by Cathie Linz
Dylan’s manners were impeccable. He held her hand as she got into the Porsche and closed the door for her. Once they arrived at their location, he again helped her out of the low-slung sports car.
The organizers outdid themselves with the large ballroom’s decorations, transforming it into a magical place decked out in shades of silver, black, teal and white. Teal linens and rose-filled mirrored boxes decorated the tables.
Faith’s parents were already seated at the table. Only then did she realize that this was the first time she’d seen them together since her canceled wedding. Her mother looked lovely in a conservative navy blue full-length gown. Her father looked at ease in his tuxedo. But he wasn’t paying attention to his wife. Instead, he was talking to someone else. Thankfully it wasn’t the beautiful mystery client but an older man with silver hair.
Faith’s mom smiled with relief when she saw Faith. “Megan and her dad are at the silent auction table making some bids.”
Faith introduced Dylan as a friend of hers. He charmed her mother and impressed her dad. Faith’s grandmother arrived shortly thereafter with her date, Buddy.
But Faith was most surprised and dismayed by the fact that Vince King sat two tables over, looking very much like a king holding court. And his right-hand man Caine was right there beside him.
“Can you believe it?” Faith’s dad said. “I’m sure Vince arranged things so he’d be near my table to taunt me. Do you know what his latest dirty trick is? He’s spreading rumors that I’m having an affair. Can you believe that?”
“Yes.” Faith prevented herself from nervously glancing at her mother.
“The man has no shame,” her dad continued. “No sense of honor or dignity. He’ll pull whatever dirty trick he can to get what he wants.”
“What does he want?”
“Me gone.”
“Would he hurt you?”
“He’s too cowardly. He’d much rather ruin me.”
Faith couldn’t read her father’s expression.
“Maybe you two should dial back your rivalry,” she said.
“Don’t worry about it.” He patted her bare shoulder before frowning at her cleavage. “That dress is a little low-cut, don’t you think?”
She rolled her eyes. “The days of you telling me what to wear are long past.”
“At least Faith doesn’t have tattoos,” Gram said. “And that dress is gorgeous. Angelina Jolie wore something like it to the Oscars one time. Angelina has tattoos. Faith has excellent cleavage, don’t you think so, Dylan?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Dylan was speaking, but Faith felt Caine’s eyes on her. Sure enough, he was looking at her, but she couldn’t tell what he was thinking. He was too damn good at keeping secrets. And he looked too damn good in a tux.
He had a beautiful woman on his right. Who was she? His date? It didn’t matter. Despite making out with him in the front seat of his Mustang, Faith was supposed to be trying to get over him. Yet her reaction to Caine in a tux was ten times that of the incredibly handsome guy sitting next to her.
Dylan was the perfect companion. He made pleasant conversation, even if a lot of it was about him. He didn’t deliberately say things designed to drive her nuts. He didn’t offer her sliders, didn’t slide his hand beneath the table to make her fly, didn’t brush his thumb over her lips.
But he was a great dancer. After their delicious three-course dinner, she accepted his invitation to hit the dance floor. An orchestra with a male singer provided the music.
Faith was doing just fine until the song changed to the Righteous Brothers classic “Unchained Melody,” and Caine cut in. They were on the opposite side of the dance floor, away from both the West and the King tables.
Dylan took one look at Caine and correctly decided he was a man who wouldn’t take no for an answer. Still, Dylan checked with her to make sure it was okay, and she admired him for that.
“Who’s the pretty boy eye candy?” Caine asked.
“He’s my date just like your girl eye candy is your date.”
“Wrong. She works for Vince. She’s not my date.”
“She looked like she’d like to be your date.”
“What about you? What would you like?” He lifted his hand higher up her back until his fingers rested on her bare skin. The brush of his caress sent shivers of delight up and down her spine. He gently pulled her closer, resting his chin on the top of her head, sliding his fingers between hers rather than simply clasping her hand.
What would she like? She liked the way Caine smelled, a clean citrus scent that took her back to Positano and the night she’d first met him. For once she didn’t focus on his betrayal but on the incredibly powerful chemistry between them. She hadn’t imagined it.
She knew Caine felt it too.
They swayed to the music. She was totally wrapped up in his embrace, in his presence, in his magical hold on her. The music was slow, but her heart was racing, and all her senses were on high alert.
Their forbidden dance was brought to a premature end by Faith’s father, who pulled her out of Caine’s arms. “Are you crazy? What are you doing?”
“I’m dancing. You’re making a scene.”
“Let them be,” Gram ordered as she and Buddy two-stepped beside them. “Do not make a scene, son.” She glared at Faith’s father. “Go back to the table and behave. And leave Faith alone.”
“You don’t know who he is,” Faith’s dad said, only to be interrupted by Gram.
“I know all I need to know. Now let’s dance.”
Faith’s father angrily returned to their table. Faith returned to Caine’s arms. Gram returned Caine’s smile of gratitude.
“You okay?” Caine asked Faith, his breath stirring strands of her hair.
She nodded, but her hands were trembling. “I’m feeling a little like Juliet. I just don’t want to end up like her.”
