Scarred: A New Adult Romance (The Anderson Brothers Series Book 1) (25 page)

“Oh,
I see. So you two aren’t looking all hot and sexy tonight to pick up guys.” I
grin.

Denise
playfully punches me in the arm. “And what if we are? Are you jealous?”

“Nope.
’Cause I’ll fuck up the idiot who dares to try and touch you.”

Denise
rolls her eyes. “Don’t worry. You’re the only guy for me, and that’s that.” She
plants a kiss on my lips, and I melt.

Lauren
clears her throat, and we break the kiss. “So who’s your friend, Dominick?”

“That’s
Larry, a coworker. He’s cool.”

“And
damn fine,” Lauren mumbles, eyeing him from afar.

I
try not to smile. “Also single, as far as I know.”
God, am I playing matchmaker again?

Denise
giggles. “And here I thought you swore you’d never get involved in another
relationship, Lauren.”

“Yeah,
well. I think I might have to give that one a try. You did say he was single,
Dominick?”

I
nod. “Yep.”

“Hmph.
A fine piece of ass like him’s probably got kids though. They all got kids.”

Denise
arches an eyebrow. “What’s wrong with that? You don’t like kids?”

“It’s
not that, D. I just want to deal with a man first before I start involving
myself with his kids.”

I
rub my chin. “Well, actually, Larry doesn’t have any kids.”

Lauren’s
eyes widen. “You shittin’ me? A man his age? No kids? He’s a diamond in the
rough!”

Larry
returns with the drinks and sits beside Lauren. His eyes scan her up and down,
and he grins. “I suddenly realized I didn’t catch your name.”

Lauren
traces a finger along her smiling lips. “Lauren.”

My
gaze bounces between them, and then I lean over to Denise and whisper, “Wanna
hang out back?”

Denise
nods, as if she had the same idea. She stands and takes her drink. “Hey,
Lauren. Call me when you’re ready to go, okay?”

“Yeah,
okay,” Lauren says absently, not taking her eyes off Larry.

“Larry?”
I say, but he doesn’t acknowledge me. “Don’t leave without me, please.”

“Uh-huh,”
Larry says.

The
back door leads outside into a fenced-in area with more places to sit. It’s lit
up by white lights and hanging lanterns strung through the trees and across the
top of the wooden fence. The sky is clear, revealing the bright stars and
quarter-moon. Among the few people that linger out here, there are plenty of
places to sit. I zero in on a small table for two and pull out a chair for Denise.

Not
wanting to sit across from her, I slide my chair around next to hers. I wrap my
arm around her and pull her close. She rests her head on my shoulder. I inhale
her scent and my mind goes wild.

“That
was unexpected,” she says, breaking the silence.

“What?
Larry and Lauren?” I ask.

“Yeah,
I mean, Lauren went through a really bad divorce last year. She swore she was
done. Whenever she puts her mind to something, she always follows through.”

“She
seems to like him.” I stare at her Long Island iced tea, and now I’m craving
another drink, too. “If it’s not too personal, what happened?”

She
sips her drink. “Don’t say anything about it, okay?”

“My
lips are sealed.”

“Her
husband of seven years ended up cheating on her. She came home one night and
caught him and another woman in their bed. The guy had no shame whatsoever. Apparently,
he’d been secretly seeing that woman for over a year and Lauren didn’t know.
After that, Lauren washed her hands of it and swore she was never going to get
into another relationship again.”

I
frown. “I’m sorry to hear that. A shame that she wouldn’t give it another
chance because of one bad one. It sounds like she just doesn’t trust guys.”

“Can
you blame her?”

“I’ll
tell you this: I’ve known Larry a long time, and I know he’d never try to hurt
her. He hates guys who mistreat women.”

Denise
nods. “I know Lauren still hurts, even though she tries to hide it from me.
It’s hard getting over a bad relationship.”

“It
really is.” I stroke the side of her cheek with my finger. “How are you doing?”

Her
smile slowly returns, as she seems to be enjoying my gentle caress. “I’m okay.
I can’t believe it’s almost been a month.”

“Yeah,”
I say, almost in a whisper. “But each day, you heal.” I lift her head from my
shoulder and turn her chin so she looks at me. I can never get enough of her
ebony eyes. “Can you stay with me tonight?”

She
leans in and kisses me on the lips. “Okay, but I can’t afford to miss tomorrow
morning’s final.”

