by JM Stewart
He grinned at this, revealing straight, blinding white teeth. “I’m not a dom, but I do ride. Just not all the time. When I’m working, it’s not practical or professional. I save my Harley for the weekends.”
She bit her lower lip. He really did have a Harley. A man on a motorcycle was sexy. The thought of Mr. GQ over there on one? Damn.
She sipped her coffee, the liquid sweet and rich, warming her already-heated belly. “When I looked you up and discovered you were a rich corporate lawyer, I expected buttoned up and stuffy, full suit, and yet I see you have a tattoo.”
She nodded at his left arm, resting on the table. What looked to be the tail end of either a snake or black dragon coiled up his forearm, disappearing beneath the rolled-up sleeve of his white shirt. Tattoos on a man were sexy. His contradicted the tame image that had formed in her mind when she’d done her research on him.
He arched a brow. “Is that a deal breaker?”
He’d tossed her question back at her. The hidden insecurity here as well filled her with more questions. “We all have our secrets.” He’d told her that earlier. She was dying to ask, but he’d also told her he’d share when he was ready, and she had to respect that. She understood too well the need to be sure you could really trust someone before you spilled all your secrets.
She sat up straight and held his gaze. “No. If you can handle mine, I can handle yours.”
He chuckled, a low sexy rumble that made her stomach do somersaults, and heat filled his eyes, mixing with a pleased sort of amusement.
“Can you now?” He leaned forward, reached across the table, and held out his hand, palm up.
She hesitated, afraid to touch him again. The way he affected her, especially in person, was disconcerting. Here, too, though, the pull of him was irresistible, and she set her hand in his.
He studied her face as he encased her hand in his much larger palm. His thumb caressed the inside of her wrist, setting fire to her skin. “Actually, your scar caught my attention. I wondered about your reaction.”
Disappointment surged through her. She stiffened and snatched her hand back, curling it around her cup. Here it came. The point where he made his excuse. “What about it?”
Cade frowned, irritation crossing his features, and he reached across the table, taking her hand back.
“You’re beautiful, Hannah. Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise. If you want the truth, I was sitting here looking at you. Up until now, I’ve only had my imagination to go by. It’s kind of nice to be able to see you.” His expression softened. “No, I wondered how you got the scars. Something like that had to be painful. You weren’t attacked, were you?”
The painful memories rose faster than she could stop them. She’d sat in that car for hours, trapped in the twisted metal, watching her parents die. She’d heard her father’s last breath. He’d spent hours breathing only periodically. Taking a breath, then not breathing for what often had felt like eternity, only to draw another one. He’d had a gurgle, too, and his voice had taken on a breathy wheeze as he told her he loved her for the last time. Her mother hadn’t moved or spoken at all. She’d later been told her mother had died on impact.
Hannah shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
The intensity of his gaze as he studied her again made her hands shake, but just as suddenly, he rose from his seat and came around to her side of the table. He held his hand out. “Walk with me?”
The quiet sincerity in his gaze had her hand slipping into his. He wasn’t at all what she’d expected him to be. He might have more money than she’d ever see and he might very well belong on the cover of GQ magazine, but he had his own insecurities. It humbled her and calmed the nervous skip of her pulse.
She rose from her chair, picked up her coffee cup, and nodded. They left the small café, stopping on the corner to wait for the light. She darted a glance at him. “Where are we going?”
He shrugged halfheartedly and darted a sidelong glance at her. “Nowhere in particular. There are too many ears at the café. If this is going to happen, we need to be comfortable with each other. Maybe if we spend some time together, we’ll both relax a little.”
“You’re not. Comfortable, I mean.”
The light changed, the green “walk” sign blinking from across the street, and Cade stepped out into the crosswalk, pulling her along with him. “Neither are you with me. You know an awful lot about me, and I don’t even know your last name. Trust goes both ways, sweetheart.”
He had a point. A big one.
