6. Scarlett

CHAPTER 6

Igrind my teeth and glare at the man who's following me around in the store.

"I told you that I'm fine. Why don't you go get something to eat or get a coffee or something! Just let me be!"

"I'm not leaving you here alone. Not gonna happen. I already asked my buddy to run some food by here."

As soon as he says this, the bell rings over the door and Damian from the Wildwood Construction crew comes through the door holding bags of food up.

"Got your lunch, man! I don't quite understand why you're here instead of up on the mountain where I left you but whatever." He glances up and then grins. "Ah. I see. You've fallen victim to the curse huh? And you weren't even in the damn calendar."

"Curse? What the hell are you talking about, man?"

I giggle. "Seriously? You don't actually believe that, do you?"

"Believe what?" Benito's head whips back and forth, his dark head snapping quickly. His dark eyes glare through Damian. "What the hell, man?"

"The construction calendar curse. One by one all the guys have been getting hooked up and happily hitched. It's fucking scary as hell."

"Only if you don't want to get hitched up with a woman."

Damian's brows lift and he drops the food on the counter, rubbing his beard nervously. "Huh. Don't tell me that you're fixing to get hitched, Benito. How the hell does that even work? You don't come from around here and she does."

He points over at me and I glare at both of them. I'm not really enjoying the two of them talking around me like I don't exist or I don't have my own feelings on the matter.

"I'm not sure what exactly you guys are doing here but I'm gonna tell you something that you should really remember about women. We don't like it when you talk about us and our future like we're not sitting right here and we don't have our own fucking minds."

Damian's head jerks back. "I don't think I've ever heard you swear before. That's weird." He glances back at Benito. "I think you're a bad influence on her, man."

I grab my food and stomp off to the back office, growling under my breath. I hear low, masculine laughter behind me and I know from the way that chills run up and down my spine that it's Benito.

"Stop laughing at me, Benito!"

"I'm not laughing at you, Red. I'm just happy."

That's even weirder. I don't quite know what to do with a happy mobster eating lunch in my bookstore.

I sit down at my desk after I shut my door. I'll still be able to hear the bell if someone comes in and I can see on the cameras if there's any movement in the store if I do miss the bell.

I can see the two men standing in the middle of the store talking and the fact that both of them look damn serious has me sitting up straight.

I'm not sure exactly what they're saying and I've got no audio so I won't be able to hear what they're saying. But I sure as heck wish I could.

Instead I take a big bite out of my sandwich and stare at my mother's picture on my desk. "Well, Mom. What do you think about this? I know I should be very nervous about this guy and you know how I feel about guys in general."

I've never been with a man. Never even tried. There are too many guys who take advantage of women and I'm not willing to put myself through that.

Not to mention the ones that fate takes away from you. Those ones hurt the most. There's no time to say good-bye, there's no time to brace yourself for what's to come. It's just done.

I see Damian leave and Benito goes to the door and locks it and I sit up straight, staring at the screen and watching him walk through the store, grabbing the bag of food and heading towards the back where I'm sitting.

I finish my last bite and toss the garbage in the trash can, straightening my skirt and fluffing my hair and then grimacing when I realize what I'm doing.

I frown as he appears in the doorway, large and menacing and yet somehow I'm just not afraid of him. Perhaps it's the twinkle in his dark eyes, the smirk on his firm lips.

Perhaps it's the way my belly flips when his eyes roam down my body and he licks his lips.

I don't really know. But what I do know is that I really shouldn't be back here with him alone with the door locked.

It's dang dangerous. I stand up and start to walk around him in the doorway and he drops his bag to the desk. "Where are you going, Red?"

"I'm done. I'm just gonna go open the door and get back to work."

He grabs my arm and I suck in a gasp of air, my body melting at the first touch of his fingers on my skin. It burns, it brands me.

"You've only been back here for ten minutes, don't you usually take a longer lunch that that, Red? Are you afraid to be alone with me?"

I jerk back at my arm and huff, "No! Absolutely not! I'm just anxious to get back to work."

"It's still your lunch break and that's what the timer on the door says. So why don't you sit down and rest for a few minutes?"

I back away from him since he's still blocking the doorway and he's freaking huge.

"Fine." I back up and round my desk to sit down in my chair. He sits down across from me and grunts as he opens the bag and pulls out his hamburger, taking a huge bite.

"Was there something in particular that you wanted to talk about, Benito?"

He growls and puts his burger down, wiping off his hands. "I love it when you say my name, Red. It's sexy as hell."

I roll my eyes. "There is nothing sexy about saying someone's name."

"Really, Scarlett? Nothing at all?"

As soon as he says my name, I feel a tremble in my thighs and straight up into my belly. Fire burns across my body and flashes across my skin.

"No, nothing," I answer breathlessly and he grins and stands to stalk around the desk towards me. I stand up and move away, darting around the desk and keeping the large surface between the two of us.

