What Love Sounds Like Read online

  Madison walked out of the office at the dance hall and bar and spotted Jeff, one of the bartenders. She walked by as he was wiping down the tables in the main room, preparing for tonight. There were some people at the bar drinking already, and others near the small dining area. Black Jack served barbecue and finger foods all evening long.

  “How is it going?” she asked Jeff.

  “Not bad. What was with the meeting?” he asked.

  “Looking for special talent.”

  “Hmm, like everyone else that comes here.”

  “They think it will bring in more people, make more money, but we know what works, right, Jeff?” she said and winked.

  He looked her over. “We sure do, and I got a nice inventory coming in, so if you need some of that stuff, for your clients, let me know and I can put it aside for you.”

  “Of course I do. They love the stuff.”

  “Well, to be honest, my dealer has hinted about pulling back from the surrounding areas.”

  “What? Why?” she asked, filled with concern. She had a bunch of clients and friends who loved the date rape drug. They used it on women and some on men too that they had their eyes on. Plus there were other drugs this dealer had that just made a person a little more tipsy and relaxed, plus mellowed them out so they really didn’t even know what was going on but were conscious.

  “He said there was some kind of bust in Dallas last week. One of his main supplier’s guys was arrested. He doesn’t know if he’ll snitch or what. He’s trying to get some people close enough on the inside to take him out, but he’s under security still.”

  “Shit. I hope this doesn’t mean we’ll lose our inventory. The demand is there.”

  “I know. I do have another source for the heroin though, and it’s cheaper but we need to order larger quantities.”

  “I don’t have a secure place to keep larger quantities, Jeff.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Just pass me a little extra dough for keeping it safe and I’m good with that.”

  She smiled. “Excellent. Well, keep me posted on things. In the interim, remember to not sell too much here. Don’t need to send out smoke signals to the cops.”

  “I’ve been keeping it down. Believe me, I don’t want to spend my thirties in jail.”

  She nodded and then said good-bye and headed out of the place, but not before she noticed Mike watching her as he spoke with one of the waitresses. She had a funny feeling, like maybe he was on to her side work here, but he didn’t eye over Jeff funny. Only her. She really didn’t give a shit what he thought. Maybe he was looking in jealousy? She did fuck him not too long ago. She smiled to herself and tilted her chin up with attitude. She had money, power, and connections, and she always got what she wanted. Whatever that seemed to be at any given moment. She chuckled to herself before she got into her convertible BMW and headed to the next spot to spin her web of charm and make her even more money.

  “Ugh.” Ivy landed on her ass and Angus nearly crushed her as he straddled her waist. He slammed his fist down on the mat above her shoulder.

  “Damn it, Ivy! Concentrate,” he yelled at her.

  She growled at him. “I did work last night, well into this morning, you know. I’ve had four hours’ sleep,” she yelled up at him. He looked so huge compared to her and filled with muscle, practically tearing through the tight black Marines T-shirt he wore. His tattoos showed and that fierce look in his eyes. Why was she doing this? A man his size would totally have the upper hand. Hell, could kill her. She gulped.

  “You need to be able to handle this.” He stood up and reached his hand out. She turned away and slowly got up. She brushed off her martial arts pants and then fixed her T-shirt that pulled out of the pants.

  “I wouldn’t stand a chance against a man your size. This is pointless,” she said in frustration. She was tired, and last night at work she had been hit on so many times and some guy even grabbed her ass after the Shelton men left. If they had been there they surely would have made a move and kicked some ass.

  “That’s bullshit. Where is this coming from?” Keller asked as Bronc sat behind the desk by the front entrance to the MMA place waiting for the 9:00 a.m. students to arrive for class.

  She exhaled. She was just annoyed, and tired. She took a sip of her drink.

  “I asked where this is coming from,” Keller said to her and now stood right in front of her. She had to tilt her head all the way back to look up at him, he was so tall.

  “I just had a bad night, okay? I’m tired, frustrated and I need to just recoup before work Friday night,” she said to him.

  “What happened at work? We were all there. Something go down when we left?” Angus asked, coming closer. He took a sip from his bottle of water.

  She looked at him. It was crazy, but since Keller held her in his arms and squeezed her ass she couldn’t look at them the same way anymore. It was like a switch was clicked.

  “It’s nothing I’m not used to. I don’t know why it annoys me so,” she said and then went to walk away to give some space but Keller grabbed her hand. She froze and looked up at him. He placed his other hand on her hip. It felt huge, warm, and Jesus, the sensations connected straight to her pussy. What in the world?

  “What happened?” he asked slowly, and she knew that tone, the way he slowed his words, putting emphasis on every single word for effect.

