by Nova Raines
She’s not wearing the diamond my dad gave her.
Which means…
The diamond must be upstairs. Right now. In this house.
Adrenaline shoots through me, and I know, like that, that I’m going to try to steal it.
I pull my eyes from Calvin and Serena and scan the ball room, butterflies dancing in my stomach. I locate Char sitting at a table near the stage with Bia and her friends. They’re all laughing. So. She’s occupied, unlikely to come looking for me. I keep scanning, and I find Kaidan near the stage, a few feet from Devon. He looks like he’s deep in thought, a new drink in his hand. Another knife tears through my heart, twisting harder as I see my doppleganger walk up to him and say something.
Fuck them. Fuck them all.
I push out of the ballroom, against the flow of the crowd and pick a staircase to walk up. I try to take steady, measured steps, even though my excitement is making me want to run up the stairs.
The thrill coursing through me makes my palms sweaty, and I’m having a hard time keeping my breathing even. But when a few people walk past me on the stairs, one of the guys smiles at me, and I give him a genuine smile back.
La la la. Just heading upstairs to meet my friends. Not planning to steal a giant diamond or anything.
How can this even possibly work? The diamond’s probably in a safe anyway. I’ll get up there and won’t be able to access it. I also need to check for security cameras. My dad had some on his second floor.
There’s a little voice in my head shouting at me to Stop. Right. Now. I should have a plan. I should at least try to do this sober, right? But the warning comes out slurred, buried beneath three glasses of wine. Easy to dismiss.
Oh, well. This might be the only chance I ever get. Maybe I can just borrow the necklace and then… mail it back? I giggle into my hand. If I pull this off, gold digger bitch is never getting that shit back.
I reach the top of the stairs and find myself in a party room. There’s a completely different scene up here. More people, white couches, a full bar, black lights. Two corridors, on the left and right, meet up at this recessed space. Each of the two halls is blocked by velvet rope. A couple pushes past me, leaving the party room.
It’s Ender Varrone with a brunette I don’t recognize. He doesn’t even notice me as he pulls her past. They sneak around one of the velvet ropes and disappear into the dark hall beyond, no doubt looking for a private, unused room. This house is going to see a lot of drunk sex tonight.
I glide into the party room, past the couches filled with couples making out. Someone lays out a line of coke and snorts it. Right there in front of me.
Anger lights up within me, but not at this fool. Seeing someone snort coke isn’t a novelty. Plenty of people did it at my college. I’m just pissed at my asshole dad, who essentially killed himself and then put me in the position where I’m about to steal a diamond necklace in the first place.
I pretend to be looking for someone as I casually check out both hallways. Which do I choose? There’s no way to know where Serena stays, let alone where she keeps her jewelry. Really, I’m just going to have to pick a hall.
The sound of clapping travels up the staircase from downstairs. Is that the speech ending, or did it just begin? Dammit. I’m wasting too much time. Heart thudding, I make my decision. I head for the hallway that’s further away, the one Ender didn’t go down, and stop a few feet away from the rope. I cast a glance around the room, but the bartender up here’s busy, and everyone else is drunk or getting high.
I sneak past the rope and hurry down the dim corridor, hopefully disappearing from casual view as Ender did.
The lights are super low here, so much so, that I almost stumble into a table placed up against one wall.
Maybe this was dumb. I don’t even know where I’m going. Another hallway opens up to my right, and this one is just as dim as the first. I head carefully down it, running my hand along the wall so I don’t stumble. Maybe these halls form a big square. That would put the ballroom below at the center of the square.
If the hallways all connect, I’ll end up reaching the one where Ender and his girl disappeared. Which means I’ll get to check every room up here. If I have enough time.
I stop at a random door, and heart pounding, open it a crack. I seek the light switch with one hand, and when I flick it on, I see I’ve found a bathroom.
Not it.
I check another two rooms, but both look like unused guest rooms. Not the master suite I’m searching for.
I make another turn, but the hall dead-ends here. I sigh. It doesn’t go all the way around. Maybe—
A heavy hand falls on my shoulder, and I stiffen.
“What are you doing up here?”
A shock runs through me as I’m harshly shoved against the wall. My cheek presses against it, and a flicker of fear ripples through my stomach.
Then a woodsy, musky scent, mingled with rum, reaches me. Kaidan.
“I thought you were leaving.” His deep voice sends shivers through me, and my legs go weak. I should be scared, but the thrill I felt at the prospect of stealing that diamond only reaches new heights.
“I am leaving,” I say, my tone biting. “As soon as you get off me.”
“I told you I don’t like liars.”
“I’m leaving. Let. Go.”
