Twisted Desire (The Twisted Series) Read online

  By the time Aliah reaches the front door of the place, perspiration glistens off her exposed chest. She pushes the doors open and instantly sees that there is a lively crowd filling the seats at the bar. Her prospects are looking promising. She smiles at them all and acts like she owns the place, rounding the bar to grab herself a refreshment. All the bartenders are so busy filling orders that they don’t even notice.

  After bumping a willing young man out of a bar stool, Aliah takes her new found seat. Mitchell peeks out from the cold storage room and smiles at her.

  “Hey, you,” he hollers, stacking a few cases of beer in the refrigerator.

  “Hey, yourself.”

  Mitchell wipes down the bar with a meaty hand and smiles at her. “Have you eaten?”

  She pulls her stool closer, ignoring the fellow drooling over her shoulder, and reaches for her draft beer. She lifts it up and smiles at Mitchell.

  “Aliah, you have to eat something.”

  “If you say so.”

  Ten minutes later, a plate is being slid in front of her. As Aliah finishes her meal, she drops her napkin on top of her plate and walks to the end of the bar with her dirty dishes. Mitchell hasn’t reappeared from his office in the past 15 minutes, and the place is packed. He isn’t one to spend much time in there, especially when he’s clearly needed on the floor. She decides to check up on him.

  Aliah carries her dishes to the dishwasher and smiles. “Is he in there?” she asks the girl in the kitchen, pointing at the closed office door.

  “Yep. But I wouldn’t go in there, if I were you. I think he’s taking care of business.”

  Aliah barges into the room and catches Mitchell with his back to her, facing the wall. He’s shouting into the phone. It sounds like an all-out screaming match. He must be truly mad too, because it takes a lot to get this brother to holler.

  “Tanya. That’s enough,” he shouts into the phone. Then he peers over his shoulder and hints for Aliah to close the door. “This is not acceptable in my book. Three strikes you’re out, honey.” He hangs up the phone, as the door clicks shut.

  Aliah can’t stop smirking. She takes the seat from across his desk, lifts a heeled shoe and props it on the top of it. “Who the hell was that?”

  “Tanya,” he answers. Then he sighs and wipes a weary hand over his face.

  “Tanya, the waitress, Tanya?”

  “You got it. She was supposed to be here half an hour ago. But she was a no-show. That’s the third time this month. So I called her. If she had told me she was on her way, then I was going to give her one last chance. But we’re swamped here, we’re understaffed tonight as it is, and she’s out partying with her boyfriend.”

  Aliah nods, agreeing with how outlandish some people can be.

  “I hate to let her go, Ally. But I can’t let her act like that and get away with it. The last thing I need is the others thinking I’m a pushover.”

  Aliah gets up from her chair and walks around his desk. “You’re not a pushover,” she teases, as she shoves his shoulder backward.

  Mitchell smiles, giving her the response she was hoping for. “Come here,” he says.

  She slips into his outstretched arms and gives him a great big bear hug. “If you need help, you know I’m here for you.”

  “Really? You would do that for me?”

  “Yeah,” Aliah answers. “I can help bus tables, or fill beer orders. But no dishes. Not looking like this.” She waves a hand between them. She always dresses like a pop star, whenever she walks out of the house after dark.

  Mitchell’s smile grows even bigger. “You know I would never do anything to harm your beautiful reputation.”

  She slaps at him and breaks away from his arms. “You ass.”

  Mitchell chuckles, as his girlfriend knocks on the door. When Aliah glances over her shoulder, she sees Brandee peering through the window, like a nosy principal ready to scorn the teacher inside for canoodling with a student.

  Aliah heads for the door and grabs the handle. “It wasn’t locked.”

  Brandee’s eyes are so narrow that they can barely be called open. “You looked like you might have been busy in here. Was my boyfriend keeping you busy?”

  “Your boyfriend was giving someone the boot.”

  “And Aliah was so kind as to offer her help,” Mitchell adds, merrily.

  “How sweet of Aliah,” Brandee moans, forcing an unattractive smile onto her face. “I have to run an errand. Do you think you’ll be alright while I’m gone?”

  The look Brandee gives Aliah is amusing. No one needs her for anything. She must know that.

  All three of them make their way to the bar. Aliah’s the last of them to pass through the kitchen. As Brandee tugs Mitchell to the door, Aliah glances up. A flash of light catches on the door and a man appears from out of the darkness.

  Her eyes get hooked on this dude who’s standing there, looking all bad-boy sexy. His look is complete with a tight pair of jeans and a soft leather jacket that fits perfectly over his sculpted muscles. When he peels off his jacket, it only gets better. Every inch of that body demands her attention. All six feet of it. His tattooed arms bulge from his shirt and she just wants to grab onto that ass and maybe take a bite out of him.

  The guy nods at someone who’s across the room and she tries not to gawk to see who it is. No one she knows. Then he finds himself a bar stool, at least four away from her, and casually glances over at her, snaring her eyes again.

  “Hey,” she shouts, finding it difficult not to talk to him now that he’s caught her gawking shamelessly.

  “Hey.” His reply is short and curt.

  Annoying.

