Falling for Fate (Second Chance Book 2) Page 4

  Please, for the love of God!

  She grinned, sending an impish little smirk up at him that caused his heart to stutter. “I’m a twenty-two-year-old graduate of UT. Hook em’, Horns.” She did something with one of her hands, winked, and continued. “I have degrees in marketing and finance and am about to move to New York to start my new job as an assistant to the director of mark—”

  He didn’t let her finish. Twenty-two was all he’d really needed to hear. Sliding a hand between her legs as he familiarized his mouth with hers, he gave in to the desire to push her as far and hard as she was willing to let him.

  Gripping fragile, lace panties, he pulled until he was holding scraps of fabric in his hand. He let them fall on the sand before he resumed his exploration.

  Holy mother, she was soaking wet. If he got to put his dick inside her, it would be heaven. He stroked the slick folds and sucked her bottom lip. The sounds she made in response made his cock throb.

  “Baby, I don’t know how far you’re willing to go, but I’m about to reach the point of no return.” He spoke softly against her lips, and she arched into him.

  “I-I don’t want you to stop.”

  “Yeah, I got that.” He pressed a finger deep inside her. His own eyes threatened to roll back in his head as hers did. She was the tightest he’d ever felt any woman be. Almost too tight for his finger. “I’m happy to get you off, beautiful, but I’m going to have to limp back home if we don’t stop soon.”

  She answered with a moan and his grip on reality began to slip. He wanted to tear the fragile dress off her sun-kissed skin, memorize her entire body with his tongue before he buried himself so deep inside that she could taste him. As wet as she was, at least one of them was going to come until they blacked out.

  “Dammit to hell, I have to stop. I’m sorry. I have to.” He pulled his finger out of her and put it in his mouth, tasting her sweet flavor.

  Her eyes widened as she watched. “Please. Please don’t stop. I can’t take any more rejection tonight. I can’t. Please.” Tears began to fill her eyes and he cussed himself and whoever the stupid bastard was who’d rejected her before.

  “You don’t even know me,” he said quietly, lowering onto his elbows but still not pressing his weight into her.

  “That’s why it has to be you,” she answered just as low. “I did everything right. I waited. I followed all the rules. And they… And I… You know what? Never mind. I don’t know what came over me.” She shoved at his chest, but he didn’t back off.

  “Wait. Just wait a damn minute.” He brushed his nose against hers. “Tell me what you want. If you promise me you’re not drunk, I’ll do whatever you tell me to.” How this enigmatic woman possessed so much control over him already, he had no idea.

  Propping on her elbows and staring directly into his eyes, she licked her lips. “I am not drunk.”

  “Tell me what you want.”

  Her chest pressed against him when she took a breath. “I want you to fuck me. Here. Now. Please.”

  Christ. Well, okay then. No need to make her say it twice. Though he did love the way those words had fallen from her lips. He sat up and pulled his shirt off over his head. She glanced from side to side and began to pull her dress up.

  Grabbing her hands, he shook his head. “Leave it on. Just in case anyone happens by.”

  Like a photographer his dad might have hired to catch him doing something that would prevent him being able to take over the company. As much as he wanted to see every inch of her glorious body, he didn’t want to risk her being exposed like that.

  He undid his pants. In the back pocket of his jeans was his wallet. He said a silent thank-you to the gods of spontaneous sex and dug the condom out. She watched him, her gaze steady and burning as he ripped open the foil packet and rolled the latex over his length.

  As soon as he was done, she spread her legs and cradled him between them. Her vulnerable expression extracted honesty straight from his core. She was nervous, still with him and practically trembling in anticipation, but nervous. He offered her the best reassurance that he could with all the blood draining south of his brain.

  “I’m not good at much. I’m a fuck-up of a son, I couldn’t be in a relationship if my life depended on it, and I might be about to run my family’s business straight into the ground.” He slid his erection through her gloriously primed folds. “But this? This I can do so well I could gold fucking medal in it.”

