Just One Night. Part 1 (7 page)

“He’s a fun date, right?” Glory’s nudging me and very possibly fishing for information.

I nod, unwilling to give her more than that. She’s right about William, though. Charity balls and princess dresses are waaaay better than sitting at home mourning the years I wasted on the wrong guy.

I take a sip of my drink, and the champagne bubbles tickle my nose. Attempting to stop the sensation from taking over, I wiggle my face around, but it’s useless. I put my finger under my nose and squeeze my eyes shut a second before I lose control. “Ahhh …
choo!”

“Aww, you have the cutest sneeze!” Glory links her arm through mine once again and smiles like a loon as she looks out over the crowd that’s getting thicker by the second. “Come on. Let’s go find our dates before they disappear.”

“Disappear?” I blink my lids a few times, trying to clear the tears that appeared with my sneeze before they fall down my cheeks and make me look like I’m crying.

She rolls her eyes. “You know how they are. They get to talking about this business deal and that business deal, and an hour later I’m dancing by myself while they’re all standing in the corner with frowns on their faces. I told Jimmy that ain’t gonna happen this time. I refuse to dance alone ever again.”

I nod, afraid I might say something that will reveal I know nothing about William and that I’ll never see him or his friends again after tonight. My dances tonight will be with William, but any that happen after will be with someone else entirely. Before, that thought would have been exciting and wild. Right now it makes me feel a little hollow inside.

I instantly want to slap myself.
Jennifer, what do you think you’re doing? You can’t go off-track now! Focus!
I steel myself against those silly emotions as soon as they start to trickle in. This is a one-time deal only. That’s what’s making it so much fun and so charged with sexual energy. If William and I thought this was the first date of many, there’d be pressure of a different sort, the kind that makes people act like someone else, makes them feel like they have to say and do certain things to impress the other person. Knowing this night isn’t going to be repeated is making it easier for me to be free of all that, and for him too. This whole Cinderella at the ball thing is not his usual way of operating, I’m sure of it. He’d go broke, otherwise.

I nod silently, knowing I’m steering myself in the right direction. This night is going to be awesome. This
one
night.

I don’t realize William is near until I feel his hands sliding around my waist from behind. Glory’s arm slips free and she steps away.

My heart skips a beat as I turn my head and find William’s face right next to mine. “I want to show you something,” he whispers in my ear. The smell of his expensive cologne is intoxicating.
Screw champagne.
Who needs that stuff when I can have this?

Jimmy takes Glory by the hand and twirls her in a circle. “Come on, wife, let’s go show these people how to move.”
 

“That’s my man,” she says, her eyes glowing with happiness. Apparently he’s been forgiven for whatever he might have done, just by asking her onto the dance floor. As I watch them grin and snuggle, I can see how they’ve managed to stay together since junior high school. They have true love in their lives, and for some reason it makes me both happy and a little bit sad at the same time.

I turn slightly in William’s arms, glad that he’s left his hands on me. The warmth begins to generate between us, and I have to fight the urge to reach my arms up and put them around his neck. Thoughts of Glory and Jimmy fade away to nothing.

“Where are we going?” I ask. My voice is way too breathy.

“Come see,” he says, sliding his hand down my arm to take me by the hand.

The thickness of his fingers between my much smaller ones gives me a jolt. I can’t stop thinking about his other body parts, wondering if they’re proportional.
Eek! Down, girl! All in good time…
Just the idea is sending thrills all through me. Goosebumps break out on my arms and I try to rub them down with my free hand.

We walk across the lobby and past some elevators. Soon we’re in a small alcove that hosts a bank of payphones. For a moment I think he wants to make a call, but then he switches off the light and turns to face me.

As he moves forward with determination, I step back, taken by surprise and more than a little shocked at the expression on his face. He’s all business and a little bit caveman. The man who made me laugh is completely absent.

“What are we doing?” I whisper. It seems an appropriate question, like we’re hiding from someone back here in this dark corner of the building. Plus I’m a little teeny tiny bit apprehensive. My heart has picked up its pace considerably at this complete change in his demeanor.