“She wasn’t a tough blonde like you.”
“Abs says I’m not tough.”
“Because she’s hard and tough.”
“And I’m not?”
“No. But I am.”
She smiled up at him. “So I’ve noticed.”
“How soon can we leave?” he said.
“I can’t just dump Dylan. But he has to leave early because of a previous engagement. I planned on taking a cab home.”
“Plan on sharing that cab with me.”
“You didn’t drive?”
Caine shook his head. “Not tonight.” He brushed his lips across her cheek before whispering in her ear, “Wait for me.”
Faith’s magical haze was blown out of town by the cold blast of her father’s anger once she returned to their table. “I can’t believe you were dancing with him after what he’s done.”
“Was that Caine?” Faith’s mom asked.
Faith nodded.
Her mom gave her a look of commiseration.
Gram returned to the table to give her son a look of reprimand.
Faith was amazed to see that her dad actually squirmed in his seat.
“You should have been dancing with your wife instead of trying to make trouble,” Gram said.
“I wasn’t trying to make trouble,” he protested. “You don’t know the whole story. He works for King Investigations.”
“Your archrival yada yada yada.” Gram shook her head. “I know. I also know that life is too short to have such hatred. Don’t let it erase the love in your life.”
The next hour was awkward as Dylan made his escape, stopping near the exit to pick up a bodacious babe who’d been eyeing him all night.
“Looks like your date just dumped you,” Aunt Lorraine appeared out of nowhere to tell Faith. “Seems to be a repeating pattern with you and men.”
“I thought you were swimming with the fishes—I mean the dolphins,” Faith said.
Aunt Lorraine sat in the seat Dylan had just vacated. She looked like Cruella De Vil, the villainess from the Disney classic One Hundred and One Dalmatians.
“I was, but I flew back this afternoon. My flight was late, or I would have gotten here sooner. You don’t think I’d miss this event, do you?”
“I thought they forbade you from attending,” Megan said.
Sure easy for her to make a comment like that. Aunt Lorraine wasn’t her aunt.
“That was a misunderstanding.” Lorraine gave Megan a vulture glare. “Why are you here with your father? You couldn’t find a man either, Megan?”
“You know what?” Faith stood. “I’ve had enough.”
The older woman sniffed her disapproval. “I should hope you would have had enough of picking losers.”
“I’ve had enough of you, Aunt Lorraine,” Faith said. “I’ve had enough of this. I’m leaving now.”
Megan said, “I’d join you, but I have my eye on a couple of silent auction items that haven’t come up yet.”
Faith glanced over her shoulder to see Caine seated at the table with his gorgeous coworker hanging on his arm and almost drooling over him.
She’d once told Caine that she wasn’t a Marine, and therefore she didn’t march, but she did march right out of that ballroom, head held high, shoulders back, posture perfect. She didn’t look left or right. She just kept going.
She’d reached the cab line when Caine suddenly appeared by her side. “I told you to wait for me.”
“I don’t take orders from you. I don’t take orders from anyone. You got that?” She bounced her index finger off his sternum.
He lifted her hand and kissed it.
His romantic gesture caught her off guard. Usually he moved in like a commanding warrior, seducing and conquering.
“Having a bad night?”
She nodded.
“Let’s see if I can’t make it better.” He guided her into the cab and slid in beside her. He gave the driver her address and then turned to look at her in the darkness. A second later he was kissing her.
He began slowly for a change. He seductively nibbled at the corner of her mouth, the fullness of her lower lip. He was wooing her and doing a damn fine job of it too. No Austen hero could have done it better.
Cupping her face with his hands, he made her feel treasured. Made her feel special. Made her feel wanted. Made her want him even more.
She parted her lips, inviting him in, and he increased the intimacy of their kiss. He slowly explored with a talented gentleness that sensitized every touch point from the tip of her tongue to the roof of her mouth.
Meanwhile he slid one hand through her hair while his other hand stealthily found the slit in her dress and moved up her thigh to rub her feminine mound through the silk of her sheer underwear. The need grew inside her, doubling time and time again, until it exploded out of control. She clutched his crisp shirt in her fists as she was swept away by everything. Suddenly she was horizontal on the backseat of the cab, his tautly aroused body pressed against hers.
His mouth consumed hers—hot and wild. Gone was his earlier slow approach. Now the kiss was all about escalating passion.
Caine traced her cleavage with his fingertip before freeing her right breast from the captivity of her strapless dress. He brushed his thumb over her nipple, then lowered his head. His darkly erotic tongue-lashing made her womb weep with pleasure.
Gasping his name, she tilted her head back and banged it on the cab’s door handle. The pain brought her to her senses. Wiggling out from beneath him, she hurriedly stuffed her naked breast back into her dress.
“We are not having sex in the back of a cab,” she said.
“Right.” He moved away slowly, reluctantly, to the far corner of the seat.
As the cab came to a halt in front of her building, she turned to face Caine. “Would you like to come up with me?”
Caine leapt out of the cab and quickly tugged her out before shoving a handful of bills through the open window at the cabbie.
