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Best Seller Erotica (18+ only!) : PART 2

     

     

    Here I will present you one best seller erotica of all time. But be cautious! If you are not above 18 years old then skip this…

     

     

    Just One Night

     Lexi Ryan

     

     

     

    Chapter One

     

    Only one woman could make Chase Montgomery consider getting naked and horizontal in a choir loft. From the moment Addison Duval stepped out of her custom-painted hot pink Corvette and onto the steps of the Decadence Creek Township Baptist Church, he could think of little else.

    The woman had the gravitational pull of the sun and was just as hot.

    And just as lethal.

    He made it through the wedding and as far as the reception without submitting to the urge to pin her up against the nearest wall, to feel those curves pressed against him, to take that mouth.

    Once, those full, pouty lips had begged him for everything he wanted to do to her.

    Because he was a man, he’d wanted to take her up on her offer. Because he was ten years her senior and a fucking masochist, he’d refused.

    Chase stood at the bar with three of Addison’s four older brothers while the fourth made the rounds with his new wife. Dinner was over, liquor was flowing, and dancing was in full swing.

    “My sister’s back in town,” Jake, the oldest Duval brother, said, nodding to Addison across the dance floor.

    Chase raised a brow at his friend. “I saw that,” he said, thinking, a couple hours ago.

    The doors of the Duvals’ repurposed barn sat open, allowing in the late May breeze. A crap-ton of lights and white fluffy shit hung from the rafters. Despite the couple’s insistence that they wanted a casual affair, Mrs. Duval had brought in every white flower in the tri-state area, contracted some five-star Louisville catering service, and hired all the staff from out of town so the locals could attend the Decadence Creek event of the year.

    “I wish she’d stick around for awhile,” Kaleb Duval grumbled. “Get mom off our backs.”

    Alex, Kaleb’s twin, grinned. “She just wants us to ‘Find nice girls who can have my grandbabies,’” he said in a said in a falsetto imitation of his mom.

    Chase peeled his eyes off Addison’s fuckme heels—he couldn’t be sure from this distance, but he would bet they were red. Red fuckme heels and miles of leg.

    He clenched his hands, itching to touch. To strip her down to nothing but those shoes and explore every inch of her. And when his hands were satisfied, he’d start over again. With his mouth. With his tongue.

    If the men around him knew the thoughts he was having about their baby sister, they’d pulverize him. Only reason he was still standing here tonight was that he’d never acted on his fantasies—a feat that felt more than a little superhuman tonight.

    Addison’s laughter floated on the breeze and her face lit up with a smile. Shit. Red heels and legs he could resist, but that smile—

    He was toast.

    “God, that’d be great,” Jake said. “If Addy stuck around she’d inevitably start dating someone completely inappropriate.”

    Kaleb laughed. “Like a Buddhist monk under a vow of celibacy.”

    “Or an ‘adult cinema’ producer who likes to tell mom about Addy’s ‘untapped potential,’” Alex chimed in.

    Or me, Chase thought.

    “Mom would be so preoccupied we might get some peace,” Jake said.

    Chase dragged his attention from Addison and looked at her brothers. “She’s not a kid anymore,” he pointed out, wishing the words felt more like the truth. Twenty-three was still way too young in his mind. “Shouldn’t much matter who she’s dating these days.”

    The men burst into laughter, as if Chase had just cracked a genius one-liner.

    “It will always matter to our father,” Jake said.

    “I’m sure,” Chase muttered.

    Addison’s father, Richard Duval, was Chase’s boss. Five years ago, Richard had given an ex-con a chance when he’d hired Chase to hone and build custom world-class muscle cars and sell them at a tidy profit. When you owed your life to your boss and had your dream job, it’d be one dumbass move to give it all up for a piece of ass.

    Only Addison wasn’t just a piece of ass. Never had been. Not to Chase.

    “How nice that Addison made it back for the wedding,” Emily Wright said, joining Chase and the brothers at the bar.

    “Real nice,” Chase muttered, taking in Addison’s legs, her just-soft-enough thighs.

    “Didn’t your mama teach you it’s not polite to escort one lady to a wedding and make eyes at another?” Emily asked him.

    “Make eyes at who?” Jake punched Chase in the arm. “That’s my baby sister. Stop staring.”

    Chase rubbed his bicep but didn’t bother taking his eyes off Addison. Addy. Sweet, young, smart, and so-fucking-sexy Addy.

    As if sensing him, Addison turned and their eyes locked.

    Her hair, the color of dark, rich honey, fell past her shoulders in fat curls, brushing over her bare skin. Her black dress hugged her curves and ended just low enough that her ass didn’t show, just high enough to make Chase have to work real hard not to think about the next few inches north.

    In the two years since she’d picked up and left for Paris, Chase hadn’t forgotten her, hadn’t forgiven her, and hadn’t stopped wanting her.

    Fuck, but he wasn’t prepared for this.

    He pushed away from the wall. He needed some air.

    He wove through the crowd, beer in hand. Before he realized what he’d done, he found himself five yards from Addison.

    Gravitational pull of the sun, he reminded himself.

    He stood rooted in place, unwilling to take a step closer, unable to take a step back.

    She caught sight of him and treated him to a grin, the kind that changed her whole face and lit up the room like a thousand-watt bulb.

    He wanted to kiss her so damn badly, his mouth went dry.

    She smiled and gave a little wave.

    Chase didn’t wave back but nodded toward the exit.

    If you’re going to burn, might as well go down smiling.

     

     

     

    Chapter Two

     

    A shiver rushed up Addy’s spine as Chase strode out the wide open barn doors. She’d been planning to avoid him—drop in, celebrate the sudden and unexpected marriage of her best friend to her brother, fly out tomorrow night. Avoid scandal at all costs.

    But Chase’s hot eyes? That knowing grin? How could she say no?

    Biting her lip, she turned to her best friend.

    “It’s my wedding, and I say you should go after him,” the bride ordered with a smile, adjusting her veil.

