Chapter 7
Elizabeth
A thunderstorm lit the night sky.
I sat on my bed and watched the lightning, its lines jagged and sharp in the distance. Before long, the wind picked up, the gusts bending over the small trees in the landscaping below my balcony.
I picked at Granny’s quilt on my bed.
I was alone, but like the storm outside, winds of change were blowing in my life. I just didn’t know where they’d take me.
Shelley sent me a text, responding to one I’d sent her earlier to check on her.
Blake got me home. Why did you leave so soon? What happened with you and Whitman University’s Sexiest Man on Campus? Did you guys have monkey sex?
No monkeys. Please! What’s wrong with human sex? And Whitman’s Sexiest Man? Wow. Cheesy, I tapped out.
He’s hot and rich and sexy as hell, she texted. Rumor is he only had eyes for you tonight. According to Blake.
I ignored that and tapped out, Nite. Let’s do lunch soon. I owe you for helping me move today.
I set my phone down and snuggled back down in the bed.
While the storm raged, my neighbor moved around his apartment, making a racket as he cranked up some music, the beat of the bass loud through the thin walls.
Okay, I could handle some late night music next door. Easy. I quickly reminded myself this was the weekend and these were university-owned apartments.
But isn’t he being inconsiderate? Whatever. I flip-flopped over just as a rhythmic thumping sound reached my ears. Thump, thump, whack, whack.
Great. Was he having a freaking party over there?
I groaned and buried my head under my pillow. That didn’t help. I tossed in my bed, antsy. Angry even. I replayed the night, remembering my rejection from Declan. I rose up to beat on my pillow to make it softer.
Bloody Brit. He knew nothing about me.
I’d seen the darkness on the other side that night in the hotel, and I’d faced it down, dealing with it the only way I knew how. I was not fragile.
But you’ve changed, a small voice inside me said. You’re bitter. A shell.
I blew out a puff of air and flipped over on the mattress to find a more comfy spot, but it was pointless. Ugh. After fifteen more minutes of music and thumping noises, I jerked up and slipped a white cotton robe over my nightgown. I burrowed through a pile of shoes still in a box in my closet, bumping my head in the process, which only made me more pissed. Finally I found my pink rain boots and shoved my feet in.
I was putting my foot down with my new neighbor. If I didn’t, then he’d likely party every single night, and I couldn’t have that. I stepped outside my door, and since there was no overhang along the doorway, I got drenched in about five seconds. Cursing, I ran the short distance to my neighbor’s apartment and banged on the door with a heavy fist.
The thumping stopped, then the music.
I put my hands on my hips and schooled my features into an irritated glare. Kinda hard to look tough when you’re being pelted with rain, but I did my best.
The door opened wide and I squinted at the brightness.
“Excuse me, but your music is way too loud and you seem to be knocking out the walls—” I came to an abrupt stop. Blinked, resisting the urge to rub my eyes. “Declan?”
Dressed in black gym shorts and nothing else, he leaned against the doorjamb, his body glittering from the sweat that dripped down his well-muscled chest and straight down to the V of his hips. Oh. My. I inhaled.
He should come with a freaking warning label.
Just perfect. I must look like a drowned rat.
He pulled me inside the door and slammed it shut after a bolt of lightning lit up the sky. “What the bloody hell are you doing out in this?” His molten eyes swept over me, and I swallowed at the lump that formed in my throat.
Once again I felt a tug between us, that mysterious carnal push that had me imagining us in an erotic kiss while he pressed me against the wall and pounded …
Whoa. I stopped that train of thought.
“What are you doing here?” A ridiculous question, but my brain was fried.
He set down the red boxing gloves that had been dangling from his hands when he opened the door. “This is my new flat. I moved in today, same as you.”
He was the guy in the Jeep with the Union Jack hat.
“You saw me on the balcony today and recognized me at the party and didn’t say anything?” My voice had gone up an octave. “Don’t you think that’s weird?”
He raked a hand through his dark hair. Sighed. “I felt it best to not mention it after seeing how Blake reacted to me. He won’t be happy to know we’re neighbors.” He cocked his head. “He’s a territorial dude. You sure you aren’t with him?”
“I’m not with anyone. Ever.”
He took that in, his eyes raking over me. “So, did you come over here with the intention to seduce me? Because if you are, you’re doing a rather kick-ass job.”
What? I looked down.
My robe had come apart, revealing my now practically see-through white gown thanks to the downpour outside. Short, filmy, and made of silk, it had been a gift from Shelley.
I stiffened. “I’m here because someone keeps beating on the wall and playing their music so loud that I can’t sleep. Oh, it’s you.” I smirked.
He grimaced apologetically. “I was working out pretty hard with the punching bag. Sorry. It’s been a crap day. My new gym is stressing me out, plus my father sent me a text …” His eyes ghosted over my skin. “You’re soaked.” He turned and left the room, giving me a glimpse of scars on his back before he disappeared. My mouth parted. What had happened to him?
