Blackout: A Romance Anthology

by Stephanie St. Klaire

  I recognized one of Eddie’s gorgeous friends from the casino.

  “Hey,” I said, trying for sexy again as I leaned on the doorjamb.

  His eyes swept up and down before he gazed at me with an I’m game if you are look and said, “Hey,” back.

  A solid wall of muscle met my back as a possessive arm snaked around my waist.

  “Wolf.”

  Such an odd name for a hot guy. Though Eddie didn’t sound as friendly as he should. They were friends, right? Wolf seemed to sense the same danger I’d heard. He held Eddie’s gaze with a quizzical expression before nodding and lifting his hands in the universal sign of surrender.

  “Yours, I get it.” Eddie didn’t dispute the claim. “You didn’t answer your text. We’re heading over to the Bellagio.”

  “Yeah, okay,” Eddie said with what I imagined a stone-cold facial expression based on the tone of his voice.

  Wolf walked away looking mildly amused, which confused the hell out of me. Then again, my equilibrium along with my morals were bottle up as alcohol made me brazen.

  I did a poor man’s version of a pirouette as I attempted to spin around as the door closed at my back. It didn’t matter that I swayed, I lifted my chin to glare up at Eddie who was far taller than me.

  “What the hell was that all about? You’re being a total cock blocker.”

  His glaze turned flinty. “Maybe I don’t want anyone to touch you.”

  I aimed a fist at him. “How is that your decision?”

  “Because no one is good enough for you,” he snarled, taking my wrist and pinning it to his side.

  Then his free hand was in my hair angling my face up. His mouth came down hard, our lips crashing together as if magnetized. I’d longed for this moment for far too long and easily parted my lips so our tongues could tangle together.

  He groaned in the back of his throat as I ground against him.

  “Fuck,” he spat, letting me go as the heat he’d created vaporized when he put feet between us.

  He was at the bar pouring a double and tossing it back as I struggled for breath. For a kiss I’d fantasied for years, he’d spoiled the reality by holding back.

  After pouring and drinking another, he slouched onto the couch and stared at the wall in front of him. He was so in another world, he didn’t stop me from pouring myself a glass from the decanter. I drank deep, needing more liquid courage for what I was about to do next.

  I sat down on the couch, leaving some space between us. I didn’t want to spook him before I played my final card.

  “You want me,” I said with a fearlessness I didn’t feel.

  The way he looked at me I couldn’t be sure if my words had come out correctly.

  He glanced away. “It doesn’t matter. I made a promise.”

  I blinked several times, trying to process his words. “A promise…” The only person I could see him making such a promise to was my sister. “Chris made you promise to stay away from me?” It wasn’t much of a question as I was piecing together the things he’d said tonight. I was so going to kill her.

  “No,” he snapped. “She didn’t.” Then under his breath, I thought he said, “Not until after I made her promise to stay away from Cam.”

  I didn’t want to believe my sister would do that to me. Granted, she had no clue I was interested in Eddie. After my crush became obvious to everyone and I’d heard him call me jailbait, I’d played like Eddie got on my nerves. I started fights with him and said things I didn’t mean so everyone would leave it alone. It had worked.

  Pushing off the couch, I stood as best I could. Then I slid my hands under my skirt, hooked my thumbs in my thong, and shimmed it down my leg bent in half as if I planned to touch my toes in the process.

  Steady as I may, I lifted one foot and then the other before righting myself. Inwardly, I clapped because I didn’t stumble. I flung my panties onto his lap, covering the tent that had formed there.

  “Are you really going to keep your promise?”

  CHAPTER 2

  You would have thought he was the Flash for how fast he leaned over to tug me onto his lap. I straddled him with my achy center perched on his hardness.

  Our tongues dueled first as his hand cradled the back of my head.

  “You think you can tease me,” he warned. “I’m a man not to be played with Jilly. So tell me now if you don’t want this.”

  His growl turned me on. I was for sure leaving a wet stain on his expensive looking pants.

