by Kresley Cole
Allison felt a wave of giddy joy as Vince lifted her up without groaning because she was heavy and set her down on the concrete support for the patio. He pushed her robe open more while his hands caressed her breasts. Every part of her burned.
She’d never done anything like this before and honestly she didn’t know why she was doing it now except that there was something so sad and yet safe about him.
And then he did what had to be the most tender thing a man had ever done to her. He wrapped his arms around her and just held her. Something inside her melted at the feeling of being held like this…as if she were precious.
Vince closed his eyes as he reveled in the sensation of her naked skin against his. Her breasts were flattened against his chest while her thighs pressed against his bare hips. God, it’d been so long since he’d just had a woman hold him and never had he held one so sweet.
Most of the women he’d dated would be clawing at him by now, wanting their satisfaction. But Allison merely held him as if they were something more than strangers.
He pulled back to return to her lips before he took her hand into his and led it to the part of him that was craving her the most.
Allison nibbled at Vince’s lips as she gently explored the length of his cock. It was so strange to be this intimate with a man she didn’t know and yet she felt some strange connection to him. It didn’t make any sense. It was almost like love at first sight or at the very least lust at first sight.
Oh yeah, definitely lust.
“You are so beautiful,” he whispered against her ear.
“It’s the makeup.”
He shook his head. “It’s you.” He picked her up then and carried her into her room where he laid her back on the bed. Her heart pounding, she watched as he shrugged off his bathrobe and dropped it to the floor.
He paused at her nightstand to open the drawer.
Allison frowned until she saw him grab a condom. Stunned, she rolled over to open the drawer wider where she saw a whole box of them.
Now she was offended. “Months, my heinie!”
Nonplussed, he frowned at her. “What?”
She narrowed her gaze on him as anger coiled through her. “If you haven’t had a woman for months, then how did you know about—”
“They’re in my room too.”
“Sure they are.”
“Allison,” he said, his eyes deeply sincere, “they are. You can go see for yourself. And they’ve been killing me every night. I’m not a player anymore, okay?”
An image of her boyfriend in bed with his stripper tore through her. “Why don’t I believe you?”
He cupped her cheek in his hand before he gave her a sizzling kiss. “I promise. I haven’t been a player since I got out of the Marines four years ago. I haven’t been celibate, but I haven’t been a horn-dog either.”
She was a bit surprised by his confession. “You were a Marine?”
“Yeah.”
She started to ask him another question, but he chose that moment to dip his head down to her breast. Allison’s thoughts scattered as he teased her.
Wanting more of him, she laid back, drawing him with her.
Vince was completely dazed by the taste of this woman and by the fact she wasn’t shoving him away. In fact, she pushed him back and took the condom from his hand.
He sucked his breath in sharply as she took him in her hand. She placed a blistering kiss to his stomach before she opened the pouch and pulled the condom over him. He really shouldn’t be doing this. She didn’t strike him as the kind of woman to have sex and then walk away.
And that was what he liked most about her. His emotions didn’t want her to walk away, but his common sense knew it was stupid to even think about dating a woman right now.
Why was he doing this?
Because she was the epitome of everything he’d ever craved. She was that sweet, wholesome, middle-American dream. She wasn’t a city-born hustler. She was a doe-eyed innocent.
And God help him, he was helpless before her.
Allison moaned as Vince rolled onto his back and pulled her against him. It felt so good to be with a man again. To be held, even if they were strangers. For some reason, he really made her feel beautiful. It didn’t make sense, but she did.
Wanting to please him, she straddled his hips before she slowly slid her body onto his.
He hissed before he bit his lip and lifted his hips to drive himself even deeper into her. The look of pure pleasure on his face thrilled her. She couldn’t remember the last time a man had been this happy to be with her.
She took his hand in hers and held it close. She understood that she meant nothing to him and that when this was over, he’d probably walk away. The thought hurt and yet she still couldn’t bring herself to stop this.
She didn’t know why, but she really wanted to be with him even if it was only temporary.
Vince sighed as he teased her lips while her damp hair fell around them. Oh yeah, this was what he’d needed in the worst sort of way. No woman had ever felt better than Allison did. She rode him slow and easy, at least in the beginning. But after a few minutes, she quickened her strokes.
Sensing what she needed, he rolled over with her until she was beneath him.
Allison arched her back as Vince leaned back and thrust himself deep inside her. He moved faster and faster, spurring her pleasure on until she couldn’t take it anymore. When she came, her orgasm was so fierce that she screamed out from it.
She saw the fire in his eyes as he smiled down at her. He moved even faster until he joined her in that perfect moment of bliss. She cradled him with her whole body as she drifted back from the rippling edge. He felt so wickedly good as she ran her hand over the muscles of his back.
She hadn’t felt so at peace in a long time and for that she was truly grateful. Overwhelmed by the feeling she pressed her cheek to his so that she could feel his prickly whiskers. This really was a fantasy come true….
Vince lay himself against her body while his heart raced. For the first time in years he felt a deep-seated peace and he didn’t even know why. There was something magical about this moment. Something magical about her.
