Page 16 of Tastes Like Misery

I smirked, “Sweetie, if I wanted to hit you, I would have. Didn’t your mama ever teach you not to fuck with girls in Texas? Now, give me my keys.”

He threw them at me and, not lowering the gun, I caught them with one hand. My beautiful pink gun had caught many men off guard, and I felt safe enough to turn my back on them. Rolling my eyes when I heard footsteps running behind me, I whipped around and pointed the barrel at Finn’s chest, “Back off.”

“Vivian, please. Just listen for a moment. Weren’t you the one telling me how much you wanted to escape here? I know you crave adventure. You want it so bad it hurts. I don’t agree with their methods, but I know we can give that to you. And so much more. You’re meant for more than just hustling at bars and serving the locals.”

My heart skipped a beat as he offered me something I couldn’t deny. I just didn’t know what to think about their actions. “Do you plan to tell me everything tonight?”

“I can’t. I’ll tell you as much as I can until the others agree. There are terms,” he admitted, sounding regretful.

“I’m not some stupid hick who will just agree to jump in without knowing what’s in store for me.” I backed away, my gun still trained on him, even as I started my car. It never left my hand as I backed out and drove away.

Chapter 10

Vivian

I woke to a familiar warm smell and shot up from my bed. My hand reached for the gun on my nightstand and came back empty.

“You really sleep soundly. I wouldn’t have expected that from you,” Dane’s eyes never met mine as he twirled my pink pistol in his hand. “It’s a good thing you’re so damn good at working outside the law, otherwise I would have dropped you.”

That asshole had the nerve to be in my bed, sitting casually as if he hadn’t a care in the world. I didn’t know why he was so hellbent on trying to insert himself into my life, and after he’d left me at the hotel to be arrested. He said it was a test, but I didn’t know what the hell he was testing since the entire group of the men were tight-lipped. This whole situation had me confused and pissed, yet there was a powerful part of me that wanted to know the adventure and escape Finn had alluded to in his parting words to me the night before.

“You would have dropped me?” my voice dripped with sarcasm as I tried to figure out how to get my gun back. “In case you’ve forgotten, I want nothing to do with you or your friends. I made it perfectly clear last night.”

“You put up a good front,” he smirked before rising from the bed and stalking toward me in the way that oozed sex and danger. My thighs clenched as I remembered the way he’d done it the night we were together.

Backing up a step, I didn’t answer as I found myself backed up against a wall. His presence awakened something in me, and my grogginess cleared. I knew exactly how to get out of this situation and changed my demeanor when he boxed me in against the wall. “Dane,” I forced myself to sound sultry, not that it was hard with his hard body against mine and his delicious scent enveloping me. “I don’t know why it’s so hard for me to say no to you.”

“You are like me,” he replied before leaning down to nip my ear. “We crave what will give us the most wicked of pleasures, grievous adventure gives us a high that our souls are addicted to.”

“Yes,” I whispered before turning it around on what happened the night before. I had to push back, to make it real. “Your friend was an asshole last night. I don’t want to be around someone who treats me like a slut,” I put my hand on his chest and attempted to push him away.

His maniacal laughter erupted, and it did all the wrong things to me. “Oh, baby girl, I saw the way your body responded to Ollie. You wanted him, were turned on by his actions. Not to mention you loved me calling you my dirty little whore.”

“No,” I attempted to deny what I knew was true.

Tracing a finger down my cheek, his hand lightly wrapped around my throat, “You were raised to think wanting to fuck is not a part of polite society. I’m sure you’ve never been one to shy away from doing what you want, but that doesn’t stop the little voice in the back of your head telling you to be a proper lady.”

“I,” the words hit me deep, and I wanted to argue, but I couldn’t. The feel of his hand on my throat sending my plans sailing away in the wind.

Nipping my bottom lip, he continued, “I know how wet you got when I called you my dirty little whore. You crave to let go of your darker side, to be free sexually. No one has ever given you the chance before me. That’s why, despite your mind trying to figure out how to get the gun from me, you’re thinking of letting me give you your every desire.”

“No,” I argued again, not convinced myself. “Ollie crossed a line. And all that shit you were talking about. I don’t know what you all expect from me. I’m not the kind of woman to just follow blindly.”

“Maybe it was the wrong time. But I did split his lip for it,” Dane mused, ignoring the rest. “Come with me. I have something to show you,” his tone took on an almost pleading one.

It was so out of character, I found myself agreeing, though not without my own caveats, “Okay, but I am not going back to that house again. Not now. Not until you explain things to me.”

A smile bloomed on his face, his entire stance changing to one as excited as a kid in a candy store. Quickly kissing my lips with a smack, he backed away. “Put on some jeans and sturdy shoes. No heels.”

I quirked a brow at him before doing as he told me, my curiosity overriding the little prude voice telling me I shouldn’t. Stripping off my pajamas, I walked naked to my dresser and pulled out the appropriate clothes. Feeling his eyes on me, I heard a rumble from his chest and smirked at myself. There was no way I wasn’t going to take advantage of the situation and bent over, baring myself to him.

He groaned, “Vivian, if you keep it up, we will never leave this room. As much as I would love to make the whole building shake, I doubt your neighbors would enjoy your screams as much as I do. Besides, we have more important things to attend to.”

Pulling up my lace panties, I winked at him over my shoulder before throwing on the rest of my clothes. I turned and asked if it was okay and he raked over my body before responding, “Perfection. Vivian, you are perfect with or without clothes.”

I swooned at his words. Despite not enjoying romantic gestures in the past, something about him made me giddy. When I tried to open my door, it was locked. I wondered out loud, “How did you get in here?”

“That’s a secret I’m not willing to divulge yet.”

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