Page 56 of First Chance

“Your boss and a man with a terrible reputation. I’m a black hole that will ruin you if you get too close.”

“I don’t believe that,” I whisper.

“You have to.”

I shake my head, dismissing him. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I initiated what happened in there, and then I got overwhelmed, I panicked.”

“You tried to stand up, and I didn’t let you. I made you uncomfortable, and it’s my fault.”

“No, God, Lochlan!” I screech into my hands. “I didn’t want to stand up.” The silence is pungent as I look up at him.

He’s looking at me with so much confusion. He doesn’t know what to say to stop the train wreck happening in front of him.

“I need to leave. I need to go.” I fumble around in my tiny clutch, trying to yank my keys from the cramped space as I approach my car.

He’s right behind me, though, snatching them from my hand as soon as they’re out.

“You’re upset. I’ll drive you home.”

“You drove here with them.” I motion to the building where the guys still are, and that sends a new wave of dread through me. “Oh my God! I can’t believe they just witnessed that.”

“No one cares. They won’t say a word about it. I’ll make sure they don’t,” he assures me, but it doesn’t matter. The embarrassment is still hot on my skin. I’ve been programmed for too long to believe my behavior was egregious.

“What about the truck keys? They’ll need them,” I suggest as a last-ditch effort to get him to leave me alone.

He takes the keys out of his pocket and tosses them into the floorboard of the truck parked next to my car. “They’ll figure it out.”

Chapter Nineteen

Lochlan

There haven’t been many moments in my life where I’ve struggled with restraint. The first time it happened was my first week in prison when I got jumped for the first time and nearly used all my pent up rage to kill the fucker.

I spent a day in the infirmary. He spent a month there.

Frank putting Jo in danger made me snap, and I’m not sure how far I would have taken it if Hayes hadn’t called me off.

But the moment Jo sat in my lap, the chaos in my head was so unhinged I could hardly breathe.

The smallest lapse in control, and I was going to throw her over my shoulder and carry her out there.

Her touch is a miracle, but knowing I can’t have my way with her is a curse.

The hold she has on me is deeply deranged.

I pull my hand off the steering wheel, glancing at my palm subtly before clenching it. Shimmer.

The lotion on her legs clings to me, forcing more of my impure thoughts about her to the surface while she sits beside me, mortified that the event took place.

“I’ve never done that before,” she whispers suddenly, just loud enough to hear over the engine.

“What?”

“Sat on a man’s lap.”

“In public?”

Her silence lingers. “Not exactly.”

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