that ass, that ass , and it wasn’t a thong but it was the next closest thing, and if she bent over…
Iron leaned over until his forehead hit the bar, breathing through his nose and willing his dick to go down. Fucking stupid, why the fuck had he let his mind go down this path? Stupid asshole.
Sam laughing, and that wilted his dick in a hurry. He glanced up to find Sam’s hand curled around Bella’s arm, and Iron wanted to tear that arm off and beat the man to death with it.
Sam was what Bella deserved, what she worked for. Mrs. Jenkins asked in first grade what they wanted to be when they grew up, and Bella stood, her spine straight as it always would be throughout her life, and with her head held high said, “I’m going to be a doctor.”
Other kids laughed because they were all poor trash, and trash didn’t go to college, didn’t become doctors, didn’t do anything with their lives…but not him, because he saw it in her. Fuck yeah, she was going to be a doctor, and she’d make sure everyone else would kiss her ass if they tried to stop her.
That’s when he fell in love with her.
True mates. Mating Season. All that would come later. It didn’t have shit to do with that moment. Six years old, and he knew he was looking at the girl he’d love forever.
And he had. And he did. And he always would.
He always would…
Yeah, he always would love sweet, stubborn, spitfire Isabella Santiago. Fuck whatever was out there that had him true mates with a woman he’d never be able to have, but it didn’t change that he loved her.
Sleeping with her or not sleeping with her had nothing to do with that. The loss, the longing would have a slightly different flavor depending on which path he chose, but nothing would stop the fact that he would always miss her, an ache that would never leave.
So if he was going to miss her, if he was going to mourn her, then fuck it, he’d take this last chance to love her, to taste her, to experience the one thing he’d regretted they’d never shared.
So when her friends started making noises about leaving, when they began giving her subtle nudges about Sam , when Bella looked back at him to see his decision.
He placed a drink for her on the bar.
And he waited.
Chapter Five
‡
“E veryone get the fuck out now.”
It was fifteen minutes to closing, and Iron had lost his goddamn mind thirty minutes back. He didn’t give a fuck if another customer ever walked through those doors. These assholes needed to leave.
The regulars grabbed their jackets and ran, throwing bills on the tables and not looking back. A group of what appeared to be college kids looked at the clock like they were going to say something, but the one kid who took a step forward immediately started backpedaling, shaking his head at the half-asked questions from the rest of the group, grabbing onto a couple of the other guys arms to pull them out of the bar.
All the while Bella shot pool, looking as composed and serene as a goddamn queen on her throne.
His eyes never left her. Not while he waited for the last idiot to leave. Not while he locked up. Not while he walked over to the tables.
Bella sank another shot before turning to hop onto the table, legs dangling and cue stick still in hand. “So…it seems we’re alone. Want to play a game?”
“Not pool.” There were so many other games to play, and he wasn’t going to waste a moment of this gift from heaven.
“But you like games?”
“Tell me what you want, baby.” The endearment slipped out, the term what he always called her in his head though he’d never said it aloud before, and inside his head was a hesitation, a warning, not to give too much, to leave something safe to cling to in the future.
Fuck it. Fuck it. He didn’t do shit half-assed. He was going to gorge himself on her, make real every fantasy she had starred in, and fuck the consequences. “Tell me what you like, fucking beautiful Bella. I want to play with you.”
That