  “Yes.” I sounded breathless but didn’t care. “I want you.”

  He tumbled me to my back and pushed up my fluttering skirt with reverence until I was bare to him.

  A moment later his mouth covered my mound like a man starved. He licked and sucked me in places until I saw stars. The man was talented with his tongue, sliding it up my slit to circle my clit, making me writhe beneath him.

  “Be still,” he commanded.

  Was he crazy? Talk about tease. I ached to have him deep inside me. I grabbed his hair in a firm grip and tried to force him to go where I wanted him.

  His rumbling chuckle only frustrated me.

  “What do you want, pet?” he asked, flicking his tongue over my swollen nub.

  I wanted to scream. “Fuck me.” But I managed to say it without sounding like I was speaking through a megaphone.

  Hooded eyes met mine with a sexy smirk. “Not yet.”

  Instead, he added a finger to the mix, slipping it just a little way in. I bucked my hips, wanting so much more. I’d waited nearly nineteen years for this.

  When he sucked my clit, I did scream, coming apart all around him. He stoked the flames, making my orgasm go on forever with the stroke of his finger.

  Feeling boneless, my guard down, the liquor loosening my tongue, I said, “God, I love you.”

  He stiffened. I could feel the tension in his muscles as he looked up. If not for how sober he’d spoken all night, I would have thought his glazed eyes were an indication he was as drunk as I was.

  Somewhere in my head I tried to think of a way out of what I’d done. This was over. I’d ruined it. He was never going to fuck me now. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

  “I didn’t mean—”

  The man could move. He had me on my feet, pulling me toward the door, stilling my tongue.

  Tears pricked in my eyes as he was leading me out of his hotel room. He was probably taking me back to my friends, assuming they were still there. We’d been barhopping. Though I couldn’t tell you how many places we’d been. It was all a blur.

  “I didn’t mean to say that,” I got out.

  His hand dropped from the knob he had been about to turn.

  He glanced back at me. “So you don’t love me?”

  I opened my mouth maybe a half dozen times, shutting off the lie I’d wanted to say.

  “We’re going to do this, right?”

  I didn’t know what he meant. I was in a fog of colliding emotions as he held onto my hand, leading me like a lamb to slaughter. I was trying to retain the memory of him giving me the best damn orgasm of my life. Yes, I was a virgin. But I’d done things over the years. It felt like a dream when we ended up in a jewelry store. I was surely going to wake up in a heap in my hotel room. Eddie was not leading me to the chapel in the hotel. In fact, I laughed. Pragmatic, super-focused Eddie would never do anything so reckless.

  “Do you have your ID?”

  I didn’t remember my crossbody bag. Had I had it on me the entire time? I couldn’t remember, but it was there.

  I pulled out the card carrier and remembered my iron clad fake ID made by an employee of the DMV who was a hacker extraordinaire. It had cost a lot, more than I could afford, but it had been worth every penny.

  Eddie left me for a minute to talk to the lady. I overhead her saying they didn’t take walk-ins. But when we were lead back a few minutes later, I guessed he told her it was all a big joke.

  I was sober enough to know Eddie was not really going to marry
me. Hell, this was a total dream. In fact, I laughed during the entire ceremony. If this was real, I was getting punk’d. This was some kind of game to make me feel better about losing my virginity. I couldn’t keep a straight face when I said I do.

  It was his kiss that was real. It engulfed me in warmth like I was riding a cloud. I had no concept of time as we went back to his suite, gold bands on our finger, and I never wanted to wake up.

  He walked me through a door with a bed that was fit for a king. He stood me in front of it and let his eyes trail down my body, taking in every inch.

  Then his hands were on my thighs, skimming up the material of my skirt over my hips. He kept going, his hands guiding up the side of my ribs, his thumbs grazing over my nipples. Goosebumps erupted over my skin as I lifted my arms so he could drag the material over my head, exposing my breasts and letting the dress fall to the floor. I closed my eyes.

