“I thought you were leaving,” Olivia said from beside him.
“I am.” He should. If he could tear his gaze away from her.
“If you wait for Tyler and Scott, you might just relax enough to have fun,” she said of their brothers. “Come on, please?” Olivia used the pleading tone he never could resist.
“Yeah, please, Ian? Come on,” his sister Avery said, joining them, looking equally mature in a silver gown that showed way too much cleavage. At twenty-two, she was similar in coloring and looks to Olivia, and he wasn’t any more ready to think of her as a grown-up—never mind letting other men ogle her—than he was with her sister.
Ian set his jaw, amazed these two hadn’t been the death of him yet.
“So what am I begging him to do?” Avery asked Olivia.
Olivia grinned. “I want him to stay and hang out for a while. Having fun is probably out of the question, but I’m trying to persuade him to let loose.”
“Brat,” he muttered, unable to hold back a smile at Olivia’s persistence.
He stole another glance at his lady in red. He could no more leave than he could approach her, he thought, frustrated because he was a man of action, and right now, he could do nothing but watch her.
“Well?” Olivia asked.
He forced his gaze to his sister and smiled. “Because you two asked so nicely, I’ll stay.” But his attention remained on the woman now dancing and laughing with his half brother.
* * *
Riley Taylor felt his eyes on her from the moment she entered the elegantly decorated ballroom on the arm of another man. As it was, her heels made it difficult enough to maneuver gracefully. Knowing a devastatingly sexy man watched her every move only made not falling on her ass even more of a challenge.
Alex Dare, her best friend, was oblivious. Being the star quarterback of the Tampa Breakers meant he was used to stares and attention. Riley wasn’t. And since this was his father’s birthday bash, he knew everyone here. She didn’t.
She definitely didn’t know him. She’d managed to avoid this annual party in the past with a legitimate work excuse one year, the flu another, but this year, Alex knew she was down in the dumps due to job problems, and he’d insisted she come along and have a good time.
While Alex danced with his mother then sisters, she headed for the bar and asked the bartender for a glass of ice water. She took a sip and turned to go find a seat, someplace where she could get off her feet and slip free of her offending heels.
She’d barely taken half a step when she bumped into a hard, suit-clad body. The accompanying jolt sent her water spilling from the top of her glass and into her cleavage. The chill startled her as much as the liquid that dripped down her chest.
“Oh!” She teetered on her stilettos, and big, warm hands grasped her shoulders, steadying her.
She gathered herself and looked up into the face of the man she’d been covertly watching. “You,” she said on a breathy whisper.
His eyes, a steely gray with a hint of blue in the depths, sparkled in amusement and something more. “Glad you noticed me too.”
She blinked, mortified, no words rushing into her brain to save her. She was too busy taking him in. Dark brown hair stylishly cut, cheekbones perfectly carved, and a strong jaw completed the package. And the most intense heat emanated from his touch as he held on to her arms. His big hands made her feel small, not an easy feat when she was always conscious of her too-full curves.
She breathed in deeply and was treated to a masculine, woodsy scent that turned her insides to pure mush. Full-scale awareness rocked her to her core. This man hit all her right buttons.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“I’m fine.” Or she would be if he’d release her so she could think. Instead of telling him so, she continued to stare into his handsome face.
“You certainly are,” he murmured.
A heated flush rushed to her cheeks at the compliment, and a delicious warmth invaded her system.
“I’m sorry about the spill,” he said.
At least she hoped he was oblivious to her ridiculous attraction to him.
“You’re wet.” He released her and reached for a napkin from the bar.
Yes, she was. In wholly inappropriate ways considering they’d barely met. Desire pulsed through her veins. Oh my God, what was it about this man that caused reactions in her body another man would have to work overtime to achieve?
He pressed the thin paper napkin against her chest and neck. He didn’t linger, didn’t stroke her anywhere he shouldn’t, but she could swear she felt the heat of his fingertips against her skin. Between his heady scent and his deliberate touch, her nerves felt raw and exposed. Her breasts swelled, her nipples peaked, and she shivered, her body tightening in places she’d long thought dormant. If he noticed, he was too much of a gentleman to say.
No man had ever awakened her senses this way before. Sometimes she wondered if that was a deliberate choice on her part. Obviously not, she thought and forced herself to step back, away from his potent aura.
He crinkled the napkin and placed the paper onto the bar.
“Thank you,” she said.
“My pleasure.” The word, laced with sexual innuendo, rolled off his tongue, and his eyes darkened to a deep indigo, an indication that this crazy attraction she experienced wasn’t one-sided.
“Maybe now we can move on to introductions. I’m Ian Dare,” he said.
She swallowed hard, disappointment rushing through her as she realized, for all her awareness of him, he was the one man at this party she ought to stay away from. “Alex’s brother.”
“Half brother,” he bit out.
“Yes.” She understood his pointed correction. Alex wouldn’t want any more of a connection to Ian than Ian did to Alex.
“You have your father’s eyes,” she couldn’t help but note.
His expression changed, going from warm to cold in an instant. “I hope that’s the only thing you think that bastard and I have in common.”
