Page 13 of Raw & Vulnerable

If Minnie were bolder, she would ask him if he likes what he sees, but his body language speaks for him well enough. His entire frame is facing her, legs spread haphazardly as he balances on the stool, his entire center of mass in her vision. His shoulders are squared to her, chest open and inviting.

“You don’t come here often,” he continues, not fazed by her reserved demeanor. He’s used to it, obviously.

“Does this look like my sort of scene?” She says lightly, brushing a strand of blonde hair from her face. “I prefer books and silence. I feel about as useful as a sixth toe in this place.”

He chuckles in acknowledgement of the truth, the greens and browns in his eyes warming slightly. “You know, I see you almost every day and I still don’t know your name.”

Minnie feels her lips twist in a shy little manner that stems from being too nervous to smile widely. “You’ve never asked. Are you asking me now?”

“Yeah.” His voice is husky, a tone that makes Minnie’s belly flash with a zing of ecstasy.

She’s always found something roughly attractive about his voice. Full of rust and smoke, it almost sounds like he’s used to having a raised voice, maybe shouting over machinery at a work site. Her body feels warm beside him and she’s ashamed of how reactive she is.

This is a terrible school girl crush, she thinks. It almost reminds her of her earlier years when she and other girls in her grade had crushes on their hot science teacher; he’d been fresh out of college. Completely out of their reach, forbidden, so the crush was made even more intense.

The difference here is that this man is only forbidden because she thinks she shouldn’t want him. He shouldn’t be the sort of man she aspires to catch. Oh, what would her parents think? Her mother would be clutching her pearls.

He’s so close. She can smell his cologne, something that commands attention. It’s a dark mixture of smokey and spicy, coiling around Minnie like the snake that coils around his forearm. Every breath she takes pulls him inside of her and she wants more. She shouldn’t, she has no call to want a man like this. Minnie pauses, staring down at the bar; it’s sticky and vile. This place is so gross, this is all Ariel’s fault. She removes her elbows from it slowly. He wants to know her name. “You’ll laugh.”

“I’ll laugh at you anyway. Say it.”

She sighs in dismay. Here it comes. “Minnie.”

He does laugh, a low, throaty sound that sends heat into her groin unexpectedly. She’s never heard him laugh, not like that. Open, unrestricted. It makes him seem younger, kinder. A little less intimidating, as if he does have a heart after all inside his rough exterior.

He leans closer, into her space. There’s alcohol on his breath. Whiskey, strong, impactful. She can feel his breath on her neck as he says by her ear teasingly, “Minnie? Like the mouse?”

Well, she certainly feels like a mouse, caught in the grasp of a cat, right at this very moment.

Driven by nervous instinct, she pushes him away with a half-hearted scowl of embarrassment.He’s too close, her endlessly neurotic brain thinks.He doesn’t need to be that close to overpower you.“I told you that you’d laugh.”

He’s not aware of her internal struggle, thankfully. “It suits you.”

“Oh, I’m very pleased you think so.” The sarcasm drips from her lips as she takes a sip from her drink. He thinks she’s a mouse, why is she not surprised? “So. What’syourname?”

His arm brushes against the side of her breast as he leans back in, his hand going to her knee smoothly, causing Minnie to inhale sharply at the feeling.It was probably unintentional, she thinks. Regardless, her nipples harden, becoming sensitive, needy. Rubbing against her bra in a way that has her legs clenching.

“Gage,” he drawls darkly against her earlobe.

A sharp name. Aggressive. To the point. “Impactful,” Minnie mutters.

“Now that we’re better acquainted, wanna get outta here?”

Minnie flushes, looking around the room. Is he seriouslypropositioningher? Is this…is he asking her to go home with him for a one-night stand? Ahook-up? Minnie almost can’t believe it, heat suffusing her as she imagines what that would be like.

Pinned under him, in a bed, his teeth in her neck while his hips slowly rotate between her thighs. Deep inside her, filling her. The flex of his muscles, her legs around his strong hips. The sounds of her sighs and the undercurrent of his lower, brassier growls of pleasure.

The flesh between her thighs grows hot, her heartbeat pounding there. However-

One-night stands are things that she’s only seen in themovies. Her own nonsocial life? Not a whit. There’s always an edge of fear, like a needle in her flesh. Almost hidden, yet there. To go home with a man she barely knows? She can’t imagine bringing him home with her; that makes her nerves race awkwardly.

“But. I’m your librarian.” No one hooks up with their local librarian. He’s got this totally wrong.

The corners of his eyes crinkle, framed by dark lashes. He’s got such lovely eyes, intense. “What’s your point?”

Minnie clenches her hands under the disgusting bar. He’s clearly not one to be easily deterred. Time to switch gears. “Ah, well, about that. I’m flattered and all, but I only engage in promiscuous activity with men who actually like me…for me.” Which…is basically none, but he doesn’t need to know that.

He stares at her, mouth opening slightly. His forest eyes are dilated, hungry. Then, he smirks, the expression sharp on his cruel lips. “Promiscuous activity? What era were you born in?” Gage crowds ever closer to her, half off his bar stool and nearly over her. “Why do you think I don’t like you?”

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