ONCE I FOUND A QUIET, hidden spot—out of eyeshot from anyone in the party—in the Devlins’ yard, I all but kicked off the rabbit costume and sat my underwear-clad ass down on the bench of the Devlins’ ornate, concrete picnic table while I fanned my face with my hand. Thankfully, the eighty-degree air felt cool in comparison to that fucking costume, and I was finally moving away from the possibility of leaving this party in an ambulance.
I’d never been a smoker, never even really enjoyed the taste of cigarettes, but today felt like the day I might actually enjoy the nicotine high those cancer sticks could provide. I snagged one from the commandeered pack and lit it.
One small inhale and three hearty coughs followed.
Yuck. Now I remember why I’m not a fan.
“Cigs taste better out of someone else’s pocket?” The deep, baritone voice came out of nowhere, and I jumped off the bench and to my feet.
“Jesus Christ!” I shouted, a panicked hand to my chest at the sight of him.
Thankfully, not the one with the cigarette, because holy fuck, that would have hurt.
He was tall and muscular, both dauntingly so, and he was standing just on the other side of the table. “You scared the shit out of me!”
“You should be more aware of your surroundings,” he said without apology, tucking his large hands into the pockets of his pants and kicking just one corner of his exotic looking mouth up into a grin. With a heavy brow and super intense whiskey eyes, his face as a whole was undeniably handsome. But with a scar that ran through one eyebrow and a jaw so severe it alarmed me, he seemed equally sinister.
But goddamn, he’s attractive. It was like his lips held the power to spin a web and ensnare me in a matter of a few measly words. I had the knee-jerk reaction of putting my guard up before he hypnotized me.
“Maybe you shouldn’t sneak up on people,” I retorted and, hoping it would settle my sizzling nerves, attempted to take another drag from the cig in my hand. I, of course, ended up coughing like a maniac again.
His strong mouth easily deepened its grin. “First time?”
“No.” I rolled my eyes. “Of course not.”
He quirked a brow, and trust me, when this guy raised a brow, it didn’t just call bullshit. It called it double.
But I was stubborn, and maybe a little reckless. I’d be damned if I was going to let him be right.
“It isn’t. I used to smoke in high school, thank you very much.”
I’d only smoked once when I was a senior, and it ended the exact same way. But, technically, that made me right.
His eyes were both searching and placating at once. Almost as though he wanted me to feel at ease with him as a means to better be able to strike. “Oh, so it’s old hat, then?”
I shrugged. “Something like that.”
His eyes ran the line of my body slowly. “Got a little hot in that costume?”
I glanced at the costume on the ground and then down at my chest, and my eyes went wide. Holy shit. My nipples are showing! If Kitty Devlin found me lounging around her yard in my underwear, she’d lose her fucking mind. That whole partial proration for being late thing would slide painfully over to zero. And then how would I pay for the fractured shins all of these little jerks had left me with?
I bent and reached for the rabbit costume, but so quickly I didn’t see it coming, his large hand wrapped gently around my wrist. “Please, don’t get dressed on my account. I’m quite enjoying the view.”
“Are you hitting on me?” I asked, and my gaze locked with his. I couldn’t stop myself from getting lost in the fascinating color of his eyes. Soft like honey yet strong like whiskey, they were a singular, mesmerizing shade away from every and any color I’d ever seen before. Truly unique. My stomach turned over as I realized how badly I wanted him to say he was flirting.
He shrugged. “That depends.”
“On what, exactly?”
“If I say yes, are you putting the costume back on?”
“Uh…yeah,” I responded. It’d be a little sleazy if I didn’t put the costume back on after that. Right? Fuck, I needed to put the costume back on anyway before Kitty found me.
Plus, my subconscious whispered, you do realize he can actually see your nipples, right? Just reminding you.
I guessed I probably should’ve been alarmed by that fact, but I wasn’t. At least, not enough to let it show.
Maybe the heat had finally gone to my brain?
The strong lines of his jaw softened in a way I believed impossible. And when his lips quirked up into a small smirk, completely different from his original menacing grin, mind you, I forgot all about my subconscious’s reminder. “Then, no, I’m not. I was merely making an observation about the generous view.”
I couldn’t not smile at that.
God, who was this man? He’d appeared out of nowhere. Maybe I really had passed out from heat stroke, and he was an illusion.
If he’s an illusion, Alex, he’s the best sexual mirage you’ve ever seen. The equivalent of an ice-cold glass of water in the middle of the Sahara.
“What’s your name, sweetheart?”