Riley raised her eyebrows at the bitter tone. Okay, she understood he had his reasons, but she was a stranger.
Ian shrugged, his broad shoulders rolling beneath his tailored, dark suit. “What can I say? Only a bastard would live two separate lives with two separate families at the same time.”
“You do lay it out there,” she murmured.
His eyes glittered like silver ice. “It’s not like everyone here doesn’t know it.”
Though she ought to change the subject, he’d been open, so she decided to ask what was on her mind. “If you’re still so angry with him, why come for his birthday?”
“Because my sisters asked me to,” he said, his tone turning warm and indulgent.
A hint of an easier expression changed his face from hard and unyielding to devastatingly sexy once more.
“Avery and Olivia are much more forgiving than me,” he explained.
She smiled at his obvious affection for his siblings. As an only child, she envied them a caring, older brother. At least she’d had Alex, she thought and glanced around looking for the man who’d brought her here. She found him on the dance floor, still with his mother, and relaxed.
“Back to introductions,” Ian said. “You know my name; now it’s your turn.”
“Riley Taylor.”
“Alex’s girlfriend,” he said with disappointment. “I saw you two walk in.”
That’s what he thought? “No, we’re friends. More like brother and sister than anything else.”
His eyes lit up, and she caught a glimpse of yet another expression—pleasantly surprised. “That’s the best news I’ve heard all night,” he said in a deep, compelling tone, his hot gaze never leaving hers.
At a loss for words, Riley remained silent.
“So, Ms. Riley Taylor, where were you off to in such a hurry?” he asked.
“I wanted to rest my feet,” she admitted.
He glanced down at her legs, taking in her r
ed pumps. “Ahh. Well, I have just the place.”
Before she could argue—and if she’d realized he’d planned to drag her off alone, she might have—Ian grasped her arm and guided her to the exit at the far side of the room.
“Ian—”
“Shh. You’ll thank me later. I promise.” He pushed open the door, and they stepped out onto a deck that wasn’t in use this evening.
Sticky, night air surrounded them, but being a Floridian, she was used to it, and obviously so was he. His arm still cupping her elbow, he led her to a small love seat and gestured for her to sit.
She sensed he was a man who often got his way, and though she’d never found that trait attractive before, on him, it worked. She settled into the soft cushions. He did the same, leaving no space between them, and she liked the feel of his hard body aligned with hers. Her heart beat hard in her chest, excitement and arousal pounding away inside her.
Around them, it was dark, the only light coming from sconces on the nearby building.
“Put your feet up.” He pointed to the table in front of them.
“Bossy,” she murmured.
Ian grinned. He was and was damned proud of it. “You’re the one who said your feet hurt,” he reminded her.
“True.” She shot him a sheepish look that was nothing short of adorable.
The reverberation in her throat went straight to Ian’s cock, and he shifted in his seat, pure sexual desire now pumping through his veins.
He’d been pissed off and bored at his father’s ridiculous birthday gala. Even his sisters had barely been able to coax a smile from him. Then she’d walked into the room.
Because she was with his half brother, Ian hadn’t planned on approaching her, but the minute he’d caught sight of her alone at the bar, he’d gone after her, compelled by a force beyond his understanding. Finding out she and Alex were just friends had made his night because she’d provide a perfect distraction to the pain that followed him whenever his father’s other family was near.
“Shoes?” he reminded her.
She dipped her head and slipped off her heels, moaning in obvious relief.
“That sound makes me think of other things,” he said, capturing her gaze.
“Such as?” She unconsciously swayed closer, and he suppressed a grin.
“Sex. With you.”
“Oh.” Her lips parted with the word, and Ian couldn’t tear his gaze away from her lush, red-painted mouth.
A mouth he could envision many uses for, none of them tame.
“Is this how you charm all your women?” she asked. “Because I’m not sure it’s working.” A teasing smile lifted her lips, contradicting her words.
He had her, all right, as much as she had him.
He kept his gaze on her face, but he wasn’t a complete gentleman and couldn’t resist brushing his hand over her tight nipples showing through the fabric of her dress.
Her eyes widened in surprise at the same time a soft moan escaped, sealing her fate. He slid one arm across the love seat until his fingers hit her mass of curls, and he wrapped his hand in the thick strands. Then, tugging her close, he sealed his mouth over hers. She opened for him immediately. The first taste was a mere preview, not nearly enough, and he deepened the kiss, taking more.
Sweet, hot, and her tongue tangled with his. He gripped her hair harder, wanting still more. She was like all his favorite vices in one delectable package. Best of all, she kissed him back, every inch a willing, giving partner.
He was a man who dominated and took, but from the minute he tasted her, he gave as well. If his brain were clear, he’d have pulled back immediately, but she reached out and gripped his shoulders, curling her fingers through the fabric of his shirt, her nails digging into his skin. Each thrust of his tongue in her mouth mimicked what he really wanted, and his cock hardened even more.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” his half brother said, interrupting at the worst possible moment.
He would have taken his time, but Riley jumped, pushing at his chest and backing away from him at the same time.
