Inferno Anthology

by Gow, Kailin

  “Wow, that’s some bachelor party,” I said to our new friend Tyler, the guy who’d bought us drinks in the restaurant.

  “Yeah, the best man is loaded and is throwing the whole party. We have the penthouse for the week. Some of the guys are staying and others are going back in a few days. It’s pretty sweet.”

  I actually felt, rather than saw, the green-eyed man return. I was positive that he was standing right behind me, but I couldn’t bring myself to turn around and check. “Speak of the devil.” Tyler pointed behind me and I slowly turned, finding the green-eyed god standing ridiculously close, staring down at me.

  “Hi again.” My words came out as a whisper. I could feel the heat radiating off his body and it was playing tricks on my brain that was swimming in tequila.

  He looked down at me and smiled, but made no attempt to move. He was tall, probably a good eight inches taller than my 5’6 frame. His shoulders were broad and his dark green polo pulled slightly to contain his girth. His shirt fit his athletic frame as if it was made for him, and his jeans hung low on his narrow waist.

  “Your voice is beautiful.” His voice was deep and he spoke to me in low controlled words, even though we were standing so close, surrounded by what I assumed were his friends.

  “Thank you. So are you.” Holy shit, did I just say that out loud? I was glad that we were outside so that he couldn’t see my face turn red; I blushed so deeply that not even my tan skin could conceal my embarrassment. I’d been thinking it, but I hadn’t meant to say it. Another dangerous side effect of the tequila shots.

  He smiled and raised his eyebrows in surprise. I turned my back to him to catch my breath. Tyler took it as an opportunity to offer to buy me a drink. Just as I opened my mouth to respond, the green-eyed man responded for me. “No thanks, I’ve got her next round.” I watched in shock as his friend took the hint and walked away smiling.

  I whipped around and looked up at him, a bit unsteady on my feet from the tequila. He still hadn’t moved and was standing in my personal space. It was almost a possessive stance, the way he hovered above me and made his size known. “What if I wanted him to buy me a drink?”

  “You don’t,” he said in a low voice and straight face. Was he joking or being serious?

  “How do you know what I want?” I could feel the tension between us rising.

  Sienna walked over, oblivious, and interrupted our little heated exchange. She was still giddy from our singing and her smile and happiness brought back such great memories. “What are you two chatting about all quietly over here?” She hung one arm around my neck and I was pretty sure she was using me to maintain her balance.

  “I was just telling your friend how beautiful her voice is.” He spoke to Sienna but his eyes never left me.

  Sienna smiled. “Flattery will get you everywhere.” She extended her hand. “I’m Sienna.”

  The green-eyed god took her hand in his and held it; I was relieved that his focus had finally left me. “Jack. Nice to meet you, Sienna.” He quickly turned his eyes back to me. “And you are…?”

  Sienna quickly intervened, slightly slurring as she spoke. “Her name is Jill.” I looked up at her like she was crazy and then she winked at me. She made no attempt to hide her blatant lie and I wasn’t quite sure if it was because she was drunk or if she was playing a game. I knew she was trying to subtly remind me of our earlier conversation at dinner, encouraging me to have a nameless, unattached fling. Of course, Sienna might have been trying to be subtle, but her lack of experience at subtlety made her words and actions come across as glaringly direct.

  “Jill, huh?” Jack looked at me suspiciously.

  I smiled. “I guess so, Jack.”

  “What brings you to Honolulu, Jill?” he asked with an emphasis on Jill, knowing full well it wasn’t really my name.

  “Well, I’m on my honeymoon, Jack!” I thought my answer was hysterical in my drunken state. Sienna must have too, considering she spit her drink out and almost choked on it, as she joined me in laughing at my statement.

  For a split second, I thought Jack might have looked angry, but then he must have realized that we were teasing. Even though Sienna and I laughed our asses off, Jack didn’t seem to find our joke as funny as we did. When we finally regained control of our giggling, Sienna looked up at Jack, who was clearly waiting for an explanation, smiled, then turned and went back to Jack’s friends.

