by Steph Nuss
Steph Nuss
Copyright 2015 by Steph Nuss
All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ISBN: 978-0-9862246-2-1
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Prologue
New Year’s Eve 2013
Looking down from the VIP lounge, I took in the crowd celebrating below. I’d left my friends at Judge’s a few hours ago to verify that business was running smoothly at my other establishments, and my last stop was here at Poison, my newest club. The music was blaring, the drinks were flowing, and the people were having a hell of a good time. Business was going well on all accounts, which meant I was rolling in the money. It was the perfect way to say good-bye to one year and hello to another.
But an even more perfect way to ring in the new year was standing at the bar. I spotted her the minute I walked into the VIP area. Her long, blond hair cascaded down her left shoulder. She was in a tight red, long-sleeve mini dress that stopped just a few inches below that perfect ass of hers. The backless dress had me zeroed in on her like a bulls-eye, and it showed off every muscle and curve beneath the tanned skin of her back. After admiring the way her skin moved over her barely visible ribs and imagining my tongue tracing up the curve of her spine, I had my target set for the night. I wanted her every way I could have her, and I wanted her now. Preferably naked.
Turn around, I thought. I need to see the front of you. I’d bet money her front looked just as good if not better than her back. Sure, women approached me on a regular basis and plenty had done so tonight, but none of them interested me the way she did. She piqued my curiosity when she shot all the men down that approached her. What was she looking for? I was convinced that most people who went out to clubs were looking for something. Whether it was to let loose and have a good time or to find that special someone to hookup with at the end of the night, I believed everyone had an agenda when they went out; everyone had a target.
And then she turned.
Bulls-eye.
Her head turned toward me, and my eyes connected with hers staring back at me. A smirk played across her lips as she turned her whole body toward me, and I had to mentally force my jaw not to drop. I’d thought her back was mesmerizing, but her front . . . fuck, I definitely would’ve won that bet because her front was exquisite. She had the face of an angel, bronzed to perfection with red lips and smoky eyes. Her tits weren’t fake, and they weren’t small. She was curvy in all the right places, places I wanted to spend the rest of my night getting to know. I watched her toss back her drink, knowing full well she wasn’t the type of woman who needed the liquid courage, and then watched as she grabbed her purse and started walking my way.
If I hadn’t already wanted to fuck this woman twenty different ways into next year, I definitely wanted to now. She wasn’t a woman who sat back and waited for you to come to her. No, she was a woman who got what she wanted. She wasn’t the prey; she was the predator. Her hips swayed confidently as she moved, and her eyes darkened the closer she got, causing my dick to grow uncomfortably hard.
She was my target, and now I was hers. Happy fucking New Year’s.
She stopped beside me and studied my face for a moment before the sexy smirk on her lips pulled up into a full, killer smile. “You’ve been watching me since you walked into the lounge.”
So, you noticed. Well played, woman. Stepping closer to her, I tilted my mouth toward her ear so only she could hear me. I reached out and brushed my hand down the curve of her bare spine. “You’re practically half naked in the dead of winter. Of course, I’ve been watching you.”
Her nipples hardened at my touch as she gazed up at me with fuck-me eyes. “Let’s get out of here and maybe you’ll get to see me fully naked in the dead of winter.”
I shook my head and laughed. “If you leave with me, there’s no maybe about whether or not I’ll be seeing you fully naked.”
She leaned into me and ran her hand down the front of my dress shirt. Brushing her lips against my earlobe, she asked, “Then why are we still standing here?”
I smiled, satisfied with where our night was headed, and quickly grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the railing with me. Women like her were rare—diamonds in the rough of one-night stands. She was my type: no strings. Just a good fuck and a good-bye. Who the hell needed cupid when my shot was spot-on almost every time?
As we made our way out of Poison and slipped into the backseat of my town car, I finally recognized the scent she wore. She smelled like something sweetly familiar, like frosting. That fact alone pushed this woman into a whole different playing field than all the women before her. It wasn’t that I had a thing for sweets. It was the fact that only the most important women in my life ever smelled like sweets. My mom, my grandma, and now this woman. It was terrifying, and if I was being honest with myself, part of me wanted to ditch her for smelling like them. But the other part of me, the part of me below my belt, knew I wouldn’t ditch her. She was my target, my New Year’s hookup; that was it.
I grabbed her soft, angelic face and kissed the hell out of her, pushing the thoughts out my head and letting the one in my pants take over.
***
His mouth was rough and eager but so incredibly soft; the softest lips I’d ever kissed in my entire life. His tongue tangled with mine as he pushed me back against the seat and ran his hand up my thigh. I knew the moment I spotted him in the VIP area that he was the guy I wanted to spend the rest of my night with. He was in a designer suit that fit his tall, muscular frame excellently, but I didn’t want him in his designer suit; I wanted him in his birthday suit. Naked and laid out underneath me so that I could admire every muscle etched into him and then fuck his brains out.