  He wears a sleeve of tattoos on one of his arms and a look of danger on that sexy face. He isn’t wearing a ring on that finger, but he certainly isn’t giving her the time of day. She doesn’t know what it is particularly about this guy, but she just wants to lick him.

  She moves closer, drawn in by his careless attitude. “Can I get you something to drink?” That seems to get his attention.

  “Are you buying?” He’s smirking and she just then realizes it’s because she’s standing on the wrong side of the bar.

  “Sure. Why not?” She walks around the bar, pulls out two bottles of beer and slides them to the middle of the bar.

  He watches her every move, but doesn’t comment. She hands him one of the bottles and he takes it, but he doesn’t thank her.

  What an ass!

  She is sure he can read her thoughts, because he is smiling again, and that’s good for him. But she wonders why it’s getting her blood pumping so hard. He lifts his beer, twists off the cap and slides it over to her, pressing it into her hand. Then he reaches over the bar and cracks open the second one.

  “It won’t kill you.” He clinks their bottles together, and keeps his eyes on her as he draws a long, slow gulp from his own.

  She sees the way tattooed-sexy wraps those lips around the bottle, and the way his eyes promise a whole night of dirty fun. It sends a shiver passing across her heated flesh.

  “The name’s Harley,” he says, reaching out a rough masculine hand.

  “Where’s your motorcycle, Harley?” she answers, thinking she’s so smart.

  “What makes you think I have a bike?”

  “Are you saying you don’t?”

  “No.” He raises a brow and it is so damn sexy.

  She can’t stop her mouth from smiling really hard. “That’s what I thought.”

  After a moment of silence passes, she decides to take a sip from her beer.

  “You here often?” he asks her.

  Aliah loves how he cuts to the chase. She can just imagine how much fun it would be to tumble around for a few hours with this sex stick. “Once or twice a week, if you must know.” She answers like it’s a bother for her to talk to him, but that doesn’t seem to affect him one bit.

  “I haven’t seen you around here before.”

  She gives him a devilishly sexy look. �
��I guess today’s your lucky day then.” The way he watches her makes her very conscious of her tongue when she speaks. His eyes continue to sear her parted lips.

  “I’m surprised a beautiful girl like you is still single.”

  “Did I say that?”

  “I just thought…”

  “Well, aren’t you smooth?” She pauses for dramatic effect and loves the way his name rolls slowly off her tongue. “Harley.”

  That seems to get his wheels turning. She loves the furrowed brow he gets when he thinks a little too hard. She serves a couple of customers and finds herself on his side of the bar again.

  “So, you’re not single?” He just keeps pressing.

  “I didn’t say that.”

  He lifts his hands in defeat. “I don’t know who hurt you, but he’s obviously ruined it for the rest of us.” After he says the words, she can actually see a look of regret in his eyes. It’s like he hates that he’s letting her get to him. She loves it. Him? Not so much.

  “The rest of who?” she asks, peering over her shoulder at the locals lining the bar behind her.

  “Men in general. Your future husband, maybe.”

  Hah! Good One! “Who said I ever plan on getting married?”

  “I just assumed…”

  “You know what they say about that.”

  It’ll make an ASS out of U and ME.

  He chuckles and swipes a hand across his face, then looks at her again. “I just thought that most beautiful women your age will have found a man to have a kid or two with by now.” He fumbles over his words and that makes Aliah smile.

  “My age?” She loves how she’s always one-upping him.

  He doesn’t know how to handle her. “I just meant… Forget it.” His eyes touch her all over. “You don’t really look like the marrying type.”

  Aliah narrows her eyes, even while a wave of excitement floods her limbs from his slow perusal of her body. “You really need to learn when to shut your mouth.” She slides the serving tray onto the bar so she can prop her hands on her hips. If she ever decides to have a kid someday, it’ll be one kid. But it’s not exactly a dream of hers. “Not everyone validates themselves by the number of babies they’ve popped out.”

  Now he’s the one becoming defensive. “I never said that.” His voice is firm and demands her attention.

  Aliah ignores him. “I have no intention of wrecking this hot little body any time in the near future.”

  He smiles, even though he tries not to, while she struggles with the thought of ruining herself. “You said it,” Harley answers, raking her hot little body with uninhibited eyes.

  She smoothes her hands down the curve of her slim waist, appreciating the body God gave her. “That’s right. I did. Because I have the balls to say it.” Aliah notices how conflicted Harley seems. He obviously has something to hide. She doesn’t know what it is, but it intrigues her to keep stoking the fire. She moves closer to him, sliding one of her legs between his thighs, so she can whisper provocatively in his ear. “Unlike some people.”

  Aliah leans back to catch his reaction, but he doesn’t let her move far. His arm hooks around her waist, as Harley raises a brow. She loves the look he gets on his face every time she shocks him. Then he leans into her, until she can feel his breath on her ear.

  “I may act like a gentleman in public,” he growls. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t spank you behind closed doors.”

  Aliah smiles, loving the way his voice makes promises. “Is that a threat?”

  He leans back and takes another good look at her. “What are you doing after work?”

  She smiles, a genuine smile. “What do you care?”

  “Do you always make it this difficult for a man to ask you out?”

