by Jenna Jacob
Okay, so maybe he wasn’t a crazed, murdering rapist after all. She knew those kinds of monsters took their victims by force.
When he pressed a tender kiss at the center of her lips, Ivy’s whole body shook. Not out of fear, but with an awakening of the desire she’d forced into hibernation so long ago.
Her nipples stiffened like marbles.
Need, wet and slick, slid from between her swollen folds.
Her throbbing clit ached with desire so brutal she wanted to howl.
Lust, primal and ravenous, uncoiled from deep in her belly.
When Noble placed his palm at the small of her back and pulled her against his solid chest, heat enveloped her like a long-lost blanket.
And when he rocked his steely erection, wedging it between her legs, all logic and reason fell silent.
With an impatient whimper, Ivy threw her arms around his neck and kissed him hard. She inhaled his masculine scent—a combination of sweet grass, sandalwood, and summer sun—as she feasted on his sultry mouth. The first kiss had excited her cells This one set her soul on fire.
Spellbound, she parted when Noble swiped his slippery tongue over the seam of her lips. Ivy was lost in sensual sensory overload with the glide and pull of his soft suction.
Mercy!
She’d never been with a man who kissed so erotically or passionately, or one who made her dizzy and sent a host of naughty lurid fantasies clawing through her brain. The man had skills she hadn’t even known existed.
Noble deepened the kiss. Every cell in her body ignited like a mile-long string of firecrackers. Melting against his rugged body, Ivy tossed all her reservations about one-night stands straight out the window. Consequences be damned, she’d deal with the aftermath later. She had to fuck this tongue-talented cowboy before the weekend was over if only to experience all the magical skills he possessed between the sheets.
Losing herself in his kiss, Ivy gave back as good as Noble gave.
After several long, pulse-thundering minutes, he slowly eased from her lips. Ivy’s head was spinning, her body throbbing…shaking. A whimper of carnal distress slid off her tongue.
“I know, darlin’,” he said sympathetically. “But I have to leave before I do something that’ll contradict my given name.”
No! No! Contradict it all you want. Please! You can’t just leave me like this!
“I won’t tell if you don’t.” Without thinking, she’d put the bold statement out there.
“Oh, I never kiss and tell. Don’t worry, pretty lady, we’re not finished here…not by a long shot.”
Thank god!
“I have to meet an old friend of mine shortly. But I’ll be back later tonight.”
Ivy blinked, suddenly remembering she’d promised to take Celina out for an impromptu bachelorette party. “I-I have a family thing I have to attend tonight myself. Maybe we could have a drink…if it’s not too late when we both get back. I’ve got a bottle of wine in the fridge.”
The crooked smile Noble flashed had her toes curling.
“I’d love to share a glass of wine with the sexiest woman on the planet. I’ll tap on your door when I get back…if it’s not too late.”
“It doesn’t matter what time. It won’t be too late,” she blurted out, uncaring how desperate it made her sound.
“Excellent. I’ll see you later then. Oh, and if you need anything…don’t hesitate to let me know. My room is right across the hall.”
He cupped her cheeks and pillaged her mouth with another spine-bending, sensual kiss. After pulling away with a low growl, Noble turned and walked out the door, leaving Ivy’s lips tingling, her core blazing, and head spinning. A pitiful whimper rolled off her tongue as she stood staring at the door, wondering how a total stranger had completely turned her world upside down.
Her body was humming with need, and even her cotton T-shirt felt like sandpaper against her sensitized flesh. Ivy issued a frustrated sigh and stripped off her shirt and bra, tossing them to the floor as she strode to the bathroom. After turning on the shower, she peeled off her yoga pants and thong, noting both were saturated. She pressed a hand to her mound and drew back glistening fingers.
Damn!
She was dripping like a leaky faucet.
And what the hell was up with that? She’d spent months with various boyfriends who hadn’t put her in a puddle the way Noble had, and she’d only known him fifteen damn minutes.
The way her body responded to the man confused her. She couldn’t pinpoint a reason for the forceful animal attraction she felt for Noble, but it was there. Oh, man…it was there…a strong, dangerous, and totally reckless yearning. But none of the scary reasons to avoid him erased the lust bubbling inside her.
