Sexy Hers

by Carly Phillips

  Good. Her friend needed a break from drinking.

  Looking around, Scarlett studied the mirrored and dark wood bar, turning to check out the other sights just as an elevator door across the way opened. A well-built man dressed in a black suit, with thick jet-black hair and a scruff of beard covering a definitely handsome face stepped out. His imposing and commanding presence couldn’t be denied. Now he was her type.

  “Who is that?” she asked Leigh.

  Her friend followed her gaze. “Ooh, that’s one of the owners. They’re all freaking hot.” She waved a hand in front of her face again, this time for a different reason.

  Cliff handed her the water glass and said, “Wait for me here? I’ll be right back.” After pausing to kiss her cheek, he strode away.

  Scarlett raised an eyebrow. “Now that’s interesting.”

  “Forget me. He’s staring at you.”

  “Who?”

  “The sexy owner, that’s who.”

  Stunned into silence, Scarlett shifted her stare, and sure enough, hot guy had his eyes laser focused on her. Now that he’d moved closer and she got a better look, she realized words like hot or sexy just didn’t cover this man’s rougher, rugged looks. Not a pretty boy like the bartender but an Alpha male through and through. His shoulders were wide and broad, his expression dark as his eyes drank her in. His interest was stamped all over his face, interrupted only when an employee with a drink tray stopped to talk to him.

  “Now that’s some serious lust at first sight,” Leigh said into her ear, talking over the din of the crowd.

  Scarlett somehow managed a laugh, because her body was in heated overload due to that chemistry. “Yeah. Too bad I have no time in my life–”

  “For a good fuck?” Leigh rolled her eyes. “Come on, Scarlett. Nobody’s asking you to date and marry the man. But when was the last time you indulged?” She didn’t have to explain what she meant.

  “Brian,” Scarlett admitted. Her on-again, off-again boyfriend who’d become permanently off when her work schedule increased and was too much for him to handle.

  “Well, that’s a pathetically long time. And he’s staring again.”

  Scarlett met his gaze and her brain buzzed with hormones she’d packed away eight months ago. And she knew the thrill racing around inside her had nothing to do with the alcohol she’d consumed and everything to do with the sizzling promise in the stranger’s eyes.

  “It’s your birthday,” her friend reminded her. “Why not treat yourself? Hmm?”

  Scarlett drew a deep breath, the rational, smart part of her brain telling her she was an upstanding assistant district attorney with a huge caseload and a mountain of work. She couldn’t let herself be distracted. But the female part of her mind and body reminded her of exactly how long it had been since she’d indulged. And every instinct she possessed told her she’d never had the kind of dirty sex she’d wind up experiencing with this man.

  As her inner good girl warred with the bad girl inside her, Leigh whispered, “Happy birthday,” in her ear.

  “That’s it. I’m going for it,” Scarlett decided. Didn’t she deserve a night off? A selfish grab of time before she dove back into her crazy life?

  “Yes!” Leigh’s fist pump made Scarlett laugh.

  The problem was she couldn’t remember the last time she’d come onto a man with the express intent of taking him home. Or vice versa.

  Turning to the bartender, she said, “Can I get another shot please?”

  “Sure thing, pretty lady.” He poured the vodka and slid the small glass toward her.

  After drawing a deep breath, she downed the liquor for courage. “Happy birthday to me,” she muttered under her breath.

  “You know our drill. You text me tonight no matter what.”

  Scarlett nodded. She and Leigh had been working together for three years, four if you counted the fact that they’d both interned at the district attorney’s office the summer before graduation from law school. They’d had plenty of nights out and safety checks in place.

  “On it,” Scarlett promised.

  Then she turned back to the man who mattered to find him in deep conversation with someone who looked like one of the bodyguards around the establishment. But she quickly realized he still was aware of where she was when he met her gaze once more, this time a sinful smile lifting the corners of his mouth.

  Taking the gesture as an invitation, she whispered to Leigh, “Wish me luck,” and started across the club floor.

