Sea Breeze 03 While It Lasts (19 page)

Cage’s furious expression shifted to me. “You’re on a first name basis now? Is this what you’re looking for? A preppy momma’s boy with good fucking manners?”

My blood was boiling. I’d never been this mad in my life. I stalked over until I was as close to being in Cage’s face as I could get.

“It isn’t any of your business who I dance with. You can ap
ologize to Brett or I’m leaving,
” I yelled.

Cage smirked but
the angry gleam still flashed in his eyes. “I
ain’t
apologizing to anyone
,
sweetheart.”

I wanted to scream and punch his chest and cry because he wasn’t who I thought he was. He wasn’t the sweet guy I’d gotten to know the last couple of weeks. I should tell Brett goodbye but I couldn’t. I was too close to tears. So, I ran.

I heard Cage call my name as I pushed through the crowd but I didn’t look back. He’d shown his true colors tonight. I’d fallen for his act but not again. My chest ached and the lonely feeling I’d slowly been overcoming was seeping back in. I pushed out the first set of doors I came to and ran out into the parking lot. This wasn’t where my Jeep was parked. The tears I’d tried to hold back had finally started to fall and my vision was blurry. I hated this. I just wanted to go home. I wanted to cuddle into my covers and be safe. No more pain. No more being let down.

I started walking. I’d just walk around the building until I found my Jeep. Maybe I could find it before anyone came out here and saw me like this. I hated looking weak.

“EVA!
” Cage’s voice called out from behind me. I wanted to run but I was wearing heels and walking on gravel. I’d just end up fall
ing into a heap if I tried.  Even so
,
I
didn’t have to stop. If he wanted to talk to me then he could do it while I walked. It would be easier to ignore him that way.

“Eva.” H
e repeated my name again as he caught up to me. I didn’t turn my head to acknowledge him.

“I’m sorry. I saw you with th
at guy and I snapped. I didn’t
think about your feelings
;
I just cared that he was touching you. I didn’t want him touching you. I was wrong.” The
pleading sound to his voice was a little more powerful than I’d have thought. I stopped walking but I kept staring straight ahead. I was afraid to look into his eyes just yet. If he was as sorry as he sounded then his eyes would tell me and I’d melt. Damn his pretty face.

“Brett was
a friend of Josh’s. He wasn’t some strange
guy in a bar.”

Cage let out a heavy sigh. “
Fuuuck
.”

“You were dancing with some girl. I don’t see how me dancing with some guy was any different.”

Cage’s fingers wrapped around my arm, “Please look at me, Eva.”

He was really good at the begging thing. His voice even dropped to a low sexy rumble.
Danggit
.

I shifted so that I was facing him. His pale blue eyes looked
desperate
.

“I’m a jackass. I know that. I’m sorry. I should have never treated you that way.”

“Me? What about poor Brett?”

Cage frowned, “I didn’t touch him.”

“But you were rude to him.”

Cage gently tugged on my arm to pull me closer to him. “The girl I was danc
ing with was Amanda Hardy. She’s Marcus Hardy
’s
, Low’s fiancé
, little sister. She was trashed and that is not normal for her. I danced with her because I was worried about who she might grab up if I turned her down.”

So
,
he was being kind. Not what I was expecting.

“Okay. I understand that.” I replied.

“Will you come back inside?” h
e asked as he cupped the side of my face with his hand.

“Will you apologize to Brett?”

Cage’s soft expression went hard but only for a moment. Then the corner of his mouth tilted up, “Probably not.”

“Then I’m not going back inside,” I replied.

Cage’s face fell, “But I never got to dance with you.”

Now that Brett had broken me in to dancing in that mass of people I was a little disappointed that I hadn’t been able to dance with Cage.

“Okay, but just one dance.”

Cage

The tightness in my chest had finally eased by the time I got Eva back inside the doors of Live Bay. Seeing her tear streaked face had only made the panic worse.
If she’d really pushed it I’d have come
back
in here and found the guy and apologized. I was ready to do whatever she wanted me to in
order to get her to forgive me.

I’d taken her to the Jeep so she could get her purse and fix her face before we came back inside. I’d also made sure to get a good long kiss out of her too.  Just to feel her safely in my arms and not running away from me had been the biggest relief. The fact she tasted like the cotton candy lip balm she’d put on was an added bonus.

I noticed a girl that I was pretty sure I’d screwed awhile back making her way to
ward
us. I really didn’t want any
more of my past to be exposed to Eva tonight. She’d had her quota of Cage shit. It was a miracle she hadn’t insisted I take her home already. Reaching down I took her hand and threaded her fingers through mine. The simple fact that she let me do this made me feel like one lucky son of a bitch.

I lifted our joined hands and spun her around as she giggled then pulled her up close to me. “
Mmmm
… you smell good,” I whispered in her ear as I fit her body as close as I could against mine. Her hands trailed up my chest until her left hand felt the barbell under my shirt. Smiling up at me she ran her thumb over it before slipping both hands behind my
neck
.

