Ruined: Loving An Alpha Male(21)
As I started the second verse, his lips curled on the side of his cheek. His gaze on me was slightly unnerving, and I felt my heartbeat accelerate. But I couldn’t stop walking toward him. It was like my body craved being close to him. I wanted to feel more than his eyes on me. I wanted the feeling his closeness gave my body to consume every part of me.
The sexual tension between us was palpable, and I wondered if he felt it as much as I did. As I got closer to him, I could see it in his eyes that he indeed felt the same as me.
When he played the last key of the song, he smiled at me.
“You are amazing,” he said softly.
At the same time, I said equally as soft, “Whoa.”
His grin broadened, and I looked down shyly and said, “Thank you.”
I noticed his glass was empty in front of him, and I went behind the bar to get him and me a drink. I nodded at two of the bartenders I knew—Mike and Dennis—and then grabbed me a glass of Peach Ciroc and orange juice and the stash of Lou’s Scotch. Then I walked back over to where Mason waited. I poured him a fresh drink.
He nodded at the bottle, and said, “Seems I owe Lou a new bottle of Scotch.”
I shrugged and said, “I’m sure he won’t miss it.”
His eyes almost bulged out of his face.
“Darling, this bottle of Scotch is over $700. He’ll definitely miss it.”
“Oh, yeah, I guess he would. Well then, we’ll both owe him a bottle.”
He just smiled at me, and we clinked glasses.
“I thought you didn’t work today?” he asked me.
I leaned over the piano, and Mason rose and fetched a chair for me so I could sit next to him.
“You checking up on me?” I asked him.
His ass looks amazing in those jeans. I shook myself out of my trance, when he turned back around to face me.
He shrugged as I sat down.
“Sort of…I just wanted to make sure you were okay. That’s all.”
I nodded but quickly changed the subject. I really didn’t want to talk about Trip and me.
“So, what are you doing here? You have another not-so-hot date?”
Hell, I really didn’t want to talk about this either.
“No, not this time. I just have a lot of shit on my mind and didn’t want to be cooped up in my apartment. Besides, this is the only place I know of that carries good Scotch, so…”
I smirked, “Well, I would think you would be out celebrating your victory today. Congrats, by the way.”
We toasted again.
“Well, thank you kindly,” he said, thickening his southern drawl. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“Oh no. I had nothing to do with that beating. I saw the fight, remember? I think you would have done okay without the information I gave you.”
He shrugged and said, “Well, I beg to differ. You saved me a lot of energy and excess time. Alex I’m sure would love to thank you, too.”
My face frowned, and he added, “Alex is the black guy that was with me. He’s my manager-slash-trainer-slash-pain-in-my-ass.”
I giggled and gulped the rest of my drink. As the liquor went to my head, I went to make myself another drink.
I called out, “Where do you know him from? I remember when I was younger, I saw that guy Alex around Lou’s gym. But I never saw you.”
He told me, “Alex and I were in the Navy together.”
My eyebrows shot up.
“Really? How long were you in the Navy?”
“Ten years.”
“Wow, ten years. That’s a long time.”
“Nah, not really. Most career military types stay in it longer than that. I overstayed my welcome, so I bowed out gracefully.”
“When did you get out?”
“Oh, about a month ago.”
I nodded.
“So you learned how to fight in the Navy?”
He laughed. Man, I love his laugh.
“No, I knew how to fight before I got in the Navy. Now don’t get me wrong; the Navy taught me a lot, and I was actually able to use my fighting skills while I was in the Navy. But they didn’t teach me how to fight. It’s more like they enhanced my existing skills.”
I frowned again.
“I thought the Navy guys mostly lived on a ship and flew fighter planes. Where did you get to fight anyone?”
He shook his head. He took the rest of his drink down and poured himself another.
“Those that are in the Navy mostly work on the ship they’re assigned to doing nuclear engineering, aviation, computers, and electronic warfare; shit like that. I spent all my time as a Navy SEAL. It’s the special ops unit for the Navy.”
Okay, now I’m officially in love. A real, live badass—not some imitation, wanna-be—is sitting before me. My eyes grew wide, like I was looking at a real life celebrity.