Inferno Anthology (23 page)

“Shit, I need to go to bed.” I needed to get away from the mesmerizing man quickly before I did something stupid.

His wicked smile grew, but he didn’t respond.

“Sienna, I’m going to go to bed. You coming?” I yelled to the other end of the bar where she was snuggled with Tyler.

“I’ll meet you up there in a little bit, Syd.”

Jack came around the bar and put his hand on the small of my back. I had to struggle to keep still, as his hand ignited my skin beneath his touch. “I’ll walk you to your room.” Jack tossed Tyler the keys. His hand never left me as we walked and I wondered if he felt my skin burning underneath his big hand.

“So, Syd, or is it Jill, why did Sienna not want to tell me your real name?”

Alcohol was like truth serum to me. Insert a few shots and out comes everything you ever wanted to know. “She had a crazy idea that I should have an anonymous fling while we are here to celebrate my newly found singleness.”

“And why is that crazy?” His tone was flat and serious.

I actually thought about the question for a minute, and couldn’t come up with an answer. “Umm, I’m not sure, I guess it isn’t really that crazy. People do it all the time with one night stands.”

He didn’t say anything more as we entered the elevator. He stood close behind me, even though there was no one else in the car. I felt his warm breath on my neck and my body was sizzling from how close he was. He had to feel it too.

Stepping off the elevator to my floor, I was disappointed to lose his body next to mine. His hand returned to the small of my back as we made our way to the door of my room. “So it’s all settled then.”

I was digging into my bag to find my key and looked up at him, confused, sure I must have dazed out and missed some of our conversation. He continued, “I already know your name and know you have a great voice, so it can’t be total anonymity. How about if we limit each other to ten personal questions? That way we don’t get to know each other that well, and it will still be sort of anonymous.”

My mouth dropped open at his suggestion. I wasn’t pretending to be shocked, I was shocked. “Are you saying you want to have sex with me this week and only get to ask and be asked ten personal questions?”

“That’s what I’m saying.” His response was dead serious.

“You’re crazy.” I glared at him, my face confirming that I thought he was insane.

“I thought we just established that it wasn’t crazy.”

“I didn’t say
it
was crazy, I said
you’re
crazy.”

But Jack didn’t respond to my accusation with words. Instead, he reached down and lifted me up effortlessly, pinning me against the door to my room, wrapping my legs around his waist. His mouth aggressively covered mine and he licked my lips, demanding them to open. Unconsciously, my lips parted and our tongues instantly collided in desperation. It wasn’t a first kiss. It was
the
first kiss. We held each other tight and his mouth devoured mine harshly with a raw need raging between us. His body pressed tightly against mine and every ounce of my body was electrified from head to toe. I felt his erection hard against my stomach and knew his body was as in tune to mine as mine was to his.

He broke the kiss and leaned his forehead against mine, looking into my eyes. We were both breathless and panting. “I felt it the first minute I looked at you. You felt it too.”

I couldn’t deny that he was right. “Yes.” The word came out breathless and throaty. It didn’t even sound like my voice.

“You better unlock that door and deadbolt it quickly, before I stop being a gentleman and fuck you tonight even though you are drunk.”

I bit my bottom lip and he slowly lowered me to my feet, our bodies pressed against each other intimately as I slid down from his waist.

He kissed me on the lips hard and pulled back to look at me. His beautiful green eyes turned almost gray with intensity. “No drinking tomorrow.” It was more of an order than a request.

I opened the door to my room and turned back to him as he stood in the doorway. I could tell that he was fighting hard to control himself.

“Okay.” I whispered and then shut the door.

I
woke the next morning to a knock at the door and was quickly reminded of the night before as I attempted to lift my head. My head was throbbing and I felt as though I had gone three rounds in a heavyweight match, with me being the loser of the bout. I looked over at Sienna’s bed, where she was still sleeping soundly.

I answered the door to find room service with a cart. “Good morning, Ms. Aldridge, we have your breakfast ready.” The waiter’s voice wasn’t particularly loud, yet every word felt like a nail being pushed further into my brain.

“I’m sorry, there must be a mistake, I didn’t order any breakfast.”

“Mr. Cole requested that we deliver to your room promptly at 11am.”

“Mr. Cole?” I must have looked as confused as I was.

“He wrote a note. Maybe this will explain things.” The waiter patiently stood waiting for my eyes to focus enough to take in the words on the page.

I opened the sealed hotel envelope and read the note. The handwriting was dark, neat and heavily slanted.
Good morning Jill. Drink the tomato juice; it will help with the hangover. Take two of the pills too. Eat the eggs, you will need the energy later. The flowers made me think of you. Jack.
I smiled and shook my head and directed the waiter to roll in the cart. There were two meals and an assortment of drinks, so at least he was thoughtful enough to feed us both. There was also a bottle of unopened aspirin and a beautiful arrangement of the most brightly colored wildflowers I’d ever seen.

I showed the waiter out and took a sip of the tomato juice with two aspirin. The man truly pissed me off and turned me on at the same time. It was very sweet to send me breakfast, but the note was more like an order to eat then a suggestion.

Sienna groaned as she rolled over. “You ordered me breakfast? It better be at least noon if you are waking me up.” Her voice was raspy and her voice sounded like I felt.