He lay on top of her, unwilling to move while she played with his hair and ran her other hand over his back. “I’m not too heavy, am I?”
“Definitely not,” she said dreamily. “I like the way you feel.”
Growling as another wave of desire hit him, he wiggled his hips against hers, driving himself in a bit more. “I like the way you feel too.”
Allison smiled at him as he traced small circles around her breast. “I don’t ever want to get up from here.”
“Well,” he said, drawing the word out, “they do have room service and there’s a whole box of condoms in the drawer.” He gave her a hopeful look.
She laughed at him. “You’re so bad.”
She had no idea.
Vince lifted himself up to kiss her, then paused as he heard something strange….
It sounded like someone was in his room next door.
“Where is he?”
The voice was faint through the wall, but it was an unmistakable accent. He started to reach for his weapon only to realize that it was in his room…along with the men.
Damn.
He heard them kick open the bathroom door, looking for him. His anger mounting, he also realized he and Allison had left the sliding glass doors open.
It wouldn’t take the men next door long to figure out where he was….
Sliding off of Allison, he held his finger to his lips to warn her to silence.
“What’s going on?” she mouthed.
He held his hand up to caution her again before he gathered her clothes and tossed them to her. And then he remembered that all of his clothes were in his room next door.
Double damn. He’d have to think of something quick or else the two of them were dead.
As soon as she was dressed, he put her in the far back of her close
t. “Stay here,” he whispered, his tone barely audible, “and whatever you do, don’t move until I come back for you. Do you understand?”
Her blue eyes wide, she nodded.
Kissing her hand, Vince grabbed the bathrobe from the floor, then made his way into the hallway. He was slinking toward his room when all of sudden two doors opened at the same time.
His and Jeremy’s.
And Gino’s number one thug was heading out.
Chapter Five
Reacting on pure instinct, Vince grabbed Jeremy into a tight embrace and turned his back to Paulie. “Just play along,” he whispered into Jeremy’s ear.
Jeremy looked as if he’d just handed him the five-hundred-million-dollar winning lottery ticket. His face beaming, Jeremy wrapped his arms around him. “You got it.”
Vince heard Paulie make a sound of disgust behind his back. “Yo, faggots, take it into the room.”
That was his undoing. It let Vince know two important things. One, the bastard was distracted and two, exactly where Paulie was standing.
With reflexes honed from the military and the streets, Vince lifted his arm and elbowed Paulie in the face. Staggering back, Paulie cursed as he realized who it was and went for his weapon. Vince caught the hand Paulie had under his jacket and slammed his fist into Paulie’s jaw.
The second thug, Gino’s nephew Frankie, came out of the room behind them. Tall, thin and wiry, Frankie reached for his own gun. Before Vince could move, Jeremy karate-kicked him into the wall so hard, Frankie broke through the plaster.
Dazed, Frankie slid to the ground to land in a thud on his ass.
As Paulie started to get up, Jeremy kicked him in the head and knocked him unconscious. His eyes blazing, he met Vince’s impressed stare.
“No one calls me a faggot unless they’re my friend or my lover.”
Vince could respect that. He held his hands up in surrender. “No worries here.” He looked at the two men on the floor and laughed. There weren’t many men who could have gotten the drop on Gino’s goons. It said a lot that Jeremy had kicked their asses. “You handle yourself pretty damn well, kid.”
“Thanks. You too. Now you want to tell me why they were coming out of your room?”
“Absolutely not,” Vince said as he checked the clip in Paulie’s gun. Luckily it was fully loaded. He slammed it back into place. “But I can tell you this. They’re most likely not alone. These two are muscle and I’m sure somewhere else around here is the brain who orders them into action. So we need to find some way to secure them and get some help onto this island before one of you guys gets hurt in the crossfire.”
“Hurt how?”
“Dead hurt.”
Jeremy’s face lost some of its color. “Okay. Give me two seconds.”
Vince went to check Frankie for more guns—he found one in an ankle and the other in a shoulder holster. He’d no sooner unarmed him than Jeremy returned with two pairs of handcuffs. He handed them to Vince.
“I don’t even want to know,” Vince said as he used one pair to cuff Paulie while Jeremy cuffed the other man.
Jeremy frowned at him. “Where were you going in your bathrobe anyway?”
“Where were you going in yours?”
Jeremy smiled, letting Vince know he was probably about to rendezvous with one of the other actors. “Touché. I’ll go get security….”
Vince grabbed his arm to stop him. “You’re going to need more than security. If I were you guys, I’d get the hell off this island before things get any worse.”
Jeremy nodded as he considered that. “What about you?”
“Trust me, we’ll all live a lot longer if you don’t know that one.”
Jeremy inclined his head to him before he headed for the lobby.
Vince took a minute to search the two thugs one last time to make absolutely sure they were clean before he headed to his door, only to realize that he was locked out.
Oh yeah. That was good.
His disgust ended as he realized something. They hadn’t had a key card on them….
How the hell had they gotten into his room?
This didn’t bode well. There was definitely another party pulling their chains. Sighing in disgust, he dodged out the side door back to the patio so that he could return to his room and dress.
