by Pamela Ann
My brow rose before I coquettishly bit my lip, lavishing on the man’s unrepressed reaction. It gave me a sense of control, a twisted kind of power trip that I could command and mine to exercise.
“The condom or the team?”
His eyes lit up, his interest went ten-fold. “Both, I’m definitely both.”
I was becoming a lethal flirt. Flirting was an art, and I was honing my artistic skills. What happened in Vegas stayed in Vegas.
“If you can dance and manage to impress me, maybe you’ll have a chance in executing one or two of the dirty thoughts you’re thinking right now.” I could tell he was quite the typical arrogant jock, but since I was ruling and commanding his usual game play, he wasn’t sure how to handle me. Good, unpredictability always gave the upper hand. A vital of importance when around men of new acquaintance.
“You’re unbelievably hot. It’s so fucking hard to keep my cool around you,” he admitted, boosting my confidence even more.
Capturing his hand, I placed it on my hip before leaning over him and strategically brushing my lips against this ear. The man smelled delicious, too.
“Let’s dance. That way, I can slowly warm you up.”
“Damn, how are you even real?”
The real me would probably bore him to tears. Sassy Vegas Cara was ready to come out and play.
We were just getting our groove on when Anton tapped me over the shoulder.
“I’m her side bitch. And who’s Mr. Muscle Man?” he asked, ogling the jock like a piece of dessert about to be devoured.
Good question. I was so caught up with the whole ordeal that I had forgotten to ask his name.
Grinning, I slung my arm around the jock’s toned arm before gazing over his face. “This is …”
“Calvin,” he offered before looking down at me with a wicked look.
“Right.” I tapped his chest before glancing back at my over inquisitive friend. “This is Calvin. He’s a Trojan.”
“I’m heading back to the table to recharge.” Anton winked at me before giving Calvin one lusty brazen onceover. “Join us once you’re done teasing the heck out of this beast.”
“Don’t mind him,” I said before investing all my attention to the man whose hands began to find confidence in the way he held me.
We danced, gyrating against each other for almost an hour. By the time I announced exhaustion, I had a vast idea of the size of his package. It wasn’t all that impressive, truth be told, but I wasn’t planning on getting laid, but maybe everything else but the blatant deed.
My forefinger grazed his lips, checking to see if his bow-shaped lips felt as soft as they looked. “Feel like going somewhere quiet?”
“Hell yeah.” The Trojan and I were on the same wavelength.
I flirtatiously smiled at him before softly tapping the side of his chin. “Good boy.” Taking charge, I grabbed his hand and led him toward our private table. The club was so condensed with people it felt like we were sardines in a small can.
Upon reaching the table, I caught up with Kells and Anton, who were in the midst of eating sliders and fries.
“I’m heading out,” I announced before picking up a fry and biting it in half. Heaven.
“With the USC quarterback?” Anton cocked his head to the side, double-checking Calvin who stood ten feet away, waiting for me to finish saying my farewells.
“Yes, sir.” I stole another fry before blowing them kisses. “Catch ya laters.”
“Cara!”
Ah, the asshole of the year was amongst us. Where was he? Lurking in the shadows before finding the right opportunity to pester me? Yeah, he could go suck a toe—Hailey’s fucking toe.
Without glancing in his direction, I gave him the finger before marching off.
Trojan and I exited the venue with great relief. As much as I adored partying, Vegas was hardcore compared to the bars we frequented in LA. It was hard to keep up with the energy and the wild commitment to party like a rock star.
My spirits were lifted as we joked about playing strip poker. True, I hardly knew the man, but that was the whole point of tonight—to forget about my qualms.
We strode hand in hand through the halls of the hotel toward the bank of elevators to take us to the suite. Upon reaching my level, I pulled out the keycard to access the room.
“Can I get you something to drink?” I coyly asked the second we entered. Apparently, he and his friends were staying at a different hotel, and I didn’t see the point as to why I had to trek farther when I could use this room. River and co. would be partying until the break of dawn, so it would be of no consequence.
