Denying The Bad Boy (Tattooed and Pierced #2) (11 page)

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I came with
my roommate.” Alex lifted his eyes over Mary’s head and saw the blonde now
moving slowly with some guy with his lip pierced, a guy he had seen training at
Frost before. He turned his attention back to Mary, saw her staring at his
mouth, and nearly groaned aloud. “I thought you were going on a date?” Her
words were soft, breathy, but he heard them nonetheless. Taking his other hand
and sliding it over the small of her back, his breath quickened as he touched
her bare skin.

“Date?”

She slowly lifted her wide blue eyes to his, her
pupils nearly swallowing the almost iridescent color like ink spilling over.

She blinked a few times, and he watched as her
throat worked as she swallowed. “Adam said you had a date.”

Damn Racer and his fucking mouth. There hadn’t been
a date, not the way she was thinking. He had gone out for a
fuck,
that
was all. There was no dinner, no hand holding, and certainly no
kisses on the cheek when he dropped the girl off at home. He had a few condoms
in his wallet, and that was about as romantic as he got.

Staring into Mary’s eyes, wanting so much to be the
good guy and not just Alex Sheppard, the quarterback that got laid a lot and
didn’t give a shit about much else, was something he suddenly wanted for
himself. He let his gaze travel down her face, over the smooth, gentle arch of
her neck, and further still. The back of her dress may have been nonexistent,
but the front covered her up from mid-thigh to collarbones. But even that
didn’t hide her curves, or the soft large mounds of her breasts, ones that he
wanted in his hands and mouth. His cock jerked between them, and a small noise
escaped her. Alex leaned in just a little bit more until their lips barely
brushed. He should stop, but was he going to? Fuck. No.

“This is a very bad idea.” She placed her hands on
his chest and pushed, but it held no real strength. “I’m not doing this with
you, whatever
this
is.” The smell of
something alcoholic and fruity brushed along his lips, and that snapped him out
of his trance. Her words should have been the thing that made him realize this
was a bad idea, but it wasn’t. Leaning back just an inch he looked into her
face. Her eyes were half closed, and her cheeks were flushed.

“You drunk, Mary?”
She
shook her head once, and then licked her lips.

She blinked s few times and tried to take a step
back, but he kept his hand on her lower back. “Why do you care?”

“Mary, quit answering my questions with questions,” he
said on a growl.

“I had two drinks.” Her breasts rose and fell,
making the already tight material snugger.
 
He wanted her, and he needed to make sure she
was right there with him, and not only acting this way because of the alcohol.
 
He took another step back, and they stared at
each other. It was a bit surreal given the fact everything around them was
still moving, yet it was like they were in their own world.

They didn’t know each other for that long, and him
coming up to
her
like this, touching her and pressing
his hard cock into her belly was inappropriate on every level.

When
have you ever cared about what was appropriate?
She may wear a
frown, look confused as to why she was even allowing him to luxury of feeling
her in such an intimate way, but she couldn’t hide her body’s reaction to him.
Her nipples were rock hard, and that was clearly evident because she wore no
bra. Her chest rose and fell forcefully, as if she couldn’t quite catch her
breath. And he knew, without a fucking doubt, that if he slid his fingers along
her inner thigh and right up to her cunt, she’d be wet as hell for him. But she
didn’t make any other move to let him know she wanted to go the next step, and
the fact he could smell the alcohol on her, even if she wasn’t stumbling around
drunk, had red flags going up inside of him like one huge stop sign.

“You’ve had too much to drink.”

She blinked, shook her head and looked at the
ground. For what seemed like forever all she did was stare at her feet, as if
she was thinking about something really hard, and this one moment would define
it all. When she lifted her head and glanced at her friend, he realized he was
actually feeling nervous about what she was clearly going to say. Mary turned
back around, and when their eyes locked she smiled slowly. It wasn’t the smiles
he had seen countless times when a female thought they could seduce him, but
one of relaxation and heady lust. Fuck, he wanted her so damn bad, but at least
he was with it enough to think logically and realize doing this here and now
was a major fuck-up. Because as much as he wanted her, wanted to be inside of
her and touch every inch of her, even this was moving a bit too fast for him … right?
Shit, he didn’t know. He was so damn conflicted. He should have never walked up
to her and started all of this, and if Mary was as smart as he knew she was,
she’d go running in the other fucking direction.

Chapter
Nine

What in the hell was she doing? Mary stared at Alex,
and realized that everything inside of her had stilled as soon as he touched
her. She tried pushing him away, although it had been in vain. She wanted him,
and by the erection that had just been digging into her belly seconds before,
he wanted her, too. She tried denying him, but really it had all been for
nothing. She was just as weak as every other girl that fell at his feet, but
why did she have to say no to him?

Because
you’re smarter than half the female population that have been with Alex.
He’d hurt you, and that would be a fact
because your heart would become involved.

He turned and started walking away, and why, because
she said she had two drinks? It had been after she uttered that sentence that
he had closed off from her. But Mary should be
thankful,
because her resolve had slowly been leaving her the longer Alex had his hands
on her body. The haze of desire slowly dissipated, and Mary was left standing
there slightly cold and very embarrassed.
No,
she wasn’t drunk, but at that moment she wished she was. The two cocktails
Darcy had thrust her way when they first arrived had done loads to help her
relax. The atmosphere of Tainted was unlike anything she had ever experience.
Mary had been to a few local clubs and bars since moving to Columbus, but this
was like a whole other world. The darkness that added to the already sexually
charged atmosphere, and the way people didn’t care if others saw them
practically having sex right on the dance floor was heady and already added to
the slight buzz from the alcohol going through her system.

