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Playing it straight, he just opened the door. “After you.”
She hesitated again.
“Don’t worry. I don’t bite,” he assured her.
“Too bad,” she volleyed without missing a beat. “I do.”
Eamon’s brows jumped up at the response as she turned and crossed the threshold. “I’ll definitely keep that in mind,” he said and then fought like hell to keep his eyes trained on the back of her head. It didn’t work. He snuck another peek.
“Let me guess,” Hayley said from his assistant’s desk. “Another new hire?”
Ms. Gregory started to settle her hands on her hips again when Eamon jumped in. “No. Ms. Gregory and I have business to discuss in my office.” He opened his door.
“Aaah. Business.” Hayley winked. “I gotcha.”
Eamon shook his head. This was not one of those times to toss sexual innuendos around. He tried to convey that by casting a hard look at Hayley, but she gave him the same clueless expression as Quentin. “What?”
Sighing and rolling his eyes, Eamon finally entered his office and closed the door. “All right, Ms. Gregory. What’s this lawsuit all about?” He walked around his desk and plopped into his chair.
“The fact that my name is still Ms. Gregory,” she seethed.
Of course that answer only confused him more. He frowned and wrinkled his forehead.
She squinted and leaned forward. “Does your forehead say boy toy?”
Eamon coughed and then tried to bring the subject back to this lawsuit. “You want to explain what you mean?”
“It does,” she persisted. “Why do you have boy toy written on your head?”
Propping one elbow on the desk, Eamon tilted his head and then slapped his hand across his forehead. “Can we stick to the subject here? The lawsuit?”
“It’s all right there. The Dollhouse also runs a sideline company called Bachelor Adventures, right?”
“Yes. And?” He dropped his hand and then leaned back in his chair. Clearly getting information out of her was going to be like squeezing water out of a rock.
“Well, Mr. King. You and your establishment hosted my fiancé’s—my ex-fiancé’s—bachelor party a week ago. And instead of him showing up the next day to marry me in front of my family and most of New York’s elite society, just imagine how all warm and fuzzy I felt when Marcus called me and told me that instead of marrying me he’d married a lovely booty-popper named Delicious.”
Eamon’s mouth stretched open while his gaze stroked her curves again. “Marcus Henderson was your fiancé?”
“Ah. I finally dusted off a few cobwebs in that small brain of yours.”
His brows jumped, but his chest finally started to rumble with laughter. “You gotta be kidding me. You’re suing me for fifty million dollars because you were left at the altar? That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it? You lure men here for some wild fantasy night, pump them full of liquor and God knows what else while an army of naked women swing around on poles and seduce them into having a quickie marriage at a drive-thru chapel that you guys seem to have on every street corner around here.”
Eamon heard the words but he couldn’t believe that someone would be crazy enough to say them, let alone believe them. Not to mention he still couldn’t square the circle on just how Marcus Henderson managed to land a vixen like her. He rolled the riddle around in his head while he stared at her.
She started fidgeting. “Well? Aren’t you going to say something?”
“What would you like for me to say?” He rose from his chair with a smirk on his face. “Clearly, you’re insane or at the very least bitter.”
SLAP!
Eamon blinked while the sting of her hand lingered. “Feel better?”
Her hand whipped around again, but before it could make contact, Eamon stopped it in midair and then pinned it to the wall behind her. There was something about the way her electric green eyes widened in surprise or the way she smelled like jasmine and white roses. No. Who in the hell was he kidding? It was the way her mesmerizing breasts heaved up and down against his firm chest that proved to be one temptation too many. So he did the very thing that he’d been thinking about since she walked into the club: he kissed her.
Chapter 5
Victoria didn’t know what happened. One minute she was so angry that she was breathing fire and then in the next she was a dripping pool of wax from the heat of this stranger’s kiss. Not only that, there must be something wrong with her brain because she could swear that she heard her sensors crackling and popping. Yet she didn’t want him to stop.