Vince let out a tired breath as he fastened his shoulder holster around him—something he’d stupidly thought he was through doing, then secured the other three guns. He had no way of knowing how many men Gino had sent after him, but hopefully it wasn’t too many.
He considered calling Z to let him know what was going on. Honestly though, he didn’t have time. He needed to take cover before the brain came looking for Paulie and Frankie.
His nerves steely cold, he returned to Allison’s room and opened the closet where she was still sitting, right where he’d left her. Damn, she was beautiful and far more trusting than anyone had a right to be.
He would kill anyone who hurt her.
She looked up with her eyes round.
He held his hand out to her. “It’s okay. C’mon, we need to get out of here.”
She frowned. “But the fantasy—”
“This isn’t a fantasy, Allison, and I’m not an actor. I’ve been hiding on this island from people who want me dead and if they find us, they’ll torture and kill us. Now, we need to go.”
“Us?”
He nodded. “I knew I shouldn’t have come over here to your room. If they ever find out about you, they’ll hurt you just because you were with me.”
Allison swallowed. If not for the dark sincerity of his eyes, she would think it was part of the story. But one look at him said it wasn’t.
He was serious.
“Why do they want you?” she asked as she took his hand and he pulled her to her feet.
“Because I know too much about them. Who they are. What they’ve done. How they screwed me over. And they’re afraid I’m going to the Feds—it’s the only thing in life that scares them. I’m sure you’ve seen enough movies to know exactly the kind of men I’m talking about.”
“What are they? Mafia?”
He gave her a droll stare. “Mafia is a word invented by Hollywood. It’s not a term people in the family use.” He paused and let out a deep breath. “But yeah, they’re Mafia.”
“And what did you do for them?”
She saw the pain and guilt in his eyes as he looked away from her. “Things I know I shouldn’t have. Look, I’m not proud of who I am, okay? I let them lie to me and I lied to myself. Then one night, I came to my senses and I tried to leave. Unfortunately, they’re not willing to let me go. At least not while I’m living.”
Her heart sank at his words. “Did you kill anyone?”
He met her gaze unflinchingly. “Only those who tried to kill me first. I swear.” He cupped her face in his hand as his gaze asked her to forgive him. “I really wish I wasn’t what I am, baby. Believe me. But unless we hit the road, we’re both history.”
“Why me? Can’t I just stay here?”
“I don’t dare take that chance. These aren’t the kind of men who just ask politely if you’ve seen me. I’m not going to leave you behind for them to question and torture for fun.”
Allison narrowed her eyes as anger welled up inside her. All her life, she’d been a good girl. She’d done what she was told. Had gone to church every Sunday. She’d worked a job she hated, had been loyal to a boyfriend who cheated on her and lied to her and in this moment, something inside her snapped.
She was through just taking crap. There was no way she was going to lie down and let these people kill her just because they could.
“Fine,” she said, letting her anger swell even more. “You got a gun?”
“Yeah.”
“Then give me one too. ’Cause if these assholes come after me, I intend to give them what for.”
His expression turned even darker. Deadlier. “This isn’t a game, Allison.”
“B
oy, don’t I know it. But I’m a country girl, born and bred, who used to go hunting every weekend during the season with my grandfather. One thing he taught me early on is how to shoot straight and stand up for myself. Now give me a gun and put me on equal footing with these pricks.”
Vince wasn’t sure if he should be impressed or scared. Deciding on the former, he handed her the .22.
She wrinkled her nose at it. “What is this? A .22? You only shoot this if you’re after a rodent or you just want to piss someone off. Don’t you have a real weapon?”
“Where did you get that language?”
“The same place you got this crappy little gun. I don’t normally talk like this, but when someone’s out to kill me, I think it calls for a modicum of profanity. Now give me something good.”
Vince was amazed by his little Dairy Maid. Smiling at her, he pulled out Frankie’s .38 snub nose. She opened the barrel like a pro and pulled out one of the bullets. She nodded as she looked at it before she returned it to the chamber. “Hollow points, not bad.” She slammed the barrel shut and tucked the gun into her jeans. “Okay. Where we going?”
She was taking this so much better than he’d ever hoped for. “Aren’t you scared?”
“Shitless, pardon my French. But you don’t know anything about me if you think I’m just going to lie down and take this. Nobody comes after me and threatens me and just walks off. I’m not a doormat. I might be female, but where I come from that doesn’t make me the weaker sex. It just makes me the more vengeful sex.”
He had to admire that about her. She was so much more than he’d even dared to hope. “All right, here’s the plan….” He hesitated as he thought over their options. Come to think of it, they didn’t have many, or any. “Okay. There’s not one. Basically the plan is we don’t want to get killed and we find some way to get off this island before they find us.”
“Gotcha. I definitely vote for the not-dying.”
Shaking his head, Vince edged his way back toward the door to the patio so that he could check their perimeter. The surf was still peacefully crashing ashore while the sea-gulls called out to each other as if everything were normal. Only he knew the truth. This day was far from peaceful or serene.
