Club Thrive: Deception (The Club Thrive Series Book 3) Page 4

  I turn my attention back to the guys. “Hey, can you use the head on your shoulders for five more minutes?”

  “Fuck you, guys. You’re all hooked up. She comes in here shaking that ass and you want me to behave.” They all start to laugh, but the conversation quickly goes back to our plan.

  “I need to get some things lined up before you guys hit the club, since both my head bouncer and my manager are going to be out of the club at the same time.” Logan brings us back on point.

  “Okay, so when are we doing this?” Shane puts down his empty beer bottle.

  “Not this weekend, but the following. Do it on a Saturday night.”

  “Sounds good to me.” I look around and everyone nods their agreement.

  Kara comes back into the room. “Shane, how late are you guys staying?”

  “Why? You in a rush to go home?”

  She shrugs her shoulders and I take advantage of the opportunity. “I can take you home if you want.”

  “You don’t have to.” She turns shy, blushing slightly as she looks to the floor.

  “I know I don’t have to, but I don’t mind.” I turn to Logan. “Are we done?”

  “Yeah, for now.” Logan gives me a shit-eating grin.

  I’ll kick his ass later. I turn back to Kara. “Are you ready?”

  “Sure.” She gives me a small, shy grin.

  We make our rounds to say goodbye to everyone. I thank Sky for having me over and I walk Kara to my car. Her eyes go wide when she sees it. “Is that a Challenger?”

  I chuckle. “Yes, it is. I love that you know your cars.”

  I pull the handle on her door for her to slip in and close it behind her. When I get into the driver’s seat, I turn to her with a smile. “Do you really want to go home?”

  A smile spreads across her face. “What do you have in mind?”

  “Want to go for a ride?”

  “Why not?” She bites her lip and I’m glad she’s getting a bit braver.

  I start the car and pull away. I take Kara for a ride through the city, and then jump on the freeway, where I can open the car up and show off a little. I have the radio playing as I drive through some winding roads. I look over to see pure joy on her face. I’m driving with some speed, hoping I don’t get pulled over. The sun is setting, so I take her to a cliff where I used to go and hang out when I was younger and had more time. When we pull up, I jump out of the car and run to her side to open her door. Taking her hand, I help her from the car and we both lean on the hood in silence, watching the sunset.

  She looks over to me. “This is beautiful.”

  I look over to her and our eyes connect. “I love the view from up here.” I’m not sure she catches that I’m referring to her. “Is it true that you and Noah are done?” I continue to stare into her beautiful green eyes. She nods her head and I smile as I step in front of her,pinning her to the top of my car. “I’m glad to hear it.” My voice is soft as I lean in a bit closer.

  “You are?” Her words come out in barely a whisper.

  “Yes.” I rub my nose along hers. “Because I’ve been dying to do this.” I press my lips gently to hers, and when I pull away, she leans forward for more. This time she opens for me, giving me my first taste of her, and it’s better than anything I’ve ever tasted before. My hands slip into her hair, tilting her head to deepen the kiss, our tongues exploring each other’s mouths. I pull away, resting my forehead on hers.

  She closes her eyes. “Let me take you out.” It’s more of a demand than a question but I’m hoping she says yes.

  “I don’t know, Slade. I know you’re a great guy and…you’re…” her words trail off.

  “I’m what?” I give her a dirty grin.

  She bites the inside of her lip and blushes as she contemplates her words. “Let’s just say I’m attracted to you.”

  My head falls back as I laugh at her choice of words. “There’s no but then. Dinner. Wednesday night. I’ll cook for you.” She giggles. “What’s so funny? I can cook.”

  “It’s funny because I can’t cook. My mother and sister both are excellent cooks, but I can’t cook for shit, and my sister keeps telling me I need to find a man who can cook for me or we’ll starve.”

  I pull her away from my car. “Well, you’ve found me.” I press my lips to hers one more time. “Where’s your cell?” She slips it from her back pocket and hands it to me. I save my number in her phone, text myself so I have hers and hand it back to her.

