by Mina Snowe
Now Fiona knew her way around a man and could twist one around her dainty little finger. She’d always had a knack for handling the male of the species, making them feel like kings with empty flattery and coy smiles. Four years younger than Olivia, Fiona was the very image of a beauty queen. She moved with grace and dressed with style. Her makeup was always flawless, her manners impeccable—when she wanted. One would wonder if she woke up in the morning perfectly groomed and ready to go.
Yeah, Fiona was what Olivia could never hope to be. Luckily, Olivia didn’t want to be Fiona. Not that Fiona was better than her in everything. Olivia’s own almond-shaped green eyes were probably her most redeeming feature. Those eyes, she suspected, tended to give away a little more about her than she wished anyone to know. And her full lips were once described by an artist friend of hers as “luscious, full and perfect…an artist’s dream.” Although she had nothing against her lips, she didn’t know how true a declaration that was. She suspected that same artist was just trying to get in her good graces. Or more likely in her pants. She suppressed a snort at that thought.
All she knew was how she felt inside, those hidden feelings she kept safely tucked in the recesses of her heart. Perhaps one day someone would see through her easygoing, pleasant façade. Her passions ran deep and strong and dark. Sometimes they overwhelmed her so much her thoughts and emotions were just too hard to contain, and on the hardest and loneliest days, tears would fall unrestrained. Nothing seemed to move her lately but the fantasies she submitted to late at night in the privacy of her bedroom—visions of bondage and love, commanding words and tender endearments.
Those times, in the dark, she could free her soul to uninhibited abandon in the pursuit of her deepest desires. She longed to be cherished and conquered, her heart ruled and utterly loved. She wondered if any man would ever manage to call to her true self. That part of her that craved to be tamed and burned with hot kisses, gentle bites and the caress of a strong, loving hand.
Take Mr. Gorgeous right here. He probably had centerfolds for breakfast, lunch and dinner as a daily routine. He looked like just the type of guy who would have no problems dating whomever he chose without reservations. Oh yeah, he’d no doubt make Countess Elizabeth de Bathory convert to a life of charity and fall in a besotted heap at his feet. He was the kind who could and would take anything he wanted and had the power to discard it when he was done with it. He made her core ache with need and her nipples tingle. Her own devil incarnate, sent to lead her into the bowels of lurid, decadent temptation. Would that be true!
That day three weeks ago when she’d heard his husky, deep voice for the first time, she’d thought she’d die. She’d never met—or heard—anyone who could make her wet just by the sound of his voice…
All she knew about Cole Evans was that he was a high-powered corporate lawyer in NYC and that he was brother to Chad, her sister Fiona’s soon-to-be husband. For some reason, they kept missing each other when she attended family get-togethers during the last two years.
And what had she been missing! She’d seen some family photos of Chad and Cole when they were boys, but she had no idea what he looked like now. To be true, he had actually made it to her parents’ house in Nashville for the engagement party about six months before, but he had disappeared to handle some emergency at his office before she had a chance to take a look at him. She would never admit to anybody how disappointed she had felt that evening. Strangely, she had always thought of Cole as an intriguing person, someone she knew she’d like to know.
When her secretary transferred his call to her office, he was the last person she expected to hear on the other line.
“Hello, Olivia. This is Cole, Chad’s brother. I hope I’m not calling at a bad time.”
“Oh…hello, nice to finally hear you.” No kidding. Nice didn’t come close. Hmm…where did he get that voice? “You’re fine. So how’s it going? Can’t believe Fiona’s finally getting hitched.”
“I never thought Chad was the marrying type either, but hey, I guess pigs can fly.”
She thought she heard a chuckle on the other side. Bet he was just the regular devil with women. Her curiosity was getting the better of her. That was when he popped the question.
“Olivia, I was thinking. How do you feel about us taking the same flight to Georgia? We’ve never had the chance to meet, so I thought it’d be nice to take a day or so to see the sights in Atlanta before we drive up to Villa Catalana for the wedding. After all, we’re about to be family. Don’t know about you, but I sure need a break from all this craziness.”