    Addison swallowed. “Stace, that might be a mistake.”

    Stacey arched a dark brow. “Better loved and lost, they say.”

    Those were dangerous thoughts, and last time she’d explored them, she’d ended up alone. In Paris.

    This can’t happen, Addison.

    Two years later and the memory of his words still caused an ache in her chest, a knot in the pit of her stomach.

    She followed Chase out the back of the barn and toward the creek.

    She caught sight of him just as his broad shoulders disappeared over the hill.

    When she reached the crest, Chase was sitting on the river bank. His black dress shirt pulled across his shoulders as he rested his thick forearms on his knees and stared into the rushing water.

    Quietly, she made her way to his side and lowered herself beside him. She stretched out her bare legs, and the clay earth, cool in contrast to the hot, humid air, sent a chill through her.

    “Welcome home,” Chase said, not looking at her.

    “Don’t tell me it’s good to have me back,” she said. “Not if you don’t mean it.”

    Chase turned to her. His eyes were hot and something like anguish colored his features. “I don’t know if it’s good or not.” He looked away and focused on the water as if looking at her was too difficult. “So, Stacey and Harrison. Crazy, huh?”

    Addy frowned and pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. “A whirlwind romance, I guess.”

    “Yeah.” He nodded. “Good for them,” he said softly.

    Since he wouldn’t look at her, she studied his profile. He scratched at the stubble of his short beard. Chase was masculinity personified, the kind of rough-and-tumble sexy that made a girl’s ovaries take up pole dancing and aerobic strip tease classes.

    In Paris, the men were sexy of their own right but also pretty comfortable with their feminine side. Addison had missed the über males from home—the ones that hung around her older brothers and worked with her daddy’s race horses and muscle cars.

    She tucked an errant curl behind her ear and wished for a hair tie. She’d forgotten how heavy her hair felt in the southern Indiana humidity. Yet, she’d missed the heaviness of the air, the way it made her feel grounded, part of the earth.

    “Thanks for taking care of the ’Vette while I was gone,” she said, thinking, safe topics only. She shouldn’t have followed him out here. She’d come home with a simple goal of avoiding scandal and slipping away before Chase could ask questions. How did she think a private chat by the water would get her there?

    Chase looked at her, brow raised. “I thought you’d have preferred if I torched the thing.”

    She swallowed hard. The car had been a high school graduation gift from her father. Everyone in town had smiled and commented on how it matched her personality. She’d hated it. What the hell did she need with a hot pink Corvette? “You always did understand me better than anyone else.”

    “Maybe no one else understood you because you ran off to Paris before they had a chance.”

    She winced.

    “When are you leaving?”

    The question took her by surprise. His voice was gruff, like each syllable had been dragged through the gravel at the bottom of the rocky creek bed then resurfaced, desperate for air. The sound made something ragged break loose in her chest, reminding her she couldn’t keep living her life the way she had been, running from everything and never to anything, wandering through life while her heart stayed in Decadence Creek.

    She looked at her hands, realized she’d been wringing them in her lap. “I go back to Paris tomorrow night,” she said, stamping down the dread that rose when she thought of the monotony ahead of her. Photocopies. Answering phones. Arranging lunches. Not exactly the high profile fashion career she let the people of Decadence Creek imagine. “The job calls and there’s a show coming up.”

    Chase kept his eyes on the river and gave a sharp nod. “Sounds like you’ve gotten everything you ever wanted.”

    Not everything. “Right.”

    He speared his fingers into his thick, tousled dark hair. “The way you left…”

    She bit her lip.

    “Real shitty,” he said, “leaving like that.”

    She nodded.

    “That night—” He swallowed hard as if the words were a large dose of bitter medicine. “—I had no idea you’d be gone the next day.”

    Me either. “It’s complicated,” she whispered.

    His jaw worked for a moment, like he was testing out words and tossing them out as unsatisfactory. “You could have told me.”

    And have him talk her out of it? “I’m sorry if I hurt you.” A breeze blew off the water and she hugged herself against the chill, rubbing her arms. She was stupid to follow him out here. Stupid to think he would understand she had once needed him, more than anyone, to accept her when she’d offered herself. Even—especially—if she’d only been offering one night.

    She pushed herself off the ground and turned toward the barn.

    She had taken two steps when his hand on her wrist stopped her. His hot, work-roughened fingers skimmed over her skin as they traced an invisible path to her shoulder. Her breath caught as he turned her.

    He cupped her chin in his hands and lowered his head until his mouth waited inches above hers. He froze above her for a moment. Their eyes locked as their breath mingled.

    She tried to read him, see the thoughts he hid behind eyes the color of dark chocolate. Then his gaze dropped to her lips and she stopped breathing.

    “Goodbye, Chase,” she said, but he didn’t release her and she didn’t try to move.

    “You do know the word,” he said softly, but then his lips were on hers. One hand slid into her hair and the other pulled her body against the solid plains of his chest.

    Instinctively, she grabbed a fistful of his shirt as she opened under him. She rubbed her tongue against his, tasted him and waves of pleasure and lust—and something bigger, scarier—echoed out from her core and settled as an aching need between her thighs.

    He was the one to break the kiss. She wouldn’t have. She would have kissed him all night on the banks of the creek, would have let him take her body and soul right there in the open of her daddy’s land.

    Then she would have hated herself for her impulsiveness, and Chase would suffer the consequences.

    He broke the kiss and pulled back, shaking his head and breathing hard.

    She grabbed his tie, tugged him closer before the heat of his body could leave hers. “I—” She struggled to steady her breathing, to find words when there were none.

    She released him and took a step back. “Nothing’s really changed though, has it?”

    He didn’t answer, and she walked away.

     

     

    Chapter Three

     

    Music from the reception floated across the breeze and she followed it, steering clear of the walkway that lead the way from the creek to the barn in favor of the thick carpet of grass.

    Her heels sank into the soft earth and she slid them off, looping the straps over a finger.