  Although he still spoke to the other man, his eyes were blatantly on hers, causing her to add a seductive swing to her hips and a toss of her hair over her shoulders as she approached.

  The moment she stepped up to him, he cut off his conversation and his eyes locked with hers. Desire, swift and furious, flowed through her veins, reassuring her she was making the right choice with this guy.

  “I’m Scarlett,” she said, foregoing last names for the kind of night she had in mind.

  Chapter Two

  “Tanner.” His voice came out gravelly and raw as he exchanged names with the gorgeous female he’d noticed the second he’d stepped out of the elevator. He couldn’t recall the last time just the sight of a woman had impacted him so strongly.

  At a glance, even with her wearing a tight short skirt, she stood out in the crowd as a woman with class. Her sandy-blonde hair was full, thick, and fell below her shoulders in a sweeping caress. Those hot pink lips made her mouth ripe for kissing. Add the sleek black liner around her eyes, and she was a knockout. A woman who oozed sophistication beneath the clothing and one who belonged in a five-star restaurant and not a nightclub, no matter how much Tanner appreciated the atmosphere they’d built here.

  She was definitely out of his league, not that he gave a shit. If he’d learned one thing in his life, it was to live in and appreciate the moment because tomorrow wasn’t guaranteed.

  “Can I buy you a drink?” he asked, the fire crackling between them so alive he was surprised everyone around them couldn’t feel the heat.

  She slicked her tongue over her bottom lip and his cock pulsed at the not-so-innocent gesture. “I was hoping you’d take me to bed.”

  He narrowed his gaze, taken aback by her brazen words. “Don’t get me wrong, gorgeous. I’d like nothing more, but you don’t strike me as the type of woman to pick up strange men in a bar.” She was more a wine-and-dine kind of female.

  A flush rose to her cheeks. “Okay, maybe you’ve pegged me right but it’s my birthday. Can’t a girl step outside the box when she decides to celebrate?”

  Reaching out, she lifted his tie in one hand and pulled him closer, giving him a look into green eyes with flecks of gold. So close her peach scent assaulted his senses, ramping up his desire.

  “Correct me if I’m wrong but there’s some serious chemistry between us,” she murmured.

  “Damn right there is.” He felt the pull between them as strongly as the hold she had on his tie.

  “So are you going to act on it?” She obviously meant the words as a challenge.

  And he was hesitating? What the fuck was wrong with him? True, he’d grown bored of the women throwing themselves at him because he owned Club TEN29. Sex was easy for him if and when he desired it. But here was an incredible woman offering herself to him on a silver platter. She stood out from all the others and he wanted her beneath him badly.

  Maybe Jason or Landon would do the noble thing, but he’d always been the bad boy of the bunch, and though he’d left behind his issues, the remnants of that man remained.

  Enough to take her up on her proposition. “This way. I have an apartment upstairs.” He placed a hand on her lower back, guiding her, but an instant later, his conscience tugged at him, and he ducked into a shadow of a hallway, pulling her body flush against his.

  She was soft and pillowy, all sweet-smelling woman, and his dick throbbed in his pants as he backed her against the wall, their bodies flush against each other.

  �
�Why are you stopping here?” she asked.

  He placed his hand beneath her chin and tipped her head up to meet his gaze. “Just making sure you’re sober and know what you want.”

  A flicker of surprise flashed in her gaze. “So you’ve got a little bit of a gentleman behind the gruff exterior.” She slid her hand through his hair, pulling on the longish strands. “I’m a big girl, Tanner. I know what I want. And I want you.”

  * * *

  Scarlett didn’t know where her sudden burst of courage came from, but she wasn’t about to turn away now. Not when she had the sexiest man she’d ever laid eyes on ready to take her to bed. Her body trembled with desire and an awareness that something special was about to happen between them. Especially with the way Tanner’s eyes darkened at her bold, certain words of reassurance.

