“Ow, ow, ow! Goddammit! Shit! Kade, don’t ever sneak up on someone like that,” she snaps while hobbling to the closest bench to sit down. I turn the stair climber off, walk back to my gym bag, grab my towel, and wet it with my bottle of water. Walking to where Britney is sitting, I notice her shin is already bruising, and blood is trickling down her leg. Sitting beside her, I grab the leg that’s injured and lay it across my lap so I can clean her scrape.
“I’m sorry, B.”
“What?” Using my free hand, I pull the earbud from the ear closest to me and let it hang around her neck.
“Oh.” Her cheeks flush to a darker shade of red from embarrassment. Sweaty or not, Britney Winslow is beautiful, and one-hundred percent off-limits. She removes the other earbud and pulls her phone from her leggings pocket to turn off her music.
“I thought you saw me come in.” That is a total lie, but I feel like a complete asshole for not announcing my arrival and for sneaking up on her. Thankfully, my guilt is keeping my dick in check. If it feels this good to have her leg lying across my lap, I can only imagine how it would feel to have them both wrapped around my waist while I sink my cock deep inside her.
“It’s fine. I’m fine.” Britney reaches for the towel. When those emerald eyes look up to meet mine, that’s my breaking point. Reaching up, I wrap my hand around the back of her neck and lightly pull her head toward me until her lips meet mine—finally taking what I’ve wanted since we were kids.
Britney hesitates at first, but when she allows herself to relax, her pillow-soft lips part just enough, allowing our tongues to tangle and glide against each other. The hum she releases vibrates against my lips, awakening the carnal beast deep within me. I’ve kissed plenty of women in my lifetime, and none of them made me feel the way Britney makes me feel at this moment. Before I can maneuver her to my lap, the front door slams shut. Hurriedly, we pull away from each other. Brit’s chest heaves like she’s trying to catch her breath. Luckily, we’re in a gym, so it’s not unusual for her to be breathing heavily.
“Kade!” Deacon’s voice bellows. Fuck. Did he see us kissing? “Brit, what the fuck is going on? Why are you here?” His eyes narrow in on her as he approaches.
“I work here. Or did you forget?” The sarcasm in her tone is not hard to miss.
When Deacon looks down, he notices Britney’s injured leg, and his body relaxes. His face softens when he addresses his sister.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I missed my step. Kade just happened to show up at the right time.” Wow, the lie falls from her lips without hesitation. I don’t know if I should be impressed or concerned that she can lie so casually.
“What are you doing here, Kade?” Deacon’s attention is now on me.
“Couldn’t sleep, so I figured I would get a workout in.” That wasn’t a lie. Britney being here was a coincidental bonus.
“Well, I will let you boys have the gym. I need to shower and get back to work.” Britney stands and limps her way toward the ladies’ locker room.
“We still on for tonight?” Deacon calls out to his sister before she’s out of sight. She waves her hand, and we both take it as a yes, but who knows.
“What are you doing here?” I ask Deacon.
“I wanted to get some laps in before I crash. It helps me sleep better.”
“Maybe I should try that next time.”
“Dude, it helps.”
Deacon heads off to the locker room, and I make my way back to the treadmill for my warm-up. Before I realize it, I’ve already run two miles, and I’ve only been on the treadmill a little over sixteen minutes. My mind was on Britney and our kiss, but I need to lock down my feelings for her. Deacon will never approve of me dating his sister.
Halfway through my second set of bench presses, I feel her presence, so I rack the barbell and sit up. Britney’s standing at the end of the bench wearing a white short-sleeved button-up blouse tucked into her gray pencil skirt with thin white pinstriping. Her curvy figure is a lot like Scarlett Johansson’s, which makes her sexy as hell. She looks like she’s about three inches taller than normal, and that’s when I notice her fuck-me stilettos. I need to hit the shower so I can tug one out. Britney is giving me severe blue balls, and the woman doesn’t even realize it. Or does she?
“Kade, what was that?”
“Don’t. Your brother could come back at any second, and frankly, I don’t feel like fighting right now.”
She rolls her eyes, pivots, and begins to walk away before she spins around to face me.
“No. You don’t get to brush this under the rug.” Britney’s eyes narrow as she stands with her arms crossed in front of her, pushing her breasts up. I can’t help but notice that they want to spill out of her top. She’s trying to kill me—death by blue balls.
“Walk away, Brit.” My tone is harsh but necessary.
“You’re an asshole.” She pivots once again and storms off.
What in the fuck did I just start?
After leaving the gym, I head home and jerk off in the shower, thinking about Britney’s lips wrapped around my dick. I come so hard it damn near leaves me breathless. But it’s just what I need to get some sleep.
I wake up before my alarm has a chance to go off. Instead of lying here, staring into the darkness, replaying my kiss with Britney, I decide to get up and make something to eat before heading to the pub. I’m a guy. Therefore it doesn’t take long to get ready as it is, especially since I showered before going to bed.
Deacon’s plan is to meet up with me, Britney, and Sydnee at McShane’s Pub. When I walk in, I look around and realize I’m the first one here, so I take a seat on a barstool. Without placing an order, Destiny, the bartender and owner’s sister, puts an old fashion down in front of me.
The pub is a family-owned and operated establishment. When I learned that tidbit of information a couple of years ago, I thought it was odd that Destiny’s younger brother, Finn, has a typical Irish name, but she doesn’t. At first, I thought maybe she was adopted, but the undeniable family resemblance squashed that theory. Come to find out that on her eighteenth birthday, she legally changed Deirdre, her birth name, to Destiny. Why? I have not a clue and never cared to ask.
“You alone tonight?” Destiny asks. Yes, I have fucked her a few times, but I have no desire to go down that path again. Not after tasting the forbidden fruit.
“No.”
“Do you have time to sneak off to the storage room?” She winks as her hand covers the one I have holding my drink. Yeah, the storage room is the only place we’ve ever had sex except for the night she sucked me off in my SUV after her shift.
My one rule is that the women I sleep with don’t get to go to my house. It’s always their place or a hotel. One, I don’t need them showing up whenever they feel like it, even if they can’t get past my gated driveway. Two, most of them are badge bunnies. They like a man in uniform, and typically don’t care if it’s you or the next guy, as long as he has a badge, so there’s no need for them to come to my place. Lastly, I only want to share my bed with the woman I want to marry, whoever she may be. Britney.