Page 45 of Knockout (Whiskey Dolls 2)

With his other hand, he jabbed his pointer finger in Bax’s face, making him flinch as he said in a rough, commanding voice, “That was your one and only shot. You fucked it up. Your loss. There won’t be a second chance.”

“Excuse me,” I started, my tone salty as I unlocked my ankles and tried to lower my feet to the ground, but Jude’s grip on me tightened, holding my firmly in place. “That’s not your call to make.”

He turned to look at me for the very first time since this whole showdown started, his distinct, dark brows lifting high on his forehead as those magnetic eyes widened in bewilderment. “You’re actually going to give this shit-stain a second chance?”

“Of course not!” I exclaimed. “But this is my life, and I’m the only one who gets to call the shots. I don’t need a man speaking for me.”

To prove my point, I turned to Bax, whose face was still covered in blood—blech!—and decreed, “I think it goes without saying that you and I are never going to happen. You missed outbig time, you jerk-off.”

He narrowed his quickly swelling eyes. “Whatever. Didn’t want to go out with you in the first place. I only asked because you’ve been so fucking needy all these months, I figured I’d throw you a bone.”

That egotistical, overly-manscaped son of a bitch.

My eyes narrowed into vicious slits of rage at the same time another growl vibrated up from Jude’s chest. “Can I please hit himnow, princess?”

“Yep,” I clipped, no longer bothered by the blood. I suddenly thought it would be hilarious to see what George Baxter looked like without his front teeth. “And make it a good one.”

“Agh! No! Not again!” Before Jude had a chance, Bax slammed the door in our faces, and at the sound of the lock quickly clicking into place and the chain being slid across for added protection, I threw my head back on a long, loud laugh.

“Oh my God,” I giggled uncontrollably. “Did you see his face? That was priceless. I think he might have peed himself a little bit.” I lost it again at that colorful imagery. “Man, what I wouldn’t have given to see you lay that guy out.” Once I finally got a hold on myself and opened my watery eyes, I noticed Jude wasn’t laughing. In fact, he still looked downright murderous. “What’s the matter?”

“I don’t see how you can laugh after what that prick just said to you. I want to beat through his goddamn door and wring his neck.”

“I’m laughing because what that dumbass thinks of me doesn’t matter,” I informed him. “Growing up how I did, you learn to develop a pretty thick skin. That protected me from cruel people when I was a kid, then, as I got older, I realized that people only had the power to hurt me if I gave it to them. If I did my best to be a good person, who cares what the jerks of the world think? Life is so much easier if you don’t let other peoples’ opinions color the way you think of yourself.Iknow I’m a catch, and that’s all that matters. George Baxter’s opinion of me means nothing.”

Those eyes, the color of the ocean on a star-filled night, grew even darker, something intense and heady swam in their depths that managed to steal my breath and make every inch of my body tingle. It was then that I remembered I was still in Jude’s arms, the two of us clinging to each other even tighter than we had been before.

“Uh...I think it’s safe for you to put me down now.” I loosened my grip only to have his tighten even further, that arm around me becoming a steel band.

His words came out in the velvet-wrapped gravel tone that never failed to make me shiver deliciously. “I kind of like having you right here, princess.”

Oh my.

Something downright feral filled his gaze, sending a bolt of electricity to my core and drenching my panties at the same time it made my nipples throb painfully. “Jude,” I said on a breath, all the air expelling from my lungs with that one word. My head felt like it was under water, and I was struggling in that moment to breach the surface. “I don’t think—”

“Then don’t think,” he rasped. “I’m fucking done fighting this.”

“Done fighting wh—?” My question was cut off by anooph, when Jude moved all of a sudden, shifting me around so he was now holding me front to front just a moment before my back met the hallway wall. I barely had time to pull in a breath when his mouth crashed down on mine in a kiss that instantly felt claiming.

My lips parted on a surprised gasp, and he didn’t hesitate to take advantage, driving his tongue into my mouth and wrapping it around my own. A moan worked its way up from my chest as a taste so distinctly Jude exploded in my mouth, traveled down my throat, and set off a million little fires in my bloodstream that traveled through my entire body.

In no time, my surprise morphed into an all-consuming need that would have been impossible to ignore, even if I’d wanted to—which I absolutelydidn’t. I met his tongue’s strokes with my own, tangling them together as the kiss went from bruising to a battle, both of us fighting for dominance.

An animalistic noise rumbled up his throat as I twined my fingers in his hair and gave it a rough pull, forcing his head back so I could kiss him even deeper.

He retaliated by sinking his teeth into my bottom lip, biting down so hard I sucked in a gasp at the sting of pain that, in no time, sent another flood of arousal to my core. A desperate yearning built inside me, craving more, more, more until my hips started rocking against the hard, stiff length that was trapped behind his jeans.

“Fuck,” he bit out, ripping his mouth from mine to trail his lips across my jaw and down my neck, raking his teeth across that tender cord of my throat. “You’re killing me, baby,” he grunted as his hips snapped, pressing deeper between my thighs. I could feelexactlyhow much he wanted me, and it made my need for him that much wilder.

My head thumped back against the wall, giving him more room to move, more skin to kiss and nip. “But what a way to go, right?” I panted as I continued to rock against him, a fire burning deep in my core.

A savage snarl dragged from his throat and raked across my skin just before his mouth returned to claim mine.Damn, the man could kiss. I’d never had a kiss like this in all my life. The men who’d come before had to put in some serious work to get me to the point Jude had managed with a single kiss.

It usually took some effort to get thatBig Oin the past, but I felt like I was just seconds away from climaxing right then and there in the hallway. That was, until a throat cleared from somewhere down the hall, followed by a voice stating, “Itoldyou, Tom! Didn’t I tell you? I knew this was going to happen. You can’t fight like they do and not end up tearing each other’s clothes off.”

My cheeks burned in mortification as I yanked my head back so fast it smacked into the wall behind me. “Ouch,” I muttered, lifting a hand to rub at it as Jude and I both turned to see who had witnessed us going at it like two horny teenagers.

Tom and Daisy Windecott, an older couple who lived on the eighth floor, stood in the middle of the elevator, their eyes the size of saucers as they gaped at us. Where two people their age were coming from or going to this late at night was beyond me, but who was I to ask questions given the compromising position I’d just been caught in? It took me a moment to realize that the elevator had stopped on Jude’s floor because we’d been going at each other right against the button panel.

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