He came back with a towel, which he draped over my shoulders and pulled the ends closed. He smiled softly. “I’m sorry for bothering you. I like my music rather loud.”
And his women and sex hard. Oh yeah. I shivered.
“Okay.” My voice was husky, my heart hammering at his nearness.
But it wasn’t fear; it was pure lust. Declan was a man who hit all my buttons.
He seemed to realize how close we were standing, and he shifted, taking a few steps back from me. “Was there anything else?”
I laughed. Someone was ready for me to go, and for once, I wasn’t the one being overly cautious around the opposite sex; it was the guy. “No, that’s all. Sorry to bother you. I’ll go. Just try to keep it down.”
“Wait,” he said, as I put my hand on the doorknob.
I turned back. “Yeah?”
“About earlier with Dax. I’m sorry for it. I’ll hold him if you want to punch him in the nuts.”
I smiled at that visual. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“It’s just—he’s a good guy.” He shrugged. “I’ve been taking care of him my whole life even though we’re the same age. He can be careless but doesn’t mean to hurt anyone intentionally.”
I nodded. “No, of course. I’m glad you were there. Thank you.”
He smiled. “My mum always said I was the stronger one. She told me to watch over him.”
“Oh.”
He smiled and sucked his bottom lip in with his top teeth. The entire thing—his sweet words, his sexy face, his luscious lips—I wanted to kiss him.
My chest rose.
My palms got sweaty.
An entire colony of butterflies fluttered around in my tummy.
“If you really want to make me feel better, maybe you’d like to erase Dax’s kiss from my memory with one of your own?”
He froze, his alert gaze lingering on my lips as he licked his own. “Yeah?”
I nodded. “Most definitely.”
“Now?” His husky voice assaulted my senses.
“Why not?”
The apartment swelled with silence as his eyes ate me up, as if he were trying to figure me out. God. What was wrong with me? Was I this desperate? I prepared myself for another rejection.
“Come here, Elizabeth,” he said in a soft yet commanding voice.
The towel around my shoulders dropped to the floor, and my feet crossed the space between us, eager for him. For this.
He cupped my cheek, his fingers trailing down my jawline to my neckline where he toyed with the buttons on my gown. “I can’t tell you no again, Elizabeth. Are you sure?”
A whisper of something sang through the air. Electric.
I nodded and put my hands on his shoulders and stood on my tiptoes, my mouth settling on his, my tongue dipping out to taste his secrets. He smelled masculine, like sweat, and the warmth of his chest pressed against my wet one. He didn’t move, until suddenly he did, his arms sliding around my shoulders, brushing the base of my spine as he gathered me close.
I sank into him, sighing at the way one of his hands moved to tangle in my hair.
Deeper. Decadent.
He became the instigator. His mouth roved over mine, his breathing heavier as he sucked at my lips playfully and then attacked again, his tongue tangling with mine. Owning me. Tendrils of desire curled inside me.
His hands moved down and tightened around my waist, digging into my hips. Sharp with need. He said my name against my mouth.
He felt so good, hard against my soft, and I wanted to revel in my success, in the way he wanted me, in the way I wanted him.
I moaned. This was good. Hot. Erotic. This was progress.
Until it wasn’t.
He tore his lips away and rested his forehead against mine. “You make it hard to stay away when you come in here with pink boots and wet knickers—which clearly aren’t granny panties.” His voice was like liquid amber, gold and warm, wrapped in sex.
“Why would you want to?” I breathed. “Come to my apartment and spend the night with me.” I touched his face, my fingers stroking the softness of his sensuous lips. “Just one night and we can make this shitty world disappear.”
He exhaled. “A one-night stand?”
“Yeah.”
He cupped my chin. “Someone hurt you, didn’t they?”
My lips tightened. No one at Whitman knew about Colby except for Shelley and Blake, and I sure as hell wasn’t telling him. He’d judge me like everyone else had in Petal, North Carolina. “That’s none of your business.”
“I see.” His eyes searched mine until I felt like a bug under a microscope. “What if I wanted more than just one night?”
“Then your hands can let go of my hips now.”
He removed his hands slowly, the tips of his fingers grazing mine. “This may surprise you, but I don’t sleep with every girl I kiss.”
I’d been rejected. Again. “Blake said you got around, that you used—”
“And you believed him?” His voice was incredulous. “Dude is in love with you and he saw exactly how we looked at each other tonight—”
“Looked at each other? What are you talking about? You refused to dance with me and then you ran off with your girlfriend. Not to mention I just kissed you and you didn’t even care.” I threw my hands up.
“I wanted to fuck you the minute you walked in that party,” he snapped.
“Then why don’t you,” I bit back, tossing back my shoulders.
“You think you want me?” he said tightly. “You can’t handle me, Elizabeth. I can see it in your eyes. You’re scared of something, maybe not me, but something.”
My eyes went to his black eye.
He let out a harsh laugh. “Ah, that’s what you’re afraid of. You want the real truth? You told me tonight you didn’t like violence, but I’m an arsehole who uses his fists. That’s who I am.”