He wags a finger at me like I'm a naughty child. "I think you're lying, sweetheart. You shouldn't sully that pretty mouth of yours with such tall tales."

I put my hands on the desk and bounce on the balls of my feet. "I'm not lying. I'm telling the truth. I don't feel anything."

He growls like a tiger and then grins at me. "So why are you running away from me? Are you scared?"

I stand tall and glare at him. "I'm not scared of anything."

"Then come over here and sit down, Red."

I step carefully around the desk and scooch past him to sit down in my chair.

But he doesn't move. He doesn't back away at all and he's now standing over me at my desk. He leans down and puts his hands on the arms of my chair. Bending down, he hovers over me and my heart rate spikes, my breath stuttering. I can smell him. Spicy and masculine. His dark eyes drill into me, dragging me into the depths of his darkness and leading me into a downwards spiral into either heaven or hell.

I freeze when his head comes close and he runs his nose along my throat. I can't breathe. Can't move. His eyes hypnotize me. His body calls to me.

"Scarlett," he growls, low and rough. I shudder at the feel of his gaze, the rough tone of his voice.

"Yes?" I ask breathlessly.

"I want you. I want you so fucking bad that it hurts. Look at this." He reaches down and grabs at his crotch, obscene in his hunger, the drive I see in his eyes. "Look what you do to me." He moans and I lick my lips, loving the way his hot gaze follows that movement. I've never had a man who was so damn hurting and hungry for me and I need him just as much.

He comes so close to me that I see the golden flecks of amber swirling in his dark eyes. "I want you. I want to make you feel so damn good that I ruin you for other men. I just want you to give me a chance."

"A chance to what?" I whimper, feeling his warmth all around me.

"A chance to be everything that you need. A chance to prove to you that you're it for me."

I shake my head. "You can't think that."

"That you're the woman for me? Oh…I absolutely believe that. I just want a chance to make you realize that I'm it for you. I'm the man for you. I'm going to be here for you until the end of our lives. I will never fail you. Never walk away from you. I am yours."

That's got to be the sexiest thing I've ever heard. My heart turns over in my chest and the fire flares everywhere inside me, culminating in my nipples hardening to stiff points and my pussy tightening restlessly, needing him inside me.

And I know that although he'll probably leave me, I can't resist him. I want this time.

"Yes," I whisper.

His head comes up, his eyes widening. "Are you sure?"

"I am." I nod my head. I know I'll probably regret it but I just can't help myself. I need him.

He groans. "Oh fucking hell. I should have done this at your place. I should have made sure that you were comfortable. I can't take you on a fucking desk."

He glares around the room and my eyes land on the couch that I sleep on sometimes if I'm too tired to head home or it gets too late.

I stand up and push him back. His eyes follow me, dark and frightening. But I yank at my clothes while he watches, his gaze darkening, his eyes narrowing like the predator he is.

"I need you, Ben." He cocks his head at the shortened version of his name but he doesn't argue it.

"I need you too, Scarlett."

He sits down on the couch and pats his lap where his dick is standing straight up at attention. "Come sit on Santa's lap and tell me if you've been a naughty girl this year."

I grin cheekily and throw my legs over his lap, settling on his flat stomach, feeling his eight pack moving as he grinds up into me. "I have been very good this year. Up until now. Now I'm gonna be very bad."

And I lean down and kiss him, feeling his tongue slicking along my lower lip, begging me to open.

I open my lips and groan when he surges forward at the same time as he runs his finger along my slit and then slowly enters my pussy. "I don't know how much control I'm going to have this time, Red. I feel like I've already been waiting a lifetime for you."

"I don't need slow. I don't need steady. I just need you."

He groans when I say that and then he pushes his finger in and out of me, flicking my clit with his thumb and grinding down hard until I'm gasping for breath and my hips are bouncing on his lap, my thighs squeezing around his.

"Please, please, Ben. Please get inside me now! I need you. I need to feel you."

"Oh," he groans. "You are soaking fucking wet, baby. I need you so bad."

I lift myself up on him and slowly lower my hips down until I feel his steely girth at my entrance. Slowly, slowly, I slide down and we both groan.

"You feel like fucking heaven. So warm and wet and tight. Oh fuck!" His head falls back on the couch and his eyes close. His hands come up and his fingers pluck at my nipples, twisting and tightening them until pain zings with the pleasure barreling through me.

He leans forward and his mouth envelopes my nipple, scraping across the sensitive peak with his teeth.

I groan and my hips grind into his, our bodies colliding in a furious, frantic flurry of hips and thighs and body parts.

"Oh god, Ben! Yes, yes, yes!" My whole body convulses, his body thrusting up into mine like a wild man until I can't even keep up. I fall against his chest and he thrusts up into me, my whole body on fire. My pussy flutters and then I groan as I feel his warm release splash across my walls.

He thrusts up once, twice and then stills, his guttural groan in my ear making my shiver.

I moan and stars flash behind my eyes right before everything goes dark and silent.