Page 34 of Reckless Pawn

She looked around the outdoor space. "Another party?"

He shrugged. "They're good for relieving tension." He couldn't stop himself from thinking about her helping him relieve some tension.

"I bet. No JD?"

"He's around here somewhere. Probably inside getting a blow job."

Her head jerked and her gaze rose to his. "Please. I don't need the details."

He tried to get a read on her through her eyes. But every time she stood this close to him his brain always got stuck on other things. Like now, as he eyed her up and down and marveled at how short she was. She didn't even come up to his shoulder. How so much trouble came in such a tiny package he didn't understand.

Petite and with killer curves. For him that represented a dangerous combo that was all but impossible to resist.

"If you can't handle one of us talking about fucking, you should probably go back up your hill. No one here has time to worry about your sensitivities."

"Just because I don't want to hear all the gory details about JD's sexual life doesn't mean I can't handle your gutter talk. It's not the first time I've heard it and I'm sure it won’t be the last."

She now had her hand on her hip, throwing attitude in his direction and he was getting harder. He needed to get the fuck away from her.

"You should still go back home. You walk into the middle of a bunch of shit-faced bikers dressed like that, they're going to get ideas."

"Then I'll be quick. Because I sure wouldn't want any supposedly responsible adults who should be able to resist their baser urges when necessary, to get the wrong idea about why I'm here. But I guess what you're really saying is that the males in this club can't control what happens when his dick's in charge."

Axel stared at her for a moment before throwing his head back and laughing out loud. God, this woman had no idea how lethal that attitude was to someone like him.

Her eyes flashed with a mix of anger and annoyance. "I'm glad you find me so funny. But I came here to ask you something serious."

He schooled the grin fighting to get out. The more she talked the more he wanted to take her to his room. "Do it then, before I do something we'll both regret." His voice was rough as some of his real thoughts bled into his voice.

Her mouth dropped open a fraction and she stared at him with wide-eyed shock. Fortunately for them both, she recovered quickly, giving him no time to pursue the shit swirling in his head.

"I want you to teach me to fight."

Axel stared at her, trying to let her words sink in. He was still stuck on the fact he'd basically eye fucked her as she walked in and she wanted too…

"Wait. What did you say?"

"I said, I want you to teach me to fight."

As it turned out, he had not misheard her. "Why the hell would I do that?" He should have said that more gently, but she'd caught him off guard with just about the last thing he expected to come out of her pretty mouth.

"Maybe because you understand how hard these last couple of months have been. And maybe because I'm tired of feeling vulnerable and unable to do anything about it." Her voice rose with each reason. "Or maybe because I'm sick to death of being treated with kid gloves and I'd like to do something for me that doesn't include someone else having to baby me."

"I'm not going to teach you to fight. You're already dangerous enough with a gun." Apparently she'd already forgotten about the gun in his face incident, but he had not.

"Bygones. You know I don't like having my space invaded. It's kind of ridiculous that I can't have my privacy."

"Babe, any loss of privacy is strictly about your safety. We aren't trying to run your life, just protect it. I get that you're skittish over what happened last night, but that situation has been handled. You won't have any more issues at the casino. We've made sure of that."

She frowned. "You really going to stand there and guarantee me that none of the guests will ever lay hands on me again?"

He felt his eyes narrow as his blood pressure rose. "Who touched you? I thought you only had an issue with one of the girls."

Izzy shook her head and threw out her hand. "I'm not looking to start trouble. I just want to be able to protect myself no matter what happens. From where I stand that's a pretty reasonable request."

"Shit like that is serious, babe. Club don't fuck around with our girl's safety." He shoved his hands in his pockets, pushing away the anger building up inside him. "I'll assign a prospect to keep an eye on you at work and I'll make sure he escorts you home."

"Is he going to go to the bathroom with me too?" She dropped her head. "You can't protect me every second of every day, Axel. I have to be able to take care of myself sometime."

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