Cinderella Sweepstakes, indeed. Lauren was pretty certain that she’d been sucked into some kind of fairy tale. But instead of a royal ball, it was a charity gala in Royal and, instead of a prince, she was dancing with the big, bad wolf in an Armani tuxedo. She kept waiting to lose a shoe and turn into a pumpkin, but midnight came and went, and the smooth, seductive prince was still holding her in his arms.
She couldn’t believe it. Or how she was behaving. There was a certain magic to the mask she hadn’t expected when she’d put it on that night. It made her feel bold. Brazen. And beyond reckless. Combined with the dark press of the dance floor, the mask made words flow freely from her lips that she’d never dream of saying without it.
Her masked suitor hadn’t left her side all night. They’d danced, perused the silent auction offerings and nibbled on plates of hors d’oeuvres they’d selected between dances. It was a nice spread rife with cocktail shrimp, sweet-and-spicy meatballs, crostini with caviar, and endive with lump crab and blue cheese. It lacked a certain something that as a chef she noticed, but she wouldn’t dare say as much.
Instead, she ate what she could, hoping some food would help keep her stomach from flip-flopping in her gown. It wasn’t helping, though, because it wasn’t an empty tummy or too much alcohol that was causing her squirrely stomach. It was nerves.
The night was winding down. Judging by the way her companion held her when they danced, their time together was building up to something. Was she ready for it? When those green eyes looked at her through that mask, she felt a pull deep inside.
Yes.
She was ready for anything her handsome masked suitor had to offer. Tonight she was going to do what she felt like doing. Not what was best for the business. What was best for Lauren. And she couldn’t come up with a single reason why giving herself body and soul to the sexy, articulate man holding her in his arms was a bad idea. She’d given so many years to her business, denying her body the closeness it craved to another person. She was tired of being lonely.
The song they were dancing to ended and instead of pulling away, her dancing partner drew her closer. The feel of his hard, muscular body pressing into her made her pulse start to race. She was probably blushing like mad beneath her mask, not that he could see it. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her breasts against the firm wall of his chest.
His jaw flexed as he looked down at her and took a ragged breath. “Come with me, Red,” he said.
There was something different in the way he looked at her now. He wasn’t asking her to come with him to get a drink or bid on a gift basket. No, she knew what he was asking and she was eager to comply. She took the hand he held out to her and let him lead her off the dance floor.
They cut through the crowds and deeper into the club instead of moving to the door.
“Where are we going?” she whispered. She wasn’t very familiar with the club, but it was clear to her that he was as they went down a dark hallway. She felt her nerves increase as they disappeared into the back of the building. She had to tell herself he was looking for privacy, not a good laugh, to keep her feet moving in step behind his.
“I thought you might be interested in shooting a little pool.” He opened a door and they stepped into the dark room.
She felt her body start to relax when she glimpsed the moonlight coming through a window, highlighting the large, oak billiard table in the center of the room. Around the edge were bar-height tables and racks filled with pool cues on the wall. It seemed just like the kind of space where filthy-rich cowboys would sit around, drink a beer or some whiskey and shoot a few games together.
Lauren walked into the room and let her manicured fingers drag along the felt top of the heavy, wooden pool table. She set her purse aside, turned back to face him and leaned against the edge. “Really?” she said with a sly smile that betrayed the butterflies swarming inside of her. “You brought me back here to this dark, private room so we could play...pool?”
The light from the hallway highlighted his amused smile until he shut the door and the heavy blackness of the night hid it away. “Not exactly.”
She could just make out the shape of him as he slipped out of his tuxedo jacket and tossed it over the nearby bar stool. “But I thought perhaps we could play a little game.”
“I’m listening,” she purred, hoping her coy words would cover how nervous she was.
“I was thinking something a little more intimate than billiards. Something where we both can win.”
“Will there still be wood, balls and the occasional scratching involved in your game?”
“God, I hope so,” he said under his breath. “What do you say?”
“It sounds like fun. I’m in. But I have one condition.”
He straightened up and put his hands in his pockets. “And what’s that, Red?”
“The masks stay on and the lights stay off.” She wanted to keep up the mystery for both of them. Her bravado would crumble without it to hide behind. She might be willing to give this man her body, but being in this place again after all these years, she needed to keep a piece of herself protected.