“Don’t
worry, neither can I.”

She
finishes the rest of her drink. “Guess what I bought at the mall today?”

“What?”

“A
new motorcycle jacket. Red.” She smirks.

I
widen my eyes. “No shit?”

She
nods, and the thought of her in her own motorcycle jacket gives me a hard-on. I
can’t believe she’s really serious about this riding business. “Now I don’t
have to borrow yours all the time. It’s in the car. I’ll show you later.”

Fuck,
I wanna see it
now
. “We should
probably go check on those two.”

She
chuckles. “Yeah, I guess. Though I’d hate to break them up. I haven’t seen
Lauren this happy in a long time.”

“Yeah,
same with Larry.” I get up.

Back
inside, we discover Lauren and Larry are gone.

“Shit!
Larry left me? I can’t believe this!” I say through clenched teeth.

Denise
looks worried. “I hope Lauren didn’t take off, either.” She takes my hand and
leads me to the front door. “C’mon.”

We
hurry outside and look up and down the street for Larry’s truck or Denise’s
car. I exhale when I spot the familiar mounted rooftop lights on a blue and
white truck parked along the curb, three cars down. “There.” I point.

As
we draw nearer to the truck, I can’t tell if anyone is inside or not. Rounding
the passenger side, I fling open the door.

Lauren
and Larry freeze in the middle of a make-out session. Like two damn high
schoolers. Lauren quickly smoothes out her wrinkled top and looks daggers at
me. “You’re shittin’ me now, right?”

Larry’s
eyes pierce through me, and I have to take a step back. Holy shit. This is
insane. “Uh, sorry, Larry,” I say. “I thought you left without me. How long are
you—”

“Boy,
close that fucking door!” Larry growls.

Lauren
gives Denise a brief smile. “I’ll call you later, dear. Have fun.” She grabs
the door handle and pulls the door shut. I hear the locks activate.

Denise
and I exchange glances. Well fuck me.

Denise
covers her mouth and snickers. Her laughter is contagious, and I take her hand
and lead her away from Larry’s truck before they hear us.

“Oh.
My. God.” She wipes tears from her eyes, her body still spasming with laughter.
“It’s so adorable, it’s funny.”

I
shake my head, still smiling. “I’ll probably get an earful at work tomorrow.”

As
we’re walking to Denise’s car, a blue car creeps slowly along past us. It looks
like it’s had some custom work done on it, but the windows are tinted far too
dark for me to see the driver. Squeezing Denise’s hand, I keep my eye on the
car. It stops at a light on the corner, sits there several seconds after the
light turns green, then speeds up and disappears further down the street.

I
get this strange feeling that I’ve seen that car somewhere before.

* * *

Taking Denise’s car, we drive by her place so she can
pack some clothes for the night. It’s eleven o’clock by the time we get to my
place. I don’t hesitate getting her inside and upstairs. I just want to relax
with her in my arms. Lying in bed in just my boxers, I scroll through the
emails on my phone while I wait for Denise to come out the bathroom. I don’t
understand why girls have to take such long-ass showers.

I
hear the tromping of footsteps coming up the stairs, and Denise enters my room,
wearing a cute purple-and-black-plaid tank top and matching short-shorts. She
carries a bundle of discarded clothing in her arms and sets it in her duffel
bag.

Tossing
my phone aside, I sit up in bed, gawking at her. Those short-shorts barely
cover the bottom of her ass and show off every bit of her beautiful legs. My
hard-on tents my boxers. “Fuck, you did that on purpose,” I say breathily.

She
wanders over to the bed and sits on the edge near me. “Did what?” she asks, a
hint of a smirk on her lips.

Oh,
she knows. She fucking knows. That little tease.

“Wear
that.
” I gesture to her choice of
sleepwear.

She
chuckles. “It’s what I always wear to bed.”

I
moan. “You know, you still never showed me that new jacket you got.” I reach
out to touch the sides of her bare arms, but she gets up.

“Okay.”
She returns to her duffel bag and pulls out a red and black jacket. She puts it
on over that sexy sleepwear and zips it up. The words “Ride for Speed” are
embroidered in large red script across the front.

Ho-ly shit.

“So
what do you think?” she asks, turning around and modeling it.

I
think I’m going to have a serious orgasm right here, right now. My dick is so
stiff. I’m practically numb. “Stay. Right. There,” I say with short, ragged
breaths. I scramble off the bed and lumber to her despite my painful hard-on. I
put my arms around her waist and pull her to me.

