by Desiree Holt
Thanks, guys.
So now what? she asked herself. Stay here and have her own private pity party when she should have been shouting her joy from the rooftops? She was officially a lawyer. Certified and everything. She wasn’t ready to head back to work, and the brand new position she had waiting for her. Not yet. She wanted these last few hours of festivity before she stepped into the mixmaster again.
Get it together, Sarah. Have another drink and get to bed. Alone. The plane leaves early tomorrow.
If only a hot sexy guy would show up in her universe to help her finish this last night out in style. Someone who would sweep her off her feet and make these last hours totally memorable. Make mad passionate love to her so she could enjoy these last hours of freedom with wild abandon.
Huh! What? Was she nuts? She wasn’t given to erotic flights of fancy or sex with strangers.
“Excuse me. Do you mind if I join you?”
The deep voice startled her. She lifted her gaze and looked up…and up…and up at the tall man standing beside her table.
Ohmigod!
Her breath caught in her throat and her pulse jittered in an uneven beat. Every erogenous zone in her body stood up and begged. Sarah had read about instant chemistry in the romance novels that were her secret vice. All of her girl parts were certainly standing up and shouting for her to pay close attention. Sarah had dated a lot of really hot guys, been strongly attracted to a few of them, but no one had ever flipped her On switch as fast as this man. One minute she was sitting there wondering how to salvage what was left of the weekend and the night. The next she was on fire with sexual heat.
And all she’d done was look at him.
I’m definitely losing my mind as well as my senses.
His lean muscular body had to be well over six feet. Dirty blond hair hung to just above his collar and framed a face that was starkly masculine, with a square jaw, high cheekbones and thick eyebrows. He smiled, showing even, white teeth. Even in the muted light of the cocktail lounge she could see the flash of a tiny dimple at the corner of his mouth.
Where had he come from? Had she dreamed him or was he really standing right next to her? Well she had asked for a hot sexy guy and like magic one had appeared. Did it have something to do with those New Orleans spells she always heard so much about? Could she possibly lock him away?
She took a sip of her wine to steady herself.
“Uh…Um…” Oh, good answer, Sarah. Very smooth.
The smile dimmed slightly. “Sorry. I just saw you sitting here by yourself and thought…” He shook his head. “Never mind. This was probably a bad idea. If you’d rather send me on my way just say so.”
That deep, husky voice seemed to reach right inside her and vibrate through her body. Somehow she found her own voice.
“Um, no, please. Sit down. Here. Uh, with me.”
Great conversationalist, Sarah. Okay, she must be taking stupid lessons. She was a college graduate with a law degree and a major in English and all she could say was Um? But the sheer magnetism and sexuality of him froze her brain cells.
He pulled out the chair nearest to her and folded his big body into it. In the soft light from the little lamp on the table she could see that his eyes were a deep chocolate with tiny flecks of gold. The lashes that framed them would be the envy of any woman. Sarah thought maybe she could fall into them and drown in their heat.
The cocktail waitress hurried over to clear the table of the debris left by the others and took Mr. Hot Stuff’s drink order. He indicated she should bring another for Sarah, also, then turned his very penetrating gaze back to her.
“I happened to notice all your friends got up and left you here by yourself.”
“Yeah.” She chuckled. “I guess they had more interesting things to do.”
He shrugged. “Mine did, too. I thought maybe we could keep each other company.”
“Sure. That would be nice.” Hookups with strange men in cocktail lounges, no matter how swanky the surroundings, weren’t even in her wheelhouse. But tonight was different. He was different. And somehow, because of everything, she was different, too. She held out her hand. “Sarah York.”
His hand, when he wrapped it around hers, was warm and strong and slightly calloused. It sent sizzling tingles racing up her arm. “Beau Parisi.”
She widened her eyes slightly. Really? Beau Parisi? “Former running back for the LSU Tigers? Star running back?”
Good lord! The fantasy gods were really working overtime tonight.
One corner of his mouth ticked up in a half-grin. “The same. I take it you’re a football, fan?”
