Her Knight to Remember

by Jill Shalvis

  She let out a sound that might have been a laugh or a sincere agreement, and pressed her face into the crook of his neck. “You smell good. Like a…man.”

  Now he let out that same sound, only from his lips it sounded desperate. Hungry. “Do we all smell the same, then?”

  “No.” Face still pressed against him, she shook her head. Her golden hair slid over his chest. “You smell different. Good different,” she said quickly, lifting her head to smile. “I’m glad, because if this had been like any of my other experiences…”

  Did she mean that they were going to…“Annie?”

  “I want you to prove me wrong,” she whispered, sinking her fingers into his hair and pressing that tantalizing body to his. “Please, Kyle. Show me what it’s supposed to be like.”

  He had a vinyl-clad beauty writhing against him. This was what he’d wanted. His ultimate fantasy. Only, suddenly the implications were more important than the actual lovemaking. He knew that was because his heart had gotten involved, had thrown a whole hell of a lot of caring into the mix.

  Her mouth was against his ear. “You still want me?”

  “Only more than my next breath,” he assured her, letting his hands slip as they’d been dying to, letting them roam over her perfect, round, and very nearly bare butt. At the feel of her, he groaned. “Trust me, wanting isn’t the problem. But the wedding is tomorrow and then you’re out of here.”

  “All we need is now.”

  Yeah. That’s all he’d ever lived for. The here and now. But…

  “I’m not looking for promises, Kyle. Other than the one you gave me, that is.” Her smile, a little shy, a little wicked, nearly killed him. “That sex isn’t overrated. Can you still do that?”

  “Oh, yeah.”

  “Here?” She put her mouth to his neck. “Now?”

  “Here.” He could barely stand, but he slid his hands up her sides so that his thumbs were just beneath her tightly bound breasts. “Now.”

  Their kiss was hot, long and messy, and made his head swim. He couldn’t get enough, but eventually had to pull back or pass out from lack of oxygen.

  She stood there, eyes closed, mouth wet, weaving slightly. He waited, and when she opened her eyes, they were glazed.

  “Annie?”

  “Oh, good.” Her voice was husky, and she cleared her throat. “Annie. I’d forgotten my name.”

  He’d nearly forgotten his. He certainly had forgotten everything else. “I’m doing it right, then,” he said with some relief.

  She gripped his upper arms and slid her body against his. “Just keep doing it.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” When his thumbs stroked over her nipples, her head thunked back against the wall. “Good?”

  “Good. More.”

  “More on its way.” He leaned in to kiss her again but she slapped a hand to his chest.

  “More now.”

  He had just enough breath left to let out a low hum of agreement but he still didn’t move faster. “If I rush, I might miss something. Annie, sweetheart, have you noticed you’re overdressed?”

  “Yes. Fix that.”

  “Absolutely, my little dominatrix.”

  CHAPTER 11

  WHEN HER HANDS tightened in his hair, drawing him closer, warm skin brushed warm skin. But there was still that heart-stopping lingerie between them where he wanted nothing. His fingers met between her breasts, searching for the release hook.

  Nothing.

  He tried around back.

  Still nothing. “Annie…”

  “Hurry.”

  “Hurrying.” Because he was feeling a bit desperate, he dipped down and cupped her bottom in his hands. Now that was good. He played with the little strap dividing her cheeks, following it down…

  “Kyle.”

  With one hand still cupping a cheek and the other splayed over the pure gold between her legs, he went still. “Are we stopping?” If so, it was entirely possible he would beg. Maybe cry.

  “You said I was overdressed.” Her voice sounded funny. Tight. Needy. “You said you’d fix that.”

  “Right.” He pulled back just a little and frowned at the contraption still holding in her breasts. There was no apparent hook, zipper or release. “How did you get into this thing?”

  She blinked, then pulled back, looking a little suspicious. “I thought you said you knew what you were doing.”

  “Yes, but—”

  “How can you follow through on your promise if you can’t get me out of my clothes?”

