Page 19 of Malice and Surrender
“I’ll be right back. Get those cleaned and ready. We don’t have much time left before that swarm outside is all over us.”
“I know what I want all over me,” Avro said as I walked behind him.
As I glanced over my shoulder, he looked at me and then at Jace before finding my eyes again. Oh, I knew what he was thinking, and now I knew he’d stepped out of reality to wander around in fantasy land with candy canes and gumdrops.
Shaking my head, I wandered into the back and down the short staircase to the downstairs storage area. There was no point in one of us leaving the bar to get the extra cases of our most popular in the middle of the shift. We had runners, but I’d yet to find one that didn’t make me want to follow them around to make sure they didn’t destroy the place. We had more glasses and alcohol wasted when runners touched them than at any other time. Flicking on the bright fluorescent bulbs, I searched the shelves until I found the bottles I wanted.
Grabbing the clipboard off the rack for the aisle, I marked down what was taken and picked up the case, moving it to the bottom of the stairs.
I wondered why all these places put the storage in the booze cache area. It did help keep the stuff cool, but it wasn’t like you wanted to party down here. The supplies were heavy, and it was irritating to lug them up and down all the time. A short escalator leading directly to the bar would be amazing.
I walked back to the farthest aisle to grab the next case when I heard someone coming down the stairs.
“Avro, you can take that first box up. I’m going to grab a few more of the faves,” I called out as I grabbed an empty box to fill with various extra bottles.
Bending over, I reached to the back of the bottom shelf and pulled out the last case of tequila we had. That wasn’t good. It must have been missed on the previous order. Pulling open the top of the box, I counted twelve bottles and sighed. There would be enough for tonight, but I would have to change my specialty shot for the challenge. Straightening, I turned and yelped when I saw Jace leaning against the shelving.
“Jesus H, you just scared the shit out of me. Are you lost?” My voice dripped with sarcasm to cover my initial fear.
I tried to ignore the burning in my gut like I’d just taken a shot. Up close, I could see his eyes, and the fact that they weren’t contacts and filled with heat that had me stepping back before I forced myself to stop. I was no longer that same teen who was assaulted, and I knew how to defend myself. I proved it earlier, didn’t I?
“Only in your eyes,” Jace said, and my mouth fell open a second before I laughed.
“Does that actually work on anyone?”
“Usually, it has people panting at my feet.” His brows furrowed, and he crossed his arms, pulling the T-shirt he wore tight across his chest.
He was built a lot like Avro. They had that same tall, athletic body, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist. I could almost picture the hard abs under the shirt, but I kept my eyes firmly on his face.
“Ah, well, I’m not most girls,” I said and went to walk around him, but he stepped into the way and grabbed the box I was carrying.
“I’ll take this,” he said, pulling it from my hands.
Instead of turning and walking toward the exit, he placed it on a high shelf that I would need to get the step stool to reach. I opened my mouth to give him shit when he stepped into my personal space, and I found myself backed up against the shelving unit. His hands gripped the shelf on either side of my waist as he leaned in close enough that I could feel the demanding heat from his body as it pressed into mine.
“What are you doing?”
I knew it was a stupid question. My heart was pounding hard, and the normal anxiety I had managed to control came racing back. I placed my hands on his chest to push him away, or maybe keep him from coming any closer. He was doing something weird to my head. The crippling fear was twisting into something else that I wasn’t sure I liked any better. I felt the hard muscle under his T-shirt and suddenly wanted to run my fingers all over his body. This wasn’t right for so many reasons. Avro was at the top of that list.
Jace looked down at my hands, which had yet to push him away, and smirked as his eyes found mine. He made a noise between a groan and a growl that did all sorts of wrong to my body.
Jace released the shelf on one side, and I immediately looked at my escape route, only to have him grip my chin in his fingers. He tilted my head up, forcing me to look into his eyes.
“I do like a challenge,” he said, and I was tempted to pull a Dennis Copland on his ass. “Fuck, you’re hot.” He lowered his head to the side of my neck, and I was sure he could see my pulse pounding out of control under my skin. “I would eat you up if you let me.”
I felt paralyzed, unsure of what to do next as my mind swam from all the new endorphins. My stomach twisted into a pile of knots. For a moment, I contemplated following through on my knee-to-the-crotch idea, but ending up on the front page of every paper and media outlet as the girl that made Jace Everly unable to have children was not the headline I ever wanted to make. I never wanted to be on any front page for anything, especially not for something like that. If I thought I was an outcast before, that certainly would take it to all new heights.
“Is that so? Well, I’ll be more than just a challenge. I’m not interested. Can you please step back now?” I asked, trying hard to sound in control even when I felt like I was spinning out.
Jace inched closer to my lips, and I pushed myself back into the shelving unit until the sharp bite of the shelf pressed into my spine and forced me to stop moving.
“Raine…I like how that sounds, but you need a nickname. Something sweet and feisty, just like you. Don’t you think?” His lips were a breath away from mine.
“How do you know my name?” We hadn’t spoken since he arrived. Jace just smiled.
“Yo, Raine, you down here? They’re about to open the doors,” Avro called out, and I’d never been more relieved to hear his voice.
I could hear the soft sigh leave Jace’s mouth as he pulled back and released me from the cage he’d made with his arms.
