Dangerous Curves Read online

  “So how about we have a game?”

  Her beautiful eyes widened. “For real?”

  “Yeah. Why not?”

  “OK,” she said.

  “But we need a wager, don’t you think?” He ran his hand up and down his jeaned thigh. “Just to keep it interesting?”

  “Sure. What do you propose?”

  “Well, doll. If I win, you give me a kiss.”

  She gaped at him. “I what?”

  “You heard me. I win, I get a kiss.”

  “And if I win?”

  “You get a kiss.”

  She laughed and he stared at her face. My God, she was gorgeous, with those fiery curls and cool blue eyes, that amazing skin and those lush, ripe curves. Her ass in those jeans was a fucking miracle, and her breasts were just begging for him to reach out and touch them. She’d be warm and soft, and his hard body wanted to be close to her so bad it almost hurt.

  “No way, Stud.” Her eyes were dancing. “I want something else.”

  “Name it.”

  “I want a drink.”

  “I thought you weren’t drinking tonight.”

  “Yeah, because I don’t drink beer or hard liquor. I do, however, drink Cosmopolitans.”

  Jax groaned. “Fruity drinks.”

  She smiled. “Yep. Your man here said no-can-do when I asked for one.”

  Aidan had been casually standing behind the bar this whole time, listening to their conversation. He grinned at Sarah now, and she was a bit dazzled by him: he was all shaggy blond hair and golden eyes. Bright and beautiful, as shining and stunning as the sun.

  “That’s right, ma’am,” he said, his Texas drawl sultry and hot, kicking the sexiness factor up another few notches. “House rules: beer and hard stuff only.” He gestured at Jax. “Take it up with management.”

  “Oh, I am,” Sarah told him and she turned back to Jax, who was looking very entertained. “If I win? I want a fruity drink.”

  Jax cocked his head at Aidan. “You know how to make a Cosmopolitan, man?”

  “Sure do,” Aidan said. “I had to learn every fucking drink in the book to get my bartending license.”

  “OK then, Red, you got yourself a deal. I win, I get a kiss. You win, you get your drink.”

  “You’re on,” she said, and walked to the nearest vacant pool table.

  Jax turned to Aidan. “You got any of the crap you need to make the damn drink?”

  Aidan shook his head. “Nope. I’ve got the vodka, of course, but no triple-sec or cranberry or lime juice.”

  Jax waved his hand. “No matter. No way she’ll beat me, anyway.”

  “Ain’t that the truth,” Aidan said.

  Chapter Two

  Shane MacIntyre watched as the redhead with the hot ass and fucking amazing breasts pulled a pool cue from the holder and chalked it up. He leaned back against the wall, massive arms crossed, and got ready to enjoy the show. He had the feeling that Jax was going to toy with her a bit – maybe let her sink a ball or two, just to make her feel good – before clearing the table. The man was a fucking pool shark, and the cute redhead had no clue what she had just signed up for.

  She caught his eye and he grinned at her.

  “Hi,” he said.

  “Hi.”

  “I’m Mac.”

  “Sarah.” She looked a bit embarrassed. “Hey, I’m sorry about Elise.”

  “Who?”

  Now she looked indignant. “The woman you were all over less than ten minutes ago?”

  Mac looked blank.

  Sarah rolled her eyes. “Seriously? You’ve forgotten her already?”

  “Haven’t forgotten, sweet thing. It’s just that she told me her name was Cindy.”

  She stared at him. “That’s her sister.”

  “Ah.” Mac considered that for a second, then shrugged. “Well, no harm, no foul, huh? She walked on out of here with the frat boy, and I’m a free man for the evening.” He winked at her again, and it was pretty damn sexy.

  Despite herself, Sarah couldn’t help warming up to Mac a bit. Once you got past the scary-as-hell exterior, you noticed the teasing in the blue eyes, the genuine kindness in the grin. Yeah, he was cocky, but she’d never much minded that in men. And those shoulders and arms didn’t hurt things, either – the man was undeniably hot.

