Under His Wing Read online

  Rumor had it that the van full of people had been law enforcement officers. She’d asked the owner once about it all, but he’d merely winked at her and carried on with his day as if that answered everything.

  Glancing at her watch, Lisa groaned. She was later than she’d hoped she’d be. The club had opened thirty minutes ago. She’d wanted to be back earlier, but knew her employees could handle matters. Besides, the show wasn’t due to start just yet.

  The parking lot was packed full of cars. If it weren’t for her designated spot, she wouldn’t have a place to park at all. That was fine by her. It meant they had a full house. The owner would be pleased when he found out.

  She took a step in the direction of the club and someone yanked her backwards.

  She dropped her keys and slammed her fist into her attacker’s groin. He loosened his hold on her and she broke free, twisting fast. On instinct, she kicked as best she could in the tight red dress, only to have her leg caught by the man bent over before her.

  Lisa blinked, stunned at who was there. “Gardelle?”

  What on earth was her best friend’s uncle doing at the club? It seemed like the farthest thing from his scene as anything could get.

  He slid his hands up her leg, still holding it. The act caused heat to race through her. She steadied herself with one hand on his shoulder as he continued to hold her leg, his hands creeping up more and more. When his fingers skimmed the hemline of her short red dress, she dug her nails into his upper arm and stopped just shy of drawing blood.

  Gardelle’s dark brown gaze slid over her for what felt like an eternity but was more like seconds. If that.

  “Gardy?” His name fell from her lips as if they were lovers, rolling in the sheets, whispering sweet nothings to one another.

  Usually he jumped at the chance to protest the shortening of his name to Gardy. He didn’t comment. Instead, he continued to stare at her in a way that made her body heat more and more. Spontaneous combustion would happen if he kept going. The man’s smoldering good looks and bedroom eyes were something she was far from immune to. It had been that way for years.

  He released her leg with one hand but kept the other in place. That hand was on her inner thigh. He slid it up more.

  Lisa’s lips parted in disbelief.

  He blinked, and then released her leg as if it were her scalding him. He didn’t back away from her or put anything in the way of distance between them as he typically did.

  Perplexed, Lisa found herself reaching for his hand as if that was something they did often.

  It wasn’t.

  She took his hand in hers, noting the size difference at once.

  Gardelle had large hands. He had large everything. He was a big, powerful, hunky guy, who always acted like she was annoying him. He’d never before felt her inner thigh or looked at her the way he was now.

  As much as she thought she’d always wanted him to see her as a woman, not just as his niece’s friend, she had to admit that it was freaking her out. “Gardy, say something. Yell at me for calling you Gardy. Anything. Hey, be mad I hit you in the nuts. I’d like to say wow, those are some nuts you have there.”

  He quirked a brow.

  She grinned, unabashed. “What? Like you don’t already know you’re packing a whopper down there.”

  Something that resembled a grin appeared on his strong-featured face.

  “Why aren’t you yelling at me for saying something suggestive to you?” she asked. “You always yell.”

  He looked at her and took a deep breath before standing to his full height, which made her appear downright short in comparison. Worry filled his dark gaze, and he grabbed her again, this time pulling her against his dominant frame, holding her close.

  She tensed. “Gardelle? Is this a Freaky Friday thing? Did you body change with someone less uptight?”

  He touched her cheek with the back of his fingers, his gaze searching her face. “I thought I’d be too late. I tried your condo first. Then I went to your parents’ home. I found your scent was strong there. It was then I spotted your vehicle. I followed you here.”

  “Followed me here? Why were you at my place to start?” she asked, her entire body turning into a hot mess with his closeness. She wondered if she might actually burst into flames if he kept making contact with her.

  When he began to plant tiny kisses all over her forehead, she put her palms to his chest and wiggled free from his hold.

  Something was majorly wrong. She and Gardelle did not have a kissing relationship. Far from it. The man could barely stand her most of the time. He certainly didn’t hug her, kiss her, and follow her around.

  “You’re freaking me out,” she stressed. “Normally, you try to keep a three-foot radius from me.”

  “I do not.”

  “You do,” she said with a snort before a sinking feeling came over her. Gardelle would only seek her out to such an extreme if there was something serious happening. Since their only connection was his niece Sabrina, Lisa feared it had something to do with her. She launched herself at Gardelle, pressing her front to his. “Ohmygod, something happened to Sabrina, didn’t it? The babies?”

  He slid his arms around her waist and held her to him. “No. She’s fine, as are the babes.”

  Lisa exhaled, letting some of the tension seep from her body. She put her forehead to his steely chest. Sabrina was her best friend in all the world. The two were more like sisters than anything. She wouldn’t be okay if Sabrina or the babies she was carrying were in danger. Knowing they were okay was a huge relief. “Good.”

  He said nothing as he held her, letting her stay pressed to him. It felt right. Safe. As if she’d been made to fit against his body. The notion was silly, and she knew as much but that didn’t mean she didn’t feel it. Not to mention, Gardelle’s body shape reminded her of the man from her dreams. In fact, if she didn’t already know how totally insane it would be to dream about him in such a way, she’d have assumed Gardelle was the guy.