“Not true. I’ve confessed quite a lot to you over the last six months. You know I’m not fond of spanking, but the thought of fucking you in public turns me on. You also know I’m a nerd. I like to read. I don’t usually volunteer that stuff, because I’m a private kind of girl.” As they stepped up onto the curb again and traffic resumed behind them, Hannah followed until they were out of the way of the street corner and once more back where they’d begun. She halted at the edge of the grass, forcing him to stop along with her. “Miller.”
He turned to face her, brow arched, but remained silent. Hannah drew a breath.
“My full name is Hannah Renee Miller. I own a bookstore downtown here. A couple blocks over. We sell new and used books, but my specialty is finding the rare ones. I read that erotic book because people kept coming in and asking for it. I decided to find out what all the hubbub was about.”
She looked down at the grass. An exposed feeling crept over her. She needed to bare a wound, for the sake of being honest with him, and it never came easy.
“The scars are from a car accident. My parents died a little after my fourteenth birthday. We were hit by a drunk driver on the way home from a school play I was in. My mother died on impact. I listened to my father stop breathing. Then spent three hours alone with them until another car finally passed and stopped. I spent a week in the hospital. With no immediate family, they put me into the foster care system.”
Sadness filled his eyes and his fingers tightened around hers. “I’m sorry about your parents. That must have been very painful.”
“Thank you.”
He flashed a lopsided grin. “Was that so hard?”
She blew out a defeated breath but couldn’t resist a grin.
“Yes.” Her smile fell. “I don’t talk about it much, because it’s still painful. I grew up taking care of myself. You and I come from different worlds. It honestly makes me nervous, because I can’t see what someone like you would want in someone like me. I lied about my looks because I didn’t want to know if my scars would bother you. Take a look at any magazine and you’ll discover what most men consider attractive. I told you. I’m not any of that.”
Now she’d done it. He’d run for sure now.
Cade, however, did the exact opposite of what she expected. He tugged her close, releasing her hand to slip his around her waist. His tall, broad body hit hers, warm and solid, and Hannah froze. When he bent his head, she held her breath. God, he was going to kiss her.
His mouth whispered across hers, working into a luscious tangle of lips and tongues. Something about it unknotted her stomach. His kiss called to a primal place within her, calling to that lonely woman inside who needed everything he represented, and she couldn’t help herself. She lifted onto her toes to complete the connection, needing more of him. Someone let out a quiet groan, though she couldn’t be certain who.
She only knew he’d effectively swept her off her feet. The man made kissing an art form. She hadn’t been certain what to expect. He’d always been laid-back and reserved, strong but content to let her take the lead. She’d liked that about him. So far, they seemed in a similar position—both holding back out of fear of something.
He gave her the same sense of power withheld now. His kiss melted her defenses. His lips slid over hers, and she tilted her head, opening for him. Her knees wobbled and her free hand sought the solid warmth of his body. She pressed her breasts into his hard chest, desperate
for the friction of her nipples rubbing his skin.
A car honked somewhere in the street nearby, jerking Hannah back to reality. They were in public. She pulled her mouth from his but could only stare at him, breathless.
He wrapped his arm tighter around her and pulled her hard against him. His erection pushed into her stomach, solid as steel. Both of them were shaking.
After a moment, he opened his eyes, those mossy depths once again burning into her. The hunger there left her breathless. “My hotel’s only a few blocks from here.”
His statement was subtle, but it hit her low, setting a blaze burning in her stomach. Something moved between them, indescribable, yet there all the same. The memory of all those nights. The erotic chats they’d shared. The promise of the night before them. Oh, for sure he wanted her the way she wanted him, and the thought of his hands on her skin had her trembling all over again, partly in fear. Once he caught sight of the scars on her torso, though, would he still want her?
When she didn’t answer, he leaned his forehead against hers. “Tell me you want me as much as I want you.”
