Page 7 of Handcuffed Hussy
Ahh! The man can flirt! I laughed out loud in my car, feeling a huge hit of pride knowing he finally took the bait and was flirting with me. Then as quickly as the sun had come out, it dimmed again when I realized I shouldn't be flirting with him. He was dangerous to my mission. I didn't need him poking his nose into my charitable activities.
Me: Consider that a pity glimpse. It won't happen again.
Jack: There was nothing pitiful about it.
Jack: And it will happen again.
Me: Presumptuous much?
Jack: Confident
Me: *eyeroll*
I threw my phone back in my bag and took off. I couldn't seem to control my flirting routine when it came to him. I'd better be careful. A man like that would be hell on my need for space and independence. He seemed like he needed to be in control and there were only a few times I allowed anyone to control me. And they all happened to be in the bedroom.
A long, sweaty run on the beach was exactly what I needed to get him out of my head. Besides, we had an incident on the beach. We thought Esa's stalker was following us. We had to run up to a lifeguard and get him to intervene. Come to find out, the guy following us was actually a body guard Ivan's family hired, but forgot to tell her about.
Meanwhile, I distracted myself by playing with the lifeguard. Yes, I took the situation seriously, but holy hell, that man was fine. He was built like a brick house and I was sure all the equipment matched. Before he dropped us off, I'd snuck a hand high on his thigh while I was crammed into the truck cab next to him. I even got a phone number.
Take that, Jack.
I went out with my new lifeguard friend, Jax, a few times over the next few weeks. He was nice to look at and a fun guy overall, but by the third date, I was sick of hearing about his ex-girlfriend and I hadn't even gotten a feel of his equipment to verify if my guess was correct.
It was going nowhere fast, but it was a nice distraction from Jack's texts that would come out of nowhere and derail me for several days. It was like he knew when I was writing him off. He'd send a quick text, get me hot and bothered and confused again. And then he'd disappear.
You've heard of a cock tease, right? Well, this fucker was the original clit tease.
I wasn't getting any action from Jax, but my collection of vibrators was always there for me. Hey, no judgies! I had to watch Esa and Ivan petting each other left and right, thinking I couldn't hear their moans and groans. I was getting no action from Jax or Jack. I had to take my frustration out somehow.
I shouldn't have worried though. Everything heated up late one afternoon when I went to meet Esa at Chocolate Dreams to go for our beach run. We'd just left her shop and were headed down to the parking garage to get the shoes she'd forgotten in her car.
Esa was directly in front of me when a man grabbed her around the waist, pulling her into him. My gaze flew to the knife pressed up against her throat.
There are moments in life that get imprinted in your brain forever, like a photograph that never fades. The look on Esa's face as she stared at me, frozen in terror, was one of those moments.
I'm ashamed to say that I froze too. Even longer than Esa. The guy shouted at me to move back, but I stayed where I was, hands up and palms out in surrender. I wasn't going to try anything with that knife digging into her neck.
I swear, I only blinked and when my eyes opened again, Esa was stomping on his foot and yanking on his hand by her neck. She twisted around, out of his hold, and it was like a switch was flipped in my head. The knife was away from her neck, I could attack without fear of her bleeding out.
I took a step forward and then kicked him in the junk, making sure I kicked hard enough to bring future paternity into question. As he went down, I grabbed his head and jammed my knee into his face. The knife clattered to the ground, but I wasn't done, not by a long shot.
I started kicking him in the ribs, hoping he'd stay down till help arrived. So focused on subduing the asshole, I didn't even notice that Esa wasn't next to me anymore.
It wasn't until I felt steel arms wrap around me and pull me back that I realized help had already arrived.
"You're good, babe. I've got him from here, okay?" a low voice growled in my ear, sending chills up my spine and a sensual clenching down lower. I turned my head to lock gazes with Jack. He was only an inch from my face, staring into my eyes. He gave me a head nod. I gave it back.
He released me and pushed me behind him. Then he was gone, crouching on the ground to cuff the dude's hands behind his back. Esa's bodyguard had held him down when Jack pulled me back.
With everything that just happened, you'd think I'd be in shock over the attack, the fight, the arrest happening before my eyes. But I wasn't.
All I could think about was the feel of Jack's warm body pressed up against me. The way his muscles were strong and sure, holding me back and providing warmth and strength at the same time. I'd felt safe and protected. Wanted and desired.
I felt all of that in three seconds.
I couldn't imagine what I'd feel if he actually held me. Or kissed me. Or took me to bed.
I shook off all the inappropriate scenarios from my mind. Jack was lifting the guy off the ground, efficient cop mode in full effect. If I hadn't heard him call me 'babe' with my own ears, I wouldn't have believed he'd used an endearment.
I spun around and walked over to Esa, drawing both her and Ivan into a group hug. I needed to focus on what was important here. My best friend was alive and well, and so was I.
"We kinda kicked some ass back there, girlie," I said to the top of Esa's head, buried in Ivan's chest.
I heard her muffled laugh and Ivan gave me an appreciative wink. I figured he had to be pretty worried about our girl and if I could get her to laugh that was a good thing right about now. Laughter was always better than unhinged crying jags as far as men were concerned.
Before long, the garage was swarming with officers and lookie-loos. Esa and I gave our statements to various police officers before we could go home. I looked around for Jack but never saw him after he hauled Esa's stalker into the back of his cruiser.
All that ass kicking, then the full-body touching, and not even a 'see you later'. What's a girl gotta do?