“I don’t give my name to strangers,” I said. Jesus. I sounded exactly like one of the petulant kids at this party.
He chuckled and held out his hand. “I’m Matt.”
His amusement disarmed me.
“I’m Alex,” I said, and when his palm met mine, I felt overwhelmed—like anxiousness was consuming me. I wanted to let go and latch on at the same fucking time.
“The pleasure’s all mine, Alex.” He held my hand for a few beats too long before releasing it. “So, this birthday rabbit gig…is this your regular job?”
I laughed. “Um, no. Pretty sure it’s a one-time thing.”
He grinned. “Not a fan of the costume?”
“That’s putting it mildly,” I answered honestly, realizing for the first time that we were completely alone, and I didn’t know what he was capable of.
He was a beast of a man with trim, cut muscles filling out his commandingly tall frame. Short, mussed up dark hair highlighted his strength and even the slightly severe lines of his scruff-covered face.
I should have feared him. Rationally, I knew it. But my curiosity had always lived by a code of rebelliousness, and now was no different. He was the apple Eve had taken a bite out of in human form.
Sexy outweighed sinister. Appeal overshadowed consequence.
I bet he tasted so good, but was so very bad at the same time.
Seriously, who is he? I feel drugged.
“What’s your deal?” I blurted out.
“My deal?”
“Everyone at this party is either an actor or musician or someone extremely famous and with a lot of money,” I explained. “What are you?”
Like he’d flipped a switch, his smile was utterly wicked again. “I’m an entrepreneur.”
“Isn’t that what people say when they don’t really have a job?”
He smirked. “Some people, yes. Do I seem like someone without a job to you?”
I shrugged. “How would I know? I don’t know you.”
“Ah, but I know you.” His statement strong and sure, he actually looked like he did. Apparently, the muscles of his face were well versed in confidence.
But reason prodded in my mind, and I scoffed. “We just met.”
“I’m good at reading people,” he clarified.
I was both interested and agitated at once, a buzz starting at my toes and humming all the way up into the apples of my flushed cheeks. This guy thought he somehow knew me? I barely knew myself most days. “What’s my story, then, Mr. Know-It-All?” I challenged.
He tucked a loose tendril of hair behind my ear, and I shivered. “You’re a little lost,” he stated, his voice soft. “You haven’t always been, but you’ve reached a crossroads in your life, and you’re still trying to figure out your path.”
I fought to keep my face neutral. Jesus Christ, can he read my mind or something?
Fuck, I hoped not.
“You’re definitely scrappy, though,” he added. “Even when life hands you a pile of shit, you still manage to make it work.”
“And you figured all of that out in a matter of a five-minute conversation?”
The tiny gold flecks in his eyes twinkled. “Something like that.”
“I think the fact that I’m sitting here in my underwear puts me at a disadvantage,” I retorted, finally feeling the uncomfortable edge of nakedness creep in. “I mean, anyone would think I’m either lost or moonlighting in prostitution.”
He shook his head. “Sitting here in your underwear is what gives you power. Don’t mistake the courage to fight embarrassment as weakness.”
I tilted my head to the side even as I stood a little taller under his praise. Something about the way he spoke made it seem so absolute. Like if he thought I was courageous, it was because I really was. “Then what was it?”
“What was what?”
“What gave me away,” I clarified.
He smiled, reaching up softly to thumb just the corner of my eye. And like a fool, I let him.
“Sorry, sweet Alex. If I told you, I just might have to kill you.”
I watched his strong mouth move with each word. When his playful threat was done, I directed my gaze toward his eyes, but I could only let myself stare into them for so long. They were too vivid, too knowing, too mesmerizing, just too much. I feared they held the power of the sun, and if I looked into them for too long, I’d either go blind or fall under his spell.
He slipped a business card out of his jacket pocket and offered it to me. My brain was too busy with my thoughts to question simple actions, and I ordered my hand to take it almost immediately. “Come see me. I think you’d find that my company is a much better fit for you.”
I stared down at the front of the sleek, white card in my hands and scanned the glittery gold words imprinted in the center.
Wonderland, Inc.
Matt Hadder, CEO
Matt leaned toward me, grazing the skin of my upper arm with just a tease of his hand, and whispered into my ear, “I quite like your fire, Alex.”
One swift inhale through my nose and I was assaulted with the scent of him. Fuck, he smelled delicious. More appealing than a bakery at seven in the morning—vanilla and cinnamon and something very distinctly him.
But before I could respond or ask the one million questions floating around in my brain or do something stupid like lick his neck to see if he tasted as good as he smelled, he was gone.