Page 114 of Whatever Lola Wants

“Oh, but—” Ginger said, turning her head with a look of panic on her face when she realized she was being gently herded away.

Michael murmured something in her ear, and whatever it was, it changed the look of panic to one of consideration. When her gaze flicked past Lola to land on Simon, he gave her a quick nod. Irritation, anger, curiosity all flitted across her expression before finally settling into resignation, and she allowed Michael to pull her out of the room.

Two down.

He walked up behind Lola and put his hand on the back of her neck, fingers tightening at her instinctive jolt. Knowing she was perfectly capable of screaming the house down, he murmured in her ear, “It’s just me.”

The look she shot him was anything but welcoming. “I know it’s just you. Hastings.”

His lips wanted to twitch, because he knew there was a Big Dick in that pause. “I want to talk.”

She tried to slide out from under his hand, her cheeks flushing dark red when he didn’t let her. “Well, I don’t. I told you, this isn’t the time.”

“I talked to Grant. He’s okay with it.”

If possible, her expression got even more hostile. “I don’t give a dead rat’s ass if Grant’s okay with it,” she whispered, anger vibrating in every soft word. “Talk to him, then. And take your fucking hand off me.”

He shook his head, fighting to keep his expression sober when all he wanted to do was laugh. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way, Lola. Your choice.”

The sheer shock on her face was a joy to witness. “Listen, you dim motherfucker, who the fuck do you think?—”

He nodded. “Okay. Hard way it is.”

He shifted his grip to wrap his arm around her shoulders and stretched to clamp his hand over her mouth. She barely managed a squeak of protest before he leaned down and swept the other arm behind her knees and lifted her off her feet. Her body went stiff with shock for a heartbeat, giving him just enough time to start up the stairs before she started to struggle.

He grunted when she rammed an elbow into his gut, cursed when she tried to bite him, and grinned the whole way up the stairs.

Goddamn, he loved her.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

She was going to gut him like a trout.

Lola seethed with fury and tried to drive her elbow into his solar plexus. He shifted her smoothly so it bounced harmlessly off the hard ridge of muscle covering his chest.

“If you drop me, I drop you,” he murmured, and the laughter in his tone made her nearly incandescent with rage.

They topped the stairs, but instead of turning to one of the bedrooms, he continued on to a door at the end of the hall. He jostled her, bouncing her in his arms while still managing to keep his hand over her mouth tightly enough that her jaw was beginning to ache, and she realized he was unlocking the door.

Before she could gather her wits to take advantage of his split focus, the door was open, revealing a steep, narrow staircase. Simon shifted her again and started up, the door closing automatically behind him.

As soon as it did, he took his hand away from her mouth. “We’re far enough away now, you can probably scream and nobody will hear.”

She didn’t bother to scream, but turned her head and sank her teeth into his chest.

“Fuck!” He gripped her shoulder and yanked, trying to get her to turn loose, but she hung on, working her jaw to sink her teeth deeper.

Cursing, he let her drop, and she automatically released her grip.

Her butt hit something soft, and she realized he’d dropped her on a bed.

“Goddammit,” he bellowed, outrage on his face as he hastily unbuttoned his shirt to examine his chest. He stared in shock at the perfect half circles left by her teeth, and the blood beading up where the skin had broken. “You fucking bit me.”

“You deserved it,” she flared, scrambling off the bed to stand on the other side. “Where the fuck do you get off manhandling me like that?”

“I told you. We need to talk.”

“And I told you I didn’t want to talk.” She wanted to leap across the bed and punch that arrogant look off his face, but that would put her within arm’s reach. She settled for one last fulminating glare before turning on her heel and heading for the stairs.

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