He tasted like those wonderful bits of chocolate with the heady filling of cognac. His tongue probed inside her mouth and she had the embarrassing response of moaning as if he’d found an oral G-spot. While he kept her one hand pinned to the wall, the free hand took full liberty to slide up the back of her thigh and then cupped the back of her right butt cheek and squeezed.
She moaned again, but he swallowed it up while kneeing her legs apart. This must be what it felt like to be ravished. The way the heroes always did in those old black-and-white films. The ones she never understood in which the women were always willing to drop everything they ever knew and all that they’d ever wanted to be just so that they could ride off into the sunset with some man. In this one weird moment she understood those women perfectly.
Just when oxygen was becoming a distant memory, King tore his mouth away from hers and started setting little fires along the column of her neck and then was well on his way toward her cleavage when the door bolted open.
“Victoria, are—oh!”
Victoria’s passion-drugged eyes finally popped open just as King’s head lifted off her breasts. And when had she hooked her right leg around his hip?
At Grace’s stunned face, Victoria suddenly remembered herself and became appalled. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Get off me!” With the strength of Super Woman she shoved Eamon back, but it was the shock of the sudden maneuver that sent him tumbling back and tripping over the corner of his desk. The next thing everyone saw was his hands and feet flying into the air. When he hit the floor, he hit it hard.
BAM!
“Oomph!”
Victoria winced and then leaned forward to peek over the desk to see if he was still conscious. He was and looking around like he was still trying to process what had just happened.
“Next time, keep your hands to yourself!” She snapped her head as if she’d just given him a really good piece of her mind and then jerked back toward her cousin. “Let’s go!”
Grace’s wide gaze shifted down Victoria’s body and then pulled at her own top.
Picking up her signal, Victoria glanced down and saw that half her right breast hung out the low-cut V of her dress. Like a runaway brush fire, Victoria’s entire face became enflamed with embarrassment. But she tucked herself back in, lifted her head and stormed out of the office like a level-five hurricane.
“Victoria, wait up,” Grace called after her.
However, slowing down was the last thing Victoria wanted to do. She wanted to hurry and get out of that place as fast as possible. She burst out the back of the club only to be blasted by some hard-bass music booming from the surrounding speakers. She pressed her fingers into her ears and kept moving, but then the woman on stage in front of her caught her attention and her angry strides slowed.
The woman on the golden pole was amazing. She couldn’t even begin to understand how it was even possible for someone to hold themselves upside down with one leg while twirling around. Then she stopped, folded herself back up while her legs split open into a perfect V. It was erotic beyond belief, yet at the same time graceful. Slowly, she glided down the pole until she gently settled down into the textbook full split. Then the dancer did something that she’d never seen before. Somehow she was able to make both butt cheeks pop, then one at a time.
“How in the world?”
Just then that Quentin character she met earlier turned his head and caught her checking out the show. He flashed those dangerous dimples at her and waved.
“Ooooh,” Grace said from behind her. “Now, I wouldn’t mind five minutes alone in the back with that one.”
Victoria groaned as shame and embarrassment part deux washed over her with even bigger waves.
“Are you ladies sure that you don’t want to audition?” Quentin yelled above the music. “We’re always looking for more talent.” He winked.
“Let’s get out of here,” Victoria said and then turned for the door. After a few steps, she realized that Grace wasn’t behind her. Rolling her eyes and huffing out a frustrated sigh, she marched back, grabbed Grace by the arm and dragged her out of the club before Quentin convinced her to jump on that pole and quite possibly break her neck.
“Oooooh. He was cute,” Grace panted. “Did you see him?”
“Yes. I saw him. Beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing.” She shoved open the glass door.
“You mean sort of like that gorgeous wolf that pawed your breasts out of your dress in the back office?”
Victoria cut her gaze over at cousin. “So if I jumped off a bridge would you do it, too?”
Grace blinked.
“Exactly. Get in the car.” Victoria rolled her eyes and opened her door. But before she could hop in behind the wheel, she saw King—she didn’t even know which brother he was—jog out of The Dollhouse and head toward her. “Get in the car, Victoria,” she mumbled under her breath and wasted no time doing just that.
“Ms. Gregory, wait up!”
