“He checked out half an hour ago.” The words were followed by a protracted sigh. “The room is paid in full.”
“Great, thanks.” Ellie slammed the phone back down in its cradle, then turned to zip up her bag. Lugging it to the door of the room, she tossed the key back on the bed where the maid could find it later.
Half an hour. Assuming he was heading home, that meant she wasn’t far behind him. She could get to him before any more damage was done.
Pulling her cell from her purse as she crossed the parking lot to her car, Ellie jabbed in a contact as she dumped her bag in the back. Climbing into the driver’s seat, she looked down at her uncomfortable high heels before kicking them off. She’d drive barefoot.
The din on the other end of the line when the call was answered made her wince, but she hadn’t expected anything else—her brother was at his own wedding, after all. And Meredith had told her to go ahead and chase after her man.
“I’m sorry, El.” Chase sounded like he’d had a few drinks since she’d seen him last. “I’m just trying to look out for you. But I’m sorry I pissed you off.”
“You can make it up to me right now.” Ellie jammed her car keys into the ignition, then put Chase on speaker. “And I don’t want to hear any grumbling about it. I need Nate’s home address. And I need it now.”
* * *
He shouldn’t have just left.
As Nate rode the elevator from the underground garage where security guards watched over the handful of expensive vehicles he owned, he scowled, knowing that it had been a dick move to leave without telling Ellie, never mind how much she’d hurt him.
After talking to Hannah, he’d needed some space. Some time to think. He’d call Ellie in the morning, even though just thinking her name had his fingers itching to trace themselves over her skin.
Rather than carrying him straight to his penthouse, the elevator slowed and smoothly stopped on the lobby floor. Nate felt his hackles rise, and then again when the sleek metal doors opened to reveal a cluster of people clutching tablets and cameras, some of which started going off in his face the second that the elevator doors opened.
“Samuel, what the hell is going on?” Slapping a hand against the side of the elevator door to stop it from closing again, Nate stuck his head out of the elevator and glared at his bellman.
The elderly man in the smart maroon uniform looked as bewildered as Nate felt, shaking his head and holding out his hands. “I don’t know, Mr. Archer. But they say they were invited and they won’t leave.” Samuel gestured helplessly, and Nate’s stare followed the gesture.
And then there she was. Ellie was standing barefoot in his lobby, still wearing the silky bridesmaid dress, her hair still tangled from his fingers. His heart thudded in his chest, having her so close.
Looking at her, knowing that she was there for him?
Any remaining doubts he had that she was his one slowly started to melt away.
“Hi.” Slowly, Ellie crossed the lobby, closing the space between them. She didn’t touch him, her blue eyes full of uncertainty as she looked up at him where he stood, half in and half out of the elevator.
“Hi.” For the second time in as many hours, Nate found himself at a loss for words—and this time, he knew that he really needed to find the right ones.
“I’ll go first.” Nate had no idea what he was going to say, but Ellie cut him off, rising on her toes to press her fingers to his lips.
“No. Let me.” He arched an eyebrow, then nodded at her to continue.
“It kills me that you think I’m ashamed of you. I’m not. I never could be.” Ellie let her hand slid from his lips down to tug gently on his tie before continuing. “Not wanting to tell anyone had nothing to do with you. It was me. I… keeping it a secret kept it just about sex. Or at least that’s what I told myself. I couldn’t bear the thought of being just another woman to you.”
“You’ve never been just another woman.” Unable to refrain from touching her any longer, Nate cupped his palm around the back of her neck, savoring the little sigh she gave as he did. “And I understand… well, I understand not telling anyone this weekend. You might not be ashamed of me, but I’ve never been your family’s favorite person.”
Hell, he’d never been his own family’s favorite person. But after his talk with Hannah, he knew that he could start shedding the weight that had been hanging around his neck for most of his life.
“Don’t.” Ellie’s voice cut through the air, a wickedly sharp blade. “Just don’t. Where you come from isn’t who you are, and I don’t ever want to hear you say it again.”
“Haven’t you gotten bossy?” He smirked, but it was a cover for the hummingbird wings of hope that had taken flight in his chest. Where was she going with this?
“I’ve always been bossy.” Ellie scowled, then gestured at the crowd of people clustered in the lobby, watching their every move. “But I haven’t always stood up for what I wanted. That’s changing right now.”
Ellie stepped back from him; Nate watched her, puzzled. These people were paparazzi—he even recognized some of them. They liked to snap his picture and chronicle his love life in the gossip section of the Seattle paper, or in the brightly colored tabloids that lined the supermarket checkouts.
What the hell were they doing here now?
“You think I’m embarrassed to admit to anyone that I’m with you. And I was worried about other people seeing me as just another woman chasing Nathan Archer, the hotel tycoon.” Lights began to flash as the reporters turned on their devices, recording Ellie’s speech. And Nate felt that wild hope continue to grow inside of him.
Was this wild, wonderful woman really doing what he thought she might be?