“Is it just piercings that get you hot or do you like tats too
,
beca
use I got a killer one just under my boxer briefs that I’ll let you feel later if you want,” I teased. Her head snapped back in shock until she saw the teasing smile on my face. Her laughter was just what I needed to make the disaster the night had been so far better.

“You are such a bad boy.” S
he tugged on the hair that brushed my collar.

“I can be real bad. You haven’t seen anything yet,” I murmured
,
bending my head so I could take a nip at the soft skin on her neck.

“I’m not sure I could keep up with you. I’m extremely inexperienced. We are in completely different planets when it comes to sexual experience,” her breathing was labored as I licked and kissed different sweet spots on her shoulder and collarbone.

“I did
n’t
say anything about sex, Eva,” I grinned be
fore kissing her jawline. “You’
re the naughty one who brought up sex.”

Watching her chest rise and fall quickly was making me get a little carried away. I wanted to dance but damned if I didn’t also want to get her ass back to my bed.

The groove to the music changed and I spun her around and pressed her back up against me. I took both her hands and wrapped them around my neck. “This is a really good view,” I whispered into her ear.

She had stiffened up from the new position. This was something new for her.  I slid my hands down her rib cage and moved my hips against her to the beat of the music. Slowly she began feeling the music. Her eyes closed and I pressed my hands against her
hip bones
and moved her body with mine.

Her head tilted to one side and
I
took advantage of her exposed neck. Forgetting the room full of people and the band playing one of my favorite songs, I enjoyed holding Eva as she let go and just went with what she felt. No thought or caution. It was beautiful to watch.

Eva thought she was the inexperienced one but she wasn’t. I was. Eva knew what it felt like to hold someone in her arms that she cared for. She knew what it felt like to hurt when they hurt and want to make them happy. She knew what it felt like to be touched and kiss
ed by someone that wasn’t a one-
night stand.

Sex with Eva wouldn’t be just sex for me. I’d never had that. It would be … more.
So much more than I’d ever imagined.
  Was I ready for that?

The music changed and Eva turned back around in my arms and stood on her tiptoes to place a kiss on my lips before threading her fingers with mine. “That was fun.”

I lowered my head to give her a deeper kiss. Having that connection with her was even different for me. “Yeah, it was
fun,” I replied after getting her taste on my lips. “You interested in meeting the band?”

She glanced up at the stage as
Jackdown
was announcing their break. “Yeah, sure.”

             
“I’m warning you now,
Krit
is your typical lead singer. He thinks all he has to do is smile and girls will drop their panties. I’m
gonna
make sure he understands that you
’
r
e
off limits but he may still make suggestive comments. I’ll take him outside and beat his ass if I need to.”

             
Eva just laughed. She thought I was kidding. She’d obviously never met a lead singer before. I just hoped
Krit
really didn’t piss me off. Depended on how high he was.

Eva

             
Cage led me back over to the table we’d been at earlier. There were a lot more people around it now. Another table had been pulled up beside it. The band members I’d noticed earlier where all gathering around the other table and yelling their orders to the bar tender. Trisha was laughing and shoving the shirtless lead singer. He was sitting in her lap shaking his sweaty hair on her. I was a l
ittle surprised that
her badass-
looking husband wasn’t upset by this
. Then the lead singer lifted his head and his eyes met mine. I saw the resemblance instantly. His eyes were the exact same color and shape as Trisha’s. The
y
also had very similar mouths.

             
“I may beat his ass just because of the way you’re looking at
him,” Cage growled beside me.
Startled by his sudden angry tone I
turned my attention to him.

             
“What?”

             
He was snarling at
the shirtless guy with long sweaty hair.

             
“Cage?”

             
He finally tore his intense expression off the lead singer and looked at me. “Yeah?”

             
“I was looking at him because I was surprised he was sitting in Trisha’s lap like that then when I saw his face
and
I figured out the resemblance. That was all.”

             
His frown eased, “Okay. Good.”

             
“The convict is
ba-ack
,” the lead singer said in a singsong voice.

             
“Eva, the thug in Trisha’s lap is her brother,
Krit
. And
Krit
,
this is Eva
,
stay the fuck away,
” Cage said in way of introduction.

             
Krit’s
blond eyebrows shot up and he jumped out of his sister’s lap gawking at me. “
Shiiiit
. Cage York has been collared? Say it
ain’t
s
o
bro. Say it
ain’t
fuckin
’ so,” the amazement in
Krit’s
voice was a little disturbing. Was it really
that
hard for everyone to believe that Cage was on a date? With a girl he didn’t want to share?

             
“What’s this I hear?” T
he shirtless bass player who’d sang a couple songs leaned over on the table with a shot of something in his hand. His entire chest and arms were covered in tattoos.

             
“That one,”
Krit
said pointing toward us with the hand that held his beer, “Cage won’t share her. Your ugly mug won’t be
basking in the advantages of Cage’s pretty face tonight. He has his woman. He
ain’t
gonna
be snagging a couple to share with you.”

             
Cage tensed up beside me. I didn’t have to ask why.

             
“Eva
,
that idiot is Green. He plays bass and he gets to sing when
Krit
will share the spotlight.”