“I didn’t order it, Jack sent it. Along with instructions to eat it.” The sarcasm dripped from my voice on the second sentence.

“Jack? Oh. Mmmmm. That man is delicious. You are lucky that I am a good friend who knows you need a rebound fuck, or I would have tied you up in the back of the bar to get first crack at that one.” Sienna got up and went to the bathroom and then started picking at some of the food on the cart. “Let’s be realistic, that man would have found you anywhere I hid you. The way he looked at you made
me
wet!”

I threw a pillow at her. “You are insane … what doesn’t make you horny, woman?” We both laughed and then devoured everything on the cart.

By the time we made our way down to the beach the sun was scorching hot. My headache subsided as I swam in the crystal clear water and reveled in the feel of the soft sand between my toes. I relished the feeling of the sun drying each droplet of water as I relaxed into my lounge chair listening to the ocean waves lightly crashing on to the shore. The rhythm of the surf eventually lulled me to sleep as I lay on my stomach listening to the tranquil sound.

I moaned as I woke to the luxurious feel of the big hands massaging my back. I was groggy and it felt so good. My muscles relaxed under the pressure of the skilled fingers. My sleepy haze drifted, reality seeped into my fantasy, and I jumped as I realized that I was at the beach and had no idea who was touching me. Jack’s strong hands gently but firmly held me down on my stomach in the cushioned lounge chair as I attempted to jump up. His words were low, but there was no mistaking his sexy voice. “Don’t get up, Jill, I untied your top to rub in the sunscreen and you’ll give the whole beach a good show.”

“You scared the shit out of me! Do you make a habit of rubbing down strangers as they sleep?”

He leaned down close to my ear, his front pressed firmly against my back. His voice was low and velvety. “Do you really want to waste one of your ten questions on my habits for rubbing down strangers?”

Shit. Though I didn’t want to be, I was instantly aroused. His voice, his confident words, and his bare chest pressed up against my back, sent my body into a frenzy. My heart rate sped up and my breathing became more labored.
God damn it, control yourself, Sydney.
“You scared me half to death.” I was hoping that he would believe that my reaction was from being scared and not to being near him.

“I’m sorry, baby.” His voice sounded sincere and I was surprised that the man apologized for anything. “Now, if you want, I’ll tie that string you call a top back on and you can get up, or we can both take a few more minutes to enjoy me rubbing your back some more.”

I didn’t want his hands off of me. I sighed, pretending it was a sacrifice. “Keep rubbing.”

I heard a devious chuckle before he sat back up and continued to rub my back until I was completely relaxed again. Then he tied my top back on so that I could sit up.

I righted myself in the oversized lounger and caught the first glimpse of him of the day. I had a picture of him in my head as he was rubbing me, but the picture didn’t come close to the real thing. His shirtless body was even more delectable than I imagined. He had strong, square shoulders, toned pecs and a six pack, which I thought only really existed in air-brushed magazines. His dark plaid swimsuit hung low on his waist, revealing a deep v that pointed to what I imagined was probably also perfect down below. Jack stood and held out his hand to help me up.

I stood and he smiled a sexy devilish grin. “My turn.” He slowly looked me up and down, taking his time to admire all my girl parts. He leaned down to my ear. “Even better than I fantasized, baby.”

I laughed and then went up on my tippy toes to whisper back in his ear. “You took the words right out of my mouth.”

He growled, literally growled at me. Then he scooped me up and started walking toward the water.

“I can walk you know.” I pretended to be annoyed, but did a lousy job since I was smiling the whole time.

“I know you can, but I’m going to take care of you the way a woman like you deserves to be taken care of this week baby.”

I think my heart skipped a beat for a minute at his words. Or maybe it just started beating again finally.

I leaned back in my lounge chair and took a deep, cleansing breath, enjoying the moment. Jack was sitting up behind me, my back to his front, his hands clasped tightly around my waist in a possessive hold. We listened to the waves crash against the surf and watched the sun setting through an amazing bright orange and purple sky. It was the most beautiful sunset that I had ever seen and it felt so natural to be sitting in Jack’s arms watching it.

“Why did you call off your engagement?”

“Are you cashing in on question number one, Jack?” I dared him.

“Yes, so let’s hear it. And remember, I’m using one of my precious chips here, so I want the full story.”

I hadn’t really told many people the full story; it was still difficult to put into words. The people who really knew me just knew I was making the right decision. I wasn’t sure where to start, so I decided to start from the beginning. “I met Michael in high school. We went to the prom together. We were together for six years when he proposed. I said yes, and we planned a long engagement before the wedding.” I paused, contemplating before I continued.

“I don’t think I ever considered not marrying him, it was just the normal progression in our long relationship and everyone expected it would happen. He would have preferred a shorter engagement, but I wasn’t ready yet so I dragged it out as long as I could get away with it. He treated me really well over the years — at least I thought he did. He was every parent’s dream for their daughter. He came from a good home, earned a good living as an attorney, and had nice manners. He seemed like every girl’s dream too. But as the wedding got closer, I grew more nervous. I started to wonder if I had made myself into who he wanted me to be instead of who I really was. I started picturing myself having 2.5 children with a white picket fence and lunches with PTA moms who wore sweater sets.