by Diana Gardin
Damn him. He could bring any girl he wanted with him to this event, and he knew it. Forcing her to cancel her plans was just another way to demonstrate he had full power over her and her life. And there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it.
“Frank,” she whispered, leaning toward him. She didn’t want the young millionaire on her other side to overhear her. Frank had sat them beside each other because he thought the young man would “enjoy” eating beside Hope. “I seriously don’t think I can handle any more alcohol. Do you want me walking out of here, or do you want to have to carry me?”
“You need to relax. You’ll drink one more,” Frank said through gritted teeth, before turning back to the owner of the largest engineering firm in the area. Frank was here to win new clients, and her job was to look pretty and show them what they could have on their arms if they joined Frank’s club.
She could hear the slur in her own voice, and her normal mile-high inhibitions had left the building hours ago. She knew perfectly well she was going to end up regretting her third glass of champagne the next morning.
“Fine,” she said, standing on wobbly legs. “I’ll just run to the little girls’ room first.”
Frank sent her a hard glance, which clearly said “hurry the hell up.”
She headed for the exit doors of the ballroom and up a hallway that housed the ladies’ room. She had a feeling she’d end up sprawled out on her ass in front of a lot of jeering people if she didn’t walk slowly and carefully.
She made it safely to the restroom, and when she exited the stall and turned on the faucet, she stared at her reflection. She was missing Morrow something fierce. She felt awful about having to ruin the plans he’d made especially for her birthday. Today hardly felt like a special day. She never went out and just cut loose with her friends, and she felt suffocated. She was a prisoner of her circumstances, and there was no way out. She washed her hands and ran wet fingers though her hair to remove any knots. Then she inspected her face. Not much makeup; she hated caking on the stuff. Her cheeks were flushed from the alcohol and the heat. Her eyes began to blur with unshed tears, and she gulped. Quickly tamping down her emotions, she turned and headed for the bathroom door. As she walked unsteadily out into the dim hallway outside the restroom, she was caught in the strong and steady arms of Reed Hopewell.
What the…?
She was dreaming. She had to be. She’d fallen and hit her head in the restroom, and now this was a figment of her very active imagination.
She sucked in a breath that never made it back out again while she stared up at him. He didn’t let go of her, and those bluer-than-ocean eyes bored into her as he held her still.
“Reed?” she asked in amazement. “What are you doing here?”
“You remember me,” he observed. His tone was pleased, and she wondered why. She couldn’t wonder long, though, because the sound of his voice was doing something strange to her insides, and she squirmed in his arms uncomfortably.
He continued to hold on to her as he chuckled. “You’re tanked, aren’t you?”
She shot him an indignant glare as she swayed on her feet. “No!”
“Right. It’s nice to see you again, Hope. Very nice. But now, I’m wondering something.”
She swallowed, gazing up into his beautiful eyes. “Wh-what?”
“From the last time we met, I kind of thought you were the kind of girl who maybe didn’t have a smile. I kind of hoped that the next time I saw you, you’d be smiling. You know, so I’d know you actually knew how.”
Tyler flashed through her head, his nasty leer and nastier words echoing through her muddled brain. She shuddered in response, and jerked out of Reed’s arms.
“Yeah, well,” she said sadly. “After a night like that, it’s kind of hard to find your smile.”
Reed followed her, not allowing the space to grow between them. “And tonight?”
She shook her head numbly, still not believing she was having this conversation with a guy she never expected to see again. “Haven’t found a reason to smile tonight, either.”
His expression clouded over, and she had the thought that a face as gorgeous as his should never look that troubled. “I’m sorry to hear that, Hope.”
Her eyes were beginning to wander freely over his body; roving over the black tuxedo pants that fit him just right, his black-clad torso that contrasted perfectly with his tanned skin. She unwillingly envisioned what may be under those too-perfect clothes, and her unholy thoughts upchucked from her mouth.
“Do you have more tattoos under there?” she blurted.
He stared at her blankly for a moment, and then his whole face lit with a smile, and his mouth dropped open in shock. “Do you always just say whatever the hell it is you’re thinking? Just blurt it out like word vomit? Or is that quality saved just for me?”
Her face had to be scarlet; she thought she’d never been so embarrassed in her entire life. She tried to remember the last time a man had affected her this way. Causing her thighs to clench with anticipation, her hands to become clammy, and the object in front of her—Reed—to become the only thing she could see.
“I—”
“Hope?”
A voice cut through the moment, saving her from saying anything else to further humiliate herself. It was the young millionaire; Hope couldn’t even remember now what his business was. He moved toward them, eyeing Reed with suspicion and reaching out to pull her to his side. What the hell? The man hadn’t even officially become one of Frank’s clients, and he was already manhandling her. Figures. He’ll fit right in.
“I wondered where you’d gotten to.”
“I’m fine,” she answered, not offering him any sort of explanation for Reed’s presence.
Reed eyed Hope for a moment, his eyes sliding down to the man’s arm around her waist and then back to Hope’s eyes. He nodded slightly to himself, seemingly coming to an inner decision. “See you around, Hope.”