“And I don’t like being told what to do.”
“I’m not—”
Kaidan pushes me harder into the wall and buries his face in my hair, inhaling the scent of me. He lays his lips against my ear. “Do I need to teach you a lesson?” His voice is dripping with lust, and every place on my body where he’s touching me radiates heat.
I want to tell him to get off me… He’s a jerk. But that’s not what comes out of my mouth. “It depends what kind of lesson you think I need.”
With one swift movement he twists me around so my back is against the wall. I can barely see him in the dark, but when his lips meet mine, I close my eyes and sink into the warmth of them. He kisses me hard, with a hunger he didn’t have before, plunging his tongue into my mouth, forcing it past my lips.
My heart’s threatening to leap from my chest as I give in, kissing him back. As soon as I do, he pulls back, leaving my mouth hot, bruised.
His hand moves to my lower back and he pulls me closer, pushing my body into his.
He’s hard. I can feel him through my gown. I grow slick again, the space between my thighs throbbing in response. Common sense tries to surface, but I push it back down. So what if he wants to use me and throw me away? I can use him right back. Can’t I?
Kaidan’s eyes glint in the dim light, dark with lust. He kisses me again, slower now, softening his hold on me.
Someone giggles from the end of the hall, and Kaidan pulls away from me, listening. There are two voices, two people stumbling through the dark.
Kaidan reaches around me, to the door at my back, and opens it. He leads me through the open door, and an excited ache radiates through my stomach, makes me sick with wanting and expectation.
He pulls me into the dark room beyond. There’s a dim light on in the corner, but it’s not any brighter in here than it was out there. I can make out a fireplace on one side of the room and a wooden four-poster bed on the other, flanked by end tables.
Kaidan pushes me ahead of him, and I stumble up against the cold, wood post of the bed. I wrap one hand around the length of it, and he steps up behind me and presses his lips to my neck, slowly kissing me, moving from my jaw down to my shoulder. I lean into him, wanting more, wanting every inch of him touching me.
But he stops, pulling away, and grabs my purse from my other hand to drop it to the floor. His hand goes to my shoulder, and I suck in a breath as he trails a line down my back, seeking the zipper on my gown.
He kisses my neck as he unzips me, gently, slowly exposing my skin to the drafty air. Every kiss is like a little touch of flame on my skin, and now we’re both breathing hard in the darkness.
/> His hands lightly brush away the straps of my gown. The silk fabric falls down my shoulders, and he guides the straps down my arms. I shiver with another chill as the dress falls away, exposing my breasts. My nipples ache to be touched, but Kaidan won’t give me what I want.
He stops kissing me. His hands fall away. I arch my back toward him, hanging off the poster, wanting his lips back, wanting his hands back. But my skin only finds cold air.
Then he rests both hands on my hips and pulls the gown down. With a whisper, it’s around my ankles. I squeeze my thighs together, the aching warmth between them begging to be touched.
I’m naked, facing away from him, and I step out of the gown, heels still on, and try to turn to face him, but he plants a hand on my shoulder, stopping me.
“You don’t move unless I tell you to move.”
His hand falls—He’s so confident I’ll obey. And I don’t know what it is about him. When he speaks, I do what he says. Every time. I can’t help it.
I hear his shirt rustling behind me, and the white fabric drops to the floor at my feet, mingling with my gown. Then he’s behind me again, and the heat of his bare skin is so close it gives me goosebumps. I stand there, naked, waiting to see what he’ll do next.
I shiver again, and he reaches his arm around mine, crossing it over my chest. His arm brushes my skin as he does it, and his hand wraps lightly around my breast.
I draw in a shuddering breath, and he pulls me to him, squeezing my aching breast, putting pressure right where I want it most. My back slams against his firm chest, and in that one movement, he’s claimed me, possessed me. I don’t want him to let me go. I’ll give him everything, anything he asks.
He’s still wearing his pants, but I can feel him, rock hard through the fabric, as he rubs against my lower back, and I’m throbbing for him, the empty space inside of me begging for him to fill it.
I lick my lips as his other hand comes around, fingers trailing around my hipbone, over my belly button, traveling down, stopping near my inner thigh. I can feel his erratic heartbeat at my back, matching my own, and we’re both breathing unevenly.
“Is this what you want?” His fingers move between my thighs, and I gasp and spread my legs wider. He rubs lightly against my clit, then starts working in slow circles. I gasp, my knees going weak.
The arm wrapped around my chest strengthens, holding me up to keep me from falling, to keep me from sinking to the floor. His fingers go lower, exploring the throbbing ache between my thighs.
“You’re so wet.” He grunts, and I hear the pleasure in his voice.
