Rock Chick 04 Renegade (17 page)

“What, exactly, do you mean by ‘this’? You fucking me?” I snapped, being nasty. It wasn’t me and I didn’t like it but I couldn’t stop myself either.

“Yeah. Me fucking you. In your bed, on your couch, in
my
bed and anywhere else I can think of. I’m gonna do you on your back, on your knees and you’re gonna ride me. And when I’ve exhausted you and you don’t have those fucking shields up, I’m gonna make you talk to me and tel me what this shit is about and then, maybe, I can help you with it.” What he said stunned me, shocked me and made me feel funny but not exactly in a bad way, in kind of a good-but-scary way.

My emotional Rottweiler started barking and drooling and I pul ed away from Vance but his arm tightened keeping me where I was.

“You’ve got tonight. Then that’s it,” I said.

He shook his head. “You have no idea what you’re dealin’ with.”

“I know exactly what I’m dealing with,” I told him.

He let me go and grabbed a shrimp.

Then he said, “We’l see.”

It had to be, official y, the worst date on record.

We ate, we drank and we didn’t speak.

Wel , Vance spoke, I didn’t speak. After we ate the shrimp, he pul ed my hair off my shoulder, leaned into my ear and whispered, “Stop bein’ angry, Jules.” I just threw him a look. He gave me an arrogant grin.

He seemed unaffected by my snit, in fact he carried on like nothing was wrong and I wasn’t emanating Go to Hel Vance Crowe Death Rays. Between the salad and main course his arm came around me, tucking me into his side while his hand played with a curl in my hair. I al owed this because to struggle would be tacky and we were in The Broker, the least tacky place in Denver. Between the main course and dessert, when I’d forgotten about the dip in my slacks again and had leaned forward, he ran his fingers across my exposed skin.

After we were done, he paid, we walked to his bike and he got on. I got on behind him thinking that a motorcycle was
the worst
form of transportation when you were holding an angry grudge against its driver. He started the bike, leaned back into me and grabbed my wrists, pul ing them around his waist which pressed my torso into his back.

Before I could disconnect he rocketed from the curb and I hung on so I didn’t go off the end of the bike and to a scary, body-skidding-on-pavement-tearing-skin-off death.

He parked behind my house, I let us in even though I wanted to see him break in, I wasn’t in the mood to ask and switched on the light.

Boo walked into the kitchen as I shrugged off my jacket and threw it and my purse on the table. Boo immediately started complaining about my absence and other imagined kitty insults. I scooped him up and walked down the hal way then wandered around the living room, turning on lamps, Boo in my arms.

Boo talked through this. “Meow, meow, meow.” I finished with the lamps and looked at Vance who was leaning against the hal entryway watching me.

I real y wished he wasn’t so good-looking. It would make sustaining being pissed off at him a lot easier to do.

“Shut up, Boo,” I said, eyes on Vance.

“Meow,” Boo replied, eyes on me.

I looked at Boo. “You already had your treats.”

“Meow.”

“No more, you’re too fat.”

“
Meow!
”

“I don’t want to hear it,” I told Boo.

“
Meooow!
” Boo returned.

“Are you talkin’ to a cat?” Vance asked.

I looked at Vance but didn’t answer him. I gave Boo a cuddle and then bent over a bit and dropped him.

“Meow,” Boo said after he landed on his feet, always one to get in the last word.

He went over to Vance, rubbed against his ankles and then walked down the hal likely heading to his dry food bowl.

“How long you gonna stay pissed at me?” Vance asked.

Throughout Boo’s exit his eyes never left me.

“Until the end of time,” I answered.

For some reason, my snotty comment amused him.

Whatever.

“That should make tonight interesting,” he said, pushing away from the wal and coming to me.

I turned away from him and pul ed off Roxie’s wrist cuff and dropped it on the pub set. Then I brought my hands up to take off my earring. My heart was beating like a jackhammer and the butterflies, which had gone away to struggle valiantly elsewhere throughout our terrible date, came back clearly prepared to put up an epic battle of good versus bad in the pit of my stomach.

