The Lion and the Lamb (6 page)

The front doors were pulled open by Zeb, one of the beefy bouncers working the door. A group of sophistic
atedly dressed men walked in. The man in the center of what looked like a protective detail was incredibly attractive in an exotic way. His green eyes were piercing as they scanned his surrounding, and his short dark hair and equally dark suit reminded her of an investment banker. It was clear he was the hotshot of the group by the way he held himself, especially given the fact he wore a three piece suit in Las Vegas when it was hot enough to roast an egg on the concrete.

She smiled brightly, putting on her sugary personality that made her seem like a good girl ready to do what she was told. She had lived in Vegas long enough to know men of power seemed to like a little submissiveness in a woman. It put them at ease and made their “he-man” personalities roar out and beat their chest.

“Good evening, gentleman. How many in your party this evening?” The hairs on the back of her neck tingled, and she knew it was because Leo watched her. She always had that reaction around him, even if he wasn’t physically touching her. His eyes were like fingers from across the room, and the sensation of being touched had her instantly turning liquid.

The man with the emerald cut eyes snapped his focus away from his surroundings and looked at her. She wasn’t surprised when he let his eyes travel up and down her body. He either wondered
why in the hell she worked at the prestigious gentleman’s club—because obviously she was a hell of a lot thicker than the dancers—or he honestly liked what he saw.

When he slowly lifted his gaze to her face again she didn’t doubt that he liked what he saw. A chill slid down her spine at the expression on his face. Oh, it was filled with a lot of promise, but whatever he tried
ensue upon her with that look was not something she was interested in. The man in front of her was not what she wanted to mess with.

The air seemed charged around him, but not in the good way that it was around Leo. Whereas Leo’s power and presence had her aching and needy, this man left a bad taste in her mouth. She always went with her gut instincts, especially when she lived in the City of Sin. Straightening her back, she continued to smile and refused to show her distaste.

“Five.” One of them men standing beside him answered. Staring at the green-eyed man was like watching a cobra dance, a slimy, evil cobra. This intense disinterest she felt toward a virtual stranger shocked her, but obviously something inside of her recognized how dangerous he was.

She nodded and turned to lead them to one of the back tables when a strong hand latched around her forearm. She turned and looked into a set of hard, cold green eyes. For several long moments everything faded around her as his touch seeped past the cardigan she wore. Cold settled into her bones
, and all she wanted to do was rip her arm away, but fear and unease had her frozen.

Snubbing a customer would not look good in her favor, especially one who clearly had the money to blow on three-hundred dollar bottles of champagne and thousand dollar private lap dances.

His nostrils flared slightly as he inhaled deeply, and she was caught with an image of Leo doing something similar. She had never seen one man, let alone two, do something like that. A wicked smile curved his mouth, and she forced the lump in her throat down. A glance down at her arm showed him stroking the covered skin. She didn’t like it, and when she pulled her arm away she was surprised he allowed it. A part of her that knew a man like this didn’t allow a lot of things to slip through his fingers. Literally and figuratively.

“We prefer a private room. We want three dancers
.” His eyes dropped to her chest, and she forced herself not to cover her breasts. “All of them are to be brunettes with dark eyes.” He lifted his hand, and Tatum held her breath. His fingers touched the end of her hair. He smirked again, but before she could do or say anything someone gripped her waist from behind and pulled her back. In the next instant she looked at Leo’s wide back covered in expensive material. The tension grew thick in the room, but she couldn’t deny that having Leo protect her instantly made her feel safe. Whoever that other man was, he had a bad vibe around him.

“I thought I made myself perfectly clear, Slade.” The way Leo said the green eyed man’s name was low and rough and filled with hatred. Leo kept his hand wrapped possessively around her waist, and although Tatum had never been much of the woman who needed to be saved, she couldn’t deny that she liked the way Leo watched over her. His reaction proved that her instincts hadn’t been wrong. There was clearly something wrong with the stranger.

“What kind of business are you running by discriminating against patrons?” Amusement laced within Slade’s voice, which caused his men to chuckle. Tatum kept her hands on the center of Leo’s back. He was tense, and the muscles were bunched tight under her palms.

“We both know your words are bullshit and that you aren’t just any patron.”

A low growl came from Slade, and she sensed something inside of Leo shifting. Looking past the thick arm that Leo had pressed against her, Tatum saw the anger on Slade’s face. As if he sensed her stare, he turned his icy eyes on her. The lascivious look that crossed his face made her feel like ants crawled over her flesh.

“I see you’ve picked yourself up a little piece of ass.” Although she knew he couldn’t possibly see her body past the thick wall that was Leo, she felt dirty as he scanned his eyes up and down. He acted like he could see her, and that
seemed just as bad as if he actually could.

“You’d do best to watch your fucking mouth in my house, Slade.” The men standing beside Slade took a step forward, but their boss lifted his hand to stop their ascent.

Leo’s fingers tightened on her hip, and she looked up at him. His focus was trained on Slade, but she knew he was very aware of her presence.

“Threatening a customer, Leo?” Slade made a
tsking
noise then grinned. “Never thought I’d see the day when Leo Castill settled down and found himself a mate.”

Slade’s words had Tatum creasing her brow.
Mate?
What in the hell was going on, and why did everyone speak like they were from another planet?  Another low growl came from Leo.

“She is not up for discussion.” He used his hand on her waist to pull her more firmly against his back. Tatum looked over her shoulder and saw several people had their eyes on them. Two of those people were
Sugar and Peaches. If Tatum didn’t get this situation under control all hell would break loose.