  God, Elise is an idiot. Choosing a relationship with Cheating Richard over even just one night with this guy?

  “Hey,” Jax drawled as he joined them. “You flirting with my opponent, man?”

  Mac looked from Jax to Sarah, and back again. “So. What’s the wager?”

  “A kiss against a Cosmo,” Sarah said.

  Mac blinked. “Come again?”

  “A damn fruity drink,” a deep voice said behind Sarah, and she turned to see an absolutely hulking man standing there looking disapproving. In a room full of big guys like Jax and Mac, this guy with the dark hair and gray eyes and the heavy silver rings was without a doubt the biggest. “With fruit and shit.”

  “Yeah?” Mac knew good and well that Aidan didn’t have anything like that behind the bar, but then again, the chances of Sarah collecting on the bet were nil. “Sounds good. Go ahead, guys. Let’s get this show on the road.”

  “Ladies first,” the huge man said to her. “Go on, darlin’. Give it your best shot.” He looked her up and down. “I’m King, by the way.”

  “Sarah.”

  “Yeah, I know. Aidan told me you accepted a challenge from Jax, and I had to come and see this for myself.”

  “So, you want me to break, Red?” Jax asked as he racked the balls. “Or you think you can handle it?”

  She flashed him a grin, and suddenly Jax got the feeling that he was in way over his head, in every sense of the term.

  “I got it, Stud. You just go on over there with your buddies and relax.”

  “Uh-huh,” Jax said, certain that she’d be the one cooling her heels in mere seconds. “If you say so.”

  Sarah stood at the top of the table, eyeing the balls. She turned to the men. “You want to call solids or stripes?”

  “Ladies’ choice,” Mac said before Jax could say anything. Jax shrugged, knowing that Mac was trying to give her some semblance of a snowball’s chance in hell. Not that she had one.

  “OK.” She narrowed her eyes at the balls. “I’m stripes.”

  “Knock yourself out,” Jax said, barely containing his amusement.

  The force and volume of the crack when she connected with the cue ball made almost everyone on their side of the room turn around to look at her. Jax blinked, astonished, as two striped balls shot in to the side pockets like bullets. She prowled around the table, intent and focused, and the three men watched her, fascinated.

  Jax felt his eyes widen as she leaned over now, giving him a nice deep glimpse of cleavage. A gold necklace with a circular pendant dangled warm and snug between her breasts, and Jax had the sudden wild urge to bury his face in there, to lick those pouty rose nipples with his tongue. He barely noticed her sink two more balls in rapid succession before standing up and coming around to his side of the table.

  She bent over again, her curved ass now raised to him, and it was all he could do not to groan as he imagined himself between her spread thighs, driving in to her from behind. He’d grab handfuls of that hair, pull her head back and up as he thrust in to her quivering body, his other hand rubbing her hard little clit until she came for him. She’d come screaming; he’d make damn sure of it.

  Sarah shot the last three striped balls so fast, it took Jax’s breath away. She stood up to face him, and that was when he realized that she’d kicked his ass. He stared at her, torn between incredulity and lust.

  Mac recovered first. He burst in to laughter, and King followed suit. Sarah grinned at both of them before turning back to
the table and clearing the solids within a minute. The last shot she made while staring at Jax, holding his eyes. As the final ball hit the corner pocket, she winked at him.

  Goddammit. I’ve been fucking hustled in my own bar. Huh. That’s kind of hot, actually.

  She walked over to the men, her hips swinging.

  “Goddamn, girl,” King said. “Where the hell did you learn to do that?”

  “My high school had a pool table in one of the common rooms,” she said. “I’d play for money, and good thing, ‘cause I never had an after-school job.”

  King laughed again, the sound rolling out of his chest like thunder.

  Sarah turned to Jax. “So, I’ll take my drink now, Stud.”

  Jax gaped at her. “Uh. Uh, well… we don’t… that is…” He swallowed. “We don’t actually have any of the ingredients.”