I felt Vance behind me and he swept my hair from one shoulder and over the other. I bit my lip, put the back on the pierced earring and dropped it to the table then went after the other one. His arm wrapped around my middle and he pul ed my back to his front then his lips went to my neck.

This felt nice, too nice, melt-your-anger nice and I stiffened my body in response.

I got the earring out and put the back on it and Vance said quietly against my neck, “Stop bein’ angry, Jules.”

“You can’t tel me to stop being angry. You can’t tel me who to spend my time with. You can’t break into my house and get into bed with me while I sleep. And you can’t make me have sex with you in return for you doing something nice for a kid who’s had no nice things happen to him in his life,” I declared then dropped the earring, turned and looked up at him or, more appropriately,
glared
up at him.

He watched me for a few seconds one arm stil around me then he said, “I can see you aren’t in the mood. We’l sleep on it tonight. Tomorrow, after we meet with Darius, we’l talk, then we’l do what we should have done two days ago.”

Damn.

I’d forgotten about the meet with Darius.

Was I ever going to get Vance Crowe out of my life?

I took a deep breath and nodded, grasping on to his out like a lifeline. “Perfect. Wonderful. Sounds good to me,” I agreed, deciding that tomorrow I’d definitely be in Nicaragua by dinner time.

He watched me again and then said, “We sleep together though.”

Hmm.

Maybe it was not so much of a lifeline as a noose.

“I don’t think so,” I returned.

I could tel he was making a decision. I watched him as he made it.

His face came closer to mine and he said, “Then tonight we do what we should have done two days ago.”

“Crowe –” I started to pul back against his arm but his other one wrapped around me.

“Jules, I’l tel you now what I would have told you at dinner if you’d been speakin’ to me. This,” he said, one hand dropping to my bottom and pul ing my hips into his, one going up my back to press my torso to his chest, “is the sweetest thing I’ve had in my life and I haven’t even fucked you yet. I never expected to get a chance at anything so sweet and now that I got it, I’m not gonna let it go. If you think you can act like a bitch and make me back off, you’re wrong.”

Was I being a bitch?

Okay, so the “until the end of time” comment was a wee bit bitchy but he was tel ing me what to do and saying bad things about my friends!

“You were tel ing me what to do,” I said quietly, stil fighting my corner.

“I know what I’m talkin’ about.”

This was true. He knew more about Zip, Heavy and Frank than I did and he certainly was more of a badass mother than I was.

“They’re my friends,” I said.

“I’m your friend,” he told me and I couldn’t help it, I stared.

At his words, the good butterflies trounced the bad butterflies and the bad ones retreated to Siberia.

“Vance,” I whispered, my emotional Rottweiler deciding to take an inappropriately-timed nap and my anger started to melt away.

“Stop bein’ angry,” he repeated his earlier command but in his soft, silky voice.

I kept staring at him a beat. Then it wasn’t just my anger melting away, my body melted into his.

“Okay,” I whispered.

At my whisper, his lips turned up, his head came down and he kissed me. I kissed him back. I wound my arms around his neck and pressed into him and his hand at my bottom came up, then went down again, this time inside my pants and I liked the feel of it there, as in
really
liked it.

My mouth opened under his and his tongue slid in. I realized in some hazy recess of my mind that somehow managed to be unaffected by his kiss that this was actual y going to happen.

His mouth moved away from mine and slid to my jaw then to my neck and his hand at my behind went deeper.

“Vance,” I whispered against his neck.

“Yeah?”

“We have to talk about something,” I said, thinking perhaps I should share my virginal status. It might turn him off and, if that was the case then I had nothing to lose because, if it did, and he didn’t understand, then I didn’t want to be with him anyway. If it didn’t turn him off, it might make things go easier for the both of us.

His head came up and he looked at me, his lips stil turned up at the ends.

