Sixteen Weeks Later - Taylor Rylan

1

Dax

“Dax? Are you even hearing me?”

“Huh?” I asked as I turned my attention from the smoking-hot man at the other end of the bar to my best friend, Ethan. He smirked and shook his head at me.

“Go on. You know you want to.”

“What? Are you insane? No way! He’s hot. Like way-out-of-my-league hot.”

Ethan leaned around me and sent superhot guy a wave. A wave! Fuck. My. Life.

“You did not just do that.”

“Yep. I guess you didn’t want him to come over here?” Ethan asked, and like the idiot I was, I turned around and looked. Superhot guy smiled at me before gesturing to the bartender, and I turned back around to glare at Ethan.

“You’re dead. I’m going to kill you tonight in your sleep, dude,” I told Ethan before heading toward the door. The bar was packed, and my escape was way slower than I would have liked. But when I was within feet of the door, I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned, ready to bitch out Ethan. Only it wasn’t Ethan. My eyes connected with light-colored eyes, and I wondered what they’d look like in better lighting.

Up closer I realized several things about Mr. Outta My League. One, he was so much hotter up close. Two, he was older than I thought. His temples were going gray, and he definitely had laugh lines etched in around his eyes. It didn’t matter though—they just made me want him more. Damn. The third thing I noticed was that he definitely had a commanding presence about him, and that just added to the package. Double damn.

“Leaving already?” he asked, and I squeaked. Yep, I sure as shit did. Like a mouse. There was no other way to describe it. I could only nod and tried to flee, but nope, that was no longer an option, it seemed, because the hand that had been on my shoulder was now wrapped around my bicep, and I could feel the hot breath in my ear as superhot guy leaned in to whisper in my ear. “Come home with me. I promise to make you scream my name at least twice.”

I whimpered. First I was squeaking, and now I was whimpering. I couldn’t say no. My body was on fire and the man had only whispered in my ear. Who the hell was he? I cleared my throat and turned to look at him, and damn if he didn’t have a confident look on his face. It was like he already knew I was going to say yes.

“And what name am I going to be screaming?”

“Anderson. And you are?”

“Dax,” I replied without thinking. Damn. Why didn’t I give a fake name? Shit. Oh well, it wasn’t like I’d ever see him again after tonight. I’d let him fuck me into oblivion, and then I’d stumble back home when I was able to walk again. Come Monday morning, I’d be back to my normal routine of getting up too early and hoping like fuck I made it through my final semester of college.

“Well, Dax. What do you say? One night. No strings and I promise you’ll not regret it.”

I nodded yes, and then we were quickly walking out the door. Actually, he was practically dragging me to the curb. When we reached it, he opened the back door of the Uber and ushered me inside. It was after we were on our way that I thought about my own safety. Damn, I really shouldn’t be heading home with a stranger.

“Calm down,” Anderson told me as he handed the Uber driver a wad of bills some time later. It was then that I realized we had stopped and Anderson was once again tugging me out of a door.

“What’s with you? You have a thing about manhandling people?” I asked as I looked at the two-story house that screamed affluent. Fuck. Anderson was legit. He had a nice house, and I had…nothing. “Umm, maybe I should just go,” I said, too late. I watched as the Uber drove off. No problem. I could just use my app and get another one. I pulled out my phone, but Anderson’s hand on it had me looking up into his eyes. He wasn’t too much taller than me—two or three inches—but it was enough I had to look up.

“Dax, calm down. I’m not going to hurt you. In fact, text your friend you were with my name and address now so he knows where you are. But if you seriously