They sprinted to the elevator, which unfortunately was already occupied, so they couldn’t make out. Not in front of Mrs. McGee, who lived one floor below Faith and sat on the board of the Operatic Society.
But Caine was very creative. He stood closely behind Faith in the far corner from the silver-haired grande dame, trailing his fingers down Faith’s back left bare by the low-cut gown. The second Mrs. McGee got out and the elevator doors closed, Caine and Faith were at each other. His lips didn’t leave hers as they rushed to her door a few feet away. She fumbled to unlock her door.
Once inside, he turned her against the closed door and held her hands above her head as he kissed her lips, her jaw, her shoulders and the curve of her breast. He shifted against her, letting her feel his arousal through his dress pants and her silky gown. A gown that was getting in his way. He released her hands to find the hidden zipper in the back, undoing it in one go so that the gown was released and fell to the floor. She stood there in nothing but her jewelry, her stilettos and her black silk tap pants. He kissed his way down, starting at her breasts, which he treated to lavish attention. He kissed her navel, her hipbone, the top of her thigh. He caressed the back of her knee with his fingertips before trailing down to her ankles and her stilettos. Kneeling before her, he removed them from her feet.
His next mission was to retrace his path back up her leg directly to the lacy hem of her tap pants. He brushed his thumb against her most sensitive mound, letting the silk magnify the pleasure.
Her hands shook as tugged him to his feet and undid the zipper on his pants. He growled his pleasure as she fondled him.
“Condom,” she gasped. “Do you have one?”
He quickly retrieved one from his wallet. She shoved his pants and black briefs out of the way and helped him roll it on. He shoved her black silky tap pants down to the floor before lifting her in his arms. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he surged into her. He had her pinned to the door as he consumed her moan of pleasure with a kiss so hot she almost came right there and then.
He pumped in and out, in and out, with ever-increasing speed. The friction was erotic and deeply satisfying. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. She could only feel. Pressure increasing, building, building. So close, so close . . . there! Yes! Her orgasm consumed her, the spasms like a powerful internal earthquake.
With one final thrust he came, tilting his head back before leaning his forehead against hers.
It took Faith a while to come back to earth, and when she did, she had her feet back on the ground but only for a second as he swept her into his arms and carried her to her bedroom.
“Do you have more condoms in your wallet?” she asked.
He nodded.
“Did you think you’d get lucky tonight? With me or with that gorgeous woman hanging all over you?”
“No. The Marines trained us to always be prepared, which means carrying a condom whether you think you’ll need it or not.” He left to retrieve his wallet and returned to her side to nuzzle her ear with his lips.
“I’m no longer your one-night stand,” Caine said.
“What are you?”
“The man in your bed.”
“And what am I to you?”
“Trouble. The best damn trouble I’ve ever had in my entire life.”
“This isn’t smart.”
“Maybe not,” he said. “But it sure feels good.”
“What are we going to do?”
“I thought I just showed you. Give me a few minutes, and I’ll show you again.”
“I’m not talking about sex.”
He pulled back to stare down at her. “Is that all this is for you? Sex?”
“What is it to you?”
“I asked you first.”
“So what?”
“So you don’t really want to talk any more than I do. I think you’d much rather I did this . . .” He brushed his thumb over her clitoris, sending her flying back into the orgasmic outer limits.
The next afternoon, Faith stood beside her cousin Megan in the enclosed dark area of the Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows at Nav
y Pier. “What’s wrong?” Megan said. “You only suggest coming here if you’re upset.”
“I didn’t come here after I was jilted.”
“No, you went to Italy instead. So I guess this is now your second choice stress haven. Unless you plan on returning to Italy in the near future?”
“No.”
Faith slowly made her way to the collection of Tiffany windows, pausing in front of her favorite landscape. The artificial light behind the large panels made them glow like jewels, the way Caine was able to make her glow with an inner throbbing light that was hot and vibrant. She took a deep breath and tried to keep her mind off sex. It wasn’t easy. Caine had left early that morning, kissing her on the cheek and telling her he’d be in touch. “Did you know this is the only stained glass museum in the country?”
“Yes, I know. I’m the one who told you that. What’s wrong with you today?”
That was a complicated question, because not only was Faith still totally distracted by the memory of making love with Caine several times last night, but she also had the disturbing feeling that she was being stalked. “Did you feel like someone was following us?” Faith glanced over her shoulder. The museum was tucked away in the far end of Navy Pier. Most people didn’t even know of its existence.
“Hundreds of people followed us here,” Megan said. “I mean, come on. It’s Navy Pier, one of Chicago’s top tourist destinations, on a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon. Of course the place is packed.”
“I meant on the walk here from my condo.”
“No, I didn’t notice anything. Why?”
Faith shrugged. “It was just a feeling.”
“Do you still have it now?”
“Not as much.”
“If someone really is following you, then maybe wandering around in an out-of-the-way place that’s on the dark side isn’t the best move.”
Faith shook her head. “No, it’s fine. Just my overactive imagination. Besides, I’ve got pepper spray in my bag.”
“What’s got you so jumpy? Did you find something in the case about Caine’s father?”