  She whimpered as he sank into her. Damn sand was everywhere and it did not provide the resistance he wanted. His knees slid, unable to get the traction he needed.

  “After we’re finished here, I’m carrying your sexy ass back to my beach house and spreading you out on my bed so we can do this right.” The declaration surprised him. He’d never taken a woman to his room at the beach house—his conquests were happy to settle for guest rooms. But this woman he had already pictured in his bed and now he had to make it so.

  She shivered, and he pressed himself in deeper.

  Before he could get all the way inside her body, something inside fought against him, restricting him. He thrust harder and felt the barrier break, granting him the full access he ached for. The second he was all the way in, his dick was surrounded by liquid fire. Motherfucking shit.

  A gargled sound escaped her throat, and he watched helplessly as she bit down hard on her bottom lip, her angelic face twisted into an expression of pain.

  Shock washed over him as hard and cold as an actual wave from the ocean would have. “What the—”

  He couldn’t finish his sentence because the woman he was still inside shoved her fingers against his mouth. She shook her head. Her eyes were lethal as they bored into his.

  “Do. Not. Stop. I mean it. I’m a grown woman. A consenting adult. I want this. So show me those gold-medal skills. Now.”

  Her walls throbbed around him. He was so turned on that he could hardly fucking breathe. And he was outright terrified.

  He wasn’t just giving this obviously wounded woman a quick fuck on the beach to make her feel better like he’d thought. She was giving him, a complete stranger, her virginity.

  What the hell did that say about her? Before he could voice these concerns, she kissed him hard and deep on the mouth and he returned her enthusiasm. Lashing his tongue against hers, his hips set a steady rhythm he hoped they could both handle.

  He wanted to be perfect for her even more now. Wanted to imprint himself inside her so no other man would ever be able to measure up. What the hell did that say about him?

  He gripped her hard—too hard, probably—but she deepened the kiss, so he didn’t let go. Licking her neck, he made his way south. He let his teeth graze the exposed swells of her breasts. She moaned louder.

  Oh yeah. He was going to make her scream. Damn, he wished he’d told her his name so she would have something to scream. There’d be time for that. This was just to take the edge off. He’d break her in and spend the rest of the summer inside her if she was willing.

  When her tight walls began to grip and clench him hard and fast, he lowered his mouth even more. Using his chin to maneuver the fabric out of his way, he licked and sucked until he found a nipple. He pulled it between his teeth and she writhed beneath him. Grinding himself harder into her, he went in search of the other nipple. When he found it, she arched so hard off the ground that she almost bucked him off her. Her fingers dug deep into his back and shoulders.

  “Easy, baby.” He kissed his way back up her throat and whispered in her ear. “If I’d known I was the first, I would’ve tasted that sweet, virgin pussy.”

  She came so hard that he felt every convulsion, inside and out. She rocked and jerked and shuddered to the point that he would’ve thought she was seizing out on him if he couldn’t feel her pleasure around his cock.

  Her breathy sounds filled his head, even drowning out the ocean beside them. Combined with the aggressive assault her walls were launching on his dick, it was too much. He let
go and spiraled out into ecstasy right along with her.

  When they both came back to Earth, he was sprawled across her and panting. He’d been with his fair share of women. Maybe a few other guys’ shares, too. Never a virgin though, and never one who had owned him so completely. Somehow this woman had made him forget himself—allowing him only to focus every ounce of his attention on her. If he could’ve thought straight, he might’ve been concerned.

  “Thank you,” she said quietly from underneath him.

  He slid out of her, and her body gently rocked against him. A small whimper escaped her throat. Jesus. The sound nearly made him hard all over again.

  “You’re welcome, beautiful.” He brushed his mouth against hers and sat up. “And thank you right back.”