  “I should probably get going. I have to be at the gym in the morning to start my training.” She looks to the ground.

  “Let’s get you home then.” I pull her off the hood of my car and open her door for her again before getting in myself.

  I pull up to her place a while later. She looks over to me. “Thanks, that was fun.”

  “You’re welcome.” She glances down but I lift her chin. “Don’t look away. You’re beautiful, and I like looking into those brilliant green eyes of yours.” I kiss her goodnight. “I’ll text you my address when I get home, and I’ll see you Wednesday.”

  “It’s a date.” She jumps out of my car and runs up the steps of her porch. She waves, and as soon as she ducks inside, I shoot straight home, tasting her lips on mine the entire way. I can’t wait to taste the rest of her.

  Chapter 4

  Kara

  “Where you off to tonight?” My mom looks over her shoulder as she’s preparing dinner.

  “I told you, Mom. Slade invited me over for dinner. He’s cooking for me.” I open the fridge to grab a bottle of water.

  “Now there’s a fine young man.” My dad has a proud smile on his face when he comes into the kitchen. My dad is right, he is a really great guy and in hindsight I think he’s been checking me out for a while now, but I was too blinded by Noah to see it.

  “It’s just dinner, Daddy.” I roll my eyes.

  “I’d rather you have dinner with him than with that asshat, Noah.” He walks straight up to my mother and kisses her on the cheek. “Hello, babe. It smells wonderful in here.”

  “Thank you. It appears we get to have a romantic dinner for two.” She wiggles her brows, flirting with him.

  I shake my head at them. “Bye, guys. I’ll be home later.” I hug my mom and dad goodbye and then run out of the house before they start getting all mushy on me. I don’t need to see them get all kissy in the middle of the kitchen. I start my car and plug Slade’s address into my GPS. I’m happy to see he only lives twenty minutes from me. Noah lives double that. It was one of our constant arguments. He wanted me to get an apartment closer to him so we could swap off places and we would be near each other. I would never let him stay at my house. I couldn’t disrespect my parents that way, no matter how much he would beg. He used to tell me that at my age my parents should expect that I’d have a boyfriend stay over. If my parents actually liked Noah, I would be more inclined to have the conversation with them, but seeing as they’re not a fan of his, I found it disrespectful.

  When I pull up to Slade’s place, I’m instantly impressed. He has a cute little gray house with white shutters and a driveway big enough for four cars. He has a nice walkway leading up to the door, with small shrubs in the front, and the lawn is neatly landscaped. I walk up to the door and ring the bell. He instantly answers. “Hey, beautiful.” Damn, he looks fine in his jeans and fitted top. I swear I’m blushing head to toe.

  “Hey.” I bite my lip and step inside.

  “You drive me crazy when you do that.” He takes my hand and pulls my body to his.

  “What’s that?”

  “Bite your lip. I want to take a bite and taste it for myself.” He winks at me.

  “Stop, you’re making me blush.” I try to look away, but he won’t let me.

  He grabs my chin and forces my eyes on his. “I don’t mean to make you blush, although it’s cute as hell, but I do want to show you how a lady should be treated.”

  Out of habit, I bite my lip again. I can’t believ
e how sweet he is. His thumb brushes across my lip, pulling it from his teeth. With one hand on my ass and the other slipping into my hair, he pulls me close and kisses me softly before nibbling on my lip. A soft whimper escapes me. He sucks my lip into his mouth as the timer on the oven beeps, interrupting our moment. “Oh, what you do to me,” he whispers, looking into my eyes. If only he knew what he does to me.

  He pulls away, but takes my hand and brings me into the kitchen. His house is really cute. His kitchen is a nice size and he has a small dining room off to the side of it, where he has a table that seats six. His living room is all hardwood floors, and has a nice, cozy charcoal gray living room set. My eyes are roaming all over, taking in how tidy his house is for a guy that lives alone. “What are you thinking?” He slips up behind me and wraps his arms around my waist. He leans in close and kisses the sensitive spot beneath my ear.

