Primal (14 page)

Jazmin Plant was an intriguing woman. Beauty’s old college roommate was full of energy, and Adam couldn’t help but like her. She’d put together a great shop that was blend of art gallery, bookstore, and deli, and the people of Venice Beach loved it.
 

He leaned against the back counter, wiping his wet hands on a dishtowel as he watched Beauty chat with a pair of hipsters while she served them the pasta Jazz had just handed off to her.
 

“She’s an amazing woman,” the proprietor said to him after putting another pan into the sink behind him.
 

“I know.”

“Thanks for helping out. I had no idea we’d be this busy on the first night. We’re not even officially open yet.”

Adam smiled at her. “You’ve got a good place here.”

“And you’ve got a good woman.” She moved, stepping directly in front of him. She crossed her arms over her chest and met his gaze. “I like you, Adam. You seem to be just what Olivia needed to help show her there was more to life than work.”

“But?”

She smiled pleasantly, and Adam noted the fire in her eyes. “But if you hurt her, I’ll make sure you regret it.”

Not a stupid man, Adam didn’t discount the warning. One of the most dangerous people he’d ever met was a woman no bigger than this little sprite, and he knew that if anything could make a person violent, it was protecting a loved one.
 

“All right, Jazzy, I think that’s the last table served,” Olivia said as she walked up to them. “Everyone is raving about the place, and Ella said she’s sold out of the Menalyn scarves. She also sold that huge painting from the back wall!”
 

Her cheeks were pink and her eyes were bright as she hugged her friend. “You did it.”

“Thank you.”

Unable, and unwilling, to deny the devil inside, Adam reached into his pocket and pressed a button on the remote. Olivia jumped back from her friend’s arms, and he laughed at the glare she shot him.
 

Jazz glanced from Olivia to Adam. Adam met her gaze and pasted an innocent expression on his face. She chuckled, delighted at whatever she saw between them. “All right, you two. You’re done for the night. Get out of here and have some fun of your own.”

He watched as the women hugged again and then pulled Olivia out the door while they could still make a getaway. As far as dates went, he thought it’d gone well. Then again, he hadn’t been on one since high school, so what did he know?

“You are evil,” Olivia said, bumping her hip against his as they walked back to his truck.
 

He put an arm around her waist and pulled her tight to his side. “Why? Because I pitched in by washing dishes while you helped your friend make her first night in business a big success?”

“Because you took such pleasure in torturing me all night by flipping that damn switch at the most….inopportune times.”

He slid his hand from her waist to ass and gave it a squeeze. “Not torturing you, babe. Just keeping you warm and ready for me.”

“As if I need a vibrator to keep me warm and ready for you.” She laughed, and his dick hardened. It never failed.

They reached his truck, and he spun her, pinning her to it with his body. “What do you need?”

Her hands ran up his chest, making him thankful he worked out. He loved her touch, and she loved his muscles. When she opened her mouth to answer him, he took advantage, lowering his head and spearing his tongue between her parted lips.

She tasted so good. Sweet, warm honey. He cupped her head between his hands, pressing his hardening cock into her belly as he drank her in. Her softness fit against him perfectly as her hands gripped at his shirt, pulling him closer. Always closer.
 

He bent his knees, pressing and rubbing against her as she parted her legs and rubbed against him like a cat in heat. Fire rocked his system as she canted her hips and moaned. His neck tingled, and without thought, he moved, stepping back and spinning just in time to see a woman step around the van next to them and raise a gun at them.

“Leave her alone,” the woman said in a shaking voice.
 

Everything in him stilled, going quiet and sharp.
 

“Barbara!” Olivia cried, stepping forward.
 

Adam moved, blocking her with his body and striking fast and hard. He grabbed her hand, jerking down in a way that broke her finger and pulled her body forward, directly into the fist he aimed at her throat. In less than a second, she was on the ground and Adam breathed easy.

“Adam!” Olivia screamed, pushing past him to kneel by the woman on the ground. “Barbra, Barbara, can you hear me? Jesus, Adam, I think you crushed her windpipe.”

With a grim sense of detachment, Adam pulled out his phone and called for an ambulance while he watched Olivia lean over their attacker, glaring at him.
 

Things moved fast. The ambulance arrived and took the woman away, leaving him with a furious woman on his hands.
 

“God, damn it, Adam, why did you hit her?”

“She had a gun, Olivia,” he answered with a calm he didn’t feel. He could feel her slipping away from him, and he held onto his control with all he had. She was scared and upset, and nothing he said would make her feel better.
 

“She was a patient of mine. She thought you were hurting me! All we had to do was prove to her I was fine, and she’d have backed off.” She ran her hands through her hair, growling. “You just had to let me talk her down.”

He opened the door to his truck. “Get in. We’ll go to the hospital and check on her.”

She said nothing more, just climbed in. They didn’t talk while he drove. He certainly didn’t say anything when she reached beneath her skirt and removed the toy he’d inserted earlier with such high hopes for the night.
 

His gut cramped as he watched her put the purple thing on the seat between. He had nothing to say. What could he say? It’s who he was. Someone points a gun at him and it becomes kill or be killed. He didn’t kill the woman, but that was only because he didn’t follow through when she hit the ground.

Beauty was a doctor. It didn’t matter that she had a Psy.D and not an M.D. She was built to heal. He was built to harm.

It had been tough as hell to let Olivia go home alone when they left the hospital. She’d calmed down after talking to the doctors and seeing the woman very briefly, but they still hadn’t spoken about what had happened. When he walked her to her apartment door, she’d pressed a soft kiss to his lips before leaving him in the hall.
 