  After pulling the condom off, he pinched it with two fingers and set it aside. Once he’d zipped up and put his shirt back on, he watched as she sat up and drew her knees to her chest. It was like that last half hour hadn’t happened and she was right back to where he’d found her. Except that she wasn’t. He’d changed her. Hell, what they’d done had changed them both.

  “Hey.” He knelt down so he could look her in the eyes. She tried to look away, but he placed a finger under her chin and turned her face to his. “Whoever upset you tonight deserves a swift kick in the ass. And also, I’d like to shake his hand.”

  Her brows dipped and that same hurt from earlier rippled across her delicate features.

  “Because if he hadn’t, you wouldn’t have gone sprinting by my beach house.” His words made her smile, and he grinned back. An unfamiliar sensation of tightness filled his chest, but it wasn’t uncomfortable, just different. “And as soon as I dispose of this,” he said, lifting the used condom off the ground, “I’ll take you to my place and give you the tour. We can shower and get this sand out of all the places where one should not have sand.”

  “Okay.” A flush covered her cheeks.

  He couldn’t help but grin. She was embarrassed now. He winked and kissed her on the forehead.

  Glancing around, he saw that the only garbage can was about half a mile up toward the strip of houses and resorts. As he jogged over to them, he had the strangest feeling that he shouldn’t have left her alone. It was dark after all.

  He picked up the pace and tossed the condom in the trash from a foot away. A group of teenagers giggling and whispering passed in front of him. He could smell the joint they were handing around. Ah, to be young.

  After they passed, he walked briskly back to the woman whose name he was about to demand. He wished he had his cell phone so he call Keaton and tell him to get everyone out of his house pronto. He’d handle that once he got back to his place though. His fantasies of taking her slow and deep in the shower were running rampant. But when he returned to the spot where he’d left her, they died a screaming death.

  He looked in every possible direction. Checked the sand for telltale footprints. There were too many to pick out one particular path.

  Lowering himself into the position that mirrored the one she’d been in, he let his head drop to his hands. He’d done everything wrong. She was beautiful. Perfect. Wounded. And she’d wanted him. Needed him. He should’ve refused to give in until she had at least told him her name. Should’ve begged and pleaded until she’d come back to his beach house, where they could talk about whatever the hell had her so upset.

  It didn’t even matter now. She was gone.

  What did I just do?

  It couldn’t be undone. There was no going back. The finality of it slammed down onto her hard and fast.

  Each time the ocean receded from the shoreline, she felt like it was pulling her along with it. The sand was literally falling away from beneath her. Her heart pounded, rushing a flood of blood to her ears.

  She wasn’t this woman—this impulsively reckless woman who got fucked by a stranger on the beach in the dark. What had he said about his beach house? And other people?

  How would he introduce her? As the woman who’d just given him her virginity without offering her name or asking for his?

  This is shock. I’m going into shock.

  She couldn’t do this. She had to get out of here.

  Standing shakily, she began to distance herself from the ocean she’d almost walked into. A group of what sounded like teenagers passed behind her, laughing softly and talking about the party they were heading to. She maneuvered around them and practically ran the few feet to the closest beach house—a dark-blue, well weathered, clapboard two-story with a detached garage. She stole around the edge of the garage and peeked back to where she’d last seen her sexy stranger. With each step, she expected to hear a man yell out for her, but what could he yell?

  He didn’t know her name.

  I have nowhere to go.

  It was the only thought permeating the haze of shock that still clouded her mind the next morning. She’d waited until her she was fairly certain her sexy stranger had made his way back to his beach house before walking back to The Atlantica sans shoes.

  The place had been practically deserted. The decorations were gone. The wedding was officially off.

  A student from a local community college was currently subletting the apartment she’d shared with her mom while Brenda Buchanan was in rehab. Fate had been thankful to have the rent covered. Now, she wished she could run back home and hide. But she couldn’t. Trevor or no Trevor, she had a job in New York, one she now needed desperately.

  I have a job. That’s a good thing. I just have nowhere to live.