“Yes.” She laughed. “But not LSU, sorry to say. University of Michigan all the way.”
Beau picked up his bottle of beer, poured some into his glass and swallowed some of it. “Too bad.” He winked. “But I’ll forgive you anyway.”
Sarah watched with fascination as he drank from the glass again, the corded muscles of his neck flexing smoothly as he swallowed. She had an unexpected urge to smooth her hand over his skin and feel those muscles shift and play beneath her touch. As she studied him a little piece of information niggled in her brain. “You play for the New Orleans Panthers now, right?”
He lowered the glass and nodded. “Busted.”
“Sorry.” She shrugged. “Work’s hard but I hang onto my Sundays. My family thinks I have an uncontrollable addiction to the game.”
“I’ll bet you have brothers who are pigskin hounds,” he guessed.
“No. Just a dad I idolized who taught me everything there was to know about it.”
“In that case, I’ll drink a toast to him.” He lifted his glass, tilted it slightly and took a deep swallow. “So how come you only get Sundays to yourself?”
Sarah sipped her wine again, savoring the smooth taste of the Riesling. “Law school. Grind, grind, grind.” She chuckled. “I figured out they think if they don’t kill us we’ll survive in the legal world.”
He lifted his eyebrow. “You don’t even get Saturdays off?”
“Ha! Saturdays are no different than Wednesdays when you’re a law student, except you spend them in the library or a study group instead of in class.”
“But you’re finished now,” he guessed.
She nodded. “Just got the word that I passed.” She flipped her hand at the empty chairs. “All of us. We went to law school together and were in the same study group. We decided we’d treat ourselves to a weekend blast to celebrate.”
He tilted his head, studying her. “How long have you been in town?”
“Three days. We’ve partied plenty but tomorrow it’s back to work.”
“Three days in New Orleans, huh? There’s plenty to party down with her in The Big Easy.”
He leaned forward, studying her intently. Light from the small lamp on the table highlighted the flex of muscles in his forearms and caught the golden hair scattered over the skin.
“Sarah?”
She blinked herself back to reality. “Sorry. Must have spaced out there for a minute.”
He flashed that hundred-watt smile at her again. “I’d hate to think I was boring you,” he teased.
“What?” She brushed her hair back from her face. “Oh, no. No, no, no. Not at all.”
Wow. Wasn’t she turning into just the most brilliant conversationalist? What was next, drooling on the table? Well, maybe, if she kept looking at the sex god sitting next to her.
“What I meant to say is, I’m glad that you sat down with me. Did you say your friends ran out on you, too?”
Oh, damn. “Ran out” wasn’t the phrase she wanted to use.
He chuckled, that sexy raspy sound that made her nipples ache and a pulse throb hard between her thighs. Oh, my god. What was going on with her? Two minutes with this guy and she was like a horny teenager.
“More like they had things to do and I didn’t,” he said. “I thought maybe two people sitting by themselves would have more fun if they sat together so I thoug
ht I’d take a chance.”
Sarah made herself relax. After all, how often did she get to have drinks with a football god like Beau Perini? What a great way to end this trip to The Big Easy.
“I’m glad you came. Over,” she quickly added, feeling her face heat.
“Me, too.” He winked. “So what brought you all to New Orleans for your big party time?” He pronounced it N’Awlins, like most of the natives.
“One of the guys in our study group had been here a lot. He convinced us it would be a great place for a massive celebration.”
“And was it?”
“Oh, yes.” She grinned at him. “In spades. We hit all the great bars and restaurants and even did some sightseeing. Had beignets at Café Du Monde. You know. The usual stuff.”
“And do you feel like you got the celebration out of your system?” he asked.
Almost, she wanted to say.
“Almost?” He lifted one of those great eyebrows again.
Oh, damn. Had she actually said the word out loud? Because idiotic as it was, she wanted to finish out her big party with the sex god sitting next to her. Beau Perini! The partners at the firm where she worked would go apeshit if they knew she was thinking about sex with Beau Perini!
