by HELEN HARDT
“Yeah. Sure.” I stand and grab the silver clutch. “Excuse me for a minute,” I say to Braden.
“I’ll be here.” His lips quiver slightly, as if he wants to smile but is holding back. I’m not sure what that means. I’m not sure about anything pertaining to Braden Black, most of all my ambivalent feelings.
Several guests clamor up to him as Tessa and I turn to leave the ballroom. Everyone wants to shake his hand, it seems.
When we get to the restroom, Tessa grabs a few paper towels and blots her forehead. Then she freshens her makeup. “How are things going?” she asks.
“I have no idea.”
“He’s obviously into you.”
“I suppose.”
“You suppose?” She laughs. “You are something, Skye.”
I rub soap on my hands and stick them under the faucet. The warm water coats them. “What does it all mean, though? For some reason, something about me appeals to him and he wants to have sex with me.” I reach past Tessa for a paper towel.
“And that’s a problem because…?” She throws her lipstick into her purse.
“He kicked me out of his place, Tess. He left to take a call, and then his driver took me home. It was humiliating.” I gaze at my reflection. My Susanne lip stain is holding up nicely.
“So tell him not to do that to you again.”
I raise my eyebrows. Is it really that simple?
“Have some fun, Skye. If this is just sex, accept that. Enjoy it until it’s over. You’re young. There’s plenty of time to find the love of your life. It doesn’t have to be Braden Black.”
But I want it to be.
The thought spears into my head on its own, jerking me by surprise. I erase it quickly. “No, it doesn’t have to be him,” I say.
“If he wants you back in his bed, establish some rules. No more kicking you out.”
“What if he says no?”
“What if he says yes?”
“What if he says something else?”
“What else is there to say? Either yes or no.” Classic Tessa. Always looking at things in a binary way. Everything is black or white, no middle ground.
“You’re saying I need to establish some rules?”
“Yeah, why not? You love rules, Skye.”
“I don’t love rules.”
She bursts into laughter. “You have rules for everything. You know what I think of your drinking rules.”
“Hey, my drinking rules keep me from getting completely inebriated and doing something dangerous.”
“There you go. So establish rules with Braden. Tell him if he wants you, he can’t kick you out and refuse to talk to you after sex. Seems reasonable to me.”
Seems more than reasonable to me as well. But will it be reasonable to Braden?
So much I don’t know about this man who rocked my world. Who continues to rock my world. My body isn’t my own when I’m around him. It responds to him in a way I’ve never experienced. I can act nonchalant, keep my voice dry and noncommittal, but none of that negates the physical response I have to Braden whenever he’s near.
Even when he’s not near. Just thinking about him here in the women’s restroom has my pussy tingling and aching.
I really want another orgasm.
I really want hundreds of them.
Tessa fusses with her hair a bit and then turns to me. “Ready?”
I haven’t touched myself up at all. “In a minute.” I quickly powder my nose and dot on some clear lip gloss. “Okay.”
As we reenter the ballroom, an attractive black-haired man asks Tessa to dance. She presses her evening bag into my hand and heads to the dance floor.
I head back to Braden’s table.
And gasp.
A beautiful blonde is sitting next to him.
Chapter Nineteen
I paste on a smile. “I’m back.”
God, I sound so saccharine.
Braden stands. “Skye, meet Laurie Simms.”
I hold out my hand, willing it not to shake, and glue on the smile once more. “Skye Manning.”
She takes my hand and gives it a strong shake. “Braden was just telling me about you. You work for Addison Ames?”
“I do.”
“She’s a doll. Please have a seat.”
Except she’s sitting in the seat I vacated only minutes ago. Braden holds out the chair on his other side. I suppose I can’t expect him to be rude and make the other woman move, though I secretly wish he would. Who is Laurie Simms anyway?
I sit. The extra bourbon is within reach.
Yeah, I take it. This seems like a four-drink kind of night.
“Addie and I go way back,” Laurie says. “I used to work for her father.”
“Oh?” I say. “What do you do?”
“I’m an attorney.” She slides a card over to me.
Nice promo. Slick. Though I have no need of an attorney, and I’m sure I can’t afford her anyway.
“I interned with Brock Ames when I was in law school. He got me set up with my current firm.”
I didn’t recall asking, but good to know.
“So how do you two know each other?” I ask sweetly.
“We don’t, actually,” Braden says.
“Oh?”
“Shameless self-promotion.” Laurie smiles. “Of course I recognized Braden and had to come introduce myself.”
“As I said, Ms. Simms, I’m happy with my current representation.”
She stands. “Can’t blame a girl for trying. Nice to meet you, Skye.”
“You too.” I smile again. This time it’s genuine.
Laurie is blond and beautiful and also very nice. I berate myself for questioning her motives. She’s not after Braden. She’s after his business.
“Thanks,” Braden says.
“For what?”
“For getting back here. Seemed like you were gone forever. When I’m alone, people pounce. Laurie is the umpteenth person who came up to me while you were gone.”
