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  “You need a drink, sweetie?” Wanda asked and I did. I totally did. I needed seven of them.

  “I’m workin’. Ham has a policy, no boozin’ it up while you’re sellin’ booze,” I told her.

  “He vaulted over the bar.”

  This weird comment came from Maybelle and I looked to her.

  “What?” I asked.

  Her gaze was still at the door, but it slowly slid to me.

  “He watches you, you know,” she stated, and I felt my insides begin to warm. “It’s not boss keepin’ an eye on his employee type of watchin’ either. He likes what he sees. But it’s more. Like he’s makin’ sure you’re good, no drunk guys do anything stupid, stuff like that. You were outta sight for a while and I saw him do the scan he does a lot. He couldn’t locate you. He didn’t like that. Saw that plain as day. He moved to the front part of the bar, at the edge, looked around, and the minute he saw you with your momma, his face got scary, he put his hands to the bar, and vaulted right over it.”

  Ham vaulted over the bar.

  For me.

  How awesome was that?

  That warmth spread through my chest.

  “He did,” Wanda affirmed. “He did do that. It was amazing. Seriously, after seeing that, I’d so totally rob a bank with that guy.”

  I didn’t have a chance to smile at Wanda, Maybelline kept talking.

  “I’ve never seen anything like it, man that big movin’ like that,” Maybelle declared. “He was lucky there was no one sittin’ on the stools there because I don’t think if there was that would have stopped him.”

  The warmth spread all around.

  “I had an ex-boyfriend who was not such a great guy and didn’t want us to be done,” Maybelle went on. “Used to mess with me. I’d be at the same burger joint as him, he’d call out nasty stuff. So bad I’d have to run out, not even gettin’ my burger. If he drove by while I was walking down the street, he’d do the same. I started seein’ Latrell and that happened”—she lifted a finger—“once. Latrell took off after him and chased him fifteen blocks, caught him, bloodied his nose and then some. We were on our second date and I remembered, by the time he got back to me and word was already spreading what he did, I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with that man. I knew he’d never let anything harm me. And now, for near on twenty years, I was right. He hasn’t.”

  I loved that story. Then again, I loved Latrell. Maybelline’s husband was the bomb.

  “Are you saying that you think Ham is like Latrell?” I asked, and her eyes, which were kind of dreamy with reminiscing, grew sharp on me.

  “Heck no,” she stated and I stared. Then she went on. “But he’s one step closer to me not thinkin’ he’s all wrong for you and you’re making the biggest mistake in your life.”

  Well, that was something.

  “Can I have my girl?”

  This was rumbled from behind us. We all jumped and I turned and looked up at Ham.

  He didn’t wait for a response. His big hand engulfed mine and he dragged me through the bar to the back hall, down it, and right into the office.

  He closed the door and backed me into it, one of his hands going to the door by my head. He slid his other arm around me, pulling my hips into contact with his.

  “You know I like it anytime and wouldn’t mind christening the office, babe, but I just had a drama with my mom, story time with Maybelle, and we’ve got a bonus to earn so maybe we can give each other orgasms after we close,” I quipped, knowing full well I wasn’t there because Ham wanted to ravish me.

  I was there because he wanted to make sure I was all right.

  “Brave face, baby, I love that you got it in you to do that but you don’t have to put that shit on for me,” he replied.

  I took in a breath, then dropped my head forward so it landed on his chest.

  “She still has the power to hurt me,” I said there.

  “I get that,” Ham replied, moving his hand from the door so he could wrap it around the back of my neck.

  And he would get that, since I’d explained all about it back when Xenia got hurt and Ham, I was finding, didn’t forget anything.

  “I don’t understand her,” I shared.

  “Means you’re gonna make a great mom,” he stated and I pulled back to look up at him.

  “What?” I asked.

  “My guess, you spent a lot of time thinkin’ on it. My guess, if by now you still don’t get it, there wasn’t somethin’ in your history with her that explained it. So my guess is, she was just shit at bein’ a mom and if you don’t get how she could do that, then you know how to be a good mom. Reckon that’s the hardest job in the world just as it’s the easiest.”