That sentiment lasted for another minute until I heard the front door savagely open, then in rushed a severe looking River. I had seen his anger in different stages, but this one topped the list. He flexed his hands, gearing for a fight.
Venomous eyes seared toward where Calvin stood. “Get the fuck out of here!”
The poor jock’s shocked expression didn’t cover the horror of his situation. “Cara told me she’s available. She’s not yours.”
“Oh, she’s mine. She’s been mine since she was eleven,” River jeered. I could literally see his rage about to explode like a viciously shaken uncorked champagne bottle.
Calvin seemed oblivious to who River was, or he didn’t give a hoot about his fame. As much as I loathed granting River my gaze, I knew I had to look at him so he could see the depths of my frustration. I didn’t need him to act like a bastard and shining armor for me.
“We’re just going to my room then, since you don’t look like you’re leaving any time soon.”
River growled like some uncontrolled animal ready to pounce. “I’m not leaving, and if it takes muscle to let this fucker out, then let’s have at it.” He flexed his arms then his neck, eyes a fiery inferno.
He was ready to brawl? WTF!
Shielding Calvin from River, I knew was a moronic move since Calvin was a jock, but River had months of serious MMA training, fencing and all sorts of rigorous exercises to prep his body for his role as a Viking. Calvin wouldn’t survive a minute with him.
“Enough!” I bellowed. This wasn’t the kind of fun I had in mind, not with Calvin ending up in ER.
“I’m going to lose my scholarship if I fight you,” I heard Calvin speak behind me, sounding defeated.
It seemed he had an idea who River was and what engaging him in a fight would entail. Damn, I quite liked the man.
“I’m sorry.”
Calvin shrugged like he wanted to put this horror behind him as he scrammed out of the suite.
It was right after the sound of the door being securely shut that River’s antagonizing demeanor shifted back to a normal human being. Well, good for him, because I wanted to fucking murder something. The second his eyes flickered toward me, I threw the nearest thing I could get ahold of—a saltshaker from the room service I had earlier on.
“You fucking maniac! What right do you have to fucking barge in here like you have every fucking right to control my life!”
“Ah, there’s the passionate Cara I know very well. I was wondering when that’d happen.” He actually had the gall to grin.
My entire system went into overdrive, seeing red. Completely going bonkers, I violently chucked my shoes at him, one after the other in hasty succession. But much to my chagrin, River caught both without much effort before dropping them on the floor, unperturbed.
“You bastard!” I screeched, advancing on him, wanting to hurt him somehow.
River immediately took hold of my hand, halting me. “Come here!” He hooked an arm around my waist, colliding my body against his. “Yes, I’m a jealous fool who can’t stand seeing you with another man. It’s fucking me up. I can’t fucking think or sleep. I just love you too damn much … I apologize if my love sickens you.”
Jealous, was he? Well, I didn’t give a damn.
“Don’t give me the same bullshit spiel about love when you’re in love with her, too. That’s wh
at sickens me the most.” The lies, when would it stop?
“I’m not in love with Hailey,” he vehemently stated. He cradled my cheek, beseeching, “I’ve only loved one woman in my entire life and that’s you, Cara.”
“Stop lying to me.” My lips quivered before my tears fell. The floodgate ensued. “I hate you, and I will never forget it.” How belittling and irrelevant he made me feel by choosing Hailey over me on my birthday of all days.
“Baby, please.” There was a tremor in his tone, but I was beyond seeing his hurt.
“Let go of me,” I harshly demanded, almost spitting on his face as I tried to loosen from his tightened grip. “I said—let me go!” I shrieked as our eyes fought, but the man was unyielding, not lightening his shackles.
Consumed by every damning violent emotions, my palm unceremoniously found contact with his cheek. The slap burned my skin and left an imprint on his face, but he remained unmoving, uncaring if I was getting physical.