Wait. Having sex? How had she gone from having a conversation to having sex?
“You must have some very heavy thoughts weighing on your mind.”
His fingers stroked along her forearm, sending sharp spikes of heat stabbing through her. That only made her breasts feel heavier and that damn throbbing pulse increase its pounding. She lifted her wine again with her other hand and took another gulp. Maybe she should slow down before she got drunk on her ass here.
“Um…” There she went with that Um again. “Not really. Just thinking how glad I am that you wandered over here to keep me company.”
“I didn’t exactly wander over.” His fingertip was now making circles on her skin, sending little shivers skating along her spine.
She drew in a breath, but the rich woodsy scent he was wearing, with just a hint of lemon to it, sent a call for immediate action to every part of her body, especially her hormones.
“No?”
“Uh uh. I actually had my eye on you the whole time you were sitting here. I was just waiting to see if you were coupled up with one of the guys.”
She giggled, thinking of the guys from her study group. They were all like brothers, with no sexual appeal for her at all. She didn’t know how the other women in the group were even attracted to them after hanging out with them in grubby situations for three years.
“Not a chance,” she told him. “They can sleep on my couch but not in my bed.” Oops. Did she really say that?
“Oh?” His eyes narrowed. “Who does sleep in your bed?”
“No one at the moment.” How had they gotten onto this topic?
“That include tonight, too?”
He lifted one of her hands, opened her palm and pressed his lips to the spot on her wrist where her pulse now pounded so strongly. The sudden darkening of his eyes let her know he was aware how he affected her. Whoa! Things were moving way fast here but she wasn’t sure she could stop them. Or even wanted to.
“Most likely. I mean, we just met, right?”
He leaned closer to her, tucked a finger under her chin and turned her head so she faced him completely. That contact was like a match touched to her skin. When he spoke his breath was a warm breeze on her skin.
“Maybe that just means, with our time limited, we should get to know each other faster.”
His mouth was so close to hers she had to restrain herself from leaning that hairs’ breadth closer to touch hers to him. She was playing a dangerous game here, enveloped in a charged sexual atmosphere with a total stranger. Except he wasn’t really that. Hadn’t she seen him plenty of times on television? He was practically an old friend.
Just keep telling yourself that.
He leaned in so close to her that his breath was a warm breeze on her face. She was mesmerized, locked in place, waiting, waiting, waiting. He tucked one finger beneath her chin to tilt her head to a better angle. Then his mouth touched hers, his firm lips warm against hers, the contact so soft and gentle it was a caress. As light as the contact was it sent lightning sparking through her system and froze her breath in her lungs.
She had absolutely no idea how long they sat there like that, completely ignoring the fact they were sitting in a public place. It was Beau who finally broke the contact, lifting his lips from hers a tiny bit. Fire danced in his melted chocolate eyes and a flush stained his high cheekbones.
“What do you say we blow this pop stand and I walk you to your door?”
“Uh, okay. I mean, yes. I mean, that would really be nice. I’d like that.”
She could feel trouble surrounding her like a thick blanket and she really didn’t care. Tomorrow she’d be jumping back into the legal grind with both feet. Who knew if she’d even have time for a date, much less spend the night with the hottest man she’d ever met. She sat there in an erotic fog while Beau settled the bill and helped her to her feet. His hand at the base of her spine as he guided her from the bar was warm, nearly searing her skin through the thin fabric of her blouse.
“Room number?” he asked.
Sarah swallowed, moistening her dry throat. “Um, twenty four twelve.”
At the elevator he slipped his arm around her, pulling her easily to his side. Talk about heat! She wondered if his thermostat had an Off setting to it.
Two other couples and some singles got onto the elevator with them. Beau nudged her toward the back of the car and put his arm around her again, tugging her close to him. He slid his hand beneath her arm so his fingers were touching the side of her breast. Fire licked at her. She wondered if the pulse pounding in her pussy was so loud the other people couldn’t hear it, because it certainly reverberated through her entire body.