The need and the subtle vulnerability in his voice washed away everything else and made her brave. She hadn’t come today to let fear stop her from enjoying him. He was sexy and sweet and Maddie was right. If she didn’t do this, take this step into the first reckless relationship she’d ever had, she’d regret it. She’d end up where she’d already been—at home, alone.
She pressed closer, rocking her hips into his. “Lead the way.”
Chapter Three
Hannah’s nerve endings were shredded as they walked. Even her knees wobbled. The four blocks to Cade’s hotel passed in an aching silence. The air between them filled with the luscious promise of things to come. The rest of the city around her faded as her senses honed in on the man beside her. His large presence. The scent of him that seemed to float on the breeze blowing past her. Even his long, purposeful stride did naughty things to her insides.
It didn’t help that he kept glancing at her. When his gaze collided with hers—because she couldn’t stop looking at him, either—the hunger burning there made her stomach do somersaults.
The simple touch of his hand in hers seemed intimate and set fire to her insides. He had the hands of a man who’d never done a day of manual labor in his life, who sat behind a desk all day. They were smooth and uncalloused. His thumb kept stroking her fingers in an idle fashion. The simple touch made her yearn to have those large, smooth hands on her. All over her.
She hadn’t had sex in over a year, hadn’t had wild sex in…well, okay, ever. She was about to spend time with a man whose hand in hers made her panties damp. Whispers of their previous chats flitted through her mind. They always generated so much heat between them. Would it be the same in person? Her entire body buzzed with the yearning to find out.
Several minutes later, they stood together in the quiet hallway outside his suite. Of course he stayed at the best of the best. The five-star accommodation screamed luxury in every small detail, from the doorman dressed in formal attire, who greeted them on the way in, to the sweeping staircase in the lobby. The place resembled a mansion, done in classic décor from marble flooring to draperies on the windows. His room alone no doubt cost more than her shop grossed in a month.
As he inserted the keycard in the door, her stomach tied itself in knots. Was she ready to do this? Online, they were equals, but here, in this expensive hotel, she was out of place, and Cade was far, far out of her league. She felt like a poor peasant girl to his Prince Charming.
The lock mechanism clicked and Cade pushed the handle, shoving the door. As he held it open, he turned to face her and smiled, wicked and mischievous. “There’s time to back out, you know.”
Hannah forced a laugh to cover the unease gripping her by the throat.
Apparently, her laugh sounded as phony as it felt, for Cade’s smile fell. Gaze somber, he lifted his left hand, stroking his thumb over her chin. “You okay?”
She wanted to laugh it off, but she’d lied to him enough. The second time around, she gave him a more honest smile, though it still wobbled a bit. “I’m nervous.”
His fingers tightened in hers. “Mmm. Me too.”
The quiet tone of his voice caught her, filling her with questions. “May I ask why? You don’t look it.”
Cade pushed the door open fully and pulled her inside the suite. She barely registered the click of the door falling shut before his large, warm hands slid into her hair. A bare breath later, he pressed her back against an adjacent wall.
“Because I’ve been dying to do this.” He covered her mouth with his, and any thought of being nervous flew right out the window.
The kiss on the street had been sweet, a taste, passion withheld. The kiss of two people trying each other out for the first time. This one was a hot brand. It promised pleasure lay in her future. His tongue traced the seam of her lips, a question and a tease in one hot stroke. When she opened on a soft sigh, he plunged inside, his tongue dueling with hers. Goose bumps chased each other over the surface of her skin.
If his kiss alone weren’t enough to overwhelm her senses, his hands moved, stroking over her. Down her sides, over her hips to her butt, only to move back up her stomach and skimming the underside of her breasts. His body surrounded her, blocking out everything but him, and Hannah let herself get lost. She sought him out as well, feeling over his firm pecs to his flat abdomen. She yearned to discover the hard muscle and warm skin beneath the fabric of his shirt. Yearned to discover all those luscious places that would drive him mad, make him gasp and groan. She wanted to remember every tiny detail for when he eventually went back to San Diego and she lay alone in the dark, craving exactly this.