“Alex!”
“Yeah. The guy who brought you here, remember?”
Ian cursed his brother’s interruption as much as he welcomed the reminder that this woman represented everything Ian resented. His half brother’s friend. Alex, with whom he had a rivalry that would have done real siblings proud.
The oldest sibling in the other family was everything Ian wasn’t. Brash, loud, tattoos on his forearms, and he threw a mean football as quarterback of the Tampa Breakers. Ian, meanwhile, was more of a thinker, president of the Breakers’ rivals, the Miami Thunder, owned by his father’s estranged brother, Ian’s uncle.
Riley jumped up, smoothing her dress and rubbing at her swollen lips, doing nothing to ease the tension emanating from her best friend.
Ian took his time standing.
“I see you met my brother,” Alex said, his tone tight.
Riley swallowed hard. “We were just—”
“Getting better acquainted,” Ian said in a seductive tone meant to taunt Alex and imply just how much better he now knew Riley.
A muscle ticked in the other man’s jaw. “Ready to go back inside?” Alex asked her.
Neither one of them would make a scene at this mockery of a family event.
“Yes.” She didn’t meet Ian’s gaze as she walked around him and came up alongside Alex.
“Good because my dad’s been asking for you. He said it’s been too long since he’s seen you,” Alex said, taunting Ian back with the mention of the one person sure to piss him off.
Despite knowing better, Ian took the bait. “Go on. We were finished anyway,” he said, dismissing Riley as surely as she’d done to him.
Never mind that she was obviously torn between her friend and whatever had just happened between them; she’d chosen Alex. A choice Ian had been through before and come out on the same wrong end.
In what appeared to be a deliberately possessive move, Alex wrapped an arm around her waist and led her back inside. Ian watched, ignoring the twisting pain in his gut at the sight. Which was ridiculous. He didn’t have any emotional investment in Riley Taylor. He didn’t do emotion, period. He viewed relationships through the lens of his father’s adultery, finding it easier to remain on the outside looking in.
Distance was his friend. Sex worked for him. It was love and commitment he distrusted. So no matter how different that brief moment with Riley had been, that was all it was.
A moment.
One that would never happen again.
* * *
Riley followed Alex onto the dance floor in silence. They hadn’t spoken a word to each other since she’d let him lead her away from Ian. She understood his shocked reaction and wanted to soothe his frazzled nerves but didn’t know how. Not when her own nerves were so raw from one simple kiss.
Except nothing about Ian was simple, and that kiss left her reeling. From the minute his lips touched hers, everything else around her had ceased to matter. The tug of arousal hit her in the pit of her stomach, in her scalp as his fingers tugged her hair, in the weight of her breasts, between her thighs and, most telling, in her mind. He was a strong man, the kind who knew what he wanted and who liked to get his way. The type of man she usually avoided and for good reason.
But she’d never experienced chemistry so strong before. His pull was so compelling she’d willingly followed him outside regardless of the fact that she knew without a doubt her closest friend in the world would be hurt if she got close to Ian.
“Are you going to talk to me?” Alex asked, breaking into her thoughts.
“I’m not sure what to say.”
On the one hand, he didn’t have a say in her personal life. She didn’t owe him an apology. On the other, he was her everything. The child she’d grown up next door to and the best friend who’d saved her sanity and given her a safe haven from her abusive father.
She was wrong. She knew exactly what to
say. “I’m sorry.”
He touched his forehead to hers. “I don’t know what came over me. I found you two kissing, and I saw red.”
“It was just chemistry.” She let out a shaky laugh, knowing that term was too benign for what had passed between her and Ian.
“I don’t want you to get hurt. The man doesn’t do relationships, Ri. He uses women and moves on.”
“Umm, Pot/Kettle?” she asked him. Alex moved from woman to woman just as he’d accused his half brother of doing.
He’d even kissed her once. Horn dog that he was, he said he’d had to try, but they both agreed there was no spark and their friendship meant way too much to throw away for a quick tumble between the sheets.
Alex frowned. “Maybe so, but that doesn’t change the facts about him. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“I won’t,” she assured him, even as her heart picked up speed when she caught sight of Ian watching them from across the room.
Drink in hand, brooding expression on his face, his stare never wavered.
She curled her hands into the suit fabric covering Alex’s shoulders and assured herself she was telling the truth.
“What if he was using you to get to me?”
“Because the man can’t be interested in me for me?” she asked, her pride wounded despite the fact that Alex was just trying to protect her.
Alex slowed his steps and leaned back to look into her eyes. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it. Any man would be lucky to have you, and I’d never get between you and the right guy.” A muscle pulsed in Alex’s right temple, a sure sign of tension and stress. “But Ian’s not that guy.”
She swallowed hard, hating that he just might be right. Riley wasn’t into one-night stands. Which was why her body’s combustible reaction to Ian Dare confused and confounded her. How far would she have let him go if Alex hadn’t interrupted? Much further than she’d like to imagine, and her body responded with a full-out shiver at the thought.
Going Down Hard Page 17