House Rules (15 page)

I really had tried to let it go. I’d spent the first few days pissed as hell, to the point where Derek and Natalie, another server, had tried to get the story out of me. Apparently after I left, Miller went on a rampage. Not used to not getting his way, he nit-picked his way through the bar, firing Evan and another server for minor indiscretions. I felt bad, but after a few days they were both back to work. Jason had called and told them they’d be compensated for the days off.

So despite people prying, I’d refused to talk. There was no way I would admit what the argument was about. I had considered that what they might make up in their heads could be worse. Then I remembered that Miller had won me as part of a poker pot, fucked me, then asked for a “friends with benefits” arrangement but without the friendship. So I left them to their imaginations.

Between that and Ray’s incessant phone calls, my mood was shit most days. It didn’t matter how many numbers I blocked, he’d call from a new one the next day and leave a million messages about how I was his and I’d come back soon. Hell no.

I pushed my hip out to the side, forcing my shorts to ride up a bit more. “Hmm, I’m not so sure. It depends.”

“On what, sexy?”

There was no doubt in my mind that Charlie would be watching the whole show, updating Miller about exactly what was going on. But my efforts hadn’t brought him back into the building . . . yet.

If someone asked me why I did it—why I continued to bait Miller when I didn’t want anything to do with him—I probably wouldn’t be able to answer coherently because, truth be told, I wasn’t entirely sure myself. I could have just quit my job and found something else. Sure, the pay wouldn’t have matched up, but at least I’d have my pride. But it niggled at me; the way that Miller got to hurt me and then walk away. And part of me wanted to hurt him back. Playground stuff, maybe, but I couldn’t help the way I felt. I kept thinking to myself that if I could just see that he felt even one iota of the hurt I’d felt when he proposed that “arrangement” then that would be closure for me and I could move on. Only time would tell if that was the case.

Then again, maybe that was only part of it. Somewhere deep down, in a place I tried to bury it was part of the truth: that I wanted more than an arrangement from him. Miller intrigued me at every turn on our one night together, and as hard as I tried I wasn’t able to wipe him from my thoughts or dreams. If I really dug deep, I wanted the emotions, the feelings. A relationship, not an “arrangement.”

But since that wasn’t reality, I kept it buried and played games instead.

I laughed, an obvious deflection. “What can I get you?”

“Oh, a subject change. I’m going to keep working on you.” He winked.

The guys surrounding him placed their orders. Eventually Mr. Flirt told me what he wanted, but not before staring for a bit longer.

“I’ll be right back with your drinks.”

I turned toward the bar and saw Miller coming down the hall with Charlie.

I hadn’t seen him walk in. Then again, it didn’t matter. He made his choice, I made mine.

Ignoring the asshole I went straight to the bar to collect the order. In no time, I was heading back to the table with the guys’ drinks. Seemed like I would get two for the price of one: a big tip, and piss Miller off. It was a win-win.

“Here ya go, boys,” I said, passing the glasses and bottles out.

“Boys?” Mr. Flirt feigned offense. “I don’t see any boys around here. We can prove it to you, if you want?”

I leaned far over the table to hand out the last few drinks, the movement much more exaggerated than necessary, but enough that the guys had a clear view down my shirt. I let them have a look before I responded to Mr. Flirt.

“And how would you do that?”

Eyes burned a hole in the back of my head. In a perverse way, it gave me great pleasure to know how much the scene was likely pissing Miller off. Letting them look down my top, combined with outright flirting—he’d probably lose his shit. That was his own fault. Karma’s a bitch.

At least that was the mantra I tried to hold onto. Anger was easier emotion to fight with than the hurt.

“I’ll show you all of my nine inches,” he purred.

“Nine inches, really?”

The guy was just pushing the boundaries; boundaries that a few months ago would have earned him a new asshole. It was amazing how much one situation could change a person. In a few moments I’d walk away and forget about them for a bit and with any luck, by the time I got back to their table they’d be too drunk to pay any attention to me.

