by Marie Harte
I turned around and took in my surroundings. Someone could have easily followed me or tracked down the cab company by now. The couple at the end of the pier were so into each other I doubted they noticed anyone. Even a runaway bride.
A family of four stood huddled together off to the side, holding up a cell phone to take a series of selfies, also oblivious to those around them. They’d noticed my arrival, giving me a strange look as I passed them, but quickly moved on to whatever brought them here in the first place. Most likely tourists if I had to guess.
In fact, no one paid any attention to me at all. Some of the tension keeping me strung tight loosened. But still no new plan came to mind. I was still standing on a pier in a wedding gown with nowhere to go.
With increasing desperation driving me to do something, movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. I turned and that’s when I saw him. A stranger sitting alone on a bench with a lit cigarette dangling from his lips.
I moved to avert my eyes when his gaze caught mine and held it. Well, I froze, he didn’t move. I couldn’t look away from eyes so blue they almost glowed. In the darkened grey day on a quiet Seattle pier, those eyes stood out like beacons calling my damn name. The rest of him wasn’t half bad either. Short brown hair cropped close to his head, and enough stubble on his face to indicate more than a few days had passed since he shaved. And he wasn’t so much sitting on the bench as he was sprawled on it with his legs kicked out in front of him. Worn denim hugged long, thick legs, making it impossible not to notice the muscle that lay underneath.
The rest of him looked pretty big too from what I could tell. Despite the black leather jacket covering his torso, I still saw the dark T-shirt underneath conformed to a broad chest and likely tight abs underneath. Heavy combat boots completed the look and made me groan. He might as well have hung a blinking neon sign around his neck that said, ‘Bad boy. Come and get it.’
Getting it would normally be a bad idea. But in this case… That new plan I’d been looking for crystallized in my brain. He was the perfect solution in every way.
A place to hide.
A way to take my mind off my craptastic life.
And the easy way out I needed.
Except he was still staring at me and the longer he did the more it unnerved me. His facial expression didn’t change and if not for the end of the cigarette lighting up when he took a drag, I might have believed he was a figment of my imagination.
It was then I realized what I was probably staring at. He wasn’t just some guy. He was the real deal. Some kind of powerful badass clear to the bone. Guys who wanted to be like him came by the dozen with no hope of ever actually being him. None of them would still be holding my gaze hostage like this one.
Something inside me jumped. A feeling I hardly remembered. Something darkly sexual weaving its way through my blood.
Of course, standing here dressed in a wedding gown I couldn’t be further from his type if I tried. He didn’t know that I’d been forced to wear this dress. Or that the man I’d been about to wed would be more than happy to force me if I dared to defy him. That had been my cross to bear because of the family I was born to and today I’d refused my duty and run.
He definitely wouldn’t want me if he knew the truth. No one my father didn’t preapprove did. Not unless they had a death wish.
My new mystery man pulled the cigarette from his mouth and held it in my direction. “You look like you could use one of these.” The low vibration of his voice shook my insides and headed straight between my thighs. I even swayed a little.
Finally able to break his gaze, I looked down before returning to meet his eyes. “That and a fifth of tequila and everything would be right with the world once again.”
I took the offered cigarette and took a slow shallow drag. It had been a long time since I’d had one of these and erupting into a coughing fit in front of Mr. Sex on a Stick wasn’t about to lead me down the forbidden path.
A slow smile crossed his face, transforming him. A badass with a lethal grin. Oh shit.
I took a few steps back.
“I might be able to help with that.”
My breathing hitched. “Oh yeah?”
“First you gotta tell me something.”
My heart sunk. If he asked for anything remotely personal I’d be forced to walk away and find a new way to escape. Did everything have to be do freaking hard?
He motioned his hand at my dress. “Did you go through with it?”
I shook my head, too choked up to respond. Relief swept through me, as did the sadness of my situation.
As the interesting stranger stood and walked toward me, I almost swallowed my tongue. He looked good slouched on the bench, but now, faced with the full force of his height and the intensity of his gaze, my legs actually wobbled a little.
When he stopped in front of me I was forced to tilt my head back to look at him. My five-foot height was dwarfed by his six-foot plus frame and it felt good—damn good.
“Hotel right there has a decent bar. How bout I buy you a drink?” He was pointing to a hotel next to the nearby market, but all I could focus on was the faint scent of warm man and musky cologne, filling my head as he talked.
“Okay.” To my surprise, my voice softened when I answered. I’m pretty sure I had no business reacting to him the way I did, but there it was. Body had a mind of its own and it was standing at attention.
I’d never really hooked up with a stranger before. My dalliances were limited to ‘friends’ of the family as they were the only ones allowed to come and go around me. So I had to fight and learn to be sneaky as hell just to lose my virginity. As my future husband would eventually be negotiated, boyfriends were also out of the question. Although maybe I was getting a little ahead of myself here. He said a drink not a quickie.
But a girl could dream.
