Proving their innocence didn’t come cheap.
“Just hold out a few more days. Maybe we’ll get a buyer. I’ve got to go,” Sutton said. Getting his long-winded attorney off the phone wasn’t always so easy. When he finally succeeded, he slipped his phone into his breast pocket and sighed in dismay.
He could go rejoin the festivities and run the risk of hearing more ugly talk about his family. But at the moment, he had to say he was far more interested in the curvy brunette standing nearby. The red, beaded gown she’d chosen for the party clung to every hill and valley of her body and, at the moment, he was very grateful for the distraction.
If there was one thing Sutton appreciated more than the purring engine of an Italian sports car, it was women. Tall, short, thin, curvy...he had a fondness for them all. And with all the recent family drama, he hadn’t had the time or energy to properly enjoy the opposite sex. The sultry brunette beside him was enough to remind him he was a man, not a machine, and he couldn’t go on punishing himself forever.
At least tonight, he didn’t have to be Sutton Wingate—scandal-plagued playboy and suspected drug trafficker. He wouldn’t have to see the light of interest fade from a woman’s eyes as she realized that the handsome man she was chatting with might very well have a one-way ticket to federal prison on the horizon. He was just a hungry wolf on the prowl for a tasty treat, just like Little Red Riding Hood here.
With a boost of confidence he hadn’t felt in weeks, Sutton got up from his seat. He moved toward the woman, noticing that her glass was almost empty. “Are you on your way to your granny’s house, Red?” he asked from just over her shoulder.
The woman turned to look at him and he was instantly struck by the curious, dark brown gaze that raked over him. The golden centers of her irises highlighted the movement even as the rest of her face was hidden from him. He waited on pins and needles for her response, hoping he would pass her inspection.
Her full, ruby lips smirked at him at last. “What big eyes you have,” she said, playing along with his pick-up line.
“The better to see how thirsty you look, my dear.”
“Do I look thirsty?” She gazed down at her glass. “I suppose I am.”
“May I buy you a drink?”
“You may. A vodka martini, please.” The woman plucked the skewer from her glass and he watched with anticipation as she sucked the last olive into her mouth. Her gaze didn’t leave his as she chewed thoroughly and swallowed. She had one of the most sensuous mouths he’d ever seen. Maybe it was because it was all he could see, but he couldn’t shake the image of pressing his lips against hers.
“Extra dirty,” she added.
Sutton felt his heart stutter in his chest. Extra dirty, indeed. He had no idea who this goddess in red was, but she already had his undivided attention. Frankly, she could have anything she wanted, but they’d start with a delicious cocktail. “You’ve got it.”
With a smile, he turned and strode over to the bar. He forced himself not to glance back over his shoulder as he did. He had a gnawing worry that if he peeked, she would be gone. A woman like that couldn’t be real. Those curves, those lips, that sass... Maybe the mask added a layer of mystery to his lady in red, but there was more to it than that. There was an electricity, a chemistry between them that hit him like a ton of bricks the moment those big, brown eyes landed on him. He was completely under her spell.
At the bar, he caught the bartender’s eye and ordered her dirty martini. “Put it on my tab,” he said.
“I’d be happy to. But who are you?” the bartender asked, gesturing toward his eyes. “The masks,” he explained.
“Oh, right. Wingate. Sutton.”
“Gotcha. For a second, I thought you were Sebastian. I think you two have the same masks on tonight.”
Sutton chuckled. “Yeah, we ordered both of them on Amazon at the last minute. Most folks can’t tell us apart without a mask, so why make it easy on people tonight? Anyway, don’t let him put any drinks on my tab.”
The bartender chuckled and slid the dirty martini over to him. He was about to reach out and take the drink when he heard a muffled voice sounding over the crowd.
“Everyone, if you could please quiet down for just a moment, I have a few announcements before the evening goes on too much further.”
Sutton turned to look at the stage where a woman in a black, lace gown was at the microphone stand. It was probably his sister Beth, who had organized the ball tonight.
She lifted up her black feathered mask and confirmed his suspicions. “Guess who?” she said with a chuckle that was echoed by the crowd.
“First, on behalf of Wingate Charities and those who benefit from our efforts, I’d like to thank all of you for purchasing a ticket and attending tonight. Despite everything, we are still dedicated to doing our good works for as long as we are able to. This branch of the company has been my baby, and it’s very important to me, so I’d like to personally say thank you again for coming out to support us. I wasn’t sure how many tickets or donations we would receive this year, but I never should’ve doubted the generous and thoughtful residents of Royal. In fact, this year we sold more tickets to the ball than ever before!”
Sutton knew the increased attendance this year probably had more to do with people hoping for a little juicy drama with their good cause, but he wouldn’t say that to Beth and ruin her night. She worked hard to make the charity successful and she deserved the community’s support, for whatever reason.
His sister paused for a bit of applause and to let her glistening eyes dry for a moment. “If you haven’t already noticed, we have an amazing selection of donated items along the back wall as part of our silent auction. I encourage all of you to bid high and bid often,” she said with a smile. “And, of course, we’re also accepting good, old-fashioned checks. If you’d like to donate directly, you can find me near the coat check, where I have my handy receipt book ready. Gotta keep those accountants happy, right?