  I wasn’t society’s perfect body type and used the last of the liquid courage I had to stand there and not cover myself. I had a feeling if I did, this would be over before it began. Besides, it was a dream. I could be bold and feel beautiful in my own mind.

  “You’re so goddamn pretty. Always have been.”

  His hands cupped my breasts as if testing the weight. They were large and hung, not as perky as the ones I would have liked. He bent as sucked one nipple into his mouth and an electrical shock jolted me to my core.

  He seemed to know that as his palm covered my pussy and added pressure to my clit. I was on fire and would have stripped if I wasn’t already naked.

  He shook his head as if he was going to stop. Heart thumping in my chest, I latched onto to his head, drawing his mouth down into a demanding kiss.

  “Jillian.”

  He said my full name as if to keep hold of his composure.

  “Please. I want this,” I said with more veracity than I had before.

  His gaze burned into mine as if to search for my truthfulness. I wanted to yell we got married, dammit. Why would he deny me now? Then I remembered the cruel dream I was having and willed it to my way.

  “Lie down,” he commanded, sounding more like fantasy Eddie.

  Talk about alpha male, straight out of an office romance I’d been reading. I stepped back and my thighs hit the bed. Ungracefully, I used my hands to lift myself up and scooted back, all while watching the show.

  He’d started unbuttoning his shirt, taking his time with each one as if we had all the time in the world. His eyes, however, never left mine.

  By the time he removed his shirt, I was salivating. For a white-collar kind of guy he was built like a sports god. Rock-hard abs and biceps that made me wet.

  But when he flicked the button on his pants, I lost my breath. I’d felt him, but hadn’t seen him yet. I had no experience to know when he unzipped his pants and his cock sprung free, as he had no underwear on, how to judge the size. It was enormous to me. But then again, any penis would probably look daunting. His single digit finger had felt like a tight squeeze. I couldn’t imagine anything bigger inside me.

  “Tell me no, Jilly. For your own good, tell me no.”

  My squeaky Yes had come out unsteadily. I swallowed and tried again. “Yes.”

  His control gone, he prowled onto the bed, crawling up my body, caging me in. I looked up at him, wondering how this could be real. Dreams didn’t come true and Eddie McCabe had always been way out of my league. He dated girls who looked like models. He and my sister would have made a perfect couple. But they’d always insisted they were only friends.

  Dark, sweet sensations rippled over my body as he touched a nipple with the tip of his tongue. That one movement had me tightening my thighs in anticipation. I arched up, needing more contact, his hot mouth suckling. I splayed my hand on his chest. Not to push him away, but to touch him almost in the same way he was touching me. He groaned as my fingertips found his nipple.

  His body ground against me. My need was already at a fiery pitch. I was an inferno of emotion and desire. The anticipation was becoming too much.

  My vision went unfocused as his hand parted my intimate spot, wedging my legs open to test my readiness.

  “This is going to hurt a little.”

  I didn’t care. It would be worth it if only this was real. But was it real? Would it hurt in my dreams?

  There was no time to wonder. He leg was there, making space for him to settle between mine. The stars in my eyes collided into a sharp prick of pain as he worked himself inside. I gasped and called out his name.

  “Oh God, Eddie.”

  He kissed away the pain, holding there above and deep inside me. I clung to his shoulders, digging my nails in, hoping sex was better than this as a tear left the corner of my eye.

  “Don’t cry. I promise it will get better.”

  For that second, I didn’t believe him. Then his hand was moving down my body, caressing my breasts and lower still to that junction box of nerves that was magic. As he stoked it with his fingers, it cast all the pain away and another type of fire built inside me. When I moaned, he began to move. It ached a little at first, but he knew exactly how to take the pain away.

  Slow at first, my legs fell apart from where I’d had them clenched at his sides. His kiss left a trail down my neck and back to my breast. He seemed to really like them more than I expected. His hand curved around my back and lifted my hip and he went deeper inside me, which didn’t seem possible. At the same time, his cock stroked over a nerve that bowed my back even more.

