Page 25 of Triple the Secrets
He pinned her with a hard glare. “I said no charge, and I run this place,” he told her sharply. “Car is outside and ready to go.”
“Rogue,” Scarlett snapped.
He ignored her and headed back into the shop. To his surprise, he heard the click of heels behind him. He didn’t bother looking back or stopping until he got to his bay. When he did, he saw Scarlett standing there, hands on her hips, and glaring at him. “What?” he said shortly.
“You will not sit here and do that work for free,” she told him firmly.
“Believe I just did,” he said calmly as he set to work at cleaning up. “And since I run the place, I make the rules.”
A sound of frustration rose in her throat. “What the hell is your problem? What kind of business works for free? Or is this your way of apologizing for stalking me all over the damn place?”
He gave her a sideways glance before saying mildly, “This is my way of making sure you have a way home. Nothing more.”
“So you’re just going to keep showing up at my house every night and watching it like a creeper?” He didn’t bother answering. “Oh my God, you’re infuriating,” she hissed, stepping closer. “What will it take for you to stop and leave me the hell alone? I don’t need or want your so-called protection or whatever you’re doing.”
“Told you,” he said tightly. “Tell me the truth about whatever you’re running from.”
“We already told you—”
“You told me a bunch of bullshit,” he snarled at her, his control on his temper fraying. “You think I can’t tell that you and those girls are lying out your asses? I’ve stared down far more skillful liars than you three.”
“Just let it the hell go,” she screamed at him, her own anger making her face flush red. “Why is that so hard for you to do? I am not your concern. Neither are the girls. Find some other obsession, because I’m not about to be yours. Or if this is some sick kind of way to woo me—”
He barked out a laugh, unable to help himself. “Woo you?” he sneered, making her stop and glare at him. “In case you haven’t figured it out yet, sweetheart, I’m a biker. Bikers don’t woo shit. We go after what we want, guns blazing, and nothing and no one will stand in our way. If I wanted you, I could have you bent over the closest surface, taking me from behind, and screaming my name in no time flat. And it wouldn’t be no slow, romantic bullshit. It would be fast, hard, and just what that tight little ass of yours needs.”
Her mouth dropped open in shock at his words, and she blinked at him. Then what he said must have sunk in, because her eyes flashed dangerously and she stepped forward until she was mere inches away from him. “The day I do that will be the day hell freezes over,” she hissed at him.
Everything in him roared to prove her wrong. He didn’t stop, didn’t think. His hands and body were moving before he could consider the consequences. She let out a gasp as his hands gripped her waist. He spun her around and pressed her back against the wall between his bench and his stand-up toolbox. It was a tight, just barely fitting them, but he didn’t care. He crowded into her, putting one steel-toed boot between her feet pushing his knee and thigh between her legs.
Her eyes were wide and a little bit nervous as she stared up at him. Good. It was time for her to realize what kind of man she was dealing with. He brought his hand up and wrapped it lightly around her throat, not squeezing, but it was enough to feel her swallow, hard. He was scaring her, but there was something else in her gaze that had his gut tightening with desire and his cock hardening even more in his jeans.
Ms. Roarke liked this, and she didn’t know why, or how to feel about it.
“Let’s get one thing straight right now, Scarlett,” he said in a soft, low voice. Her lashes fluttered in response. “I am not one of your little boys. I am a man who knows what he wants, and I will only take so much sass from you before I take you up on the invitation your eyes and body are giving, to show you just what happens when you play with me.”
“I’m not inviting you to do anything,” she said tightly.
He smirked down at her. “Tell me your panties aren’t soaked right now and I might believe you,” he whispered. “Or that you don’t like the fact that my hand is around your throat, knowing that I can take your very breath if I wanted. I think that, despite you giving off Ms. Prim vibes with your whole librarian look, deep down, you love the darker side of sex, just like me. You like someone else having control.”
Her throat bobbed, and if her eyes got any wider, they might just pop out of her head. “I-I don’t know what to say to you,” she breathed out.
“There’s nothing to say. What I want is for you to trust me and tell me what you’re running from,” he told her. He lowered his face until it was only a breathe away, his mouth perfectly lined up with hers. Her gaze moved to his mouth quickly and then back up to his. “Then, just maybe, I’ll give you what you crave.”
He pulled his face away from hers and slowly dropped his hand from around her throat, but he didn’t step back, still continuing to crowd her.
Scarlett’s face was flushed, and he could feel the heat coming off her in waves. She looked sexy as hell, looking up at him with wide eyes, dressed in her prim white blouse that now had grease stains on it from his hands and the wall, and black slacks that skimmed over her hips and legs before ending just above a pair of pointed toe heels. She was missing the bun and glasses, or she’d be a walking school boy fantasy.
“So what’s it going to be, Scarlett?” he asked her softly. “You going to tell me what I want to know? Or are you going to tell me to step back and go home to your little house and pretend like you’re not wondering what it would be like to have me in that lonely bed with you, instead of keeping watch over you outside?”
He saw the indecision flash over her face, and even though he was pretty sure which option she was going to choose, he almost hoped she wouldn’t. He wanted to taste her. To maybe, just maybe, slake some of the hunger that was burning out of control inside him. Still, disappointment flashed through him when she lifted her hand, pushed him back, and stepped around him without a word.
He watched her walk towards the other end of the shop, stopped, and said in a much calmer voice than he knew she had to be feeling, “Leave me alone, Rogue. Stop stalking me.”
“Stop being so damn stubborn and I might.”
She pushed through the door, and within minutes, he heard her car pulling away. He had half a mind to call down to the prospect to not let her out, but he knew better. He had just shown a side of himself that he wasn’t sure she could handle, and maybe it was for the best.
Maybe now he might get his damn mind and body wrapped around the idea of leaving her the hell alone.