  Good point. He tried harder, running his hands up and over her breasts, around the back, but—

  Annie’s breath was coming in little pants. Her eyes were closed, her mouth open a little, and he realized all his efforts to strip her was turning on someone else besides himself.

  Which turned him on even more, if that was even possible. So he kissed her again, sliding his aching body to hers, lifting one of her thighs to his hip so that he could press even closer. Her hips arched up to meet the slow, desperate thrust of his. He bent, running hot, openmouthed kisses down her jaw, her neck, over the plump curves of her breasts plunging out her bra. When his tongue dipped beneath the vinyl to stroke a nipple, Annie’s knees buckled.

  Or maybe that was his. “Bed.” He was barely holding them both up.

  Annie’s hands streaked over his chest, his arms, his quivering belly.

  “Bed,” he said again, more weakly now.

  “Yes.” Then she dipped into his knit boxers and cupped him. By some miracle, he kept them both upright, but he had become blind, deaf and mute.

  “You’re really good for it,” he heard her murmur in surprise through the roaring in his ears.

  “What?” he managed.

  “Your promise. You’re…really good for it.”

  Good. That was good. He was good. Everything was good.

  Her eyes were still glazed, her face flushed. “I’ve never felt like this,” she whispered in a hungry voice that brought him even closer to the edge, not to mention her busy fingers. “I’m hot from the inside out, Kyle. I need your hands on my bare skin. Why aren’t your hands on my bare skin?”

  “I’m trying. How the hell do I get you out of this?”

  Her mouth was racing over his face, leaving a trail of eager, hot kisses. “I don’t know. Rip it.”

  “But—” He broke off because she took those long, warm fingers of hers and squeezed his erection. “Annie.”

  “Kyle.”

  Against his neck, he felt her smile. When had the power shifted, he wondered wildly? He felt like a damn virgin. All finesse had flown out the window. “I’m trying to concentrate on driving you crazy here.”

  “Just do it faster.”

  “Faster. Got it.” He dipped his fingers into her cleavage. Magically found a hook and freed it.

  Her breasts spilled into his hands. His mouth took over while his hands worked at losing the thong.

  Then she stood there in all her naked glory.

  She smiled. “You look…”

  “What?” he asked, his gaze drinking her in. “Desperate?”

  “Yes.”

  “Because I feel desperate.”

  “I think you really do,” she said with marvel. “It’s almost as if I have all the power.”

  “Baby,” he said on a sincere groan. “You do. Right in your very hands.”

  She looked down at his most urgent erection and let out her own wicked grin. “I’m doing it right, then?”

  “Most definitely right,” he croaked out as she slowly stroked him.

  “Here. Now. Remember?”

  Here. Yes. Here was good. Now was even better. But on the bed. Twisting from the door, he dropped her to the mattress. He slid his hands up the back of her silky clad thighs, making a spot for him. Slow, he reminded himself when she opened for him. Make it good.

  He was still working on the slow part when she guided him to where she wanted him most, and he slipped inside.

  Heaven. Ho
t, wet, glorious heaven. But—

  “Kyle.” Panting, Annie opened to him more fully. “I promise to never say sex is overrated again if you just…” Her inner muscles tightened around him. “If you would…” Her hands pulled at his hips. “Move!”

  “Move. Moving.” And ignoring the niggling in the dim recess of his mind, he moved them both to high heaven and back.

  It wasn’t until it was over, until they’d drifted off to sleep that he remembered what the niggling had been about.

  A condom.

  Or more correctly…the lack of one.

  How had he so lost himself? Well, that was easy enough to answer. He’d started out the seducer and had ended up being the seduced.

  Even more shocking…he’d fallen in love.

  Wouldn’t Kevin get a kick out of this. Hell, everyone he knew would get a kick out of this.

  But what would Annie think?

  He doubted she’d be doing the happy dance. Still, it all had to be faced, especially the condom part. He cracked open an eye, startled by the shift in shadows, realizing a good amount of time had passed.

  And that he was alone.

