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NOT at all proud of himself, Luc stood across the street from Alyssa’s darkened house, whiskey bottle in hand, and waited. He’d been here for the past hour, and now that it was nearly four in the morning and he was well on his way to drunk and angrier than ever.

She’d chosen Tyler. Even now they were inside fucking like mad while he wandered the park, his proverbial dick in his hand, wishing like hell that he was in Tyler’s place. This, after Luc had turned her down more than once, fucking idiot that he was.

To make matters worse, he’d picked up a message from Emily earlier. Instead of being relieved to hear her voice, the high-pitched, happy-happy tone had been like a red-hot steel rod shoved through his brain. She’d invited him to a church picnic next weekend, and his first reaction had been dread.

What was the matter with him?

Alyssa Devereaux.

It had taken Tyler’s intrusion, Alyssa’s subtle rebuff, and his own intoxication to realize that maybe the best course of action was to fuck her and get her out of his system. Of course, that option wasn’t available just now since she was otherwise occupied.

Thank God he’d bought this bottle from Alyssa’s bartender after Deke’s visit.

What did Tyler do for her that got her off so satisfactorily? Was he an oral god? Was he exceptionally well hung? Luc made a face at the thought of Tyler’s man parts. The one thing he very much doubted was that Tyler could surpass his stamina. Luc knew he had the bouncer—and just about anyone else—beat at that game.

Not that he’d ever been proud of the fact he sometimes went into a sexual frenzy and didn’t emerge for hours . . . and didn’t ask a lover about her comfort or pleasure. He took and gave to her relentlessly until she was a slave to the clawing need. In his altered state, he lived for her fingernails in his back, her breathy pleas, and above all, her screams.

Suddenly, Alyssa’s porch light flipped on. The front door opened. Tyler stepped outside, and she emerged behind him, wearing a pale satin gown that flirted with her bare thighs, her hair spilling down her back like a shining beacon.

The bouncer reached the door of his truck, then turned. He cupped Alyssa’s shoulders, brought her against his big body, stroked the soft crown of her hair. She laid her head on his shoulder, looking perfectly comfortable in his arms.

Luc looked away and took another swallow of whiskey. The liquid crashed to the bottom of his stomach, burning. Or was his gut on fire because he kept playing the vision of Tyler fucking Alyssa over and over in his head?

No avoiding the truth now. Luc was so damn jealous he could hardly see straight. Wasn’t irony a bitch?

Alyssa straightened. Tyler murmured something, then kissed her forehead. She nodded—then stepped back.

Luc frowned. If they’d been burning up the sheets for the past hour, wouldn’t they part with a lingering kiss?

Finally, the other man hopped into his sleek black truck and drove off. Alyssa watched him turn the corner. Then she clapped eyes on his own SUV.

“Luc?”

Fuck
. He should have left, driven off someplace so he didn’t have to see her with Tyler—and have her know that he’d been watching. But no, he’d been too busy drowning in alcohol and jealousy to think straight.

With a sigh, he pushed away from the tree, his gaze glued to her slender form, the breeze rustling her silky hair, her nipples poking the front of her shimmering low-cut negligee, the satin clinging to her hips.

Tyler had probably just crawled from between her thighs, and damn if Luc didn’t want to crawl between them himself. He wanted her so badly, he didn’t give a shit if he got sloppy seconds.

He was in so fucking deep.

Finally, he stepped into the streetlamp’s pool of light.

Alyssa gasped, then smothered the sound with her hand. She peered down at the bottle he clutched. “You’re drunk.”

Luc wished that were true. He shook his head. “Not for lack of trying.”

“Come inside the house and let’s get some sleep.” She turned for the front door.

He darted after her. Just inside the foyer, he grabbed her arm. “You have nothing else to say?”

She sent him a sharp glare. “No one asked you to leave.”