His right hand slides up my ribs to rest just under my breast, and he leans down, his mouth suddenly on mine. My back runs into the wall and my body jerks to a halt at the precise moment that his tongue comes out and touches my lips.

I gasp in surprise at his sudden advance, but I’m not complaining; I’m feeling way too good for any of that nonsense. My hands rest for a moment on the wall behind me, palms against the cool surface as I get my balance, and William continues to kiss me. My chest is heaving with the effort it takes to breathe through my strong arousal.

I’ve been told I’m a good kisser, but I know I’ve got nothing on the skills this man possesses. He might be all polite and proper and British on the surface, but oh my … underneath all that starch he’s someone else entirely. I absolutely know he’s going to be good in bed, just from this one kiss. He’s way too confident and coordinated not to be amazing at all of it.

It’s like we’ve done this a thousand times before, the way we fit together and somehow already know the rhythm we share. The shocks of pure adrenaline and sexual energy that are surging through my body aren’t just there because this is our first kiss. There’s something about this man that’s making me catch fire. I can’t even think straight. Luckily, my hands are moving of their own accord and they seem to know what they’re doing.

My palms rest lightly on his chest, my fingers playing with the ribbed edges of his tuxedo shirt. As our tongues come into play, my hands roam upwards. I touch the back of his hair and slip my fingers through the thick strands, grabbing some and using them to pull him down, deepening our kiss.

His hot breath washes over my lips and his tongue slides in and out of my mouth. He changes the angle of his approach so the kiss can go even farther. When his large hand settles over my breast and squeezes, I moan with the sparks of desire that explode between my legs.

Pressing into him elicits a responding groan from deep in his throat. He’s as hard as a rock. His entire length easily sinks into the thin material of my dress. I begin to rub myself on him, unable to resist the temptation when he’s so close and I’m so hot with desire.

He reaches his hand around me and grabs my rear end. Pulling me towards him, he adjusts his hips at the same time and settles his length in exactly the right spot against me. My hips are suddenly on auto-pilot, pulsing and grinding as the heat builds inside me. My panties are completely wet through.

Voices seep through my half-unconscious state.

Voices? Ack! People are coming! What the hell am I doing? Cinderella doesn’t bump and grind in the phone room!

I push him away, breaking our contact, and lean back on the wall. Its cool surface helps bring me back down to Earth. Smoothing my dress, I work at catching my breath and trying to look normal. With trembling hands, I reach up to put my hair back in place. I hadn’t even realized William’s hands were tossing it around until a big clump of it falls down into my face. I imagine myself looking like a half-drunk maniac.

He’s standing above me, his lips partly open in surprise. A moment later, his tongue comes out to lick his bottom lip. After he huffs out a burst of air, he bites his bottom lip and shakes his head slowly from side to side and gives me a somewhat bitter smile.

My heart does a double flip over the smoldering heat I see there.

When he reaches up to smooth his hair over, I instantly wish he hadn’t. I love the look of him out of control. I want to see it again, and soon. This charity ball was a stupid idea. We should have gone right to the bedroom.

I sigh heavily, trying to rid myself of the hot and heavy emotions that are still coursing through me. The voices have moved away from the phone area, but the mood has passed.

“Is this what you wanted to show me?” I finally ask, my breath almost under control. I clear my throat to sound more confident, gesturing out to the side. “Vintage phones?”

Half his mouth moves up in a grin as his hair falls over his eyes again. He smoothes it back once more. “Maybe.” He’s staring at me without blinking.

I can’t help but smile at him, even in the face of his obvious arousal and intensity. He makes me want to sing the theme song from
The Sound of Music
for some reason. “You’re trouble, you know that?” I cock my head to the side as I recall the description he gave of his brother. “Are you sure your name isn’t
Edward
Stratford?”

His sexy mood disappears in a flash. His shoulders go back and his chin lifts just a tiny bit as he turns his head away from me to look out into the hall. I’m left standing in front of a man I’ve never met … cold and very, very businesslike.

“I’m absolutely positive.” He steps back and holds out a hand, looking at me again but this time without the heat. “Would you care to dance? I find I have a little excess energy that begs release.”