  “Yes. Most men don’t last half this long.”

  He looks to the floor, smiling.

  “Aliah! Are you waiting or dating?” Any other time and Aliah would have given Mitchell a high five for originality. But not tonight.

  She groans. “He doesn’t pay me nearly enough for this.”

  Harley’s still smiling when she leaves him.

  That smile is a weapon, I tell you.

  He needs to put that thing away before she’s forced to do something that will give him a good reason to smile that wickedly.

  After escaping from Harley’s attention long enough to serve a few tables and fix up a couple of drinks, she turns around and finds Harley standing there, like a brick wall. She slams right into him. He’s even bigger than she thought. A shiver courses through her veins, the chill quickly spreading through her entire body, as she imagines what it would feel like to be pinned beneath all that man.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Harley doesn’t take his eyes off the prize. It’s a simple task, watching over her, with that tiny waist and stunning child-bearing hips. This is turning out to be more fun than he anticipated. Aliah Brooklin is even hotter in person, if that is possible.

  Thank the Lord for side boob.

  She’s just a petite little thing, with luscious hair and pale green eyes. Her attitude strikes you like a sword, or maybe like those skyscraper stiletto heels she manages to walk in. But Harley has come armed too. His charm will slowly wear her down, the way it always does with the ladies. Before long, she won’t be able to resist him.

  He loves every single minute of their bantering, and from the look in her eye, she loves it too. She has a mouth on her, that one. He’ll have to be careful with her. She isn’t exactly the kind of girl you’d want your teenaged daughter looking up to.

  But even as he hears himself saying no, his dick is telling him otherwise. He’d love to teach her a lesson about that potty mouth too. He could have a lot of fun teaching Miss Brooklin a lesson or two in the bedroom.

  When he watches Aliah finish up at the bar, he slides over to strike up another conversation with her. She slams right into him, pressing those beautiful breasts against his hard body. He struggles to find a respectful thing to say. Nothing thoughtful can come from a glance at those breasts.

  Harley tears his eyes away and focuses on her face. Though her cleavage has burned the most beautiful image in his mind, he’s suddenly having difficulty taking his eyes from those luscious lips. He gazes at them a little too long. He is sure that her mouth has a multitude of other uses that can be valuable to him.

  “You’re closing up soon.”

  Aliah glances up at him. “Yeah, so?”

  “Do you need a hand with anything? Or is Cavanagh getting the job done for you?” He was careful not to push too hard, but she seems to catch right onto him.

  “What business is it of yours, Hulk?”

  She starts to hesitate, wondering what his deal is, so he drops her an angled smile; the one that slants a little to the left. It has always worked with the ladies and it looks like it works for her too.

  “It’s Harley, missy.” He doesn’t know what it is about this girl, but she makes him want to press her buttons. “Get it right or gets a stepping.”

  Aliah glances over each of her shoulders dramatically. “I was here first, brother. And you can screw off, it you’re going to be such an asshole.”

  He looks at her incredulously. “Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?”

  “That’s not the only thing,” she snaps back.

  He nearly spews his beer all over her, excited by her insinuation even while she berates him. Unable to keep his distance, he draws closer, and glances down at her. She doesn’t back away. Instead she thrusts her hands onto her hips and lifts her chin.

  He leans down until they’re nose to nose. Then he combs his fingers through her hair and wraps his hand around a good handful at the nape of her neck, pulling it back firmly until she has no option but to lift her chin to the sky. Her expression shows that she’s straining to match his hardness but, because of the heat flickering in her eyes, she can’t fool him.

  “You like it when I’m rough with you?” He tugs a little harder.


  Aliah lets out a strangled moan, but doesn’t answer.

  “Imagine all of the fun things we could do.” His lips whisper over her neck and up to her ear. “Would you like to have some fun, missy?”

  It’s hard to keep his cool when this vixen is swooning at his feet. “The name’s Aliah. Get it right.” She barely gets the words out, before closing her eyes.

  She wants it. Him.

  He knows it’s a bad idea, but his lips brush across her throat before he can think to stop. His tongue licks across her warm flesh and he gets a taste of her skin. She’s his flavor. When she whimpers again, he lightens his grip, ever so slightly, but not nearly enough to give her control over her head. He feels like he’s in the power seat and smothering a powerful woman like that is a heady experience. He knows they’re in public, but he can’t stop.

  Harley wants to taste her again. Hell, he wants to do a lot more than that. If this wasn’t his hometown, she’d already be flattened against that bar and he’d be moving inside of her. With Aliah’s small hands on his chest, he’s unable to think clearly. She fogs his brain when she’s this close. He needs to put some space between them. He needs to get back to business.

  He smiles and lets go of her hair. When he releases the pressure, she looks a little lightheaded. “So, Aliah. Same place tomorrow?”

  She seems to like that he gets her name right this time. And, though he’s kind of joking, he has to fight off his smile when she reluctantly nods her head to agree with him.

  “Does it look like I have a choice?” she snaps, trying to regain her attitude.

  He shakes his head, not surprised by her snappy comeback, and heads for the door with strong legs and steady steps. To his surprise, she follows him out.