Kade fucking Grayson.

Kade fucking Grayson got to watch me dance after all.  Well, universe, you seem to be desperately trying to rain all sorts of shit down my neck, what next?

Bree’s voice interrupted my arguments in the case of Universe vs. My Shitty Life. “I just came back to pick up my uniform and I came upon Kade here, looking at something very interesting to him through one of our windows,” she laughed.   “I have to get to the bar, or should I stay here?” she asked, eyeing me  and grabbing her workbag off the hanger on the door.

Wait.  What?  He was watching me freaking dance while I cleaned?

My mouth wanted to drop open. I was beyond humiliated, but there was no way I would let him know it bothered me.  “I’m fine, Bree,” I answered, indifferently.

“Ooookay then, enjoy whatever the hell you got going on here…” she said awkwardly, and walked out of the trailer.

Slowly, I moved myself behind the small kitchen counter that separated the kitchen and other rooms, trying to block his view from me.  “What are you doing here, Mr. Grayson?”  A slow burn spread across my cheeks and heated my scalp as I stood, waiting for his explanation.  He watched me dance?

He moved around the counter closer to me. His intense stare lowered from my flushed cheeks down to my breasts, across my stomach, and lingered with heat on my bare legs before it traveled slowly back over my entire body again to my eyes.  His look was dark.  Sexy.  Oh. My. God.  It felt as if he licked me in one long slow stroke, up and down my entire body.  Thanks universe, just crank the sexual tension up a few notches, whydon’tcha?

I stood there trembling, uncertain as to what I should do.  Uncertain as to how I felt about his eyes on me.  Okay.  Fine.  I. Liked. It.  There, I admitted it.

“Uh…I…I forgot my jacket again.  Last night.  Here,” he choked out.

Was I making that man stutter?  Because of what I was wearing?  Was barely wearing.  Small beads of sweat broke out across my forehead.

I seriously wanted to cross my arms over my chest.  Even though I was wearing clothes, the small amount of them combined with his lusty stare made me feel completely naked.  And those dark dangerous eyes of his made me want to move closer to him.  Shit.  “You know what I think? I think you forget a lot of shit when I'm around.”

“You’re beautiful,” he whispered hoarsely, eyes still fixed on mine.

I lost all rational thought.  Lost the use of my limbs and I was melting fast.

The mop slipped from my hands and clinked against the counter, averting my eyes from his. I tried pretending that those two pathetically simple words didn’t just cause my panties to leak a drip down my legs.  “Beautiful,” I repeated flatly.  That was the first time in my life a man called me that and it had to come from an asshole.

He moved toward me with intense purpose and power, dipping his head, forcing me…challenging me to keep eye contact with him.

Well, too bad.  I turned my head away from his, looking past him, beyond him, as if he didn’t matter.  Heat crept over my skin as he slowly inched closer to me and I turned to face him again, my eyes locked on his.  There was something unnerving in his gaze, something dark, cold and alive there, begging to be warmed.  His steel eyes fluttered slowly down to my lips and my pulse instantly started hammering through my veins.  The closer he moved, the faster it pounded.  Both his hands reached up and gently cupped my face, and he leaned forward laying his forehead tenderly against mine.  “Yes.  Beautiful.  Stunning.  Bewitching.  Ravishing.  Fucking angelic.”  He smelled like the most expensive brandy money could buy, it was dizzying.   I had no personal space left. He took it all, absorbed every last breath of it, almost knocking me to my knees.

One strong hand cupped the back of my head, his long fingers doing something to the nape of my neck that sent chills down my spine.  His expression was dark, intent, lusty, making heat scorch up my neck.  His heather grey eyes bore down on mine, making my heart pound violently in hopes of escaping from my rib cage.

My mouth opened to speak, but our breath just mingled and he growled a low rumbly groan as he fiercely crushed his lips against mine, drowning out my words, capturing my breath.  A relentless flood of warmth swelled in my whole body.  His lips were soft and unyielding, moving against me in slow passionate circles. The heat of his mouth made me gasp for air, and the taste of the dark brandy that flavored his mouth was delicious.  Hard and rough, his mouth raked over mine. I swayed back against the sink, hands leaning back.  I needed something to hold on to – something that would keep me here on earth, because his lips on mine, his hands, fingertips cupping my face, my head, made me feel…everything.  My heart pounded erratically in my chest. The heat of his fingertips singed into my skin, and my insides thawed, softened, liquefied into a wet hot mess.  Every spot where his skin touched mine, I felt a powerful staggering heat. The squeeze of his fingers over my flesh sent a rush of need through my belly.  Where was this coming from?  Why the hell was I standing here letting him TOUCH ME?  WHY the HELL WAS I KISSING HIM BACK?