    Cool and dewy, the grass slid between her toes as she inhaled the scents of her childhood. Her daddy’s prize horses in one direction, the rushing creek in the other. She closed her eyes and she was a kid again. A kid who wanted to escape this little town, a kid who was always in a hurry to grow up but had no idea what the real world was really like. No idea how lonely she would be away from home.

    As she neared the barn, she stopped to slide on her heels.

    “Looks like somebody’s been up to her usual slutty antics.” Emily Wright leaned against the side of the barn, arms crossed.

    Addy looked around and almost groaned. No one else was out here. She was cornered.

    Déjà vu all over again.

    “Less than eight hours between touchdown and quickie,” Emily said. “That must be some kind of new record, even for you.”

    “If you’re suggesting I left the wedding to fuck the entire male population of Louisville in the last hour—” She held up both palms. “—busted!”

    The two women stared at each other for several long seconds. With long blond hair and big blue eyes, Emily was attractive. Addy always thought she’d be prettier if she spent more time smiling and less time scowling. Of course, she had no hard evidence.

    “Where is Chase?”

    “Aw, shit.” Addy propped her hands on her hips. “Was it my night to watch him? I totally forgot.”

    “Do you know I am his date tonight?” Emily asked.

    Addy’s stomach pitched. Shame warmed her cheeks. Words of denial sat on her tongue, but she swallowed them back and did her best to hide her shock.

    She hadn’t exactly asked Chase about his status before she gave him a dental checkup with her tongue.

    All the more reason to leave town tomorrow, her reasonable self advised.

    Emily’s eyes glistened a bit in the low light of the setting sun. Addison almost felt sorry for her. “I can make your life hell.”

    Almost, Addy thought.

    Male laughter rose up from round the corner, then the deep rumble of Chase’s voice.

    “Sounds like your date’s over there,” Addy said, nodding. “Hurry. He must be real interested in spending time with you if he didn’t even tell you where he was.”

    Emily looked Addy up and down disapprovingly. “Watch yourself, princess.”

    Once the other woman stomped away, Addy squeezed her eyes shut. Of course, Emily had to be the one to catch her sneaking back to the reception. The woman lived to screw with her.

    Two years ago Emily had seen Addison leave Chase’s house after midnight. Emily had witnessed Addison’s walk of shame after Chase told her to take a hike.

    “What do you think you’re doing with him?” Emily had asked from her front porch.

    The summer night had turned cool and there was rain in the air. In a tank and shorts, Addy shivered. She rubbed her arms as she walked down Chase’s front steps. “Visiting a friend.”

    “Fuck buddy’s more like it,” Emily said, spitting the words.

    “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her stomach churned and a sour taste grew in her mouth. She’d been so selfish. She’d wanted Chase so long and so badly, she hadn’t stopped to think about how it would affect his life if they were caught. Just one night, she’d said. Our secret.

    The street light cast hard shadows across Emily’s face. She leaned over the rail. “I’ve been watching you. You’re no good for him.”

    Goose bumps rose on Addy’s arms and she rubbed at them, swallowing hard. Addy had been twenty-one. There was no law against her sleeping with an older man. Not that it mattered. “My relationship with Chase is completely innocent.”

    “Think Mr. Duval will see it that way when I tell him I saw you sneaking out of an ex-con’s house in the middle of the night?” The words rolled off her tongue slowly, deliberately. “What do you think he’d do to the man who’s screwing his little girl? Give him a promotion?”

    Addison froze, the lump growing in her stomach. She could deny it, tell her father her relationship with Chase was innocent, but it wouldn’t matter. Chase would be fired on the spot. And where would he land after that fall? Part of some gang? Running a chop shop and dismantling stolen cars? “What do you want from me?”

    Emily had blackmailed Addison into leaving Decadence Creek without seeing Chase again. And Addy had let her because when she’d asked Chase to be with her, to be with her a single night, he hadn’t been willing to give her even that.

    Two years later and the memory still ate at her. She took in a shaky breath and slipped back into the reception.

    She accepted a drink from a server and smiled at Great Aunt Louisa as she passed with her walker.

    Two years later, Addison could see the truth. She’d left to protect Chase. She’d stayed away because his rejection had broken her heart.

     

     

     

    Chapter Four

     

    His office smelled like coffee, disinfectant, and…motor oil. But there was another scent there too. Something richer, deeper. Something like Chase.

    Addison ran her fingers along the top of the battered walnut desk and closed her eyes. A deep breath in through her nose and she almost expected to find him in the room.

    This was where she filled with the dull, aching loneliness of growing up the only daughter in a family of boys. Where she’d fallen in love with Chase. Where she had tried, and failed, to make him love her.

    “Poor little rich girl,” she muttered.

    Chase had refused to look at her as anything other than a kid…until tonight.

    Addy took her glass of champagne across the office and lowered into the upholstered chair. When she’d left the reception, Emily and Chase had been dancing, and the sight had made her stomach churn.

    Emily and Chase? She frowned.

    Meanwhile, she couldn’t stop thinking about his kiss, his hot eyes on her mouth. The man did something to her. Most of the time, she was a completely rational human being, but when Chase Montgomery turned those hot eyes on her, he triggered something primal. Made her feel like a cat in heat.

    Her fingers ran over her shirt, whispered across taut nipples and down her belly. She closed her eyes and let her hand slip lower, grazing fingertips over bare legs and flirting with the edge of her skirt. She thought of his eyes—dark, intense, eating her up like he might never get another chance.

    With a sigh, she grazed a hand along the inside of her thigh, imagining that kiss again. Imagining that night two years ago—but in a world where he’d granted her request. Her pulse accelerated with the fantasy and she brushed her fingers higher up her thigh.

    At the scrape of the opening door, she drew in a sharp breath and her eyes flew open.

    Addison stilled as Chase walked into the office, his broad shoulders filling the doorway. His hot eyes settled on her. His lips parted.

    She wanted to rub against him and purr.

    His eyes drank in her face then travelled south to where her hand lay against the soft skin of her inner thigh.

