Strung Read online

  He looks around the place and nods. “Yeah, we can handle it without you, Man.” With a thankful smile he grips my shoulder. “Thanks for always having my back when it comes to this place. I appreciate it more than you know, brother. If you ever need any help getting your place up and running just let me know. Any money of mine is yours if you need it.”

  “You know I can’t accept any handouts, Man. I appreciate it, but I’ve gotta work for what I want.”

  Alexander and I grew up in two totally different lifestyles. He’s always had anything and everything he wanted, with a family who loves him.

  Not me.

  My mother abandoned me when I was eight and I spent most of my childhood in and out of foster homes of people who didn’t give a shit whether I came or left.

  Everything I have owned since the age of fifteen has been because I earned it myself or at my lowest point, stolen. But those days are far behind me. Have been since I turned sixteen and got my first job. I had no one to take care of me or buy me food or clothes. I was on my own.

  It might be easier for someone like him to accept money from others when offered because it’s something he’s familiar with.

  “Well, the offer always stands if you change your mind. I just want you to know that you’re basically family, Micah. You’ve had my back since I moved here and I’ll always have yours.”

  “I appreciate that too.” I smile and slip my shirt back on. “But I’m less than two months away from having everything I need to open up. I’ve done it all by myself thus far, so I might as well finish it myself.”

  Micah nods his head and laughs. “I figured you’d say that.”

  “Alright, I’m out then. I have Ryan staying back to clean. Keep him until this place is spotless. He’s working to keep his job because he’s damn close to losing it.”

  Alexander just nods as I walk away when some girl comes over to talk, instantly distracting him.

  Tonight is going to be a long night at Express, which is probably a good thing. Because I have no idea what will happen if I give myself some free time.

  If I’m going to keep my distance from Tegan, then I need to bury myself in as much work as possible and do my best to pretend that I’m not dying to get between her legs . . .

  IT WAS A TOTAL LIE when I said I couldn’t get any work done at my brother’s bar because the people there were distracting. I could care less about the crowd at the bar. In fact, I barely even noticed them.

  It had everything to do with a shirtless Micah.

  Everything was just fine and dandy before he decided to come down from his office and strip out of his black button-down shirt, showing off his perfect chest and abs.

  Not to mention that he had his hair pulled up today and it was the first time I’ve seen him that way.

  I couldn’t pull my damn eyes away from him and it had me becoming angry with myself.

  It’s bad enough that he already knows just how sexy he is without me letting on that I find him to be attractive. Me getting caught checking him out only gives him more fuel to push me and aggravate me until I want to pull his stupid, sexy hair out.

  The bad part of that is that I want to pull it out while riding him.

  “Uggggh . . .” I growl out my frustration, before slamming my laptop closed for the third and final time tonight.

  After spending an hour or so promoting the book I published six months ago, I decided to see if I could concentrate enough to finish another chapter in my current work in progress, but failed miserably.

  Every damn time I write about the hero, he becomes more and more like Micah. Hell, I even accidentally typed his name out a few times and had to go back and search it just so I could make sure I deleted them all.

  It’s now close to eight, and knowing that Micah probably got off work a couple hours ago has had me wondering where he is.

  Is he coming here tonight? Now that my brother is back does he plan on staying at his place?

  I hate that I even care, but for some strange reason I do.

  Before long, I find myself walking down to the beach and planting my butt into the sand to clear my head and breathe in some fresh air.

  Instead of clearing my head, I’m thinking about the bar Jamie mentioned Micah’s been working on opening and if he’s there right now.

  I can picture him shirtless and dirty from cleaning the place up. Possibly wet with sweat, and I find my heart beating with excitement at the idea of watching him work.

  My brother won’t be home for at least six or seven more hours and Jamie is at work until eleven. I’m completely alone.

  I know I shouldn’t consider what I’m about to do, but I try to convince myself it’s because I don’t want to be alone all night.

  Thirty minutes later the taxi I called for pulls up in front of a little bar with a sign that reads “Express.” I took a gamble, hoping that most of the taxi drivers around here either knew Micah or knew of him, and I was right.

  All I had to do was mention Micah Beck and his bar project and the driver knew exactly where to take me.

  After the guy pulls away, I walk around the small building, hoping that the front door is unlocked.

  My heart jumps with excitement when I pull on the handle and it opens. I wasn’t expecting it to be.

  Now that I’m here, showing up unannounced at Micah’s place seems like a bad idea. I’m suddenly feeling nervous.

  A part of me is questioning if he’ll be upset that I’m barging in on him, while the other part feels the need to push his buttons the way he pushes mine.

  “Here goes nothing.” I take a quick breath and release it, before stepping into the place. My eyes scan the mostly empty bar, trying to imagine what it’ll look like once it’s all set up.

  Straight ahead there’s a huge stage for performing, with various guitars hung up on the wall, and off to the right is the bar, which looks to be slightly unfinished.

  After seeing the way Micah looks while performing, his tight body flexing as he strums his guitar, it’s hard for me not to blush when my attention focuses back to the stage.

  I take a few more steps inside, but stop dead in my tracks when I hear a noise come from behind the bar.