Lifting her head, Ivy stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes were smoky and dilated, her lips, red and swollen, her breasts engorged, and her erect nipples were a darker peach color. The needy woman looked foreign. Ivy didn’t know where she’d come from. Bewildered, she shook her head and stepped into the steaming spray of water.
She worked to rub the crazy attraction from her skin while trying to calm the demand still pumping through her veins, but couldn’t. If she didn’t get her libido under control, it was going to be a long, frustrating night hanging out with her sister.
Unable to douse the flames still licking her soul, Ivy stepped out of the shower and dried off. Deciding that obsessing about a man she’d just met was pointless, she forced herself to focus on the wedding. She tried to wrap her head around the reasons Celina was marrying a dick like Harvey but couldn’t come up with a single rational answer. Her sister had always been impulsive to a fault, but…damn. This wedding had catastrophe written all over it.
If…no, when Celina’s marriage fell apart, Ivy would be there to help pick up the pieces and move on. That’s what family did. When the shit had hit the fan with McMillian, the Addison clan rallied around Ivy and propped her up through every humiliating, embarrassing minute. Even Janice—bless her sweet southern heart—tried to bolster Ivy’s confidence. Unwilling to let the woman who’d given her life down, Ivy had done as her mother instructed. She’d lifted her chin and displayed all the mock self-confidence she could muster during the trial. The scars were still red and raw but healing, but worst of all, Ivy wasn’t the same woman she’d once been. She hated McMillian for stealing such precious pieces of her soul.
“Don’t start getting your ass all comfy on the pity pot,” Ivy warned her reflection in the mirror as she brushed on a light layer of mascara. “Let it go. Move on. Live the life you want. Be strong. Be happy…yadda, yadda, yadda.”
The verbal balm she’d drilled into her head during those crushing days had served its purpose. She rarely had to indulge in giving herself pep talks anymore. But some days it still helped to smooth out some of the rough edges. Of courses a long, hot, sweaty night with Noble might do more than take care of her rough edges. He might polish her up like a shiny new diamond.
“A man isn’t going to fix you,” she drawled out loud.
No, but his kisses still tingled on her lips as visions of him plowing her lady garden sent shivers crawling up her spine.
“Oh, stop it,” she chided her reflection. “You don’t have time to take a cold shower.”
As she painted a light pink gloss over her lips, the phone beside the bed rang. With her heart slamming against her ribs, she raced from the bathroom. She lunged across the bed and plucked up the receiver, praying she’d hear Noble’s deep, buttery-soft voice on the other end.
“Hello?” She cringed at her breathless tone.
“Ivy?” Celina asked. “Are you okay? You sound weird.”
Shit!
She cleared her throat. “Yeah…yeah. I’m fine,” she lied as disappointment bled from her system.
“I’m all put together and ready to party the night away. How about you?”
“Give me five and I’ll meet you in the lobby, kay?”
“I’m already here. Harvey w
anted to introduce me to his best man before our rehearsal dinner tomorrow night. Listen, I…um, I didn’t tell Harv that we were hitting the male strip show tonight, so be a doll and don’t say anything. All right? The last thing I want is him losing his shit and leaving me standing all alone at the altar.”
If only it could be that easy.
“He’s not going to leave you at the altar. Stop. I won’t say a word, but you do know that he and his best man are probably going to hit numerous strip clubs tonight, too, right?”
“Not if he wants to consummate our marriage Saturday night!” Celina screeched.
“Whoa. Settle down, tiger. What’s good for the goose is good for—”
“Not even. Male strippers don’t give lap dances, do they?”
“How would I know? I’ve never been to a strip club before.”
“Come down when you can. I’m going to have a little come-to-Jesus meeting with my future husband while he’s still in the lobby.” With an angry growl, Celina ended the call.
As Ivy hung up the phone, she shook her head. It was wrong to hope there wouldn’t even be a wedding Saturday, but she couldn’t help it. Celina could do so much better than Harvey Hays. Why couldn’t she see that?
“Not my monkey or my zoo,” Ivy murmured as worry settled in her stomach.
