by Gayle, E. M.
Then suddenly it was gone and I was being passed off to a man with a scary reputation and an even worse disposition.
Which reminded me that I needed to get out of sight. If I truly wanted to disappear, maybe a tropical island was exactly where I needed to go. A place where no one knew the family name. How I’d get there I had no idea.
The money stuffed into my purse wasn't chump change but it wouldn’t last long. I needed everything. I looked down at the lace and tulle gripped in my hand. Especially clothes. And the sooner the better. I stuck out like a sore thumb dressed like this.
Hard to believe this was what my life had been reduced to. From princess to runaway in a matter of hours. Although realistically prisoner to runaway sounded more accurate.
I’d had the foresight to keep my secret savings in my purse just in case, but everything else had been left behind. No cell phone, no passport, no fancy luggage stuffed with the honeymoon clothes I was supposed to wear when my new husband took possession of me. Nothing.
I had the fake ID I’d used years ago. Back when I was a clueless teenager who liked to sneak into clubs on the rare occasion I got out, but even that was precarious.
When my father began to question my old friends, that information would get shared. No one held out against Frank Mazzeo, Italian mob boss extraordinaire, when he was on the hunt. Not if they wanted to stay healthy.
In fact, now that I thought of it, using that ID to get a room at the Edgewater hotel or any hotel was a very bad idea. I needed a different plan and I needed it now. If I was going to last more than a day or two on my own I needed to be a hell of a lot smarter.
I turned around and took in my surroundings. Someone could have easily followed me or tracked down the cab company by now. The couple at the end of the pier were so into each other I doubted they noticed anyone. Even a runaway bride.
A family of four stood huddled together off to the side, holding up a cell phone to take a series of selfies, also oblivious to those around them. They’d noticed my arrival, giving me a strange look as I passed them, but quickly moved on to whatever brought them here in the first place. Most likely tourists if I had to guess.
In fact, no one paid any attention to me at all. Some of the tension keeping me strung tight loosened. But still no new plan came to mind. I was still standing on a pier in a wedding gown with nowhere to go.
The clock was ticking against me.
With that increasing desperation driving me to do something, movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. I turned and that's when I saw him. A stranger sitting alone on a bench with a lit cigarette dangling from his lips.
I moved to avert my eyes when his gaze caught mine and held it. Well, I froze, he didn’t move. I couldn’t look away from eyes so blue they almost glowed. In the darkened grey day on a quiet Seattle pier, those eyes stood out like beacons calling my damn name. The rest of him wasn’t half bad either. Short brown hair cropped close to his head, and enough stubble on his face to indicate more than a few days had passed since he shaved. And he wasn’t so much sitting on the bench as he was sprawled on it with his legs kicked out in front of him. Worn denim hugged long, thick legs, making it impossible not to notice the muscle that lay underneath.
The rest of him looked pretty big too from what I could tell. Despite the black leather jacket covering his torso, I still saw the dark T-shirt he wore conformed to a broad chest and likely tight abs underneath. Heavy combat boots completed the look and made me groan. He might as well have hung a blinking neon sign around his neck that said, ‘Bad boy. Come and get it.’
Getting it would normally be a bad idea. But in this case… That new plan I’d been looking for crystallized in my brain. He was the perfect solution in every way.
A place to hide.
A way to take my mind off my craptastic life.
And the easy way out I needed.
Except he was still staring at me and the longer he did the more it unnerved me. His facial expression didn’t change and if not for the end of the cigarette lighting up when he took a drag, I might have believed he was a figment of my imagination.
It was then I realized what I was probably staring at. He wasn’t just some guy. He was the real deal. Some kind of powerful badass clear to the bone. Guys who wanted to be like him came by the dozen with no hope of ever actually being him. None of them would still be holding my gaze hostage.
Something inside me jumped. A feeling I hardly remembered. Something darkly sexual weaving its way through my blood.
Of course, standing here dressed in a wedding gown I couldn’t be further from his type if I tried. He didn’t know that I’d been forced to wear this dress. Or that the man I’d been about to wed would be more than happy to hurt me if I dared to defy him. That had been my cross to bear because of the family I was born to and today I refused my duty and ran.
He definitely wouldn’t want me if he knew the truth. No one my father didn’t preapprove did. Not unless they had a death wish.
My new mystery man pulled the cigarette from his mouth and held it in my direction. “You look like you could use one of these.” The low vibration of his voice shook my insides and headed straight between my thighs. I even swayed a little.
Finally able to break his gaze, I looked down before returning to meet his eyes. “That and a fifth of tequila and everything would be right with the world once again.”
I took the offered cigarette and took a slow shallow drag. It had been a long time since I’d tried one of these and erupting into a coughing fit in front of Mr. Sex on a Stick wasn’t about to lead me down the forbidden path.
A slow smile crossed his face, transforming him. A badass with a lethal grin. Oh shit.
I took a few steps back.
“I might be able to help with that.”
My breathing hitched. “Oh yeah?”
“First you gotta tell me something.”
