A Taste of Pink (Shades Book 4)

by Stephanie Hoffman McManus

  He was a man restrained.

  But not for much longer.

  I raked my fingers over his scalp and pulled on what hair I could grasp. He groaned deep in his throat sending vibrations through me.

  Oh mercy. I needed him inside me right now. I yanked harder on his hair and he got the hint, crawling back up my body. I dragged his mouth to mine and the frenzy between us built and built. Our tongues tangled and our bodies danced.

  He squeezed my flesh a little harder and kissed me a little rougher.

  He bit down on my lip and I dug my fingernails into his lower back. He rocked his hips again and again, our bodies sliding together in a frantic, desperate dance. His kisses turned to bites on my neck and shoulders and breasts. One hand found my center, and mercilessly pushed me toward the edge. I trembled beneath the onslaught of pleasure he wrought. My core clenched around his fingers, my hips lifted off the mattress, my head slammed back into the pillow, and my lips parted around a suffocated cry as I came apart.

  My muscles were still contracting from the aftershocks when he finally ended the torture, withdrew his fingers, and thrust into me. A rapturous cry flew from my lips and he practically growled his satisfaction, pulling out and slamming in again. And again. I gripped his ass tight as he found a fast and hard rhythm that had us both flying apart before long.

  After our orgasms subsided, he collapsed beside me, breathing just as hard, if not harder than I was. After a minute, he rolled onto his side and tugged me into his embrace, pressing kisses all over my hair and neck and shoulder.

  “I love you, Ava Riley. I didn’t mean to, but you made it impossible not to.”

  “I love you, James—what’s your middle name?”

  With a chuckle, he murmured, “Alexander,” against my shoulder, before kissing it.

  “Well, James Alexander, loving you was unavoidable and inescapable. As inevitable as the sun rising. It was always going to happen.”

  “Thank fuck for that,” he whispered and then turned me around in his arms, kissing whatever reply I might have had from my lips.

  But honestly, I couldn’t have said it better myself.

  Thank fuck.

  Twenty-Seven

  Riley

  Something was wrong.

  I could feel it churning inside my stomach.

  The spot beside me in bed was empty, but that wasn’t what was wrong. That wasn’t why I was awake. I didn’t have time to wonder what James was doing out of bed in the middle of the night. My phone was vibrating incessantly beside me.

  I blinked my eyes a few times, trying to clear the sleep from my eyes enough to make out the screen. The vibrating stopped, and the screen went dark before I could, but almost immediately it started up again.

  I reached for it on my nightstand but came up short and nearly fell off the bed. I caught the edge of the nightstand and pushed myself up. I grabbed for the phone again. Fumbling with it, I accidentally accepted the call.

  “Hello,” I croaked.

  “Riley.” My name was a barely audible whisper.

  “Warren?” I croaked, jerking upright.

  “How could you do this to me?” The voice came through louder this time. It instantly chilled me. “Was it worth it?”

  “I’m hanging up,” I stammered.

  “Don’t you fucking hang up on me you bitch! Was it worth it? Fucking him like a filthy slut? You enjoyed it didn’t you? Letting him make you his whore? You moaned like a whore.”

  I yanked the phone away from my face, stabbed the end call button and dropped it. I threw back the bed covers and launched myself, naked, from the bed and the room. I slammed into James’ chest just outside the door.

  “Woah.” His hands landed on my shoulders, steadying me.

  I wound my arms around his back and buried my head against his chest.

  “Riley, what’s wrong? Did I hear you talking to someone?”

  “He was watching, James. He was watching us. There are cameras. There have to be cameras in my room.”

  He pried me away from his chest and lowered his face to mine. “What?”

  “It was Warren. He called me. He knew we—he said, it doesn’t matter what he said, but he was watching us. There must be cameras. It’s the only way, right?” I was hysterical on the verge of hyperventilating

  “Hey, hey, hey, it’s okay. Don’t move from this spot.”

