Chapter 1
Lukas
The party was in full swing. Usually, masquerades were exactly the kind of thing I’d go for. Masks. Anonymity. Dark corners for darker deeds.
Hell, I’d been eye-fucked by half the single women here and a few of the married ones, too.
That was the most action I’d had in five months.
Five. Fucking. Months. With zero fucking.
None.
Because the one woman I wanted didn’t want me.
And there she was. My breath caught as Faith stepped into my line of sight as I leaned against the wall, content to simply watch her.
I’d gone from man-whore to pathetic.
Hell, even if I wanted to fuck another woman here, I wasn’t sure my dick would let me. It rose for only one woman—the one who smelled like pears and vanilla. With the Midwestern accent, silky red hair, and the greenest eyes I’d ever seen. Like fresh new grass after a Swedish winter.
Swedish winters were really fucking long.
She smiled at something the guy next to her said, but even with the mask, I knew that wasn’t her stupid frat-boy boyfriend.
Her mask was white, shimmering, just like the dress that fell down her curved body in a sensuous drape of liquid sunlight.
Faith. God, even her name felt like renewal. New beginnings. New hope.
She was everything I wasn’t. Humble. Sweet. Innocent to the dirtiness that clung to every aspect of the life I’d chosen—that clung to me like the cheap perfume I used to wake up covered in.
But not in five months.
Not since I’d decided she was it. Only her.
She glanced over, saw me, then ripped her eyes away quickly, only to slowly let them return. I knew she felt it too, the seismic shift that happened whenever our eyes locked.
I knew it frightened her, which was why she stayed with Frat-Boy Fred.
But that was okay. I was in it for the long haul. I’d wait for her to decide she was ready to step onto the ice, for her to accept what I knew would change us both.
Until then, I’d sit on the bench and wait. Hell, she was only twenty-one. We had time.
“Crab is good,” Noble said as he came to stand next to me. “You should try some.”
I grunted.
He followed my line of sight. “Jesus, you and Faith. Maybe you two can just fuck and get it out of your systems.”
“She has a boyfriend,” I snapped. Like everyone didn’t know that. And if there was one thing I didn’t do, it was get involved with someone who was committed to someone else.
“You haven’t heard?” he asked, his brows drawing together.
“Heard what?” I asked, watching Faith walk away, her curves swaying as she headed toward the edge of the room.
No doubt to find Frat-Boy Fred in one of those aforementioned corners.
“They broke up last week.”
My head snapped toward Noble. “What?”
“Yeah. Gentry was talking about it in the locker room. They’re done.”
Gentry would know since he was her older brother. He was also my best friend. Because shit wasn’t already complicated enough.
Something electric rippled down my spine. Anticipation. Adrenaline. It was the same feeling I had just before I geared up.
I walked away from Noble without another word, following Faith across the room.
She might not be with the frat-boy anymore, but she sure as fuck wasn’t single.
She was already mine.
Now I just had to prove it to her.
Game. On.
As if she sensed me, Faith looked back over her shoulder, her eyes widening when I didn’t look away. I was done looking away.
“Vestergaard! How is that new clothing line coming?”
Lewis Paulson’s voice stopped me dead in my tracks. I threw up a prayer for patience and turned to the newest owner of the Seattle Sharks. The buyout had come as a complete shock, and the dust had yet to settle from the purchase.
“Well, thank you,” I answered him, shaking his considerably weaker hand with care.
“You’re launching soon, aren’t you?”
“This summer.” A quick glance told me Faith was making a rather rushed retreat.
Fuck.
“Ah, good. It’s a good thing to diversify your portfolio. Good.” He nodded, the ostentatious ruby-colored mask bobbing down his nose.
“Yes, good,” I repeated with a forced smile I’d practiced enough to make natural. Maybe he didn’t realize I spoke fluent English.
“As long as it doesn’t distract from the team, of course,” he added with a wink. At least I thought it was a wink. It was more a drunken attempt.
“Of course not. The Sharks come first.”
Shit, she was sneaking out the side door.
“If you’ll excuse me,” I said with a quick nod and left him standing in the middle of the ballroom. Probably not my finest moment, since the man controlled my career, but Faith was...Faith.
I blatantly ignored a few women as they stepped into my path, dodging them with the quick reflexes I’d been born with. Apparently, the word was out that I hadn’t been fucking around the past months, which the gossip rags determined meant I was looking to finally settle down in a real relationship.