  * * *

  KYLE DISCOVERED the hard way just how difficult it was to talk to a bridesmaid on the wedding day. Actually, it wasn’t just difficult.

  It was impossible.

  By the time he’d managed to stumble out of bed before dawn to look for Annie, he realized two things. One, the entire place was asleep, and two, she’d helped herself to the pair of his sweats he’d stripped out of before he’d gone to bed.

  He stepped on something and looked down at the torn dominatrix outfit. The quick spurt of hot satisfaction sizzled out quickly as he realized he’d have to wait until the sun came up to talk to her because he couldn’t go sneaking his way through the sleeping bridesmaids’ rooms trying to find Annie, who obviously didn’t want to be found—especially at 3:00 a.m.

  But at morning’s first light, he tucked the thong in his pocket, braved the stairs and entered what he and Kevin had dubbed “The Froufrou Zone.”

  It was empty.

  A maid scurried by and he stopped her. “Where is everyone?”

  She laughed in disbelief. “On the morning of the wedding? Are you kidding?”

  Did he look like he was kidding? “No, really. Where are they?”

  “At the salon getting their fingernails, toenails, face, hair and anything else that needs doing, done.”

  “But…” It boggled his mind. “That could take hours.”

  “Many,” the maid agreed. “And if the groom is very, very lucky, they won’t be too late to the church.”

  Great. Now he had to go the entire day without talking to her. Unless…“Which salon?”

  “Don’t even think about it, bro.” Kevin came up the stairs and swung an arm around his shoulders. “Entering a woman’s domain like that would be scary stuff. They might insist you need a facial or something.” He studied Kyle curiously. “And I thought this wedding stuff gave you the hives anyway. What do you need a bunch of women for, when they’re all running around like their heads are cut off?”

  “Um…” What did he need her for? Let’s see. First, he had the torn thong in his pocket. Second, they’d made love and had forgotten a condom.

  Oh, and third—this was the biggie—he’d fallen in love.

  But Annie had left him in the dark of the night, stealing out of his room without a word, so he figured he might want to keep that last thought to himself.

  Kevin waved a hand in front of his face. “Yoohoo.”

  Kyle slapped his hand away. “Stop it.”

  “What do you need Annie for?”

  “Who said I needed Annie?”

  Kevin leaned back against the wall, looking awfully at ease for someone who was hitching his life to another person in a matter of hours. He also looked annoyingly full of patience. “Why don’t you just admit that this love stuff is sorta addicting, Ky, huh? That maybe even you can fall and fall hard.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Kevin had the nerve to laugh, the ass. “Look at you, tough big brother, all jittery. You’re sweating, did you know that?”

  Before Kyle could strangle his brother as he was itching to do Kevin straightened and headed for the stairs.

  “I’m going to get our stuff,” he said. “Meet me in the car, you’re driving me to the church.” He paused and looked back. “On the way there you can tell me about your night. I heard it involved black vinyl.”

  * * *

  WITH THIRTY MINUTES left before Kevin put the ball and chain around his neck, Kyle stood in the church dressing room wearing only his shorts.

  Where was Jimmy when he needed him? He could use a good hold up as a diversion right now. But, no, he’d had to go and get the guy thrown in prison. Which meant nothing could save him. He had to put on the tux hanging in front of him. He had to go out there and be the best man.

  He didn’t feel like the best man. He felt like a frustrated one.

  Not talking to Annie was a good thing, he reminded himself. Not talking saved face and pride, because God knows, if he’d gotten a chance, he’d have only made a fool out of himself.

  Yeah. That was the attitude he was going with.

  With a sigh he reached for his pants but the door behind him opened and hit him in the butt. Righting himself, he caught a flash of pink satin.

  “You’re not going to believe this,” Annie said, skidding to a halt in front of him and grabbing his arms. “Not in your wildest dreams.”

  “Uh…” He ran his gaze down her pink satin nightmare of a dress. “Your sheep ran away and you need me to herd them for you?”