She
squeals. “I take it you like it.”

“You
have no idea,” I say in almost a whisper, my lips close to hers. “
No
idea.”

She
laughs and braces herself, trying not to fall backward.

Oh,
I want her so bad right now.
So
bad.

Our
lips lock. Hard. That intensity, that need—we both know we want it. At this
point, I want her out of that jacket. Out of that sexy sleepwear. Moaning
against her lips, I unzip her jacket and push it back from her shoulders until
it slides off her arms and onto the floor at her feet. My lips not leaving
hers, I walk backward toward the bed, pulling her with me.

I
brush my lips across the side of her neck, down to her collarbone. I run my
hands under her tank top, massaging her tits with both hands, her hardened
nipples vised between my fingers, which entices a small moan from her.
Straddled over my lap, she shifts and squirms her ass atop my erection, and I
moan as my dick throbs from her weight. My hands run down her abs and trace
along the elastic waistband of her shorts. She exhales deeply, and I slip my
hand down her shorts. She’s so hot down there, so wet. I know she wants me. My
fingers wander down toward her center, and she gasps. I kiss her jawline as I
rub her—tease her—with two fingers. Her whole body shakes, and she cries out.

“Please
… ”

Enough
of this damn foreplay. Whipping my hand out of her shorts, I gently push her
off me and onto the bed. I strip off the boxers, and while she pulls off her
shorts, I seize a condom from under the bed and sheathe my erection. I turn off
the bedside lamp, lie back in bed and pull her on top.

“Take
that off, too,” I say, tugging the tank top once my eyes get adjusted to the
darkness.

I
hear the sounds of clothing rubbing against skin and see her silhouette moving
against the dim light from the window. Her warmth hovers over me, and I wrap my
arms around her, pulling her close. Our lips touch. Her skin is so soft, so
hot—just like the rest of her. My hands rub down to her ass while I draw my
kisses from her lips down to her neck.

I
grind my hips against hers, and she does the same, shifting her lower half,
inch by inch over my dick. I make contact with her tightness, and a low groan
escapes me. Kissing down her chest, I thrust inside, grasping her ass cheeks
and pushing her against me, forcing my dick to drive deeper. She cries out,
almost screams a mix of pain and pleasure. Sucking on her tits, I feel my dick
get clamped. Hard. Moaning, I thrust into her in a steady rhythm. My tongue
flicking over rock-hard nipples, I’m in absolute bliss. Her body melts into
mine. With each thrust, we meet somewhere in the middle, force for force. The
bed squeaks and shakes the faster we move. Between each breathy moan and cry,
we try to kiss, but damn, it’s hard. I want to give her everything I have. Everything
she deserves. Her ass bounces up and down against my hands, and I’m practically
done for.

“God,
I love you so much, Denise,” I manage to say before my body suddenly spasms and
I’m seeing sparks.

“Dom—I
… ahh!” Screaming, she trembles, her warmth spreading over me.

I
kiss her lips tenderly, slowly rolling my hips against hers to ease the
afterglow.

As
our bodies collapse, my eyes grow heavy with sleep. But before I give in to
sleep, I wrap her in my arms and kiss the crown of her head.

Chapter 26

Denise’s phone rings in the middle of the night, and
she shifts in my arms. I slowly let her free, though I’m still half asleep.
Probably Lauren,
I figure, rolling over
on my side. I reach down and activate my phone, glimpsing the time that lights
up on the screen. Four fucking thirty. Groaning, I roll back onto my back and
drift off to sleep again.

I
awaken again, this time to my phone alarm music. I shut it off and sit up in
bed. The sun hasn’t risen yet, and, as I yawn and stretch, I realize
something’s not right. I pat the sheets next to me.

No
Denise.

No
way is she still talking on the phone after two hours. Springing out of bed, I
flick on the light and see that Denise’s duffel bag is gone.

Did she really leave?

Concern
stings my throat.
Why did she leave so
early? Did she go back home? Did she not want to stay with me any more?
As
the questions bombard my mind, I try to recall the last thing that happened.
But I’m still fuzzy with sleep. She had a phone call, but that was it. I assume
it was from Lauren, or maybe Trinity or one of her other friends. I mean, who
else would be calling her that early in the morning? Running my hands over my
hair, I head out of the room and downstairs.