  “Some guy grabbed my ass, okay? I got pissed and went to turn and make a move back, and then he was smiling and laughing and caught between his friends who were pulling him back and laughing, too. I missed the opportunity to slug him,” she said and shook her head.

  Keller’s hand firmed on her hip. He gripped the hand on her wrist, pulled it toward her back slowly as he pressed closer. He was breathing through his nostrils. “Maybe wearing such short shorts isn’t a good idea,” he said.

  Her face went flush, her heart raced. He was reprimanding her attire yet her shorts were longer than most of the other women’s who waitressed there. Plus, she wore spandex shorts. She bet he didn’t know that. Her eyes narrowed at him.

  “First of all, I’ll wear whatever I damn please, and secondly, for your information, I wear spandex shorts under those shorts so nothing extra shows. Not that it’s any of your business, Keller. Like I said, I already have four brothers, don’t need eight.” She went to pull away and he didn’t let her go.

  “First of all, we aren’t your brothers. We’re men. Older ones who know a shit load more about life and about men, so you watch that tone with me, girl. We care about you, and want to protect you. That’s why we opened up early and had you come in for this session. One on one,” he added, and eyed over her breasts and then her lips.

  It was so different than usual for Keller. She was stunned by his words, the way he used his eyes to look her over and their effect on her body. She had to pull off experience here. She couldn’t show her inexperience and intimidation. “Well, that’s good to know. I guess when I meet a man I’m interested in then I can ask your advice on how to please him,” she said and pulled away. He released her and she didn’t look back but heard him curse, and then Angus grabbed him. She refused to dissect his reaction. Their reaction, and thank God, people started showing up.

  Including Danny Fay, a regular at Harper’s who flirted with her all the time. His eyes widened and he immediately came over, placed his hand on her hip and kissed her cheek hello. “Tell me you’re doing the 9:00 a.m. class with us,” he said as his two buddies, also Green Berets like Danny, asked and looked her over.

  “Nope. I just finished up, but good luck. Keller is in a mood,” she said and she didn’t know why she said that. Danny scrunched his eyebrows together and glanced at Keller. When she turned to look back, he and Angus had their arms crossed in front of their chests and they looked scary. She turned away, hiding her triumphant giggle, getting them back and specifically Keller for making her feel like a slut for wearing short shorts last night.

  “Well, have a great work
out,” she said to Danny and his friends.

  “Hey, what about meeting up for lunch? Are you going to be back in town?” he asked.

  She saw Bronc glaring at her. “No can do, Danny. I have plans.”

  Just then her brothers walked in. “Hey, how was the early session? You didn’t get in until like four thirty this morning from work,” Eric asked her.

  “Four thirty? Jesus, baby, you work so damn hard. I saw you running around last night,” Danny said to her and rubbed her arm as he looked her over.

  She felt like a slut all because of Keller’s comment about her short shorts. She exhaled. “It’s the name of the game and in order to make money I have to work late. It’s all good. I even got a work out in,” she said to her brother.

  “You need to rest, too. Dinner is at six,” Landon said to her.

  “I’ll be back in time,” she said and then hurried out of there.

  Johnny Shelton has his guitar in hand as he walked along the pathway that led to the old town museum. No one really came up here much anymore, but the town kept it in good condition and a few times a year had some small gatherings here to honor the history of Cherry Hill. The landscaping around it was maintained but not as often as other places around town. Now that spring was here, he could already see the many trees along the path blossoming. As he got closer, and the old churchlike structure came into sight, he heard singing.

  He wondered who was in there. He didn’t think any activities were going on. The closer he got, the louder and clearer the singing was and as he made his way up the steps, he peeked inside and saw Ivy there. She was cleaning up around the place, fixing the books, dusting some of the paintings and singing like he never heard her sing before. She sounded like an angel and as he stepped inside the floor creaked. She stopped, turned to look at him and her eyes went wide.

  “Sorry, Ivy, I didn’t mean to scare you. My God, you sound incredible,” he said and walked deeper into the small building. She gulped, gave him an annoyed expression which he couldn’t understand.

  “What are you doing here?” she barked at him.

  He strung his guitar. “I come here sometimes to play a bit. The acoustics are awesome,” he said to her and moved closer. He looked her over in the low riding hip hugger jeans, and the crop top style she seemed to wear a lot. She was so damn young. Fuck, why was his dick so hard? He gulped and started talking to her, pretending a normal conversation.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I come here every other week and make sure the cobwebs don’t get too thick,” she said, her Texas accent adding to her appeal. She was gorgeous and sexy as sin. Her bold blue eyes were incredible.