“So I was supposed to watch him maul you?” Luc slammed the door, enclosing them in shadowy silence. Then something terrible occurred to him. “Oh, hell, no. Did you want us
both
to fuck you? Together? Never going to happen. I may not have exclusive rights to you, but I won’t voluntarily share you ever again.”

Alyssa wrenched her arm free from his grip and slapped him. “Goddamn you! I’m so tired of you finding every snide, roundabout way possible to call me a whore. Just grow the balls and say it. C’mon! You think I fuck everything in pants.”

“Didn’t you have sex with Tyler just now?”

Her mouth tightened. Pain crossed her face for a moment—until fury took over. “Since you left, you’ll never know.”

She stepped into the living room and turned for the stairs. And Luc couldn’t stand it. He should let her go; this consuming sort of anger wasn’t normal, wasn’t him. But he couldn’t do it.

He lunged and grabbed her around the waist, hauling her against him. She’d know instantly how hard he was, but what the hell? He was perpetually hard around her. And if she hadn’t figured it out yet, he had more than a little clue for her.

“Did you let him fuck you tonight?”

Damn if his voice didn’t break. Luc didn’t want the answer to matter, but he was way past pretending it didn’t.

She struggled to get free, but he held firm. When she gave up, he turned her to face him.

“Did you?” he demanded.

“You don’t know a damn thing about me, and that question proves it. Even if I gave you the truth, you wouldn’t believe it. You want to hear that I went down on him in the bathroom, then we moved to the bedroom so he could suck my tits while I rode him, then after a reverse cowgirl, he finished me off from behind. That enough detail for you?”

Luc closed his eyes against the image her words painted. God, he was going to throw up Jack Daniels everywhere.

He tightened his grip on her. “Is that the truth?”

“Wouldn’t that make your life easier? You could quickly write me off. Oh, fuck me first, of course. Everyone else does, right? But then you could walk away because I’m nothing more than a whore. Well, you know what? Fuck you.” Alyssa elbowed him in the stomach.

Luc grunted and doubled over, clutching his middle, as he glared at her retreating back.

“Damn it, Alyssa! I . . .”

“You what?”

What
had
he been about to say? Did it really matter? He’d insulted her utterly—and he still didn’t know if he was right. He just knew that he had a terrible fear that if he let her go upstairs and into her bedroom alone, he might never have the chance to touch her again.

“I don’t know,” he finally admitted.

“You’re right!” she screamed. “You don’t know. You don’t know shit about me. Did you ever think there was a woman under all this makeup and provocative clothes who had real feelings that had nothing to do with sex? Did you ever think that maybe I wanted you to see me as something other than a stripper and an easy lay? That maybe you meant something to me?” She shook her head. “Of course not.”

Alyssa sniffed, then sobbed. The sound tore through Luc’s chest. Jesus, he never meant to hurt her. “I’m sorry.”

“Forget it. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

Her words incited a panic he couldn’t fight. “Wait! I—”

“No.” She stepped back, away from him. “Forget it. I don’t get my car back from Remy until Wednesday, but I’ll have Tyler drive me around until then. I’ll get you a room with Homer in the morning. Shouldn’t be too hard since I paid him to give away your room to begin with.”

Oh, dear God. The bottom dropped out of his stomach, and he finally understood—too late. She’d wanted him to be with her. Spend time with her. See what was between them, sexually and otherwise. And he’d treated her with silent contempt. Like dirt. But even if he magically fell in love with her tomorrow, she didn’t fit into his future plans.

Luc took another long swig from the bottle. “I’m . . . sorry.”

“I get it. In your head, we’re from different worlds. You’ve put me in my place, and I won’t overreach again.” She stiffened her spine and headed for the stairs, then turned back to him. “For the record, Tyler’s visit was about the break-in at the club. At tonight’s sweep, he thoroughly investigated the entire upstairs. Seems that my stalker left me another knife and ‘love note’ embedded in the pillow of my bedroom at the club. And this one not only called me a whore; he said he’d put a stop to me for good very soon.”

