Page 5 of Take Me Slowly, Part 1 (Aurora Hollow duet #1)

CONNOR

I poured myself a bourbon before stepping out from behind the bar. I spent enough hours stuck behind it for one day. Zara and Luke could handle the crowd.

If you called a couple of dozen people a crowd. Everyone pretended they weren't bored as fuck during the lull, but Thursday night they always ended up here. Whatever, it was good for business. One that would be mine someday. No time fucking soon if I had my way.

"Hey," Riley greeted me as I stepped over to the table where he was sitting, shooting the shit with Blaise Edwards and Ryan Evans.

Both guys we went to school with. Ryan was built like a tree trunk, and Blaise like a whippet.

Both of them were okay, I guess, for dumbass mountain boys with no ambition.

"Hey." I toasted Riley with my drink before taking a gulp. I needed the burn as the liquor travelled down my body. It soothed and numbed, taking the edge off. "What are you assholes up to?"

"Riley here was telling us there's some new chick in town," Ryan said.

For some reason, his words irritated me, but I shrugged it off.

"What's new? There's always new people in town."

"Not a tourist," Blaise said, his eyes on me like he was watching my reaction carefully. Who knows why? He was always thinking too much.

"He's talking about the woman living in the cottage beside Fiona," Riley said. "Leah. She paints." He looked pleased with himself for some reason.

"How do you know she paints?" Blaise turned his searching look to Riley.

"She showed me." Riley sipped his beer. Now he was the one watching me for my reaction. His eyebrow twitching at the way my jaw worked back and forth.

"Is that all she showed you?" Ryan asked.

"For now." Riley sat back in his stool, cocky as fuck. "She's hot for me. She was almost ready to drop to her knees and suck my cock."

"Bullshit," I said. "If she was ready for that, you'd let her." Asshole could be persuasive.

He shrugged one shoulder. "A guy can play hard to get."

I snorted loudly. "Since when have you played hard to get?

" I fixed him with a steady look to remind him he never turned me down.

Of course not, Riley Crane and I had been tight since high school.

We'd gone through all sorts of shit together.

Shared women and each other. He was many things, but celibate wasn't one of them.

He pretended to be offended. "I hardly know the woman."

I stared at him for a moment before barking out a ha. "That's never stopped you before. How many times have you fucked a woman without so much as asking her name?"

"How many times have you?" He levelled the accusation at me without flinching.

"This isn't about me," I said. I nodded my thanks to Zara, who placed a fresh bourbon in front of me and took away the empty glass.

"She told you no, didn't she?" Ryan grinned at Riley.

Riley flipped him off. "It was a 'not yet,' not a no. Trust me, she wants me."

"Was she sober?" Blaise asked.

Riley's brows dipped. "Of course she was. Just because you have to get a woman drunk to fuck her…"

Blaise drew himself up, his face turning stony like he was ready for a fight. "I would never?—"

I put a hand on his shoulder to push him back into his stool.

"Don't take the bait. Riley is messing around."

Blaise huffed out a breath, but drew himself back in and nodded. "Right."

"Speak of the devil." Riley's eyes were on the door.

At first I assumed it was him trying to stir up more shit, then curiosity got the better of me.

I slowly turned to see my sister Whitney walking in with Fiona, Holly and the woman from the other morning in the café.

Leah. She walked in with her chin raised, dark hair tumbling around her shoulders.

She wore a skirt that fell to just above her knees, showing off legs that went for days.

Under an old leather jacket, her top was cut low, framing cleavage that looked good enough to lick.

Her lips were painted cherry pink, the perfect shade for decorating my cock.

"Fuck." I wasn't sure who said that until I realised it was me. And that my dick was half-mast at the sight of her. Realising the other guys’ eyes were on me, I scowled. "What's she doing with my sister?"

Right now, she seemed to be heading to the bar to get a drink, the women talking and laughing about fuck only knows what.

"Girls night out?" Riley asked. "Looks like an open invitation to me.

" He'd been known to crash plenty of girls’ nights before.

And a few bachelorette parties. The guy was shameless.

I only went along with him to keep him out of trouble.

It was nothing to do with the horny women who enjoyed a quick fuck in the washrooms before going back to their friends.

There was a reason I encouraged Dad to install a condom machine in there. What was the point of having a father who owned the pub if you couldn't benefit from it once in a while?

"Didn't your sister kick you in the balls the last time you interrupted one of her girls’ nights out?" Ryan asked.

"Only verbally," I said.

Whitney was a whole lot of bark, without the bite.

Besides, her friend Holly liked sucking my cock.

Although, looking at her now beside Leah, the only thing I felt was disinterest. As if she was a pretty leaf beside a gorgeous fucking rose.

