Reluctantly His

Chapter Five

Since the last customer of the night had left more than a half hour ago, and there was only forty-five minutes before she closed, Nika sent Lee home early. Even if a few last- minute customers made an appearance, they more than likely wouldn't be ordering anything to eat.

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay?" Lee asked as Nika walked him to the pub's front entrance.

"I'm sure. It's been a long day for both of us. Your wife will be happy to have you home early. She probably thinks I work you too hard as is."

Lee chuckled. "She doesn't mind. She's happy to have me out from under foot.

That's what keeps our marriage going—not having to be constantly in each other's presence. Besides, you give me a couple of days off."

Nika shook her head. "Go home. I'll see you on Tuesday."

She usually closed the pub on Sunday and Monday, those days being the ones where she practically had no customers at all.

Lee now gone, Nika let the quietness of the pub wrap around her. She really did love owning the place. Buying a bar may have originally been David's dream, but the longer she stuck it out here, the more she didn't want to let it go. And in Norwich, people led life at a much slower pace than they did in California. She found it no hardship living in the UK.

She had family back in the States, but she and her mom were barely on speaking terms. Her dad had died when she was three. Nika had no memories of him. The rest of her extended family, which wasn't much, lived too far away for her to have formed any kind of tight bond with them.

Starting the nightly clean up, Nika found her thoughts wandering to Garrick.

Something they had annoyingly done more than a few times over the course of the last couple of hours. She had to stop thinking about him, but for some reason, her brain didn't want to let the kiss they had shared go. It seemed to pop into her head at the most unexpected times. The memory was so vivid she swore she still felt his lips moving on hers while he tasted her. Then there was how his cock had felt cupped in her hand through his jeans. Just thinking about it made her pussy wet all over again.

Nika had just started to put the chairs up on the tables so she could vacuum, when the pub's door opened, and Garrick stepped inside. She stood frozen in place as he spotted her, and with a look of pure hunger on his face, he walked toward her. Her heart sped up. This was so not good. Alone, with no one there to distract her, she was liable to act on the hot flare of arousal that suddenly washed through her at the sight of him. She had to get rid of him, and fast.

He was about halfway to her when she finally found her voice. "I'm closing.

You'll have to come back on Tuesday when the pub will be open again."

Her words didn't slow Garrick down. He kept walking toward her. "It's not quite closing time, so you can't kick me out yet."

"I . . . I decided to lock up early," Nika stammered when he stood in front of her, looking at her as if he wanted to gobble her up.

"Good. That way I get to have you all to myself."

Garrick went to wrap his hand around her nape, but she quickly ducked out from under his arm and put the table between them. "I told you what happened earlier today was a mistake." As he stalked her around the table, Nika kept moving, keeping it between her and him.

"It didn't feel like a mistake to me," he said. "If anything, it felt pretty damn right.

And you felt it too. That kiss wasn't all one sided."

She jumped out of reach when he made a grab for her again. "You caught me in a momentary lapse of weakness. It won't happen again."

"I think I'll test that theory."

Moving at a speed no one should be capable of, Garrick closed the distance separating them and dragged her into his arms. Nika couldn't hold back the shiver of awareness that shot through her. The length of her body was plastered to his. Her breasts were flattened against his hard chest. Her nipples grew taut, causing them to feel sensitive against the material of her bra. She sucked in a ragged breath when she realized the hard length of his cock was nestled against her stomach.

With a gulp, she craned her neck to look him in the face. She had to make one last attempt to stop what was about to happen. Her will to resist was already starting to weaken. "Let me go, Garrick." Her voice didn't sound as convincing as she'd hoped.

"Not until you prove you aren't as affected as I am."

He kept one arm anchored around her waist and reached up with the other hand to cup the back of her head. His lips came down on hers, claiming them in a heated kiss.

It was no gentle exploration. No, this was hungry and demanding, just like the man who held her.

Nika put her hands on his chest to push Garrick away, but instead, they clutched at his T-shirt and pulled him closer. With each pull of his lips, his tongue sweeping the inside of her mouth to duel with hers, she found herself falling deeper into his kiss. She relaxed into him as her body went up in flames. She eagerly kissed him back while she rocked against his erection, her pussy clenched.

With what sounded very much like an animalistic-type growl, Garrick pushed the chairs off the top of the table, sending them crashing to the floor. He lifted her and sat her on the sturdy oak top. The table was just the right height for him to step between her spread legs and press the large bulge in his jeans exactly where she ached the most.

Garrick took hold of her hips and pulled her closer. Even with their clothes separating them, he felt so good. And when he ground his cock against her pussy, Nika moaned loudly into his mouth as her juices leaked into her panties. Lifting her hands to bury her fingers in his hair at the back of his head, she let the delicious sensations he created take her over.

Still kissing her deeply, Garrick skimmed his hands to the bottom of her shirt and slowly pushed it up until his palms covered her breasts. Arching her back, Nika sucked on his tongue, needing him to touch more of her. All the reasons why she should be denying him flew out of her head.

"More," she said in a voice gone husky with arousal.

"I'll give you more. I know what you want."

Continuing to rock his hips into her, Garrick brushed aside the bra cup covering her right breast, bent his head, and swirled his tongue around her taut nipple. He sucked it into his mouth, and Nika's grip on his hair tightened. As he suckled, she felt a corresponding pull in her pussy, causing more wetness to pool there. Her body climbed higher and higher as his hard cock ground against her core, and he moved to lavish the same attention on her other breast. She couldn't hold back the breathy moans she made.