Then he crossed those boundaries. I felt his hand graze the back of my knee and slide up my thigh, right to the edge of the shorts that barely covered my ass. Guys had placed their hands on my arms to keep me from leaving, some even stuck their leg out to make like they were stretching, when really they wanted to rub against me. This, however, was the first time one had been brazen enough to almost grab my ass since that first week. It wouldn’t happen again, but for just this once, it would give Miller a taste of his own medicine.

“Let’s go out to my car and I’ll show you.”

I was just bending down to say something more when Mr. Flirt shouted and his hand moved away from my butt. I turned to see Miller, the guy’s arm locked in his hand like a vice grip. Miller yanked him up from his chair.

“Hands off,” Miller snarled.

“Fuck, what the hell is your problem?”

“She’s mine.” Miller tightened his grip, making the guy call out in pain once again.

“Yours?” I stepped back and crossed my arms over my chest, feeling completely overexposed. “I don’t think so.”

Mr. Flirt must have seen something on Miller’s face. Quickly he began amending his story. “Man, she was flirting with me. I thought she was single.”

“Charlie, get him outta here.” He pushed Mr. Flirt forward. “I’ll take care of Tess.” Charlie nodded and proceeded to escort Mr. Flirt from the premises, his friends following quickly behind him with no encouragement needed. It seemed they’d had no idea whose bar they’d walked into.

Miller grabbed my arm, practically dragging me down the hall toward his office, his pace too fast for me to get my arm free.

Once I heard the door slam behind us, I rounded on him and jerked from his grasp.

“What in the hell do you think you are doing?”

“Me? What am
I
doing? Jesus fucking Christ, Tess, you’re acting like a goddamn whore out there. Plan to give everyone at the bar a go at your pussy?”

“You’re an asshole.” I spun on my heel, determined to get as far away from Miller Hawes as possible. Nothing was worth staying here.

Once again, I was pulled to a stop when his hand clasped my arm, spinning me around. My back was pushed up against the wall and his hand ran across my breast, teasing the nipple through the fabric. Electric sparks shot down my chest and straight between my legs, but I refused to give him the satisfaction of the moan that almost slipped past my lips.

“I
am
an asshole, and you are mine.”

His words snapped me out of the haze that was slowly descending over my body as if a cold bucket of ice water had been dumped on my head. I put my hands on his chest and shoved. He stumbled back, likely because he didn’t expect me to stop him.

“I belong to no one. I’m no one’s toy. No one’s fuck buddy. No one’s one-night stand.”

Even as I said the words I noticed his dick, hard beneath his pants. My body responded in kind: a tingle in my clit, my nipples rock hard.

“You are. You just don’t know it yet.”

He stalked me step for step—his forward, mine back. I ran into the door but had nowhere left to go. Feeling around the wall, I tried to find the handle to get myself out of that room because there was a glint to Miller’s eye that told me he didn’t plan on letting me leave this room until I admitted I was his. He’d be able to do it.

I may have been pissed at him, but at night I dreamed of Miller; of his fingers caressing my skin. Of the way he’d brought me to the brink of pleasure, sending me over the edge effortlessly. If the man touched me, my body would betray me. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to hold onto the anger. Maybe that made me weak, but every girl had needs. Explosive orgasms topped that list. Except, I was selfish. I wanted the relationship, too. Something Miller wasn’t willing to offer.

My hand came into contact with the metal but it was too late. Miller caught up and stood toe to toe with me. His hand covered mine and pulled, pinning it up against his chest.

“Get the hell off me.” I was proud that my voice sounded hard, since my body was melting inside under Miller’s heat.

“Not until you admit it.”

He kept hold of my wrists and brought me into the middle of the room, only letting go of me to unbutton his shirt. I looked to the door, wondering if I could make it past him and out of it before he caught me. I was still running through my exit plan when the broad expanse of his tanned chest came into view. He was sexier than I remembered him being that first night. Not that the wine had helped much with that situation. I thought the alcohol had given me rose-tinted glasses. Not the case.

“You’re not going to touch me.”

The final button came undone and he pulled his shirt off and dropped it to the floor. “I’m going to do way more than touch you. First I’m going to taste you, then I’m going to fuck you over my desk.”

