Page 4 of Marked for Obsession

“You’re good. Thanks.” The bouncer handed her back the I.D.

Taking it from his thick hand, Poppy flashed what she hoped was a friendly smile and made her way around his bulking form in search of her friends. Her chest moved up and down with heaving breaths as she did her best to calm herself down.

Not an easy task, given what she’d just experienced.

The club was packed, making the hunt for her co-workers challenging to say the least. With her head on a swivel, Poppy searched everywhere.

The bar. The dance floor. The line down a long hallway to her right that she could only assume led to the club’s bathrooms.

Nothing.

Ready to give up the search and ask the bartender to use his phone to call the police, Poppy started to swing back around and head that way when she ran into a solid wall of muscle.

“Oh!” She jumped back, her apology an instant reaction. “I’m so sorry, I—”

Poppy’s words became caught in the base of her throat as she stared up into the darkest eyes she’d ever seen. As if the impenetrable gaze had pulled her under some sort of spell, she found herself unable to look away from the sexiest—and quite possibly the most dangerous-looking—man she’d ever seen.

Standing nearly a full foot above her five-five frame, he had short, dark brown hair that was a bit longer and purposely messy on top. A neatly trimmed layer of dark scruff hid a strong jaw she found herself yearning to touch.

Tattoos along the base of his neck disappeared below the collar of his shirt, and the black leather jacket he wore topped off a bad-boy image that just screamed ‘stay away’.

The man she’d just plowed into didn’t move. He didn’t speak. He simply stood in her path, his imposing figure blocking her way to the bar.

“E-excuse me.” Poppy attempted to go around the sexy, tattooed giant.

She needed to find a phone and fast. Before the men she’d seen had a chance to get away. But the man mirrored her movements, his muscular form making it impossible to walk past.

“Something wrong?” His deep voice vibrated over the music and conversation surrounding them.

With a gaze that made her feel as though he could see deep into her soul, he continued to stare while he waited for a response.

Assuming the guy was another one of the club’s bouncers, Poppy opened her mouth to ask if she could use one of their phones when she heard—

“There you are!”

Turning her head toward the familiar voice, she saw Kyle, one of the nurses she worked with in the E.R., shouldering his way through the crowd to get to her.

“I thought you’d changed your mind about coming.”

She shook her head, offering the clean-cut man a nervous smile. “No, I-I didn’t. But there’s something I need to—”

“Looks like you’ve found your friends,” the bouncer spoke again. With a slight dip of his chin, he offered a quiet, “Enjoy your night.”

And then, he was gone.

“Come on.” Kyle put a gentle hold on her arm. Leaning in to talk over the noise, he began guiding her back toward the front of the club. “We’ve got a table over here. I just put in an order for a couple pitchers. I’m the DD for the night, but I saw you over here, so I figured you could use this one to start catching up.”

He held out a filled-to-the-rim plastic cup of beer.

Without thinking, Poppy took the cup from the man’s hand and put it to her lips. Tipping her head back, she chugged about a fourth of the cold, amber liquid before giving it back to her colleague.

“Thanks.” She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “I needed that.”

In hindsight, she probably shouldn’t have accepted the drink with such ease. Yes, she’d worked with the guy for a month, now, but still. Poppy had been taught better than to blindly accept a drink she hadn’t personally seen get opened or poured.

Of course, given that this wasn’t a typical night at the bar, a little liquid courage would go a long way to ease her nerves.

“Kyle, wait!” Poppy turned to face her friend. “I can’t stay.”

---