Page 53 of Dirty Rock

A little smirk betrayed me. “You’rejealous?”

“No.” She laughed as if the very thought was ridiculous. “I’ve had more than enough time and visual reminders to wrap my head around the number of women you’ve had, Rhett. I’ve become numb to it.” She began to walk past me with a smile on her face, but I spun, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her back. She slammed up against me with more force than I’d intended.

My chest tightened again, and I swallowed hard to try and wash it away.

Whatwasthat?

“Does it bother you?” I asked her calmly.

“Does what bother me?”

“How many women I’ve had.”

“Do you want it to?”

Yes, because it bothers me that you’ve had other men, and I can’t even begin to understand why.

“Doesn’t matter to me,” I lied.

“Then I guess you can set me free.” She glanced to my hand around her wrist before she looked back up at me.

“I don’t want to. I want to stay here and dance all night. I want to hold you like I just held you. I want to kiss you like I just kissed you.”

“You want a lot.”

“Just you tonight.”

“Then what?”

“Then I want to take you home and fuck you, my tiny, beautiful cougar.”

Bob Marley’sThree Little Birdsbegan to pour free, and Jules glanced over at the guy on the stage before her lips twitched. She managed to regain composure when she looked at me, and the chorus kicked in.

They were telling the whole place not to worry about a thing.

Sunshine—a foreign object—rose in my chest like a new dawn on a dark morning.

I leaned in closer. Impossibly close. Any closer and my tongue would be in her mouth again. All that sweet honey there for me to swim around in. I couldn’t wait to find out what she tasted like between her toned thighs.

Her eyes searched mine intensely. “You pretty little boys see something sparkly, and that’s it; you want it. You don’t care how dangerous it is, where it’s been, or where it plans on going after you. All you care about is getting it. Winning.” She yanked her wrist out of my weak grip and ran a thumb over my swollen bottom lip as she stared at it. “Whilecougarslike me prefer to make pretty boys work for the prize. It’s more exciting for us. We’ve experienced that young lust. We’ve lost so many battles to it. Now we like to see effort.”

“I’ll work,” I whispered, my heart speaking before my brain could get involved.

“Careful, pretty boy. I’ll ruin you, and you won’t know a damn thing about it until it’s over.”

She turned to walk away, heading in the direction of a big neon sign that saidToilets,leaving me with wide eyes and an open mouth. My feet moved, desperate to find her in those toilets and get to work, but I was stopped when a familiar face stepped out into my path and brought me to a halt.

“Geoffrey,” I sighed, sounding impatient. “Hey.”

“She’s one of the best women God ever created,” he said proudly like he was her father or something.

I looked down at him, feeling my passion bleeding from me like an oil leak I couldn’t afford to fix. “What?”

“Julia.” His brows bounced. “You’re hooked, boy.”

“Says who?”

“You might be young, but don’t act it. Not around here. Youth doesn’t fool anyone except the young.”

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