“Now, before we get back to the dancing, I have one more thing. My beautiful sister, Harley, and her fiancé, Grant Everett, have an announcement they’d like to share.”
The couple came up to the stage with Beth and the band. Harley took the microphone that was extended to her and held it to her lips as she snuggled close to Grant’s side. “Hello, everyone. I don’t want to take too much time away from the celebration, but Grant and I wanted to share some exciting news. So many of you here are like family to us, and I feel like, lately, our family could use some happiness, so we will be getting married next month at the Everett family ranch. We won’t have much time to print formal invitations, but we’ll send out the details to everyone as soon as we can. We hope all of you will come celebrate with us.”
The crowd cheered appropriately. Sutton figured half the applause was genuine, half was polite. Like this party, some people in this town would attend just to see if anything gossip-worthy happened at the wedding. He doubted it. Harley was used to getting her way and she wouldn’t allow anything, even the family’s hard times, to ruin her wedding. She’d already had to concede on the location. Harley had wanted to marry at the Wingate Estate, but they had no idea how long it would be—if ever—before they could step foot back on the property. Apparently she and Grant had decided not to wait and find out. The wedding was already five years late as it was.
His family departed from the stage as the music started up again. That was Sutton’s cue to take his drink and turn back to this evening’s beautiful distraction. He let a heavy sigh of relief escape his lungs when he turned and found his mystery woman was still there waiting for him.
“Extra dirty,” he said, handing her the glass.
“You or the drink?” she asked with a twinkle in her dark eyes.
Sutton clucked his tongue in appreciation. Her flirting game was top-notch and he wasn’t easily impressed. He was certain he knew ev
eryone in this town and all the members of the club for sure, but this woman was new and exciting in every way. Perhaps she wasn’t from around here. That would be even better. If she was a visitor to Royal, she wouldn’t know about the Wingates and their hard times.
“Maybe both,” he drawled. “I am the big, bad wolf after all.”
“Good.” She smiled and took a sip of her new drink.
Two
Cinderella Sweepstakes, indeed. Lauren was pretty certain that she’d been sucked into some kind of fairy tale. But instead of a royal ball, it was a charity gala in Royal and, instead of a prince, she was dancing with the big, bad wolf in an Armani tuxedo. She kept waiting to lose a shoe and turn into a pumpkin, but midnight came and went, and the smooth, seductive prince was still holding her in his arms.
She couldn’t believe it. Or how she was behaving. There was a certain magic to the mask she hadn’t expected when she’d put it on that night. It made her feel bold. Brazen. And beyond reckless. Combined with the dark press of the dance floor, the mask made words flow freely from her lips that she’d never dream of saying without it.
Her masked suitor hadn’t left her side all night. They’d danced, perused the silent auction offerings and nibbled on plates of hors d’oeuvres they’d selected between dances. It was a nice spread rife with cocktail shrimp, sweet-and-spicy meatballs, crostini with caviar, and endive with lump crab and blue cheese. It lacked a certain something that as a chef she noticed, but she wouldn’t dare say as much.
Instead, she ate what she could, hoping some food would help keep her stomach from flip-flopping in her gown. It wasn’t helping, though, because it wasn’t an empty tummy or too much alcohol that was causing her squirrely stomach. It was nerves.
The night was winding down. Judging by the way her companion held her when they danced, their time together was building up to something. Was she ready for it? When those green eyes looked at her through that mask, she felt a pull deep inside.
Yes.
She was ready for anything her handsome masked suitor had to offer. Tonight she was going to do what she felt like doing. Not what was best for the business. What was best for Lauren. And she couldn’t come up with a single reason why giving herself body and soul to the sexy, articulate man holding her in his arms was a bad idea. She’d given so many years to her business, denying her body the closeness it craved to another person. She was tired of being lonely.
The song they were dancing to ended and instead of pulling away, her dancing partner drew her closer. The feel of his hard, muscular body pressing into her made her pulse start to race. She was probably blushing like mad beneath her mask, not that he could see it. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her breasts against the firm wall of his chest.
His jaw flexed as he looked down at her and took a ragged breath. “Come with me, Red,” he said.
There was something different in the way he looked at her now. He wasn’t asking her to come with him to get a drink or bid on a gift basket. No, she knew what he was asking and she was eager to comply. She took the hand he held out to her and let him lead her off the dance floor.
They cut through the crowds and deeper into the club instead of moving to the door.
“Where are we going?” she whispered. She wasn’t very familiar with the club, but it was clear to her that he was as they went down a dark hallway. She felt her nerves increase as they disappeared into the back of the building. She had to tell herself he was looking for privacy, not a good laugh, to keep her feet moving in step behind his.
“I thought you might be interested in shooting a little pool.” He opened a door and they stepped into the dark room.