“Were the others beautiful females as well?”
He smiles. “Does it matter?”
How am I supposed to answer that? Yes, it matters, because I’m experiencing petty jealousy that nauseates me. Or no, it doesn’t matter, which is a big damned lie.
“I suppose not.” Back to trying to sound nonchalant.
“One was Peter Reardon. Apparently he was waiting outside the ballroom, and when he saw you and Tessa leave, he came back in and sought me out. He apologized for dancing with you.”
“Oh, for God’s sake. That’s ridiculous. He had a perfect right to dance with me. I enjoyed his company.”
“I’m sure he enjoyed yours as well. He just didn’t know you were with me.”
“I wasn’t with you.”
“You are now, and I aim to keep it that way.”
His words both anger me and make me hot.
“Have you thought any more about coming back to my bed?” he asks.
Those words just make me hot.
“I don’t want to talk about that here,” I say.
“Why?”
“Why? Because we’re nearly screaming at each other to be heard above the band.”
“Let’s go out to the lobby, then.”
“I can’t. I have to watch Tessa’s bag.”
“Tessa’s bag will be fine. If it’s not, I’ll replace everything in it.” He stands. “Come on.”
“She’d never forgive—”
“For God’s sake.” He reaches for my hand and tugs me along behind him.
We walk along the outer edge of the ballroom to the entrance and then through the hallway into the lobby.
“Why did you come here, Braden?”
“I already told you. To keep you from getting i
nto someone else’s bed.”
I tilt my chin upward. “Why is that any of your concern?”
“Because I want you in my bed, Skye. Haven’t I made that clear? And I’m not very good at sharing.”
“What about what I want? Has that occurred to you?”
“You seemed to have a good time in bed with me.”
Oh, yes, I did. The problem occurred when it was over.
“You’re not denying it,” he says.
“No, I’m not. The actual act itself was…acceptable.”
He lets out a boisterous laugh—the first time I’ve truly heard him laugh—and I mean really lets it out. His whole face lights up, and God, he’s handsome.
He finally curbs his laughter. “Acceptable? You’re something else, Skye.”
I cross my arms, trying not to frown. “Making fun of me again?”
“No, I’m not, actually. You are a challenge, Skye Manning, and I never back down from a challenge.”
Okay. Not sure what to say to that, so I say nothing. Just stand my ground, hoping I can keep up this charade of being in control.
Because I’m not in control. Braden strips me of it.
“The act itself was acceptable,” he says. “Are you saying something else about our time together wasn’t acceptable?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”
He smiles. “Don’t leave me in suspense.”
Now or never, Skye. Time to fess up. I want this man. I want to go back to his bed, but not if kicking me out afterward is his habit.
I clear my throat. “Fine. I didn’t like how it ended.”
“I seem to recall it ended with both of us climaxing. What was wrong with that?”
“That’s part of the act. The act was acceptable, as I’ve told you. I’m talking about after the act.”
“I believe you left.”
“That’s not how I’d phrase it. You didn’t say a word to me other than to tell me Christopher would take me home. You left me alone to get dressed—”
“Did you want help dressing?”
I uncross my arms and extend my fingers, trying to ease the tension that’s overtaking me. “Would you let me finish? God.” I pull my hair off my neck. It’s so hot in this lobby. Except the temperature in the lobby is fine—it’s Braden who’s supplying the heat.
“Fine. Go ahead.”
“You kicked me out, Braden. It was…”
“It was what?”
“Humiliating, all right? It was fucking humiliating. I felt…disposable.”
“I don’t regulate how you feel, Skye. You do.”
I shake my head, anger rising in my gut. That’s the whole problem. I don’t have any power with Braden.
And I don’t like it at all.
Except that I do. And I really hate that I do.
I glare at him.
“I don’t consider you disposable, so why do you?”
I curl my hands into fists. Seriously, fists. I really want to punch his superior nose. Another way I’m not in control. So much for releasing the tension.
“I don’t consider myself disposable, which is why, Braden, if you want me in your bed so badly, you can’t treat me as if I am. You can’t just kick me out when you’re done.”
“We were both done.”
“Maybe you were,” I say. “Personally, I had several more orgasms left in me.”
What a fucking lie. The only two orgasms I’ve ever had took place that night, but he doesn’t know that, and I’m not about to clue him in.
He seems to struggle with what to say next before finally running a hand through his hair, mussing it up and looking extremely sexy. “I don’t normally let anyone spend the night at my place.”
Why? What made you this way? Will I ever be able to get close to you other than sexually?
The words hover on my tongue, but I can’t ask the questions. Instead, “Then don’t. I won’t go back to bed with you if you’re going to make me leave afterward. Simple as that.”
He sighs, rubbing his forehead as if in resignation. “Fine. If that’s what it takes to get you back in my bed, you can stay until morning. Does that suffice?”
No. It doesn’t suffice. I don’t even know what would suffice. “I don’t have to stay. I just would like the option.”
