Oak, Sophie - Siren in Waiting [Texas Sirens 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (7 page)

Bo rolled his own eyes. “Because that girl likes to gossip more than she likes to breathe. All right, let me let you in on a little secret. A man like Trev McNamara is never going to be good in bed.”

Now he had her attention. Her face caught his. “Why?”

So naïve. She really did need him. “Because he doesn’t have to be. That man sitting over there was born with everything he needed to attract a hundred women at a time to his bed. He has looks and athletic ability. He can be a charming bastard when he wants to be. From what I’ve heard, the asshole’s even got a monster cock. No man who has all those things is going to give a damn about foreplay. He doesn’t need to. All he has to do to get a woman to open her legs is to smile at her. That’s going to be his version of foreplay.”

 
“How do you feel about foreplay?”

A sudden vision of stripping Mouse down and finding out if she tasted as innocent as she looked assaulted him. He loved to eat pussy. He could spend hours with his tongue up a woman’s cunt. Would Mouse taste sweet and delicate? Or would she get wet and creamy and tangy? How long would he have to lick her before her juice flowed over his tongue?

Fuck
. He was thinking about Mouse and getting a goddamn hard-on in the middle of the diner.

“Sorry,” she said, looking down at her hands. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

She’d utterly misread him, but then Bo knew she probably did that a lot. She had very little experience. He wanted to let the whole conversation drop, but his hand came out and slid over hers.

“I like foreplay. When you decide to make love for the first time, you need to tell that man that you want a lot of foreplay. Don’t let him cheat you out of that.”

What was happening between him and Mouse? God. He wasn’t sure if he was ready for this. He wasn’t sure of anything at all. He loved Mouse. He knew that deep down. He loved her probably more than he’d loved anyone in his life.

But he wasn’t ready to commit to anyone. Hell, if he did commit to her, it didn’t mean everything would work out. He could ruin the only good relationship in his life by letting his dick lead him on.

Besides, if he slept with Mouse, it would mean something. She wasn’t a good-time girl. She wasn’t someone he could fuck and laugh when the next night she fucked one of his buddies. If he spent the night inside Mouse, it would mean she belonged to him. It would mean everyone would know about them. Right now, they were a weird pair. His friends and the rest of the town thought Bo was nice taking care of the odd girl. It would be different if they knew he loved her. He would be lumped in with her—an odd, misfit outcast.

Damn, he really hated himself sometimes.

“I want to go to the honky-tonk tonight.”

Bo let go of her hand. “What? Why?”

Mouse didn’t belong at The Rusty Spur. It was a dive bar just outside the county line. It was one of Bo’s favorite places in the world. It was also the part of his life he kept hidden from Mouse.

She leaned back in the booth. “I’ve never been. I’m almost twenty-six years old. I haven’t lived at all. I’ve spent every ounce of my energy taking care of my parents. I didn’t do a lot of the things other women my age have done. I want to see what it’s like.”

It was smoky and nasty. It was filled with energy and life and beer and a whole bunch of men who would be all over her in a heartbeat. No way. No how. No go.

“You’ve never been to a crack house, either, Mouse. That doesn’t mean you should go. You just cross that right off your bucket list. I’m not taking you.” He was supposed to meet Clarissa. He was going to drink for a while and then head on back to her place for a nice long screw. He wasn’t sure how that would work when he explained he needed to drop off Mouse before they got to the fun bit.

Her chin came up. “Fine. I can go by myself.”

Had something happened to her in that house? Where was this coming from? He stared at her like he’d never seen her before. “How are you going to get there? You don’t even like to drive.”

Those smooth, white shoulders shrugged. “I can drive when I want to. Or I can ride my bike.”

He slapped his hand on the table. This was getting ridiculous. “You will do neither one. That road is dark and dangerous. You could get killed.”

She bit her bottom lip, and a frustrated huff left her mouth. “I could get killed walking down the street. I want to go, Bo. I’m tired of being alone. I want to meet someone. I joined this online dating service, but I haven’t found anyone yet. It seems like we’re a little isolated. I’ve exchanged a couple of e-mails, but no one lives close enough for me to date.”

Bo felt like his head was about to explode. “You did what?”

He’d practically screeched. He toned it down. Everyone in the restaurant was looking at them now. Mouse had turned a spectacular shade of red.

She kept her voice low, but he couldn’t miss the irritation as she explained herself. “I joined this really nice dating site. I got a check from Lexi, and I bought a new computer. She showed me how to set everything up. She said the site I picked was very reputable, but I’m not supposed to meet anyone without Lucas running a background check.”

He was going to kill his brother. Aidan was behind this. He just knew it. Master Aidan just had to stick his nose into everything when it came to some submissive woman. And Lexi. Bo should never have allowed Mouse to work for Lexi. Lexi wrote BDSM romance novels. He loved his sister-in-law, but she was proving to be a bad influence on Mouse.

“Yeah, I bet Ted Bundy could have passed a background check. Serial killers who haven’t gotten caught don’t show up in the system. That’s a real nice plan there, Mouse. Real smart. Let me get this straight. You’ve decided you want to get laid and the best way to do it is to meet some man on the Internet you don’t know from Adam. Since that hasn’t worked out for you, you’re going to pick a guy up in a skank-ass bar. That’s real classy.”

Tears were pooling in her eyes. “You go to that bar all the time. You sound very hypocritical right now.”