Oh my, my, my. Someone pass her a fan or something! Why did he make her feel like a clumsy teen about to go on her first date?
“Sure, I know what you mean, and your idea sounds great. Actually, I have a hook-up. My best friend Lisa is a flight attendant with Delta, and she always has tons of buddy passes. Perhaps I can squeeze an extra one out of her.”
Now why did she say that? She must be going completely mad.
“That would be awesome. I’ll book a hotel somewhere downtown for one night. That one’s on me,” he drawled, and she proceeded to melt into a puddle right there in the middle of her office. Images of hot, damp bodies writhing, hands caressing, tongues licking, mouths exploring darted through her head in a dizzying kaleidoscope.
“We will have time to rest and get on the road the next morning. I hear it’s scorching hot in the South right now.”
Hot. In the South. His voice brought her back to reality, and her heartbeat soared with the speed of light. They chatted for a couple more minutes before Cole told her he had to rush into a meeting.
“It was great talking to you. I look forward to spending some time together.”
“Me too.”
The “beep” of the phone as she hung up reverberated in the silence of the room; she went still for a minute and took a deep breath.
A few days later, she sent him an email to confirm she had both tickets, and to suggest a meeting place and time. He responded with a short thank-you note, letting her know he was really looking forward to seeing her. She didn’t know what to make of that but was sure she shouldn’t make too much of it. She hadn’t spoken or heard from him again since then.
She spent the entire three weeks obsessing, wondering what he looked like, what he smelled like. Did he go for dark chocolate and toasted marshmallows? Did he hate peppers on his pizza? What kind of sheets covered his body at night?
Chad did mention once that his brother was very tall and big and that he had been a football star in college. Hard to believe considering that Chad himself was a scrawny piece of work. He was the little man with the big personality, a sort of mini Napoleon; one of those people who could sell ice to the Eskimos—really—and had bulldozed his way through to a VP of Sales position in a global IT corporation. He had met Fiona a couple of years earlier when he was interviewing candidates for an Executive Secretary position right after his promotion. The eternal opportunist, her younger sister saw her chance to snag a great catch and worked her charm to great effect. She didn’t get the secretary position, but, in her own words, she got the better end of the bargain. The rest, as they say, was history.
* * * *
“Olivia…it’s me, Cole. Did you not recognize me? I kept calling your name, but you didn’t hear me.”
She almost jumped.
This was it then. After spending every single night during the last three weeks working her vibrator and giving free reign to visions of wild, steamy sex with Cole Evans, it was finally time to put a face and body to the subject of her highly charged sensual bondage fantasies. If she could ever find her voice, that is. And after she managed to pick up her jaw from the ground and stop her traitorous pulse from pounding Beethoven’s Ninth in her head.
Last night she had lain in her bed, her skin still damp from her shower, her mind racing with thoughts of Cole; she could barely take the feeling of anticipation any more. She was so wet and turned on that she couldn’
t even wait to switch her vibrator on. Running her hands all over her upper body, she slid her palms over her breasts and let herself moan in pleasure while she lightly pinched her nipples. She writhed at the contact, arched her back and thrust her breasts out, the hardened tips stabbing at the cool air of the bedroom and sending urgent messages to Command Central—her soaking wet core…
She envisioned Cole there with her, teasing her, his tongue swirling around the peaks, wetting them first, then sucking hard just the way she liked it. As he moved between her thighs, she’d run her hands down his back to his buttocks, squeezing the firm, muscular globes and opening herself to the thrusts of his thick, long, beautiful cock. She bit her bottom lip at the thought and brought her hand down to her curls, finding and exploring the source of her pleasure.
That swollen bit of throbbing flesh responded, loud and clear. Damn, she was ready to come. She flicked her thumb on her clit and slid two fingers—hard and fast—in her drenched pussy. That was all it took to make her close her eyes tight, throw her head back and cry out in the night. She was racked with an orgasm so strong that she slept straight through the night—without waking as she customarily did at four AM—until she sensed the first rays of the sun hailing a new day outside her window.
