by Molly McLain
I wanted him so badly I could almost taste it.
And it was divine.
I wanted him to consume me, take what he needed and give me all I desired in return.
It was almost as if I was addicted to the idea of an ‘us’. I had to have it, and nothing else mattered.
The crowd cheered suddenly causing my body to jolt in surprise.
I hadn’t been watching to fight. To those around me it may have appeared so, but my thoughts were only filled with Gage.
I had never in my life wanted anything more than the way I wanted him.
My father may treat me as if I am breakable, like I was still a young girl that needed his protection, but I wasn’t. In his eyes I may still be his twelve-year-old daughter with pigtails and completely impressionable, but those times have passed.
I was a twenty-five-year-old woman who knew what she wanted.
And one way or another, I’d get him. I refused to allow Gage to slip through my fingers.
I’d do whatever it took to convince him that what we felt was worth the risk.
Looking back over my shoulder, hoping to ease the ache inside of me, I was instantly disappointed. The seat that Gage occupied only moments ago, was now empty. I began looking around in an attempt to locate him but with each passing second, my stomach only tensed even more.
He was gone.
A panicked feeling took over, thoughts of him leaving Las Vegas and my chances of seduction being gone before I even got the chance to fulfill them.
Chapter 3
Gage
I left the arena before the fight was complete.
I left feeling agitated and out of control.
I had no right to feel irritable when it came to other men showing Shay any amount of attention. Because she wasn’t mine.
I had no claim on her.
I could have her if I’d stop being so damn stubborn, but it was easier this way. Or at least it had been until tonight.
Until the idea of another man touching her, feeling her body against his, filled my mind.
It made me feel crazed when I saw the look on Parker Lewis’s face as she smiled up at him.
The man was a creep in the worst sense of the word. He was married, with four children, yet he took every opportunity he could to have as much fun as time would allow on the side.
He was a skirt chaser, taking it from every woman willing to offer herself to fill the void.
The lustful look in his eyes when he looked at Shay or even when he leaned forward, I presume to look down her shirt, infuriated me. I wanted nothing more than to reach out and strangle the bastard for violating Shay in such a way.
But I couldn’t.
I was here to represent Hendricks Sports. It was my future that was on the line.
So I did the only thing I could.
I walked away.
Now as I stood outside the MGM, I found it almost impossible not to go back and drag her sweet little ass from the arena. Placing her on the first flight out of here and back to the safety of her home in L.A.
What the hell was she doing here anyway?
She didn’t work for the company, only reaped the benefits of its success.
She would never have to work a day in her life, living off the riches her father had built.
She was spoiled.
And she was used to getting what she wanted.
For the first time she’d been faced with a challenge and for months she had been trying to break through my resolve.
I thought I’d be able to avoid her advances, but fuck if she wasn’t starting to get to me.
Beneath that princess act I knew there was so much more to her.
Shay was beautiful, elegant even. She carried herself with pride and I felt it didn’t all come from her father. But it was so easy to get lost in his world of the fast kind of life.
He rarely took the time to see her, to see the real her. And I could see the hurt in her eyes whenever he would brush her off as if she had nothing truly worthy to say. Thrusting a credit card or cash in her direction, telling her to buy herself something pretty.
It was heartless really.
And it was hard to refrain from telling him just how foolish he was. She deserved to be seen.
But Mr. Hendricks had made it publically known at the office that Shay was off limits. To everyone. That his daughter was in no way available for anyone beneath him. And in his eyes we were all beneath him.
Which explained my need to stay far far away from the dark-haired beauty that starred in too many of my fantasies lately.
Since my divorce I’ve remained solely focused on rebuilding my career, and until now I had remained within that mind frame. But there was something about Shay that made it hard to continue along that path. For the first time it wasn’t enough.
It didn’t help matters that she was so god damn persistent either.
And she had killer fucking legs too. Legs I wanted to feel wrapped around my waist tight.
I had every intention of skipping the gala and drowning myself in a bottle of scotch, but Walter Hendricks had other things in mind.
I groaned aloud when my phone rang from the night table beside my hotel bed.
Walter had called me three different times since my plane landed in Vegas and each time it was the same ole shit.
Who he wanted me to connect with. Who I needed to schmooze and who I should be sure to avoid. The man was treating me as if I was a young recruit still wet behind the ears and not the five-year VP who knew everything he knew about the company.
Actually more.
I swiped my fingers across the screen and took in a deep breath as I lifted the phone to my ear. “Hello, Walter,” I said trying my best not to express the irritation I felt.
I know it was more related to my current mood and irritability from not getting what I truly wanted, rather than the man himself. But he was what was standing between me and Shay.
“How’s the gala?” he asked.
Pushy bastard.