Victoria slammed her door and locked it just as Eamon reached it and tried to open it.
“What took so long?” Iris asked, scooting up from the backseat and folding her arms on the back of their chairs. “Who is that? He’s fine.”
You don’t have to tell me.
“Ms. Gregory!” He knocked on the window and then yelled, “We haven’t finished talking.”
“Is that what we’re calling talking nowadays?” Grace snickered.
“Shut up.” Victoria crammed the key into the ignition and started the car.
King tossed up his hands. “You’re the one that came to see me. Remember?”
She shifted the car in Reverse. “You can talk to my lawyer,” she yelled back and then jammed her foot down on the accelerator. He jumped back in time to save his precious toes from being run over and Victoria felt a stab of disappointment.
“You’re not even going to tell me where I can find you?” he shouted.
Victoria shifted the car back into Drive and jerked the wheel to the right.
But while she was in the middle of making her getaway, Grace powered her window down and screamed, “We’re staying at the Bellagio!”
“Grace!” She peeled out of the parking lot.
Her cousin whipped around in her seat, smiling like a peacock. “What?”
“Why in the hell did you do that?”
She crossed her arms. “You heard him. You guys haven’t finished talking.”
Victoria seethed as she took off like she was trying to qualify for the Indy 500.
Iris piped up again. “Okay. Does anyone want to tell me what’s going on?”
“Trust me. I’ll fill you in on every tantalizing detail when we get back to our hotel,” Grace promised.
“I don’t know why in the hell I asked you two to come with me,” Victoria grumbled.
“Yeah. You would hate that about now. Though I wonder what would’ve happened if I hadn’t walked in on you two. Lord knows how many carpet burns I saved you from. You should be thanking me. Not trying to take my head off.”
“SHUT UP!” Iris popped them both on the shoulder. “Victoria was making out with that chocolate god back there?”
“Girl, it was like animal kingdom up in there,” Grace laughed. “That brother had her pinned down and mounted.”
The twins squealed with laughter before high-fiving each other like pro athletes.
Victoria continued to stew in her seat. What in the hell was I thinking? She shook her head, but the question kept looping inside her mind. By the time they pulled up to the hotel, she just had to admit the truth to herself. She wasn’t thinking. She was just feeling—feeling things that she had never felt before.
That’s good enough reason to stay the hell away from him.
She exchanged her key for a ticket at the valet and then waltzed into the casino’s hotel.
“I say you forget about the lawsuit and hook-up with Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome.”
“I hardly think that he’s a fifty-million-dollar lay,” Victoria snipped.
The twins exchanged a look.
“You know I really hate it when you two do that,” Victoria said as they stepped into the elevator. “If you’ve got something to say, I wish that you would just say it.”
“It’s just that…the lawsuit. You don’t think that maybe you’re overreacting?”
Victoria’s mouth dropped open as she turned toward her cousins. “Overreacting? Have you forgotten how I was humiliated last week? My wedding announcement was in the New York Times. Three hundred of the most important people in New York show up for a wedding that cost my father a mint—only for my fiancé to fly to Vegas for a bachelor party and fall head over heels in love with a stripper named Delicious. Are you hearing me? Delicious. And you just calmly stand there and ask me if I’m overreacting?!”
Grace shrugged and mumbled, “It was just a question.”
“Then the answer is no. When I get through with Marcus and his hoochie momma—and even that lecherous club owner with the octopus arms—they’re going to wish that I’d hired a hit man to take them out of their misery.”
The elevator dinged on the thirtieth floor and Victoria, with her anger renewed, marched out with her cousins rushing behind her. “Victoria, we didn’t mean to upset you.”
“You know what? Don’t worry about it. I’m just going to take a long shower, get some sleep and then we can just fly out in the morning,” Victoria said, sliding her card key into the lock. “I’ll just catch up with you two later.”
“Wait.”
“No. Really. I’m tired and I would really like to get some sleep.” More like she was on the verge of crying again and wanted to make her escape before the first tear fell.
“Well…all right,” Iris said, looking to her sister to see if she had any pearls of wisdom that would help the situation.
