The Thrill of the Chase (8 page)

"
Right.
"
Her tone of voice conveyed she didn
'
t believe him.

"
I am right.
"

"
Sure.
"
She answered him in a manner sure to madden him further.

She was correct. Her concise, one word answer pissed him off even more. His body came another threatening inch toward her and his mouth closed in a tight, flat line.

She stiffened her body against him and slammed him with the proverbial glove in the face.
"
Fine, Gibson. I get your message loud and clear. Let go of me. There are other guys that won
'
t mind dancing with me.
"

He held tight, his expression turning sour.

"
You need to be careful, little girl.
"
It was a warning. He said it in a low, menacing tone, his voice vibrating from deep in his chest.

"
I
'
m always careful. Not that it
'
s any of your business. You
'
re not my brother.
"
Her words were antagonistic.

"
You got that right.
"
His eyes ran up and down her length.

"
Good. Let me go.
"
Julie said.

"
In a minute.
"
He wouldn
'
t be hurried.

"
Now,
"
she demanded.

"
No. I
'
m telling you that you need to be careful around me. Be careful of what you say to me. Be careful about throwing shit like that in my face. You might not like the consequences.
"

"
You just said you don
'
t want me, so why would there be consequences? You don
'
t care what I do or who I do it with.
"

"
That
'
s not fucking true and I never said I didn
'
t want you.
"

"
That
'
s what this is about, isn
'
t it? You warning me off
'
cause you don
'
t want me, you want me to leave you alone.
"

"
I want you to leave me alone because of Ashley. I want you to leave me alone because you
'
re only twenty-one.
I want you to leave me alone
because you wouldn
'
t begin to know how to handle somebody like me.
"
In an eloquent, non-verbal statement, his hands moved up her shoulder, slid over her silky skin and wrapped all the way around her neck and squeezed softly. His eyes glittered down, his expression harsh.
"
You don
'
t have a fucking clue how it would be between us.
"

He pressed his fingers against her neck and her eyes flared wide as hot sexual need pierced her.

Twin feelings of curious excitement and fear crashed through her belly.
"
H-how would it be between us?
"

She felt the pulse hammering in her neck against his rough palms.

His eyes ran over her face, her cheekbones, her trembling lips.
"
It would be intense,
blonde girl.
Very intense.
"

Her heart raced faster as the ribbon of need running through her almost crippled her.
"
Gibson, please.
"

"
No, it wouldn
'
t work.
"
His voice was flat.

"
Please,
"
she whispered. She knew in that moment she was begging him, but she couldn
'
t seem to make herself care.

"
No, it wouldn
'
t work,
"
he repeated, the words coming softer this time.

In desperation, she began to plead with him.
"
Okay. It wouldn
'
t work. I understand.
"
Her pulse beat a fierce tattoo through her brain. She licked her lips.
"
Please
. One kiss. Just so I
'
ll know.
"
Her eyes watched him.

He studied her lips and the haunting need in her eyes. He moved one hand away from her neck and smoothed it over the softness of her cheek. It continued a path up into her hair and gripped her scalp. His other hand fell from her neck and wrapped around her waist, lifting her onto her tiptoes and pulling her torso into his.

Their gazes found each other and held as sexual heat arced between them.

His lungs pulled in oxygen.
"
I shouldn
'
t do this. I
'
ll only be punishing myself.
"
His words were pained.

"
Please, Gibson,
"
she whispered.

"
It sounds good when you beg me. I like it. I
'
ve thought about you begging me.
"

Pleasure curled through her when she realized he
'
d also thought about how it would be between them.

He dipped his head and his mouth closed over hers, stalling the oxygen in her lungs. She whimpered as his tongue pushed into her mouth.

Her knees began shaking and the butterflies began fluttering in her stomach as his scent, his taste inundated her senses.

She hung in his arms as she tried to get her brain to function. She had one thought only.
Gibson was finally kissing her!

But just as soon as the thought came, despair hit her as she realized what kind of a kiss he was giving her.

A punishing kiss
.

A kiss filled with anger and retribution. And hunger. Oh, yes, she felt it.
His hunger
. But she also felt his anger as his hands lifted around her face and held her to him, his tongue stabbing repeatedly in her mouth as if he couldn
'
t get enough. As if he couldn
'
t get enough and wanted to punish her for it.