She felt her body start to relax when she glimpsed the moonlight coming through a window, highlighting the large, oak billiard table in the center of the room. Around the edge were bar-height tables and racks filled with pool cues on the wall. It seemed just like the kind of space where filthy-rich cowboys would sit around, drink a beer or some whiskey and shoot a few games together.
Lauren walked into the room and let her manicured fingers drag along the felt top of the heavy, wooden pool table. She set her purse aside, turned back to face him and leaned against the edge. “Really?” she said with a sly smile that betrayed the butterflies swarming inside of her. “You brought me back here to this dark, private room so we could play...pool?”
The light from the hallway highlighted his amused smile until he shut the door and the heavy blackness of the night hid it away. “Not exactly.”
She could just make out the shape of him as he slipped out of his tuxedo jacket and tossed it over the nearby bar stool. “But I thought perhaps we could play a little game.”
“I’m listening,” she purred, hoping her coy words would cover how nervous she was.
“I was thinking something a little more intimate than billiards. Something where we both can win.”
“Will there still be wood, balls and the occasional scratching involved in your game?”
“God, I hope so,” he said under his breath. “What do you say?”
“It sounds like fun. I’m in. But I have one condition.”
He straightened up and put his hands in his pockets. “And what’s that, Red?”
“The masks stay on and the lights stay off.” She wanted to keep up the mystery for both of them. Her bravado would crumble without it to hide behind. She might be willing to give this man her body, but being in this place again after all these years, she needed to keep a piece of herself protected.
He didn’t answer. Instead, he moved closer to her, hesitating for only a moment before picking her up and lifting her fully onto the pool table. She let out a startled whoop as she landed, reaching for him to steady herself. He was all too eager to pull her close.
“Wow,” she whispered against his throat.
She heard him chuckle softly before he pulled away just a bit. “I hope that’s not the last time you say that tonight.”
Then his lips found hers for the first time and her head started swimming so wildly from the intensity of their kiss that the next few minutes were a dark, pleasurable blur. His mouth never left hers as her beaded gown was pushed up her legs.
“How do you like the game so far?” he rasped, nestling himself between her thighs and cupping her ass with his hands to tug her hips hard against the throbbing erection pressing against his trousers.
Lauren gasped at the feeling of him pressed so intimately against her and then wrapped her legs around his waist to keep him there. “It’s way better than billiards.”
She leaned in to kiss him again and, as she nipped gently at his bottom lip, they quickly reached the point of no return. This was really, truly happening. Sex with a stranger. In public. The thought was enough to send a shiver through her whole body in anticipation. Their hands explored each other’s unfamiliar bodies, fighting with buttons and zippers, tugging aside cotton and satin until each finally made contact with the naked skin they desperately sought out.
Lauren couldn’t get enough of her masked man. With his tuxedo shirt open to the waist, she found he was hard in all the right places with rough patches of hair on his chest that tickled her palms. The warm scent of his skin teased at her senses, urging her to bury her face in his throat and taste him. The growl that rumbled from deep inside his chest vibrated against her lips and fingertips. She might not be an expert where seduction was concerned, but it sounded like she was hitting all the right buttons with him.
The wolf’s hands moved over her outer thighs, pushing the heavy fabric of her gown higher. “Lift your hips, Red,” he said, and she complied. Now the dress was bunched around her waist, giving him free access to everything from there down.
That was exactly how he must’ve wanted it. His fingers grasped the sides of her panties and tugged them down her legs, stopping long enough to slip off her rhinestone-covere
d heels and let them fall to the floor along with the panties in his hand.
Had the lights been on, Lauren would’ve felt incredibly exposed, but in the dark there was a freedom she didn’t expect. Her partner could only see with his hands, something that would greatly benefit her, of that she was certain.
As he stood up, his hands smoothed back over her legs. He dipped to the inside of her knees and stroked the skin of her inner thighs even as he inched them farther apart. Lauren could feel the cool air on her newly exposed flesh, but to her surprise it was quickly followed by the moist heat of his breath.
She wasn’t prepared for his tongue.
Lauren gasped and squirmed against the hard edge of the pool table. With each flick of his tongue across her aching flesh, her mind went blank to everything but the waves of pleasure that pulsated through her body. She had to lean back onto her elbows before she collapsed entirely. Her back arched, her hands clawing futilely at the felt top. In mere moments, this stranger had coaxed heady sensations from her that she could hardly remember having before. He had her on the edge of climax and he’d barely touched her.
“Lie back and relax,” he commanded, briefly lifting his head. Lauren couldn’t do anything but comply. The man moved each of her legs over his shoulders, pushing her knees backward until they were pressed to her chest. With her pinned there, he unleashed a fresh assault on her center.
It was unlike anything she’d ever felt before. She couldn’t escape the sensations, couldn’t pull away from his mouth. Before she knew it, an orgasm washed over her that was stronger than any one she’d ever had. She bit into the side of her hand to keep from screaming out loud until the waves passed. But he didn’t stop. He let up for only a moment, allowing her to catch her breath before he started again. She didn’t think it was possible, but she came again almost immediately, harder than before.
Billionaire Behind the Mask Page 2