  I looked up at Jack and he was watching me; his face showed signs of his patience slipping. “It was supposed to be my honeymoon, but we broke up two months ago. The honeymoon was already paid for, so I decided to take Sienna and make it a vacation instead.”

  Jack smiled, apparently content with my answer. He reached forward to the bar to grab two bottles of water. His fingers brushed mine as he handed me one, sending an electric jolt that made me pull my hand back. I looked up at him, confused.

  He leaned down to my eye level and looked me straight in the eyes, briefly searching for something. “I felt it too.”

  A few hours later we were in the resort’s bar partying with the bachelor party and had made some new friends. The bachelor, Robert, turned out to be a nice guy, who apparently was totally whipped by his fiancé. He spent most of the night getting teased and harassed by his friends, most of whom were all still single. Jack played host to the rowdy crowd and most of the staff seemed to know him by name already.

  Sienna was getting cozy with Tyler as the last of the bachelor party said goodnight, leaving just the four of us. The bartender told us he was getting ready to leave and asked Jack if he wanted the keys to lock up later. “Do you work here or something?” I asked, confused, as he accepted the keys.

  “Or something.” Jack smiled, but offered no more information. He walked around to the other side of the bar and reached down, pulling out a bottle of water. “Drink,” was all he said as he handed it to me.

  “You’re pretty bossy, aren’t you?” I knew he was right. I needed to drink water or I would regret it the next day, but he hadn’t offered it to me, he’d instructed me to drink it.

  “Yes.” He looked me directly in the eyes unapologetically and didn’t waver the entire time he opened his own bottle and drank from it.

  His stare made me dizzy, but I wasn’t going to back down. The arrogant ass was starting to affect me, and it was an odd combination of being pissed off and turned on at the same time. I held his stare as I opened my water bottle and drank from it. Jack finally broke our heated gaze, and for a split second I thought I had won our unspoken challenge. Then I watched him as he slowly looked me up and down, his eyes taking their time as they wandered over my breasts and down my flat stomach. When he was done and had taken himself a good long look, his eyes returned to mine again. He didn’t try to hide his visual assault; instead, he enjoyed me watching him do it. I felt a throb between my thighs and shifted my legs in response to it. He caught my body respond to him and gave me a sexy wicked smile with one eyebrow arched.

  “Shit, I need to go to bed.” I needed to get away from the mesmerizing man quickly before I did something stupid.

  His wicked smile grew, but he didn’t respond.

  “Sienna, I’m going to go to bed. You coming?” I yelled to the other end of the bar where she was snuggled with Tyler.

  “I’ll meet you up there in a little bit, Syd.”

  Jack came around the bar and put his hand on the small of my back. I had to struggle to keep still, as his hand ignited my skin beneath his touch. “I’ll walk you to your room.” Jack tossed Tyler the keys. His hand never left me as we walked and I wondered if he felt my skin burning underneath his big hand.

  “So, Syd, or is it Jill, why did Sienna not want to tell me your real name?”

  Alcohol was like truth serum to me. Insert a few shots and out comes everything you ever wanted to know. “She had a crazy idea that I should have an anonymous fling while we are here to celebrate my newly found singleness.”

  “And why is that crazy?” Hi
s tone was flat and serious.

  I actually thought about the question for a minute, and couldn’t come up with an answer. “Umm, I’m not sure, I guess it isn’t really that crazy. People do it all the time with one night stands.”

  He didn’t say anything more as we entered the elevator. He stood close behind me, even though there was no one else in the car. I felt his warm breath on my neck and my body was sizzling from how close he was. He had to feel it too.

  Stepping off the elevator to my floor, I was disappointed to lose his body next to mine. His hand returned to the small of my back as we made our way to the door of my room. “So it’s all settled then.”

  I was digging into my bag to find my key and looked up at him, confused, sure I must have dazed out and missed some of our conversation. He continued, “I already know your name and know you have a great voice, so it can’t be total anonymity. How about if we limit each other to ten personal questions? That way we don’t get to know each other that well, and it will still be sort of anonymous.”

