“I followed you out when I saw you looked upset.” He moved to reach for me but dropped his hand. A deep frown formed before he demanded, “Tell me what’s really going on.”
Looking toward the door in case any of the other guys came out, or so I was telling myself, was the reason I couldn’t look at him, as I spoke with my hands clenched at my sides. “I didn’t like seeing all those women touching you.”
“And I didn’t like them touching me.” Reaching up, he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. His fingers lingered a little longer than was required. I wanted so badly to lean into his touch, but I fought the urge. “The whole time, I was imagining it was you.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” I whispered, trying like hell to hide the hurt in my tone. Hiding what Walker was coming to mean to me was slowly killing me. I wasn’t sure how long we could last this way.
“Hey, it won’t be this way forever, and soon we’ll be able to stay in the same hotel room.”
“We’ll still have to hide it, but yeah, we should be able to stay the night with each other more than the occasional one we get now. I don’t like this sneaking around. I feel like we’re seconds away from getting caught with each passing day.”
“I know, Pen, I do, but I can’t let you go. When we weren’t together, it was like my world had become a black hole, and I don’t want to go back to that.” Ducking his head down until he was eye level with me, I was taken aback by the turmoil that was swirling in his charcoal eyes. “Tell me that’s not what you want.”
“It’s not what I want,” I whispered into the night, hoping the wind would hear the plea in my words and nothing bad would come of us.
“Alright,” he nodded. “I’m going to go back inside and try to wrangle the guys. I’ve had enough of this place.”
He moved to step away, but I caught his arm. “They’re not going to want to leave.”
“Maybe not, but I’ll tell them I’m not feeling well or whatever it takes to get them to leave. Why don’t you call us a car, and I’ll be back in a minute?”
It wasn’t easy finding an Uber that would fit all of us at one in the morning, but I managed. I watched on the app as the car got closer with no sign of the guys. A sigh of relief left me when I saw Walker come striding out until I saw he was alone. His steps were heavy as he walked toward me.
“Those assholes aren’t coming,” he gritted out, nostrils flaring. “You go on and head back to the hotel, and I’ll make sure they behave.”
“I can’t ask you to do my job.” I didn’t want to start down this slippery slope of Walker doing things for me because he was my… whatever he was. Turning to him, I meant to tell him we should go back inside. Instead, I said the one thing that was on my mind right at that moment. “What are we?”
Walker cocked his head, gazing down at me, and blinked a few times. “What do you mean, what are we?”
Oh God, did he really have no clue, or did he just want to hear the words come out of my mouth?
“What are we to each other? Are we lovers, friends with benefits, or…?”
Walker growled, clasping my hand in his and dragging me to where no one could see us from the side of the nightclub, and then pressed me up against the wall. “While yes, we are lovers, I seriously hope you were only kidding about the friends with benefits things.”
“Well, you didn’t let me finish talking before you went all alpha on me, growled, and dragged me away. I was thinking about this earlier. I don’t know what to call you.”
“Are you telling anyone about us?”
“I’m going to tell Stella. I plan to see her before we leave the country. I haven’t seen her in person in forever, and now that she’s finished moving, I’m going to see her.”
His hand clasped my jaw with his thumb rubbing along the edge as he pressed every fine inch of his body to mine. “I like that you want to tell her. Tell Stella I’m your boyfriend.”
“But are you my boyfriend?”
“Yes, my sweet Penny, I’m your fucking boyfriend” Leaning down, his mouth brushed across my lips that were desperate to feel his on mine. “It doesn’t matter that we can’t shout it from the rooftops. You’re mine in every way that matters.” He finished off with a nip to my bottom lip and then sucked.
“Are you mine?” I panted, desperate to be alone with Walker. I wanted for us to be back in our hotel room where he could show me how he felt.
“I’ve been yours since the day we met. You have nothing to worry about, Pen. You own me.” There was a slight pause as if he wanted to say more, but instead, Walker looked heatedly down at my lips like he wanted to consume me.
Giving him what he wanted, I crashed my mouth to his, and threaded my fingers through his hair, and pulled him closer. Walker licked along the seam of my lips, and I happily opened for him. I needed him the same way he needed me. With each caress of our tongues, the night faded away until all thoughts of work and the women inside were forgotten. I drank in everything he gave me, and when we broke apart at the sound of a loud noise, we were both panting with need.
“We need to get the guys and get out of here because I plan to do wicked things to that body of yours.” Each word was deep and gravelly, with a more pronounced rasp than usual, sending tingles down my spine.
“You read my mind.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
walker
Pulling Penelope tighter into my body, I glared at the group of hipsters who just looked her up and down like she was their own personal snack.
Maybe going to the Red Light district wasn’t the best idea. While it was fascinating, I couldn’t drag Pen into any of the shops or pin her up against one of the windows and take her from behind for anyone and everyone to see.
Lexie, Pen and Stella’s friend, looked at everything with bright eyes and enthusiasm while Stella looked like she’d rather be anywhere else.
“Let’s go in here,” Lexie pulled Stella into what looked like a strip club with me and Pen hot on their heels. After paying the cover, we walked into a room lit by a blacklight, with at least fifty people scattered around tables near the stage of women dancing with glow-in-the-dark-painted bodies.
“I wish I had my camera,” Lexie sighed. “Not that they’d let me take their pictures, but this is beautiful.”
“Will Ryder not care you’re here?” Pen asked as we sat down at a circular booth that faced the stage. She curled her hand around the inside of my thigh as she faced her friends. I liked that we could be a couple in front of someone, and it had me longing for whenever we’d have the opportunity in our future to be out to the world.
“Ryder?” Lexie smiled and shook her head. “No, he won’t care. Now, it would be different if we went into one of those rooms back there. He might be jealous he wasn’t here to experience it with me, but I’ll remedy that by bringing him here and having a little fun for ourselves when we do.”
Leaning over, I brush my lips to the shell of Pen’s ear. “I wish I could take you into one of those rooms.”