Pressing my lips together, I huffed air into my lungs, ready to strike him again, before I made a ferocious growl. Then he kissed me.
It was punishing, titillating, a mating of senses as he sought to balm his pain. He kissed me like I held the answer, like I alone could chase his demons away. Like I could make him whole again.
“Mine,” he gruffly stated before delving into my lips again. Gently, he pushed me against the wall, destroying, consuming everything that I was, everything that I had been. He demanded it all. “Mine.”
No, my mind kept responding, wanting to send him to hell, but my body gave him free reign. His touch was my kryptonite.
With a mind of its own, my hand went south, taking control as it hazardously unbuttoned and unzipped his pants. I let out an animalistic sound when my hand grappled his endowed manhood.
“Jesus, I hate how I want you,” I hissed as he let my lips go and began to nip on the skin on my neck, huffing, growling as he felt my hand jerk him the way he loved, hard and tight, fitting like a glove in my hand, just as he had demanded me over the years.
Opening my legs a little wider while my mini dress rode up, rolling over my hips, I led his cock toward my wet crevice, potently out of my mind at the anticipation of him driving his need into my pussy.
I cried out with divine pain and pleasure when I felt him slap my clit, sending sweet tremors all over my body.
“Please, I need you …” To push your hips. To fill me with that cock.
At my unsubtle command, River thrusted, slipping his cock halfway into my juiced-up channel before taking over my lips once more.
Closing my eyes, I became lost as we rutted and mated like animals, making love as I clung to him, gasping, begging for him to end this incessant yearning to feel him come inside my womb. There was nothing more powerful than that very moment; us connected as one, the yin to my yang, the positive to my negative, the ugly to my beautiful, the love to my hate. We were one—one body, one mind—consumed and driven by one greater factor, the essential ingredient in life—love.
I loved him, but I would rather die than utter those words out loud. He was my crucible, but I would rather carry on with my life than surrender to my heart’s primal commitment to him.
After our wild romp against the wall, I was beyond spent as he gently carried me into his room and held me like he didn’t want to let me go. My thoughts ran riot, but my spent body gave in to the exhaustion, submitting to unconsciousness.
Sometime later, I awoke in the same position.
What time is it? I wondered as I tried to move, but his arm was locked in place.
“You’re not getting rid of me just yet,” River’s stern, unbending voice whispered into my ear. “Just a little more, then you can go as you please.”
He was singing a different tune. Could he really be serious this time?
“You’re really going to let me go?”
“I am,” he stated, unfaltering.
Good, because I didn’t plan on staying in his bed.
“You probably wish that I fall in love with her, huh?” he asked out of the blue, breaking me out of my damning thoughts.
Wish? Hardly. But it seemed going back to that wretched Hailey would make him feel like a man, so he could go ahead and get on with his life.
“I won’t care.” Maybe they deserved each other, the lying lot.
He laughed mockingly. “I know. You don’t have to say it. I already know you don’t give a flying fuck if I die tomorrow. I get it. I’m nothing to you.”
“Then why do you keep me imprisoned in your arms!”
“Because this will be the last time. I’m quitting you, too.”
His words stabbed deeply into my heart. It was moronic since I kept telling him that I wanted him to leave me, be with someone else. However, it was different when those statements came out of his lips.
Not wanting to dwell on the madness that ensued in my mind, I felt suffocated. Like a knee-jerk reaction, I had to get away so I could breathe.
“I have to book my flight for tomorrow.”
River was still unrelenting as I tried to yank his arm away to no avail.
“I’ll have a jet ready for you. I’ll take care of it.”
Damn him. Why did he still feel the urge to take care of me after all that’s happened?
“You don’t have to do that.”
“It’s not a big deal,” he reassured me before I felt his lips against my ear, freezing me in place. “Promise me something?”
“What?” I croaked out, still holding my breath.
“Don’t marry unless the love is greater than ours.” His words intonated emotions that weren’t being spoken out loud.