  My mouth dropped open at his suggestion. I wasn’t pretending to be shocked, I was shocked. “Are you saying you want to have sex with me this week and only get to ask and be asked ten personal questions?”

  “That’s what I’m saying.” His response was dead serious.

  “You’re crazy.” I glared at him, my face confirming that I thought he was insane.

  “I thought we just established that it wasn’t crazy.”

  “I didn’t say it was crazy, I said you’re crazy.”

  But Jack didn’t respond to my accusation with words. Instead, he reached down and lifted me up effortlessly, pinning me against the door to my room, wrapping my legs around his waist. His mouth aggressively covered mine and he licked my lips, demanding them to open. Unconsciously, my lips parted and our tongues instantly collided in desperation. It wasn’t a first kiss. It was the first kiss. We held each other tight and his mouth devoured mine harshly with a raw need raging between us. His body pressed tightly against mine and every ounce of my body was electrified from head to toe. I felt his erection hard against my stomach and knew his body was as in tune to mine as mine was to his.

  He broke the kiss and leaned his forehead against mine, looking into my eyes. We were both breathless and panting. “I felt it the first minute I looked at you. You felt it too.”

  I couldn’t deny that he was right. “Yes.” The word came out breathless and throaty. It didn’t even sound like my voice.

  “You better unlock that door and deadbolt it quickly, before I stop being a gentleman and fuck you tonight even though you are drunk.”

  I bit my bottom lip and he slowly lowered me to my feet, our bodies pressed against each other intimately as I slid down from his waist.

  He kissed me on the lips hard and pulled back to look at me. His beautiful green eyes turned almost gray with intensity. “No drinking tomorrow.” It was more of an order than a request.

  I opened the door to my room and turned back to him as he stood in the doorway. I could tell that he was fighting hard to control himself.

  “Okay.” I whispered and then shut the door.

  Chapter 3

  I woke the next morning to a knock at the door and was quickly reminded of the night before as I attempted to lift my head. My head was throbbing and I felt as though I had gone three rounds in a heavyweight match, with me being the loser of the bout. I looked over at Sienna’s bed, where she was still sleeping soundly.

  I answered the door to find room service with a cart. “Good morning, Ms. Aldridge, we have your breakfast ready.” The waiter’s voice wasn’t particularly loud, yet every word felt like a nail being pushed further into my brain.

  “I’m sorry, there must be a mistake, I didn’t order any breakfast.”

  “Mr. Cole requested that we deliver to your room promptly at 11am.”

  “Mr. Cole?” I must have looked as confused as I was.

  “He wrote a note. Maybe this will explain things.” The waiter patiently stood waiting for my eyes to focus enough to take in the words on the page.

  I opened the sealed hotel envelope and read the note. The handwriting was dark, neat and heavily slanted. Good morning Jill. Drink the tomato juice; it will help with the hangover. Take two of the pills too. Eat the eggs, you will need the energy later. The flowers made me think of you. Jack. I smiled and shook my head and directed the waiter to roll in the cart. There were two meals and an assortment of drinks, so at least he was thoughtful enough to feed us both. There was also a bottle of unopened aspirin and a beautiful arrangement of the most brightly colored wildflowers I’d ever seen.

  I showed the waiter out and took a sip of the tomato juice with two aspirin. The man truly pissed me off and turned me on at the same time. It was very sweet to send me breakfast, but the note was more like an order to eat then a suggestion.

  Sienna groaned as she rolled over. “You ordered me breakfast? It better be at least noon if you are waking me up.” Her voice was raspy and her voice sounded like I felt.

  “I didn’t order it, Jack sent it. Along with instructions to eat it.” The sarcasm dripped from my voice on the second sentence.

  “Jack? Oh. Mmmmm. That man is delicious. You are lucky that I am a good friend who knows you need a rebound fuck, or I would have tied you up in the back of the bar to get first crack at that one.” Sienna got up and went to the bathroom and then started picking at some of the food on the cart. “Let’s be realistic, that man would have found you anywhere I hid you. The way he looked at you made me wet!”

  I threw a pillow at her. “You are insane … what doesn’t make you horny, woman?” We both laughed and then devoured everything on the cart.