  “That’s it. Let go.”

  All the tension left my body as the mother of all orgasms flooded my nerve endings. I cried out, which seemed to spur him on. His rhythm went wild as he bucked a few more times until I felt his hot seed spill inside me.

  As with everything that night, I let the idea that we hadn’t used a condom go. What would it matter? It was only a dream.

  His heavy weight collapsed on me only for a second as he rolled us over. I ended up halfway sprawled over his body, our heart beating wildly.

  “Are you okay?”

  The tenderness in his voice melted any doubts I had. I bit my lip before nodding. Then I voiced my agreement.

  “Great, actually.”

  “Get some rest, Jilly. I’m not done with you yet.”

  His words lulled me to sleep, yet things were different when I woke.

  CHAPTER 3

  The beautiful eyes I’d fallen asleep to were filled with remorse when awoke.

  “Eddie,” I whispered as if prayers had wings.

  In reply, he pulled away, rolled his legs off the side of the bed, and let his back face me.

  The marching band in my head felt like a solo concert. Yet it was obvious now I hadn’t been the only one under the influence of too much alcohol.

  “Eddie,” I said again, but this time as a call to action.

  We needed to talk, and I wasn’t sure I was ready to hear what he had to say.

  “It was a mistake.”

  Four words like nails in a coffin left his gorgeous lips. I ignored the death sentence and raged against it.

  “A mistake?”

  I glanced at the winking brilliance on my finger that was the testimony to what happened the night in question.

  “Yes,” he agreed.

  I moved so fast, my head spun for a moment. Naked as the day I was born, I stood before him. His hands on either side of his head, he didn’t look at me. I bent down and forced his gaze to meet my own.

  “You will not do this,” I railed.

  He lifted his head, allowing me to stand without losing eye contact.

  “I had no right,” he began.

  Lifting my chin, I said, “My choice.”

  He stood, taking me by surprise. I took an involuntary step back.

  “You were drunk.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Apparently, so were you. Now you have buyer’s remorse.”

  He glanced at his ring. I didn’t do the same. The feel of the cold metal nearly bur
ned my skin.

  “What do you think can happen?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. We can figure this out.”

  His laugh was dry and bitter. “You think this is some declaration of love? What can we possibly have? You go to college in California. I’ve got a flight back east.”

  “I could—”

  I wanted a solution. All fairytales had happy endings.

  “You could what? Transfer schools?” I nodded. “And what? When I’m not in class, I’m studying or working. I don’t have time for a girlfriend.”

  Unconsciously, I lifted my hand, putting my ring finger on display.

  “I could work. Besides, it’s not like you need to.”

  Eddie’s older brother Cameron had been drafted into the NFL. From what I’d heard, he was bankrolling the family.

  “No,” he said, as if I’d voiced my inner thoughts. “It would never work and you’d end up hating me. I can’t put myself through school and take care of you too.”

  “But Cameron?”

  “Is taking care of our parents. You think I would let him take care of me too? I can make my own way.”

  I wasn’t surprised. Eddie was a determined guy, but I was determined not to give up on us until he spoke again.

  “What do you want me to say? That I want you.” He paused as if he wanted me to answer, but I was too baffled at how this could be happening. “Because I do. But you need to go back to school and live your life. I can’t be the guy I need to be for you. Not now anyway.”

  I uncurled my hands. “So that’s it? I don’t have a choice?”

  He moved to stand near the window.

  “We don’t have a choice. And one day you’ll thank me.”

  For breaking my heart? But I didn’t voice the thought.

  “I’ll write up an annulment. We can file it. It’s no big deal. Then you can be free to marry someone else one day like this never happened.”

  As the back of my eyes burned, I didn’t have to be worried Eddie would see. He was staring into space like he was in another world. I turned away and let go of childish dreams. There was no need to fight with him. I couldn’t make him love me. Whatever happened last night wasn’t some Cinderella story.