He knew he did. He sounded like an asshole. But he couldn’t stand the thought of some jerk who’d had one too many using his girl. His girl. It was happening too soon. They had been building to this for years, but now Bo knew he wasn’t ready. He wasn’t ready to give up the life he had for the one he would have with Mouse. Why couldn’t things stay the same? Why had she put on that dress? Why did she have to look so fucking pretty? Why did he have to be such a goddamn coward?

“Hey, if you want to get a reputation, you feel free to go to that bar. Those men will screw just about anything that walks in the door. You won’t have to look long before one shoves you up against the wall and fucks you right there. Is that what you want? You want to lose your virginity in a honky-tonk? Hell, if all that matters to you is the sex, I can call up five of my friends and set it up for you.”

“Is there a problem here?”

Bo hadn’t realized he’d had an audience. Trev McNamara and his sister stood at their table. Trev’s jaw was clenched, and there was a dangerous glint in his eyes as he looked down at Bo.

Mouse gamely attempted a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. Her nose had turned red. She wasn’t the type of girl who cried pretty. When Mouse cried, she really cried. “No. We’re fine, but thank you so much for asking.”

Trev’s whole face softened when he looked down at Mouse. “Are you sure, ma’am?”

She nodded, but the tears were streaking down her face.

“This is none of your business, Trev.” Bo practically growled at the man, but it was Trev’s sister who replied in a low tone.

“You’ve made it everyone’s business by yelling. You’ve humiliated her. I don’t know what this is about, but no one misunderstood the fact that you just called her a whore in front of the whole diner. Patty’s already on the phone.” Shelley pinned him with her dark eyes. She put her hand out and took Mouse’s. “Hey, let’s go fix your mascara, Mouse.”

Trev cleared his throat.

“Bethany,” Shelley corrected. “Sorry. My brother doesn’t like the fact that people call you Mouse. He doesn’t understand, but he can be immovable about some things. Come on.”

Mouse and Shelley disappeared into the ladies’ room.

“You stay out of this, Trev. And you stay away from her. She isn’t one of your strippers.”

Trev frowned down at him. Bo wished he was standing. He knew even standing, Trev’s six foot five topped him by an inch or two, but now the former quarterback loomed over him. “I realize that. Don’t throw this on me, O’Malley. I’m not the one calling her a whore in public.”

“I didn’t do that.” He certainly hadn’t meant to. “I was trying to talk her out of making a terrible mistake. You know all about mistakes, don’t you?”

“I do, indeed, and you’re making a huge one. This scene is going to haunt her. No one will think less of you, but they’ll talk about her. She’s going to feel this little scene for a long time. Now, we can go a couple of ways. You can shake my hand, and we can pretend this was all a misunderstanding and then people will start talking about us. Or you can prove yourself to be less of a man than I thought you were, and you can keep spitting bile.”

Trev was right. If he held out his hand, people would talk about how Bo O’Malley was the dumb-ass who welcomed the bad boy of Deer Run back to town. Or he could leave Mouse high and dry to take the brunt of his temper.

Bo cleared his face and put a friendly smile there. He held out his hand. Mouse had been through enough without having to listen to gossip about herself. His buddies would give him hell, but Bo could survive it.

“You always were a good man, Bo,” Trev said solemnly as he shook Bo’s hand. “Even when you were just a boy. Scoot over and Shelley and I will eat with you two, and the scene will be utterly forgotten.”

Bo wasn’t sure why, but he did it. He let the bastard sit beside him. He tried not to think about the fact that Trev McNamara calling him a good man had nearly brought a tear to his damn eye. He’d so looked up to this man at one point. And he’d been brutally let down.

When Mouse returned, she sat across from Bo, quieter than she’d been before.

“Mouse, I’m sorry,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

She shook her head. “It’s okay. I won’t mention it again. You’re right, that kind of stuff isn’t for someone like me.”

His heart ached. That kind of stuff. Sex and affection and love.

Mouse turned to Shelley and politely asked about her job. Shelley started talking about her redecorating efforts, and the two were off. He and Trev sat there not talking. But Bo didn’t miss the way Trev’s eyes nearly ate up Mouse.

When his burger came, Bo found he wasn’t hungry anymore.

Chapter Four

Mouse eased up the road. The pavement had ended about a mile back, and she was struggling on the gravel. Several cars had already passed her by. She’d managed to hide behind some trees. Bo had been right about this. She really could get run down, but now she could hear the music. It seemed foolish to have come all this way only to turn back.

After Bo had dropped her off, she hadn’t been able to sit still. She’d tried to read, but the words had swum before her. She was reading Lexi’s new manuscript, highlighting the phrases that didn’t work and making notes on what she liked. It was part of her job, being Lexi’s assistant. It was only part-time for now, but Mouse hoped one day she could quit all the contract accounting work she did and concentrate on helping Lexi. She usually enjoyed beta reading for Lexi, but not tonight. Tonight she couldn’t get the fight with Bo out of her head.

The idea of going to The Rusty Spur had tickled her consciousness.

Bo had told her not to come. Bo didn’t have any right to tell her what to do. He was only her friend. She’d read enough of Lexi’s books to know about Lexi’s lifestyle. Aidan called the shots when it came to Lexi. But Aidan loved her. According to Lexi, he loved her often and with many toys. Bo didn’t want Mouse like that, so it didn’t seem to her like he had any right to tell her what not to do.