  By the time we made our way down to the beach the sun was scorching hot. My headache subsided as I swam in the crystal clear water and reveled in the feel of the soft sand between my toes. I relished the feeling of the sun drying each droplet of water as I relaxed into my lounge chair listening to the ocean waves lightly crashing on to the shore. The rhythm of the surf eventually lulled me to sleep as I lay on my stomach listening to the tranquil sound.

  I moaned as I woke to the luxurious feel of the big hands massaging my back. I was groggy and it felt so good. My muscles relaxed under the pressure of the skilled fingers. My sleepy haze drifted, reality seeped into my fantasy, and I jumped as I realized that I was at the beach and had no idea who was touching me. Jack’s strong hands gently but firmly held me down on my stomach in the cushioned lounge chair as I attempted to jump up. His words were low, but there was no mistaking his sexy voice. “Don’t get up, Jill, I untied your top to rub in the sunscreen and you’ll give the whole beach a good show.”

  “You scared the shit out of me! Do you make a habit of rubbing down strangers as they sleep?”

  He leaned down close to my ear, his front pressed firmly against my back. His voice was low and velvety. “Do you really want to waste one of your ten questions on my habits for rubbing down strangers?”

  Shit. Though I didn’t want to be, I was instantly aroused. His voice, his confident words, and his bare chest pressed up against my back, sent my body into a frenzy. My heart rate sped up and my breathing became more labored. God damn it, control yourself, Sydney. “You scared me half to death.” I was hoping that he would believe that my reaction was from being scared and not to being near him.

  “I’m sorry, baby.” His voice sounded sincere and I was surprised that the man apologized for anything. “Now, if you want, I’ll tie that string you call a top back on and you can get up, or we can both take a few more minutes to enjoy me rubbing your back some more.”

  I didn’t want his hands off of me. I sighed, pretending it was a sacrifice. “Keep rubbing.”

  I heard a devious chuckle before he sat back up and continued to rub my back until I was completely relaxed again. Then he tied my top back on so that I could sit up.

  I righted myself in the oversized lounger and caught the first glimpse
of him of the day. I had a picture of him in my head as he was rubbing me, but the picture didn’t come close to the real thing. His shirtless body was even more delectable than I imagined. He had strong, square shoulders, toned pecs and a six pack, which I thought only really existed in air-brushed magazines. His dark plaid swimsuit hung low on his waist, revealing a deep v that pointed to what I imagined was probably also perfect down below. Jack stood and held out his hand to help me up.

  I stood and he smiled a sexy devilish grin. “My turn.” He slowly looked me up and down, taking his time to admire all my girl parts. He leaned down to my ear. “Even better than I fantasized, baby.”

  I laughed and then went up on my tippy toes to whisper back in his ear. “You took the words right out of my mouth.”

  He growled, literally growled at me. Then he scooped me up and started walking toward the water.

  “I can walk you know.” I pretended to be annoyed, but did a lousy job since I was smiling the whole time.

  “I know you can, but I’m going to take care of you the way a woman like you deserves to be taken care of this week baby.”

  I think my heart skipped a beat for a minute at his words. Or maybe it just started beating again finally.

  I leaned back in my lounge chair and took a deep, cleansing breath, enjoying the moment. Jack was sitting up behind me, my back to his front, his hands clasped tightly around my waist in a possessive hold. We listened to the waves crash against the surf and watched the sun setting through an amazing bright orange and purple sky. It was the most beautiful sunset that I had ever seen and it felt so natural to be sitting in Jack’s arms watching it.

  “Why did you call off your engagement?”

  “Are you cashing in on question number one, Jack?” I dared him.

  “Yes, so let’s hear it. And remember, I’m using one of my precious chips here, so I want the full story.”

  I hadn’t really told many people the full story; it was still difficult to put into words. The people who really knew me just knew I was making the right decision. I wasn’t sure where to start, so I decided to start from the beginning. “I met Michael in high school. We went to the prom together. We were together for six years when he proposed. I said yes, and we planned a long engagement before the wedding.” I paused, contemplating before I continued.