The status-seeking women of Seattle smelled blood in the water, and in this case, they were the sharks.
None of them stood a chance because I wasn’t looking to settle down into a relationship. I was looking to settle down into Faith. There was a difference.
I blew through the side door, stepping into the marble-floored hallway of the swanky resort. My eyes swept left, then right, catching the slight shimmer of Faith’s dress just before she slipped into one of the sittin
g rooms that lined the hallway.
Making sure I hadn’t been seen, I turned the antique brass handle and followed Faith. The last thing either of us needed was a messy tabloid scandal that a momentary lapse in judgment could easily cause. She’d be mortified, and I’d be dead if Eric caught on.
The door closed behind me with an audible click.
The room was a comfortable size, boasting a large seating arrangement in the center, and a few groupings of armchairs along the walls. Velvet and silk in shades of maroon and gold fell from the windows, upholstered the furniture, and somehow made the room feel even more decadent, just like the woman standing at the far end. A lit fireplace softened the lines of Faith’s curves as she stared at the flames, her back to me.
On instinct, I flicked the lock on the door.
She looked over her shoulder slowly, without fear.
“It doesn’t scare you when a man locks himself in a room with you?” I asked, my voice not nearly as smooth as I’d come to depend on when it came to women.
“Not when I already knew it was you.” She tilted her head, and I caught the movement in a mirror just above the fireplace. She’d seen me the whole time.
“And now that you know?” I leaned back against the solid wood door, crossing my arms over my chest.
“I’m not scared of you.” She pivoted gracefully and stood there like the piece of art that she was, her arms at her sides, her chin elevating an inch as I drank her in. Fuck, she was exquisitely beautiful, and not just on the outside.
“Maybe you should be,” I admitted. If she knew how tight I held the reins on my self-control when it came to her, she’d be out the door in a heartbeat.
“Why?” she asked, slowly walking toward me. “Because men like you eat little girls like me for breakfast?”
I blinked at the change in her. This was not Faith. At least not the Faith I knew. Sure, she was assertive. I’d even go so far as to say she was a pain in the ass sometimes. But even as the sensual creature she was, she’d never blatantly put that sexuality on display.
And here she was waving the red flag in front of the bull.
“You’re anything but a little girl, Faith. And as for eating you for breakfast…” A smirk played across my face. “Why limit yourself to one meal a day?”
Her lips parted in surprise. There was my Faith. She could play the siren all day long, but coming up against me wasn’t a battle she was ready for. After a slight pause, she continued toward me, stopping so close that we were parted by only a half-dozen inches. Her scent invaded my senses, sweet and fresh, just like her.
“Why are you here, Lukas?” she asked softly, her eyes startlingly green against the mask.
“Because the Sharks sponsor this charity?” My heart slammed against my ribs. How long had it been since a woman made me nervous? Had a woman ever made me nervous?
She blinked but didn’t take the bait, simply waited for me to give her the real answer.
That kind of patience deserved a reward.
“Noble told me you broke up with your boyfriend.” Fuck, was that my voice? I fought the urge to clear my throat to dislodge the sandpaper I’d apparently swallowed.
“Noble needs to mind his own business,” she snapped, a spark of fire lighting in those eyes of hers.
Damn, I loved when she got feisty.
“Sorry, Käraste.” Dearest, though she wouldn’t know it. “You’re pretty much the business of every Shark. Comes with you being Eric’s sister.”
She tugged her lower lip between her teeth for a moment, like she was considering her next words. And now you’re staring at her mouth. Great.
“And if I wasn’t?”
I would have already fucked you in every possible way.
That was the truth. If she hadn’t been Eric’s sister, I would have already fucked her...and fucked everything up in the process.
“So your ex…?” I changed the subject before my answer got us both in trouble.
“Is an ex,” she confirmed. Her tone was strong and sure, but the way her eyes drifted to the side for a second showed the pain there.
“I’m sorry.” I uncrossed my arms and brushed back a lock of her hair that had fallen forward.
“Why? It’s his loss.” She shrugged like it didn’t mean anything.
“It definitely is. I’m sorry you’re hurting.” My fingertips buzzed with the need to trace the bare skin of her collarbone. Every second she stood this close, my self-control frayed, and it was already pretty damn thin.
“I’m not hurting when I’m here with you.” Her eyes searched mine.
