Burned(18)

He would remember, as he had countless times since walking out of her apartment, the feel of their bodies brushing. Her taste and scent and touch. Her laughter. Her spirit. She’d always been a part of his life. One he could never imagine being without. He’d known being intimate with her would change her. He just hadn’t expected it to leave a hole in his heart that ached more the longer he went without her.

The pub door opened, and as if he’d conjured her, Vic walked in. Dressed in a leg-and-curve-revealing skirt and knee-high stiletto boots, with a long sweater covering a bejeweled tank he’d only seen her wear once before, she was a walking seduction. The dangly earrings tangling with her wavy hair complemented the thin chains circling her neck before slipping in a single strand of glitter into the crease of her cleavage. She’d done something different with her makeup too. More intense.

Half the men in the place turned to study her. It was all Hauk could do to keep his own tongue in his mouth.

Mr. Hayes thunked his drink to the bar and stood. “What in hell is she thinking?”

Before Hauk could echo the sentiment, Mr. Hayes crossed the room, cut off an admiring tourist, and intercepted Vic. They wrapped their arms around each other in a hug, but it was a tense one. The kind of hug that hid a semi-private conversation. When they broke apart, Mr. Hayes nodded once and headed back to his stool with his head slightly bowed. Vic showed no such defeat as she headed to the stage in the corner and Sophie.

Hauk tried to focus on filling the drink orders waiting, but Vic’s sashaying hips and the memory of her bent over before him claimed his attention. His cock hardened at the image.

“Trying out Halloween costumes.” Mr. Hayes shook his head. “That girl’s sniffed too many hair chemicals if she thinks I believe that line.”

“Maybe if her costume is a harlot,” Hauk grumbled. Though she looked more like a sex kitten on the prowl.

Held prisoner by her, Hauk lost track of all conversation. He mixed drinks on autopilot with no clue what he said to whom. The night was a blur, and he vaguely remembered agreeing to a poker game with Reece McGrath, the town architect, and a few guys from the fire station.

The karaoke singers—thankfully—were a mild buzz of noise. Then Vic stood from the seat she’d taken by Sophie and turned her back to the room.

She pulled off her long sweater, revealing her smooth shoulders and a large expanse of her back. The low, wide back only partially covered the mark he’d left on her two mornings before. The mark anyone else might take as a bruise. He knew better.

Licking his lips, he again tasted her skin. Felt the glide and squeeze of her pussy as he thrust in and out. When she stepped onto the stage and turned back to the room, her gaze drifted over all the faces in the room and settled on him.

Then she opened her mouth and began singing. The purity he’d heard in her laugh translated beautifully to the lyrics as she swayed and danced onstage and sang about a criminal, pivotal kiss and riding off into a sunset. She never broke her gaze from his as she sang about where she could be kissed. When she parted her lips and sighed an ahh midsong, she dropped her head as she had during orgasm.

Hauk fisted the towel he held and narrowed his stare on her. Damned if the woman didn’t smile, knowing full well what she was doing to him. He’d spent two days trying to forget what they’d done, trying to think of a way to get their friendship back on its original path, and she waltzed into the pub with this act.

Only the presence of her father and his daughter in the room saved her. If they hadn’t been there, Hauk would storm across the room, drag her off the stage to find a dark corner and devour her. Then he’d whip her—at least verbally--for tormenting him and showing off her lush body to every man in the place.

Somehow he held himself in check while she wrapped up her song and bowed to the raucous cheering from the room. Even the women had loved what would be her last public performance—especially dressed in her current outfit.

“My girl has a set of pipes on her,” Mr. Hayes proudly stated.

That’s not all she has on her. “Yeah.”

Hauk expelled a long breath as Vic slid the microphone onto its stand and stepped down from the stage. Men surrounded her, all reaching for the chance to touch her. One claimed her hand and pulled her onto the dance floor while another guy got onto the stage and started singing a slow ballad about a woman feeling a man thinking about her.

“If she thinks she’s going to waltz around with men grabbing at her…” Hauk was muttering under his breath as he stalked to the end of the bar. Before he could circle the end, Vic had extricated herself from her dance partner.