It just about killed him to not hold her and comfort her through the night, but it wasn’t what she’d needed from him. Not then. No, she’d needed space, and he knew if he wanted them to last, he had to give it to her. No matter how much it hurt.

Which was why he’d called Eden in to look after the club that night and headed out to Sharp’s place in the Hollywood Hills Friday afternoon. He didn’t need to think anymore. He needed to talk to someone who would get it. All of it.
 

He drove onto the property, past the kennels, and up to the house. By the time he’d put his truck in park and got out, Sharp was standing on the porch, a young looking Rottweiler pacing around behind him.

“How’s he doing?” Adam called as he walked toward the house. Sharp’s dogs were usually, very well trained. Pacing like that was not something they did regularly. Which meant that must be the rescue.

“He’s doing well with me, but you’re the first to meet him since the rescue.” Sharp shrugged. “Walk slow, no sudden movements, and we should be fine. I’ll keep him for another couple weeks then see if I can find him a good home. He’ll have a good life.”

Adam moved forward, keeping his head down and body relaxed. He watched the dog but didn’t stare at him. He could see the Rottie’s anxiety, the overeager, desperate need to please that came from expecting a beating when he didn’t, and anger burned low in his gut.
 

“Hey, buddy,” he crooned, holding out a fist for the dog to smell. “Let’s be friends, hmm?”

“Bran, this is Adam,” Simon said. “Friend.”

The dog looked up at Simon, then inched his head forward and sniffed at Adam’s knuckles before giving them a quick lick and pulling back.
 

“Good boy.” Sharp bent down and patted the dog, scratching him behind the torn ears gently. “Good boy, Bran.”

The men headed inside for coffee, Bran trailing behind them, never letting Simon out of his sight. “What’s up, brother?”

“When you had Angel, how much did you tell her?”

Simon grinned. “You finally found yourself a subbie, didn’t you? When the fuck did that happen, and why am I only hearing about it now?”

Adam growled. “You’re not hearing about it. I didn’t say that. I just asked you a question.”

“You asked me a very telling question, buddy. And you should know better than that.”

Yeah, he should’ve. Deep down he knew Sharp would figure it out, and that was why he was here. Men like them didn’t talk about what they’d done, not even to each other. But he wanted to share with Beauty, and despite not really wanting to share feelings with the guy, he needed to know if his instincts were completely fucked.

So, he told him about rescuing her from a couple of car-jackers. “It was hard as fuck to let her go that night, but I did. And sure as shit, she showed up on my doorstep three days later.”

“It happens like that for some,” Simon said, staring into space, absently scratching Bran’s head where it rested on his leg. “Kinda makes you believe there might be something to shit like reincarnation or soul mates, doesn’t it?”

Yeah, that was exactly it. “But now, for the second time in two weeks, she’s seen me put someone down. And I don’t think she’s handling it well.”

Sharp drank his coffee, leaving Adam to his dark thoughts for a moment.

“Angel was special,” Simon said, breaking the silence. “We didn’t have a connection like what you’re talking about, or like you see with some, but she’d grown up in the backcountry of Montana with a wacked anti-government survivalist father, so she knew crazy shit happened in the world. I didn’t have to tell her much, she knew what war did to people.”

“And the contract work?”

“She knew enough to know that not all of it was legal, even if it was justified.”

Adam nodded, took another pull of coffee, and stared down at the dog who gazed at his friend with a love and devotion that was undeniable. Was it possible for humans to feel that much love and devotion for each other?

“You’re thinking of telling her about everything?”

“Yeah.”

“Even Masterson?”

“Yeah.” Adam met Sharp’s gaze. “I’d keep your part in helping me track him out of it, but I feel like she needs to know what she’s getting with me. She’s already said she’s in, and I can see she’s hooked, but I need her to know all of me and to accept all of me in order to move forward. Does that make sense?”

“It does.”
 

They sat in silence for a few minutes, both men with their own thoughts, their own memories. Finally, Simon
 
gave a decisive nod. “You’re a strong fucker, Adam, but we all need some softness and acceptance in our life. Do what you gotta to do to get it, then don’t let go.”

Olivia was pleasantly surprised when she got home from work that night and found Adam sitting on the hall floor in front of her apartment door. She hadn’t liked the way they’d left things the night before. He’d texted earlier that day, checking in on her, and she’d replied with a “good but busy” comment that she knew wasn’t enough.
 

She’d stayed late to meet with Dr. Banks about Barbara and then spent the whole drive time home wondering if she just showed up at Overwatch if they’d let her in. Finding him there lifted her heavy heart and made her smile for real for the first time all day. “Should I be worried about how easy it was for you to get into the building?”

He stood with a grace that made her pulse jump. Cupping her cheek, he bent down and pressed his lips to hers in a tender kiss. She blinked rapidly, struggling to get the floor firmly back beneath her when he let go and stepped back.
 

“I’d be inside your apartment, but I wasn’t sure how well you’d take that,” he said.
 

“Next time, feel free to come in and make yourself at home.” She unlocked the door with a soft laugh and invited him in. “It’s Friday night, shouldn’t you be at the club?”

“It’s Friday night, shouldn’t you have been home relaxing instead of working late?” he shot back, arching a brow at her leather Mulberry briefcase.
 

“
Touché
.” She smiled. “But at least I wasn’t at the office. I was at dinner with Barbara’s new doctor.”

When he didn’t say anything she pushed forward. “To what do I owe the honor of your pleasurable, but unexpected, company?” she asked as she put away her things.
 

He looked around her apartment, and unease crept over her. “Adam?”