  I heard the low buzz of my phone from the other room and glanced over my shoulder into my darkened bedroom.

  He caught my chin and brought my head back around. “Stay put.”

  He stepped around me and into the bedroom, flipping on the lights. I remained in the doorway and watched as he walked to the bed and grabbed up my phone. After a few seconds of messing with it, he slid it into his pocket and then began a slow turn of my room, his eyes carefully scanning. They stopped on a high shelf where I had a few pictures and books. Something on the shelf had caught his attention. I looked at the shelf harder, trying to see whatever he saw, but all I saw were picture frames and books. James walked over and pulled one of the books down, and then I realized what he’d spotted. It wasn’t a real book. My stomach twisted, knowing what he was going to find.

  After carefully tossing my room, he found two more cameras, besides the book. One in a lamp and the other in the light fixture above my bed. When he moved into my bathroom, I turned away and sank to the floor, leaning my head against the doorframe. I didn’t want to know what he was going to find in there, or the rest of the house for that matter.

  James emerged from my bedroom several minutes later with some clothes and a duffel in his hand. “Come on, we’re not staying here.”

  “How did he get in here again?” I whimpered from my spot on the floor.

  “I don’t know,” he replied angrily. I knew his anger wasn’t directed at me. If anything, I could tell he was angry with himself. He stuck his hand out and helped me up from the floor and then tugged a sweatshirt over my head and helped me step into some shorts. He dropped a pair of flip flops at my feet and then ducked inside his room and came out fully dressed a minute later.

  It wasn’t until we were in the car, a mile away from my house that I asked where we were going.

  “Your stepdad’s.”

  “Luis’?” I said, surprised that James would go to him.

  “Going there is better than a hotel.”

  Luis was out of bed and waiting for us when we arrived. He had a hundred questions and wanted to make a big fuss, but I was too exhausted to deal with it tonight. He blew another gasket once he realized James and I intended to share a room. He demanded to speak to me alone, but I was not in the mood to argue with him. I told him as much and then grabbed James’ hand and dragged him up the staircase to my old bedroom.

  After shutting and locking the door behind us, I collapsed on the bed and shoved out a sigh. “I wish my mom was here. I could really use one of her hugs right now. She’d make me a cup of tea and tell me everything was going to be okay and I’d believe her.”

  James lowered himself beside me and tugged me into his lap, holding me in his arms. “I can’t make you a cup of tea, but I promise you Riley, everything is going to be okay.”

  I rested my head on his shoulder and allowed myself to feel safe, at least for a little while. As long as he had me in his arms, he wouldn’t let anything happen to me.

  “I know the timing sucks, and this isn’t how I hoped to do this. I thought I’d be waking you up with breakfast in bed, but happy birthday, Riley.”

  Huh.

  I guess it was after midnight. Happy birthday me.

  “Thank you.” I squeezed my arms around him tighter. “Now hold me until I fall asleep, please.”

  He let me go long enough to strip us both out of our clothes and climb back onto the bed. Skin to skin, his heart beating against my back, I burrowed in snugger and he pulled the blankets up around us.

  “Riley,” he whispered.

  “Yeah?”

  “Wil
l you tell me what happened two years ago?”

  I suppose I should have seen it coming. He was always going to ask. If anything, I should have been surprised it’d taken him this long.

  There was a long moment before I spoke. “I was really screwed up after my mom died,” I started. “I had it in my head that it should have been me. Sometimes I still think that.”

  “Why?”

  “Because Mom never sped. She was an overly cautious driver. She was always on my case for driving too fast, but that day she was speeding. We were supposed to be having dinner together before I left for Georgia to film Promise Me. She was running late and in a hurry, I guess. The other driver had been drinking. He didn’t see her coming up on his left, or didn’t look, I don’t know. They were both killed in the crash.”

  “I’m sorry,” he murmured against my hair. “It shouldn’t have happened to her, but it shouldn’t have been you either.”