  She examined him, and then she smiled, a stunning, shining smile that kicked him smack in the heart and the balls. “Yeah, I knew that when we made the bet.”

  “You did?”

  “Of course. This isn’t the kind of place that has stuff like that to-hand. Triple-sec and cranberry juice? Lime juice, for God’s sake?”

  Jax blinked. “So, if you knew that, why’d you agree to it?”

  She shrugged. “I wanted to see you squirm when I kicked your ass.”

  At the dumbfounded look on Jax’s face, the other men broke in to laughter yet again.

  Sarah put the cue in its wall rack and smiled. “OK, so. It was good to meet you all…”

  “Wait,” Jax said. “You’re not leaving?”

  “Yep, I am. I have to be up early in the morning.” She pulled on her jean jacket and picked up her purse.

  “Hold on a sec, OK?” He walked over to her. “Can I talk to you alone?”

  “Sure.” She waved at the guys and they nodded back. “Goodnight.”

  “Bye, hon,” Mac said. “It was a real pleasure to meet you – and watch you hand Jax his ass. Drop on by again anytime and give us a repeat performance, now.”

  Jax scowled and the other man grinned, looking totally unrepentant.

  They walked out in to the early-June night. Jax took a deep breath and looked down at her.

  “So… you really going home?”

  She blinked up at him. “Yes. Where else would I be going?”

  “Well,” he said. “That’s what we need to talk about.”

  “We do?”

  “Mmmm-hmmm.” He reached out now and gently touched her curls, finally touching that fucking gorgeous hair. “We do.”

  Sarah stared at Jax, totally stunned. No way he could possibly want to take her home. Guys who looked like this either had supermodel girlfriends, or they were manwhores who fucked anything that moved. Since she was no supermodel, she had a pretty good idea what Jax was all about. He wanted a quick fuck and he thought she was an easy mark: alone on his turf and unattractive enough to be pathetically grateful for any bit of attention thrown her way.

  And here you thought he was actually a nice guy, a guy who’d hang out with you a bit and then send you on your way. Wrong again, girl. Will you ever see men for who and what they really are?

  She stepped back and Jax paused at the look on her face. He had never seen that expression when he started to make his moves on a woman. They usually got all flushed and glittery in the eyes; they also never moved away. But Sarah just looked annoyed and angry, and she put another foot of space between them.

  “Hey,” he said, confused at her reaction. “Where are you going?”

  “Home,” she said. “Alone.”

  He simply could not comprehend what the fuck was going on here. It was if she was speaking a foreign language.

  “You don’t – you won’t come back inside? Spend some time with me in one of the crash rooms?”

  He was taken aback when a look of disgust flashed over her face.

  “No,” she said. “It was fun, Jax, but as I told you when you first sat down: I’m not your type. Sorry you wasted your evening trying to prove me wrong. Take care.”

  Sarah turned and walked away, heading across the parking lot. Jax watched her go, watched that amazing ass move farther away from him, and he just felt complete bewilderment.

  Did I just get rejected by a chick?

  Well, he couldn’t stand out there all night with his fucking jaw on the ground. He turned and went back in to the bar. The guys looked up at him in astonishment.

  “Did you forget something?” King asked.

  “Nope,” Jax said.

  “So…what are you doing back here?”

  “I work here, King.”

  “Yeah, off and on. And where’s Red?”

  “Gone.” Jax was aiming for who-gives-a-fuck and failing miserably.

  “Wait one hot minute,” Mac said. “She turned you down? Jesus. I like her more and more all the time.”

  Jax glared at him.

  “Holy fuck,” Aidan said. “You get your ass handed to you in pool and you go home with blue balls? I never though this night would come, man. Like never ever.”

  “Shut it, Aidan,” Jax growled “Gimme a shot of whiskey.”

  He drank it and slammed the glass on the bar, trying to calm the fuck down. Jax had never – not once in the whole of his thirty-one years – been turned down by a woman once he’d decided that he wanted to fuck her. Some may put up kind of a token resistance, just for form’s sake so they didn’t feel easy, but really, as soon as they were in his sights, it was all over. One look at his face and his body, and the little panties just slid right off.