Chapter Three
Isabella
‡
WITH HIS HAND pressed to the center of my back, and yards of fabric swishing between us, he escorted me inside the bar and grabbed us a table. I excused myself and made a beeline for the ladies room. This dress was driving me insane and something needed to give.
I reached under the skirt and pulled on the layers of tulle underneath. The first tear made me cringe, but as I tugged and ripped out more I started to giggle. It wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. Those layers of delicate looking fabric were amazingly well attached. But after a sweaty bout of jumping up and down and pulling as hard as I could, several layers lay scattered across the bathroom floor.
Satisfied and feeling a hell of a lot more comfortable, I returned to the table where my mysterious badass stranger sat waiting. His eyebrow raised when he saw me, but he refrained from asking. Since I didn’t want to talk about it, I sat down in an empty chair and heaved a sigh of relief. “I guess I should introduce myself.” I glanced around the room looking for someone to take an order. That drink he mentioned was sounding better and better.
“I already took the liberty of ordering a round of beer and tequila shots.”
I turned and met his intense gaze again. Those vibrant blue eyes of his mesmerized me as much inside as they did outside. “Thank you.”
“You were going to tell me your name.”
I focused on his full mouth and imagined all the decadent things he could do to my body with those gorgeous lips. And the marks he’d leave with the stubble on his cheeks and chin. I barely bit back a moan as the heated thoughts swept through me. This is not where my head was supposed to be. I didn’t know what I was going to do with my life tomorrow let alone what I was going to do with a badass tonight.
“Isabella.” The minute the word left my mouth I wanted to recall it. Shit. “Although I prefer Izzy.” I amended quickly, repeating the long forgotten nickname in my head a few times. Yeah. That sounded much better.
“I can work with that.” He grabbed my hand and covered it with his much larger one. “Houston,” he returned.
“Name’s Houston. And you’re Izzy,” he repeated.
The way my new name rolled off his tongue and sizzled across my skin made my nerve endings light up as more heat flared between my legs. I didn’t think a stranger was supposed to have this kind of an affect on me.
We stared at each other as the waitress dropped off two beers and four shots of tequila, complete with a bowl of cut limes and a shaker of salt.
“I guess if we’re going to do it, we should do it right.”
He continued to stare at me as if he saw straight through to my soul. And judging by the devilish smile on his face, the double meaning of my words did not go unnoticed.
Two shots later I slammed the glass down on the table, shoved the lime in between my lips and sucked hard. For a few intense seconds the alcohol burned before giving way to the heat I savored. I peered up at my mystery badass and studied him. He’d removed his leather jacket and there were tattoos peeking from the sleeves of his shirt that interested me. As in I wanted to know what they were and would he be interested in me licking them.
He met my gaze and I knew clear to my soles that he knew exactly what was going on in my brain. That little smirky smile had returned, leaving him looking quite pleased.
“Here, chase it with this.” He handed me one of the beers and I dropped the lime onto my napkin.
At least while I drank I didn’t have to figure out what to say next. And the ice-cold brew felt great after the burn of tequila.
“You hungry? We could order some food.”
I shook my head. There had been no time to eat since breakfast, but the thought of food right now did not make my stomach feel great. My body was still processing the stress of the day. And for some stupid reason I couldn’t seem to focus on anything other than him and whether or not he would touch me again. Or kiss me. Or…
I must have been giving off some kind of weird vibe because he paused with his beer at his mouth and studied me for a second. “You okay?”
“Yes,” I answered out of breath.
“You don’t drink much do you?”
I went with his excuse and shook my head. He didn’t need to know that I was crashing and all I wanted to do was climb all over him and just—
Shit. My body has a mind of its own and it was losing it.
“C’mere.” He dragged my chair away from the table and pulled me into his lap. “You need to take a breath and relax.”
That wasn’t possible with his hands on me, he was making it worse. “I—I can’t—” The sensations of his touch were on the verge of starting a firestorm right there in my panties and it was beginning to rival the nice buzz going in my head.
I needed to do something to distract myself. “Are you from around here?”
“Close enough. A couple of hours northeast,” he said, stroking his hand up and down my back.
“What brought you to the city?” I hated the breathless tone of my voice. Could I possibly appear more unsophisticated? If I was going to make it on the run I needed to get my shit together. Tonight would be my first night as someone new though and I was free to do whatever the hell I wanted. If that happened to be a one-night stand with a sexy, strong badass then I’d embrace it and not feel bad about it for a second.
“Change of scenery,” he whispered at my ear. “I just got on my bike and rode. This is where I landed. You?”
A bike? A shiver worked up my spine. His level of badass continued to increase by the second.
“Born and raised. But thinking of taking a nice long vacation as far away as I can get. Have a little fun.”
His hand paused on my back for a second before he continued his easy strokes. He might have taken that last statement the wrong way and then again, he might not have. Why couldn’t I take a night for fun? No one would look for me here.
He dipped his head closer so his lips touched my ear. “I have a room in this hotel.”
I sucked in air. There it was. The invitation. Or in my mind the gauntlet of challenge. Put up or shut up. “That’s convenient.”