    Something like pain colored his features. Their gazes collided for a moment before his dropped south again. Her blood pulsed, hot and hard, gathering at the apex of her thighs.

    Raw hunger contorted his features as he centered his gaze on her hand.

    She inhaled a shaky breath and shifted her hips forward, allowing her thighs to part.

    His eyes flashed with heat. Hunger. His pupils dilated as he stared at her exposed panties.

    Acting on instinct more than good sense, she drew her hand higher, shifted her hips lower and traced the edge of the lace between her thighs.

    “Jesus.” He exhaled the word more than said it.

    His chest rose and fell with his quickening breath. His nostrils flared as he centered that heated, hungry gaze right between her legs. Her own breathing quickened and she opened further for him.

    This was a dangerous game she hadn’t intended to play, but she couldn’t turn back now. Didn’t want to.

    She slid a finger under the lace’s edge, felt her own slick, wet heat.

    “Addy.”

    God, she loved the sound of him saying her name, particularly now, laced with desire and pain, two syllables drawn taut with sexual awareness. Need.

    She licked her lips as he finally returned his gaze to her face. “Chase,” she said.

    That was all for a moment. Two names uttered into the silent office, tangling in the humid air.

    His eyes dipped again, briefly, to her bare legs, to her inner thighs, to the wet lace of her panties, her fingers still teasing their edge.

    The air between their bodies hung thick with lust.

    He swallowed. His tie hung loose about his collar where he’d unfastened the top button. He shoved at the sleeves of his black dress shirt, already rolled to his elbows, exposing thick forearms, strong and muscled from working on engines.

    She pushed herself out of her chair. She couldn’t let this happen. She wouldn’t be that selfish.

    She was halfway to the door when he shackled her wrist with his hand. “Stop.”

     

     

    Chapter Five

     

    Chase knew the image of Addison spreading her thighs for him would be branded into his mind for all eternity.

    He stared down at her mouth now, her flushed cheeks.

    A thousand times he’d wanted to kiss her, to touch her. He’d never given in.

    His first year on the job, she had strolled into his office at every opportunity. She’d sat on his desk wearing a skirt up-to-there and a come-hither smile. He hadn’t touched her.

    She’d driven back across the river every Saturday morning during her time at University of Louisville. She’d shown up on his doorstep offering chocolate muffins and hot coffee, torturing him by wearing sundresses that exposed more thigh than they covered, and he hadn’t touched her.

    He hadn’t even given in to the temptation two years ago when he found her naked in his bedroom, reaching for him in the dark. He’d wanted to. He’d wanted to settle himself between her thighs and give her what she’d come for. Wanted to give her more. He’d wanted to take her face in hands and watch her eyes as he came inside her. But he’d kept his hands off. Because she was too young. Because he owed her father the world.

    Because he wasn’t fucking worthy.

    Chase released her arm only to find himself touching her lips. Glossy pink, just like Addison. Young and fresh, and so fucking sexy. “Two years ago, you offered me one night.”

    She licked her lips. “Yes.”

    “Does that offer still stand?”

    A slow smile curled her lips. “Yes. One night.”

    He cupped her face in his hands. “It won’t be enough,” he said, lowering his mouth to warm, sweet lips.

    “Just tonight,” she insisted softly.

    “I’ll take it.” He put his mouth on her neck, needing to taste her, cupped a breast with his hand.

    “What about Emily?” she asked.

    He pulled back. “She’s not my girlfriend.”

    Her eyes focused on his mouth. “So it’s okay if I do this?” With one hand, she released the button of his pants.

    He groaned and pulled her against him. “All night long I’ve wanted to strip you bare until you were in nothing but those strappy red heels.” He squeezed her ass. “I want those legs wrapped around my waist. I want to be inside you, Addison.”

    She moaned softly, and the sound nearly undid him.

    He took a step forward, pressing her into the door. His mouth met hers as his hard cock pressed into the softness of her belly. In a breath, she opened beneath him and their tongues slid, tangled, tasted.

    God, she was sweet.

    He slid his hands behind her head, cupping her face as he savored her. She pulled his shirt from his pants and slid her hands under the fabric.

    A moan slipped from her mouth, the sweetest sound. He dropped a hand to the hem of her dress and drew it up around her waist. His hand slid between their bodies and found the lace of her panties damp. He groaned, a primitive hunger whipping through him.

    He slid a finger under the lace and inside her. Hot and tight. Jesus.

    She moaned in response and rocked her hips, directing his hand, nibbling at his ear as he moved his fingers inside her.

    “More,” she whispered.

    Something snapped in him at the word. He needed to feel her, to possess her. Now.

    He yanked at her panties, tearing them away and tossing them over his shoulder.

    He dropped before her, knowing this was foolish. Too fast, too impulsive, too dangerous. But her soft moans filled the small office and her hips tilted instinctively toward him, and he had to taste her.

    He pressed his mouth between her legs and she gasped. He drew her clit against his tongue, rubbing, tasting her, before pulling back.

    “God,” he murmured. He wasn’t a praying man, but the taste of her wet sex on his tongue was enough to inspire a whole new religion.

    She stared down at him, lips parted, her breathing shallow. His free hand went to his jeans, unzipping them.

    “Please,” she murmured, pulling at him.

    He stood and pressed his mouth to hers as he slid on a condom.

    With the protection in place, he slid his hands behind her, then he hesitated.

    She curled her nails into his back, her hot, open mouth sucked at his neck.

    He watched her eyes as he lifted her hips and slowly settled her on his erection. He slid into her slowly, letting her adjust to him.

    She took him in, and he found her neck, tasting her sweet skin as he moved inside her.

    He braced her against the wall and Addison rocked against him, squeezing tight around his cock as he filled her, stretched her, drove into her with all the growing desperation he’d felt for her in the last five years.

    She pulled a hand free from his shirt and took a fistful of his hair, drawing his mouth to hers. She sucked at his bottom lip, then moved her mouth to his ear and whispered, “Harder.”