  “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m amazed at how tidy you keep your house. Your mama isn’t going to come strolling out from somewhere, is she?” Noah’s house wasn’t messy, but it wasn’t as warm and cozy as this. Noah’s apartment was more of a bachelor pad.

  He bursts into laughter. I mean, his head rolls back and everything. “No, I lost my mom two years ago to heart disease.”

  My jaw drops. “I’m so sorry.” I can feel the blush creep from my toes all the way up to my head. “Talk about insert foot in mouth.”

  “It’s fine. You didn’t know.” He spins me around. “Come on, I made us chicken and rice stir fry.” Grabbing my hand, he leads me to the table that he has set for two. I love that he set it so we’re sitting next to each other and not across from each other. I always wondered why couples did that. I mean, yeah, it’s nice to see each other, but I want to be able to feel my man, touch him. I want to sit next to him so our legs touch, or when I cross mine, I can rub mine on his.

  He pulls my seat out for me, I sit, and he slides me in to the table. He grabs our two plates and sits down next to me. He has two glasses of water already on the table. “Do you always cook like this or did you make this special because I’m here?”

  “I almost always cook. I usually will make enough so I can have it a second night. I only eat out once in a while.” He puts a napkin on his lap and I do the same.

  “Well, it smells delicious.” I take a sip of my water.

  “There were a few things I learned from my mom before she passed. One was to keep a tidy house, two, how to cook, and the third, was to treat a lady right.”

  I smile at him. “She did a fine job.”

  “Thank you.” He takes a bite of his dinner with a slight blush to his cheeks and I do the same.

  “Tell me about your dad.” I noticed he’s mentioned his mom, but hasn’t said a word about his father.

  “There isn’t much to say. He hasn’t been around since I was about three. He never married my mother.” He shrugs his shoulders. “She says he just took off one day. I guess he met someone else and wasn’t ready for a kid.”

  “That’s awful. I’m sorry, I feel like I’m ruining this date.” I take another bite of my dinner before I say something else wrong.

  “No, you’re not. It’s part of dating. We have to get to know each other.”

  “I don’t remember my father. Cooper is actually my stepfather, but he came along when I was young, and has been treating us as if we were his own ever since. I’m very lucky my mom found him.” I continue eating.

  We both become quiet as we eat our dinner. I’m starving, so I’ve cleared my plate, and as soon as he’s done, I take his plate with mine and begin to clean up. I rinse the plates and place them into the dishwasher while he packs the leftovers into a Tupperware container. The funny thing is, even his Tupperware cabinet is neat and organized. I close the dishwasher and take the pan from the stove top. “That was really good, thank you.”

  “You can thank me by staying and watching a movie or some TV with me.” He leans on the counter next to the sink where I’m washing the pan.

  “I think I can manage that.” I place the pan in the rack to dry, and then pull the towel he has hanging from the rack to dry my hands. He grabs our two glasses of water and places them on coasters on the coffee table. I take a seat on the couch next to him and he places his hand on my leg, sending a shiver up my spine. His touch ignites something inside of me. Something I never felt with my ex.

  “What do you like to watch?”

  I shrug my shoulders. “I don’t watch much TV, and I haven’t been to a movie in a long time.”

  He gives me a look like I’m crazy. “Okay, what do you do for fun?”

  “I love the beach.” It’s true, I’ve always loved the beach. It calms me. “I go to the gym.”

  He puts his hand up stopping me. “I said for fun.”

  I giggle. “I like the beach. I like to read. I sometimes watch the old crime shows. You know, the ones that breakdown a case that took years to solve because technology sucked back in the day.” I cross my leg so it’s on top of his. I’m starting to feel less shy around him. “I think I got into the crime stuff because of my dad. I thought it was cool what he did and how they proved guilt.”