I blinked. At what point in the night had we entered the Twilight Zone, where Faith appeared to be pursuing me?
Her hands rose to rest on my chest, and I sucked in a breath.
“What are you doing, Faith?”
“Why did you lock the door, Lukas?” she challenged.
“Because I didn’t want someone like your brother to walk in and get the wrong idea.”
“No.” She shook her head. “You locked it because you want the same thing I do.” She tilted her head back and kissed my jaw, letting her lips linger.
Snap. Snap. Snap. Each press of her lips on my skin broke a thread on my control until I gripped that last one with every fiber of my being. Yes, I wanted her, but I was playing the long game, and this was clearly a rebound thing.
I groaned. “Faith, that’s not why I’m in here.”
“But it’s what you want,” she whispered against the corner of my mouth. “Otherwise your hands wouldn’t be on me.”
Holy shit, she was right. My hands were on her waist, my fingers testing the generous curves.
“Fuck.” The curse came swiftly to my lips, but instead of pushing her away, or just letting go, I pulled her closer, until our bodies met from thigh to chest.
“Exactly,” she whispered.
Then she turned her head and our mouths met. I resisted...for all of a millisecond. If she was going to press our first kiss then I was going to make sure she sure as hell never forgot it.
My mouth swept over hers, and when she parted her lips, I sank inside her with a growl that rumbled every bone in my body. She tasted like champagne and strawberries, even sweeter than I’d fantasized about since she came into my life. Her tongue rubbed along mine shyly at first, but when I sank one of my hands into the hair at the nape of her neck, she arched into the kiss and lost all inhibition.
My cock hardened, and I gripped her hip, spinning us so she was against the fabric-lined wall.
Then I kissed her with every ounce of skill I’d earned from way too many encounters. Drugging, deep kisses alternated with soft brushes of lips and teasing nips. I changed the rhythm, keeping her seeking more, only to change it again.
My entire focus narrowed to the woman in my arms, the sounds of her gasps, the feel of her fingernails as they scraped the back of my neck. Her knee rose against my leg, and she let out a frustrated whimper as the fabric of her dress held her captive.
My brain told me to slow the kiss down.
My body relished in having what it had craved for so long.
I gripped the fabric of her dress with both hands and lifted the skirt to give her room to move. The woman climbed, wrapping her freed legs around my waist. It was either get ahold of her ass and support her or drop her.
Her ass filled my hands a heartbeat later, and I rocked into her, white-hot pleasure rocketing through my veins as the warmth of her body reached my dick through the thin layers of fabric separating us.
I fucked her with my tongue, instead, thrusting in and out of her mouth until she ripped my tux jacket down my shoulders, the buttons groaning as they gave way.
I shed the garment, keeping one hand on her ass until they were both there again. God, I was never letting her go. I had expected her to be reserved, and instead I held a living flame. She was burning me from the inside out.
My mask caught on hers as I deepened our kiss. I moved to take hers off, but she
gripped my wrist.
“Leave it,” she requested, her voice breathless.
I chuckled. My girl had a little kink in her, too.
“Your wish is my command,” I whispered, letting my lips linger on her ear.
Her head rolled, and I took advantage, kissing the delicate skin of her exposed neck.
“Lukas,” she moaned, and my cock reached painful levels of hard. I had a feeling the sound of my name on her lips was going to be on repeat in my brain for the next...forever.
My mouth worshipped her collarbone, then the swells of her breasts as she rocked against me, seeking the friction she needed to release.
Her fingers gripped my hair as her breath turned choppy. I made my way back up her neck, licking and sucking at the patches of skin that made her writhe. By the time I reached her mouth, she was liquid fire in my arms, her kiss scorching hot.
I knew without taking an inch further than this kiss that she would match me on every possible level in the bedroom.
“God, Lukas, please. I need...I need…” She rocked again, her pussy notched against my dick.
“I know what you need,” I ground out before turning, carrying her to the thickly upholstered chaise lounge angled along the fireplace.
Her thick, black lashes fluttered as I lowered myself over her, and she let her feet drop from my waist as I settled into the cradle of her hips.
“Please,” she whispered before her lips crashed into mine. An edge of desperation clung to the kiss, and I knew she was chasing a climax. Damn, she was so responsive, her body so in tune with mine.
“I’ve got you,” I promised her.
Hell yes, I was more than willing to take her edge off. I’d been born to make this woman come.