8. Amanda

Chapter 8

Amanda

Leo sits in one of the overstuffed chairs by the front of the bookstore. His long legs stretch out in front of him. I sweep my attention up his snug fitting jeans.

It was one thing when I wondered what he was packing in those jeans. It’s another now that I’ve experienced it.

He doesn’t look away from the window. “Thinking dirty girl thoughts about me?”

“How’d you know?” I blurt out.

The side of his lips move, and he glances at me. The knowing in his eyes makes me wet. That intimacy. That heat.

“Keep looking at me like that, honey, and the store will be closed for the night right now.”

I love that I can turn him on and make him want me.

He got hurt because of you in the past a little voice nags in my head. If he’s with you, and whoever’s after you shows up, he’ll get hurt again.

My chest aches and I press a hand against the center.

“Twenty minutes to closing,” Leo says looking at the clock on the wall. “Then you’ll come with me to the self-defense class.”

“Did a lot of people sign up?”

“Eleven.”

“Women?” I ask, trying to sound casual and failing.

“All of them.”

I toy with a pen on the counter, rolling it back and forth. “Pretty?”

His head turns. “I don’t know, and I don’t give a shit if they are. You’re the only woman I see.”

“That’s sweet but…”

He rises, locks the door and flips the sign to closed.

“Leo! You can’t just close.”

He pulls the shades and dims the lights, then walks around the counter. I face him but he spins me back around and bends me slightly at the waist. I’m pressed between his hard body and the counter.

His teeth close around the lower part of one of my ear lobes.

And his hands…his big hands are everywhere. On my breasts, pinching my nipples…unzipping my jeans and he’s in my panties and…ah….

Two fingers slide into me, and he uses his other hand to toy with my clit. “Already wet for me, I see.”

“I am,” I admit, gripping the counter to hold myself steady.

He’s relentless exploring my body, taking control of my clit.

I moan loudly.

“Swallow those moans. No one is allowed to hear your sounds of pleasure.”

I press my lips together.

“There we go. That’s my good girl. This little clit loves the way I touch it, and my fingers love how they feel when they’re inside of you. Oh, that’s right. Clench around them as you come.”

He turns my head and swallows my words as I cry out his name.

When I’m coming down from the powerful orgasm, he kisses the side of my neck.

“Let me take care of you,” I say.

“There’s no time right now but you will tonight.” He zips my jeans up and buttons them.

“Are you going to make me take care of you?” I’m trying to be sexy, but my voice comes out shaky.

He frowns. “I would never force you.”

I put my hands against his chest. I know he would never use this strength against my will. “I know that. I was trying to be sexy, but you left me breathless so it came out sounding wrong.”

“Ah. Do you want me to make you?”

“Yes. Make me take you.”

His eyes darken. “How?”

I lick my lips, then suck on my finger.

“Stop that, honey. I need the king to go down before the class so I can concentrate.”

“While you teach, I’ll wait in your office for you, then.”

“It’ll be the shortest class I’ve ever taught.”

I laugh. I’ve never felt free or adventurous, but I want that with him. I want to make him as hungry for me as I am for him. I want him to love me as much as I love him.

That thought floors me, leaving me staring at him, unable to speak or move.

Girl, you’re too dumb for anyone to love you. Why do you think you were abandoned here?

“Amanda?”

I make myself smile like the words from a staff member at the Home weren’t just in my head verbally smacking me.

I’m unlovable. I know that. Leo’s never said he loves me and I can’t expect him to. Can’t hope for that. But he wants me so that’ll be good enough. I’ll make it so.

Leo

Something’s off with Amanda. She gave me a fake-ass smile at the bookstore and then kept saying everything was fine.

I’m at the door of the classroom as the women leave. I can’t close the door after them fast enough and then I rush to the back where Amanda waits for me.

My office is a small, windowless room with only enough space for a desk. There’s no way anyone could break in. Otherwise, I would have kept her with me for the duration. Still, I’m anxious to see her because my biggest fear other than when I was afraid I’d never find her is that I’ll lose her.

When I reach the office, Amanda looks up from her phone. “All done?”

“All done.”

She comes around to take a fistful of my shirt. “Then let me take care of you.”