“I’m heading that way now,” I said still not moving from the position I currently lay in on my bed. “I went for a few drinks after the fight with Edgar and Remington, and we got caught up in conversation. Sort of lost track of time.”
“Edgar, that old bastard,” Walter said with a chuckle. “He most liking broke down each minute of the fight, punch by punch and performed his best impersonation of Gavin’s techniques. He thinks he knows how that man thinks, but I can assure you no one truly knows what goes on in the beast’s mind. Well, maybe with the exception of Aria, now that girl is a beauty.”
I had to agree, Aria was a beautiful woman, but she didn’t hold a candle to Shay.
My chest tightened as the vision of her popped into my mind.
“Yeah,” I said. Even though I hadn’t even spoken to Edgar or Remington since I arrived in the city, but it was the first thing I could think of that may be believable.
“Well, don’t waste any more time, boy,” Walter added. “I need you out there representing my brand. Mingle, and enjoy the trip I’m paying fully for. Make Hendricks shine.”
Did I mention Walter was an arrogant prick at times?
“You got it, sir,” I assured him even though I wanted to say I had made his company ten times the amount he’s made it in the last five years. “I’ll update you in the morning,” I assured him hoping this would be the last time I had to hear his voice tonight.
“Perfect,” he said sounding pleased. “I’ll be expecting your call early.”
After I hung up I realized my original plans had now changed. Walter would, in fact, expect an update tomorrow and I knew from experience that he would want explicit details.
So it looked like I was going to the gala after all.
Chapter 4
Shay
My day and evening had most definitely not gone as planned.
I went all out, buying the perfect dress for the occasion. A silver stunning two-piece sleeveless gown with a beaded halte
r top. Accompanied by an A-line satin skirt that barely grazed the floor when I walked. The open-toed Jimmy Choo’s, peeking out from beneath with each step I took, completed the outfit. I felt glorious, almost like a princess.
Don’t get me wrong, the gala was breathtaking. An elegant event, full of tailored men and women who wore, in my opinion, some of the most gorgeous gowns I had ever seen.
The décor was one plucked straight from the perfect fantasy, one that made me feel as if dreams could honestly come true. It gave me the motivation I needed to continue because everything else inside of me was screaming to let go of the idea of Gage and I, and just go home.
That was until I turned around, placed my wine glass on the bar to my left, and began walking toward the exit. I stopped mid-step and stumbled a bit, reaching out to stable myself with the nearest chair back.
Suddenly, for the first time in longer than I can remember, I was struck speechless.
My entire life I have been surrounded by successful, attractive men. Growing up a Hendricks was filled with weekend extravagant parties and high-dollar events.
But never, and I do mean never, has a man looked as handsome as the one standing before me.
The suits Gage Reynolds wore daily to the office had absolutely nothing on the tuxedo he wore at this very moment. It was as if it was made specifically for him. Fitting him to perfection, highlighting his broad shoulders and what I imagined to be the most impressive arms.
My eyes involuntarily fluttered shut as I imagined those big strong arms wrapped around me holding me close.
I know I come across as a girl who has it all. Money and all the things it could buy, but there was always one thing missing.
Complete and utter acceptance.
Love, the unconditional kind.
I’d been drowning in the type of love my father gave, but honestly it came with a price. I don’t think I have ever truly felt the effects of being adored by a man. After my mother left my father he turned all his attention toward me. Not in a creepy way of course, but in a way that he relied on me to become the girl that worked the room and gave praise to him throughout. Talking him up as if he was the most amazing man, both as a businessman and a father.
Well, half of that was true. He did have an amazing business sense, but he lacked in the father category. For once I wished he’d actually pay attention to the things I wanted in life. Or even ask what I wanted, but he just lived on as if he knew what was best for me.
Gage began to move further into the room as he stopped occasionally to talk to people that noticed his presence. He just had a demeanor about him that was hard to avoid.
He was gorgeous and so strong.
I moved to the side of the bar and watched in awe as he moved throughout the room.
He smiled at a blond woman as she reached out and placed her hand on his forearm. It immediately caused my stomach to tense. Yes, because of jealously that she was touching him and not me, but it was more than just that. I wanted him to smile at me like that.
He spent so much time attempting to avoid me, that I’ve never been granted that relaxed look he was giving her now.
And I wanted it.
I wanted it so bad I could almost taste it.
I craved that type of look from him.
I reached out and took a glass of white wine from the tray of the passing hostess and lifted it to my lips to wash away the tense feeling that was now filling my stomach.
I downed the contents so fast that I instantly hiccupped, a little louder than I intended.
I gained the attention of a shorter, balding man to my right and he smiled. “Having a good time I see,” he said with a gleam in his eye.
I was just about to offer a smile before slipping away, avoiding an awkward situation with an older man that may or may not be attempting to hit on me, when a deep baritone voice filled the space around me. Suddenly causing chills to cover my shoulders, back and neck.
