turned to look outside through the broken glass in the door. I needed to distance myself from her for a minute. Break the connection that was pulling me closer toward her, making me want to take care of her and protect her. Sure, I wanted to fuck her, but Lulu was a complication I didn’t need. If I were smart, I’d stick to cold-blooded women like Lana to fulfil my needs.

I took in several deep breaths as I listened to Lulu talking in the background. Her voice was low and soft, regretful as she filled the doctor in on what had gone down. There was also affection in her tone that revealed that she cared for the woman. Did the good doctor know about Lulu’s past?

I wondered if anyone did.

Chapter 5

Brody

I pulled into my drive, turned my bike off, and sat for a moment. I hadn’t wanted to leave Lulu back at the vet office, but she was a stubborn woman, insisting that once the door had been temporarily repaired she would be safe there for the night. She was adamant that Buttercup not be left there alone, and had turned me down flat when I’d offered to get my truck and get her and the dog to her house. I had a feeling that she just didn’t want to be beholden to me for anything.

Well, that was her problem.

Just as I brought my leg over the seat of my bike my attention was drawn to a vehicle that was coming my way.Goddammit!Recognizing Lana’s bright red Corvette pissed me off. I’d made a colossal mistake in showing her where I lived, something I’d never done with anyone else before. I valued my privacy when I was home and I made damned sure there was nothing in my house that could get me into trouble. Just in case. Her showing up here uninvited revealed that I may have a bigger problem to take care of than breaking things off with her and hoping that she’d just go away.

Apparently breaking off our date hadn’t meant shit to her, and she was going to do what she wanted to do anyway. Another reason that it might be time to cut her loose and find someone else to fuck when the need arose. Lulu’s beautiful face instantly came to mind, but I didn’t have time to play with that fantasy because Lana was pulling in behind my bike.

I crossed my arms with a glare on my face. I didn’t like my decisions being ignored, and Lana had been with me long enough to know that. Yet I could see from her bright smile that she either didn’t care, or she thought our history excused her actions. She climbed from her car, stiletto heels and all long legs, and then her pencil skirt and silk blouse came into view. I clenched my jaw, recognizing what she was doing. She was dressed to kill and ready for action.

“Baby, don’t be mad. I know you cancelled tonight, but I happened to be in the neighborhood…” In spite of my glaring expression, she continued to walk toward me.

She was flat out lying. There was nothing around my house for miles. “And you can get right back in your car and get the fuck out of here,” I snarled angrily. “I’m not in the mood.”

She laughed. “I can get you in the mood.” Her teeth looked startling white between her scarlet lips.

“I told you tonight was off. I meant it. I don’t like you just showing up here uninvited, Lana. You know my fucking rules.”

Still, the smile remained on her face. “Maybe once I show you the gift I got you you’ll change your mind,” she said in a husky, confident tone. “We’ve been doing this for a year now, baby. Don’t you think it’s time for something more permanent?”

What the fuck?Where the hell was this coming from? She’d never shown any resistance to or unhappiness about our arrangement before now. We’d both been content to meet up once a week when I was in town, keeping shit almost businesslike between us. We hadn’t done dinners. We hadn’t gone on dates. I’d gone over to her place or she’d come to mine when I called, we fucked, and then we parted ways. Christ, we’d never spent the night together except for that one time when we’d drunk a little too much.

“Fuck no,” I said sharply. “I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but whatever it is, get it out of your head. I don’t do fucking relationships.” I couldn’t believe that I was still standing there arguing with her.

“I know you’ve said that, but lately I’ve felt that things were going in a different direction with us.”

Now she was exaggerating. Our routine had never changed. I called. We met up somewhere. We fucked, then went our separate ways. Just the way I liked it. I looked at her skeptically. “What the fuck has gotten into you?”

Her laugh sounded a little forced. “This is me taking the bull by the horns, baby. We’ve been exclusive for a year.”

Really? I almost burst out laughing. Being exclusive had never entered into the equation. She had no clue. When I was on the road, I always managed to find a willing woman. I didn’t like relationships but I sure as hell liked pussy. Someday,maybe, I might be ready to look for the woman I’d want a future with, but that was years away.

“We’re done here, Lana.” In more ways than one. I turned to leave when she grabbed my arm.

“Baby, wait!” She waited until I didn’t make any attempt to walk away before continuing. “Look what I did to celebrate our anniversary.”

She was delusional. Why hadn’t I noticed that before now? Probably because our so-called relationship consisted of sex and nothing more. I exhaled a harsh breath to show her that I was irritated with her, but waited for her next move. She proceeded to pull her silk blouse out of her skirt, and then pulled her skirt down over her hip at the same time.

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