"That's it," Garrick said encouragingly. "Let go."

Garrick sucked harder while he dropped his hands to her hips once again and rocked faster against her pussy. In the back of her head, Nika became aware of something sharp pricking through the material of her jeans, but the pleasure that quickly built inside her soon pushed that thought away.

Unbelievably, Nika felt herself on the verge of an orgasm. With no skin-to-skin contact except where Garrick sucked at her breast, she fell over the edge. A keening cry escaped her lips while her empty pussy rhythmically clenched.

Panting through little aftershocks, she let go of Garrick's hair. He released her nipple, but kept his head down and pressed to her chest. By slow degrees, his hands loosened their grip on her hips. He took a deep, shuddering breath before he lifted his head. His cock still lay thick and hard against her.

Garrick cupped her face and gave her a gentle kiss. When he pulled away, he said softly, "Now tell me you don't want me."

Nika closed her eyes. She couldn't exactly say no when he'd been able to bring her to climax just by dry humping her. She lifted her eyelids to find Garrick staring at her with that hungry look of his. No point in denying her attraction to him when to do so would be a bald-faced lie.

She swallowed. "I'll admit that I want you, but I don't know if I'm ready to start another relationship."

Garrick stiffened. "When did this other relationship of yours end?"

"A few months ago. My ex and I bought the pub together, but he left it all to me when he took off with his new fling to London."

"Was he from the States too?"

"No, but I met him there. He was originally from Norwich," she said. "Look, what I'm trying to say is, David and I had been together for a year and half. His walking out on me, leaving me with a pub that is barely getting by and not enough capital for me to go home even if I wanted to . . . well, I've sort of sworn off men for a while."

"Because you're afraid of getting hurt again." Garrick said it as a statement rather than a question.

"Yes. I had started to think my ex was the one. It hurt when he left."

"He left because he wasn't the one meant for you."

She eyed him. "And I guess that means you think you're the one who is?"

He ran the pad of his thumb along her bottom lip. "Of course I am. And I will never leave you."

At Garrick's words, Nika snorted. "Yeah, right. You just met me yesterday and already you have me pegged as your one and only."

His gaze locked with hers and held. "You are the one, Nika," he said in a serious voice. "I have proof to back it up, but you aren't ready to hear it yet." Garrick released her and took a step back. "I'm going to leave now, but I'll see you tomorrow."

"I told you, the pub is closed for the next two days."

"You live upstairs, right?" he asked as he slowly backed away.

"Yes."

"Then you'll be here."

Once Garrick left and the pub's door closed behind him, Nika sat on the table, thinking over what had happened. She was so damn confused. She wanted Garrick—

oh, how she wanted him—but could she afford to take the risk? That was the big question. Could she put her heart on the line once again and let another man into her life? And it wouldn't only be great sex with Garrick. Nika had a feeling he would want it all—the whole nine yards, ending with a committed relationship.

She slipped off the table and went to lock the entrance door. She'd sleep on it and see how she felt in the morning. She didn't have to let Garrick in if she didn't want to.

There was nothing stopping her from keeping the pub locked up tight.

The next morning, Garrick awoke a bit earlier than usual with the day looking to be a good one since he would be spending it with Nika. After last night, when she'd come in his arms, he was more than sure she was his mate. With the sound of her passionate cries echoing in his ears as she reached her climax, his claws had come out, and his eyes had gone wolf. He'd had to hide his face against her chest until he'd brought his excitement under control. If she had been spread out naked on that table, he would have had a much harder time of it.

He showered, shaved, and then left the house without telling anyone where he was going. There really wasn't any point. Once they realized he was gone, they would know he was with Nika.

He arrived at the pub, parked his car, and got out. Since the entrance to the pub would be locked, he walked around the building until he found the side entrance. He assumed this one led to the upstairs flat. The door at the back had to be the kitchen's entrance.

Garrick rapped his knuckles loudly on the door and waited. And waited. He knocked again, but he didn't hear any movement from the other side. A twist of the doorknob showed it was locked. He headed around to the back door to try there, but met with the same result. Thinking maybe Nika had unlocked the main entrance for him after all, he walked back to the front of the pub. He pulled on the wooden door, but it was locked as well.

He backed away from the door until he saw the upper story's windows. One was open a little to let in the early spring air. "Nika!" he shouted. She didn't come to the window. "Nika, come down." Still no response.

Garrick wanted to growl with frustration. Obviously, leaving Nika alone for the rest of the night by herself had given her ample opportunity to change her mind about him all over again. Shit. He didn't want to have to convince her he was the one for her every time he saw her.

"Let me in, Nika!" he shouted more loudly than he had before.

This time, he heard her voice through the open window, but he couldn't see her.

"Go away, Garrick."

"I told you I was coming back today. I thought we had things worked out last night."

"No, you had everything worked out last night. I never agreed to anything."

He growled, low and deep. Instead of moving forward, he'd lost ground with Nika over the course of the night. He wasn't going to let that happen.

"Either you let me in, sweetheart, or I'm going to make a huge nuisance of myself until you do."

Nika suddenly appeared in the window. "Why do you have to make things so difficult? And don't call me that."

"I could be asking you the same thing. Come on. Let me in. You know you want to."

Garrick stood his ground while she glared down at him through the window. To show her he was not just going to walk away because she wanted him to, he crossed his arms over his chest and calmly stared back up at her.

She threw her hands in the air. "Fine, you win. Come around to the side, and I'll let you in. I don't need you making a scene in front of my pub."