Good Morning Heartache Read online

  “What can I say?” Ryan shrugged, but to be honest he didn’t know what to say.

  The bride narrowed her pretty blue eyes at him, “You’re not going to let any weirdoes in my house while I’m gone are you?”

  “I can still stay there can’t I?” His attempt at a joke failed, and the bride assured him the guest room was all set up for him and their dog would be gone on Monday. She also gently recommended that the dog be let out a couple of times during the day on Sunday, if Ryan didn’t mind.

  He nodded an affirmative. He thanked them for the nice dinner and the workcation, and they moved on to the next guest.

  Ryan worked for Pontus Architects, a prestigious architecture firm in Manhattan. His education, intelligence, and strong work ethic quickly moved him into the top tier of the company. It didn't afford him much of a social life, but that was unimportant, at least until recently.

  Michael and Caitlyn wanted a re-model of their master bedroom and bathroom and to add some square footage to their kitchen while they were on their honeymoon. They asked Ryan about a month ago to do the design. He was happy to do it. He was happier they weren’t going to be around to flaunt their marital bliss while he was on the job.

  Since he hadn’t bought them a gift yet, the designs would be their wedding present, and he was able to get his good friend Daniel Montgomery as the contractor. The couple got a steal for some of the best work in home renovation available on the East coast.

  Ryan surveyed the room. The bride and groom were making their exit out a side door without the pomp and circumstance some couples demanded.

  The ice in the tumbler he held in his right hand clinked against the glass. He brought the brown liquid to his lips and let the grassiness of the Jameson Irish Whiskey run over his tongue. It was watered down—his cue to leave. He felt he had fulfilled his obligation for the evening, and no one would miss him at this point.

  Ryan turned back to the table and set the glass down. He stood up and smoothed out his blue silk tie, lifted the two-button, charcoal suit jacket hanging from the back of his chair, and slipped his arms through the perfectly tailored Gucci wool. He rolled his shoulders up and down a couple of times to make sure the jacket rested on him comfortably and turned to the doorway. He took one step toward the door before he ran head-on into the tiny maid-of-honor, almost toppling her over.

  She pulled her delicate hand up over her head to avoid spilling her champagne as her body pushed up against his. Her wide hazel eyes stared directly into his, and she flashed him a sexy smile.

  She let out a soft moan and bit her bottom lip. “Mmmm…You're hard.”

  Ryan stepped back, shocked. “Excuse me?”

  Her smile returned, and tension swelled in Ryan’s groin.

  “Your chest. It's hard.”

  “Are you drunk?” It was the only think he could think of to say. Most of the girls who acted like this in the bars in New York were already three sheets to the wind. This girl, however, didn't look like she was drunk. She just had a look of lust in her eyes, and they were pulling him into her trap. She was good.

  Ryan ran his eyes down the length of her body. She had a small build and her body was tight, but her breasts looked like they were going to burst from beneath the sheer layers of the bridesmaid's dress. Her skin glowed, and her mouth invited much more than the champagne she raised to her lips.

  “I swear this is only my second glass.” She placed a manicured hand on his chest. “Do you work out?”

  He raised his gaze back to hers. She was exactly the type of woman he needed to avoid. Sex with a bridesmaid after a wedding was never a good idea. They were always upset that they weren't the ones getting married, so they tried to rein in some poor bastard with the promise of sex.

  Despite what his body was telling him to do, he wasn't that stupid.

  She would probably be a great lay, and the throbbing in his pants reminded him he needed it, but it wasn't worth the trouble of getting rid of her in the morning.

  “Sorry. I don’t sleep with women who swear in church.” He didn't really care. It was actually pretty funny. He just needed any excuse to get rid of her, and after seeing how embarrassed she was when she let that slip, he figured it would be a good way to get her to go away.

  She glided her hand up his chest and around his neck. A shot of pleasure ran up his thigh and to the tip of his member as she pulled him down to her.

  She softly whispered in his ear. “Have you ever tried? We sinners can be a lot of fun.”

  Ryan removed the succubus from his neck and pulled away from her. “No, thanks.” It was painful, and he would so rather have her take care of the rising problem in his pants than have to do it himself, but he walked past her and through the double doors of the ballroom anyway.

  Chapter 2

  Alexis watched as the most attractive, and apparently untappable, man in the room walked out into the silence of the hotel lobby. The heat of his skin still warmed the palm of her hand, and she looked at it, confused, as she sat down in the chair that he recently occupied. What had just happened? Maybe she came on too strong, but if a guy had a guaranteed lay from a girl like her, he didn’t just walk away. She could have any uncommitted man she wanted. That wasn’t arrogance; it was a fact.

  She wanted to forget about him and find her next target. The reception was dying down now that people noticed Caitlyn and Michael had sneaked out. With a quick survey of the room, she realized the only men left were the groom’s nerdy friends and some of her neighbors from Maple Field.

  Tom gave a big wave and smile at her, and she shuddered. This was not acceptable. She didn’t want a short, stout doctor who could only talk about the best way to reset a bone. There was only one type of bone Alexis was interested in, and she doubted Tom had enough proficiency with it to satisfy her needs. Besides, if he was going to make the cut, it probably would have already happened.

  Soon she’d have to find another venue, but she was stunned that she had been rejected with such ease. That didn’t happen. Ever. And she resolved it wasn’t going to happen with this guy either. Alexis wanted the Untappable. She wanted the mysterious guy with the blue eyes she could light up if he gave her the chance. She wanted to muss up his carefully styled, thick, dark brown tresses with her fingers and feel the scratchiness of his short, thin beard against her skin. She had felt the sharp definition of his muscles through his thin, white dress shirt. She bet he looked fantastic naked.