My heart sunk. If he asked for anything remotely personal I’d be forced to walk away and find a new way to escape. Did everything have to be so freaking hard?
He motioned his hand at my dress. “Did you go through with it?”
I shook my head, too choked up to respond. Relief swept through me, as did the sadness of my situation.
As the interesting stranger stood and walked toward me, I almost swallowed my tongue. He looked good slouched on the bench, but now, faced with the full force of his height and the intensity of his gaze, my legs actually wobbled a little.
When he stopped in front of me I was forced to tilt my head back to look at him. My five-foot height was dwarfed by his six-foot plus frame and it felt good—damn good.
“Hotel right there has a decent bar. How bout I buy you a drink?” He was pointing to an older hotel next to the nearby market, but all I could focus on was the faint scent of warm man and musky cologne, filling my head as he talked.
I think we both knew he was asking for more than a drink.
“Okay.” To my surprise, my voice softened when I answered. I’m pretty sure I had no business reacting to him the way I did, but there it was. My body had a mind of its own and it was standing at attention. I was also desperate.
But I’d never hooked up with a stranger before.
The image of my father’s face when he caught my first lover’s hand between my legs and his hand wrapped around my throat flashed through my mind before I could stop it. As did the newspaper article about his body being discovered on the shores of Lake Washington three months later. My gut twisted even harder than my mind.
Tony had definitely not been a stranger.
After that, I’d been too scared to walk down that road again. And because my familial duty meant my future husband would eventually be negotiated, my father deemed any and all suitors out of the question.
Although maybe I was getting a little ahead of myself here. He said a drink not a relationship. Even if getting that drink was code for getting laid, that didn’t mean it couldn’t be more than
once.
Tomorrow was a long way off and not every nightmare was destined to repeat itself.
And with freedom the possibilities were endless.
A girl could dream, right?
Chapter Five
Isabella
With his hand pressed to the center of my back, and yards of fabric swishing between us, he escorted me inside the bar and grabbed a table. I made a beeline for the ladies room. This dress was driving me insane.
I reached under the skirt and pulled on the layers of tulle underneath. Cringing at the first tear, I tugged ripping out more as I started to giggle. Those layers of delicate looking fabric were amazingly well attached.
After a sweaty bout of jumping up and down and pulling as hard as I could, several layers lay scattered across the bathroom floor.
If that wasn’t a metaphor for my life, I didn’t understand the definition.
I glanced at my appearance in the mirror and breathed a sigh of relief that I didn’t look half bad. Certainly not as bad as I’d expected after making a mad dash from the church, or the wrestling match with my dress. My hair wasn’t perfectly in place, but that wasn’t an odd occurrence. My long, thick curls were a constant fight to tame so I’d pretty much given up on perfection when it came to hair.
However, when I pressed a paper towel to my sweaty brow, the ginormous diamond ring I still wore flashed in the mirror with the brilliant power of a neon sign flashing a warning to oncoming vehicles and men.
I tugged at the too tight gold band as an involuntary shudder worked down my spine. I’d come way too close to a life of servitude with a cruel man. Jerk probably purposely bought my ring two sizes too small so I could never get it off.
After several tugs, a lot of slippery soap and a few well placed curse words, the ring slipped from my finger and into the palm of my hand.
The sink called my name and I almost washed the ring down the drain. My stomach twisted, tightening at the idea of keeping it for another second.
I took a deep breath—I had to be smart and not let emotion rule my escape. I had to be smarter than my father if I wanted to get farther away than downtown Seattle. I had some money, but it wouldn’t last forever.
This ring could be pawned and was probably worth more than the sum I had rolled into my purse. I grabbed the wristlet dangling from my arm and shoved the gaudy piece of jewelry inside. Thank God I didn’t have to deal with it right now. The day had been long and miserable, but I had a chance to make something better out of it.
He was sitting right outside that door. My opportunity to a fresh start. Maybe someone out there would judge me for running from one man to another. In some ways it looked perilously close to the life that I’d run from. I didn’t believe that. I couldn’t believe that.
Breaking my father’s bonds meant everything to me right now and I wanted my new life to be drastically different than the old. That meant I wasn’t above grabbing onto something new and outside my comfort zone at the first opportunity.
For the first time in my life I was truly in control and ready to take a different kind of risk. One that might infuse my boring life with—well, life.
Satisfied with my current choices and feeling a hell of a lot more comfortable, I returned to the table where my mysterious badass stranger sat waiting, watching me as I strode toward him with straight shoulders and a renewed purpose.
His eyebrow rose and a spark of humor fired in his eyes, but in an unexpected gentlemanly gesture, he refrained from asking. I sat down in an empty chair and heaved a sigh of relief. “I guess I should introduce myself.” I glanced around the room looking for someone to take an order. That drink he mentioned was sounding better and better.
“I already ordered a round of beer and tequila shots.”
I turned and met his intense gaze again. Those vibrant blue eyes mesmerized me as much inside as they did outside. Call it lust or whatever. I just knew it felt good for a change.
“Thank you.”