    He obeyed because he couldn’t refuse. His fingers dug mercilessly into the bare flesh of her ass, and as he buried himself deep in her body. With each thrust, she let out a little cry. He felt the orgasm build within her, squeezing him at she climbed closer.

    He couldn’t hold off much longer. “Come for me, baby.” And she did. Her sweet heat convulsed around him and her whimper filled the office.

    Three hard, relentless strokes later, he followed her, coming hard and fast inside her, wishing he never had to pull out.

    He rested his head in the crook of her neck and caught his breath.

    After a few breaths, he brushed her hair to the side and pressed his lips against her neck. He withdrew slowly, careful as he lowered her to the floor.

    After disposing of the condom, he pulled up his pants and tugged her close. His hands rested on her waist. Jesus but he didn’t want to let her go. “Are you okay?”

    She bit down on her lip, but it couldn’t hide her smile. “I’m spectacular.”

    His chest ached a little and he pressed a hard kiss to her mouth. “Next time, you’re going to be naked.”

     

     

    Chapter Six

     

    Addison ran a finger along the scruffy edge of his jaw. “You go back first,” she said. “I’ll follow in a few.”

    He stared at her, something flashing in those dark eyes. Taking her hands, he squeezed them once. He frowned but nodded in agreement.

    When he closed the door behind himself, even though it was still warm in the poorly-ventilated space, Addy shivered.

    She smoothed her dress and searched for her panties. She spotted two scraps of lace on the desk and groaned at the memory. He tore off her panties. Ripped them in two. Manly man, indeed.

    Meow.

    She tossed the ruined panties in the trash and waited a few minutes before heading back. The click of her heels on the metal stairs echoed through the empty garage as she descended, a stupid grin on her face.

    As she slipped outside, the sun was beginning to set, and in the distance, she could hear the boisterous sound of Big Band music.

    Something like hope fluttered in her stomach, and she pushed it away.

    Just one night, she reminded herself, taking a deep breath and heading into the fray.

    “There’s my girl,” her father called from the bar. He took a sip of dark liquid—bourbon, no doubt.

    “Hi, Daddy.” She crossed to him and leaned her head on his big shoulder. Her father was a big man in stature and presence. His laughter could fill a room and so could his anger. As a little girl she’d equal parts feared and adored him. As a woman, not much had changed.

    “Stacey was looking for you,” he told her. “You missed the bouquet toss.”

    She wrapped her arm around his waist and squeezed. “I may have gone missing on purpose,” she admitted with a grin. “If I catch a bouquet, Mom will be picking out dresses and interviewing caterers.”

    He chuckled, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and squeezing. “Smart girl. You’re not allowed to get married until you’re thirty.”

    She raised a brow. “That seems a little young considering, last I checked, I’m not allowed to date until forty?”

    “Good point. No jerk is going to put his hands on my baby girl.” He took another sip of his bourbon and grinned. “Let your old man have his delusions, okay?” he said, voice lower now.

    “Of course, Daddy.” She smiled up at him, love for him nearly bursting her chest.

    “You need to come home more,” he lectured. “Your mother worries and then I have to hear it.”

    “I know.”

    He waved a hand dismissively. “I’m real proud of my little girl. A Paris fashion designer. What can you do with that in Decadence Creek?”

    She sighed. She had a few ideas, but her father wouldn’t be the only one who would think she was crazy for wanting to open a custom dress shop in their tiny town.

    “Are you happy there?”

    She forced a smile. “Who wouldn’t be?”

    “Hey, Montgomery!” her father called out to Chase. “Come dance with my girl. She’s too pretty to be standing on the sidelines tonight.”

    Addison tensed as Chase walked over, a grin on his face.

    He extended a hand. “May I?”

    Her father nudged her forward. “I’d rather you dance with Chase than one of these young guys who might think they can try something with my baby.”

    She put her hand in Chase’s and something electric zipped up her arm.

    “It’s my pleasure, sir,” Chase said, nodding at her father.

    Chase led her onto the dance floor, placed a warm hand on her back, and grinned.

    “Don’t look at me like that,” she hissed.

    The corner of his mouth twitched. “Like this?” he asked, dropping his gaze to her mouth then down her body before meeting her gaze again.

    She squeezed the hand that held hers. Not lightly. “He’ll kill you.”

    He shook his head and pulled her against his chest. She looked over her shoulder and waved at her father, who winked at her before turning to speak with her brothers.

    “He trusts me,” Chase said.

    “He wouldn’t if he knew what you just did to me in your office.” She bit her lip and he pulled her closer still until she was pressed against the solid heat of his body.

    “Relax,” he whispered the word into her ear, sending a zip of anticipation through her. “Think about what I’m going to do to you tonight.”

    Her cheeks heated. “Not here,” she murmured, smiling at Aunt Sophie.

    “Definitely here,” he said, his breath hot against her ear, his lips just barely brushing as he spoke. “I want you to spend the rest of the night thinking about what I’m going to do when I get you naked. I want it to consume your thoughts until I’m buried deep inside you again.”

    She took in a shaky breath. “You seem pretty sure of yourself.”

    “Oh, you’ll be begging by the time I’m done with you,” he promised. “I’m going to spread your legs and lick you until you beg.”

    His voice was low and sent a few thousand volts of electricity through her. All that energy settled in a pulsing little ache between her thighs.

    “Want to put a little room for Jesus between you and my sister, Montgomery?” a deep voice called behind them.

    Harrison. Dear God, Chase was whispering dirty things in her ear and her brother was right there.

    “Not especially,” Chase called back with a grin.

    Addy’s cheeks burned hotter. “They’re going to know,” she warned.

    His mouth dipped to her ear again. “No one knows that I fucked you in my office.” His tongue flicked across her lobe. “Or that I can still taste you on my lips.”

    She closed her eyes at the pleasure his words shot through her. “You are so bad.” A lame protest but all she could manage.

    “You have no idea how bad I can be.” He’d danced them into a dark corner and his hand slipped under her dress, find the exposed, sensitive flesh between her legs.

