“No one here could handle what I have to offer, including you,” she hisses at me and starts to pull back straight away, but I clasp her jaw in my hand. Focusing hard, and even above the loud music, I can hear the rapid panting of her breath.
“Be careful what you wish for, tiger. I don’t play around, but if I decided I wanted you, I would destroy you. And it wouldbe more than fun, it would be fucking mind-blowing.” I run my thumb across her lips as her breath hitches.
Releasing her and standing up straight, my body pulses as a burning electricity runs through my veins, and I clench my fists in anger at myself for stepping over a line I never thought I would cross again.
“Good night, ladies.” I march down the bar past Charlene whose eyes look like they are about to pop out her head.
“What the fuck was that?” she hisses at me as I pass her.
“I’ll be in my office, you’ve got the bar.” I don’t reply to her words, but the same question is roaring in my head as I storm down the hallway, shoving my office door open so hard that it hits the wall and bounces back at me. I grab hold of it and slam it closed harder than I should, but I can’t control the unknown emotion that is ravaging my body right now.
Slumping back against the door, I take a few deep breaths to calm down and then hear John’s voice through my earpiece.
“Everything okay?” I don’t want to talk to anyone, so I answer in one word.
“Yes.” Which is pure bullshit, and if he saw what I did, he would know that too.
Striding to my desk, I sag into my chair, pushing it away from the desk and dropping my head into my hands, with my elbows on my knees. I try to focus back on my job. I’m not here to flirt with the customers, and I’m definitely not here to think about fucking one of the women in my bar tonight. And she’s not just any woman.
Poppy.
My neighbor’s daughter, for fuck’s sake, who I don’t even know is single, but what I do know is that she is not here for long. And that is enough for me to know she is off limits.
It doesn’t mean I don’t want to fuck her, right here on my desk, right now. But for the first time in a long time, I’myearning for someone to be in the moment with me. When I’m not being a dad to two little ones who need me, a grieving widow who is desperately trying to keep his wife’s memory alive, or a boss and businessman creating an income for all the families that rely on me. Instead, I just want one night where I don’t have to think about anything except myself.
A night to just be Landon.
Because I’m not sure I even know who he is anymore.
Chapter Four
POPPY
“Holy. Fuckity. Fuck,” Autumn declares beside me. “That was so scorching, I almost burst into flames just watching you two.”
I can hear Autumn talking next to me, but nothing is sinking in.
I can hardly breathe. It’s like he took my oxygen with him.
What is it about that man that draws me to him? I mean, there is his obvious sexiness—and that is something every woman in this room would be drooling over—but that’s not it. There is something more that I can’t quite put my finger on but I also can’t ignore.
“We need to leave,” I mumble, and pull some cash out of my purse to leave on the bar as a tip for the staff. We might not have paid for our drinks, but they still deserve it. I lean over the bar to flag down one of the staff, and the woman who Landon has been talking to all night catches my eye and signals to me that she’s on her way.
“No way, we, I meanyou,need to stay here and finish the night off screaming that man’s name.” I can feel the heat in my cheeks intensify as the woman arrives to hear the last part of Autumn’s drunk babble.
“Can I get you something?” She is grinning at me like a Cheshire cat.
“No, thanks, just tips for you guys.” I place the money on the bar in front of her, but she pushes it back at me.
“Oh, we can’t take your money, but any woman who makes the boss act like that is welcome here anytime. Heck, I’ll even pay for your drinks if you come back.”
I look at her name on her shirt before answering. “Charlene, is it? I can assure you that we won’t be back. Great bar and good service, though. Thanks.” Leaving the money on the bar, I push up off the stool, turn away, and hurry toward the front door. I can hear Autumn calling out to me as I disappear into a crowd of people.
I need air, now. And being in this room, all I can feel is an elephant sitting on my chest.
Busting out onto the sidewalk, the cold air hits my lungs as I suck it in. Catching my breath, I start shivering from the freezing temperature, and that’s when I realize I’ve left my coat inside.
“Shit,” I blurt out. Grabbing my phone out of my bag, I quickly message Autumn and tell her to grab mine too.