My heart beat so hard I was surprised he didn’t see it on the outside of my body. It wasn’t out of fear, but a desire for him to do exactly as he said.

I shook my head. “You lost that opportunity when you suggested scheduled screwing, like I was some call girl.”

He stopped and looked from his dick, straining against his pants, back to me. A smirk rose at the corner of his mouth and he stalked forward again, the back of my legs slamming into his desk. What was with my luck of being caged in by office furniture? He reached me, his eyes searching. I waited for him for him to kiss me, but it never came.

One second I was trapped by fire in his eyes, the next Miller grabbed my shoulders and spun me to face the desk. He pushed me over until I was bent at the waist, my ass cheeks no doubt hanging out. I struggled to get away but the attempt was feeble; superficial at best. A part of me wanted him, and that same part thought I’d be strong enough to walk away afterward.

His fingers landed along the bottom of my shorts as he bent over my body. “Now tell me you don’t want me.”

“I don’t—”

The words died on my lips when that same finger slipped between my folds. I bit my lip to hold back the moan when his finger circled my clit in slow, agonizing movements.

“Nothing to say?”

The shorts were yanked down, the rip of fabric filling the room as they fell away from my body, the air in the office feeling cold against my heated skin. Fingers were replaced with his tongue. Damn. Electric sensations trickled along my nerves. I knew if I told Miller no and meant it, he’d let me walk away, in the same way I knew I’d have sex with Miller. But I refused to let him believe that this would be a regular hook up. “This changes nothing. I still won’t be your fuck buddy.”

“Okay.”

His tongue twirled around my clit, moving back to dip inside me. The pattern continued over and over again until I was gripping the smooth desk, struggling for purchase. “Please,” I begged, needing to come.

His mouth lifted from me. “What do you want, Tess?”

“I want . . . I want—”

“Say it, Tess. It’s the only way you’re going to come.” The sound of his zipper lowering made my insides clench. I needed him, more then I thought I would when he’d dragged me back here. More than I’d ever wanted anyone, ever.

“Take me, Miller.”

He slid inside of me.

So full.

Slowly, he moved, forcing the breath from my lungs. This was what I needed. What my body craved from Miller. His thrusts came harder and harder, and it was so good that, for a brief moment, my mind was willing to give up the idea of a relationship if it meant I could feel like this.

But I quickly pushed it aside. I would take this, then
I
would be the one to walk away.

His body bent over me, threading his fingers with mine, and using the connection to pump faster, hitting the exact spot I needed. The friction between our bodies, the heat, the way he filled me, all pushed and pushed until I thought I’d black out. The orgasm washed over me like a tidal rush, taking all rational thought with it. I felt him reach his own peak. Delirium set in. Chest heaving. Breaths panting. Pulses racing.

In that one moment, the whispered words in my ear didn’t seem true. I couldn’t have heard him right.

“You will not be my fuck buddy. You will only be mine.”

CHAPTER 15

Miller

Her body shuddered below mine. I knew she’d heard the words that left my lips, words I never thought I would say. What I didn’t know was whether she’d understood them.

I’d fucked up. Tess was not the type of woman to agree to sleeping with a man, no strings attached. The night of the poker game had been a situation where there was no right choice. An asshole boyfriend, dinner with a stranger, and too much to drink. Things were bound to lead to sex.

When she told me to fuck off and stormed out of my office, I’d been determined to forget about her. I’d gone back to working from the dealership and taking a break from women. After the scene with the blonde bitch, calling the brunette “Tess,” and Tess, herself, blowing me off, I figured it was time to spend a little time with my right hand. It didn’t argue back, and always made me come.

I’d become an even bigger asshole than normal and had nearly succeeded in burning a few important bridges. Dad hadn’t seen the worst of it, thankfully, but Ashton had. He’d invited me for dinner at the house; Elena wanted to do something after that disastrous night at my parents. The minute he opened the door and saw my face, he brought me down to his office.

The door shut behind him and he turned to face me, arms crossed over his chest. “You’re not going in there with Elena until you tell me what the fuck is wrong with you.”