    He groaned and she shuddered as her brushed his thumb against her clit. “I’m going to taste you right here.” His mouth trailed down her neck and back to her ear as he removed his hand then discreetly smoothed her dress. “Think about me.”

    He walked away, leaving her breathless and hot and—dear God—desperate for the reception to end.

     

     

     

    Chapter Seven

     

    Chase took a pull off his beer and thought—for the thousandth time tonight—about the feel of Addison’s lips under his, her curves pressed against his chest, her slick, wet heat as he slid inside her.

    “Where’s Addison staying while she’s in town?” he asked the groom.

    Claiming jetlag, Addison had slipped out of the reception shortly after their dance. Chase had stuck around, but now most of the guests had left.

    “She’s in the guest house,” Harrison said, “because God forbid she have to stay in the main house with all the guys. It’s like Mom thinks being male is some kind of disease she couldn’t save her first four children from, and she lives in fear that her last child might catch it.”

    Chase grunted. “Can’t blame her. Until Addison came along she was surrounded by men.”

    Harrison nodded, then narrowed his eyes at Chase. “Do I want to know why you’re asking about where my sister is sleeping?”

    Chase looked down at his beer and smiled a little. “Probably not,” he said, peeking up at Harrison.

    Harrison’s brows drew together in a scowl. “That’s my little sister, asshole.”

    Chase raised a brow. “She’s not so little anymore.”

    Harrison took a drink. “I like you, so when I cut off your balls, I hope you won’t let it interfere with our friendship.”

    Chase chuckled. “Leave my balls out of this. Your sister can take care of herself. I’m pretty sure I’m the one you should be worried for.”

    Harrison studied Chase for a minute. “Watch yourself. My father has no idea she hit puberty, and his loyalty to you ends right about where his irrational protectiveness of her begins.”

    The mention of Mr. Duval sobered Chase a bit.

    Harrison nodded. “Okay, then.”

    Across the dance floor, the bride was laughing with one of the remaining bridesmaids.

    Chase nudged Harrison with his elbow. “You want to tell me why you aren’t getting your beautiful bride out of here and into a nice oversized bed somewhere?”

    An emotion Chase didn’t recognize flicked across Harrison’s features. “We have the rest of our lives, right?”

    “Hmm,” Chase said. “You know, they make a little blue pill that might help you with that attitude.”

    Harrison grinned and punched Chase in the shoulder, but he could hardly take his eyes off the woman in white. “She is beautiful, isn’t she?”

    There was something going on here, Chase thought. Something other than a whirlwind romance. But he didn’t pry. “Congratulations, man,” he said, patting Harrison on the back. “I need to get out of here.”

    Harrison winced. “Please don’t tell me you’re going to find my sister.”

    Chase slid his bottle onto the bar. “No problem. I won’t tell you a thing.”

    “Think real hard about how much you like them balls,” Harrison shouted after him.

    Chase shoved his hands into his pockets and followed the lamp-lined walkway that lead across the estate.

    He’d grown up across the river in a neighborhood politically-correct people liked to call “questionable.” There was no question his mom hardly made enough to scrape by, his neighbors sold meth, and by the time he was fifteen he’d stolen more cars than the average yuppie would own in a lifetime.

    Chase had thought he was invincible in those days. He was good at what he did. Stealing cars, dismantling them, rebuilding them. Then he’d gotten busted, thrown in a jail cell and left to the mercy of a jury and an overworked public defender.

    He’d never met Richard Duval before the day the man showed up to offer him the deal of a lifetime. Duval would pay for the best criminal lawyer he could find to get him a reduced sentence. And after Chase served his time, all he had to do was bring his skills to Decadence Creek and build custom rides for the rich man.

    The deal had seemed too good to be true. Still did.

    When Chase came to Decadence Creek, it felt like something straight out of Disney World. The town had 1500 people, one stoplight, one bar, one diner, and a convenience store. A quarter mile off Main Street was the Duval estate. If Decadence Creek felt like Disney World, the estate had felt like a magnified Ritz Carlton. With hot cars. Lucky asshole that he was, he got to work there.

    He owed Duval everything, Chase thought, climbing up the steps to the guest house and knocking on the door. But he’d spent two years without Addy and hated every minute of it, wondered the whole time if she’d still be in town if he had let her stay in his bed that night.

    Addy didn’t come to the door, and he knocked again.

    She’d been twenty-one when he’d found her naked in his bed.

    He’d slid between the sheets in the dark, and only realized she was there when she reached out and touched his face. He’d wanted to pull her against him, feel those bare curves against his hot skin.

    “This can’t happen, Addison,” he’d told her. “If I touch you …” He shook his head. If he touched her, he wouldn’t be able to stop. “Let’s just talk about this in the morning.”

    He’d made her leave, and the next morning she was on a plane to Paris. Pursuing her dreams, her father said.

    Now, standing in the dark on the stoop of the guest house, he wanted more than one secret night. He already had more than he ever deserved, but he wanted it all, damn it.

    He checked the knob, found it unlocked, and let himself in.

     

     

    Chapter Eight

     

    Addison shoved her arms into a plush terry cloth robe, ran her fingers through her hair and padded out to the little kitchen.

    Chase lounged on a kitchen chair, nursing a beer. “I would have joined you in the shower,” he said, setting the beer on the table, “but I didn’t want to scare you.”

    His shirt was unbuttoned, exposing the sun-darkened skin of his chest, the taught muscles across his abdomen.

    She licked her lips. “I would have gotten over it.”

    Reaching out, he tugged her toward him by the belt of her robe.

    She reached for him, sliding her hands across the hard plains of his chest. She scraped her nails over his stomach.

    He groaned. “Addison.” He cuffed a wrist in each hand, stopping her. “If you didn’t notice earlier, I lose my mind when you touch me, so I’m going to have to ask you not to do that.”

    She raised a brow and tugged an arm free from his grasp.