He cocks his head, pausing a few seconds before responding. “I’m beginning to see what you really want,” he says. “It’s not so much that you want to stay, it’s that you want to be the one to decide, isn’t it?”
How do he and Tessa seem to know me better than I know myself?
As much as I want him—even standing here in a hotel lobby with guests bustling around late in the evening—I can’t agree to what he’s asking, even if he lets me spend the night. I don’t want to be his fuck buddy.
I want more than that.
“I can’t go back to your bed, Braden.”
“You can.”
“No, I can’t. It just doesn’t feel…”
Braden moves his warm body into my space. “You want to say it doesn’t feel right, Skye. But you’re not that good an actress. It’s a lie, and you know it.”
He’s right. Even though I want more than he’s willing to give me, everything about being with him feels right.
My knees turn to jelly as heat surges through my body like fiery pinballs ricocheting everywhere at once and then landing right between my thighs. He’s close to me, so close I could lean into him and easily regain my balance.
“Come home with me,” he whispers, “and you can leave whenever you want.”
Chapter Twenty
“I… I have to tell Tessa.”
He takes my hand and leads me back to the ballroom. Tessa is sitting at our table when we get there.
“What have you two been up to?” she asks. “We just—”
“We’re leaving,” Braden says. “Can I give you a lift home?”
“I think I’ll stay, actually. Garrett and I are hitting it off. Peter’s a mess, though.”
“What’s wrong?”
“He’s terrified of you,” she says to Braden, smiling. “Though you don’t seem all that scary to me.”
There she goes flirting again. Braden is pretty scary, though not in the way Tessa means.
“He just wants a contract with my company,” he says, “and he thinks I won’t give it to him because he was dancing with Skye.”
“Oh. Is that true?”
“No. I’m not giving it to him anyway. The decision has already been made.”
“Does he know?” she asks.
“He will.” Braden turns to me. “Ready?”
“Yeah, sure. See you, Tess.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” she says.
Within a few minutes, I’m sitting in the back of Braden’s car again with Christopher at the wheel. I inhale. Braden’s ridiculously masculine scent is now my favorite cologne in the world. I yawn inadvertently.
“Tired?” he asks.
“No, I’m okay.” Though I am a little tired, probably from the Wild Turkey. Not drunk but sleepy.
“Good. You need to be awake for what I have in mind tonight.”
I suppress a quiver. I’m already wet. So ready.
We’re quiet the remainder of the trip. Braden leaves me alone…until we get safely to his place.
We’re not even through the door when—
“Fuck,” he growls and pins me against the wall beside the entryway, the door still hanging open. “I’ve wanted to kiss you all night. That sexy mouth of yours…and this dress. I ought to rip it off you so no other man can see you in it.”
I tremble. “It’s Tessa’s.”
“Don’t care. I’ll buy her a new one.”
“But I like—”
“Still don’t care.” He crushes his mouth to mine, grabs one of the straps of my dress, and pulls sharply as he thrusts his tongue between my lips.
The low screech of the ripping fabric. No, not Tessa’s dress!
But that’s the last thought of Tessa’s dress. That’s the last thought for a while as pure emotion bubbles through me, taking away all logic and rationale. All I want is this kiss, this raw meeting of our mouths, our lips, our tongues.
I melt into the kiss as he deepens it. Braden’s kisses are not average kisses. Nothing about Braden is average. His sheer will and ambition take over with everything he does, including kissing and fucking.
I can’t wait to get to the fucking again.
For now, though, I surrender to his lips, teeth, and tongue, let my hunger take over as our mouths slide together in a haunting rhythm that matches the cadence of my rapidly beating heart. His mouth is rough and merciless, and as he devours me, he rips the other strap and pushes it over my shoulder. My dress is banded around my waist, my strapless black bra in full view.
He slides his hands up my sides and cups my breasts, and then he pulls back, our mouths parting with a pop.
He gazes at me, focusing on my lips. “I wish you could see your mouth right now, Skye. Your lipstick is smeared, and your lips are swollen and glistening and parted in that slight way that’s all you.” He drops his gaze. “And these tits. Spectacular.”
I’m panting at his words, my panties melting from the heat. “Bra,” I say.
“Yeah, fucking sexy. Made for your tits.”
“Bra. Don’t rip it.” The bra is mine, and it wasn’t cheap. Finding a strapless bra to adequately support my Cs wasn’t easy.
But please rip it.
He follows my thought instead of my spoken plea and rips it off me anyway, freeing my breasts. “I’ll buy you a hundred bras, Skye. A new one for every time I fuck you, just so I can rip it off.”
My nipples are tight and hard, so ready for his touch. But he doesn’t touch them. Can’t he see them reaching for him? Instead, he’s still cupping the rosy flesh of my breasts, still gazing at them.
“Please,” I say when I can no longer take the ache.
“Please what?”
“My nipples. Touch them.”
His lips turn up into a surly smile. “You want me to touch your nipples, Skye?”