Chapter 26

He was certainly kissing her back though, whether he was playing along or not. He seemed to get the picture though because a second after the truck pulled up, Amanda felt two big hands grab her rear end and squeeze before she felt him begin to move, shoving her hard into the corner of the room and hiding her with his big frame. He shifted his lips slightly and deepened the kiss. Amanda almost purred as his tongue forced its way into her mouth. She’d never felt like this before! She certainly would not have ever dreamed she would be sucking on some random stranger’s tongue within seconds of meeting him and actually enjoying it.

The kiss ended after a while. Amanda couldn’t be sure just how long it had lasted, five minutes, five hours? She didn’t know. What she did know was that she could do that all over again and she wouldn’t have a single complaint about it. Her cheeks flushed with the thought and the man gave her a funny look, then leaned down and spoke quietly in her ear.

“Your buddies are still here. We can go back to my place if you want.”

She wanted to kick him right in the nuts for that comment and it seemed to show because he laughed in her ear and the sound sent shivers running down her neck. It was a deep, warm sound almost more like a rumble.

“Well, we could stay here. They’re wandering around the bar right now looking for you.” He trailed off as if in thought. “I know where the back door is.”

Amanda rolled her eyes and murmured back. “Let me guess. It’s in the back?”

“Beauty and brains. A dangerous combination. Come on sweetheart, let’s get you out of here and then you can tell me why those guys are after you.”

“Thanks.” She muttered, not really in the mood to try to come up with a reasonable excuse for that sort to be following her.

The man put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in close enough that she was forced to slide her arm around his waist. She could feel his fingers splay across her rib cage, tantalizingly close to the underside of her right breast. All thought left her brain as every available nerve ending honed in on just where his hand rested. He began steering them slowly through the crowd.

Here and there he would pause and lower his head so that his face obscured hers from the view of others and his lips would brush against hers as he spoke quietly. Most of what he said she either couldn’t hear over the loud music or she couldn’t concentrate on because of those little kisses and his hand on her ribcage.

If they didn’t make it out of the bar soon, Amanda thought she might just explode from the tension of fear and lust combined although the latter was beginning to outweigh the former with almost frightening speed.

She had let down her guard. It was one of the reasons she rarely stayed more than a night or two in a hotel room. Getting an apartment, letting the walls make her feel safe. That was where she had gone wrong. Walls hadn’t kept her parents safe. Walls would not keep her safe either.

The big wall of hard muscle and masculinity that had kept her safe inside was suddenly gone from her side and it took a moment for Amanda to focus. The air was cooler than she had expected. He’d put off a lot of heat and she hadn’t even realized they were outside.