  I felt my brows draw together as I informed him, “That’s a contradiction, Ham.”

  “Nope,” he returned immediately. “You love a job, no matter how hard it is, it’s still easy. Not sure, never studied up on the guy, could be wrong, but I reckon Michelangelo didn’t wake up and think, ‘Fuck, I gotta drag my ass outta bed. More painting at the Sistine Chapel. Wish that shit was done so I could get to a fuckin’ beach.’”

  His words made me laugh and move into him, pressing my hands against his chest and pressing everything else close.

  When I quit laughing, I told him, “Okay, that makes sense. And it’s very wise, Mr. Reece.”

  His brows shot up. “Now I’m Mr. Reece?”

  “Bruiser drags me to bed. Mein herr bosses me around. And Mr. Reece is like a life professor, smart and generous with his wisdom.”

  His eyes got dark in a way I felt all through my body and he pressed me into the door.

  “Right, we were in here for me to take your pulse. Now we’re in here so I can fuck you against the door,” he stated, his voice jagged, and I felt that all through my body, too, but I shook my head.

  “I’ve got booze to sell,” I reminded him.

  “You can sell it in fifteen minutes,” he muttered, his face disappearing in my neck as his hand slid over my ass.

  “Fifteen minutes? Is that all I get?” I asked.

  His teeth nipped my earlobe, his hand squeezed my ass, and his other hand, which I’d lost track of, was at the side of my breast and his thumb slid out, grazing the underside.

  I shivered.

  “All it’ll take,” he whispered into my skin as his lips slid up my jaw.

  I wanted that, but I needed more.

  “I’m thinkin’ about giving Bruiser whatever he wants later, however he wants it, however long it takes him to get it. If he takes it now, that might not work out that great.”

  His head came up and his eyes burned into mine. “Whatever I want, however I want it, as long as it takes me to get it?” he asked.

  “You got it.”

  His lips dropped to mine and I could feel them smiling as I saw his eyes doing the same. “You need to sell booze now.”

  “Right,” I replied and I knew he saw my eyes smiling because my lips were doing the same.

  He pulled me into him and kissed me, wet, hard, a promise of good things to come before he lifted his head an inch and looked in my eyes.

  “You sure you’re good?” he asked gently.

  Every day in what seemed like a thousand ways, I fell deeper in love with this man.

  I didn’t share that.

  I nodded. “Yeah, darlin’. I’m fine. Thanks for comin’ to my rescue.”

  “Anytime, baby.”

  I grinned at him.

  Ham grinned back.

  Then we got to work and I kicked ass selling drinks to earn Ham his bonus, which was double good since it earned me more tips.

  But I did it taking time while they were still there to gab with my girls and noticing that, when I wasn’t at their table and I caught her studying him, Maybelle was looking at Ham a little bit differently.

  Then again, he’d vaulted over a bar for me.

  It wasn’t chasing a guy fifteen blocks and beating the crap out of him.

 
But it was nothing to sneeze at either.

  * * *

  “No,” I breathed my denial, pressing back against Ham.

  I was on my knees, Ham on his behind me, his body pressed the length of mine. Ham had one of my breasts in his hand, his fingers doing amazing things with my nipple. I had my fingers linked behind my head and my knees were spread wide.

  Ham had my toy.

  He’d just taken me almost there with my toy, only to not let me go there by taking the toy away.

  “I need it back, baby,” I begged and his thumb dragged against my nipple, pulling at it hard. My hips jerked and I whimpered, “Ham.”

  “Not yet,” he denied.

  I tried another tactic.

  “Okay, then I need your cock.”

  “Not yet,” he repeated and I wriggled back into him but stopped when his finger met his thumb at my nipple and he pulled sharply.

  Oh God, that felt good.

  My head fell back and I moaned.

  “Fuck me, so goddamned hot,” he growled, pressing his groin into my back so I could feel just how hard he was.