“Leo?” It took a heartbeat for him to tear his murderous glare off Slade, but when he did his gaze softened. “Can I speak with you? Alone?” She lifted her eyebrows, hoping he wouldn’t press the issue. She had no idea what she planned on speaking to him about, but all she could think about was getting him away from Slade and
defusing the situation.

The animosity
grew thick until she could have cut it with a knife, and whatever problem these two had with each other would only escalate if given time.

“Yeah, run along like a good boy.” Slade made a shooing motion with his hand
, and Tatum gritted her teeth. She had half a mind to let Leo have at him, because there were no doubts in her mind Slade’s ass would be grass if Leo got his hands on him. Fortunately, Leo didn’t take Slade’s bait. Instead, he gave one last growl, turned away, and started walking toward his office.

His arm stayed around Tatum
, and his fingers clenched on her hip. His steps were fast and long, and she struggled to keep up with him. Right before she stepped into his office she glanced over her shoulder again. Sugar was behind the bar, her narrowed eyes trained on Tatum. Peaches’s worried expression was clear even from the distance, but the pixie of a woman led Slade and his men toward one of the private rooms in the back. A tug on Tatum’s waist had her in Leo’s office with the door shut firmly behind her.

Leo was a few steps in front of her,
his body rigid, his pacing quick and agitated. When he stopped and stared at her she felt her nerves skyrocket. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea. He looked furious. His chest rose and fell with the force of his breathing. His hands clenched and unclenched by his sides, and the blue of his eyes looked fierce and bright. His nostrils flared, and she heard him inhale deeply. What was it with the men around her inhaling so strongly?

“I…” What in the hell
could she say? Something shifted in the air in the next moment. She became hot and wet as Leo stared at her. The shirt she wore seemed too tight, and her panties were soaked. Now it was her turn to inhale deeply, and when she did the most glorious scent invaded her senses. It smelled spicy and masculine, and she remembered it when Leo had picked her up for lunch.

Beads of sweat dotted his forehead
, and he took a step toward her. The desire to have him was so pronounced she couldn’t breathe. How could someone’s cologne smell so good that she couldn’t think clearly?

“Leo—” Before she could get another word out
, he strode toward her with determined lust written all over his face.

He slammed her body against the wall, his breathing hot and heavy as it brushed along the back of her neck. Head turned to the side, Tatum kept her eyes shut as she felt his hands slide down from her shoulders to grip her waist. He pulled her ass back toward him, his erection digging into the small of her back. The sensation of his fingers tunneling into her hair sent chills dancing along her flesh. A hard tug of her hair being pulled had her head craning back. His other hand snaked around to curl his fingers around her bared throat.

What in the hell was happening? Her goal had been to get him away from Slade and talk to him, but in a quick twist of events that arousal she had been trying to deny came crashing to the front. All thoughts of Slade fled her.

“Say who makes you feel good, Tatum.” The rough timbre of his growl went straight to her pussy. Her clit throbbed
, and her cunt gushed for her need to have him between her thighs. There had been so much sexual tension between them that she was on the verge of climaxing just watching him walk into a room. Despite the fact this was all she wanted, she liked the idea of teasing him.

“Not a chance.” The sting of him tightening his hand in her hair had a gasp of pleasure/pain leaving her.

“Baby, by the end of the night I’m going to have you screaming my name.” He used his leverage on her hair to turn her head to the side even more. His tongue ran up the side of her neck, and a shiver raced through her. The roughness of it had an incredible sensation coursing through her, one that had her grinding her ass against him and groaning.

“Yeah, baby, by the end of the fucking night.” He spun her around so fast dizziness claimed her. She had to blink away the fog that threatened to consume her. This was too wild and untamed for her. Tatum had never had a man make her feel like this, make her want to be
fucked
.

His mouth claimed hers, his tongue stroking her bottom lip. She opened for him and sucked his tongue in, loving that
his spicy male flavor filled her taste buds.

Hands on his shoulders, she curled her fingers into his flesh and pulled him closer. His growl of need went through her
, and she reciprocated it with one of her own. His hands were suddenly on her ass, gripping the mounds with a force that rivaled her lust. He lifted, and she wrapped her legs around his waist, their kiss never breaking. In the next moment he came forward. The cool wood of his desk meet her ass. She gripped the edge of his tee and started pulling at it like a mad woman. Whatever came over her was like a tornado of emotions, and she didn’t see it stopping anytime soon.

Ripping his mouth from hers, he tore his shirt away and went for the buckle of his belt. She was already unbuttoning her blouse and pushing it off her shoulders. Her hands went to the clasp in the back of her bra, but a slow shake of his head had her stopping. The belt slid through the loops of his jeans and clattered to the floor. He undid the button of his pants but didn’t push them down. Instead, he moved close to her until her knees brushed his legs.

“Feet flat on the desk, baby.” His grin widened when she did what he said. His hands landed on her knees, and he pushed them apart. Her muscles stretched and protested, but the burn felt oh-so-good.  The skirt she wore was already bunched around her waist, so when he slid his hands down her inner thighs, he touched her bare flesh. Leaning forward, his lips were a hairbreadth away from hers. The tips of his fingers brushed the edge of her panties, and she used all her strength not to close her eyes, tilt her head back, and bare her throat to him. All she wanted was the roughness of his tongue sliding along her skin again, igniting her like a firework on the Fourth of July.

“I love your curves
. The way you fill my hands makes my cock so hard I ache to be inside of you.” His eyes roamed over her body, but she didn’t feel self-conscious about how she looked. The way he spoke about her had her pussy gushing with her desire for him. He started sliding his hands over her, squeezing her body until she felt liquid beneath him. “I bet your pussy taste as good as it smells.”

The air around them heated and thick
ened, and she found herself wanting to have him just as aroused as she was. “Why don’t you find out?”