He didn’t answer. Instead, he moved closer to her, hesitating for only a moment before picking her up and lifting her fully onto the pool table. She let out a startled whoop as she landed, reaching for him to steady herself. He was all too eager to pull her close.
“Wow,” she whispered against his throat.
She heard him chuckle softly before he pulled away just a bit. “I hope that’s not the last time you say that tonight.”
Then his lips found hers for the first time and her head started swimming so wildly from the intensity of their kiss that the next few minutes were a dark, pleasurable blur. His mouth never left hers as her beaded gown was pushed up her legs.
“How do you like the game so far?” he rasped, nestling himself between her thighs and cupping her ass with his hands to tug her hips hard against the throbbing erection pressing against his trousers.
Lauren gasped at the feeling of him pressed so intimately against her and then wrapped her legs around his waist to keep him there. “It’s way better than billiards.”
She leaned in to kiss him again and, as she nipped gently at his bottom lip, they quickly reached the point of no return. This was really, truly happening. Sex with a stranger. In public. The thought was enough to send a shiver through her whole body in anticipation. Their hands explored each other’s unfamiliar bodies, fighting with buttons and zippers, tugging aside cotton and satin until each finally made contact with the naked skin they desperately sought out.
Lauren couldn’t get enough of her masked man. With his tuxedo shirt open to the waist, she found he was hard in all the right places with rough patches of hair on his chest that tickled her palms. The warm scent of his skin teased at her senses, urging her to bury her face in his throat and taste him. The growl that rumbled from deep inside his chest vibrated against her lips and fingertips. She might not be an expert where seduction was concerned, but it sounded like she was hitting all the right buttons with him.
The wolf’s hands moved over her outer thighs, pushing the heavy fabric of her gown higher. “Lift your hips, Red,” he said, and she complied. Now the dress was bunched around her waist, giving him free access to everything from there down.
That was exactly how he must’ve wanted it. His fingers grasped the sides of her panties and tugged them down her legs, stopping long enough to slip off her rhinestone-covered heels and let them fall to the floor along with the panties in his hand.
Had the lights been on, Lauren would’ve felt incredibly exposed, but in the dark there was a freedom she didn’t expect. Her partner could only see with his hands, something that would greatly benefit her, of that she was certain.
As he stood up, his hands smoothed back over her legs. He dipped to the inside of her knees and stroked the skin of her inner thighs even as he inched them farther apart. Lauren could feel the cool air on her newly exposed flesh, but to her surprise it was quickly followed by the moist heat of his breath.
She wasn’t prepared for his tongue.
Lauren gasped and squirmed against the hard edge of the pool table. With each flick of his tongue across her aching flesh, her mind went blank to everything but the waves of pleasure that pulsated through her body. She had to lean back onto her elbows before she collapsed entirely. Her back arched, her hands clawing futilely at the felt top. In mere moments, this stranger had coaxed heady sensations from her that she could hardly remember having before. He had her on the edge of climax and he’d barely touched her.
“Lie back and relax,” he commanded, briefly lifting his head. Lauren couldn’t do anything but comply. The man moved each of her legs over his shoulders, pushing her knees backward until they were pressed to her chest. With her pinned there, he unleashed a fresh assault on her center.
It was unlike anything she’d ever felt before. She couldn’t escape the sensations, couldn’t pull away from his mouth. Before she knew it, an orgasm washed over her that was stronger than any one she’d ever had. She bit into the side of her hand to keep from screaming out loud until the waves passed. But he didn’t stop. He let up for only a moment, allowing her to catch her breath before he started again. She didn’t think it was possible, but she came again almost immediately, harder than before.
“Please stop,” she gasped and pressed against his head to push him away. Lauren wasn’t sure she could take a third orgasm so soon.
He relented, lowering her legs and allowing them to fall like limp noodles over the edge of the table. “You’ve had enough?” he asked.
“Enough of that. Now I want you. Or are you going to keep me waiting?”
He stood up, resting his hands on her shaky knees. “Not too much longer. I’ve just got to take care of one, important, final detail.”