  “Okay, now I really need your cock,” I pleaded.

  “Hang tight, Zara,” he returned.

  “Honey,” I implored as he kept torturing my nipple magnificently.

  I could hear my vibrator going. I could feel his hard cock pressed against me and both were driving me mad.

  I could take no more.

  “Ham.”

  He positioned under me. I got the toy back just as his cock rammed up inside me. My head flew back, and my hands automatically went to where his were on me and I came, so primed by our play, the orgasm burned through me and I again cried out his name.

  His hand at my breast went between my shoulder blades and he pushed gently as he ordered, “Down. I want that sweet ass.”

  I didn’t hesitate. Even though it meant losing my toy, I went face to the bed and gave him my ass.

  He turned off the toy, tossed it aside, and his fingertips glided over my ass as he pounded deep.

  “Fuck, baby, love this ass.”

  “Take it,” I gasped, rearing into his thrusts.

  “Fuck,” he grunted, slamming into me. He clamped one hand on my hip, yanking me back, the other hand flattened on my ass, the pad of his thumb pressing against the sensitive spot exposed for him.

  “Yes,” I breathed, jerking up to my hands, my thighs quivering. I slid my fingers between my legs and rubbed my clit.

  Ham pressed the tip of his thumb inside me.

  My head shot back and I cried out again as orgasm two seared through me.

  “Fuck, my girl takes anything I got to give,” he growled, still ramming hard and deep.

  “Yes,” I panted, still coming, still rearing back into him, wild, beautiful. “Ham, baby, I’m coming apart.”

  “I got you, Zara,” he grunted.

  I lost his thumb as his hand clamped on my other hip. He jerked me back, kept me there, and ground into me as he groaned.

  I knew he was coming down, or close to it, when his fingers in my flesh relaxed and he started moving in and out slowly.

  I dropped my torso back down, cheek to the mattress, and let him fuck me tender after fucking me hard.

  Finally, he pulled out but I didn’t lose him. His fingertips roamed my back and ass as the bed moved. Then I felt his lips at my ass, gliding, soft, one of his fingers slid along the cleft and down before it slid through the wetness between my legs and up inside me, filling me.

  I made a contented mew and closed my eyes as he kept fucking me tender, this time with his finger, and I thrilled at it before he slid his finger out, gently glided it over my clit, sweet, light, but my hips still moved with the thrill of it and I made another low noise in my throat.

  He kissed the curve of my ass before he muttered, “Relax, baby.”

  I fell to my side, curling my legs up to my chest.

  Ham exited the bed.

  I smiled into the covers.

  He seemed gone for only a second before he was back, gathering me in his arms, my back to his front, his legs curling up with mine.

  “I hope to fuck you liked that as much as you seemed to ’cause we’re gonna do that again and we’re gonna do it a lot,” he said into the back of my hair.

  “For a man who vaults over a bar for me, I’ll do that again and I’ll do it a lot but even if you didn’t vault over a bar for me, I’d still do it again because it was fuckin’ awesome,” I replied.

  “Vaults over the bar?” he asked and I twisted my neck to look at him.

  “Maybelle and Wanda saw you when you vaulted over the bar to get to me,” I informed him. “Wish I’d witnessed that display of athleticism, darlin’. But how did you vault over a bar?”

  “Babe, there’s a reason I do one-arm pushups and a shitload of pull-ups,” was his simple reply.

  “I thought it was just so you can be hotter than hot and fuck people up when the occasion arises,” I remarked and watched him grin.

  “That, and bein’ able to get over a bar when my cookie needs me,” he returned.

  Oh man. I really liked that.

  “Well, hopefully your cookie won’t need that kind of physical heroics again, but that said, if you get in the mood, you can give me a demonstration,” I stated.

  His mouth was still grinning even as my words reminded him that he’d needed to protect me, so his eyes went thoughtful before he cleared his expression and tightened his arms around me.

  “You give me you, naked on your knees with your hands behind your head, I’ll vault over the bar for you.”