    “Not yet,” he murmured as she reached for him. He lifted her fingers to his lips and kissed the back of her hand. “Be patient.”

    “I’m not good at patient,” she pouted.

    He toyed with the knot, in no rush to untie her. “You made me wait two years.”

    She opened her mouth with a smart reply—something about him kicking her out of his bed—but he slid a hand under the robe and she lost the words.

    “You were dodging me after our dance.”

    “You know how this town is,” she said, struggling to concentrate as he lazily trailed his fingers up her thigh. “Word of scandal moves faster than Daddy’s Derby horses.”

    He shrugged, tugged her closer still so she was standing between his legs. “So let them talk.” His fingers had almost run out of thigh to climb. If she moved, even an inch, his hand would be right where she wanted it.

    She kept her hands to her sides, forcing herself to be still. “Don’t be shy now.”

    He grinned up at her, leaned forward, and pulled the knot on her robe loose with his teeth. Dropping the tie to the floor, he ran his hands over her exposed torso, still damp from her shower. His rough palms flattened against her abdomen. He traced a circle around her navel with his thumb, sending goose bumps across her skin.

    His eyes grew darker and her breathing quickened. When he replaced his thumb with his hot, open mouth, she moaned. His mouth, his tongue, around her navel, lower. He ran his tongue up her belly and licked the underside of her breast.

    She grabbed his shoulders, and he growled softly, gently repositioning her hands by her sides.

    “Not yet,” he said, voice gravely.

    He pressed his mouth against her hipbone, nipped that sensitive spot with his teeth, ran his hot, open mouth over it.

    She trembled and fisted her hands as he trailed his mouth across her pelvis to treat the other side to the same delicious torture. The hot ache of pleasure grew between her legs. She wanted him there—his fingers, his tongue, his thick cock.

    His hands slid around to her ass and pulled her down so she sat in his lap, straddling him.

    When he found her breast with his hot mouth, she whimpered. Heat, pleasure, and desire all shot through her. She rocked her hips and found him, erect and thick through his pants.

    He slid her robe halfway down her arms as he went to the next breast—sucking, licking, teasing her nipple.

    He raised his head, breathing heavily against her neck. “I have waited too long to touch you, too long to taste you,” he said, nipping at her lobe, “to be satisfied with a quick fuck against my office door.”

    She tilted her head to give him better access as he alternately ran teeth and tongue along the column of her neck.

    He stood suddenly, holding her weight against him and letting her robe fall to the floor.

    She wrapped her legs around his waist and nodded toward the bedroom.

    He chuckled, then surprised her by setting her on the breakfast bar. “Lean back,” he commanded, his voice husky.

    She propped herself on her elbows, and he spread her legs, looking so long and hard at her sex that she squirmed and shifted to close them.

    He stopped her, work-roughened hands high against her inner thighs. “You’re too beautiful for words.”

    Some too big, too unexpected emotion tightened her throat, and she couldn’t respond.

    Suddenly, he propped her legs on her shoulders and slid his hands under her ass. Then his wet mouth was on her, hot and greedy against her sex. She drew her knees up instinctively, opening herself to him and he explored her with his tongue. He teased her clit. Licked, sucked, kissed. His beard scraped lightly against the sensitive skin, heightening her pleasure.

    She wanted him inside her, filling her. She wanted him kissing her. She wanted him to never stop what he was doing with his lips and tongue and, sometimes, the light scrape of teeth.

    When she didn’t think she could take any more, he slid two fingers inside her, and she flew apart, rocking her hips as the orgasm tore through her.

    When she opened her eyes, he was smiling down at her. He scooped her off the counter and carried her to the bedroom.

    She sank into the down comforter and he lowered himself over her. Sliding his unbuttoned shirt down his arms, she pressed her mouth against his bare chest, raking her teeth along his hard pectorals.

    He threw his shirt aside and discarded his pants.

    “Protection,” she murmured, but he was already sliding on a condom.

    When he lowered himself, she arched her hips, desperate to feel him inside her. He didn’t rush. He sat cradled between her thighs and cupped her face with his big hands.

    His eyes went soft, and her heart tripped as he ran his thumb tenderly along her jaw line. “I’m sorry if I hurt you that night.”

    She put her finger to his lips. She couldn’t have this conversation. Not now.

    He watched her, his gaze never leaving hers as he entered her. He watched her as he moved inside her, breaking eye contact only to trail kisses along her jaw or across her collarbone.

    She wrapped her legs around him, moving with and against him and letting the pressure build. When her orgasm wouldn’t hold back any longer, she dug her nails into his back and felt his release as she pulsed around him.

    After, as she inhaled deeply of his scent, brushed her lips over the hot, damp skin of his neck she wondered at her stubborn heart. Still so in love after all this time.

     

     

    Chapter Nine

     

    Resting on his elbows, Chase smoothed a curl behind Addison’s ear and looked down at her with soft eyes. “Did I ever tell you you’re amazing?”

    She smiled up at him, thinking how good it felt to have his weight on her, his heat warming her. “I don’t think you’ve mentioned it, but go ahead. I’m listening.”

    “From that first day I met you,” he said, rolled over and stretched out on his side, “I knew you were something special.”

    “You avoided me,” she said, grinning. “You hardly gave me the time of day that first summer. Glared at me every time I came into the garage.”

    He grunted. “I wasn’t about to pursue the gorgeous eighteen-year-old daughter of the man who had just given me the opportunity of a lifetime.”

    She stroked his cheek, watching the emotions play across his face. “You loosened up once I left for school.”

    “The distance made you…safer.”

    “You were a good friend,” she said. He had no idea how badly she’d needed that.

    “Then you left.” He set his jaw. “I hated every minute you were gone, kept turning it over in my brain. What I should have done differently. If I should come after you. Or if I was being an egotistical ass for thinking the move had anything to do with me.” He swallowed. “I’d do it differently if I had the chance.”

    She pulled back. “Don’t do this,” she said softly, shaking her head, a sick feeling blossomed in her stomach. “Don’t make tomorrow any harder than it’s going to be.”