Lauren watched as the dark shape of his body moved across the room to where he’d left his tuxedo jacket. He dug around in the pockets for a moment before returning to her still-trembling body.
Stepping back between her thighs, he put something on the pool table beside her bare hip. The moonlight caught the foil packaging to reveal the condom he’d sought out. Thankfully, he planned for things like this. It was so unlike Lauren to do something like this that she never would’ve had condoms in her purse.
She heard the clinking of his belt and the buzz of him undoing his zipper. Felt him reach for the condom to put it on. Then his hands gripped her hips and he entered her in one, slow, steady stroke. The hard heat of him sinking into her welcoming body was a pleasure she’d long denied herself. Building her business hadn’t allowed her much of a social life. She dated now and then, but nothing serious. How could she date in a town where all her peers thought she was a joke? It wasn’t impossible, but it had been so long, she almost couldn’t believe it was really happening.
Lauren pushed herself upright on the edge of the table, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. Pressing her satin-covered breasts against the wall of his chest, she leaned in and whispered, “I need you so badly,” before gently biting at his earlobe.
He must’ve liked it because he shuddered in her arms and stilled himself, perhaps to regain control. She was pretty sure he was fighting a losing battle, because this fantasy had them both riding the razor edge of desire. He gripped her back and pulled Lauren so close to the precipice that she might have fallen without his support. Then he gave her what she’d asked for. He filled her again and again, pounding hard into her quaking body.
He didn’t know her name or anything about her, but he seemed to know exactly what Lauren needed from him. She didn’t think it was possible to respond to him so quickly, but she was on the edge of coming apart again. She clung to her big, bad wolf, gasping and whimpering into his shoulder.
As Lauren’s release came closer, her body tensed and her cries sharpened. He responded by redoubling his efforts and thrusting harder than ever before. She instantly unraveled, shattering into climax as she bit into the flesh of his shoulder to silence her screams. When she was finally silent and still, he thrust hard one last time and finished with a deep groan of satisfaction.
They collapsed back onto the pool table together, and after a moment he rolled off to the side to rest beside her and catch his breath. It was strange to lie there together in the pitch-darkness of the room, hearing the voices and music from the great room just feet down the hall from where they were.
She expected the wolf to say something, but they both seemed comfortable enough in the silence. Perhaps too comfortable. After a few minutes, his breathing was steady and even. He’d fallen asleep beside her. She was tempted to curl against him and give in to the lure of sleep, too. But she needed to go.
The morning would bring nothing but disappointment for them both. Lauren knew it deep down. She was not the glamorous seductress she’d pretended to be tonight. She’d never acted more out of character in her whole life. Staying behind meant that her lover would learn the truth. And that would ruin everything.
Moving as quietly as she could, Lauren slipped off the table. She shimmied her dress down her legs and then sought out her things in the darkness.
Looking back over her shoulder, she could see he was still fast asleep on the table. She pulled her mask off and tossed it onto the felt beside him. A little memento for him to remember her by.
With that done, she opened the door and crept out into the hallway and out of his life.
“What the—”
Sutton groaned and pushed up onto his elbows. Every muscle in his body ached in a way he’d never felt before and he’d been awakened by a pain in his lower back that was strong enough to rouse him. It felt like he’d been sleeping on a wooden plank or something. Looking around the dark room, it all came back to him. He was still in the club billiard room and he had, in fact, been sleeping on a wooden plank. He’d fallen asleep on the pool table after making love to his dance partner. He lifted his wrist and squinted in the dark at the face of his Rolex. It was four thirty in the morning.
He turned his head toward the spot where she’d lain beside him. The room was still dark, but he couldn’t make out the shape of her there. He stretched his arm out across the soft, felt surface of the table, but it just kept going. The surface was cold, with no trace of her warm, supple body beside him. Then his fingertips brushed against something.
Sitting up, Sutton slid off the table and crossed the room to switch on the light. He winced for a moment before his eyes adjusted and he could see what was left behind on the table. It was her mask. He walked over to pick it up and, once he did, he held it in his hands for a moment.
He knew then that Red was long gone. And he had no way of ever knowing who she was or how to find her again.
Dammit.