  It sounds as if Micah is tossing tools around.

  I swallow and walk around to where the noise is coming from.

  My eyes land on a shirtless, sweaty Micah. He’s lost in his work as if nothing else seems to matter at the moment, other than getting this place up and running.

  I find that to be extremely sexy.

  I like a man who’s dedicated.

  “Looks like someone might need a little help.”

  I catch the muscles in his back flex as he lifts his head and turns around to face me.

  His eyes are intense as he scans me over, and I find myself wishing I never showed up unannounced.

  “I’ll just . . . I’ll just leave.” I turn around and get ready to walk away.

  “No.” His stern voice stops me, before I hear the sound of another tool dropping. I feel the warmth from his body pressed up behind me, before his lips touch against my neck. “We both know you should leave, but we both also know that neither of us want you to. Fuck, Tegan. Why did you come here?”

  “I was bored.” I sound pathetic as the lie leaves my mouth. “I didn’t want to spend the night alone.”

  His deep growl rumbles against my neck, causing my heart to almost jump from my chest. “So you figured I could entertain you . . . Is that it? Because I can promise that you can’t handle the kind of entertainment I bring afterhours.”

  “I think you’re full of shit.” I take a step forward, putting a little space between us. I can’t think straight with him breathing down my neck. “And I also think you don’t know half of what I can and can’t handle.”

  When I turn around his gaze is trained on me, as if he wants to devour me. He’s looking at me the same way that I made Kingston look at Harley in the story I’m writing.

  But who
knows. Maybe I learned that look from Micah before Kingston ever did it.

  I can’t tell anymore. The words have been flowing since I’ve been around him and I hate to admit that he’s the reason.

  “I know what your brother can’t handle, Tegan, and that’s me being this fucking close to you.” He moves in closer, causing me to back up until I’m pressed against the bar. “You really should leave before I mess everything up.”

  I swallow and keep eye contact with him, even though it’s hard to without giving away how I’m truly feeling at the moment.

  I want him to mess everything up for just one night. I keep telling myself that my brother never has to know, but I have a feeling that one night with Micah wouldn’t be so simple to hide.

  “I’m not afraid of you, Micah.” I stand up straight, pretending that his breath hitting my lips isn’t making my knees weak. “You can’t boss me around like you do all the guys at Vortex. I’m here and I’m going to help, so tell me what the hell I can do, because I’m not going anywhere.”

  His eyes harden as they lower to my lips, and I can’t tell if it’s because I’ve pissed him off or turned him on by standing up to him.

  “Well, fuck,” he growls. “I warned you.”

  Before I know it my legs are wrapped around his waist and he’s slamming his lips against mine so damn hard that my breath gets knocked out.

  His taste alone is enough to leave me breathless, but the movement of his perfect lips as they capture mine is enough to keep me that way.

  His tongue slips between my parted lips, sending a shockwave through my body that has my nipples stiffening with sensitivity and my stomach feeling fluttery.

  My senses are all over the place right now and I can’t seem to get a grip. All I can do is kiss him back while burying my hands into his thick hair.

  I never expected Micah’s kiss to be so damn powerful.

  It takes his hands gripping my waist after he sets me down on the bar to come out of my little haze and realize that his erection is rubbing between my legs.

  The more he grinds his body into me and the deeper his kiss becomes, the more sensitive it gets between my legs until I’m on the edge of an orgasm, about ready to come from his body.

  As soon as that realization hits, I press my hands against his chest and shove him back, before I can manage to get too wrapped up in him. “Micah . . .” I pant. “I need you to back up. Now.”

  An animalistic growl leaves his lips as he releases my hips and runs his hands through his hair in frustration. “Shit. I should’ve never done that.” He backs up and turns away from me.

  I grip the bar, my heart racing as I watch him walk away and press his hands against the wall, bowing his head. He’s breathing just as heavily as I am, his muscles tight with each breath he takes.

  He knows as much as I do that Alexander would hate us both for going behind his back and disobeying his wishes.

  I didn’t think Micah cared before now, but clearly my brother’s trust means a lot more to him than I originally thought.

  It makes me wonder if there’s a different side of Micah that I haven’t had a chance to see yet. A side of him that puts others before himself and isn’t selfish just because he knows he can get whatever and whoever he wants.

  “It’s just as much my fault as it is yours,” I admit. “I could’ve pushed you away as soon as you kissed me, but I didn’t.” I jump down from the bar and wipe my sweaty palms down my shorts. “I also could’ve kicked you out of my room instead of allowing you to use my vibrator on me, but I didn’t.”

  “Why not?” he asks stiffly.

  “I don’t know . . .” I swallow and watch as he turns around to face me. The guilty look on his face has me wanting to wrap my arms around his neck and tell him it’s okay, even though it isn’t. His guilt confirms that we both care a lot about the same person. “You’re not easy to say no to. Haven’t you figured that out? Has anyone ever said no to you before, Micah?”

  He runs his hands through his hair, before shaking his head.

