Ares’s hands tug at my jeans, and mine go to his belt. His mouth finds my throat again, and I drag my nails down his back, causing him to inhale a sharp breath. When he finally gets my jeans down, I make a sound that would have embarrassed me if I had the capacity right now.
“Good?” he asks against my neck as I toe off my shoes.
“If you stop to ask me that again, I will lose my fucking mind.”
He chuckles while I shimmy my pants the rest of the way off, and I almost stop to stare in surprise. This side of Ares is one I’d like to witness, but then his hands move, and I forget what I was going to do.
Ares lifts me, and I wrap my legs around his hips as he slams my back against the door. He isn’t gentle, but I don’t want that right now. Even so, his movements are controlled, which is infuriating and so fucking attractive at the same time. As he yanks my panties out of the way and thrusts inside me, I tip my head back and grab a nearby shelf. Something falls off, but neither of us stop.
“Fuck,” I say as he stretches me as much as I can take.
He moves, fucking me against the door, and I am unable to think about anything else. I match him thrust for thrust. He wants people to need him, and I’m not sure if he realizes just how much I need him right now.
When I come apart, I bite down on his neck. His armis wrapped tight around me, pulling me in close as I ride out the waves until he joins me, whispering my name against my skin. We catch our breath for a few moments, then I drop my legs from around his waist, and he holds me steady while I find my balance.
As I retrieve my jeans from the floor beside me and pull them up, he reaches past me and picks up whatever dropped on the floor, placing it back on the shelf.
“Do we need to finish the inventory?” I ask him.
“I’ll deal with it tomorrow.”
With a nod, I open the storage room door, and he follows me out. As we walk out of the bar and lock up, I get the weird feeling again, almost as if we are being watched, but when I look, there is no one around. Ares appears unbothered and leads me to where his motorbike is parked, then hands me a helmet. The sound of his bike starting cuts through the silence, so I climb on, wrapping my arms around him and pressing my face against his back.
The ride back to my loft doesn’t take as long at this time of night. When he pulls up to the curb, I want to ask him to come in, but I won’t. I worked so hard to gain my independence, and it was bad enough that I called Clay to check out my apartment.
“Make sure you lock your door and windows.”
I snort. “Yes, Dad.”
“Do you need me to come upstairs and put you over my knee?”
I lick my lips, the “yes” on the tip of my tongue. “Maybe next time.”
Handing him back the helmet, I see the corners of his eyes crinkle behind the visor—the asshole must be smiling.
He waits for me to go inside before I hear him ride away. I lock the door behind me and walk to the window, making sure it’s also locked, just as he asked. That motherfucker is good, and I bet he knows it as well.
When I move away from the window, I pause.
The unsettled feeling is stronger this time, but as I look around, there is nothing out of place. Fuck, why can’t I shake this sensation?
I sit on the edge of my bed and look around the room, trying to rationalize this with myself. Cave spooked me tonight, and my nervous system is a wreck this time of year as it brings up my trauma from Aaron.
I grab my phone and open my messages app, finding the last one I sent to Clay. Surprisingly, he doesn’t make me feel stupid for the way I feel, even though it’s probably nothing.
I know it’s late, but the feeling is back. I just wanted someone to know.
Putting my phone down, I gather my stuff and head into the bathroom to shower. Turning on the water, I let the stall fill with steam before I strip down and get in. It’s one of those nights where I have an everything shower.They used to be further apart, but since I am now getting laid on a regular basis, it calls for a lot more maintenance, which is a pain in the ass. I wonder when it became the norm to shave every bit of hair from your body. Isn’t hair there for a reason? I ponder this for way too long before I just get the job done. There is nothing better than getting into a clean bed after an everything shower, and that must be the reason we do it.
When I step back into the main room of my loft, I scream and slap my hand over my mouth. “Fuck, Clay, how the hell did you get in?”
Clay smirks from his seat at my dining table. “I have my ways.”
“That isnotcomforting, especially when I feel like someone is watching me.”
“Thank you for coming to my rescue, Clay. You are so handsome and the best,” he says in a mocking tone.
I snort. “Yeah, that isn’t happening. Are you going to sit there all night or get into bed?”