If that was the case, then I was one of the thorns. Sharp and prickly.

"Shame." Riley grinned.

I punched him in the shoulder. "Fuck off.

" He liked my balls as much as I did. We both knew it, but we didn't talk about that in front of the other guys.

As far as I was concerned, it was none of their business.

If they didn't already know then they were blind to what was right in front of their eyes.

"So that's Leah?" Blaise watched her carefully as she manoeuvred around the tables, smiling at something Fiona said.

I wanted to punch him for saying her name. Riley gave him the exact same look, like he was ready to tear his balls off and make him eat them.

"Yeah, that's her," Riley said.

I'd seen lust in his eyes plenty of times. Right now, it was directed toward her. I didn't need to look to know his cock was trying to break the seams of his jeans. I was well acquainted with his dick and all its moods. Hard and ready, soft and satisfied; everything in between.

"I'm going over there." Before the others could say anything else, or even move, I was up off my stool, bourbon in hand, stalking over to the bar.

"Connor!" Whitney squealed, waving her wine glass at me.

"Did you bring your scowly face over here to buy us girls a drink?

" She had that expression on her face. The one that said she was going to have too much of a good time and no regrets.

My sister liked to grab life by the balls and live every day as big and loud as she could.

The exact opposite of me. People actually liked her.

Hell, I liked her. It was almost impossible not to.

"Looks like you've already got one, Whit." I threw back the rest of my bourbon and nodded for another.

"Connor's paying for our drinks for the rest of the night," Whitney announced loudly.

"I can pay for mine," Leah said. She gave me a narrow-eyed glare, like she'd sooner jump off the Aurora Falls than accept anything from me.

"I'll bet you can." I returned her look twofold. The more she gave me that haughty city girl vibe, the more I wanted her lips wrapped around my cock.

"I haven't left town." She tapped her phone on the card reader and pressed the buttons to give a generous tip.

"So I see." I leaned my elbow on the bar, watching her every move.

She smelled like strawberries. Did she taste like them too? I wanted to place my hands on her hips, pick her up to sit her on the bar, open her legs and taste her. And keep on licking her until she screamed my name.

"I like it here," she said.

"Good for you." Could she read my thoughts? I wasn't sure if she'd like the place so well if she could. On the other hand, she might like it even better. Would she let me get her off in front of everyone here? My father would kill me but I didn't give a shit. It would be worth it.

"I thought so." She took a sip of her bourbon, her golden brown eyes turned toward me. Was she trying to get a rise out of me by drinking the same thing I was?

I waited for her to react to the heat of the liquor, but all she did was smile. I totally didn't get harder from that look. Okay, I fucking did. I wanted to taste the bourbon on her mouth. Would it taste like strawberries too?

"Why?" The question was out of my mouth before I could stop it.

"Why what?" She took another sip and raised her eyebrows at me. I noticed she didn't leave any of her lipstick on the glass. Shame, I preferred when it rubbed off.

"Why do you want to stay in Aurora Hollow?" I asked. Did I want the answer or did I just want to see her lips move?

"Because it's awesome and you're paying for the alcohol." Whitney hooked her arms through Leah and Fiona's, pulling them away toward a table. Holly glanced at me before following.

I rolled my lips and watched them walk away. Irritated until Riley stepped up beside me and put a hand on my shoulder.

"She rejected you too?" he asked.

"I thought she was panting for you." I gave him a sidelong look. I wouldn't consider that a rejection, just another volley in our little war.

"She was, she just doesn't know it yet." He patted my shoulder and turned to the bar to buy another drink.

"Yeah, I got that vibe too," I said. The one where she didn't realise she was mine to fuck.

It was a good thing that she hadn't left town.

I was almost certain she'd stayed to piss me off.

Did she know why it was so important for her to get under my skin?

If she didn't, she soon would. Before the winter rush started, she'd be coming around my cock.

At the same time, she could suck Riley's.

Between us, we'd fuck her into oblivion.

She'd thank us for every orgasm we generously let her have.

"Nothing like a challenge," Riley said softly.

"There really isn't," I agreed. I might even buy all of their drinks tonight. But I wouldn't touch Leah when she was full of alcohol. No, I wanted her stone cold sober when she surrendered to me. Sober and begging me to fuck her.

"Fucking hell," Riley growled.

His sudden change in tone made my face swing toward him.

Then toward the door where he was scowling, pure loathing flashing in his blue eyes.

Of the two of us, he was usually the most chill.

It took a lot for him to be rattled, much less oozing anger the way he was right now.

Only one person I knew got that reaction from him.

I followed his gaze. My blood turned to white hot ice.

"What the fuck is he doing here?"