  “I love comedians. Have you ever watched them?”

  “No, but I’m game.”

  “Sweet.” He puts on a comedy channel and some popular comedians are up on stage. He tells me how much he loves these guys and that they travel and do shows together all the time. They all have funny accents and the stuff they say is pretty funny.

  One of the guys starts to tell a story and it makes me giggle. Slade turns to me and our eyes connect. “What?”

  “That was a beautiful sound.” He leans in to kiss me and because I’ve been itching to feel his lips on mine, I instantly open to him. The kiss becomes a heated, passionate kiss. We definitely have a connection, and I know he feels it too. I slip my leg over him to sit on his lap. His slides his hand up my shirt, lighting my skin on fire. He kisses his way over to my ear, nibbles on my earlobe, and then he presses me closer as he licks his way down my neck to the top of my chest. His mouth feels so good on my body. Noah hasn’t touched me like this in ages, and it never felt this good. God, my panties are soaking wet. I pull away from him, slip my hands into his short dark blond hair, pulling it as I kiss him.

  “We need to slow down. I’m sorry. I’m not sure what came over me.”

  He presses his lips to mine. “Don’t be sorry. I want to go slow with you. I want to give you a chance to get to know me.” His hands are still on my back.

  “I want to get to know you. I don’t know what it is with you. One minute I’m a blushing mess and the next I can’t keep my hands to myself.” I smile down at him as I sit on his lap.

  “I take it my age doesn’t bother you then?” His eyes look so hopeful, and I feel my cheeks warm up again because I have no idea how old he is, and yet I jumped on his lap like we’ve been dating for ages. “What’s wrong?”

  “I have no idea how old you are, and it made me feel even more foolish for losing control.”

  “First, you can’t help who you’re attracted to. Second, I’m thirty-one.” His eyes search mine, waiting for the answer he wants to hear.

  “Oh, my. I had no idea. I’m sorry. You’re far too…” my words trail off as I start to giggle, because I can’t lie for shit.

  “Oh, you have jokes now, huh?” In two seconds flat he flips me so I’m beneath him on the couch and he starts tickling me. I’m screaming and laughing as he pokes at my ribs.

  “Stop. I’m so ticklish!” I manage to scream out through my laughter.

  “Oh yeah, where else are you ticklish?” He slips his hands down to my hips and I start to kick again.

  “I’m going to pee if you don’t stop.” I’m panting, trying to catch my breath as he sits on top of me. My shirt has ridden up a bit, exposing my belly button piercing.

  “I love this.” He runs his finger over my ring.

  “My father hates it. I got it as soon as I
turned eighteen.” I look down to see which ring I’m wearing. I have a few different ones and change them out from time to time.

  “Speaking of your father…does he know you’re at my place?”

  “He does.” I have a hint of laughter in my voice.

  “How does he feel about you seeing me?” His voice is laced with concern.

  I know he wants me to tell him my father’s fine with it, but I decide to mess with him. “You do realize that I’m almost twenty-two years old and I don’t need my father’s permission.” I have a huge grin on my face despite trying to remain serious.

  His brows shoot up. “In other words, he doesn’t care.”

  I laugh. “No, actually, he called you a fine young man tonight.” He leans down and kisses me.

  “I like your father. He called me young.” He presses one more kiss to my lips and climbs off me, pulling me up with him.

  “My father didn’t like Noah. He always thought he was up to no good, and when he started blowing me off, he said it just confirmed his suspicion.”

  “Being that your father is a detective, I have no desire to piss him off, and being that you’re a beautiful lady, I have no desire to hurt you.”

  “I’m glad to hear that.” I glance over and see that it’s getting late. “I should get going.”

  “When can I see you again?” He pulls me up off the couch.

  “Are you going to Miranda and Stone’s on Sunday?” We’re all going over to hang out and check out their wedding and maternity pictures.”