“You were going to tell me your name.” He leaned slightly into my space.
I focused on his full mouth and imagined all the decadent things he could do to my body with those gorgeous lips. The marks he’d leave on my skin with the stubble on his cheeks and chin. I barely bit back a moan as the heated thoughts swept through me.
As did fear. My thoughts and feelings were jumping all over the place.
This is not where my head was supposed to be. I had no business thinking about sex when I didn’t know where my life was going tomorrow, let alone what I was going to do with a badass tonight.
Go with your gut.
It was a long ago gotten piece of advice from a friend and I grabbed onto it for dear life. If my life was going to be like a turbulent thunderstorm from here on out, then I’d grab all the good while I could.
“Isabella.” The minute the word left my mouth I wanted to recall it. Shit. A new life called for a new name, didn’t it? “Although I prefer Izzy,” I amended quickly, repeating the long forgotten nickname in my head a few times. Yeah. That sounded much better.
“I can work with that.” He grabbed my hand and covered it with his much larger one. “Houston,” he returned.
“What?” I couldn’t think with his hand touching me, the warm rough skin of his thumb rubbing back and forth along the side of my hand.
“Name’s Houston. And you’re Izzy,” he repeated.
My nerve endings lit up from the way my new name rolled off his tongue and sizzled across my skin as more heat flared between my legs. I didn’t think a stranger was supposed to have this kind of an effect on me.
We stared at each other as the waitress dropped off two beers and four shots of tequila, complete with a bowl of cut limes and a shaker of salt.
“I guess if we’re going to do it, we should do it right.”
He continued to stare at me as if he saw straight through to my soul. Judging by the devilish smile on his face, the double meaning of my words did not go unnoticed.
Two shots later I slammed the glass down on the table, shoved the lime in between my lips and sucked hard. For a few intense seconds the alcohol burned like hellfire in the pits of the underworld before giving way to the familiar heat I savored.
Sex may have been off the table in my life, but alcohol was not. It had long since become an easy way to soothe my nerves when I most needed it.
I peered up at my mystery badass again and studied him. He’d removed his leather jacket and there were bits of interesting tattoos peeking from his shirt sleeves. Interesting as in I wanted to know what they were and if I could lick them.
He met my gaze. Houston knew exactly what was going on in my brain. That little smirky smile had returned, leaving him looking quite pleased.
“Here, chase it with this.” He handed me one of the beers and I dropped the lime onto my napkin.
At least while I drank I didn’t have to figure out what to say next and the ice-cold brew cooled the burn of tequila. I couldn’t quite say why I enjoyed it so much since it didn’t have a particularly great taste, but I was damned proud of myself for taking the time to learn that I could drink it and even more so when it gave me the warmth I so often went without.
“You hungry? We could order some food.”
I shook my head. “Maybe later.” There had been no time to eat since breakfast, but my stomach rebelled at the thought of food. My body was still processing the stress of the day. And for obvious reasons I couldn’t seem to focus on anything other than him and whether or not he would touch me again. Or kiss me. Or…
I must have been giving off some kind of weird vibe because he paused with his beer at his mouth and studied me for a second. “You okay?”
“Yes,” I answered, out of breath.
“You don’t drink much, do you?”
I went with his excuse and shook my head. He didn’t need to know I was starting to crash from an overdose of adrenalin and all I really wanted to do was climb all over him and just—
&n
bsp; Shit. My body had a clear mind of its own and it was losing it.
“C’mere.” He dragged my chair away from the table and pulled me into his lap. “You need to take a breath and relax. Whatever happened to you today is over.”
Relaxation wasn’t possible with his hands on me. He was making it worse. “I—I can’t—” The sensations of his touch were on the verge of starting a firestorm right there in my panties and it was beginning to rival the nice buzz going on in my head.
I needed to do something to distract myself and quick or I was going to drown in reckless behavior. “Are you from around here?” I blurted the question a little forcefully, but it worked.
“Close enough. A couple of hours northeast,” he said, stroking his hand up and down my back.
I might have thought too soon. There was nothing normal about the sensations his touch created.
“What brought you to the city?” I hated the breathless tone of my voice. Could I possibly appear more unsophisticated? If I was going to make it on the run I needed to get my shit together. You know, learn to be cool.
I bit my bottom lip to keep from laughing out loud. My mind had gone straight to the absurd.
Tonight, however, would be my first night as someone new and I was free to do whatever the hell I wanted. If that happened to be a one-night stand with a sexy, strong badass then I’d embrace it and not feel bad about it for a second. If there was one thing I knew with absolute certainty it was that I was sick of feeling bad.
“Change of scenery,” he whispered at my ear. “I just got on my bike and rode. This is where I landed. You?”
A bike? A shiver worked up my spine. His level of badass continued to increase by the second.
“Born and raised. But thinking it’s time to take a nice long vacation as far away as I can get. Have a little fun, you know? Actually, it’s far past time.”
His hand paused on my back for a second before he continued his easy strokes. He might have taken that last statement the wrong way and then again, he might not have. I had no way to tell.