Page 10 of Taming Her

“Needs to be a bit quicker. The license is up. Don’t want to lose it so soon.” Griff tapped his watch.

Dave shrugged. “Just give us another ten.”

“As long as that’s all it is.” He nodded at the door. “Mind if I go in?”

“Have at it.”

Griff went into the club. He hadn’t needed permission to go into Ruby’s but it was polite to ask, and he liked to stay in with the bouncers. There’d been times when their backup had been much appreciated.

The scent of hot bodies and booze filled the air. The music suddenly dropped in volume and a main light came on over the bar—a copper walking in past license time could do that.

There were stragglers chatting and finishing up drinks. In the corner he spotted the one person he’d hoped to see.

Ava.

But she wasn’t alone, she was with a blond man, a bit younger than her, a boy really, and she appeared uninterested in him, looking at her phone as he spoke by her ear.

Irritation twisted Griff’s guts. What was she doing? It was a Monday night, she clearly had nothing to get up for the next day. And the guy… he hardly looked her type.

He rubbed his palms together, generating heat. If she were his woman he’d have her bottom smarting until she changed her attitude to life. She’d cry out, complain, scream abuse he was sure, but in the long run it would be for her own good.

“Evening, Officer.” A man nodded as he walked past.

“Time’s been called. Get yourself home now.”

“Yes, sir.”

Griff kept his eye on Ava and the man at her side. It was time to send them packing too, though he wasn’t sure he wanted to send them on their way and likely into bed together.

His mouth dried and he licked his lips, remembering the last time he’d made love to her. It had been in the middle of the night, the curtains open, moonlight spilling into the room. He’d imagined her as a goddess, a creature sent from heaven to steal his heart, his mind, and his body.

The thought of someone else, this man-boy, having that with her now, made Griff want to punch something… hard.

He was just about to take a step closer when he paused. The young man had his hand on Ava’s slender thigh and was winding it upward to the short hemline of her sexy purple dress.

She raised her head from her phone and caught his wrist, pushed it away. Mouthed the word no.

The creep instantly replaced his hand exactly where it had been and pushed her skirt up her leg exposing her inner thigh. At the same time he leaned in for a kiss, trapping Ava against the back of the seat.

She snapped her head to the right to avoid the kiss.

A familiar twist of anger coiled in Griff’s belly. Too many times on the beat he’d seen men take advantage of inebriated women. Never had he thought he’d witness Ava in this situation.

His Ava.

The man went in for another kiss, his hand disappearing beneath her dress.

Ava twisted and wriggled, tried to slide to the right but was stopped by his other arm clasping her around the waist.

Bastard.

Griff rushed forward. He fisted the man’s thin blue shirt and yanked him away from Ava. “Get your damn hands off her.”

“What the…?” The man turned, face reddening, fists clenching. “Oh… Officer.”

“Are you stupid?” Griff demanded, shoving him against the wall and enjoying the hard slap of his shoulders on the brickwork. He kept his hands on him, clasping the rounds of his shoulders in a pincer grip. “Or are you choosing to ignore the fact this woman’s clearly not into you.”

Griff was aware of his peripheral vision closing in, blackness tunneling his vision. His temper was flaring yet he prided himself in control. He took a deep breath and released the man’s shoulders. Stepped back.

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