  That was the primary issue at the moment, one she had no idea how to deal with. Trevor had a place in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. She did not.

  A knock on the door of the bridal suite startled her out of her depressing thoughts. Fate stilled in the midst of zipping her now unnecessary wedding dress into the garment bag.

  She’d sneaked back in late last night, counting her lucky stars that no one had seen her. It looked as if her luck had run out. Her heart picked up the pace like a wild racehorse competing for the Triple Crown.

  “Fate?”

  The voice was soft, heavy with grief, and female.

  Closing her eyes, Fate took several deep breaths. She fisted her shaking hands and walked over to the door. When she opened it, a redhead with red-rimmed eyes stood on the other side.

  “He’s not in here with me, Melissa. He’s all yours. I’m on my way out.”

  Her former best friend’s lower lip trembled. “I-I’m not here for him. I’m here to talk to you. I know you probably don’t care what I have to say, but I thought it might do us both some good to clear the air.” After a deep breath, the other woman added a, “Please,” to her offer.

  Fate frowned, trying to decide if she was strong enough to stomach Melissa’s detailing the events that had led to this nightmarish catastrophe of epic proportions.

  After a few tension-filled seconds, she decided that knowing was better than not knowing despite the fact that it made no difference either way. What was done was done.

  “I saw enough to put the pieces together,” Fate began, opening the door wider. “But if there’s something else you need to say, I won’t stop you.”

  Melissa let out a strangled cry of relief. “I know this doesn’t matter now, but I never wanted to hurt you. I don’t think Trevor did either.” She stepped past Fate into the room and gestured to the bed. “Can we sit?”

  “You can,” Fate said, moving to the side near the vanity table and folding her arms.

  Melissa lowered herself onto the bed and used an already wadded tissue from her hand to dab her eyes. She wasn’t sobbing, but her eyes seemed to be perpetually filled with tears.

  “It started last year—right after Ethan proposed.”

  Fate’s chest constricted. Ethan and Melissa had ended things more than six months ago. So for at least half a year, the past one hundred and eighty days or so, her fiancé and best friend had been sleeping together. It didn’t feel good to know.
>
  “Okay. Well, thanks for the timeline. Is that all?”

  Melissa shook her head. “I made a mistake. Several actually. The rumors are true. I cheated on Ethan. I had this strange fear that, somehow, once we were married, we’d fall into a mundane routine and I’d suffocate. I just… I wanted one last fling, you know?”

  Fate didn’t know. She had no idea why someone would cheat on a man like Ethan. He was handsome and successful, and he had adored her friend from what she’d seen.

  “You and I are very different people,” was all she could offer.

  “I plan weddings for a living, Fate. And I keep up with some of my clients. Marriage felt terrifying to me. Like a trap, like a place where everything that made me me would be sucked out and I’d just become Ethan’s wife and nothing more. I can’t explain it beyond telling you that I felt like I was losing myself and I went out one night with my friend, Alicia. We were just flirting and being ridiculous—giving guys fake names and numbers and acting impulsively.” She glanced around the room as if looking for an alternate ending to her story, but Fate could already feel the impending betrayal. “We had too much to drink. Alicia had a steady bed buddy that she called and left to go see and I just kept drinking. Right before last call, I saw him sitting with a few friends of his and I… I don’t know what I thought would happen but...”

  Fate could see it. She could see a drunken Melissa stumbling over to Trevor and his friends in a bar, basically propositioning him. He had been sexually frustrated due to her stipulation about waiting, so it probably hadn’t taken much convincing.

  “He was just…familiar. Safe. I only asked him to give me a ride home. I never meant for it to…to go that far.”

  The confession was whispered, but Fate felt as if it had been screamed at her. She didn’t want to hear anymore, but she couldn’t seem to get her mouth to form the words to make Melissa stop talking.

  “It was just supposed to be one time. And then…it wasn’t.”