Why so much anger?
What had she ever done to him?

She hung in his arms, silent agony washing over her. She didn
'
t want the kind of kiss he was giving her. She wanted a sweet, gentle kiss. Full of hunger, yes. But not anger. She didn
'
t deserve his anger.

She whimpered in the back of her throat, lodged her hands against his chest and began pushing. His hands tightened on her and she thought for a moment he wouldn
'
t release her. But then his mouth broke from hers and they stood together, sucking in oxygen and staring at each other like combatants in a fight for survival.

Her eyes narrowed and she threw him a heated, accusatory look.

He remained silent and she gave him a taste of his own medicine.
"
Okay. Now I know. You
'
re right. It wouldn
'
t work. I want you to leave me alone. You
'
re a rude, messed-up, egotistical bastard. Leave me the fuck alone.
"
Rancor sharpened her voice.

"
Just because it didn
'
t go the way you wanted
--"
A flare of temper mixed with arousal seethed through him.

"
Leave me the fuck alone, Gibson
,
"
she shouted in his face and pulled away from him.

His hands lifted from her and she wiped the back of her hand over her mouth, trying to wipe away his punishing kiss, trying to convey to him the depth of her feelings.
"
Douche.
"
She said it under her breath, turned away and began walking off.

He grabbed her hand and attempted to what?
Apologize?
"
Julie
--"

She interrupted him by jerking on her hand and screaming,
"
Go away.
"

He lifted his hand from her and let her loose. She gave him one last look and then fled back to the crowd and the music.

****

An hour and a half later, Gibson was fuming on a barstool, his second beer of the night in his hand. Julie had been a blistering ball of female retribution as she set out to make his night miserable by dancing with every fucking guy in the club and never once looking his way.

If it was punishment, he felt it severely.

Her curvy little body was doing shit to his head he couldn
'
t even let himself think about.

They were serving last call and he sat waiting for the two chicks that would be his ride home. Ryan, the fuckwad, had abandoned him the second he got a chance with Ashley.

Monica had flitted up to him earlier and told him they were going to give him a ride.

He watched the two friends on the dance floor now. Monica was slender with light brown hair. She was strikingly beautiful. Men had been hanging on her all night. Her eyes looked at them with disinterest, and had she known it, it only challenged them more.

She was gorgeous, but he had to admit, he wasn
'
t interested and his eyes slid unerringly to her little roommate. He was immediately struck again, in the gut where it hurt, by Julie
'
s femininity. She was small and graceful, with slight hips and breasts that a short while ago, had been under his hands.

He itched to feel them again.

He
'
d been jonesing for her since he
'
d met her, but he
'
d been so busy at work he hadn
'
t had time to do anything about it. He also hadn
'
t made up his mind whether or not he
should
do
anything about it. Her age kept getting in the way, fucking up the plans he had for her in his head.

She was only seven years younger than he was, but at twenty-one, those seven years counted for a lot. He
'
d been around the block, seen a lot. He had just enough goodness left in him to realize she
'
d get hurt if he fucked with her. His brain had been doing a fucked-up dance, wanting her, but at the same time, wanting to
protect her
from him.

But shit, the look in her eyes when she
'
d pleaded with him tonight to kiss her. It wasn
'
t something that he would easily be able to forget.

He knew he should try. Hell. He really had no choice. He
'
d all but promised Ryan he
'
d leave her alone.

In retrospect, he should have asked her out the first night he met her. If he
'
d asked her out then, staked a
goddamn
claim on her from the very beginning, then Ryan wouldn
'
t have been able to pull this shit on him. But who the fuck knew there would be a damn deadline to an opening with her? He
'
d had shit at work that needed his full attention. And now was Ryan pulling this crap.

It was a fucked-up situation. He should have had her in his bed weeks ago. And now he was all but screwed.

His hands tied.

Jesus Christ.

He took another pull of beer and grimaced when he realized he
'
d let it go warm.

He put the bottle on the bar in front of him and turned his full attention to the two girls. They
'
d both been drinking and he was concerned about them driving. He didn
'
t know whose car they were in, and he didn
'
t much fucking care.

He would drive.

At a beer and a half, he was undoubtedly safer behind the wheel than either one of them would be.

He sat, silently brooded, and waited until the last dance was over and the girls slid over to him. Monica spoke.
"
Let
'
s go, Gibson.
"