  “And to sing?” he asked, taking a seat on one of the chairs nearby as she continued to dust.

  He started to play his guitar and the sound echoed around the building. He played a little melody, a country music song that was old school. He watched Ivy as she continued to dust and then she bent down toward a bag she had on the floor and pulled out some fresh flowers. So she was the one to leave those around the place.

  She turned to look at him. “That’s beautiful, Johnny. It sounds awesome in here.”

  “Like your singing,” he said and winked. She shyly walked closer.

  He continued to play and then played one of his favorites. She started to hum along to it. “You know this one?”

  “God, yeah. My parents played Patsy Cline often enough,” she said and took a seat next to him. She tucked her one leg under her rear and placed the other on the back of her chair and listened to him playing.

  “Know the words?” he asked.

  As he strung along she began to sing quietly. The more he played, the louder she got, getting more comfortable with him. She sounded incredible. By the time the song ended she was smiling, her eyes were all lit up and those baby blues looked even more amazing.

  “Darlin’, you have got a gift.”

  She sealed her lips and stood up, began fixing things up. He started another tune, hoping to entice her a little bit more. It took a bit of strumming on his guitar, but he did, and when she walked back over she started to sing along. That was how things went for a bit. He didn’t dare bring up her talent, and she didn’t say anything about this chance encounter. Meanwhile his heart was pounding, his palms were sweaty, and everything he knew about being a man and wanting a woman came full circle several times and kept landing back on Ivy.

  He was out of his mind. Maybe Angus’s desires were just playing havoc in his brain, in his subconscious and he just needed to ignore these sensations. He was thirty-seven years old and she was barely twenty-five. As she finished off the tune in a light, sexy tone, then leaned back and smiled, he reacted. He pulled off his guitar and laid it on the chair next to him. She looked at him and smiled.

  “You know, when I was younger, I heard you playing one time. Your brothers joked around about serenading some girls or something.”

  “Me? Never. This is strictly my own hobby, for my own enjoyment.”

  “Really? Because I heard that was how you and Madison Lane became…close,” she said and then stood up. He immediately pulled her between his legs, a little too roughly and she wound up pressed against him. She gripped his shoulders and he stared up at her.

  It was crazy. The attraction, the desire to kiss her. Her eyes were so incredible. “Your eyes are stunning, Ivy. They sparkle when you’re singing. When you’re happy,” he said to her and so badly he felt the urge to kiss her, but he couldn’t. It would cause nothing but trouble. He was too old for her. She was too young, too inexperienced.

  She stared at him and he knew he could steal a kiss. Could just get a taste of her lips and then end it. Make it seem like nothing at all. “Hmm,” she said as if annoyed, or unimpressed. She stepped back. He glided his palm along her ass, completely taking advantage of her tumbling against him.

  “What?” he asked. She glanced at him and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

  “Nothing.” She looked around the place. “Well, the place is all yours to practice your technique,” she said and then walked over to her bags and grabbed them. She fixed the vase of flowers and made sure the little brochures were neat.

  “Practice my technique?” he asked as she walked past him and toward the door.

  “You serenading tactics. Good luck,” she said and headed out the door.

  He felt so confused, and then it hit him. She blew him off. Acted like she was too mature, too knowledgeable of a man’s tactics. What in God’s name just happened? Why the hell didn’t I make a move and kiss her? Shit.

  “He did what?” Faith asked.

  “Johnny was going to kiss me, and the other night at the bar, Keller looked like he wanted to and he squeezed my ass, Faith. I swear, I don’t know what’s going on. They’re acting strangely, and after Keller’s slick move, Bronc and Angus have been fierce. Even at the MMA gym they’re really slowing down the moves as if to touch me more. I don’t know what to think,” she growled as she held her head down, her elbows on the bar as they waited for more customers to arrive.

  “Holy shit, the Shelton brothers? That’s just downright scary. I mean, complete intimidation.”

  “Yeah, thanks, Faith,” she replied sarcastically.

  Faith just stared at her. Ivy lifted up and fixed her hair, slid her hands along her tight blue jeans. She even decided not to wear her shorts because of them and the guilt she felt, or maybe the fear that they could come by and reprimand her. But she also wore a T-back tank top that accentuated her large breasts and toned, muscular arms and back. It was a midriff tank so her belly showed completely. It was like she feared their reaction, yet wanted to get a reaction from them. Maybe to feel some sort of control here. She was confused, and that annoyed her. If they were just being protective, then why was she feeling an attraction? Why couldn’t she stop thinking about them in a more romantic way than as friends? “I’m losing my mind. Maybe I’m just imagining things. I’ve known them for years. They
were more like brothers when I was younger.”