“I’ve been dying to get my hands on you.” His voice rumbled against her skin as his lips skimmed across her jaw and down her neck. “Do you know how torturous it is to be so turned on by someone you can’t even see? You have a way with words, Miss Miller.”
His use of her name had a shiver running over the surface of her skin. She yearned to hear him call her name in the grip of an orgasm. Her hips pushed forward, seeking contact with his body. When the softness of her belly brushed the hard bulge in his pants, she couldn’t contain a moan.
He nipped at her bottom lip, then pulled back and took her hand. “Come on. Before I fuck you against this wall.”
The thought was damn tempting, but he wasn’t the only one who wanted to take his time. If she had only this one night with him, she intended to make the most of it.
“Uh-uh.” Hannah planted her feet, and he stopped, looking back, uncertainty in his gaze.
Rather than tell him, she moved around him and led him farther inside. As it turned out, Cade’s suite came complete with its own living room and a tiny little kitchen, all done in the same extravagant, old mansion style décor. The place awed her. Her entire apartment had less space than this room.
She led him to the couch, then released his hand and pointed. “I want to take my time with you as well. Sit.”
He grinned and did as she asked, sinking onto the couch, then crooking a finger at her. Standing over him, Hannah shoved her shy, quiet side into the closet and locked the door. Something about his expression filled her with feminine power. If he minded her scar, it didn’t show, and she wanted to take advantage, to let it fuel her desires and set her free.
She wanted to enjoy him, and she wouldn’t let her insecurities keep her from doing so. Empowered by the thought, she climbed into his lap, straddling him. His hands warmed her skin even through the thick material of her jeans as he slid them up her thighs. He didn’t, however, lean in to kiss her. His expression grew serious, his green gaze raking over her face. Was he really that nervous? Once again, the thought humbled her.
She sat back on his knees and settled a hand against his chest. “What?”
His hands stilled, curving around the tops of her thighs. “Before this goes any further, I need to say one thing.”
She nodded. “All right.”
“If you’re looking for permanent, I’m not it. This”—he gestured between them with his index finger—“is all about sex. No doubt incredible sex, but just sex. This doesn’t go beyond this room.”
She suppressed a grin. His fumbling words ought to offend her, but the emotion wouldn’t come. Rather, they spoke to her and bared his heart. In this instance, she and Cade had a lot in common. She had the same fears, so hearing him lay his on the table made her feel closer to him. Whether he meant to or not, his rule told her a lot about him. Someone had used him as well. “I’m surprised at you, GQ.”
He cocked a brow. “GQ?”
This time, she couldn’t help smiling.
“You look like you stepped off the cover of a GQ magazine.” She smoothed a hand over the curve of one bulging bicep and across his chest. “I’m betting you work out every day.”
He stiffened beneath her, a shadow of something passing over his face, there and carefully masked again before she caught what it had been. “I’m expected to keep up certain appearances.”
His hardened expression screamed of secrets hidden and painful disappointments. She couldn’t stop the echo of hurt from moving through her. The questions formed on her tongue, but she bit them back. They weren’t here for love. She shouldn’t care, and them getting to know each other more than necessary would end in her getting attached. That was dangerous, because in the end, everybody left. What she’d liked about their online exchanges was the anonymity. She hadn’t known him and thus couldn’t care or become attached or wait for him to decide he was through with her. Because it didn’t matter. They used each other.
She stiffened her spine, remembering her role. “Well, I have to admit I expected a bit more finesse coming from a man whose job it is to sway people’s opinion.”
He held her gaze, bold and unapologetic, but the nervous edge had yet to leave his eyes. His hand trembled as he smoothed it up her thigh. “I’m sorry. When I’m nervous I tend to revert to what’s comfortable. I’m used to presenting the facts, cold and blunt.”