I cover her fist with my hand. “Maybe in a bit.” I want her physically but right now, I want to know what’s going on with her heart. I lift her and sit her on the desk. “I have some questions.”

Her fingers splay across my stomach, making my cock stir. “Hmm?”

“I want to know about the situation you’re trying to deal with.”

Her face pales. “Why?”

“Because I’m not going to stand around and wait for someone to show up and attempt to hurt you. I’m going to end it first.”

“You can’t, Leo. It’s the mafia.”

I’ve dealt with worse protecting others, but I don’t tell her that. “I want to know,” I say again.

She draws in a deep breath, then says reluctantly, “When I lived in Dallas, I worked at Bella Vita. I thought was a family-owned bar. I didn’t know that it was a front for laundering money for the mafia.”

Amanda starts shaking and I climb onto the desk, sitting behind her and pulling her into the security of my arms. Resting my chin on her shoulder, I say, “Go on.”

Her body relaxes against mine. “The place was raided right after a lot of money went missing and one of the bartenders lied and she said that I stole the money. I heard her say that I turned informant against the family.”

“They believed her?”

“I didn’t stick around to find out. But then one night shortly after that, a man crept into my apartment. Hearing the floorboard creak is how I managed to get away before anything happened to me.”

“You think he was working for the mafia?”

“I do. The heavy scent of his cologne was familiar as was the way he walked with a limp. I left everything behind that night and took off wearing just the pajamas I slept in. I was on the outskirts of Lucky River in the wee hours of the night when I had a flat tire.”

My heart nearly stops at the thought of the woman I love stuck on the side of the road. “What happened then?”

“An elderly woman, Claudia Morris, gave me a ride and bought me a change of clothes. She talked a little about the town and said she was responsible for matchmaking.”

“Claudia runs the Lasso a Cowboy event every year,” I tell her. “It’s a charity thing where when a cowboy is roped, he has to do whatever the woman who roped him wants as long as it’s not illegal. I think she does it just to get lonely people together.”

“Well, she’s a sweet lady but she drives like a bat out of hell.”

I laugh. “She does.”

“Then she said she’d given up driving a while and was only out for a wild spin.”

That sounds like Claudia. She used to assist Butterfly Buck in his painting endeavors, being what she referred to as the getaway driver.

Amanda sighs. “Shortly after meeting her, I met Ruly, got the job at the bookstore and fell in love.”

Could she …my heart pounds. Does she mean me? “Fell in love?”

“With Lucky River. I love this town.”

“It’s a good place to live and raise a family.” I wait, but she doesn’t respond to that, so I move on. “Alright, honey. I’ll have someone guard you and then I’ll make a trip to Dallas in the next day or two and handle this.”

She leaps off the desk, spins around, grabs my hand and holds it against her chest. “Please don’t.”

I know what she’s afraid of. “Nothing will happen to me. I promise.” I know how to handle myself but besides that, I’m not stupid. I know better than to walk into a viper’s den without backup.

Amanda releases me and presses her hand to her stomach. “I need to use the bathroom.”

“Down the hall on the right.”

When she’s out of earshot, I call Rio first and arrange for him to go with me to Dallas. Then I call Fury, the President of the motorcycle club, the Villain Crew.

Once I’ve amassed a group of men to watch after Amanda in my absence and another group to take the trip out of town with me, I go to find my woman.

The bathroom door is open, and the light is off. Hell, no, she didn’t.

I tear through the building, racing outside and when I see her leaning against the building, relief hits me.

“You don’t leave my sight,” I say, worry giving my voice a sharp edge.

“I was going to skip town,” she admits.

“What stopped you?” It’s you, Leo , that’s what I want to hear her say. I also want to hear her say it’s because she couldn’t bear to be apart from me.

“I left my purse and phone in your office.”

That’s not what I was hoping for.

“Amanda, you can’t ever leave me. My heart would break.”

“We’ve been friends for so long so I understand that but?—”

“Friendship isn’t what I’m looking for and it’s not what would break my heart.”

She goes so still I don’t even hear her breathing.

And I’m going out on a limb here because I can’t hold it in any longer.

“I love you, my precious, broken angel. Stay with me, forever.