She fidgeted as the elevator made frequent stops on its upward rise. By now Sarah’s nerves were strung so tight she thought perhaps they might snap like rubber bands. She was really doing this. She could hardly believe it. But Beau Perini had somehow bewitched her and sent all her hormones into freefell. At last, after what felt like an hour they finally reached her floor. Beau guided her out of the elevator car and down the hallway. At the door to her room he smiled at her and held out his hand.
“Key?”
She fumbled in the pocket of her jeans where she’d stashed it, drawing it out and handing it to him. She didn’t even think to argue. By this time her thermostat was approaching redline and she just wanted to get into the room and get naked with him.
I really am losing my mind.
But she couldn’t make herself care. Couldn’t even make herself think.
As soon as they were in the room Beau threw the locks then reached for her, turned her and backed her against the door. His hands cupped her cheeks, turning her face up to him as his mouth came down on hers. His lips were firm and warm, molding to hers. He kissed each corner of her mouth, traced the edges with his tongue then drew a line across the seam. Despite the fact the touch was so barely there, moisture flooded her panties again and her nipples swelled to become impossibly hard. Just Beau’s touch was enough to ignite her.
He brushed her bottom lip with the tip of his tongue, the erotic contact setting off a cascade of sparks throughout her body. And when he urged her lips apart so he could trust his tongue inside her mouth she had to cling to him to keep herself upright.
His grip on her head tightened as he scoured every inner inch of her mouth, his tongue a flame setting fire to every place it touched. She tangled her own tongue with his, relishing the taste of him, sucking hard on him.
Beau pressed his body against hers. The thick hard ridge of his erection imprinting itself on her mound through the thin layers of their clothing. The walls of her pussy pulsated, hungry to be filled with his cock.
Mouth still sealed to hers he slid his hands down to h
er breasts, cupping them and kneading them. As he thrust his tongue more deeply into her mouth he pinched both of her nipples. Suddenly her bra felt too tight beneath the soft silk of her shirt, her nipples swelling and hardening even more as he tweaked and rolled them.
Beau slid his mouth from hers and trailed his lips slowly down her neck, gently sucking and nipping as he left a damp trail on her heated skin. He moved slowly to the hollow of her throat, closing his lips over the fragile skin there, sucking in the pulse beating beneath the surface. Then he trailed the line of her jaw before reaching and nibbling the soft flesh of her ear lobe.
By this time Sarah was panting with need, her body quivering and every erogenous zone silently begging for satisfaction and fulfillment.
Beau released her nipples to reach for the buttons on her blouse, slowly pushing each one free. When he reached the last one he pulled the tails free from her waistband and slid the fabric down her arms. When he stared hard at her breasts she momentarily gave thanks that for whatever reason, tonight she’d chosen sexy satin and lace lingerie.
With his tongue he traced the upper swell of her breasts, dipping lightly into the valley between them before laving them over and over. When he drew a nipple into his mouth, fabric and all, and sucked hard electricity shot straight from the pebbled bud to the center of her pussy. A match touched to her couldn’t have ignited her more. His touch was both erotic and reverent, the flames burning in all her sensitive places yet at the same time he made her feel cherished.
Bracing herself between his body and the door she slid her hands around to his back and yanked the tails of his shirt from his slacks. Skimming her hands over his hot flesh she traced every ridge of muscle, every sculpted cut of his body.
“Ohhh!” she sighed when he gently bit her nipple.
When he lifted his head she cried out at the absence of his touch, then sighed when he lifted her and carried her to the bed. He sat her at the edge and brushed a kiss on her mouth.
“Don’t move,” he ordered.
As if she could.
Swiftly and with an economy of movement he stripped off his clothes, tossing them onto the bench at the foot of the bed. Sarah’s eyes widened and she was sure she was drooling as her gaze took in his body in all its glory. His body was definitely that of a toned athlete, all hard planes and muscles, flat abdomen and solid chest. His flat male nipples, a dark bronze color, peeped through curls two shades darker than the hair on his head.