  It was my turn to grin at him before I declared my stipulation. “I’m up for that, though no toy. That nearly undid me.”

  He pulled back a few inches in order to roll me to him, then he tangled us up, front to front.

  Through this, he said, “Payback.”

  I felt my brows rise. “Payback for what?”

  “Payback for takin’ yourself there with your toy and makin’ me listen.”

  That was when I felt my brows knit over narrowed eyes. “I didn’t even know you were in the apartment, so I didn’t make you listen.”

  “Still heard you. It did a number on me and you made me wait until I got in there again, so I get to play with you with your toy,” he shot back.

  “That doesn’t seem fair,” I retorted, and I felt his big body start to shake with laughter.

  “Baby, you just came twice, hard, told me you were comin’ apart the second time, and you’re bitchin’?”

  That did seem ridiculous.

  “Whatever,” I muttered.

  At that, his body shook harder as his laughter filled the room.

  My minor pique dissolved as I melted into him, smiling at him as he laughed.

  When he was done, I noted, “All the awesomer you are got even more awesome, you vaulting over a bar for me.”

  Ham turned his focus and smile back to me. “You really liked that, didn’t you?”

  My smile faded and I pressed closer as I replied quietly, “Yes. I really liked it. I didn’t see it but just knowin’ you did it is beyond cool. But it’s knowin’ why that’s what I really liked. Got a lot of good people in my life, people who were there always but who kicked in when it mattered. But when it really mattered, when the hurt could get extreme, only two people put themselves between me and it. One, two days ago, got laid in the ground. The other is lyin’ in this bed with me right now.”

  When I was done talking, Ham was no longer smiling. His arms were also no longer holding me. One had clinched tight. He brought his other hand to cup my cheek as his eyes went dark and bored into mine.

  “Fuck, shit,” he whispered, his tone so jagged, if it wasn’t so beautiful, it would have shredded me.

  His face, his voice, his eyes, his fierce hold, it all did a number on me, making my throat itch and my eyes sting.

  But the moment was too beautiful to mess up by dissolving into tears.

  So I
said, “I just want you to know I understand that, but I need you to know how much I appreciate it.”

  “Stop talking,” he ordered gruffly.

  “Okay,” I whispered.

  Ham’s eyes moved over my face as his thumb glided over my cheek. I let him do this for a bit before I dipped my chin and shoved my face in his throat.

  “What you said about your ex-wife, those women,” I said softly there, “I get it. I get why you’d protect yourself from gettin’ hurt. Still sucks you had all this to give and no one to give it to. But that doesn’t mean I’m not grateful it got stored up over the years so you could give it all to me.”

  “Zara, I said, stop talking,” he growled.

  I shut up.

  He slid his hand at my cheek, through my hair, and down my back where both hands started roaming.

  I snuggled closer.

  Eventually, Ham wrapped his arms around me to turn us so he could reach out and turn out the light. He kept hold of me as he located my toy and threw it on the nightstand and pulled the covers over us.

  Then he settled on his back, me tucked close to his side, his fingers roaming the skin of my ass, my fingers sifting through the hair on his chest.

  The air in the room was warm and heavy in a good way. I liked it. It didn’t feel suffocating. I felt safe. But no way either of us could sleep in that air. I knew it by the tension I could feel in Ham’s body and the same in mine.

  So I moved to lighten the air.

  “Any chance I’ll get you naked on your knees with your hands clasped behind your head?” I asked.

  “No fuckin’ way,” Ham answered and I smiled into his skin.

  I knew it before I asked. Ham was sweet, kind, affectionate, and generous. But in bed, he was definitely in charge.

  Still, I offered, “I’ll vault over a bar for you.”

  “That’s not gonna happen. You got the upper-body strength of a girl,” he replied.

  I lifted my head to look down at him through the shadows. “News just in, I am a girl, babe.”

  “Thank fuck,” he muttered.

  It was at that, I burst out laughing.

  And that was the last sound either of us made before I settled back into my man and we both fell asleep.

  Chapter Thirteen

  He’s Beautiful