“I called a few news outlets on my way home. Don’t lecture me about talking on the phone while driving. I used speaker phone.” She narrowed her eyes at him, and he stifled a chuckle. No, he wouldn’t bring that up later, but they’d be having a chat about how fast she must have driven. Maybe even a lesson to prove the point.
That is, if this was going where he thought it might be going.
“I knew that I could come here and tell you how I felt, and you’d understand.” Ellie swallowed audibly, looking up at him, searching his face with her eyes. “But I wanted to do something bigger. Something that would prove to you that I really mean it.”
Tentatively, she reached out, reaching for his hand. He gave it to her, lacing his fingers through hers, savoring the feel of her pulse pounding against his.
“That’s why I called these reporters here tonight.” Ellie turned away from the crowd, and when she met his gaze he felt his heart skip a beat. “I’m standing here to say in the most public way possible that… that I love you, Nate Archer. I think I always have. And I don’t care who knows.”
The gesture hit him like a blow to the solar plexus, even as the reporters crowded inward, firing questions about their relationship and snapping pictures. He couldn’t have cared less what they were doing—his attention was entirely consumed with Ellie.
“This is going to be splashed all over the papers by morning.” He tilted his head to the side, tugging her gently in his direction. When her soft warmth collided against him, he couldn’t hold back his moan of satisfaction.
This was where this woman belonged—right here, with him.
“Let it splash.” Ellie smiled up at him, her expression quizzical. “Though I did just bare my soul in front of witnesses. You could give a girl a break and maybe reciprocate.”
“Hmm. That sounds like a reward.” Without warning, Nate slid his arms beneath Ellie and hoisted her off of her feet. She squeaked as he cradled her against his chest and retreated to the elevator. “And I’m thinking you have several punishments to get through before we get to the reward.”
Against him, Ellie shivered, then without warning, sank her teeth into the muscle of his pec, right above his nipple piercing. He hissed, then smirked down at her, expression full of wicked intent.
“That first night, I told you that if you walked through that door, there was no turning back.” Dipping his head as the elevator doors slowly closed, he brushed his lips ever so softly over her own. “Now that you’ve said you love me? I don’t think you know what you’ve gotten yourself into.”
“Nate!” Impatient and clearly irritated at not getting the response she was searching for, Ellie slapped a hand against his chest. “Don’t tease me.”
“I intend to do far more than tease you.” He moved the hand cradled behind her knees to the sweet gap between her thighs, and when she gasped he took advantage of the moment and kissed her soundly, his tongue dipping between her lips to claim.
“Do tell.” Ellie was breathless when he pulled back, her skin flushed. Having reached the top of the building, the elevator doors swished open to reveal the entryway to his penthouse. He carried her in, right across the threshold, and nothing had ever felt so right.
“Teasing is just the beginning of it.” Backing her against a wall, he let her slide down his body, groaning at the sweet heat of her body working against his. He punctuated every movement with a kiss, until they were both flushed and panting, and she was whispering his name.
Fisting a hand in her hair, Nate tilted her head so that she looked right up at him. So that she saw him, the real him, the way that he saw her.
The way that he always had.
“For the woman I love? Teasing is just the start.” Emotion swamped him as pulled her even more tightly against him. Never again… never again was he letting her go.
“For the woman I love? She gets it all.”
THE END
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Excerpt
Once a year, the Dare siblings gathered at the Club Meridian Ballroom in South Florida to celebrate the birthday of the father many of them despised. Ian Dare raised his glass filled with Glenlivet and took a sip, letting the slow burn of fine scotch work its way down his throat and into his system. He’d need another before he fully relaxed.
“Hi, big brother.” His sister Olivia strode up to him and nudged him with her elbow.
“Watch the drink,” he said, wrapping his free arm around her shoulders for an affectionate hug. “Hi, Olivia.”
She returned the gesture with a quick kiss on his cheek. “It’s nice of you to be here.”
He shrugged. “I’m here for Avery and for you. Although why you two forgave him—”
“Uh-uh. Not here.” She wagged a finger in front of his face. “If I have to put on a dress, we’re going to act civilized.”
Ian stepped back and took in his twenty-four-year-old sister for the first time. Wearing a gold gown, her dark hair up in a chic twist, it was hard to believe she was the same bane of his existence who’d chased after him and his friends until they relented and let her play ball with them.
“You look gorgeous,” he said to her.
She grinned. “You have to say that.”
“I don’t. And I mean it. I’ll have to beat men off with sticks when they see you.” The thought darkened his mood.
“You do and I’ll have your housekeeper short-sheet your bed! Again, there should be perks to getting dressed like this, and getting laid should be one of them.”
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” he muttered and took another sip of his drink.
“You not only promised to come tonight, you swore you’d behave.”
Ian scowled. “Good behavior ought to be optional considering the way he flaunts his assets,” he said with a nod toward where Robert Dare held court.
Around him sat his second wife of nine years, Savannah Dare, and their daughter, Sienna, along with their nearest and dearest country club friends. Missing were their other two sons, but they’d show up soon.