He laughed. “It is. And private. Although I’m not against a less private experience if you prefer.”
My stomach jolted at the idea. And he wasn’t only touching my bare back anymore. His hands were all over me. Sides, back, the top curve of my ass… It was getting harder to breathe. Still, I wasn’t sure I was ready to go to his room.
“Both sound good to me.” Yes, I was teasing but who cared? If I had one night I intended to make the most of it.
He dug in his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He hastily pulled out several bills and laid them on the table then placed me on my feet. “Let’s go.”
Chapter Four
Isabella
‡
HE GRABBED MY hand and led me from the bar. I had no idea where we were going and for the first time in my life I really didn’t care. Whatever he wanted, I wanted. The fleeting thought I might be getting into something dangerous wasn’t enough for me to stop him. In fact, it made the encounter seem all that more exciting.
He pulled me to the elevator and pressed up. I raised my eyebrows in question, but he only shrugged. The doors swished open and he shoved me into the empty elevator and followed me in.
“Been dying to do this since I found you on that fucking pier.” He grabbed my hair and tugged my head to the side and buried his face in my neck. His tongue darted out and he began alternately sucking on my skin and licking me.
“Found you,” I said, already breathing heavy enough the words came out exaggerated.
He lifted his head. “What?” he asked.
The blue of his eyes deepened to a darker shade, giving his face an edge that took my breath away.
“I found you. On the pier.”
His smile grew broad and my stomach fluttered from the sheer power of it. “Okay, Princess. You found me. Better?”
“Yes.” I grabbed the back of his head and pulled him down for a kiss, smashing my lips to his. With his mouth fused to mine and the heat growing exponentially between my legs every second, I barely heard the elevator doors open until he pulled free and with a hand to my lower back, steered me down a short corridor and through another door.
We were outside again, but this time on the roof of the hotel where they had an amazing pool that ran almost the entire width of the building. “Wow.” That description was hardly sufficient but the view blew me away. In addition to the softly lit pool and tropical oasis of the confined area, there was a panoramic view of the Puget Sound and the Olympic mountains in the distance.
“I agree. Wow.”
I smiled up at him to find he wasn’t referring to the view of the mountains. Instead his gaze was firmly locked on me. A hot flush crawled up my neck and into my face. His reaction seemed so real. I choked back a whimper. I couldn’t recall a single moment in my life when anyone looked at me like he did. Except any moment now I expected him to change his mind.
I was considered ordinary. Everyone said so. I wasn’t beautiful like my mother, although I did get her gorgeous hair and big boobs, which I was grateful for at the moment.
“Why do you suddenly look scared?” he asked.
I blinked, trying to shove away the nerves attacking me. I wasn’t about to say anything that might push my badass away. “I’m not scared. Maybe a little nervous. It’s not often I find myself alone on a rooftop with a man who looks like he wants to eat me.”
His grin reappeared. “You’re right about that, Princess. I am going to eat you.” With that he lifted me up as if I weighed nothing and carried me over to one of the poolside lounges. “Lift up your skirt.”
Surprised at how eager I was to comply, I grabbed the hem of the wedding dress and pulled it halfway up my thighs.
“Nuh uh. Up around your waist, babe.”
I yanked harder trying not to wiggle out of his arms as I did.
I jerked my head up to see his eyes focused on my lingerie. It hadn’t even occurred to me that I still wore the lace topped thigh highs, complete with garter, and the see through white lace boy-cut panties that only covered about half my ass. Not that he could see my ass at the moment.
“If I’d known this is what I was going to find I would have dragged your ass up here before we started drinking.”
I smiled, ridiculously pleased at his reaction. “There’s a peek a boo white bustier under here too. I could show you.”
His lust darkened eyes fixed on mine. “Not fucking right now. I don’t think my control could take it.” I bit my lip and clamped down the urge to laugh. I really liked his response.
At that he straddled the lounger and lowered me gently down. My back no sooner hit solid surface and he was pushing between my legs, spreading them wide.
Joining me on the chair he walked his fingers up the inside of my legs. I held my breath as he neared my sex, anticipation making me shake. When his fingers tucked underneath the edges of my panties I thought I would spontaneously combust. But it was his warm breath fluttering through my lace that made me writhe.
“You are so damned sexy,” he said, kissing below my belly button and just above the edge of my panties. I moaned, amazed at how good his touch made me feel. There was also something almost painful about it as my body ached for him to hurry while he took his sweet time. I could already tell my panties were wet from wanting him so bad, but at this rate they were going from damp to drenched in record time.
I watched him slowly unclip the garter before again running those big, strong hands across the scrap of lace at my hip. He gathered the material across my middle and tugged until the piece covering my mound slid between my lower lips. His nose nuzzled my thigh, encouraging me to spread farther. Desperate for more of his attention I shifted until I was wide open and wantonly encouraging him while he watched.
With a smile on his face he lowered his head and explored my exposed folds with his tongue. The shocking heat of his touch shot sensation like an electric current clear to my toes, making a whimper vibrate in my throat.