I pushed him away, covering my mouth, breathing heavy, unable to catch my breath.  I had no words.  I could tell everything by the way this man kissed me.  I could tell how rough, hard, and erotically passionate this man was and how I was losing the ability to breathe because of his kiss.  He stumbled back a step, breathing just as hard as I was, eyes blazing into mine, savage, wild and hungry.  This stolen kiss, this theft of lips, this claim on my mouth was the most erotic sexual kiss in my life. My knees were so weak; I leaned back heavily against the counter again to stop my body from melting into thick sweet syrup at his feet.

“I didn’t think… I didn’t think you’d taste…so good,” he whispered, dragging his hands roughly through his hair and back down over his face.

He had to ruin the moment, right? A dark laugh bubbled out of my throat, “What?  You thought waitress flavored kisses were too sour for you?”  Shoving myself off the counter, I walked away to the opposite side of the trailer, putting as much distance as I could between the both of us, and wanting to scream at him. I paced back and forth trying to regain my composure. Hell, just trying to stop panting like a dog in heat would be helpful.  A thick dense knot settled in the pit of my stomach.  I just let him kiss me and I loved it.  I had no control over it, not a damn ounce.  Now he’s going to degrade and belittle me and be all Kade-like again.  Why? Why did he have to kiss me like that, yet be the biggest asshole I’d ever met?

For a moment, he looked as dazed as I felt, then his arrogant lip quirked up in a cocky smile.  Look at that…the man had a playful dimple that introduced itself, mocking me on one of his cheeks.  I wanted to smack the offensive boyish charmer right off his mean face.

Narrowing my eyes at him, I stopped my pacing.  “Don’t. Don’t say anything else.  You’d be perfect if you just kept your arrogant mouth closed.  Your intimidation skills are lacking and I’m not the kind of woman who would actually believe that you are superior to me just because you’re a man. You think you’re better than me and you’re not Kade.”  Anger at his stupid pompous smirk made me want to burst his narcissistic bubble and tell him that I was a hell of a lot more than a waitress in a strip club, but I clenched my mouth closed.  This wasn’t like me to let someone get under my skin.

He raised his eyebrows and stalked towards me with purpose.  “That’s what you think?”

“What I think is that you’re a disgusting, demeaning, lonely man who looks good in an expensive suit.”

By the time I ended my sentence, he was seething.  He lowered his face to mine and looked straight into my eyes, viciously.  “Let’s get everything out, yeah?  I’m the first person to acknowledge that I am 100% fucked up in my head. That’s why I stay away from everyone.  When I first laid eyes on you, God forgive me for my stupidity, I thought you were a fucking angel.  But, I’ve met people like you, you’re just like everybody else I’ve ever known,” he sneered, disturbingly.  “I think people should strive to be more than what you are.  Look at what I saw when I first saw you; a waitress, poor as shit, working in a strip club where men pay her for the way she makes them feel, living in a fucking trailer.  Then you came up to me, swaying those perfect hips, and you asked me what I wanted to drink.  I made my assumption on what you gave me, love.  And I offered you a job.”

Stunned, furious and explosive, I held my chin up to him, “That’s all there is, just the black and white cover of a book?  Never even opening it up to see the inside.  So I’m just a waitress or, as you explained so eloquently, a whore?”  I closed the small distance between us, wanting the confrontation, wanting to fight with him.  “Then all you are is a pathetic storyteller who lives in a world full of make-believe.  You’re like Mister Fucking Rogers!”

Without warning, he hauled me up by the waist onto the counter, gripping my skin tightly.  His fingers splayed out over the bare skin of my legs, the tips of his fingers pressing against the edge of my cotton boy shorts.  Holding a steady gaze, his thumb lightly brushed across the skin of my inner thigh, before gripping me tighter.