“Okay, I’m ready.”
Elle came from the back looking like Jack’s wet dream come true except for those annoying braids running along her scalp, now up on a bun. One a.m. and dressed to kill with some sort of vintage dress that gave her a pinup vibe. As if staring at her in her sexy-as-fuck Rosita’s uniform hadn’t been bad enough. Or the twerking shit he’d been forced to endure, with Elle clad in tight, barely there shorts. Although by now anything on her made his cock hurt.
“Hi, Kai,” she said walking straight to him and hugging him. “What are you doing here? Weren’t we meeting at the club?”
“Hello, beautiful. I thought I’d pass by to pick you up.”
“Oh, great. Let’s go then.” She turned to Jack and whispered, “You see? Beautiful, not pet. Beautiful. That’s how you treat a woman.”
“I heard, pet,” he answered curtly.
Kai motioned toward Jack. “I didn’t know you already had a date.”
“Him, you mean? Not a date.”
He hated the camaraderie between Kai and Elle. Totally fucking hated it.
“You in trouble of some kind?” Kai asked, looking at him and then at Elle. The motherfucker had always been very perceptive.
“We hooked up,” Jack stated, taking her by her neck and silencing her with a kiss he’d been dying to give to her for the whole day. Once he released her mouth, he stared at her, daring Elle to deny his statement.
“Such a joker my Borg,” she said, patting his cheek harder than necessary. “You don’t like parties. You could stay and I go with Kai. I’m sure I’ll be perfectly safe with him.”
“I don’t think so,” he answered. “Let’s get moving.”
The faster they got there, the faster it would be over.
Elle pursed her lips but addressed Paige, “Can you take care of closing up?”
“Sure. Go have fun.”
“Great,” Elle said heading to the door.
She was breathtaking from the front. From the back she was even better, the dress hugging all her curves. Fuck, she had a great ass, and fuck, she knew how to move it. Just the right amount of sashay to look classy and sexy. Jack was an ass man through and through. Unfortunately, so was Kai, who was glancing at it appreciatively.
Elle reached the door and held it open. “Gentlemen.”
Jack grabbed the coat from her arm and wrapped it around her. “Go,” he ordered, holding the door himself.
“Cute hairdo,” Kai complimented her on their way to the car.
Elle turned to Jack, her eyebrows lifted, a conceited expression on her face. “Isn’t it? I thought so too.”
“I’m parked there,” Kai said, pointing to the right. “See you at the club.”
“I can ride with Kai,” Elle said to Jack. “He doesn’t mind me fiddling with his radio.”
“Get in, pet,” he growled, unlocking the doors with the remote. He didn’t want her fiddling with anything of Kai’s. Not a single thing. Not even the damn radio.
Jack gritted his teeth and kept quiet during the ride.
When they made it to the bar, the parking lot was full. Not good.
After entering the establishment, his fears were confirmed. The place was packed. As in to the brim with rockabillies.
“This is what you understand by low-key?” he demanded, holding her by the arm. “We’re going home.”
For the first time today, Elle looked panicked. “Jack, this is important to me. My brother Jonah loved this band. I haven’t missed one of their jam sessions for two years. I can’t start now.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
He could deal with sassy and belligerent Elle without batting an eyelash. But vulnerable Elle he was not ready to handle. It tugged at the wrong part of his body. At his heart.
If he’d learned anything in the last fifteen years in the field, it was that thinking with his cock would get him killed. Thinking with his heart would get him killed even faster.
“Half an hour,” he grumbled against his better judgment. Crowded, enclosed spaces like this one were a security nightmare.
Once they hit the main floor, he had to reassess his first impression; it wasn’t a security nightmare but an all-around clusterfuck that, judging by the level of alcohol flowing around, had been going on for a while.
Elle shrugged off her coat and he realized that some shiny white inscriptions and flowing lines had appeared on her body. Fuck him, she had UV tattoos, the ones that only were visible under black light. Fantastic, like she wasn’t visible enough.
“Elle!” someone from a big group sitting at the counter yelled, waving at them. Kai was already there.
It took a while to get to them, because she seemed to know everyone.
“Hi, guys,” she greeted when they reached them.
Jack got introduced to a bunch of people as Borg and then Elle proceeded to ignore him.
“Going to dance,” she said, leaving her beer on the counter.
He watched at the crowded dance floor. “No dancing, pet.”