Page 86 of Keeping Amanda
“Nash,” she said on a sigh, giving him more of her weight.
“I told you before, this isn’t a fling,” Buck told her. “I’m in this for the long haul. You are sexy as sin, Mandy, but it’s more than sex. Yes, that part of our relationship is awesome, and I think about how compatible we are on a daily basis. But it’s more than that. It’s how happy I feel when I’m around you. How content. How it feels as if you complete me. And that’s cheesy as shit, and I’ll deny I said it if you tell anyone,” he teased. “But I wanted you to know.”
“Okay, that was the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me. And I’m too drunk to appreciate it fully, or respond with something equally as awesome. So I’ll just say…I don’t know what I’d do without you. You’ve gotten under my skin and I like you there. So don’t ever leave, okay?”
Buck smiled. “Not planning on it.”
“Good. But youareplanning on giving me an orgasm or two when we get home, right?”
His grin widened. “Oh yeah.”
“And carrying me around. And moving me where you want me? I love when you do that.” She sighed dreamily. “I never thought I’d like being so short, but with you? It makes me feel feminine, and it’s so sexy.”
This woman was killing him. The truth was that at five-eight, he’d never been the kind of man who could physically move a woman in bed before. But none of the partners he’d had were Mandy. None were five foot nothing. She was made for him. Together, they were perfection.
“You like me bossing you around in bed?”
She nodded with a shy smile.
“You like me putting you where I want you and doing whatever I want with you?”
“Yes. Because it’s not about you doing what you want. Not entirely. It’s about you making sure I’m satisfied. That I enjoy what you’re doing. If you were cruel about it, or didn’t take my pleasure into consideration, it would suck. But you do, so it doesn’t.”
She was one hundred percent right. Buck would never do anything that would hurt her. He bossed her around because she loved it. Because it turned her on. And in turn, it made their sex life even hotter.
“You ready to go home?” he asked.
She smiled up at him. “Am I ready for you to take me home and give me multiple orgasms and fall asleep, or pass out, whatever, in your arms as you hold me? Yes, sir. I am more than ready.”
He was hard and ready for her. He’d take her in the front seat of his car if he could, but that wouldn’t be safe. And the last thing he’d ever do was put her in danger, or expose their lovemaking to anyone who might be walking by. He wasn’t a voyeur. Wanted to keep his woman to himself. But the ride home would be one of the longest of his life. He couldn’t wait to experience drunk sex with Mandy. She was going to blow his mind, of that, he was positive.
It took them twenty minutes to actually get out the door because Mandy insisted on saying bye to all her “new friends.” The bartender, the waitresses, the men playing pool…everyone got her unique brand of Mandy-ness.
Buck was smiling huge, arm around his woman, when he wasfinallyable to lead her out the door. Other men in the bar were looking at him with envy, not because he was a Night Stalker—that, he was used to—but because he was with Mandy. And the feeling that gave him was ten times better than any pride he had in his job.
The parking lot had emptied out a bit since they’d arrived. It was dark as hell, and Buck had once again been forced to park near the back of the lot, in the only space left when they’d arrived during the dinner rush. Anchor Point was popular, for good reason, and while the parking situationalwaysannoyed him…now, it had him second-guessing walking to the car, in the dark, with Mandy.
He turned his head, glancing at the door to the bar, wondering if he should escort her back inside to wait for him. When he decided they were halfway to his car already, and it would just be a waste of time, he turned his attention back to where they were walking.
He had a split second of warning, in the form of Mandy’s quick inhalation, before all hell broke loose.
Someone ran out from behind a parked car and swung something at Mandy before he could even blink.
The feel of something hitting her head reverberated straight through her and into Buck, since she was plastered against his body when she was struck.
She immediately collapsed, and as Buck struggled to keep her from falling on her face, the attacker struck again. This time the metal pipe, or whatever they were wielding, missed Mandy, hitting Buck in the shoulder.
Pain made him see stars, and his grip on Mandy loosened.
She crumbled to the ground, moaning.
The shock of being attacked and the pain coursing through his body was enough distraction to allow their attacker one more chance to strike.
The weapon swung—and Mandy’s groans ceased altogether.
Buck moved before he thought about what he was doing. The karate lessons he’d had as a teen came back to him instinctually. He hadn’t used them since he was eighteen, but that didn’t matter. Muscle memory helped him kick the metal object out of the hands of the attacker.
Ignoring the pain in his shoulder, he swung, catching their assailant in the neck with the side of his hand. Attacks to the throat were off limits in karate competitions, but this was no game. This was life or death.
