I was tired, actually, and my feet hurt. They always did after a shift at the bar. The bed looked comfortable enough and mostly clean. Not only that, Shade genuinely wasn’t putting any moves on me. He seemed to be relaxed and enjoying his drink.
“Okay,” I said, expecting him to scoot over and make room.
“You wanna climb over me or use those legs of yours to walk around to the other side?” he asked, sounding amused. “I’m not moving my ass just so you can steal the warm spot.”
“You sure aren’t…”
Shade’s mouth quirked. “Aren’t what?”
“Aren’t trying very hard to get me into bed,” I said. A giggle broke free and I felt my cheeks warm. Shade shrugged.
“We covered this. Now you sitting your ass down or not? I want another drink, so hand that bottle over.”
“You’re full of shit!” I said, waving my hand grandly. My drink sloshed and I licked the side of the cup, because this whiskey was way too good to waste even a single drop. “Wonder Woman is better than Batman. She’s got real power, not just fancy toys. Although she has those, too, which means anything Batman can do, she can do better.”
“Nope,” Shade said, shaking his head seriously. “She’s hot, I’ll give her that, but he’d take her in a fair fight.”
I held up a hand for him to wait as I polished off my booze.
“No way. She’s a goddess of war and she’s one of the best hand-to-hand fighters in history. She’s got an invisible jet, for God’s sake. How can you compete with that? All he has is a bunch of money and the stupid Batmobile.”
“Hand over the cup,” Shade said, narrowing his eyes.
“Why?” I asked, narrowing mine right back. I was good and drunk now, and I wasn’t sure I was ready to be done for the night.
“Demonstration,” he replied. “C’mon. Or are you chicken?”
“What are we, kindergartners?”
“You’re the one insisting Wonder Woman can take Batman,” he replied. “Chicken.”
Then he leaned toward me, raising a single finger to poke me in the center of my chest. Not copping a feel or anything remotely sexual, either. This was pure taunt. I handed him the cup and he tossed it on the floor, nearly falling off the bed in the process. I smirked—guess I wasn’t the only drunk one. Then he started listing to the side and I lunged for him, grabbing his shirt to keep him from going over.
Shade caught my arm, using the momentum to pull me onto his body with sudden force. My hands hit his chest and I raised my head to stare at him, stunned.
“What the hell are you doing?” I asked. Shade wrapped his arms around my waist, holding me tight to his body.
“Demonstrating.”
I frowned, trying to figure it out, and then he rolled over, pinning me with his body. One of his knees came down between my thighs, spreading my legs. My hands were trapped tight against his chest, our faces inches apart. My head spun from the booze and as he grinned at me, I realized I’d made a very serious mistake.Shade was nowhere near as drunk as me.
Not even close.
“Batman will always win,” he said, giving me that same predatory look that’d scared the crap out of me earlier. It still scared me a little, but it was exciting, too. I could smell him, all leather and whiskey and pure sex. There was something about being held down like this…like I could just relax and let it happen, without having to take responsibility for it.
Shut the fuck up, Mandy. You think Wonder Woman would settle for this?
She really wouldn’t.
“You should let me go,” I told Shade, my voice firm.
“Admit that Batman would beat Wonder Woman and I will,” he said, his voice penetrating the fog clogging my mind. “He’s stronger and he can hold his liquor better. It’s basic physics. Throw in some chemistry with all that body mass and Wonder Woman doesn’t have a chance.”
“Fuck you,” I whispered, mesmerized. There were tingles rushing through me and my head was spinning. All I could see were his eyes, dark and pulsing with something that had absolutely nothing to do with the relative fighting strengths of superheroes.
“You can fuck me any time you want, baby,” he said. The words were low, grating with a need so intense I clenched my thighs. Stop this. Stop it right now or you’ll let him do it. I lunged toward him with my teeth and he laughed, pinning me with his hips, his cock rock hard against my stomach.
“You can’t win,” Shade taunted. “I’m stronger than you.”
“I thought this was about superheroes,” I managed to say, shoving at his chest. He reached between us, grabbing my wrists and pinning them over my head one at a time, until both were held tight in one strong hand.
“What are we, in kindergarten?” he asked, repeating my own words mockingly. Then he ground his hips into mine. The weight of his body pulled down the neck of my shirt and I knew all sorts of cleavage was on display.
You can use this, my inner Wonder Woman whispered. Take back control. Do it for me and Hippolyta and all the other Amazons. Teach him a lesson. I wished I could but he had a point with the whole physics thing.
I’ve never even owned a magic lasso, I told her mournfully.
The sexy bastard causing all my trouble stayed silent, waiting me out.
“One kiss,” I said finally, glaring. Shade smiled.
“One kiss in exchange for what?”
“Letting me go.”
“I can just take a kiss and keep you here,” he said. “New deal. One kiss and you admit Wonder Woman would lose. Then I’ll let you go.”
“Absolutely not. No kiss, no admission,” I countered. “In exchange, you let me go and I won’t press charges for assault.”
Shade burst out laughing. “Pretty ballsy for someone stuck in the middle of a Reapers’ clubhouse without a cell phone or a ride home.”
He made a good point.
Think about what I’d do in this situation, Wonder Woman said firmly. Are you really going to let this biker win? Kick his ass!
Unfortunately, my best thinking parts were all drunk, which meant that the non-thinking parts—specifically those between my legs—were taking over fast. They sort of liked the idea of Batman in charge, and Shade was already dressed in black and everything. Behave, I instructed them firmly.