“You are mine now. With no conditions. Just you for you.”

He growled and slammed me back against the wall. I wasn’t going to stop him taking what he wanted, and from the expression on his face, neither was he. I was going to give myself to my boyfriend in a closet and I honestly couldn’t care less.

Romeo closed in, unzipping his fly, and the sodding doorknob began to rattle. “Hey, who’s in there? Open up,” a male voice shouted from the corridor.

“NO!” he bellowed through clenched teeth, his hands flexing almost painfully at my waist.

“Open up or I’ll get security!”

Romeo’s head dropped to my shoulder, and I muffled my laugh in his long hair. I reached down, pulling up his fly, and wiggled out of his grasp, lacing his hand through mine. “Let’s go, baby. Let’s actually have our date.”

Nodding brusquely, he cupped my face. “You go out there and f**kin’ show everyone we’re together. You own this… us. Time to be bold, baby. Bring the f**kin’ rain.”

A smile slowly spread on my face, a warm feeling bursting in my chest. He’d shown me we were unbreakable. It was time to put that belief into practice.

Romeo yanked the door open and the young bar manager on the other side stepped back at the severe guise on his face.

We pushed through the crowd and made our way to the booth. Our friends were on the dance floor, so we grabbed our beers and settled our heated hormones with the waiting alcohol.

I spotted the busty waitress from before and signalled for her attention. Romeo watched me carefully as she came closer, every muscle in his hard body prepped for intervention. I perched on his knee and let him hold me proudly in his arms.

Her beady eyes crinkled at the two of us and she muttered something under her breath before painting on a fake smile. “Can I help y’all?”

I glanced playfully at Romeo, who pulled a confused smirk at my apparent new confidence. Our tryst in the closet had put my jealousy at ease—if a couple could bring that kind of animalism out in one another, I had no rivals or threats.

“We’ll take a round of tequila shots, twice, and…” I trailed my finger down Romeo’s abs to his jeans, his hips lifting against my bottom in reaction. “What do you want, baby?”

Romeo’s eyes shone with unconstrained lust and he spoke only to me. “We should get everyone another beer too, beautiful.”

I turned back to the waitress. “You get all that?” She nodded bluntly and went to turn away, rolling her eyes as she did so.

I saw red.

“Oh, one more thing,” I shouted to her retreating form. She whipped around, annoyance radiating from her bitchy glare, all pretence gone.

I smiled a brilliant smile. “He’s mine now. Spread the word to any other tart who wants a second round with my boyfriend that he’s completely unavailable.” She glared at Rome in fury, then scurried into the crowd. My heart was beating at a mind-bending rate.

Romeo spun me around, biting my neck in manic rapture. “I need you in the closet again… now. Fuck, that was so hot, baby,” he growled.

“Was that bold enough for you?” I asked.

He pushed himself against me again, grinning. “Bold as f**k! I’m friggin’ lovin’ this new you.”

“It’s not new. It was just lying dormant.”

“Then wake the f**k up, baby! Wake. The. Fuck. Up!”

Cass came strutting over with Jimmy-Don, clapping loudly. “Molly Shakespeare! I’ve never heard you talk like that to anyone. I freakin’ loved it! I think I’m rubbin’ off on you, girl! Next time, though, direct that at Shelly. That bitch needs a dose of tough new badass Molly talk!” She leaned down and kissed my head like a proud momma.

Five minutes later, we all had our shots and hit the dance floor nearest our booth. As we stood Big and Rich’s “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)” came through the speakers, and Romeo’s eyes danced in jest as I pressed against him, gyrating to the beat. Cass and Jimmy-Don two-stepped like no other, the crowd offering them a wide berth, and Austin made Lexi jump on his back like a horse when the chorus kicked in.

With every shot of tequila, my inhibitions lowered and Romeo took full advantage, skirting his hand along my sides, brushing his tongue along my exposed skin, and whispering illicit murmurs into my ear.

We didn’t sit down for two hours and had managed to move to a corner of the club, secluding us from people’s constant attention. Romeo was flush against the wall and I danced around him, against him, upon him. I felt his need pressing against my bare thigh and it was at that moment that I made a decision.

I snuggled against him as the intro to Randy Houser’s “How Country Feels” began to play, wrapped my arms around his neck, and watched as a smile broke out on his face as he reciprocated the movements around my waist.

“You okay?”

I shook my head and pouted.

His eyebrows furrowed, his adorable frown line making an appearance. “Why? What’s wrong?”

I combed my fingers through his long hair, my mouth to his ear. “I want to go home.”

“Are you ill? Is somethin’ wrong?”

I sighed and nodded my head yes.

“What is it? Tell me,” he pushed, his hard protective attitude rising to the surface. It was exactly what I wanted to happen.

“I want you to take me home and put me to bed.”

His tongue traced across his bottom lip and his face looked all confused. “Okay, are you tired? It’s still pretty early.”

I shook my head and continued. “I want you to put me to bed… get in beside me… and make love to me.”

At those words, Romeo’s head snapped back and his cocoa eyes lit with instant arousal. His hard pelvis smacked against mine as he pushed me farther against the slick-with-sweat wall. “Are you serious?”

“Deadly.”

Softening his tone, he murmured, “I don’t want you to do anythin’ you ain’t ready for. You’ve been drinkin’. I don’t want you to regret us in the mornin’.”

“I’m not so drunk that my feelings are untrue. I want you, Romeo, no regrets.”

“Then beg me.”

Noticing my surprised reaction, he whispered in a gravelly timbre, “I told you I’d take you only when you begged me, when you wanted me like no other. If you’re at that point, Mol, you have to prove it to me. You have to beg.”