  She knew better. As much as she’d always found him to be hot, even she knew he was off limits.

  Lisa bunched his red shirt slightly in her hands, keeping her forehead to his chest. “Good. Nothing can happen to her. Okay?”

  “I know,” he whispered. “She is safe. It’s you I’m worried about.”

  That made her lift her head and stare up at his ruggedly handsome face. The lightest dusting of facial hair covered his hard jawline. He had a large scar on his face that only managed to make the guy sexier in her opinion. Everything about him screamed alpha male, and that right there was wet-panty inducing all by itself. “Me? Why are you worried about me?”

  “Why wouldn’t I be worried about you?” he countered as if that somehow cleared everything up nicely.

  “Uh, because you barely tolerate me.”

  “That isn’t true,” he said, his hard-to-place accent thickening.

  She licked her lower lip in an attempt to keep from laughing. “Sure. Okay. It’s not true. You totally care about me. Got it. I should stop touching you now, right? You generally don’t let me close to you.”

  Gardelle continued to stare at her with a strange expression on his handsome face. He also kept his arms around her waist, effectively securing her against him. She wasn’t moving until he deemed it acceptable, and she knew as much. He was that strong. “I do care about you.”

  His manly smell washed over her, and her knees felt weak. The man always did that to her. She took a deep breath, only serving to give herself an even better whiff of his scent.

  He was in a deep red shirt and a pair of jeans that hugged him in all the right places. His long dark hair was fastened hastily at the base of his neck. He looked good enough to lick, and boy did she ever want to let her tongue slide over every inch of him.

  The restraint she exercised in not licking him was amazing. Every hormone in her body was on high alert. Ready and willing to sacrifice itself should the opportunity arise.

  “Lisa, if I
was to tell you that you needed to come away with me and not ask any questions, would you do it?”

  If she didn’t already know that her personality was too much for the man, and that he only spoke to her because of her friendship with his niece, she’d have thought it looked as if he were struggling with the need to kiss her.

  That was absurd.

  Gardelle didn’t see her in that light.

  She thought harder on his question, and the way he’d shown up in the parking lot out of the blue with a crazy story of having looked for her at her condo and her parents’ place. “You haven’t been drinking, have you?”

  “No. I’ve not been drinking,” he said, his arms still locked around her waist.

  She wiggled, trying to put distance between them. It was more for her own sexual sanity than anything else. There was no way in hell she could continue to have her body pressed to his and not start to grind against the man. Already she could feel every muscle, every chiseled section of him. As she wiggled more, she felt something that took her breath away.

  His erection.

  It was long, thick, and hard, pressed against his jeans and her abdomen. Her nipples picked then to respond, hardening to diamond-like points, more than liking the fact he was close. A torrent of cream flooded the apex of her thighs and she ground against his body slowly before trying to step out of his embrace.

  Gardelle’s nostrils flared. He jerked her to him again with such force that a grunt fell free from her.

  Her breasts smashed against his chest and air whooshed out of her lungs. Her right leg had a mind of its own and actually had the nerve to lift, making her already short dress ride higher. Her knee rubbed against Gardelle’s thigh, and he slipped a hand down and under her ass, keeping her leg where it was.

  “Whoa,” she whispered, unable to form anything close to a real thought beyond how hard and hung the guy was. She’d had better moments and wasn’t exactly proud of her reaction to him, but it was what it was. Besides, the man had the body of a god. It was hardly her fault if her hormones noticed.

  She’d have been worried about them if they didn’t.

  Gardelle kept one hand under her backside and brought the other up to touch her hair. She’d not bothered to straighten it, but had left her hair curly, something she rarely did. He toyed with a ringlet and dipped his head, blatantly smelling her hair.

  Weird.

  Everything about him being there was entering nutty territory.

  Chapter Nine

  After several deep breaths, Lisa collected her thoughts enough to speak. “What are you doing?”

  He splayed his hand under her butt. “I’m not sure.”

  The smallest of laughs came from her. “Way to instill confidence.”

  He slid his hand from her hair to her neck. He cupped her head, tilting it back more as he stared at her lips.

  “Are you going to kiss me?” she asked, her voice sounding weak and high-pitched.

  “More than likely,” he returned, raw determination on his face.

  She gulped.

  He rubbed his body against hers and continued to fixate on her mouth. “When I learned what they were doing, I panicked. I thought they had you. I thought I’d get here too late.”

  She wasn’t sure what the hell the man was talking about. That was nothing out of the ordinary. Gardelle was different from most men she knew. With that said, this was strange, even for him. “Huh?”

  “You smell incredible.”

  She blinked up at him. “Um, thanks?”

  He put his face into her hair and inhaled again, growling slightly, the sound turning her on more. His lips met her ear and he planted tiny kisses there, placing them along her neck and then her jaw. He got to her lips and stopped just shy of kissing them. Instead, he remained there, unmoving.

