Page 5 of Clashing
No protest.Interesting.I expected one. Soon enough, she brushed past me, her arm grazing mine as she stalked ahead. My eyes shut briefly. That skin wassoft. I bet she was soft all over.
“Fine, but be careful with it,” she clipped.
I bit back a smile. Feisty. Voluptuous. This girl was ticking all my boxes a little too well. I followed her into the alley lot, where she opened the back of Danny’s van. Yep. Definitely Dan’s girl.Dammit.
“It’s fragile.” Her hands hovered over the box.
“I can be gentle.”
She cleared her throat and stepped away. Another smile fought its way forward as I eased the cargo inside. She closed the van, and I trailed her inside, where she turned for the stairs.
She paused and pivoted on her heel, staring up at me even though she was on the first step. “You don’t have to help.”
I crossed my arms. “How many more?” A smirk spread over my face at her lack of answer. Not because she didn’t speak but because of why she didn’t. She wetted her lips and rubbed her thighs, taking her sweet ass time ogling me. This girl was anything but as innocent as Danny claimed. “Well?” I pressed.
Her eyes widened as they flew to mine. Blush intensifying, she darted her eyes away as quickly as she’d made contact. “Um, well . . . four.”
Putting my fingers to my lips, I whistled for the guys and held up three fingers to let them know how many I needed. Three of my buddies approached. “Lead the way.”
I knew the way but didn’t want to freak the poor girl out. We hadn’t technically introduced ourselves yet. It was bad enough I couldn’t keep my eyes off her ass swaying as she ascended the stairs.
She let us into her place, and my boys grabbed the boxes, then went downstairs. I set my hand on the last box and glanced around the room to check for more. “That all, sugar?”
“Don’t call me that.” She leveled a glare at me. “I can’t stand pet names like that.”
I worked my jaw to withhold the smile. She was somehow sexier when annoyed. That’d be fun to play with. I stepped toward her and enjoyed the way she swallowed, unable to keep eye contact with me.
“No?” I paused inches away from her. “What should I call you, then?”
“Scarlett—Scarlett’s my name,” she stammered.
“Scarlett,” I drawled, testing the name on my lips. “Mmm,” I hummed. I could see myself saying that name while she was underneath me. “I like it.”
Scarlett blinked. Her pouty lips parted. What really did it was the way she slowly drew her legs together.Fuck me.I was about to saysayonarato self-control. With the last two working brain cells I had, I left her to process before I did something stupid.
Outside, the guys gave me questioning looks. I shrugged and said nothing. If they needed a reason, we helped because it was Danny’s girl. No other motivation.
Scarlett made it outside and offered shy smiles to the guys on her way to the van. Once she opened it, we loaded the packages, and she thanked each of them. I rested the last box inside and leaned against the brick alley wall, tugging on my lower lip when her shirt rode up as she stood on her toes to reach the trunk.
Shit.That skin was warm and sun-kissed. I wanted to see more of it. Touch it. Taste it.
“Thank you.” She faced me and wrung her hands together. “It was unnecessary, but thank you.”
I nodded and didn’t bother hiding my appraisal of her. She didn’t in the bar, and damn, there wasn’t a bad thing to look at. She shifted her weight and eyed me for a moment, then scurried inside. I chuckled and followed, half tempted to push her up against the wall to see how she’d react.
Good thing I didn’t because we rounded the corner and almost ran into Danny.
“You all right?” Danny pushed the back of his hand against her forehead like a nervous mother. “You look flushed.”
Her flushed expression has nothing to do with being sick. Your little girl is definitely not so little.
“No, no.” She batted at his hand with a nervous laugh. “I’m fine.”
“You sure?”
“I’m sure.”
I cleared my throat to stop the building snort and took my place at the bar.