“Princess,” he pressed his hips into me at the same time his hand pul ed mine to him and I felt his hardness. It freaked me out and made my bel y flutter at the same time.

“The time to talk was at dinner.”

I opened my mouth to say something but he kissed me again, lots of tongue, his other hand going up my shirt and sliding along the skin at my back. It felt good, good enough for me to go with it.

He ended the deep kiss and kissed me lightly, once, twice, again and I pul ed the ponytail out of his hair and slid my fingers in. His hair was silky thick and that felt good too.

my fingers in. His hair was silky thick and that felt good too.

“Vance, seriously –” I whispered, my fingers tangled in his hair then I lost my train of thought when his hand came out of my pants. He pul ed away and then both hands slipped my t-shirt up. My fingers untangled from his hair, my arms rose with the t-shirt and then it was gone.

Um…

Yikes.

“Two seconds,” I said, beginning to feel the edge of desperation.

He wasn’t listening to me; he was staring at my body.

One of his arms held the bottom half of me to him at my waist while his other hand explored my side, my ribcage and then up. He cupped my breast over the bra, his eyes watching his hand then the tips of his fingers traced the lace across my breast.

My desperation disintegrated and with it my ability to breathe in a normal rhythm.

Al right, wel , whatever. So he discovered I was a virgin at the last possible second. Who cared? People were starving in Africa; there were bigger things to worry about.

But I’d worry about them later.

I leaned into him, pressing myself against him with his hand between us at my breast and I kissed him.

May was right; people had been doing this for ages and instinct kicked in. It went from slow and sweet to hot and hungry in a flash.

Our lips disengaged, my mouth moved along his jaw, my tongue tasting under his ear. I put my hands in his jacket, pushed it off his shoulders and it dropped to the floor. Then I did the same as he did with my t-shirt and tugged off his turtleneck.

“Dear Christ,” I whispered when I caught a look at his chest and abs, his stomach muscles tight and defined,

“maybe I
will
work with Luke and Mace if I can get as ripped as you.”

He pul ed me into him then his hands began roaming my skin and his mouth went to my neck.

“Jules?” he cal ed there and a thril shivered across my skin at his voice vibrating against my neck.

“Mm?” My hand had moved between us, fingertips exploring the ridges of his abs. I felt them tighten at my touch and, at his reflex, a pleasant jolt shot between my legs.

“Not a good idea to mention Luke and Mace right now.”

“Oh,” I muttered, my fingers halting and I felt like an idiot,

“sorry.”

He kissed me again, I forgot about feeling like an idiot when he pul ed his hips back and undid my pants. He pushed them down my hips and they fel away. Before I could feel weird about standing in my living room in nothing but underwear and high heels, his arm went around my waist and he lifted me clear of my slacks and set me down, leaned back and looked at me, ful -body.

That’s when I started to feel weird about standing in my living room in nothing but underwear and high heels.

This lasted two seconds then he yanked me into him, my body slammed against his and he kissed me again, hotter and hungrier than he’d ever kissed me before. Then with and hungrier than he’d ever kissed me before. Then with light kisses and hands sliding down my ass, he walked me back, toward the couch.

“You do anything to change your body, I’l shackle you to the bed,” he murmured against my mouth.

“Real y?” I asked, just because I felt what he said needed a response. I was too occupied by trying to figure out how I could get his pants off to care about his answer.

“Why does it take superhuman effort to get anything out of you but while we’re havin’ sex, you won’t shut up?” The backs of my legs hit the couch and I went down.

Vance came down on top of me. His weight and warmth felt good and I put my arms around him and looked at him.

“You were the one who said something.”

“Shut up, Jules.”

I rol ed my eyes.

He grinned at me and moved partial y to the side.

Then al of a sudden his hand slid down my bel y and I felt his fingers press between my legs. This invasion came quickly and I probably should have been shocked. Instead it felt good, so good, my hips bucked involuntarily and my lips parted.

Wow
.