Worthy of Redemption (10 page)

I narrowed my eyes at him, but said nothing. I should have laughed a little, since it was his attempt at a joke, but I was a little freaked out by his stalking.

“Make sure you keep it clean and dry,” he said as he finished with my hand.

“I know how to take care of it,” I said and stood up again.

“Take off your jeans.”

“What?” I stared at him incredulously.

“Your knee needs to be looked at,” he said in a boring tone.

“My knee is fine. It hardly hurts at all.”

“Are you always so stubborn?” he questioned with a scowl.

“Do you not think I should be stubborn when a man asks me to pull off my pants?” I challenged.

His scowl deepened. He leaned in so close to me, I could feel his warm breath on my face. “I’m really the only man that matters right now.” His eyes flickered down to my jeans and then back to my eyes. “Take off your jeans.”

If I were any other girl, I probably would have melted out of my jeans - and my panties. He was so
hot
standing over me, glowering, demanding that I take off my bottoms, and I couldn’t deny the sizzle of sexual tension zapping between us. But I wasn’t any other girl.

I pushed past Kyle and walked away, lest I lose my pants.

I leisurely followed Lily to the front door. She was limping slightly, but she was so damn headstrong, she would never acknowledge it. I caught up to her just as she pulled the door open, but I easily pushed it close again and blocked her in with my hands on either side of her on the door.

“Where are you going?” I asked her as I inhaled that floral scent wafting off of her skin.

“
Home
,” she snapped. “What the hell are you doing?” She pushed back on me, but I pressed back until my body was pressing hers against the door. I heard her sharp intake of breath and watched her jugular vibrate as her heart pounded in her chest.

“It’s really late, and it isn’t safe for you to be out alone. Stay here for the night.” I didn’t give her an option, because it wasn’t an option. I wasn’t going to let her back out after what had happened to her earlier in the night.

“I’ll be fine,” she stubbornly said.

I pulled away and spun her around by her shoulders. She looked up at me with large eyes as I again pinned her to the door.

“If I didn’t show up when I did, you could be waking up in a morgue right now. So, no. I don’t believe you will be
fine
.”

She licked her lips and swallowed hard. “He wasn’t going to kill me.”

“Oh, but he tried,” I said. “Your hand got in the way.”

She looked away from me and thought about this for a moment. Her body r
elaxed a little under me.

“Okay,” she said. “Maybe you’re right. Then call a cab for me or drive me home.”

“No,” I said simply.

She pushed against me, but I didn’t budge. She only succeeded in making me aroused as her curvy body pressed against mine. I knew she could feel it, but she pretended not to.

“You’re a bully,” she said with a cute little frown.

“You already knew that,” I murmured as I traced the tiny stars tattooed below her ear.

“I have taken down bigger guys than you,” she said as her eyes closed on their own accord.

“I don’t doubt it,” I said and dipped my head to kiss the stars. “But I’m not any of those other guys.”

“This is sexual harassment,” she whispered even as her hands explored my chest.

I knew I should stop. I knew this could only end badly. I should have known from past e
xperience that sleeping with my employees had terrible consequences, but I had been fighting my growing attraction to Lily since the day she stepped onto the elevator. Honestly, she wasn’t easy to forget after that hot morning so many months ago.

She was the complete opposite of the type of woman I would typically be a
ttracted to, rough around the edges inside and out, but it was the rough part I liked the best. I knew she was still inked and pierced, but I wanted that part of her, too. Kissing the stars on her neck drove me fucking crazy. I wanted to discover every aspect of her body - the ink, the piercings, and the curves. I wanted to experience that incredible mouth again and again, with my own mouth, with my cock…

“We should stop,” she sighed as I lightly bit her earlobe. “Kyle…” Her hands pressed against my chest. “Kyle…”

I cupped her breasts in my hands and was rewarded with a deep, long groan from Lily’s lovely lips. I felt her nipples harden in my palms and I received another reward: feeling the studs that pierced through the sensitive nubs. This time I groaned just before I took her mouth.

I
dreamed
of feeling her studded tongue on mine again. I flicked my tongue over the piercing, making us both moan. I pressed my erection against her as I made her tongue submit to mine. I dragged my thumbs over her nipples, making her cry out into my mouth. I had to get her out of this shirt and see and taste the jeweled buds for myself. I released her from the kiss and
tore
her shirt open. Buttons bounced on the hardwood floor as Lily looked at me with heated eyes.

“You don’t really want me to stop,” I said haughtily. I kneaded her lace co
vered breasts in my hands.

“No, I don’t,” she panted.

Suddenly, Lily shoved me away. Hard.

I stared at her with my mouth ajar. Like me, she was out of breath. Her lips were slightly swollen and her hair had begun to fall out of the ponytail she had it in. Her shirt hung open, revealing her sexy bra and her soft, padded belly. She looked sexier than ever. I stepped forward to claim her, but she shoved me away again.

“I don’t want you to stop, but we
need
to stop,” she said, and then pulled her shirt together. “This isn’t about me. This is about Emmy.”

I cringed at the sound of her name while I had a hardon for Lily. “She doesn’t have anything to do with us.”

“Oh, but she does,” she said pointedly. “You are trying to forget about her and you want to use me to do it. Maybe I seem easy to you, but I’m not.”

“Did it occur to you that I find you attractive?” I growled.

“Yes,” she nodded. “And you probably do, but I stand by what I said. You are using me to forget her, and I don’t want to be
used
.”