My heart plummets into my toes and my smile falls away. I want to tell him that we can work off that excess energy checking out the vintage phones some more, but I don’t. This change in attitude feels too much like rejection. I screwed up and I regret it, but it’s too late.

Instead of trying to fix it with words, I follow quietly along next to him, being careful not to touch him. Back we go towards the ballroom, where I will pretend not to be affected by the hottest, wettest kisses I’ve ever had in my entire life, shared with the most sexy enigmatic and confusing man I’ve ever met.

CHAPTER EIGHT

William

WHAT A COCK-UP. WHAT was I thinking, bringing her in a dark corner to molest her person? It’s bloody madness is what it is. I glance in her direction but cannot read her expression. Her breasts swell over the top of her gown, making me instantly rigid again.

I steel my jaw and look away. That’s the root of the problem right there. Those breasts. Those cloying, lovely mounds of jubbly bubbly flesh that beg to be fondled and kissed and licked. I cannot be blamed for simply being a man of good taste, now can I? It wouldn’t be fair.

“This is a really nice hotel,” Jennifer says as we stand at the entrance to the ballroom. Every time she inhales, her breasts swell up over the top of her bodice, and then when she exhales they retreat. It’s a terrible tease, causing me to break out in sweat as I barely control the urge to release the lovelies from their bonds.

I can picture them bouncing and swaying as the bodice is unzipped and lowered, and my hands coming up to support their pendulous weight. I would gently push them together and squeeze them and suck them and place my jolly roger between them…

Good gravy. I’ve become my brother.

I attempt to air myself out by pulling at my collar. Blinking a few times, I work to get my thoughts back on track. My eyes scan the room, seeking out a jowly, bearded matron to help calm my ardor. Unfortunately, there isn’t a hag in sight. I remain wound tight as a fiddle.

“Yes, it’s brilliant,” I finally say. Apparently, stimulating conversation is no longer an option available to me. A waiter comes by to save me from my complete lack of social graces. “Would you care for some champagne?” I hail my savior posthaste and usher him over with gestures more befitting a traffic officer.

“Yes, thank you,” she says with a smile. I want to believe she’s oblivious to my distraction.

I take two flutes from the tray and hand the first to Jennifer. The second I hold out in between us as the waiter disappears into the crowd. “A toast,” I say, hoping that she won’t toss the sticky beverage in my face for being such a cad.

She holds up her glass and lifts her eyes to meet mine, and that’s all it takes to light the fire within me once more. My cock pushes against my trousers, eager to be freed from its confines. Luckily, my jacket saves me from certain discovery.

“What are we toasting to?” she asks.

“Forgiveness,” I say, lowering my head once in a silent nod of apology.

She leans her flute toward mine and touches them together lightly. The
ching
rings out around us. “And who is forgiving whom?” A saucy smile has begun to appear on her lips, giving me both hope and more blood flow to my nether regions.

“You would be forgiving me. At least, that is my fondest hope.”

She takes a sip of her drink without ever breaking eye contact. “And what would I be forgiving you for, exactly?”

I take a sip of my champagne, preparing my answer. But before I can get the words past my lips, I’m stopped by the expression on her face. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think she just caught a whiff of a truly horrid odor.

“Are you all right?” I ask, lowering my glass and leaning over a bit. “I say … your eyes have gone suddenly bloodshot.”

She shakes her head and puts the edge of her finger up under her nose. Tears begin to come from her eyes and trail down her cheeks.

I feel like the world’s biggest cad, no better than a bloody plonker. “Listen, Jennifer, I’m well and truly sorry for taking advantage of you back there by the telephones. Please accept my humblest apologies. It’ll never happen again, I promise. I’ll be a perfect gentleman for the rest of the evening.”

She backs away, shaking her head, the tears still coming.

My heart sinks. It’s over before it’s begun. And even though I’m out over two thousand quid and a week’s worth of planning, none of that matters when compared to the fun I’ll be missing. I was absolutely certain that a night with Jennifer would be second to none, the bees knees, the dog’s bollocks, and ever so much more.