She was with it enough to know it was Alex that had
touched her, that had nearly kissed her, and that knowledge had her wetter than
she had ever been. Of course it was the alcohol that had dimmed her inhibitions
and let her break down her walls to allow him to do those things. In the back
of her mind she knew it was a bad idea, but her body was screaming at her mind
to shut the hell up. He had let go of her, and she ached to have his hands on
her again, to have his fingers brushing along the small of her back. It might
not have seemed overly intimate, but it had been like flames moving along her
body.

This was a bad idea, a very, very bad idea, but it
sounded so good. The drug-like sensation that Alex had caused inside of her
when he touched her body came back full force at that thought, and she found
herself moving toward him as he leaned against the bar, almost seeming angry.
He had to know that she wanted him. It wasn’t like she was hiding the fact
anymore, although she should. As if he was some kind of animal and sensed her
presence he lifted his head and stared right at her. His expression was
unreadable, but even more so since shadows from the darkened club slashed
across his face. His cheekbones seemed more pronounced, and his chin squarer.
She took another step, and another, until they stood toe-to-toe, breathed in
the same air, and she was swaying toward him. Hell, this was so not her.

“What are you doing, Mary?” His deep voice was low
and wrapped around her like liquid silk. He knew damn well what she was doing.
He had been with enough women to know when one was coming on to him. That
thought came at her full force, but she pushed it away. She wouldn’t think
about it, wouldn’t let it take her under. She wanted this, and by the look of
the bulge still pressing against the front of his jeans, Alex wanted this, too.
For whatever reason he was holding himself back from her, and she would be
lying if she wasn’t a bit hurt by that.

“You’re being coy, Alex.” Lifting her hand and
placing it on his hard stomach, right above the button of his jeans, had Mary
feeling awash with potent arousal. She could feel the hard ridges of his
abdominal muscles right under her finger, and when she started to slowly moved
her palm up the muscles bunched in response. She looked into his turbulent
hazel eyes and knew that she could easily fall for this guy, just jump off a
damn cliff and never look back, and how crazy was that?

Turn
around, Mary. Just turn around before this guy you hardly know ruins all other
guys for you.

 
“You are
experienced with women wanting you, right? I mean you do know when one is
coming on to you?”

She didn’t phrase it as a question, and it wasn’t
said as a slap to the face, but when she saw the dark look that washed over her
face she knew she should have kept that last part to herself. His jaw tightened,
and a muscle under his cheek ticked violently.

“Yeah, Mary?”
His
voice was low and deep, and slightly scary.

She took a step back, but he followed her move.
Suddenly her pleasurable buzz was gone, and in its place was her familiar
friend of uncertainty. A look over her shoulder showed Darcy grinding with some
huge tattooed guy with far too many piercings.

“Look at me.”

Alex’s voice was right
beside
her, commanding and with an edge to it. She snapped her attention back to him,
found him right in her face now, and parted her lips in surprise. He was so
big, so muscular, and could crush anyone that stood in his way. She should be
afraid of this feral side of him, and the wild look in his eyes, but for some
inexplicable reason … she wasn’t. In a move quicker than she anticipated Alex
had her hand and was pulling her through the thick crowd. Before she could ask
him what he was doing they were down a long, semi-secluded hallway where the
shadows were far too thick for her comfort. He pressed her against the wall,
and the coldness of it seeped right through her skin. She was breathing
heavily, unable to catch her breath, and not knowing if she should surrender to
the carnal look reflected on Alex’s face or run in the other direction. He
pressed his big body against hers, and she felt every hard length of muscle. He
was still hard, and his erection dug into her belly. His face was almost stern,
as if he was angry, with either her or himself. The pounding music fading away
until the only thing she could hear was their combined respirations.

“Look at me, Mary.
Really
fucking look at me.” His words were cold, harsh, and cut her
deep, but they didn’t have the effect she assumed he was going for. Instead of
feeling intimidated she melted like hot butter against him. He was so controlling,
so demanding, that all she could picture was surrendering
herself
to him. When she didn’t answer he moved in so close she was sure he would put
her out of her misery and kiss her, but right at the last moment when their
lips would have touched he turned his head and whispered in her ear. “Tell me
what you fucking see when you look at me.” Mary let her eyes close as his warm
breath smelling sweetly like the beer he drank brushed along her cheek.

“I…” Her mouth was suddenly so damn dry. “I don’t know
what you mean.” Maybe if she wasn’t high off of the smell and feel of Alex she
might have been more conscious of what he was trying to get at, but as it stood
she was putty in his hands. His chuckle was deep and low and sent all sorts of
delicious tingles throughout her body, but it also sounded humorless.

“You know what I mean.” The way he spoke, slowly,
deliberately, had his lips lightly brushing along the shell of her ear. “You
think you want me, but you don’t. Not really, Mary.”

Oh, she really wanted him, but maybe it was the fact
he didn’t really want her? But then again that didn’t make any sense since she
could feel exactly how much he did want her pressed against her belly. But he
was a man, and she was a woman, and maybe it was simply biology and his body
reacting to being so close to the opposite sex. Denying him was fruitless, and
she just wanted to do this already, because the anticipation of what would
happen was too much. Why on earth would she think a man as gorgeous, talented,
and strong as Alex would want a too curvy, size sixteen wallflower like her? Lance
had made comments about her weight, and there was no amount of exercise, even
when she did force herself to go, that would make her look like the svelte
blondes she had seen hanging from Alex’s arms. Defeat settled inside of her,
but before she could turn away from him Alex was leaning back so he could stare
into her eyes.