  Lisa fought the urge to turn into the kiss. Gardelle was important to her, despite the fact she wasn’t to him…despite his bizarre behavior. She didn’t want to risk chasing him off for good. Or worse yet, incur the wrath of her bestie. Sabrina was always lecturing Lisa on how dangerous it was to be so wanton and wild. So sexually demanding of different men. If Sabrina found out Lisa was close to demanding a whole lot more from Gardelle, she’d flip her lid and lose her shit.

  Dramatics would ensue.

  That was never good.

  Gardelle eased his lips over the corner of her mouth and Lisa’s willpower wavered.

  It was weak.

  Dammit.

  “Gardy?”

  He licked her lower lip—and Lisa shot out of his embrace, putting a good two feet between them. She knew her expression more than likely made her look like a mad woman. She couldn’t help it. She was too stunned to bother masking her reactions.

  He reached for her and she dodged his grasp, instead bending and retrieving her car keys from the ground.

  She stood, keeping her distance from Gardelle. “Don’t take offense to this. You’re a really strange guy. But you’re acting even stranger. I didn’t know that was possible. Something is really different here and it’s kind of wigging me out.”

  He licked his lips. “I suppose to you, I seem different.”

  “Seem? Uh, try are different. Very different,” she returned, watching him carefully, wondering if he really had been drinking. He seemed sober. Then again, she’d never seen him shit-faced, so she really wouldn’t know the difference.

  He glanced upwards, appearing nervous. He reached for her. “Lisa, come. I need to get you somewhere safe. Somewhere that isn’t out in the open or close to a portal.”

  She pointed at him. “All of what you just said is weird. Have you listened to yourself? If you’re having a mental breakdown, please tell me.”

  His lips quirked upwards. “My mental faculties are intact.”

  “Oh good. Wait. If you’re not the crazy one, am I?”

  “That subject has come up more than once,” he said, a teasing note to his deep voice.

  “Gardy, is this a playful side I’m seeing?” she asked, easing closer to him. “If so, I like it.”

  “Lisa, come with me.”

  She sashayed past him. “I’m already late getting back. You want to come with me and have your mind blown, Gardy?”

  He glanced at the club. His brows drew together pensively. “What is this place? A bar?”

  “It serves drinks,” she said, doing her best to refrain from laughing. She was telling the truth. The club did serve drinks. She’d just left off the sex part. “The rest of what happens in there is probably too much for your delicate disposition.”

  He eased closer to her and sniffed the air, his attention on the club. “I smell sex.”

  “Smell sex?” she echoed. “You have a really good nose.”

  His eyes widened. “There are people in the bar having intercourse?”

  Putting her hands on his shoulders, she locked gazes with him. “Because I have a soft spot for you, I’ll warn you away from really joining me inside. You cannot handle it. And I never bring a man with me to work. I guess I have met a guy through work that I’m interested in, but I’m not sure that counts.”

  “Work?” He looked around the parking lot. “This is not your place of employment. And what is this about meeting a man here who interests you?”

  She tugged at her lower lip. “About that. See, um, I might have fibbed a bit at our last dinner. I left my other job and I’ve been running this place for a little while now. Before you lecture me, I love it.”

  “And what of the man?”

  She stiffened. “See, he’s a nice guy. We’re not exactly dating or anything, but we’ve been spending more time together. I like him.”

  Gardelle’s jaw set. “I want to meet him.”

  “No. You don’t.” She was not about to let Gardelle near Zalse. There was no way she could explain Gardelle to him.

  “Yes. I do.” He took hold of her elbow and ushered her towards the entrance. Lisa barely had time to protest before Gardelle had the door open
and her inside.

  Allan wasn’t at the entrance. Neither was any of the other security. That was odd.

  Very odd.

  Lisa pulled out her keycard and swiped it, granting her access to the club itself, rather than just the lobby.

  Gardelle opened the thick security door and froze, his other hand still on her elbow. “This is a sex club?”

  “Yes.” She gazed up at him, unsure she wanted to see disappointment in his eyes. He wore that expression a lot around her.

  There was nothing to indicate he was disappointed. He looked determined.

  Strange.

  He eased her through the doorway and into the main section of the club. It was dimly lit to maintain a certain atmosphere, and packed. It didn’t matter that the club had only been open around thirty minutes. Things were in full swing—pun intended.

  There were a fair number of sofas placed about the main area, all custom made for the club, each industrial in looks but totally functional for either sitting and conversing or partaking in sex acts. They were all currently occupied. One held a man and woman, the woman bent over as the man kissed his way over her ass while he stroked himself. Another had a man sitting with his legs spread and two women on their knees before him, each going at his cock. Another had the same scene but with a woman on the sofa and two men on their knees.

  None of it shocked Lisa.

  She was open about sex and accepting of most everything.

  Some patrons were dressed in black leather. Others were in latex of assorted colors. Some wore sexy undergarments. A few people wore only what they’d been born in.

  Gardelle took her hand in his and tugged lightly, drawing her attention. “You seem comfortable here.”

  The way he said it wasn’t a compliment. It was accusatory.