  Grasping her hand, he led her back into the main room and to the elevator he’d walked out of earlier. He hit a button and the doors slid open. No sooner were they enclosed in the small area than she found herself surrounded by the sensual scent of his masculine cologne and by the man himself.

  He hit the floor number, then backed her against the wall and braced his hips against hers. The hardness of his erection pressed into her sex, and she moaned at the anticipation of what was to come, her underwear growing damp with arousal.

  “Make no mistake. You might have been the one to convince me but I’m taking control now.”

  No man in her past ever spoke to her in such a self-assured, dominant way. To her surprise, she liked it. Hell, her perky nipples were proof of that, and he was looking down at the evidence with dilated pupils. Before she could respond, the elevator dinged and the doors slid open.

  Holding her hand once more, he led her down a short hall and unlocked the sole door. She stepped into the apartment, which was smaller than she’d anticipated, realizing immediately he didn’t live here. There were no personal effects anywhere on the shelves, and the steel and white décor gave a sterile feeling to the place.

  The door shut behind them.

  “We share the apartment, my partners and I,” he said, as if reading her mind. “Whoever has the night shift uses it if they don’t feel like going home late. Although since Jason got married, it’s just me and Landon.”

  She looked around once more. “It’s beautiful. Just very empty,” she murmured.

  He shrugged, sliding his jacket off his broad shoulders. “It serves a purpose.”

  “Do you bring many women up here?” she asked, unable to withhold her curiosity. After all, he was a hot guy with easy access to a bed above where he worked.

  His sharp gaze slid to hers. “None. At least not anymore.” He hesitated before going on. “I admit when we first opened the club, the women throwing themselves at me were a novelty that I indulged, but after a while, they all seemed to have an agenda.”

  “Such as?” she asked.

  “They assumed because I owned the club I had money, and they wanted to be the woman on my arm permanently.”

  His voice turned bitter and she didn’t blame him. “You don’t have to worry about that with me. My job and my life are too full to want anything more than one night.”

  A sinful smile curved his lips. “So I’m your birthday present?”

  She nodded. “And I can’t wait to unwrap you.” Making good on her words, she reached up and began to unbutton his shirt, working her way down, taking one at a time, exposing his olive skin and a smattering of dark chest hair.

  Her pulse thudded harder as she reached the waistband of his pants. After pulling up the ends of the shirt, she released the last button and slid the material over his shoulders. He dropped the garment onto the floor. Faced with the muscles she’d only imagined, she looked her fill, in awe of the definition that showed that he had to work out in order to have that kind of physique.

  “You like what you see.”

  It wasn’t a question and she didn’t play coy. “I do.” Drawing on the rest of her courage, she placed a hand over the bulge in his pants. His cock pulsed against her hand, and need swept over her in a raging fire she couldn’t control.

  Yet she managed to play out the fantasy of unwrapping her gift. “Now let’s see the rest of you.” She worked the fastening of his slacks, undid the zipper, taking care because she realized she wasn’t dealing with a small man.

  The material slid to the floor, leaving him in boxer briefs that showed the outline of a very impressive package.

  “You realize I’m letting you lead because I’m your present,” he said through gritted teeth. “But if you go much slower, I’m going to explode before we get to the good stuff.”

  She laughed but she understood he was serious. “I’m almost there,” she promised, hooking her fingers into the sides of his briefs, pulling them down, and exposing his huge, thick cock to her waiting gaze. “Best birthday present ever,” she said as she eased the boxer briefs down his legs.

  They dropped to the floor and he kicked them off, then bent and swept her into his arms. “My turn. Except I’m not only going to undress you, I’m going to taste every delectable inch of your skin.”

  Holy hell, she’d underestimated this man, she thought as she wrapped her arms around him for the quick walk to the bedroom. Unable to stop herself, she put her face in the crook of his neck and drew in a deep breath, inhaling his scent and memorizing it for the future. When she was alone and had this night to remember.