Shaking the foreboding unease from her mind, she slipped on the new champagne-colored, sequined minidress and matching pale-peach Jimmy Choos she’d purchased hours ago at a boutique downstairs. As she checked out herself in the mirror, Ivy bit her lip. She worried the shimmering, form-hugging designer outfit with its plunging neckline—revealing more cleavage than she’d ever displayed—might be a little over-the-top.
“Go big or go home,” she murmured to her reflection.
The only problem with that adage was that Ivy truly wanted to go back home, pack her truck, and start living her new life.
“It’ll all be over Sunday morning. You’ll have to hang until then,” she murmured to herself.
After spritzing on her favorite perfume and tucking her room card into the peach clutch, she headed out the door.
As the latch snicked behind her, she paused and stared at Noble’s door. Had he left to meet his friend yet, or was he inside his room getting ready to leave? Visions of his naked body covered in slippery soapsuds—especially his hard, thick cock—filled her mind. God, the dirty things she wanted to do to him, and have him do to her, sent a naughty thrill tingling in her girl parts.
Since she and Celina didn’t drink that often, Ivy planned to quickly get her sister shit-faced before rushing back to the hotel to share a night of mind-blowing orgasms with Noble.
In theory her plan seemed spec-fucking-tacular, and no doubt her body was primed for pleasure, but Ivy wasn’t sure if she could actually follow through with the sex. Still, she knew if she chickened out, she’d regret it for the rest of her life.
Peering at Noble’s door one last time, she swallowed down the lump of lust lodged in her throat and strolled to the elevator. As she descended toward the lobby, Ivy sucked in several deep breaths to try and calm the carnal riot roiling inside her. The doors opened and she started toward the hotel entrance, noticing several men who stopped in their tracks to rake their hungry gazes up and down her body.
When she’d first spied the skimpy dress she was now wearing, in one of the hotel’s shops, it’d screamed festive fun. But now she feared it simply yelled hooker. Painting the town draped in bedazzler barf might have been a bad choice. Self-consciously tugging at the hem of the dress, Ivy heard some guy let out a long, low wolf whistle. Suddenly, her insecurities were replaced with feminine pride. She glanced over her shoulder and flashed the older man a cheeky grin before adding a little more sway to her hips. But the second she spotted Celina pacing near the front door, hands clenched into fists and her face pinched in an angry scowl, Ivy’s confidence took a nosedive.
Dammit!
She’d hoped to spend the night drinking, laughing, and reminiscing with her sister, not battling Bridezilla. She wanted her fun-loving sister back.
“What’s wrong, baby sis?”
“Harvey, that son of a… Do you know where he’s going tonight?”
“The strip clubs?”
“Yes,” Celine hissed. “I can’t believe it.”
Ivy bit back a laugh. “Why not? We’re going to one. It’s what all couples do before they tie the—”
“Yeah, but we’re not bringing any of the guys back to the hotel with us.”
“Harvey isn’t going to bring a stripper back here either.”
“How do you know?”
“Oh, come on, Celina. You’re a ten. Harvey’s a two and a half, maybe a three…at best.”
“It’s not about looks,” Celina spat. “He’s beautiful inside.”
Yeah…way down deep inside him.
Ivy kept that observation to herself and hugged her sister. “Honey, if you don’t trust him enough to know he’ll keep his dick in his pants then why are you marrying him?”
Big, fat crocodile tears filled Celina’s eyes. “Because I love him.”
“Okay. But you can love someone and not trust them.”
“I do trust him,” she wailed as she angrily wiped her tears away. “I just don’t want him drooling over another woman. He’s supposed to drool over me. I know you and Mom and Dad think Harvey’s a jerk, but he’s really not.”
“Then stop worrying.” Her sister sniffed and nodded. “As long as he treats you like a queen, and he’s your ten, that’s all that matters.” And if he’s ever mean to you, I’ll hire a hit man who’ll make that arrogant pudgy prick suffer. “Now, let’s grab some dinner before we set Las Vegas on fire.”
Celina sent her a watery smile and nodded.