  “Exactly.” I turn away, needing to look at anything in this room other than him, before I end up naked against every surface in this place. “I’m going to call for a taxi and head back to my brother’s. I should’ve never come here to begin with.”

  I reach into my pocket for my phone, but right as I’m about to place it to my ear he grabs it from me and shoves it into his back pocket. “Stay and help for a bit and I’ll take you home when I leave. I don’t want you getting rides from strangers. Some of these taxi drivers are real pricks.”

  “I can handle that as long as we can order a pizza while we work.” I look up at him and reach out my hand, wiggling my fingers to show him I want my phone back. “I think I’ll need my phone for that.”

  Keeping his gaze on me, he reaches into his pocket and pulls my phone out. He steps in close, as if testing my body’s reaction to him, before he hands it to me and flashes me a playful grin. “Be sure it has pepperoni. I’ll go grab the mop bucket for you.”

  His smile leaves me smiling as he walks away and disappears somewhere into the back of the bar to fetch the cleaning supplies.

  Even though we’re both deep into cleaning I can’t help but to look his way every time I feel his eyes on me. And every single time he catches me watching him, he seems to move in slow motion as he runs his arm across his forehead wiping away the sweat.

  It’s driving me crazy, because I can’t tell if he’s moving in slow motion to tease me or if my eyes are just playing tricks on me and he’s in fact moving at a normal pace.

  All I know is that I notice every single hard muscle flexing each time he does it, and it’s making it extremely hard to look away and pretend I don’t notice him.

  I do my best to make small talk as a distraction.

  “Is the stage for you to perform each week like you do at my brother’s bar? Tell me about this place.”

  He nods and tosses down the rag he’s been using on the walls. “Yeah. But it’s not just for me. It’s for anyone who wants to perform. If it happens to just be me then I’m okay with that too.”

  I look away long enough to push the mop bucket against the back wall and out of the way so the floor can dry. “Does anyone else perform at Vortex or are you the only one?”

  His lips curl into a small smile as he meets me by the bar. “I’m the only one your brother trusts to play at his bar. Vortex was never meant to be a place where artists could perform. It happened one night when I decided to play my guitar out back to keep my mind off a few things . . .”

  He pauses long enough to dig into a small fridge and pull out two cold beers. I must say that the view is much better than the one Colby gave us a few nights ago.

  I think I just said “damn” aloud, instead of inside my head, because he let’s out a small laugh, before continuing his story.

  “It was dead that night, but a small crowd began gathering around and it slowly grew with the more songs I played. Apparently some of the customers were tweeting about my performance and letting their friends know that some hot guy was playing guitar and singing shirtless. A lot of things changed that night for Vortex.”

  “Your voice is amazing, Micah.” I reach for the beer he slides in front of me and lift it to my lips. “I’m sure the fact that you were hot and shirtless wasn’t the only thing bringing in the customers that night.”

  He smiles as he watches me down half the bottle in one drink. “Thanks . . .” He takes a drink himself, before setting his beer down when the pizza guy walks in and knocks on the wall to get our attention. “For admitting you think I’m hot.” He lifts a brow and winks, before walking away to pay for the pizza.

  “You didn’t have to pay,” I say as he returns to set it down on the only table in the whole place.

  “It’s on me for you helping me out tonight. Hell, I owe you a few of these for the damn good work you did. I haven’t had a chance to mop since I redid the flooring.”

  I quickly
wash my hands, before joining him at the small table. Somehow, for the most part, I was able to keep my mind off Micah’s lips on mine as we worked. But now that we don’t have anything keeping us busy, but this damn pizza . . . all I can think about is our kiss and how good it felt.

  “I’ll remember that the next time I’m hungry.”

  It’s quiet as we both eat, and I can’t help but to wonder if he’s thinking about the same thing I am.

  From the bulge in his jeans I’m going to guess he is, because occasionally I catch him adjusting himself and cursing under his breath as he eats.

  It’s making it impossible not to think about how amazing it felt to have his thick erection grinding between my thighs not more than an hour ago.

  I don’t think I’ve ever been that close to an orgasm from a guy rubbing against me through our clothes, but just the thought that it was him had my body going crazy.

  “Eyes on your pizza,” he says teasingly. “Don’t make me tell your brother that you’re using me as a muse for your book. I won’t leave out that you practically jumped on me tonight and took advantage of me.”

  “Oh, you’re such an ass.” I finish off the last bite of my pizza and jump to my feet, towering over him with narrowed eyes. “You only wish I would take advantage of you. If I remember correctly it was your lips that found their way to mine.” I tighten my jaw in annoyance and that’s when I’m reminded just how much of a pain he really is. “And the kiss wasn’t anything memorable, trust me.”

  He stands up and pushes in his chair, before stepping into my space and placing his hand on my chin. With just a small tilt of my chin and a bow of his head, he has my bottom lip quivering with need. “If it was nothing memorable,” he whispers, “then why is your body leaning into mine, waiting for me to kiss you again?”

  I gasp as he slides his hand around my waist and pulls me against him. “And why is your heart racing?” he asks against my lips. “Because we both know you want another taste, regardless of what you say. But . . . you’re going to have to learn some restraint, babe.”