I wasn’t looking for happily ever after tonight or ever. I wasn’t looking for just a New Year’s kiss when the clock struck midnight. I was looking for the fuck of all fucks, someone who would blow my mind into next year, leaving me breathless and aching. He was it and I knew it. I was rarely wrong about men and their sexual abilities.
I threaded my fingers through his silky, blond strands and pulled him into me harder. He tasted like Jack and Coke and he smelled woodsy and manly, the combination making me a little bit more tipsy and a lot more aroused. That man scent brought me to my knees more than once in my life, and I wasn’t ashamed to admit it. You weren’t a woman if you couldn’t appreciate the exhilarating scent of a hot man. A scent like that could make a smart woman stupid.
The car came to a stop while he had his hands up my skirt and his mouth on my neck. He pulled away from me, wearing a naughty grin, and dragged me out of the car and into his building. Instead of taking the elevator, we ran up the stairs. Once we were in his apartment, he pinned me up against t
he wall. His mouth was back on mine while his hands tried to undress me.
“Wait,” I muttered, pushing him back slightly. Part of me loved wearing outfits men couldn’t figure out how to get off, but tonight I wasn’t a fan of it. I had a piece of hair stuck in the tiny zipper at the back of my neck. “Just wait a—”
“Shit,” he said, leaning his body into mine. His forehead rested against mine, his erection throbbing against my belly. “I didn’t even get your name, and here I am trying to get you naked.”
Oh, how sweet. He thought I wanted to slow down and talk, when all I wanted was to get my fucking dress off. “Jane,” I said, lying with my drunken tongue. “It’s Jane Doe.”
A deep, sexy laugh poured out of him, making me wetter by the second, and he stared back at me with humor glimmering in his eyes. “I guess that makes me John Smith then.”
“I guess so.” I unzipped my dress and pulled my arms out of it, letting it slide off my shoulders. “Where were we?”
His eyes stared at my bare shoulders, so I pushed my dress down further, giving him a little striptease. Once the dress slid past my hips and melted into a puddle at my feet, I stepped toward him in just my black thong and heels. He eyed my breasts and trailed his hands down my sides, where he slipped his fingers under the band of my thong and slid it down my thighs to the floor. I stepped toward him again, but this time he quickly picked me up and tossed my naked body over his shoulder.
“You’re almost too fucking hot, do you know that?” he asked, as he made his way into the bedroom.
“I usually am the hotter one,” I teased, even though it was true.
“We’ll have to see about that.” He threw me on top of his bed and began undressing. He shrugged out of his jacket and untucked his shirt and began unbuttoning. I sat up and started undoing his pants. He couldn’t get naked fast enough. His arctic blue eyes bore into mine, causing a mass of shivers to snake down my spine. When he was finally bare and standing before me, I was dumbstruck. He was fucking gorgeous. He had that sexy V set deep below a beautiful six-pack, directing me toward his massive length. Every limb on him was etched with pure, hard muscle. His appearance was hypnotizing, from the need evident in his eyes to his rigid erection, making my lady parts high-five each other. I’d most definitely met my match in terms of hotness.
His laugh pulled me out of my haze and I looked back up at him and shrugged. “Okay, so you’re hot, too.”
“You have a little drool right here,” he mocked, swiping his thumb across my bottom lip.
I grabbed his wrist, took his thumb into my mouth and began sucking. He pushed me back on the bed and tugged my heels off before settling over my naked form, taking one of my breasts with his mouth. His dick throbbed against my skin as I released his digit and arched into him. I usually didn’t need all the foreplay, but for once, I wanted it. I wanted to spend as much time as I possibly could with this John Smith. One time definitely wouldn’t be enough for me. Hell, one night probably wouldn’t even be enough. But I had rules. No sleepovers. No sleeping with the same guy more than once. So, I had to make tonight count.
His mouth moved over to my other breast, making me feel needy with just the flick of his tongue across my nipple, and I hated feeling needy. I wanted to take over, to take back some of the control he’d made me lose, but his mouth felt so damn good on me, I couldn’t move.
He reached into the nightstand, pulled out a condom and sheathed himself. Hooking my legs around his waist, he pushed forward and teased the tip of his dick just outside of my opening, making my eyes roll to the back of my head. “Are you ready to be fucked into next year?”
His rough voice escalated my need. “God, yes!”
“Good,” he said, as he plunged into me in one hard thrust, causing a loud moan to escape from my lips. He was thick and long, and he knew what the hell he was doing. He pulled out slowly and slammed back into me, hitting me in that perfect spot that made my toes curl with pleasure. Latching my fingers into his hair, I tugged his head down to mine for a kiss. He had the best lips I’d ever tasted, and I wanted to fuck his mouth as he pounded into me.
