Page 4 of Jack of Hearts
Ramon looked at her and sneered. “Does she look like my cousin? I think my aunt brought the wrong baby home from the hospital.”
“I’m proud to say I got my looks from my dad,” Madison said to Alex. She swiped the back of her hand across her mouth. “The next time you touch me like that,cousin, you’re gonna want to guard your balls, because those are what my knee will aim for.” She walked out of the room with her head held high.
“Damn, she’s hot,” Ramon said, his gaze on her ass as she left.
Alex visualized how Ramon would look without teeth.
Sitting in her room with her now, he was still disturbed by the incident. And although he had reminded himself a thousand times since then thatSpooky Manwas off-limits, his protective instincts were off the chart.
“Thanks for coming so quickly,” she said quietly.
Remembering that she had a roommate, he kept his voice low. “Well, there was an exclamation point at the end of your text.”
She smiled, her even white teeth gleaming in the semidarkness. “Maybe you shouldn’t have told me to use one in an emergency. I like exclamation points and tend to overuse them.”
“So there’s not an emergency?” His eyes were drawn to the bottom lip she chewed on, and his reaction was instantaneous.Down, boy.His dick apparently didn’t comprehend the meaning of off-limits no matter how many times it was reminded, and Alex subtly shifted in the chair.
Was it an emergency? Madison had thought so when she’d messaged him because the text from her cousin had panicked her. With a little time to calm down, however, she doubted Ramon’s demand qualified as urgent. She should have just texted Alex and asked him to get in touch with her when he got a free moment.
Where Ramon was concerned, though, panic was lately her first reaction. The boy she’d once played hide-and-seek with had grown into a perverted man. Not that it was a total surprise, considering his creep of a father.
She really needed to learn how to put on her big girl panties and deal with her cousin on her own. But Alex was here now—and wasn’t it just the pits to have a man in her bedroom whose bones she wanted to jump, but who’d figuratively put up a “No Touching” sign?
A little embarrassed that she’d overreacted, she shrugged. “It felt like an emergency at the time, but now, I don’t know. I shouldn’t have bothered you.” She had always wondered, when she’d read that someone gave a strangled laugh, just what that sounded like, but now she knew because Alex gave one.
“Bothered?” Another laugh that sounded as if something amused him. “My problem, not yours.” He shifted as if the chair was uncomfortable.
Were they even speaking the same language? “So, um, Ramon texted me.” As if she’d waved a red cape in front of a bull, Alex turned such an intense focus on her that she had the urge to run. Not for the first time, she wondered just exactly who he was. When she had met him at her cousin’s house, she had immediately classified him as an a-hole since he was obviously a friend of Ramon’s. A very sexy a-hole, but one nevertheless. She might have misjudged him.
“He’ll be home tomorrow and wants me to meet him for drinks.”
“No. Just tell him no.” He stood and paced around her room, observing everything as if cataloging all that she owned.
“I did text him back and said no, but you know Ramon. He doesn’t understand the word.”
He stopped, putting his hands on his hips. “Then just do a no-show.”
“He covered his bases on that one. Called my mom, told her he expected to see me at the Flamingo Bar at exactly five.”
“You’re an adult, Madison. She can’t make you do anything you don’t want.”
He didn’t understand, and she wasn’t ready to spill the dynamics of her family. “That’s true, but I’ll never hear the end of it if I don’t go.” That was as close as she was willing to get to the truth.
Alex began to pace again. He raked his fingers through his hair, then stopped and stared off into space. After some seconds, he nodded as if coming to a decision. As she watched him, she was struck by how magnificent he was. From his black collar-length hair, dark-as-midnight eyes, high cheekbones, and olive skin, she guessed he had some American Indian ancestry. Whatever his makeup, God had been good to him, very good indeed.
“Okay, here’s the plan. Meet him ... be on time so he doesn’t get riled, and I’ll happen to show up about fifteen minutes later.”
“You don’t have to. I mean, that’s not why I told you. I ... what I was going to ask is, would you show me how to defend myself from an assault?” Because she knew the day would come when Ramon would go too far. After witnessing the way he had handled Ramon when her cousin had kissed her, she didn’t doubt Alex could teach her how to fend off an attack.
Alex’s eyes turned hard and cold, and his body seemed to expand into all rippling muscles with dangerous vibes radiating from him. “If he ever touches you like that, I’ll kill him.”
Holy cannoli! The man had morphed right in front of her into one scary dude. But strangely, instead of frightening her, this new side of him made her feel safe, not to mention all that alphaness he had going on was downright hot.
“Well, I don’t want to have to visit you in prison.” Something that seemed like amusement flashed on his face, and that didn’t make sense. He already had one strike against him as far as the law was concerned just by owning a biker bar, and who knew what went on there.
“Don’t worry about me, Madison.” He sat on the edge of the bed. “I’ll bring a date with me so Ramon won’t get suspicious. You invite us to hang out with you.”
He was so close to her that she could feel his body heat, could see the flexing of the muscles in his arms, and she wondered if their decision to meet in her bedroom had been a good idea.