He headed off down the hall, and with his departure, Hope felt a little bit of herself seep away. She thought…well, she didn’t know what she thought. That he’d ask for her number? That he’d ask her out on a real date? That he’d be remotely interested in her at all? It didn’t matter, even if he’d done any of those things.
She was firmly planted in a not-available zone because of her mother and Frank. The last thing she needed was a man like Reed Hopewell invading her privacy and her life in general.
But somehow…she thought maybe she wanted him to.
Six
As hard as Reed tried to keep his eyes and attention on his own table, he was fighting a battle already lost. He was unable to tear his eyes away from Hope as she sat just a few tables over. More than anything, he just wanted to know what she was like. There had to be more to this mysterious beauty whose smile was noticeably absent from her exquisite face. This couldn’t be the only facet to Hope. There had to be more.
Aston snapped her fingers in front of his face, and he jumped. “Reed? What the hell are you looking at? I asked you a question.”
“What?” he hissed. He was more irritated with himself than with Aston, but she didn’t need to know that.
“I asked you if you want to meet the CEO of Skinner Inc. You know, the company that does all the business with our natural gas division? But forget it if you’re gonna be an asshole.”
She gave him her haughtiest hair flip and turned back to Sam. Sam was eyeing him warily, and he nodded his head, not perceptibly, toward Hope. Reed nodded, and then leaned his head back far enough to look at the ceiling.
The frustration was bubbling up in his veins, replacing the blood that usually pulsed there with liquid anxiety. It was hotter than it should have been in the glitzy banquet hall, considering they were in an air-conditioned facility. Whenever Hope glanced at Reed, his chest constricted a little tighter into the knotted fist it had quickly become. And when she looked at the man who was apparently her date, he nearly lost his mind.
Mos
tly, he wanted to run over there, in front of the entire room, and ask why the hell she was out with yet another guy that wasn’t Reed.
What was happening to him? The last time he had reacted this way over the mere sight of a girl...he couldn’t actually remember it ever happening. He didn’t know Hope. Not at all. Yet here she was, sharing the same space as him, and the fact that he wasn’t touching her, talking to her, interacting with her at all was nearly killing him.
And when her date leaned over her, stretching one arm over the back of her chair, and whispered into her ear, all of the emotions he was battling pooled in his gut in the form of jealousy, and the growing rage in his body tightened to an uncomfortable level.
She slid back from the table, exposing her bare legs, and her heels were calling for him to lay her down somewhere and pull them off. Her smooth skin was begging him to run his hands all over it. The luscious rise of her breasts, visible above the neckline of her dress, screamed at him to take a swipe at it with his tongue. And her lips…those lips that would fit so perfectly around his own were puckering as she looked away from her date, and her hot pink tongue wet the surface.
“Hell,” Reed muttered. He leaned over to Sam. “I gotta get outta here a minute.”
Sam opened his mouth to respond, but Reed stood and nearly flew out of the too-crowded room.
“Oh, come on, man. You gotta get it together, Hopewell,” he grunted as he paced the sidewalk outside. The street beyond the banquet hall wasn’t the busiest in downtown Charleston, but it wasn’t empty, either. He decided to stroll up the street and around the corner, where he didn’t look like an idiot talking to himself in front of a crowded establishment.
He leaned against the brick, the heavy night air still cloaked with the day’s humidity. The historic, charming streetlamp beside him on the sidewalk spilled a circle of yellow light onto the cement, and Reed stared at it blankly while his thoughts ran laps around his brain.
A couple strolled by him, stopping by the trunk of a statuesque palm tree to cuddle close and steal a kiss. The light from the lamp caught their faces, and when they pulled apart, Reed saw how adoringly they stared into one another’s eyes.
He groaned and turned away, pressing his palms into the brick beside him. He closed his eyes, drawing breaths deeply into his lungs and releasing them slowly.
Why am I so damn affected? What does Hope have? Was it the fact that he had saved her from Tyler?
That had to be it. Some kind of special connection had formed between them that night. And now he felt responsible for her. Although that didn’t make much sense, because she clearly had someone inside the banquet who more than likely felt even more responsible for Hope than Reed did.
How was he going to get her out of his system? He couldn’t take her home; she was here with someone. And anyway, he had a feeling that having Hope in his bed with him would have exactly the opposite effect of getting her out of his system. Just the thought of her long hair splayed out over his pillow, her naked curves laid out against his sheets caused him physical pain as his dick swelled in his nether region.
Reed shuddered visibly. No, the best thing to do would be to go on his merry way, never to see Hope again. He’d forget about her, and the way she affected his chest.
The chest that housed the heart that began to hammer wildly when he heard her soft voice behind him.
“Reed?”
He kept his forehead glued painfully to the unyielding brick in front of him, desiring simultaneously to turn around to make sure she was really there and disappear into the side of the building.
“Reed,” Sam said sharply. “She wanted to know where you were, so we came to find you. Turn around. Don’t be a dipshit.”
Reed sighed, heavy with apprehension, and turned. Hope stood there looking every bit the vixen she had inside the bar, holding tightly to Sam’s arm as they stood staring at him.
“Why?” asked Reed.
Sam looked down at her. “I’m going back in. It was nice meeting you, Hope.”
