Rush: The Season (Austin Arrows Book 1)(50)

Her fierceness turns me the f*ck on.

“I know you can. But I figured with the mayor and his wife in here, it’s probably best to keep the bar fights to a minimum tonight.” That was probably the main reason I hadn’t let my fist fly earlier.

Ellie’s eyes widen. “The mayor’s here?”

I nod toward their table.

“Holy crap. Did you talk to him?”

“He reminded me of a benefit dinner he wants me to go to.”

“Benefit dinner?”

“For the children’s hospital.”

Ellie nods as though that makes complete sense, but I know better.

“It’s in a few weeks, so you’ve got time to find a dress.”

Her gaze slams into mine. “A dress? Why am I going?”

“Because you’re my girlfriend,” I say in a loud whisper. The mere thought of taking her to the charity event makes the idea of going not so bad. In fact, I’m almost looking forward to it now.

“That doesn’t mean I have to go to stuff like that,” she mutters, her hand going to the back of her neck. She’s rubbing the muscle as though it bothers her.

“Come here.” I motion to the empty barstool beside me.

“Why?”

“So I can rub your neck.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re my girlfriend.” I decide that’s now my favorite answer.

Ellie moves around me, an air of caution surrounding her as she does. Is she nervous? What does she think I’m going to do? Jump her right here in her bar? I consider that for a second. The idea does have merit.

When she moves closer, I guide her to an empty barstool and spin her away from me. Moving her ponytail over her shoulder, I start kneading gently, feeling the tension in her muscles.

“Oh, God, that feels good,” she moans, tilting her head forward.

It never occurred to me that I may not be able to survive listening to her like this.

I try to focus on rubbing the tension from her neck while I glance around the room, ignoring the way my dick stirs to life. Touching her is proving to be something far more exciting than I thought it would be. And don’t get me wrong, I thought it would be f*cking perfection.

This is better.

And it is completely innocent.

Though my dick doesn’t seem to realize that.

“Right there,” she moans, tilting her head to the side.

Aww, f*ck. Does she not even realize what she’s doing?

“Don’t stop.”

Suppressing the urge to groan in frustration, I shake my head, closing my eyes. The woman makes an innocent massage seem like foreplay. I can’t imagine what actual foreplay will be like.

“Spencer texted me earlier,” she states. “Said something about you going to the children’s hospital tomorrow afternoon. Thought maybe it would be a good idea if I tagged along. I don’t think I can go, but maybe you can take Bianca. I know she’d enjoy it.”

Because we’ve been on the road, I wasn’t able to get by there this week, so I’m opting to go tomorrow with a couple of other guys from the team.

“Yeah. He messaged me, too.” When I saw the text, my first thought was to put my hand through the wall. I really wish Spencer would butt out of my f*cking business. Sure, I get that this was his idea, and yeah, Ellie is his sister, but shit. I’m a grown man; I know how to handle my own problems.

Not that Ellie is a problem.

The opposite, in fact.

Ellie peers at me over her shoulder.

I raise my head, my eyes raking over her face briefly. There are a lot of things I want to do to and with this woman during our pretend interlude, but the one thing I don’t want is for Spencer to dictate how that will go down.

“We’ll talk about it later,” I tell her, still not sure how I want to handle this situation.

For some reason, although I made the pseudo-relationship public, I haven’t yet figured out how to go about handling this and getting Ellie to see me as something more than a favor to her brother. Based on our text conversations, we’re naturally progressing in the direction I’m hoping we will, so I keep reminding myself that it may not require too much convincing on my part.

However, I do have every intention of working my magic on her.

Starting tonight.

“Mmm,” Ellie says, leaning into my touch once more before pulling away. “You have magic fingers.” She gets to her feet, causing my hands to drop. “Thank you for that.”

“Anytime. I also do full body massages,” I say as I stand up straight.

Her eyes flare and I’m pretty sure I see heat blaze in those ice-green depths. It isn’t the first time I’ve thought Ellie looked at me as someone other than her brother’s best friend.

She shrugs. “Thanks for the uh … offer.” A smile forms.

Ellie turns away from me and my gaze instantly drops to her ass. Tonight she’s wearing a tight black T-shirt with the name of her bar boldly scrolled across the front in neon green. The shirt accentuates her narrow waist and impressive tits, which I’ve admired more than once. But it’s her ass encased in those sexy jeans that always captivates me.

“Oh, and thanks for your help with those guys. But really, I could’ve handled it myself.”

I know better than to respond.