I didn’t believe that. I sensed a good guy in him. “What do you mean?”
His gaze was intense, dark and low, his face struggling as he fought to find the right words. “I’m in a fight club for money. I show up at warehouses and fight other blokes. Sometimes I beat them so bad they need medical attention. A few times, I’ve been beat to unconsciousness. I’m everything you need to stay away from.”
I inhaled, anger and lust and excitement all riding me. Anger that he was pushing me away, lust for the alpha male in him, and God help me, the fighting thing repelled me and excited me at the same time. “I don’t want to stay away from you. I want you to fuck me and stop making excuses for why you can’t.”
My words seemed to snap his taut restraint.
He pulled me back in his arms, his lips fusing with mine unerringly. His tongue plundered me in a sensual way my body had craved for years. I wrapped my arms around his neck, my anger morphing into all-out desire as he turned us and pressed me against the wall.
Yes, yes, this is what I craved.
A passion to remind me that I was real, not just some sad excuse of a girl who chose to exist on scraps of love.
Before I knew it, he’d shoved my robe off, his hands sculpting my shoulders, massaging them as he ravaged my mouth. I reveled in the warmth of his hand on my neck as his mouth skated down, kissing the hollows of my throat, sucking on my collarbone.
“Like this?” he asked, his voice dark and gravelly. “You want me to take you up against this wall?”
“Yes,” I moaned. Gone. Past caring as long as he kept his hands on me.
Out of control, my brain whispered, but I beat back the dark warnings as his warm hand found my breast and squeezed, his fingers rolling my nipple between his thumb and forefinger.
I gasped in pleasure and arched my back to get closer to his body, ignoring the fear that pricked at the surface.
The rules girl in my head stamped her foot and yelled at me. I ignored her.
But even if I wanted to stop right now, I couldn’t. My tongue tangled wildly with his, my hands pulled at his hair, spurring him on, his hand palming my breast and then tugging. Sharp sensations of need went straight to my core.
“Is this what you want? Something quick where we just take what we want and forget each other the next day?”
No. Not that. Not like the way he said it, like it was something dirty.
“Yes, like that,” I whispered against his shoulder, my mouth on his skin, tasting him as my teeth bit down. I pressed against him and rocked. Friction. More.
He grunted and hoisted me up until my legs looped around his hips, his shorts and the hard length inside pulsating against my skin. He moved sinuously, his long legs supporting my weight as I squirmed to get his body closer to the place I wanted.
I clung to him, a fire building under my skin, in my blood. I rocked wildly and reached around to grab his ass and shove him against me.
Take me.
Make me forget. Make me feel good.
“Elizabeth, you’re so hot,” he said hoarsely. “I can’t stop, love.”
We’d passed the point of no return. He was hungry for me, just as much as I wanted him.
His mouth skated down with his hands as he took my nipple between his lips and sucked.
I groaned, the sound primitive and loud in the quiet apartment.
Hot fingers slipped under the waist of my panties, finding my wet core and massaging the wetness.
“Yes,” I whispered, gripping his arm and moving him faster, showing him what I wanted. More, more.
“Slow down, love,” he whispered and played me effortlessly with his fingers, dipping in and then out, finding the sensitive nub and flicking it and then teasing me by darting away.
But I didn’t want to go slow. I wanted fast and hard and rough before I changed my mind.
“Declan.” I bit his neck, making him grunt. “Make me come.”
He kissed me harder, his tongue fucking my mouth like I wanted his cock to. “I want you so bad I can’t think straight,” he whispered between kisses.
“Me too.”
I’d gone over the edge when it came to him.
I’d lost all sense of where I was … who he was … my past.
Yet …
Darkness inched in bit by bit. This wasn’t some guy from my calculus class I could control. This wasn’t some nerdy guy who’d thought he’d won the lottery when I propositioned him.
This was Whitman University’s Sexiest Man on Campus.
He was part of the beautiful people—just like Colby.
He was everything I shouldn’t want but did.
Suddenly there was space between us, and I realized I’d been the one to shove him off me. He obliged readily, I acknowledged thankfully as he panted from a few feet away, his face red, fists clenched tight at his sides.
My own chest heaved and I looked down at my nightgown, its straps pushed down, exposing my bare breasts still rosy from his ministrations.
God. Things had gone too far.
I gazed back at him, but he was already in the kitchen pouring a glass of water and chugging it with his back to me. I studied the taut lines of his shoulders and the tightness in his stance, recognizing he’d let go when I asked.
No matter who he was, he wasn’t Colby.
Yet how could I have been so stupid? He was a dangerous fighter with enough sex appeal to blow up a building. He was entirely wrong for me.
Tension escalated as he still didn’t turn around, but his voice came out rough, like it had been dragged over gravel. “Get out of here, Elizabeth.”
I sucked in a shaky breath. “I’m sorry—”
“Go!” His body heaved.
I turned, bolted out the door, and slammed it behind me.