  “I know that, but at the time, Mom was gone, and the other driver was gone and there was nowhere for my anger and blame to go but on me. I always teased her for being such a slow driver. And it was my fault she was in a hurry. She knew I had other plans that night. I was anxious to leave dinner because I had a date. I thought it was such a big deal and I was mad at her for being late. Then she was just gone, and I sort of spiraled. The studio postponed filming an extra week for me, but after that I had to get back to work. I wasn’t ready, but Luis said they could sue if I delayed the film any longer, so I went back to work.

  “I wasn’t eating or sleeping. I was on antidepressants and they were messing with me. My emotions were all over the place. I was drinking on top of it, which wasn’t smart. One of the other cast members had some pot, said it might help, but it turns out my body has a bad reaction to marijuana. That combined with the pills, alcohol, lack of food and sleep and I passed out on set and had to be taken to the hospital. Dehydration in the Georgia heat was the official story. Dad showed up in Atlanta and dragged me back to Montana. The studio didn’t sue, and everyone was told I was sick. The only person who knew about the weed was the cast member who gave it to me, which was Derrick. But I swear it was only pot and not coke like he told the media.”

  He brushed his hand over my hair. “Why didn’t you want to tell me that?”

  I blew out a deep breath and turned in his arms. “After you told me about your friend who turned to drugs, I was afraid you’d think that’s what I did, that I was trying to kill myself or something. I wasn’t sure if you’d believe me that it was only weed. Hell, if Derrick had offered me something else, I don’t know that I would have said no. I just didn’t want you to think I was weak.”

  “Never.” He kissed my forehead. “I’m glad you told me. Sleep now, birthday girl. I’ve got you.”

  In no time at all, I was sound asleep in his arms and I stayed that way until morning. There were no bad dreams. I didn’t wake up terrified or shaking or crying. Or alone.

  I woke to James playing with my hair and tracing invisible patterns on my chest and abdomen with his finger. My eyes blinked open and a sleepy smile spread across my face.

  He grinned. “Good morning, beautiful.”

  “Yes, it is,” I rasped, my voice thick with sleep.

  He splayed his hand possessively over my stomach and slid up between my breasts. “You ready for your big day?”

  Before I could think about my birthday or my party, everything from last night settled like a weight inside of me. James must have seen a look come over my face. His brow furrowed, and he cupped my face. “None of that. You’re only allowed to think happy thoughts today. Everything from last night is being handled, and tomorrow I will tell you what we’ve found out so far.”

  “It’s only,” I glanced at the old alarm clock beside the bed, “eight a.m. How have you had time to find out anything?”

  He pressed his index finger to my lips. “Tomorrow you can ask all the questions you want. Today is your birthday, and on your birthday—”

  I pried his hand away from my mouth. “I should get to do whatever I want.”

  “Nope.” He tapped my nose. “But I am here to grant your every other wish.”

  I scrunched my face in a pretend pout, but then it transformed into a grin. “My every wish?”

  His smirk told me he knew exactly where my thoughts had gone. “Every. Single. One.” He punctuated each word with a kiss. First on my shoulder, then my neck, ending on my jaw.

  “Then I know what my first wish is.” I snaked my arms around his neck and pulled him down to me.

  It was a while before either of us came up for air, but I knew if we didn’t get out of bed soon, Luis would come knocking, insisting there was too much to do to be ready for the party. I was sure by now the decorators had already invaded, soon to be followed by caterers, and musicians, and whoever else Luis had hired, because as much as this party was for me, it really wasn’t. I didn’t care about any of that though. Luis could throw me this party and I would be grateful because I had the only thing I wanted right here.

  In fact, both the men who meant the most to me were going to be here. Dad’s plane would be landing soon, and that was the push I needed to finally peel myself off of James and get out of bed. It would be just the perfect start to my day if my dad showed up and found me still in bed with him. He’d probably be torn between shooting him and welcoming him prematurely to the family. Neither of which really worked for me. That didn’t mean I couldn’t cash in one more birthday wish before leaving this sanctuary.