Before Grace could open her mouth, Victoria was slamming her door closed. It was a good thing, too. Not two seconds later, two fat teardrops seeped from her lashes and rolled down her face. Why did she expect anyone to understand where she was coming from? They didn’t have every society page and blogger laughing and saying mean things about them.
“Billion-dollar Bride Jilted at the Altar.”
“Slam-Dumped!”
“Runaway Groom!”
“Money Can’t Buy You Love.”
All she wanted was not to get hurt. She had been so meticulous and so careful that she didn’t understand how this whole thing blew up in her face. Marcus was not ambitious, he was unassuming and everything pointed to low drama. No. She didn’t love him. Love had nothing to do with their union. But she had thought that they’d grown fond of one another—friends, certainly. And that was the most important thing, according to her grandmother before she died. A woman’s looks faded with time, and sex was overrated. The secret to a long-lasting relationship was friendship—companionship. She thought that at least she had that with Marcus.
Now she didn’t even know where the hell he was. But she had a detective on it and as soon as he reared his head, she was going to ruin him. In the meantime, she would take her frustrations out on the people she could find: the owners of The Dollhouse.
Victoria closed her eyes and pulled in a deep breath. There was no point in getting herself all worked up again. But while she chugged in huge gulps of air, the image of Mr. King floated to the forefront of her mind and her body became all warm and tingly. He had to be at least six-four with the skin the color of a Hershey’s milk-chocolate bar. Just remembering its rich and smooth texture had her one cavity acting up.
And his lips—not too big, not too small. They were just right and pillow soft. And the taste of his kiss…
Victoria’s head drifted back while she emitted a long “Mmm.” But as soon as she heard herself, her eyes sprang back open and she glanced around to make sure that she was indeed alone.
“Get a hold of yourself, Victoria.” She exhaled and then leaned to each side to remove her high heels. But as she moved around the large suite, forgetting about her sexy King proved hard to do. She remembered vividly his surprising speed. The way he’d pinned her back against the wall. That one brief moment of helplessness and his pure dominance over her still had a way of stealing her breath.
When had she ever come up against a force that powerful? And why had that one act made her not only aware of being a woman, but conscious of a unique power she never wielded before? At a glance someone would’ve easily thought that he was in control, but she was certain that she was.
As Victoria entered the bathroom and turned on the hot water in the whirlpool tub, she analyzed everything that happened after she’d laid eyes on King. She remembered vividly how his eyes caressed her body. The glint in his eyes told her that he definitely liked what he saw. Clearly her years of veganism and five a.m. boot-camp workouts had paid off.
By the second time, his gaze performed a slow drag over her body, her heart was pounding, her nipples were hard as rocks and she was aching in between her legs. Long before King’s cute cousin strolled in, there had to be enough pheromones raging between the two of them to ignite an orgy.
Victoria smiled as she removed her clothes, but remained in a dreamy state as she eased into the tub’s hot water. What would’ve happened if Grace and that other woman hadn’t barged in? Would she have allowed a complete stranger to do her up against the wall of his office?
The answer was obvious, but she lied to herself by shaking her head. The good, conservative girl within her said that she would have ended things before he had gotten the chance to ease his hand anywhere near her panties. But the bad girl in her said who needed a hand when she could clearly feel his hard erection pressed against her through their clothes. She knew exactly what he was working with and it had only turned her on more—not less. Plus, hadn’t the man already laid claim to her butt? He was squeezing and caressing it as if it had been his God-given right. And wasn’t his mouth just mere inches from popping her right nipple into his mouth? Where were her good sense and values then?
Her smile widened while she absently scrubbed her body. It wasn’t long before she was wishing that their little interlude could’ve lasted just five more minutes. Five more minutes of that wonderful mouth, those talented hands and hard, thick rod that was poking her in between her legs, begging her to say the word. “Yes,” she whispered, smiling.
In the distance, the hotel phone rang.
The twins. She sighed. I told them that I wanted to be left alone. She rolled her eyes and sank deeper into the tub. When the phone stopped ringing, Victoria smiled and went back to her memories of the sexiest man that she had ever met.
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