I did my best to hide the shiver it triggered.
“Good evening, Mitchell,” he said to the bald man still standing before me. “Are you enjoying the gala?”
I refused to look toward Gage, because I needed to slow my racing heart before I did. Where was the confident girl I always managed to portray? Oh, I know, she skipped out on me the moment Gage walked into the damn room, wearing that damn tuxedo.
Chapter 5
Gage
I found that it was almost impossible to focus on a word Mitchell was saying to me. All that had my attention was the sweet scent of Shay, who stood within reaching distance. My hands ached to reach out and touch her, even if to just brush my fingertip along her exposed shoulder.
The dress she wore showed every single curve of her perfect body, making it impossible to keep the blood flowing through me evenly. Instead it was all rushing to one central location that made me feel hazy and unfocused.
I took a chance and looked over at her to find she was staring straight ahead as if to avoid making eye contact with me.
And I couldn’t have that.
The arrogant man with the need to control everything needed more.
I stepped closer and placed my hand to the small of her back and instantly I felt a jolt hit me. Every word that left Mitchell’s mouth from that moment on was lost to me. All I could feel was her, all I could see was her.
Ever so slowly I moved my hand over her exposed back and hooked my hand onto her waist, pulling her closer.
I felt her stiffen at my side and gave her a soft squeeze of reassurance hoping it would relax her.
“It was great catching up Mitchell, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to steal away this beautiful lady for a dance.” I tilted my head to the side and watched as Shay slowly gazed up at me, a look of surprise covering her face. “May I?” I asked knowing already that she would not deny me.
We had been skirting around one another for months, as I tried to pretend that I wasn’t insanely attracted to this woman. More attracted than I had even been to anyone else before.
“Yes,” she answered in a breathy whisper. “I’d like that.”
I allowed her to step out away from the bar and I followed closely behind, guiding her toward the dance floor.
The dress she wore was extraordinary from the front but from behind, oh my, it was the most tantalizing thing I had ever seen. The halter top that held her breasts in place was only held on by two straps that crisscrossed over her back, leaving the rest completely exposed. And the skirt, it dipped so low on her waist that the top of her ass couldn’t have been far below the waistband.
She was the sexist thing I had ever seen in my life and I knew only half was related to the dress itself. Shay makes everything sexy.
We reached the dance floor and I grabbed hold of her narrow waist, which fit perfectly in my hands, pulling her closer. “You look amazing,” I offered and she tucked her chin as if to hide her smile. But I saw it clearly, my compliment pleased her. “You look more than amazing actually,” I added and it was then she looked up at me.
“Thank you,” she replied. “You look pretty amazing yourself.”
“It’s the tux,” I said with a smirk and immediately she began to shake her head in protest.
“It is so not the tux,” she assured me.
Our eyes locked on one another and for a moment we just looked at each other without saying a word. It was as if a silent message was passed between us. Knowing that the time of denial was over.
It had gone on for far too long. Every day fighting against the feelings that filled me each time Shay was near was exhausting. Seeing her prance around, taunting me with her beauty, knowing full and well that I wanted her, but couldn’t act on it, made me tense.
She was untouchable, but I wanted to touch her so badly.
It was torturous but I wanted to be tortured. I wanted to know what her body felt like pressed to mine, what her lips tasted like, what she tasted like.
Maybe it was the excitement of the night. The adrenaline
pumping throughout my veins from the earlier events and the exchange between us now, but I no longer cared that she was off limits.
We were adults and we had the right to explore what it was that was happening between us without fear.
I wanted her and fighting against it had just become too hard to continue.
“So, what made you decide to come to Vegas?” I asked trying to break the silence that had settled over us. “Not that I’m complaining to have a familiar face, especially one as beautiful as yours, but I have to ask.”
“Honest answer?” she asked.
“Always,” I told her and waited, knowing that what she was about to say would only make it harder to avoid taking what I had denied myself of for far too long.
“I came here hoping to convince you to stop fighting this thing between us,” she said confidently. “I thought maybe being here, at this party, far from my father and his influence, would help.”
I was silent waiting for her to continue. I knew there was more she wanted to say. She always had more to say.
“I’ve never been more attracted to any other man than I am to you, Gage. And I know you feel it too, but because of my father you feel you can’t act on those feelings.” She tried to step back from me, only I held her tightly.
“You do realize your father can end me,” I told her. “My career anyway.”
“I can handle my father,” she said with confidence.
Again we remained quiet as we stared at one another, a smile tugging at her lips.
She was sassy.
And it made her that much more appealing to me.
I knew she would challenge me, I wanted to be challenged.
“We’ll handle your father.” She looked confused by my words but before she could say more I leaned in and pressed my lips to hers.
Finally tasting her sweet lips I craved.
Chapter 6
Shay