  I took James’ hand and said, “Come on, I think I need help showering.”

  He was all too willing to let me lead him into the en suite.

  When we finally made it downstairs we were both very very clean, and Luis was very very annoyed.

  “Nice of you two to finally make it out of bed. Riley, Jayne is picking your father up from the airport and then she will be here to help you get ready. She’s taken care of making arrangements with your makeup girl as well. Right now, the event planner would like your opinion on flower arrangements or twinkle lights or something of the sort.”

  “Can I at least eat breakfast first?”

  “How about I find the kitchen and whip you up something, while you talk to the planner?” James offered.

  “Nonsense.” Luis waved his hand through the air. “I employ a perfectly capable chef, and despite how late you two slept in, I haven’t dismissed him for the day yet.”

  “That’s alright, I’d really like to make Riley breakfast if you don’t mind.”

  With a condescending roll of his eyes Luis told him, “Do whatever you like,” and then he swept out of the room.

  The rest of the morning—and afternoon—was a blur.

  I barely had enough time to hug my dad when he came in the door before Jayne whisked me upstairs, several garment bags in hand. I couldn’t wait to see what were in those. Gifted by designers all dying to dress the birthday girl.

  There better be something not in pink.

  From Jayne’s grimace when I voiced that thought, I knew I was going to be disappointed.

  “Why oh why can’t I get a new signature color?” I groaned after we’d unzipped all the bags in my room. “Come on, I rocked red last night.”

  “Yes, you did. Now choose one.”

  I scowled at my three choices, hoping the power of my glare along with some wishful thinking could change the color like those fairies in Sleeping Beauty. Alas, I wasn’t a magic fairy and they remained pink. One of them a very bright and sparkly number. Sooo many sequins. Another had a darker pink bodice with layers of bubblegum tulle for the skirt. Am I turning sixteen? I skimmed over the first two options, my eyes landing on the third.

  “This one.” I waved grudgingly. It was short, simple, elegant, and more of a champagne pink, and didn’t scream this is my sweet 16 quite so much as the other two.

  “Perfect.” Her phone chimed. “And that’s Lacy. She’s here.”

  Along with an entire team to pl
uck, buff, polish, and glam me up.

  “What’s the matter with you?” Jayne prodded when she caught my annoyed look.

  “Send them away.”

  “What?”

  “I’m going to do my own hair, nails, and makeup.”

  “But—”

  “No buts. Tell Lacy and the girls, thanks but today I’ve got this. And while you’re at it, can you please check on James for me. Make sure he and my dad haven’t strangled Luis or vice versa.”

  “If that’s what you want.”

  It was. We both knew this party was more for Luis than me, so I might as well get my way at least once today.

  Or twice.

  Not long after Jayne left me alone to do as I’d asked, did the one person I actually wanted to see appear.

  “Sending your people to check up on me?”

  At the sound of his voice I smiled and made one final swipe with the nail polish brush, before lowering my foot from the vanity tabletop and twisting around in my chair. “Are you bored to death down there? Is it party chaos?”

  “It is, but your dad and I found a TV and Sports Center.”

  “Of course you did.”

  He stepped further into the room, eyeing my lack of clothing. “I know it’s your birthday, but I didn’t realize you planned to attend the party in your birthday suit. It would certainly make a statement, but are you sure it’s the one you want to make?”

  “Funny. My dress is hanging up. I’ll put it on later. I wouldn’t want to get nail polish on it.”

  “Don’t get me wrong, I like this look you’ve got going. Very very much, I just don’t know how I feel about the rest of the party seeing you like this.”

  I stood and did my best sexy strut over to him. Judging by the look on his face and the way he swallowed, I think I pulled it off. Or it could have just been that I was in nothing but a sexy little corset brassiere and matching lacy thong.

  “Maybe I should let you finish getting ready. The party—”

  “Isn’t for another two hours, so maybe you should stay.” I curled my fingers in his shirt and tugged. He came willingly.