Hard Time (Hard as Nails #1) (6 page)

“I can see that,” I say with a wide smile and a light chuckle. “Luckily for you, this is an entertainment-based position, so you’re free to express yourself artistically.”

“I’m more of a CEO kind of guy,” he jokes and I have a hard time not rolling my eyes. “Relax, babe. It’s a joke.”

“Don’t call me babe,” I bark in an uneven tone. Brett, like so many guys I’d dated, had called me babe, and it takes me back to a time when I hadn’t been in control of my own life. I straighten my posture and point to the shelves. “All the books are in alphabetical order by the author’s last name. There are different sections for each genre. With enough time, you’ll learn where each book is categorized, but if you don’t know, you can always look at the back cover.”

He turns the top book of the short stack over and examines the cover. “New adult? What the hell is that?”

“It’s a new category,” I point out. “Now, shelve all those books and then the stack of books on the table in the back. I’ll be up front at the register when you’re finished.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to watch,” I say with a simple smile and turn away from him. When he can no longer see me from his vantage point, I let down my guard and exhale quietly.

What have I gotten myself into?

Chapter Seven

Street

As I shelve the last few books remaining, in the fucking romance section of all places, the gears in my mind are turning faster than leaves in a hurricane. To get what I want, every single move I make needs to be calculated. I need to understand why Katie went to bat for me in that office, because right now it doesn’t make sense. As much as I want to believe she did it because she wants and needs me the same way I want and need her, the rational side of my brain seems to know better.

But more importantly, now that I’ve got one foot in the door, I need to see how far I can push her. It will be the ultimate test for the both of us.

You can tell a whole lot about who people are by how much they let you push them

In a hurry, without any more care for the appropriate placement of the books any longer, I shove the last three books in a row at the end of the aisle, brush my palms against my jeans and begin to make my way to the front of the shop.

When I reach the end of the aisle, I halt and park myself against the shelves. I peek around the corner to find Katie’s face buried in a book that rests open on the counter top. She’s lost in the pages of the story, and I’m lost in her innocent beauty. She’s gorgeous, fragile-looking even, but her strength is obvious in the fitness of her limbs and the scars on her arms. There’s a strong dichotomy between her face and body; like she’s lived a hard life but her softness and femininity will always shine through the darkness.

“It feels like I’m doing all the work,” I say, and she lifts her head from the book she’s currently devouring. “Doesn’t seem quite fair.”

“Interesting point of view.” She sticks a bookmark in the pages of her book and closes it.

I step to the counter and take a quick peek at the book she had been reading; a sweet, southern romance. I’m immediately suspicious. “That doesn’t seem like the type of book you’d be interested in.”

“Remember when you said you know me?”

I answer with a simple nod.

“It would appear that you were wrong.”

“Was I?” I step around the counter, and behind her. I can feel her unease as she flinches ever so slightly forward, and away from me. I reach my arm around her, to make her believe I’m going to touch her, but in reality, I’m simply reaching for something else. A book I had seen her stash underneath the register in a little cubby earlier. I grab it and toss it onto the counter. On the cover is a sweaty, bare-chested man.

“You want me to think you’re reading a sweet little romance, but I know better.” I take a measured step toward her. “I know everything. Remember that forever and always.”

She clears her throat and turns to face me, resting her palms on the counter behind her for leverage. “You don’t know anything about me,” she says through gritted teeth. It’s the same lie she’s repeated over and over again, and I relish the challenge of proving otherwise.

“Why did you throw down for me yesterday?”

“I told you, I believe there’s good in you.”

What is wrong with this girl? How can she believe there is anything
good
about me? I’m not a good person. I never have been. I never will be.

“Why won’t you admit it?” I question.

“Admit what?”

“Admit that you went to bat for me because you’re attracted to losers.”

She laughs and rolls her eyes. “You think I’m attracted to you?” She shakes her head. “No.”

Her voice is steady, but her cheeks are flaming, and she can’t quite look at me. Her nipples harden beneath her shirt, and her pretty breasts tremble with her quickening breaths.

“No?” I murmur. “Is that all you have to say for yourself?”

“Maybe I was wrong about you,” she says and pushes past me.

“You weren’t wrong.” I follow her. “You fought for me because you want someone to help get you through the day-to-day in this mundane, boring trap.” I take a short pause, and smile, knowing full well she can’t see me as I launch into my next tirade. “Just admit it, you wanted someone to screw while working this tired-ass job.”

She whips around, her face flushed with pangs of anger. “You are such an asshole, and you’re beyond wrong.”

“Am I, babe?”

“I told you not to call me that,” she spits the words off the edge of her tongue with venom. It only serves to drive me into pushing her further, just to see how far I can.

I walk toward her, backing her against some shelves, and brace my hand near her hip. She doesn’t fight back. She just stands there with her eyes locked on mine, and my cock hardens as her breasts begin to heave.

“I think you want me here because you’re lonely, and you’re bored. I think you want me here because you know I can fuck you like nobody on this earth can.”

Her jaw tightens, and her lips purse. “Really?” she questions in a husky whisper.

“I’ve seen the way you look at me with your fuck-me eyes.” I push myself tighter against her body, and shift one leg between hers so that my jean-restrained cock pulses against her thigh. “You know I can take you to the highest point in heaven. You know that I can make you scream and satisfy you and fulfill you in a way you’ve only ever dreamed.” I crane my head and glare at her with a crooked smile. “What do you think about that, Princess? Am I getting warm?”

