Page 30 of Turning Tides
“How about you come through here. It’s faster.”
“Are you sure the owner won’t mind? I wouldn’t want to get in trouble.”
Shane stepped closer and shut the door behind him. “I talked to the owner about it first and he’s fine with it.”
Winding my arms around Shane’s neck, I pulled him down until our lips grazed against each other. “I heard the owner is hot.”
“Oh, did you?” Amusement colored Shane’s voice.
“Mmhm. Super fucking hot.”
“It sounds like a lie.”
I shut him up with a kiss. His arms came around me and he pulled me close, moaning into me, giving himself to me already, before pulling away all too soon.
“Work. I’m at work.”
“Good thing you can’t fire yourself for making out on the clock.” I released him from my hold reluctantly and let him lead the way back to the bar. Mickey was still working, but didn’t look twice at me as I came in and took a seat at my usual stool.
It was different to be there when Shane didn’t have a plethora of thirsty customers to deal with.
“Do you want a drink?”
“Water is fine,” I said. I’d had a beer with dinner and that was more than enough for one day.
Shane filled a glass with ice water and set it in front of me. “You didn’t bring your sketchbook,” he said.
“If I brought it down, you’d have no excuse to come up after work. And where’s the fun in that?”
Shane shook his head. Mickey staunchly ignored us both, scurrying off to wipe down empty tables. And I sat and drank my ice water and pictured all the dirty things I wanted to do with those fucking suspenders. Who knew suspenders were so hot?
Chapter 15
Shane
By the time thebar was empty and Archer and I were alone, I was a hot mess of need. I was sure that anyone who’d looked at us knew we were doing some kind of not-so-subtle flirting. Locking the door, I turned off the outside lights, leaving only the security lights and the light standards in the parking lot on.
Archer spun on his stool to watch me. He leaned back and rested his elbows on the bar, watching as I lifted the chairs up off the floor and put them on the tables. Mickey had been sent home instead of sticking around to help with the last minute clean up the way he always did. Between the two of us, we’d gotten most of the closing duties done and all I had to do was prep for the cleaning company. They came in every morning and did the floors and the bathrooms.
My skin heated under Archer’s scrutiny as I put the last of the chairs up. He crooked a finger and spread his legs. I don’t think he appreciated how hot he was. His mop of dark hair was mussed from a day of running his fingers through it. He looked tired, but the good kind of tired, not the bone-deep, sad kind of exhausted he’d looked when I first met him.
Unable and unwilling to resist, I went to him. I stood between his legs in the space he made for me and tried not to quiver at that thought. Archer slid his hands up my chest, then gripped my suspenders and tugged me down to him.
“Do you have any idea how ridiculously hot you are in these things?” Archer growled and slanted our mouths together.
If I had an answer, he kissed it right out of me with the frenzied way he overtook me. Still holding nothing but my suspenders, he had me deliciously trapped. Was I considered prey if I willingly ran into the jaws of danger? My heart pounded frantically as I let him sweep his tongue into my mouth. It drew a moan out of me, quietly needy. Maybe not so quietly, because Archer laughed against my mouth and pulled away.
Still holding tight to my suspenders, he gazed up at me. “The things I want to do to you.”
The air rushed out of me like I’d been struck. Whatever they were, I wanted them. Maybe more than I’d wanted anything. What we were doing was ill-advised at best, irresponsible at worst, and it had the potential to blow up in my face. But I found I didn’t care. If having Archer meant that I got to hold tight to this feeling, then I’d have him as long as he’d let me.
Archer was a force of nature. A storm against my skin. He pulled me closer again, close enough to kiss, but he didn’t. I closed my eyes, but could feel his gaze on me. Close as we were, I’d be able to count his eyelashes if I opened my eyes. His breath ghosted across my mouth when he spoke.
“What do you think of restraints?”
Archer’s question shouldn’t have been shocking, but I gasped against his mouth. Not in surprise, but in awe.
“Yes,” I croaked. “Whatever you want, the answer is yes.”