“Hey there.” Mortified at her thoughts, she tamped them down. “Sorry about that. Been having a lot on my mind lately.” Yes, him. Had she gone hoarse all of a sudden? Taking a firm hold on herself, she returned his smile.
“No problem.”
He held out his hand and grabbed hers in a warm, solid grip. He squeezed lightly, and then slowly, perhaps a little too slowly, he let go, briefly trailing his fingers over her palm.
The simple contact of skin against skin was devastating to her senses. A sharp jolt started in the pit of her belly and traveled all the way around her body, then made a beeline straight to her sex. She tightened her muscles and closed her legs in a tight vise, trying to appear composed while her clit throbbed furiously and her nipples felt tight and swollen and the skin chafed against the lace of her bra.
Why was she acting so hormonal?
She had no clue how she was going to spend two hours sitting in such close proximity to the man without suffering the jitters. She wondered what she had gotten herself into. Where was the gin and tonic? Lord help her….
His eyes were brilliant as he looked directly into hers, and what she saw in them compelled her to avert her gaze. Her skin felt hot and clammy, and she found herself at a loss for words. Something was happening between them, yeah, just that fast—like a quick woven spell in real time—and she wasn’t sure how to handle it. It was almost as if his manner had turned predatory, or perhaps that was just the way he was and he was merely starting to show his stripes. He looked like a sleek, hungry panther ready to pounce on its prey.
This was too much. How could anybody look like that and be…well, darn! It should be against the law for him to be able to wreak such havoc on her senses. … But no, she must surely be imagining things. The very idea was ludicrous; she barely knew the guy, for Chrissakes!
His lips twitched almost imperceptibly, as if he had sensed her discomfort and was secretly relishing it. He slid his hands in his pocket and, when she found the courage to look back up at him, he caught her eye and curved his mouth again in that sexy, sensual smile. She wasn’t going to back away this time. Their eyes locked for a few seconds, and she couldn’t summon a coherent thought as the world stopped on its axis. She felt herself flush to the roots of her hair and had to make a conscious effort to turn around and look towards the e-ticketing counter. It would be a miracle if she could finally manage to utter a word. Frustrated, a string of curses slipped like a marquee through the forefront of her thoughts.
“So…uh, shall we check in?”
To her eternal relief and disappointment, the strange moment was over.
“Aisle seat by the exit door, if you don’t mind.”
He smiled ruefully, looked down apologetically at his impossibly long legs, then up again at her, flashing a knock-me-senseless grin.
“Sure.” She grinned back. If nothing else, this was going to be interesting.
Chapter Two
The woman was a goddess. Six whole months he had waited. Six months during which the demands of his job had cost him his private life.
No more.
He had big plans for his future, and they included three-hundred-and-sixty-degree changes. Since the day he got his first glimpse of her at Chad and Fiona’s engagement party, he knew that she would one day be his. She looked like an Amazon, tall, luscious, almost regal in countenance, a perfectly proportioned hourglass figure and legs that wouldn’t quit. Her presence and her smile had filled the room; he could still hear her laughter as if it were yesterday. Her lush body, ripe and rounded, had no hint of rough edges, only softness, just like a real woman’s body should be. He never did like skinny women. He wanted to feel a woman’s soft touch, a soft, thick body he could sink into and ride hard to completion without the fear of breaking her into tiny little pieces. In short, if she didn’t have some meat on her bones, he wouldn’t spare her a second glance.
Olivia was perfect. Her body just screamed sensuality, and she exuded allure with a mere glance. The way she swayed her wide hips when she walked made him want to tear her pants to shreds, push her down to her knees and ride her well and hard right there in the middle of the airport, without a care to who was watching. And those eyes—a deeper, richer hue than the emerald waters in the Caribbean—he could drown in their depths and stay locked in them forever. Her slanted, exotic features gave her a feline sort of look, her high cheekbones perfectly aligned, a mouth so full and wide it was made for loving.