  He deposited her on the bed, her shoes falling before she even landed, and he immediately began to undress her. No slow unwrapping for her. He pulled her skirt off, the elastic waist making it easy for him to ease it over her legs and onto the floor. Shocking her, he’d hooked his fingers into the waistband of her panties and now she was bared to him, only her camisole covering her.

  He stood at the edge of the bed, situated between her legs, and picked up one foot and kissed her ankle. She blinked. And he licked and kissed his way up the rest of her leg and calf, making good on his promise of tasting every inch of her. Whether she was delectable or not, she didn’t know, but his eyes blazed with hunger as he worked his way to his ultimate destination.

  Grasping her thighs in each hand, he ran his tongue along the seam of her thigh and her sex, causing her to tremble with yearning, a pulsing desire sweeping through her. That tongue continued its leisurely path traveling up and over her belly, then working its way to the other side and repeating his teasing ministrations.

  Dying. She was dying for him to lick her sex. Her clit. To tongue her and make her come. This wasn’t the kind of sex she was used to. Quick, dark room, we’re in a relationship and overdue, that was her past. She could quickly get used to this kind of thorough man. One who made her burn.

  She arched her hips and silently urged him to move where she wanted him to go.

  “Looking for relief?” he asked, his voice a husky chuckle.

  “You could say that.”

  “You didn’t think I’d make you pay for the way you slowly stripped off my clothes?” He raised an eyebrow, letting her know he was in control of this scenario.

  Again, despite the throbbing in her core, she liked knowing he’d give her what he wanted when he was good and ready. She had a hunch it would only make the end that much sweeter.

  “You said you were in charge.” Her voice shook as she spoke.

  “I am. And I just realized I haven’t kissed you yet.”

  She slid her tongue over her lips, wishing it was his tongue, his mouth. “Nope. Going to kiss you here first.” He dipped his head and swiped his tongue over her clit.

  She threw her head back against the mattress and moaned. After that, she lost track of everything but his talented mouth as he did so much more than kiss her. He devoured her, licking her up one side of her sex and down the other, teasing with his teeth, soothing with his tongue, teasing her clit, and bringing her to the brink before easing off and going back to tormenting her in other ways with his lips and tongue.

  Soon she was wr
ithing beneath him, grinding herself against his mouth, begging for relief that was just out of reach. His beard scratched her thighs, her sex, her clit, and she was so close to climax she could taste it.

  Without warning, he slid a finger inside her and she jolted beneath him. She hadn’t known how much she needed to be filled until she felt him stretch inside her. She whimpered and he pulled out, thrusting back in with what felt like two fingers, curling them against her inner walls.

  “Tanner!” she screamed as she came, the sound of his name on her lips feeling so natural and right. Ripples and waves of delicious sensation washed over her, and as he pumped his fingers in and out, her climax continued until she collapsed against the mattress in a sated heap.

  She wasn’t sure how much time passed before her breathing returned to normal and she opened her eyes to find a dark-eyed Tanner staring at her, a satisfied smile on his face.

  “What are you grinning at?” she asked, squeezing her legs together, which only served to spike her arousal, a shocking discovery, given how hard she’d just come.

  “Just thinking about how much I enjoyed that.”

  She blinked. “Really? Because it’s not like you–”

  “Oh, we’ll get to that. I’ve decided it’s my goal to make this your best birthday ever.”

  “Since the actual day is tomorrow, you have plenty of time to do just that.”

  He tossed his head back and laughed. “I like you, Scarlett.”

  She grinned. “From what I know of you, I like you too, Tanner.”

  A hooded look shuttered his eyes, and a muscle ticked in his jaw, making her wonder what she’d said to kill his good mood. Before she could ask, he was grinning again, less real this time, but she allowed him his private thoughts. After all, this wasn’t more than a one-night stand. She didn’t have the right to dig into his feelings. Despite the fact that she had the ridiculous desire to know more about him.

  Reminding herself of the commitments that awaited her in her real life, both personal and professional, that left her no time for anything more, she forced her attention back to what tonight was about. Sex. Raw, hungry sex.