She nodded, never taking her eyes off of Reed.
As Sam walked away, Reed stepped closer to Hope, like an invisible string pulled him.
“Why what?” she asked, her voice shaking slightly.
“Why are you out here? What does that guy in there think about the fact that you’re outside with me right now?”
Her forehead wrinkled in confusion, which might have been the cutest thing he’d ever witnessed. He watched it in fascination as the wrinkles smoothed out and then appeared again as her thoughts whirred around her head.
“What guy? Why are you out here? You seemed upset when you left. Did I do something?”
Reed, still focused on the facets of her face, missed the question. “I’m sorry, what?”
“I mean…I know we didn’t get a chance to talk the other week, but I wanted to tell you…I appreciate what you did for me. You didn’t have to. You could have kept walking, and then…well, then Tyler probably would have hurt me.” She shook visibly. “So, uh…thank you, Reed.”
His name rolling off of her tongue like pure silk pulled him another involuntary step closer to her. Those hazel eyes held only a hint of green tonight, and they nearly sparkled in the lemony light of the streetlamp. Her lips pursed slightly as she watched him, and he could tell that although she was sincere, she hated the fact that she needed to be thanking him at all.
She was fierce, and he liked it. Oh, he liked that a hell of a lot.
And as he read all of that in her eyes, they suddenly softened, as if she knew what he saw there. And another step brought him closer still, until they were only inches apart.
She held her ground, not backing away from him like he thought she would. Reed pushed his hands deep into his pockets, ordering them to stay put.
“So, you’re out here…with me. You wanted to thank me? I did what anyone would have done, Hope. No thanks necessary. I’m glad you’re here, actually. I needed to know that you’re doing well. And it seems you are. Very much so.”
She nodded, and licked her lips the way she had inside. Reed’s hands fisted inside his pockets as a fire began to burn so slowly inside of him. She shook her head, causing those deep waves of hair to ripple around her, and her scent reached his nose. She smelled freshly sweet, and also spicy, all at the same time. He inhaled deeply, closing his eyes.
He opened them quickly as he realized she didn’t smell of cheap, fruity perfume.
“Well, yeah. I guess I’m okay. I don’t actually want to be here tonight…I had to come. I’m actually supposed to be out with my friends, celebrating my birthday, but instead I’m here, and…” She trailed off, staring into his eyes.
Reed sucked in a breath. His voice came out low and strained. “It’s your birthday? Well, hot damn. Happy birthday, Hope. I hope your date gives you everything you want.”
There were those little confusion wrinkles again. “My date?”
Reed stared at her, the realization dawning on him. His hands slowly slid out of his pockets as he stared down at this girl who was every fantasy he never even knew he had.
“Hope,” he said. His voice came out ragged and thick, emotion and unbridled desire clogging his throat.
“Reed?” She stared up at him, and the expression he read in her eyes this time was a sexy combination of longing and bewilderment.
“Are you saying that guy in there isn’t your date tonight?”
Her eyes lightened and crinkled at the corners as she began to laugh. He waited, because although her laugh indicated so much, she hadn’t actually answered his question.
Finally, she looked him straight in the eye and lowered her chin almost shyly. “No, Reed. I don’t…I don’t have a date tonight.”
The mere inches between them disintegrated when he crashed into her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her into his chest as his mouth melted into hers.
It felt like he’d been waiting years to kiss her, to feel her body molding against his, to
feel her hands tangling in his hair as they now were. The little surprised gasp that vibrated against his lips as he grabbed her only fueled his need to get as much of her touching as much of him as he possibly could.
His mouth pressed against hers with no hesitation, no getting-to-know-you tenderness, only pure, raw want. Oh, shit, he wanted her like he’d never wanted anything in his entire existence. Right now, at this moment, he was living to touch Hope.
He lifted her effortlessly off her feet and turned her so her back was pressing against brick. His hands ran hungrily down the sides of her body. His tongue pressed insistently against her lips until she opened up to him with a little whimper and he plunged inside to massage her mouth. His erection strained against his pants as he pressed his body to hers. He wanted her to feel how much he wanted her, needed this.
Her mouth broke free and her eyes burned into his. “Reed.”
There it was again, his name spoken from her mouth and the insane things hearing it did to his body. He grunted and trailed kisses down her jawline to her neck, and she tilted her head to the side when a hushed breath escaped her.
“Oh, God,” she moaned, and her words merely reignited the fire burning inside him.
He couldn’t possibly pull her closer, so he reached down to grab the back of her thigh, hitching her leg up around his hip as his knees bent to allow him more access to more skin.
She willingly pulled herself closer, and they were such a spectacle on the street that a whistle behind them made her freeze.
Oh, hell no, was Reed’s thought as her hands stilled on his back, and he hauled her around the corner and into a doorway on the less-busy side street.
He hadn’t received a clear thought firing to his brain since he’d touched her, and they weren’t flowing freely now, either. He was acting purely on instinct, and every single instinct he owned was pointing him in Hope’s direction. He’d never needed anything like this before. He’d wanted women plenty of times, and had no problem achieving his goal. But Hope? Right now, he needed her.