A
LYSSA marched up the stairs.
One foot in front of the other. Get to your bedroom. Shut the door
.

No damn way was she showing Luc Traverson her tears. She’d already given him too much power to hurt her. And he’d used it thoughtlessly.

“What did you say?” he demanded. A moment later, he darted up after her and grabbed her, spinning her around to face him. “The same pervert who broke into your car broke into your club?”

“And threatened me. No need to trouble yourself with my safety. That’s Tyler’s job, which is why he came here tonight. Now, if you’ll excuse me . . .”

She tried to jerk free from Luc’s grasp. His heat and musky scent were getting to her. Those burning eyes, his tautly muscled body, were making her weak-kneed.

Never had she thought of herself as one of those stupid women who stayed in a destructive relationship with someone who held more contempt for her than affection. Apparently her heart was as susceptible as anyone else’s.

It was a bitter pill.

“Luc, let go.”

He shook his head, took her face in his grasp. “I can’t.”

On the shadowy landing, Alyssa saw the intent in his glittering eyes a moment before he lowered his head. God, she wanted his kiss so badly. Muscle, bone, blood, all strained forward to join with him. Touch him. Give him anything he wanted.

Why did he suddenly want her?

Because he fears Tyler just had you
.

She turned away, biting the inside of her cheek against the pain of denial. A debilitating pang settled in her chest. As his lips fell to her cheek, tears stabbed her eyes.

“Don’t do this,” he begged in her ear, pulling her so tightly against him she smelled the park’s freshly cut grass on his clothes and the whiskey on his breath. His touch was riddled with desperation as he wiped her tears away. Alyssa felt herself weakening.

God, how could she want a man so badly who held her in such low regard? She was supposed to be too smart for that game.

“You can’t want me only because Tyler does.” She sobbed. “I’m not a sexual trophy in some fucking competition. Just . . . let me go.”

She tried to wriggle free, mentally flaying herself for the stupid hope that had encouraged her to seduce Luc in the first place, to lure him close with the silly idea that he might fall for her. He probably wanted someone like Kimber: wholesome, with a bright future and a squeaky clean past. Someone without a string of former lovers and a résumé in the sex trade.

If that was what he wanted in a woman, Alyssa was completely doomed.

He cupped her cheeks and brought her face back to his.

“You’re not a trophy to me, I swear. I know I have no right to tell you what to do.” He brought her even closer, and even in the dark, she saw pain contort his face. “I was jealous. So fucking jealous, it was eating me alive. The thought that you gave him what I so desperately wanted.”

Jealous?
Maybe he cared a little bit . . .

“I offered myself to you—more than once.” The words came out like an accusation.

“I tried to be gentlemanly. Smart. Use my restraint and not ravage and plunder you again. I didn’t want you to think I was a caveman or a madman. I didn’t want to lose control. I have a specific future in mind, and I don’t see how we fit together in that picture. But . . .” Pain laced his voice; then he exhaled raggedly. “I can’t ignore or deny what I feel anymore. I’m worried as hell about you, yes. I’m terrified at the thought of this sick stalker getting his hands on you and hurting you. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe.”

Whatever it takes
. He sounded as though she really did matter. Yes, it hurt to hear that she didn’t fit into his future, but for the right here and now . . . His words tugged at her heart, broke down the dam holding her emotions in. She was moments from a flood of tears. “Luc—”

“I can’t live another moment without touching you. I need you more than my next breath.”

Raw honesty ripped across his features as he leaned in again, thumbs brushing her jaw. His touch, like his stare, pleaded. Alyssa didn’t have the will to refuse him.

She thrust her hands into his hair and pulled him to her. Their mouths met in a rush, a gasp, a melding of lips, a moan. The tang of alcohol and need burst across her senses. Luc threw his arms around her and lifted her against him, as if he could suddenly make them one.