  She grimaced. “See? You think Little Bo Peep, too!”

  “Baby, that’s the last thing I think of when I look at you.”

  She went still, hands on his arms, eyes locked on his. “Kyle—”

  “I’ve been waiting to talk to you,” the stupid part of his brain admitted out loud.

  Suddenly she seemed to realize he was more than half-naked. With a hard swallow, she covered her eyes.

  “Hey, you’ve seen it all before.”

  “Just…take care of it.”

  “Well, okay.” Purposely misunderstanding her, he put his hands on the elastic band of his shorts. “But you don’t have to be so rough. I already proved how easy I am.”

  She dropped her hands and squealed when he went to pull his shorts down. “No!” She checked over her shoulder after her loud cry, then lowered her voice with apparent effort. “I’m not here for…for…”

  “Overrated sex?”

  “Look, torture me later, okay?”

  “I’d like that.”

  “Kyle, Lissa is in the women’s facilities.”

  “Is that princess speak for the bathroom?”

  “Yes, the bathroom!”

  “Oh my God,” he said in mock horror. “Ring the press. The bride is in the bathroom.”

  “She’s refusing to marry your brother, you idiot. I need your help.”

  “Well, damn, I thought you needed—”

  “I know what you thought,” she said quickly, covering her eyes again. “Just…get dressed. Fast.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” He jammed his legs into the black pants, then slipped his arms into the shirt, fumbling with the cuff links on the shirt.

  With a sound of exasperation, Annie pushed his hands aside and took care of it.

  “You’re good at that,” he said, wondering if he should be jealous.

  “I used to help my father,” she said in an oddly soft voice. “Not…”

  “Not…?”

  “You know…other men.”

  That shouldn’t have made his heart leap, really it shouldn’t have.

  “And…” She drew a deep breath, her hands brushing his chest as she buttoned his shirt for him. “Last night…well, you know.”

  “No, I don’t.”

  “When we—”

 
; “Ah. The black vinyl.”

  “It was more than black vinyl.”

  “Yes, it was. What we did was—”

  “Yes,” she said quickly. “That.”

  “For the record, are we talking about when we made love?”

  “Sex. We…had sex. And it wasn’t overrated, okay? It was…well, pretty much off the scale. Just so you know.”

  With that shocking, and arousing, statement, she grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the dressing room.

  CHAPTER 12

  HE WATCHED her Little Bo Peep butt wiggle as she led the way. “Annie—”

  “Shh,” was all she said. “She’s going to screw everything up unless you fix it.”

  Whoa. He was supposed to fix this? Hell, he couldn’t fix his own life.

  That’s when she tried to tug him into the women’s bathroom.

  “Now just a second.” The last time he’d been in a women’s only bathroom had been in sixth grade. A group of ninth graders had forced him in, where inside had been the entire girls’ basketball team, changing.

  He’d been suspended for a week, and the horror of it still made him dig in his heels at the threshold. “I can’t go in there.”

  “No?” Annie gripped his arms and went up on tiptoe to whisper in his face. “If you don’t, she’s going to break your brother’s heart.”

  Damn. He tried to peer inside the bathroom. “If there’s a naked basketball team in there, I’m going to be mighty upset with you.”

  She looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “What?”

  “Never mind.” He walked in, his hands stuffed in his pockets, looking straight ahead. The place was decorated in gold angels, and had a couch. A couch. What did women need a couch in the can for? “Lissa? You in here?”

  “Go away.”

  Ah, hell. The voice came from behind a locked stall, under which he could see a bunch of white satin. He crouched down and spoke into the space beneath the door. “Hey, maybe you didn’t know, but they’re playing your song. Here comes the bride.”

  He heard a loud sniffle.

  Oh, God. Tears.

  “I can’t do it, Kyle,” she sobbed. “I can’t even remember why I wanted to.”

  “Uh…” He searched his brain and came up with the reason Kevin had given him. “Because you get to have sex every night—Oof.” He rubbed his gut and glared at Annie. “What? It’s true.”