She forces a smile. “If you don’t let go of me and back up, I’m going to knee you in the nuts.”

“Feisty, I like it.”

“Five… Four… Three… Two…”

“Fine,” I say and take a step back, motioning my arms to the front of the shop, so she knows she’s free to walk away.

But she doesn’t. Not right away at least. She glares at me, and for the shortest of moments, I think I’m about to get everything I’ve dreamed of.

I lower my hand to my zipper, and her eyes follow my rough fingers.

And then she chuckles. “You’re going to have to try harder than that.”

Laughter bursts out of me and I’m filled with admiration. “You’re such a tease.”

“Let me tell you something,” she says with a brush of her finger against my nose. “We’re not fucking. Not here. Not elsewhere. I need this job to take care of my family.”

“Your family,” I interrupt her with a curious tilt of my head, pretending I don’t already know.

“My daughter.”

“My curiosity is piqued.”

“She’s my entire world. Everything I do in this world is for her. If you fuck this up for us, I’ll make your life a living hell.”

I never thought a mother’s protectiveness would turn me on so much, but hers does. Apparently, everything about her turns me on. “Is that so?”

“When I’m done with you, you’ll wish you were back in prison. Being a prisoner’s bitch would be a cakewalk compared to what I’d do to you.”

“Damn, girl! You’ve got a fire in you.”

“You have no idea,” she says as she pushes herself away from the shelves and past me. She looks over her shoulder with a flat expression on her lips. “Now get back to work.”

“Just answer my damn question.” It comes out as a command, but it’s more of a plea. I want—no, need—to know why she went to bat for me. I have a guess as to why, but I need a solid confirmation.

“I’m not looking for a companion,” she reminds me. “I just got out of an abusive relationship, and I’m not exactly in a loving mood. I did what I did because on occasion, it’s rewarding to do something nice for someone else. It’s part of being a decent human being. You should try it sometime.”

I want to say something cocky, but my lips don’t move. I stand there in awe as she turns the corner and she’s out of sight.

She’s got attitude.

She’s got sass.

She’s fucking perfect, and I succeeded in getting to her. I pushed her until I got a reaction, but even I couldn’t have predicted the kind of reaction she’d serve me back.

I hope I made her wet when I whispered in her ear.

She’s going to be my greatest challenge, and my greatest prize.

Chapter Eight

Katie

It’s been a long fucking day,
I groan to myself as I twist a corkscrew into a tall bottle of red wine. There are a thousand and one items on my To Do list: clean the house, study for exams, hop onto the internet and order a chastity belt to be delivered overnight.

A thousand and one things to do and all I want is to kick back and enjoy a nice glass of wine or three.

Riley fell asleep around eight. She’s recovered from her cold in record speed, but this is my first night of quiet in three days. With a baby monitor planted on the end table next to the couch, I stretch out.

Sip by sip, I revel in the faint softness of the wine as it rinses down my throat. It feels like forever and a year since I last had a drink. I finish the first glass and then pour another, but before I’ve finished the second glass, my eyelids become so heavy that I can hardly keep them open.

Still, my mind races…

Street was right about some things and wrong about others. It’s a mind-draining ordeal trying to sort out the truth from the fiction, and it’s beginning to feel like he knows me better than myself.

His version of who I am and what I want is clear and focused, with certainties and not questions. In some ways, I like that version of me better than the indecisive woman I can be.

That’s the last thing I think about before my vision goes black.

* * *

The entire world around me feels surreal yet so real at the same time. The way his hot breath dances along my skin, and the way his eyes drag me inside out; it’s all so up close and present, with the most detailed sensations.

“I think you want me here because you’re lonely, and you’re bored. I think you want me here because you know I can fuck you like nobody on this earth can,” he whispers against my ear, sending chills down my spine and lighting a fire of warmth between my thighs.

“Really?” I question in a husky whisper.

“I’ve seen the way you look at me with your fuck-me eyes,” he says, taunting me and teasing me as he spins my body to face the shelves of the bookstore. “You know I can take you to the highest point in heaven. You know that I can make you scream and satisfy you and fulfill you in a way you’ve only ever dreamed. What do you think about that, Princess? Am I getting warm?”

The next few seconds are a blur; total whiplash as I feel my panties and jeans wrapped around the base of my calves. Street fucks me from behind in slow, powerful strokes. With every thrust, he pushes me tighter against the shelves until a few books drop to the floor.

With one hand, his rough fingers tangle through my thick hair, and with the fingers of his other hand, he rubs at my clit. It’s all too much, and it’s everything all at once.

A nibble against my ear, soft at first and then harder, forces a cry from my throat. A cry for what? I can’t be certain. All I know is that I’m silently screaming for more.

His fingers drop from my hair and take hold of my hip. I’m completely within his control as he drives harder and deeper into me, and all I can do is moan and hold onto the wood of the bookshelf.

Sweat trickles from his face onto my bare back as he begins to grunt and pant. He’s close to release, and I’m close to an explosion, but right before the peak of ecstasy, I feel myself being pulled away from the dream world…

* * *

I awake from my dream in a flash, and it takes a minute to make sense of what’s just happened. I’m overcome with a sense that I’m losing myself. I don’t know which way is up and which way is down when it comes to Street. Day by day, hour by hour, second by second, the way he takes over my thoughts escalates to the point that he’s all I can think about.

And my dream has left me unsatisfied, so I stumble into my bedroom, drop into bed, lower my hand to my pussy and finish the job.