His dick got instantly hard at the image of her on her knees at his feet, pleasuring him. He would run his hands through her magnificent mane of dark curly hair, twisting it tightly around his fingers and trapping it in his fist, while she wrapped those juicy lips around him, taking his whole length in her mouth, licking and sucking... driving him to mind-bending release as he finally exploded and flooded her throat with his seed.
His groin tightened to a point where he felt uncomfortable walking. If he didn’t have her soon, he’d go nuts. He was tired of masturbating in the shower, visions of taking her frenziedly in a whirlwind of unadulterated, animal sex filling his mind.
There was only one way to get himself out of this predicament…
Capture her and make her his. Possess her. Brand her as his own, once and for all. Olivia belonged to him and no one else. She just didn’t know it yet.
Chad was never one to balk at opportunity. As a successful corporate lawyer, he knew all about the importance of acting at the right time, in the right place. He wasn’t a saint and never claimed to be. A woman always seemed to be there, at arm’s reach, but vapid sex didn’t move him anymore. He wanted mind-blowing sex. He wanted a true mate who would grow with him and mean more to him than a night of meaningless copulation.
So he was a man who knew what he wanted and went for it—and he wanted this woman. Wanted her fiercely, like a thirsting tiger that has been denied water too long. Something about her called to his basest instincts. He wanted her bound and blindfolded, lying spread-eagled on his bed, her body flushed and warm from his touch, mouth and breasts plump from his kisses, while she begged him to thrust his hard cock in her moist, welcoming heat, crying for the ultimate release. The things he was going to do to her…
He had been planning this for months. A few hours alone in Atlanta was all he needed to convince her that he was the man for her, to have her open up to the possibility of a relationship between them. He had reserved two adjoining rooms in a small Victorian Bed & Breakfast in the heart of the city, just for show, of course. If things worked out as he intended, they would only need the one room until it was time to head to the wedding.
His colleague David had recommended the place after he had taken his wife there for their tenth wedding anniversary. He cam
e back looking well sated, claiming they had shacked themselves up in their room for three full days, surfacing only for occasional meals. David had gone on and on about the place. Did wonders for his sex life, indeed. Which was exactly what Cole needed to happen. One thing he knew was that he wasn’t taking any chances. He had planned a full scale seduction, a sensual takeover that was meant to leave them both right where they should be—breathless and panting in the throes of passion.
He knew that with a woman like Olivia, he had his job cut out for him. It wasn’t that she was difficult, but he needed to reassure her that he wasn’t out to hurt her. He knew a lot about her already. Maybe more than she knew about herself. After countless conversations with Chad, Fiona and her parents, he was left in no doubt as to how extraordinary she was. He sought out snippets of information about her like the most avid collector. He knew of the persistence and aggressiveness she displayed on her job, how the authors she worked with looked up to her, how her hard work and talent drove her to success in a field that she loved. He also knew how some men in her past had acted like jerks and hurt her feelings. The fools. She was way too good for them. A born optimist, she always bounced right back on her feet and moved on with her life. Honest to a fault, caring, gentle and compassionate. The one person everybody turned to when they were in trouble.
When he thought of her and her sister, it was hard to imagine how two such polar opposites could have even a drop of the same blood. Fiona was as tart and superficial as her sister was warm and delightful. It had taken him no time to see through Fiona’s sophisticated appearance to uncover the nasty piece of work she truly was—but then, he was sure Chad could handle her. As his brother rose to new heights in the corporate world, he was in need of a trophy wife to act the part of the perfect hostess and dangle prettily from his arm in society affairs. In return, he’d pacify her for his ignoring her in favor of his job by gifting her with a constant stream of expensive trinkets and paying exorbitant amounts of money to cover her trips to the designer stores and exclusive beauty salons. Perhaps he did love her in his own twisted way, but Cole knew his brother too well to hold much hope for a more deep-rooted connection between Chad and Fiona.