I moan against him, wrap a hand on his arm as he rubs me. I want him inside me. But he suddenly lets me go, and I stumble, catching myself against the bed.
“Lay down.”
I swallow, and excitement dances through me at his gruff command.
“Now.” He lays a hand on my shoulder and shoves me on to the bed. I obey, carefully climbing onto the bed, my heels still on. And I slowly lie back.
He comes to the edge of the bed and grabs me by the legs, jerking me toward him. His gaze travels down my body, openly appreciating my breasts, my flat stomach. He reaches out, roughly caressing my breast, squeezing it, and longing reverberates through me, traveling from my nipples to my throbbing core.
My gaze locks onto his pants, the hard length pressing through them, clearly visible. Why is he still wearing them?
Kaidan notices me staring, and he smirks, pleased at what I know is open longing on my face. His gaze travels down my stomach, and he drops to his knees. His lips part as he sees me, takes in all of me.
He finds my clit again and moves his fingers in firm circles around it. As he kisses my thigh, and his stubble teases my skin, it sends another surge of fire through me. My breath is coming in quick, little gasps now as he draws his tongue from my thigh to my wet cleft.
He drops his hand from my clit, and I gasp as his wet, hot tongue replaces it, trailing heat from him to me.
I’m hot and shivering at the same time, and I want him in me so bad, but I can’t even speak. I can barely breathe as his tongue moves faster, working my clit. He plunges his fingers into me, curving them to hit my spot, moving them in and out, in time with the movements of his tongue.
I arch my back, forcing his fingers even deeper within me, and then I’m begging for more, riding the wave, higher and higher. I’m nearly to the top when he rams me hard with his fingers, and I let out a loud moan as I cum.
He leaves his hand there as I grip his fingers tightly, throbbing around him, as the wave brings me back to shore.
I gasp as his fingers leave me. He stands up, and I focus on the hard outline of him beneath his pants. I want more. I want him inside me. I want to see that V.I.P.
I reach toward him, and he leans in to kiss me again. I can taste myself on his lips, and that just fans the flames within me to new levels. I’m hungry now, running my tongue along the seam of his lips, gathering his hair in my hands.
He wraps a hand around my breast and moans into my mouth.
“Peyton.”
I stiffen beneath him, and my whole body goes cold. I sit up, shoving him off me, and roll out from beneath him to stumble to my feet. I can’t seem to walk straight. I’m definitely drunk right now.
He looks at me, his eyes heavy-lidded, and his brow furrows, like he doesn’t realize what he just said.
He’s drunk, too. Even more than I am.
Did he think I was Peyton in the hall? Oh my god. We’re wearing the same dress…
“Where are you going?”
I pull my gown on, and I half-heartedly try to pull up the zipper. I grab my purse off the floor, and I’m running as fast as a drunk girl can in heels. Out the door, down the hall.
Kaidan doesn’t come after me. And if he does, I reach the party room before he does. I fly past a group of drunken A-Listers, not caring what I look like, not caring what they say. The shock of what just happened doesn’t even register until I’m halfway down the staircase.
Kaidan thought I was Peyton.
I almost had sex with him.
And he thought I was Peyton.
I sink down on the step, nauseous enough to puke, and let out a half-smothered guttural scream. I pull my phone from my purse with shaking hands. I have several texts from Char, asking where I am. I call her, because my hands are shaking too hard to text.
Char picks up. “Where are you? Where have you been?”
“Foyer.”
“I’m out on the Veranda. With Bia.”
“I need your driver to take me home now. Can you call him up for me?”
“What happened?”
“I do not want to talk about it. Please don’t make me talk about it right now. Can you just call him?”
“Yeah, I’ll call him and tell him to take you home.” Char pauses like she wants to ask more, but for once she doesn’t, and I love her for it. “The car will be there in a few minutes… The driver’s right down the road.”
I hang up the phone and manage to get down the stairs without tripping or losing it. I make it outside to the stone fountain to wait for Char’s driver before the tears come.
I wipe at my face, smearing mascara all over my hand, tears blurring the mansion before me, the few lights still on out in front.
Char’s driver pulls up, and as I get in the car, my phone beeps.
I have a text.
It’s Kaidan. Where are you?
I start to sob harder, and Char’s driver politely pretends not to notice.
I jab at my phone, deleting the message from Kaidan. And that’s when I make my decision.
I never want to see Kaidan Stone.
Ever again.
***
Kaidan may not let Hayley get away so easily… Read more in Tangled Trust (The Lust List: Kaidan Stone), available for pre-order now.
Table of Contents
The Lust List Series
Chapter One
Chapter Two
&nb
sp; Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen