AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Each second I held her in my arms, looking away from her felt like a moment too Iong so I glanced back, unable to resist her, and the look that passed between us morphed into another protracted stare.
A reluctant smile immediately tugged at my lips and her eyes filled with desire. My smile grew bigger because couldn’t pretend how I felt about her. Tricia Mattison was gorgeous and I had tired of pretending I was hard to get, when she’d already snared me.
“All evening I’ve watched you choose every other woman to dance with. Everyone except for me. Why?” Tricia’s fiery challenging gaze pinned me to the spot. Her tone carried more than a hint of annoyance at my lack of attention.
I fought a smirk at how irritated she was by my deliberate neglect and raised an eyebrow in question, because the truth of the matter had been she’d made me hard the very second I’d seen her wearing it.
Confident women like Tricia liked the chase as much as men, and I was pleased my offhand tactic had brought me the desired effect. I knew better than to show my hand to someone as forthright as Tricia. My plan of not making her the focus for my attention had clearly pushed every button with her, just as I’d hoped it would.
I hadn’t been completely neglecting her during the day, because I’d secretly been watching her every move.
“Were you saving the best until last?” she prompted when I never answered.
God, I love a confident woman. I loved it even more that she had felt it necessary to bring me to task for not acknowledging her sooner. Tricia’s comeback challenge made her all the more alluring for it. It also let me know she hadn’t considered those other women as serious competition for her where I was concerned.
In that moment, I was thankful the wait to make my move was over. I felt flattered by her lack of patience to wait and a little intimidated when I admitted to myself I had avoided her longer than I normally would have in such a situation. But I felt there was something about Tricia I couldn’t put my finger on. Despite that subtle red flag, my body still craved her.
“Because I knew once I held you in my arms, I wouldn’t want to dance with anyone else,” I replied, with a shrug of my shoulders and a hint of a smile on my lips.
A beaming smile lit up her face. “Excellent answer,” she gushed, satisfied, and lowered her gaze but not before I caught a smug little upturn at the corners of her mouth. Looking back up at me, she tilted her head to one side in consideration. That drew my hungry eyes to the peachy skin on her long slender neck. An urge to press my lips to it consumed me in a sudden wave of need.
“Would you mind showing me the way back to my room? Your parents’ house is stunning, but I find the floors and hallways very confusing,” she asked, drawing my attention back to her face before I could act on that feeling.
Tricia was lying about not knowing her way around my family home, she had stayed at my parents’ house several times with Billie during the planning of the wedding, and the room she’d been given was the same one she’d slept in before.
When I saw her sporting a naughty grin, it said exactly why she needed me to escort her to her room. It had nothing to do with her sense of direction. Besides it was a ridiculous excuse, because although our family home was extensive, some would say imposing, it was a two-storey mansion house with a simple traditional H plan layout.
Seeing how driven she was made me hesitant and I wondered if I’d misread what I’d felt there was between us, and all that was happening was an intense physical attraction on her part. However, despite my doubts, she held me captive and left me breathless at the same time. The only thing that had mattered in that moment was I had never wanted another woman more.
Pure carnal need radiated between us, but I was disappointed when this looked mismatched by the conflicted expression on her face. I recognized the uncertainty in her eyes and my heart sank to my stomach. That was the moment I felt sure all Tricia was willing to give was her body and all she wanted was my body in return. It was as if from the moment she realized she didn’t have to try, she appeared less eager.
There was a time when I’d have been happy to scratch her itch and not have given what we did another thought. In another decade in my life, she would have been the perfect woman to have that with. At one time I’d have felt relieved to be offered one night of passion upfront. I’d even have thanked her and walked away with a clear conscience, a sated body, and a satisfied smile on my face.
I tried to keep the smile on my face and nodded, barely containing the mixed feelings I had about being used, but unable to contain the heightened sexual hormones circling my body. The pheromones between us were almost palpable.
“Sure, the house can be a regular labyrinth if you don’t know your way around,” I replied with a note of sarcasm and a wink.
Since Charlotte and all the agony I’d endured at her hands, I was a different man. I saw one-night stands as a thing of the past. Yet, I knew without touching her, one night with Tricia Mattison would not be enough… not with the insane sexual chemistry and blistering heat that burned between us.
However, I knew how quickly Sawyer and Billie’s relationship had caught fire and how Billie had placed her trust in him, and I wondered if once we had gotten together the same might have occurred for us.
Had I been stronger, I’d have insisted we took our time, sounded Tricia out, and gauged exactly how she saw us. However, we had both been fueled by alcohol, and as my palms slid over her bare back in exploration, any further restraint I’d been guarding quickly and decisively gave out.
Without further prompting, I broke our dancing position, slid my hand to the small of her bare back, and guided her off the dance floor. My thumb subtly noting her skin felt as silky as I imagined it would. Billie had her back to us, but Sawyer’s eyes narrowed when they met mine.
“Don’t fuck with her,” he mouthed as I passed him by, his warning momentarily took some of the spontaneity I’d been feeling out of the situation. A note of disappointment registered before I reminded myself, he was possibly nervous because Tricia was his wife’s best friend. The thought made me feel better and I tried not to read too much into his comment. That said, I knew he’d think it was me if she didn’t want to see me again.
A surge of nervous energy shot through my body when I considered for weeks we had played a cat and mouse game of stolen glances, mildly flirtatious comments, and when we’d felt it safe to do so, more leisurely gazes toward one another. During those times I’d had some vivid fantasy images of all the dirty, filthy things I’d wanted to do to her. Yet, I’d hidden how she made me feel and silently struggled to resist her.
Initially, I’d put my feelings down to her being the first woman I’d felt sexually interested in, since the incident with Charlotte had left me with a mistrust in women. Apart from this, being thrown together in the way Tricia and I were had felt somewhat forced, due to the circumstance. It was a cliché for the groomsmen to hook up with their counterpart bridesmaids, but at the back of my mind I knew clichéd did not necessarily mean something couldn’t turn out to be amazing, just it was somewhat predictable.
Casting another eye toward my brother as we exited the ballroom, he smirked like he knew exactly what I’d been thinking, and I chuckled because he’d already figured out what we were about to do.
Why am I settling for one night? What do I need to do that would make her want me more? “Doesn’t it concern you that we’re being a little obvious?” I asked in a playful tone.
“What’s obvious? Don’t you think you’re being a tad presumptuous? I haven’t decided what’s going to happen between us, if anything. I mean it’s been a long day,” she replied curtly, like she was serious. However, I heard the thick sexual lust in her tone and figured she was a bad liar at least. Her response made me chuckle, and even though I knew she was full of shit, her snarky comeback had made me hard.
For weeks, I’d been anticipating the moment when I’d finally lay hands on her. Every time we’d been around one another the sexual tension between us felt almost combustible. Without us ever voicing our feelings, I think we both knew when the timing was right the constant sparks that had hung in the atmosphere between us would ignite.