    He squeezed her hand. “When you came to my house that night, I wanted you to stay.”

    She stiffened, the sick feeling growing. “Don’t ruin tonight. Don’t do this.”

    He took a deep breath. “I told you no because I wanted more than just one night and I was too much of a coward to ask for it. I told you no because I’d fallen in love with you.”

    She squeezed her eyes shut. Pain and joy warred inside as she pulled herself out of bed.

    Swallowing hard, she yanked a tattered tee from her closet and pulled it over her head. She didn’t want to hear this. She didn’t want to be tempted to stay.

    “Stacey told me about Paris,” he said.

    She spun around. “Told you what?” she asked.

    He stood, fisting his hands and studying her. “That you’re unhappy. That you’re spending more time making copies and setting up lunch dates than working with fashion.”

    “It’s a start,” she defended. Which was ridiculous because there wasn’t a moment of her job she found worth defending.

    “She said you’re homesick.”

    “Stacey should have kept that information to herself.”

    “There’s more than sex between us, Addy. I’m willing to take the risk if you are.”

    She wrapped her arms around herself. “I can’t.” Hurt and misery flashed across his features, and she wished she was as selfish as Emily accused her of being. She wished she believed she was worth the sacrifice he’d have to make to be with her. “I’m not in love with you.”

     

     

     

    Chapter Ten

     

    Chase was ripping the shingles off his roof when Richard Duval pulled his Charger in front of the house and cut the engine.

    From his position on the roof, Chase gave the other man a once-over and went back to taking his frustration out on the roof.

    “What’d that roof ever do to you?” Duval called out, climbing the ladder.

    “I’m not in the mood for company right now,” Chase growled.

    “Well you’re making enough noise to wake the dead, so deal with it.” He climbed up the last rung, stepped onto the roof, and surveyed Chase’s progress.

    “Aren’t you supposed to be entertaining all those family members who came to town for Stacey’s wedding?”

    Duval ran a hand through his salt and pepper hair. “They’re making me crazy. I needed to get away.”

    Chase gave a sharp nod.

    “Your neighbor called me. Emily thought I should know you spent the night with my daughter.”

    Chase let out a breath. “Don’t worry. It won’t happen again.” He tossed Duval a crowbar. “If you’re going to be here, make yourself useful.”

    Duval ignored him and took a seat a few feet from where Chase was working. “Last night at the reception, you said you wanted to talk to me today.”

    “Turns out there’s no need.”

    Duval nodded and was silent a moment. “I know my daughter’s in love with you.”

    Chase snorted. “Funny, a few hours ago she told me she wasn’t.”

    Duval winced. “That’s probably my fault.”

    Chase raised a brow. “How do you figure?”

    Duval lifted his shoulder. “She was eighteen when you came to town. I saw the way she looked at you. Didn’t like it. I told her you were too old for her. That if she took up with you, you’d be on the fast train back to your life on the streets.”

    “She was eighteen. I was a felon, not an idiot.” He blew out a breath, deflated. “Not that it matters.”

    “I know my daughter. I see how she looks at you. If she said she doesn’t love you, she lied.”

    Chase dropped his hammer and sank down next to his boss, his friend. He rested his head in his hands. “I don’t know what she wants from me. The only thing she’s ever asked for—”

    “Spare me the details, okay?”

    Chase studied the older man. “Can I ask why you’re here trying to make me feel better instead of punching me in the face?”

    Duval chuckled. “Well, that was my first instinct when Emily called.”

    “Thanks,” Chase said, dryly.

    “Then I saw how miserable my daughter was this morning, and I knew there was more to it.”

    “I’m in love with your daughter.” Chase said, picking at an asphalt shingle. “Have been for a long time.”

    Duval nodded. “Figured that out.”

    “It needed to be said.” Chase ran a hand through his hair and cut his eyes at the man. “Does that mean I have your blessing? If she’ll have me?”

    The old man’s chest puffed out a moment. “Hell, I trust you like a son. Better you than some other bastard.”

    Chase pressed a hand to his chest. “I’m touched.”

     

     

    Chapter Eleven

     

    Addison jarred awake when she realized her driver had pulled over the town car along the side of the road.

    “Is there a problem?” she asked rubbing her eyes. She’d not slept the night before—her heart ached too much after Chase left—and now the exhaustion was catching up with her.

    “I’m afraid so,” a deep familiar voice said from the driver’s seat.

    Her pulse tripped. “Chase?” She swallowed hard. She was imagining things. When she’d first moved to Paris, she’d spotted him at least once a day, and now that she was leaving, it was happening again.

    He turned to look at her, a self-conscious smile not reaching his eyes. “I can’t let you go,” he said. “Not again.”

    She shook her head, her chest aching with how badly she wanted him. She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it.

    She climbed over the seat to be next to him. “Last night,” she said, “when I said I didn’t love you?” She grabbed his hand, squeezed. “I lied.”

    He exhaled audibly. “That’s going to make the romantic abduction I have planned for you considerably less awkward.”

    Laughter bubbled through her lips, and she shook her head, eyes moistening. “I can’t let you give up everything for me.”

    “I would,” he said gruffly.

    She squeezed her eyes shut. “No, I don’t want that. I’ll talk to my father. I’ll see if—”

    “I’ve already talked to your father,” he said, cutting her off. He touched her face.

    Her jaw dropped, emotion clogged her throat. “You have?”

    He reached for her, pulled her into his lap, and she melted into his heat. “He requested I get you to move home, but if you would prefer Paris—”

    She kissed him, love and hope swelling so big inside her.

    “I’m in love with you, Addison,” he said softly, stroking her cheek.

    “I love you too.”

    “Enough to give up Paris for me? Because I’m willing to move, but I draw the line at getting manicures. I know metrosexuals are all the rage but—”

    She cut him off with her mouth, kissing his smile as she held his face in her hands. When she pulled back, she said, “The only thing better than coming home is coming home to you.”

     

     

    THE END

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