Olivia placed a hand on his shoulder. “He loves her, you know. And Mom’s made her peace.”
“Mom had no choice once she found out about her.”
Robert Dare had met the much younger Savannah Sheppard and, to hear him tell it, fallen instantly in love. She was now the mother of his three other children, the oldest of whom was twenty-five. Ian had just turned thirty. Anyone could do the math and come up with two families at the same time. The man was beyond fertile, that was for damned sure.
At the reminder, Ian finished his drink and placed the tumbler on a passing server’s tray. “I showed my face. I’m out of here.” He started for the exit.
“Ian, hold on,” his sister said, frustration in her tone.
“What? Do you want me to wait until they sing ‘Happy Birthday’? No thanks. I’m leaving.”
Before they could continue the discussion, their half brother Alex strode through the double entrance with a spectacular-looking woman holding tightly to his arm, and Ian’s plans changed.
Because of her.
Some people had presence; others merely wished they possessed that magic something. In her bold, red dress and fuck-me heels, she owned the room. And he wanted to own her. Petite and curvy, with long, chocolate-brown hair that fell down her back in wild curls, she was the antithesis of every too-thin female he’d dated and kept at arm’s length. But she was with his half brother, which meant he had to steer clear.
“I thought you were leaving,” Olivia said from beside him.
“I am.” He should. If he could tear his gaze away from her.
“If you wait for Tyler and Scott, you might just relax enough to have fun,” she said of their brothers. “Come on, please?” Olivia used the pleading tone he never could resist.
“Yeah, please, Ian? Come on,” his sister Avery said, joining them, looking equally mature in a silver gown that showed way too much cleavage. At twenty-two, she was similar in coloring and looks to Olivia, and he wasn’t any more ready to think of her as a grown-up—never mind letting other men ogle her—than he was with her sister.
Ian set his jaw, amazed these two hadn’t been the death of him yet.
“So what am I begging him to do?” Avery asked Olivia.
Olivia grinned. “I want him to stay and hang out for a while. Having fun is probably out of the question, but I’m trying to persuade him to let loose.”
“Brat,” he muttered, unable to hold back a smile at Olivia’s persistence.
He stole another glance at his lady in red. He could no more leave than he could approach her, he thought, frustrated because he was a man of action, and right now, he could do nothing but watch her.
“Well?” Olivia asked.
He forced his gaze to his sister and smiled. “Because you two asked so nicely, I’ll stay.” But his attention remained on the woman now dancing and laughing with his half brother.
* * *
Riley Taylor felt his eyes on her from the moment she entered the elegantly decorated ballroom on the arm of another man. As it was, her heels made it difficult enough to maneuver gracefully. Knowing a devastatingly sexy man watched her every move only made not falling on her ass even more of a challenge.
Alex Dare, her best friend, was oblivious. Being the star quarterback of the Tampa Breakers meant he was used to stares and attention. Riley wasn’t. And since this was his father’s birthday bash, he knew everyone here. She didn’t.
She definitely didn’t know him. She’d managed to avoid this annual party in the past with a legitimate work excuse one year, the flu another, but this year, Alex knew she was down in the dumps due to job problems, and he’d insisted she come along and h
ave a good time.
While Alex danced with his mother then sisters, she headed for the bar and asked the bartender for a glass of ice water. She took a sip and turned to go find a seat, someplace where she could get off her feet and slip free of her offending heels.
She’d barely taken half a step when she bumped into a hard, suit-clad body. The accompanying jolt sent her water spilling from the top of her glass and into her cleavage. The chill startled her as much as the liquid that dripped down her chest.
“Oh!” She teetered on her stilettos, and big, warm hands grasped her shoulders, steadying her.
She gathered herself and looked up into the face of the man she’d been covertly watching. “You,” she said on a breathy whisper.
His eyes, a steely gray with a hint of blue in the depths, sparkled in amusement and something more. “Glad you noticed me too.”
She blinked, mortified, no words rushing into her brain to save her. She was too busy taking him in. Dark brown hair stylishly cut, cheekbones perfectly carved, and a strong jaw completed the package. And the most intense heat emanated from his touch as he held on to her arms. His big hands made her feel small, not an easy feat when she was always conscious of her too-full curves.
She breathed in deeply and was treated to a masculine, woodsy scent that turned her insides to pure mush. Full-scale awareness rocked her to her core. This man hit all her right buttons.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“I’m fine.” Or she would be if he’d release her so she could think. Instead of telling him so, she continued to stare into his handsome face.
“You certainly are,” he murmured.
A heated flush rushed to her cheeks at the compliment, and a delicious warmth invaded her system.
“I’m sorry about the spill,” he said.
At least she hoped he was oblivious to her ridiculous attraction to him.
“You’re wet.” He released her and reached for a napkin from the bar.
Yes, she was. In wholly inappropriate ways considering they’d barely met. Desire pulsed through her veins. Oh my God, what was it about this man that caused reactions in her body another man would have to work overtime to achieve?
Never Say Love (Never Say Never #1) Page 16
