Fuck me. My dick practically jumps out of my jeans. What is it about Tully Cage and her attitude that gets me so fucking hot?
My eyes snap across to Candice and I find myself still wondering why Tully would hire her. “Have you got a key?”
Candice’s mouth drops open as she gapes at me. “Uhh…yeah.”
“Good. You’re doing close. Tully won’t be coming back.”
“Umm…ok.”
I look back to Tully and raise a cocky eyebrow. “Sorted. Let’s go.”
“No.”
“Baby, don’t make me come back there because you know I fucking will.” And if I do, I’m going to end up fucking her right there on her workbench. Hell, I don’t even care if Candice wants to hang and watch, I’m that fucking desperate for her.
Tully steps around her counter and walks towards me, raising her chin in defiance as she faces me. “I’m not your ‘baby.’”
My hands slide to her waist and she sucks in a breath while I beg myself to find some sort of self-control. “Try and stop me calling you that,” I dare her, only managing to make her eyes dance.
I watch as her jaw clenches and not two seconds later, she caves, though I have a feeling it’s because she doesn’t want to have this out in front of Candice. “Fine, but you put one foot wrong and I’ll take you the fuck down. Now please remove your hands from my waist before I castrate you.”
I wink. “My pleasure, baby.”
Tully groans as she moves away from me and goes about finding her things, but puts an extra, overdramatic attitude with every move she makes. “That was a risky little game,” Candice warns me as Tully ducks out the back.
A soft chuckle escapes me. “Really? Because that wasn’t even my warm-up.”
Candice shakes her head. “Shit. I’m going to be hearing about this tomorrow.”
All I can do is grin.
Tully walks out a second later with her handbag thrown over her shoulder and storms straight past me, making sure to nail her other shoulder right into the soft spot of my arm, giving me an instant dead arm. I groan and slap my hand over it, trying to rub a little bit of life back into it while spinning on my heel and following her out the door. She used to do this to me all the time, only today she hit it much harder than ever before. Clearly, she’s trying to make a point, but so am I.
She’s set herself a good pace and I have to hurry to catch up to her. She steps up before her car and pulls out her keys and I get there just in time to catch her elbow and pull the keys from between her fingers. I turn her down the street and start pulling her along. “What are you doing?”
I revert to my silent, brooding days and keep my mouth shut. If I tell her that I’m about to buy her dinner and shove it down her throat, she’ll probably have a few things to say about it and I’d rather prolong the inevitable.
My hand remains at her elbow for too long before I finally pull it away, not wanting to push her over the edge. I lead her to the little café down by her store and the second I step through the door, Tully puts on the brakes. “What the hell is this?” she demands. “Tell me you did not just bombard me at work and force me to leave just to take me on some cheap ass date?”
I ignore her whining and step up to the counter to order us each a juicy burger and when I turn back to Tully and take in the shirt that looks too big, I add some fries to the order.
Tully clears her throat once I’ve finished paying and makes sure to raise an unimpressed brow at me. “Feel free to explain yourself at any time.”
“We need to talk.”
“No, we don’t.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you broke up with Spencer?”
Her mouth drops for a moment before she regains herself. “Why didn’t you tell me that you joined the Military? Come on, throw another question at me, Rivers. I bet I have a million more to throw right back.”
I stare at her for a moment. “Are we really not capable of having a civilized conversation?”
“Says the guy who was two seconds away from man-handling me out of my own store,” Tully scoffs as her hands find her hips. She waves her hand behind me, gesturing to the chef in the back putting our order together. “Why are you doing this?”
I snap.
My arm snakes around her waist and I pull her tightly into me. Tully sucks in a deep breath, making her chest rise and press firmly against mine. “Because you’re my fucking queen and you deserve to get what you need. For the past four years you’ve been allowing people to give you what they think you want, never getting what you actually need. I’ve only been here for two fucking weeks and I can’t stand back and watch it happen anymore. You have people thinking you’re this fragile little butterfly, that you’ll fly away with even the slightest breeze, and you know what? I think sometimes you might even believe it yourself, but I know you, Tully, right down to your core and that’s not who you are. You’re a fucking tiger always ready to roar.”