CHAPTER FIVE
After Harvey introduced Celina, Noble struggled to overcome his shock. The woman was drop-dead gorgeous. No, she was stunning…stunning like the sexy, smoking-hot woman staying across the hall from him. Noble didn’t understand how a troll like Harvey—friend or not, the man looked like Danny DeVito—had snagged someone as beautiful as Kate Hudson. Celina was so far out of Harvey’s league she wasn’t even on the same planet.
At least Noble now knew who wore the pants in their relationship, and it wasn’t Harvey. The minute Celina had found out they were going to the strip clubs, she blew a damn gasket. Sparks were all but shooting out of the fiery redhead’s eyes as she’d railed on her groom-to-be. If looks could kill, Harvey would be in the morgue instead of sitting beside him on the massive party bus, pouting like a little bitch.
“Celina’s just gonna have to get over herself. I’m not going to bow down to any damn woman…girlfriend, fiancée or wife!” Harvey stomped his foot. “After the wedding, I’ll have her on her knees in the honeymoon suite working her wicked tongue all over my dick.”
Not unless you pucker up and start kissing ass now till Saturday, you won’t.
Noble didn’t like drama, anger, or tears. He’d learned how to stay in good graces with the ladies instead of the doghouse. Clearly, Harvey hadn’t been schooled on that lesson yet. Based on Celina’s rage, the man had bypassed the doghouse and was next in line to be euthanized.
“Yanno,” Noble began, “if it’s going to upset your bride, we don’t have to hit the strip clubs. We could go find a bar and drink till we puke.”
“The hell we don’t!” Harvey barked indignantly. “No woman is going to tell me what to do. We’re going to hit every damn strip club we can find, on principle alone.”
Poor bastard. He doesn’t know shit about women.
Noble inwardly shook his head. Maybe after a dozen drinks, he could drill some basics into Harvey’s head. If not, well…there were plenty of divorce lawyers around.
An hour and a half later, they sat in sleazy, dimly lit strip club number four. Like the other clubs they’d visited, the scent of testosterone, pussy, and stale beer hung heavy in the air. Noble tipped back his bottle of brew and glanced a
t the girl on stage. She ground her crotch on the pole in time with the thumping music reverberating off the walls. The dancer looked as bored as the nearly naked woman straddling Harvey’s lap.
He was bored out of his mind, and this wasn’t the epic bachelor party Harvey had promised. Noble wished he were back at the hotel exploring Ivy’s silky flesh with his tongue.
“That’s it…uh-huh…just like that. Daddy’s going to treat you real good, baby girl.” A hungry glaze infused Harvey’s heavy-lidded inebriated, eyes as he tucked a couple of twenties under the corner of the stripper’s G-string. “Get bad for me, you naughty little slut, and shove your juicy snatch in my face.”
Noble bit back a laugh and drained his beer.
In almost mechanical motion, the women complied. Gripping Harvey’s head, she rubbed her crotch in his face as she flashed Noble an inviting smile. “When I’m finished with your friend here, I can take you to a private room and give you a proper lap dance, handsome.”
Noble’s stomach swirled. The only crotch he wanted in his face was at the hotel. “Nah, I’m good. Harvey there is the man of the hour.”
She rolled her eyes and shrugged as his old pal let out a yell and latched his mouth onto the skimpy triangle between her legs. Grinding his nose in her crotch, Harvey grabbed hold of her ass cheeks.
The stripper jerked away and sent him an angry glare. “No touching on the main floor.”
“Then take me someplace private so I can eat you up.”
The stripper scoffed caustically. “Trust me. There’s not enough money on the planet for me to go one on one with you.” Harvey was already so toasted the insult didn’t even register. With a heavy sigh, the woman backed off his lap. “Time’s up. Bathrooms are in the back. There’s lotion and towels on the sink. Jack off and come back if you want. I’m sure another girl will give you a dance.”
“But I want you,” Harvey whined. “You’ll give me a repeat customer discount, right?”
The woman wrinkled her nose. “Not on your life.”
Frowning, Harvey stood, tossed some bills on the table, and jerked his head toward the door. “Come on, bro. We need to find a club with nicer strippers.”