Was I over Emmy? Absolutely not. I saw her face every day. I missed her, and I wished I could have convinced her to stay. I felt like shit for what I had done to her, and I didn’t think I could ever forget that, but I
knew
she was better off where she was. It hurt like hell. It was a sometimes blinding pain that nearly unmanned me. It was extremely difficult to see her happy somewhere else.

I had occupied my time as of late literally chasing Lily. I knew where she was almost all of the time, and when I could I watched her from afar. I don’t know what I was looking for with her, but it had become a bit of an obsession since
that night out with Marco, a couple of months ago. Stalking after Lily
did
make me forget about Emmy sometimes, but I didn’t think I was using her. I was sure that I really wanted her, but then what about afterward? I wasn’t ready for a relationship, but I wanted something more than a working relationship with her. There were so many things about her I really liked, and the fact that she had literally saved me the night she drove me home from the bar made me feel a connection to her I couldn’t just sever, but I knew if I took her now, I’d just hurt her.

“This isn’t about Emmy,” I said quietly. “But I would be using you in a matter of speaking, and I don’t want you to feel used.”

She hugged her shirt to herself. “Thank you. I think.”

I put my hands up in surrender. “But please stay here for the night.”

After a moment of hesitation, she nodded.

I gestured for her to follow me and I led her to the spare bedroom next to mine.

“You have a bed and a bathroom,” I said, flipping the light switch. “There isn’t much else in here yet.”

“I don’t need anything else,” she said quietly as she surveyed the room. “An
ything is a step up from a couch in someone else’s living room.”

I pursed my lips, wondering if I should tell her what I knew. She looked at me with trepid
ation.

“I guess you have some kind of uppity remark about barmaids sleeping on couches in the hood,” she said.

“No.”

“Then what is it?”

“The boyfriend of the woman you live with is elbow deep in some serious illegal drug action.”

Her eyebrows shot up as her eyes widened. “Nate? Seriously?”

“Yes.”

“How do you
know
this shit?” she asked, shaking her head in disbelief.

“I know a lot of ‘shit’,” I answered.

“You’re creepy.”

“It’s not safe for you to be there.”

“It’s not safe for her children to be there either,” she said and bit her bottom lip as she stared at the floor in thought.

“I can’t do anything about that, but I can take care of you.”

She looked up at me with her mouth open. “Take care of me? I can take care of myself.”

“You’re not doing a very good job at it,” I snarled.

“You’re such a snob,” she snapped. “You would never lower yourself to sleeping on someone’s couch.”

“Lily, it’s not
safe
,” I said firmly. “Move in here. I won’t charge you rent. You can help me unpack, do my laundry or something and quit those bartending jobs.”

“Holy shit, you’re insane!” she yelled, throwing her hands up. Her shirt fell open, but she didn’t seem to care. “I know my being a lowly barmaid disgusts you, but - ”

“It doesn’t disgust me,” I said, cutting her off. “Your work load at Sterling is getting heavier by the day. You’re already working weekends just to keep up. You can’t do
all
of it. If your work suffers any more, it will affect me and everyone else that will have to pick up the slack. You have to make a choice.” I didn’t have to tell her it had to be a reasonable choice, because I believed she was a reasonable person.

“But…” she said, and then bit her lip. She waited a few seconds and tried again. “But I like tending bar. I’m
good
at it.”

“You are,” I agreed. “And I know about your plans to open your own esta
blishment and I know that you wanted to buy
SHOTZ
from Emmy before it burned down, but working in those sleazy bars isn’t going to get you anywhere, Lily.”

She let out an exasperated groan and spun in a slow circle.

“Why do you care so much?” she asked. “You haven’t given a shit for two years, and you didn’t really seem to give a shit when I walked through the doors at Sterling.”

“I did give a shit,” I said quietly.

“You sure have a way of expressing it,” she said dryly.

“I’m trying to prove that I give a shit
now
,” I snapped.

“You abandoned me bleeding on a dark city street not even an hour ago!”

“I didn’t abandon you. Believe it or not, I went to the next block to see if I would see the creep that cut you.”

She looked at me skeptically before looking away at nothing in particular. She rubbed her forehead with the back of her hand. I couldn’t help but to look at her voluptuous body since she didn’t close up her shirt.

“So, you want me to quit my bar jobs – or
job
now – and move into your deluxe apartment in the sky,” she said. She pulled her shirt together when she caught me staring.

“I will pay you to take care of my home and for whatever else I need that doesn’t fall under your current job title.”

“Because you
care
,” she added sarcastically.

“Yes,” I answered. “And I owe you.”

She looked at me warily and then said “You still owe me sneakers.”

“I will take you shoe shopping tomorrow,” I promised.

“And now you owe me a shirt.”

“I will replace your shirt,” I said, eying the little bit of flesh that wasn’t co
vered.

“You will give me the shirt off of your own back,” she said haughtily. “
Now
.”

I didn’t take my eyes off of her as I undid the cuffs on my shirt and started to unbutton it.

“What if I wake up later and say I don’t want to move in or quit my other job?” she asked as her eyes fell on my chest.

“You don’t have a choice. Do as I say or I will fire you.”

Her eyes widened and her mouth opened so widely I saw her tongue ring glistening in the light.

“That’s the deal, Lily,” I said as I pulled off my shirt. “Take it or leave it.”

I handed her the shirt. She folded it over her arm and looked at me warily.

“You’re mean,” she whispered.

“But you love me that way,” I said. I turned away from her and left her alone in the room.