With her gone, the novelty of the darkness and anonymity of their encounter wasn’t as exciting. Now it was just frustrating as hell. That woman—that red-gowned goddess—was the greatest thing to happen to him in a long time. They had a connection unlike anything he’d felt with another woman before. And now he had nothing to show for their encounter but a stiff back and an ornate, black mask.
He sighed and tossed the mask onto the pool table. Then he focused on gathering up the rest of his clothes and putting them back on. His own mask was on the floor with his tie. He picked it up and threw it into the trash can. He wasn’t going to hide anymore. Not from the small-minded people in town who wanted to believe the worst of him and not from anyone else. His desire to escape from reality, even for just one night, had cost him his chance to have something...special. Maybe the kind of relationship he’d never had before.
As crazy as it sounded, somehow he knew it was true. His playboy reputation in Royal was well earned, but last night was different. She was different. He didn’t wake up satiated and ready to tackle the next challenge. Rather, he felt like he’d been robbed in his sleep. He’d already lost his home and fortune, but somehow this hurt even worse. He wasn’t used to this feeling. To losing. But it was all he seemed to do lately.
Sutton picked up her mask and looked at it again. A part of him wanted to throw it out along with his own. It was probably better that he forget all about tonight and about her. He and his family had enough to deal with right now without him adding unnecessary drama. But he couldn’t bring himself to toss it away. It was all he had left of her. Instead, he stuffed it into his pocket and headed to the door. He needed to take a cue from Cinderella and get out of here before he had to do the walk of shame through a lobby full of folks who were there to play an early-morning round of golf.
As he stepped out into the hallway, he found the rest of the club was as dark and quiet as the room he’d come from. The party had ended a long time ago. Some dim lighting around the bar area highlighted the broken-down tables and equipment that were stacked up to be carried off in the morning. It also highlighted a familiar, slumped figure sitting at the bar.
“Sebastian? Is that you?”
The figure turned toward him and lifted his mask up so that it sat on top of his head. Yes, it was his twin brother, Sebastian, looking exhausted and depressed as he clutched a glass of something in his hand. “Sutton?” He frowned in confusion. “What are you doing here so late?”
“I just woke up. I passed out in the billiard room. Why are you still here?”
His twin shook his head and sighed sadly. “I was with a woman tonight. An amazing woman. A dream in red that I would marry on the spot if she’d have me. But she disappeared before I could even get her name.”
Sutton frowned at the all-too-familiar story. What were the odds that both of them would have an incredible night with a woman in red that fled at the first chance? It was an uncanny coincidence, but perhaps it was just that kind of a night. Maybe there was something in the air. “Okay, but why are you sitting at the bar at this hour instead of going home?”
Sebastian shrugged. “Well, when I woke up alone, I came back to the bar to pour myself a drink and commiserate over my bad luck with women. So I’ve just been sitting here thinking about everything that happened tonight. About her and how captivating she was. I’ve never met another woman like her, Sutton.” He shook his head sadly. “And then I started thinking about everything going on with the company and the feds. Time got away from me, I guess.”
“We’ve both got a lot on our minds.”
His brother nodded and then turned to look at him curiously. “How did you fall asleep in the billiard room?” he asked, as though he’d finally processed his brother’s words from minutes before.
“I was back there with a woman. She ran off, too. Seems we both had amazing nights with women who would rather we not call them the next day.”
“Do you ever call them the next day?”
Sutton frowned at his brother. When it came to romance, he and his twin couldn’t be more different. “I resent that implication. There are many women around town that may have loved and lost me over the years, dear brother, but I was always a gentleman in the end. I’ve never left a woman scorned.”
Sebastian looked at him as though he didn’t quite believe Sutton’s version of events, but shook his head before saying so. “Well, it sounds like you got a little bit of your own medicine tonight. She left you wanting more for once, huh?”
That was an understatement. But it was too late to be philosophizing about dating karma and how it had made its way back to Sutton with a vengeance.
“Are you hungry?” he asked, changing the subject.
Sebastian shrugged. “I guess I could eat. All those appetizers didn’t really add up to dinner.”
He slapped his brother on the back and fished his keys out of his suit-coat pocket. “Come on, then. I’ll drive us to the Royal Diner and treat you to an early breakfast before we head home. Maybe we can beat the sunrise.”