Page 46 of Junkyard Dog

She side-eyed the curious crowd until they turned away from them. “Been called worse.” She let out a breath. “I was handling it, you know.”

He cocked a brow. “I’ve had issues with that asshole before. I didn’t do anything more than I would have done if he’d behaved that way to any other woman in here.” He paused. “Except maybe the threat. And I might have given him a little nudge onto the cement out front.”

She grunted, partially appeased that he hadn’t gone full caveman. “I could’ve kicked his ass myself.”

“And I saved you from an assault charge.” He grinned tersely, pulling a stool behind the bar. “I’m doing last call now. Sit here and stay out of trouble for thirty more minutes.” When her eyes narrowed, he reached over and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’m really trying to keep the whole jealous boyfriend thing under wraps, but I’m about ten seconds from tracking that fucker down and beating the shit outta him. Just let me pretend I can protect you, okay?”

*

Alex waved atthe last of his customers as they hooted and hollered their way out the tavern door, slamming it shut behind them. He sprayed down their abandoned table, wiping it clean with the last of his fresh towels before he sauntered over to Charlotte and set his chin onto her head. “Ten more minutes and we can go.”

He returned to the lounge floor and attempted to cool his temper with the monotonous task of straightening chairs.

It wasn’t working.

The moment his back was to her, the image of that guy towering over her flashed into the forefront of his thoughts, his stance an unmistakable display of intimidation.

He glanced at the beer bottle tucked right against the till.

He could track the bastard in hound form.

Corner him.

Take him down.

Transform in front of the prick before he bleeds out so he would see my face during his final seconds on earth.

“How do I turn this up?”

Snapped from his increasingly violent thoughts, he looked over to Charlotte as she bent over the tavern’s sound system. “The dial on the bottom right.” When the bar filled with a grinding bass beat, he rolled his eyes. “What is it with women and this song?”

“It makes us feel sexy.”

“Whatever,” he called out, tucking the last of the stools against the back wall. “You’re always sexy.” He turned toward the bar, freezing in spot when he caught sight of her, her hips swaying to the beat as she ran her hands up her body, lifting her shirt over her head.

She trailed the red fabric across her chest and tossed it at his feet. “Maybe to you, but sometimes I actually feel it.” With a slow spin, she turned her back to him and reached behind her, unhooking her bra. “Like when this song is on.”

Fuck. Me.

Please.

She dropped her bra beside her and looked over her shoulder at him, a smug smirk on her lips when he loped across the bar, stopping just short of tackling her to the filthy bar floor. She backed up against him, the rhythmic movement of her hips providing a torturous friction that had his brain firing on way more cylinders than he could handle at the end of a long day. He ran his hands up her ribs and cupped her breasts as she reached back to wrap her arms around his neck. “Behave,” she warned, grinding against his erection. “I really like this song.”

He nuzzled the back of her head, inhaling the scent of her shampoo. “Trust me, baby, this is me behaving right now.”

He tracked the crescendo of the music, counting down the beats until the final note rang out before he spun her around and kissed her hard, his arms pulling her as tight to him as he could without crushing her. He walked backward without breaking the kiss, leading her slowly to the padded booths lining the side wall and stopping when his thighs hit a table. She tugged roughly on his shirt, leaning back just enough to allow him to yank it off before she kissed him again, her fingers working on the button of his jeans.

“I was thinking,” she panted as he ran his tongue down her neck and wormed his hands under her skirt to cup her ass. “We kind of screwed up the booty call thing by not actually following through on the booty part of the call, right?”

“Right,” he muttered, running his thumbs along the band of her panties and easing them down, waiting for any sign from her that he’d crossed a line. When she stepped out of them and pushed his own jeans off his hips, he tossed his wallet on the bench within reach, spun her around, and lifted her onto the table, shuddering when her small hand gripped him through his boxers.

“And you did make a few good points in those texts,” she murmured, her head dropping back as he tentatively reached between her thighs and ran his fingers through her slick folds. She whimpered when his touch whispered over her sensitive nub, her nails digging into his shoulder. “I…you…I—”

“Just a few?” he breathed, circling a dark pink nipple with his tongue and grunting when she tangled her fingers in his hair.

He slipped one finger inside her, his dick twitching in anticipation when she ground against his hand and she kissed him roughly. As her body began to tighten, he eased another finger into her and increased the speed of his thumb on her nub, the soft chanting of his name on her lips testing his control while he released his erection from his boxers. He led Charlotte’s hand to it, clenching his teeth when she pumped him. Grabbing his wallet, he fumbled a condom from the packed leather and ripped the package with his teeth before he reached between them and slid it on, grimacing at the tightness. “Yes?” he asked, dropping his head into the crook of her neck as her wet center touched the tip.

“Lex…oh, god…I…yeah…yes…Lex…”

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