  OK, sure. She’d told him that he was wasting his time, but come on… that was before they’d started to talk and before he’d made his move on her. Jax knew all about the ‘play hard to get’ game, and he was a master at getting what he wanted from his female opponents. He never lost. Never.

  He glared around the bar, staring at all the women still sitting there drinking, dancing, laughing. Any one of them would go in to the back with him. In fact, most of them had done, and most more than once.

  And that was when it all fell in to place; it suddenly clicked just what he’d done wrong with Sarah. He’d treated her like a regular at his bar, like a woman who was at Dangerous Curves to pick up and be picked up, when in reality, Sarah had been there stone-cold sober with a friend who was in a kind of emotional tailspin. She’d just wandered in to his orbit and he had acted like she was there with the same fucking agenda that all these women in their leather skirts and no bras had.

  Shit, man. If you want to be with her like that, then you’ve got to ask her on a fucking date. With like talking and shit. Maybe a movie? Or dinner? Is that how people date? I haven’t got a fucking clue. Goddamn. You screwed this one up big time, Hamill.

  The next thing was, of course, did he want to be with her bad enough to go to all that trouble? And even before he finished asking himself the question, he knew the answer: hell yeah, of course he did.

  She was fucking gorgeous and hot and sweet, and he didn’t want to just fuck her in a bar back room and send her on her merry way. Jax actually wanted her in his bed. Badly. He wanted to clench his hands in that incredible hair and hold her still and close so he could watch her stunning face as she came for him. His cock twitched as he thought about those cool eyes glazed with passion and pleasure, gazing up at him while he pushed deep inside that curvy, generous body.

  Without a word, Jax got to his feet and bolted for the door again, hoping he wasn’t too late to catch her.

  Get her phone number, man. Then ask one of the boys just what the fuck to do next, ‘cause after that, you’re in uncharted territory.

  **

  Sarah fumbled in her purse for her car keys, trying to not regret turning Jax down. Sure, it was insulting and offensive to be treated like a piece of ass, but then a
gain, when would she ever get another offer from a guy that hot?

  God, girl. Maybe you should have just gone with it, you know? Just relaxed and had some fun for once. A meaningless, one-night fling. I bet he’d have been amazing in bed.

  She got to her car, still searching for her keys. That was when a hand grabbed her from behind and spun her around. She gasped, dropped her purse.

  “Dave!” she said. “Jesus Christ, you scared me to death. What are you –”

  It was a total shock when he punched her in the side of the head, so much so that she didn’t even scream, despite the sharp pain. She couldn’t believe what was happening, and so all she did was stand there, staring up at his face and inhaling the alcohol fumes on his breath, as he hit her again and again.

  That was when she let out a cry of fear and hurt and felt her legs go out from under her. Dave followed her down, still hitting her in the head and the face.

  The last thing she saw was his fist coming right at her eyes. She closed them, not wanting to see, and everything went pitch black.

  **

  Outside, Jax heard Sarah’s shrill scream before he saw her, and he ran towards her voice. Somehow, he just knew that it was that fucker, her ex, and that he was up to no good.

  Shit. I should have made sure he actually left. I should have known from the way he grabbed her what he was all about. I misread him and fucked this one up, for sure, and if she’s hurt, it’s my goddamn fault.

  He saw Sarah now. She was way on the other side of the parking lot, lying face-down on the ground, alone, not moving. Jax covered the distance within seconds, launched himself at her, got down on his knees in the dirt. Gently, he turned her over and almost groaned aloud at the damage: even in the bad light, he saw lots of blood.

  “Sarah? Can you hear me?”

  No reaction, not even the flicker of an eyelid. She was totally out.

  Jax pulled her up to a sitting position and held her against him. She flopped forward, her long curls falling around her pale face. He breathed in the fresh, clean scent of flowers and closed his eyes to really take it in fully. He stroked that beautiful hair, buried his hands and face in it.