As our kiss deepened, his movements grew harder and quicker, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like it rough like that. The biting and nail-digging made me feel like an animal in the bedroom, and the way he reciprocated every bite and every dig told me he felt the same. He pushed my knees up to my sides and plunged back in, sinking even deeper than before, and that was all it took. My body felt like it was being ripped in half as my first orgasm tore through me, tension trembling and soul shattering, taking little pieces of myself along with it. I felt both lost and found as he kept egging me on, never once turning his attention onto himself. He held off instead of readily chasing his own pleasure, thrusting into me until the buildup took me over again. It was like a rollercoaster of sex. I didn’t even have time to come down from one peak because he was already taking me up another, and the ride was unbelievably breathtaking. He had a stamina I’d never even thought existed.
When he flipped us over and I was on top, worn out and breathless, I knew he was exhausted even though he was still hard inside me. His eyes looked tired but his grip on my hips only tightened as he continued to push up into me, sending the tension rippling down my spine once again. I wanted him to come with me this time. I wanted to watch him come undone, to watch him fall apart with me. He’d held off long enough and I was already coming around the curve of my third orgasm.
Leaning forward, I covered his lips with mine and looked him deep in the eyes. “Let go,” I demanded, bearing down on him with all the energy I could muster. I moved my hips in time with his and finally felt him tense beneath me. God, did he look magnificent all flexed and needy. Clenching around him, I dug my nails into his chest and tossed my head back as we came, moaning in unison as we rode out each curve of pleasure together.
When the orgasmic thrill finally came to a halt, I slid off of him and lay on my back next to him. Holy shit, what a ride! We were covered in sweat, trying to catch our breaths. The room smelled of sex and the bed’s sheets were tangled around us.
“Now, that . . . is how you ring in the new year,” he said, breathlessly.
I laughed lightly and smiled up at him. “I agree.” I raised my hand in the air toward him and he reached up and gave me a high-five.
He laughed and threw the condom away, and then he curled his arm around my waist and pulled me into him. Pressing a sweet kiss to my neck, he said, “Stay with me tonight.”
I couldn’t answer him right away because I really did want to stay, and that was a first. Lying in his arms, feeling all warm and cozy and relaxed from sex made me want to stay with him. But the tiny voice in my head could not be ignored. What about your rules, B? You made them for a reason. No sleepovers. No screwing more than once. No heartbreak.
It was true. I’d made those rules a long time ago so that I didn’t end up like every other woman, crying over a man who broke her heart. I was the heartbreaker. I was the one who never stayed because I usually didn’t want to stay. I wanted sex and a good time and nothing else.
But this time . . . this time, it took everything in me to tell him no, to push him away and get out of his bed.
“I can’t,” I said firmly, walking out of the room. As I found my clothes and started putting them back on, I felt a wave of uneasiness crash over me. Tonight was different with him, and I didn’t really know why exactly. Whether it was the roller-coaster ride of pleasure or the beautiful blue of his eyes and his hot-as-fuck body, I just didn’t want to leave him yet.
“And why can’t you?” he asked, with a hint of amusement in his voice.
I walked back into his room, where he was sitting up against the headboard smiling. “Because,” I sat on the edge of the bed, slipped my heels on and then stood to leave, “I don’t do sleepovers.”
Chapter One
May 2014
There weren’t too many people I’d get on a plane for, but it was
Ellyson Evans and Carter Jennings’ wedding this weekend and our whole gang was part of it. I had to go; I was a groomsman. Elly gave me a psychological pep talk before I boarded the plane, but I still felt on edge with nerves. To say I had a fear of flying was a huge understatement. When my parents died in a plane crash when I was eight years old, I developed a fear of planes and flying. Anxiety medication made me drowsy, so I made Elly sit beside me the whole way to Dallas to help calm me down.
The only part of this experience that made me feel somewhat better was the fact that I wasn’t on a huge commercial flight with a bunch of strangers. Carter’s sister, Harper, shuttled us on her private plane, and the pilot had just informed us of our impending descent into the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.
Joy, I thought, gritting my teeth.
“How are you doing?” Elly asked softly, running her hand over mine. She loosened my grip on the armrest and took my hand in hers. “It’ll be okay, Fletch. Just breathe and think about something positive, something you enjoy doing.”
That was easier said than done. I enjoyed not flying.
My best friend and old college roommate, Maverick Jones, sat across from me shaking his head. “You’re almost thirty. You’ve got to get over this flying shit.”
“Mav,” Harper said, hitting him in the arm.
I closed my eyes and rested my head back. “Fuck off, man.”
Maverick laughed and I could hear him loving on Harper. They’d gotten together over the past five months, and she ended up pregnant. Their little girl was due in October, and she already had Maverick wrapped around her baby fingers. He’d make a good dad, but I couldn’t wait to see him in action. A big guy like Maverick didn’t seem like the diaper changing type, but he was more than ready for it. He even had a calendar in his office with a countdown until Baby Girl Jones’ arrival. They were keeping her name a secret, which royally pissed us all off, but we made a game out of it. We had an outstanding bet that if anyone guessed the name before she was born, they got a thousand bucks. So, we’d randomly mention names whenever they came to us, like right now when I was trying to think of something positive.