His request would prove to be difficult.
“I promise,” I lied.
What else could I say? I knew in my heart of hearts that I wasn’t going to love any man the way I loved him. It was impossible to replicate this beautiful madness. He knew that. I knew that.
I stayed awhile. Five hours to be precise, before it was time for me to leave.
River delivered. While we were in bed, he managed to get everything done with a quick phone call. He didn’t see me out, but I knew when I left his room, he was wide-awake, though pretending to be asleep. We didn’t exchange good-byes because how many times did we have to put ourselves through that? Our silence said it all.
Anton had all the markings of a man who had the time of his life, sleeping with his mouth open with slight drool leaking out. I kissed his forehead before wheeling out my belongings. There was a limo waiting for me, all thanks to River, to take me to the airstrip.
Chapter Twenty
The week following the Vegas’s incident was uneventful. Apart from my training at the gym with Anton, nothing had been going on with my life. I became so bored that I began to scavenge the internet for information about River and Hailey. Nothing had been reported. It was unusual since I was almost sure that he was going to run back straight to her the moment he landed back in Los Angeles.
“Hello, hello,” I said, picking up Kyle’s call. He had been in touch almost daily while in London. He hadn’t said much about what was going on with him, but a lot was probably of his mind concerning the woman who got away.
“Just wanted to say hi. Any news?” he asked, sounding down and out.
“Nothing on my front. Boring, same old story; you know the drift.” I was in the kitchen, making myself a light dinner. “Are you okay? When will you be back?”
He sighed heavily. “I’m, you know … Being here … It doesn’t get easier, but it’s for work, so I don’t have much choice.”
Setting the kitchen knife down, I considered his sad irrevocable situation.
“Have you seen her?”
“God no,” he rushed out. “I don’t think … I mean, to see her pregnant … It’s just too much to handle for me. I can’t. It’ll be hard, and I just fucking can’t go there.”
He was tormented himself for not telling her he was in town. If I were in his position
, I wouldn’t even know what to do. But Kyle called me for a reason—to give him comfort while being torn into pieces.
“Listen, don’t feel guilty for anything. I’m sure she’ll understand either way … Whatever you decide, that is.”
“Thank you, Cara. You have no idea how much you’ve helped. And I hope you know that I’m here for you, too.”
I smiled, knowing that he meant every word. “Hang in there. Just come back home, and you’ll be just fine.”
“I know. Few more days, then I’ll be okay,” he said, seeming to doubt himself.
After saying our good-byes, I resumed making my dinner, when Anton came knocking on my door.
“Ah, right on time. I’m starving!” he exclaimed, inhaling the smell of the pasta as he openly salivated and strode straight into the kitchen and got himself a plate.
Smiling at my friend, I went to the fridge to pull out a bottle of wine I had previously opened last night. “Well, I’m glad to be of service to you. Why don’t you just help yourself? A glass of wine, too?”
Anton took a mouthful of pasta before pulling up a seat on the table. “Oh, I’d love that.”
Pouring him a glass, I then went to the kitchen to make my own serving before joining him. He hadn’t brought up Vegas, which was his way on waiting for me to open up.
“Kells demanded that I dropped by here to remind you of her birthday party tomorrow.”
Yes, the woman had texted me almost every day. She was ecstatic that Phoenix was throwing her one at his place. She wanted everyone to be there. I found it cute and endearing how those two lovebirds were so keen on each other.
“Kells already texted me, like, five hundred times. I’m bringing the cake. Yada, yada, yada.”
He took another bite before giving me the eye. “Don’t give me that look. I’m just doing what she asked.”
He was right. I was just being cranky.
“Do you think he’ll be there?”
Anton paused and studied me for a moment. “If he is, will that bother you?”
“That depends,” I admitted without looking at him. “If she’s with him …” If that were the case, good luck to me. Hopefully, I wouldn’t have a breakdown.