  Everything about the Untappable was groomed to make it appear as though he didn’t care what he looked like. She knew he did. It was too perfectly imperfect, and only a man who cared about his appearance would take as much time as he did to keep his body in that kind of shape.

  Alexis rose quickly to her feet and barely caught her balance on the shiny heels. She was going to sleep with this mystery man if it took her all night. She smiled, secretly hoping it would. She glided across the dance floor, destroying a large section of the electric slide. She snatched her cream clutch from her seat and walked to the door.

  The lobby was in the center of the hotel and was completely open to the glass roof. The hallways of each floor circled the interior of the building and were visible from where she was standing. A fountain cascaded from the top floor to a decorative pool near her. Yellows, purples, and blues filled the plant boxes that lined the waist high walls of each floor. The smell of chlorine from the indoor swimming pool filled her nostrils as she scanned the room floor-by-floor. She noticed Untappable just as he stepped off the glass elevator on the east side of the third floor.

  She watched as he strolled down the hallway, finally stopping and disappearing into a room across the building from the elevator. Alexis didn’t know who designed this building, but she wanted to send him flowers for making it so easy to stalk someone back to his room. It was the best thing that happened to her all day.

  Alexis nonchalantly walked over to the elevator. There was no need to rush now that she knew where she was going. As the eleva
tor doors swooshed open before her, she paused. What if he was out of her league?

  She let out an audible giggle. No one was out of her league. He was just playing a different game, and Alexis was an all-star in multiple sports.

  Alexis snapped open the brass clasp of her clutch and pulled out a tube of Clinique lipstick in Sassy Spice. She leaned toward the polished doors of the elevator to use them as a mirror. Just as she was finishing her bottom lip, the elevator jolted to a stop at the third floor, and the color smudged just past the corner of her mouth.

  “Mother fu...” She groaned to herself.

  Before the elevator doors opened, she was able to remove the excess color with a swipe of her right index finger and check her teeth for any stray food particles. When she stepped out of the elevator she was confident she was going to get her kill.

  Alexis stood in front of his door. She shook her head and ran her fingers through the waves in her hair. The hair dresser had curled her hair tightly, but after eight hours, it had begun to relax. It was to her advantage. It was sexily tousled and framed her face.

  She lifted her right arm and made a loose fist to rap on the door then put on her best sultry smile when she heard the movement behind the door. Before the average person could feel the pangs of regret, the door swung open.

  It was hard for Alexis to keep the smile on her face while suppressing a gasp. The man standing before her wore only a pair of blue and white plaid boxer shorts, and the sight was as beautiful as she had imagined. Alexis’s eyes were drawn across his defined chest where a fine patch of dark hair twirled like Van Gogh’s Starry Night. Her gaze then moved down the smooth bulge of each of his abdominal muscles and settled on the edge of the elastic waistband sitting low on his hips and revealing the beginnings of a beautiful v-shaped groin.

  Oh, yes. He would more than do.

  Lust coursed through her veins, and Alexis wanted to jump him right there in the hallway. The way she saw it that would be perfectly appropriate under the circumstances. He should be expecting it.

  But one look into those icy eyes, and she knew it wouldn’t be that easy. She’d be lucky if he didn’t slam the door in her face. He didn’t.

  “I heard a rumor no means no.” He stared deep into her eyes, unflinching.

  “Never liked the word.”

  It was true. As a child, she hadn’t heard it a lot. As an adult, she found that it didn’t often apply to her.

  “Listen, I appreciate the offer, but I don’t want to deal with a bridesmaid who doesn’t feel loved. Find some other sucker to trap.”

  He began to close the door, but Alexis slapped her hand against it and pushed against his movement.

  “I don't care about feeling loved. I want an orgasm. And I want you,” she placed a French tip in the center of his hard chest with her other hand and resisted the temptation to run an open palm along the contours of his muscle, “to give it to me.” She licked her lips, eyeing the man before her, and saw a flash of desire in his eyes.

  The fabric of his boxers began rising in the front, and she knew she almost had him. Once he was thinking with his dick, she would get exactly what she came for.

  He stood behind the door a bit to conceal himself and said, “It's best if we don't do this. Better I crush your dreams before I have my way with you. I’m a gentleman like that.”

  “Dreams? I want your body for a couple of rounds, and then I'll leave. You don't even have to tell me your name. I won't tell you mine. It will be a simple exchange of services.” She raised the three middle fingers of her right hand up to her shoulder. “Scout's honor.”

  His gaze ran the length of her body twice. His eyes narrowed when they returned to her face. “You seem desperate, and I don't know you.”

  “We obviously have a mutual connection somewhere. We were at the same wedding. And I am not desperate.” She placed her palm on the door, and it gave to her pressure, allowing her to move closer to him. “I just know what I want.”

  §

  This was a bad idea, and Ryan knew it. But a beautiful woman just offered him no-strings-attached sex while he was half-naked, and she was now close enough to him that he could feel her hot breath on his chest. This was not what he had expected when he opened the door. Turn down service with a smile: yes. A hot-blooded brunette insisting on having her way with him: no.

  He should have slammed the door in her face when he first saw her bronze skin and pouting lips. She was trouble. The kind of trouble he didn't need. But something stopped him from turning her away. The allure of a woman showing up out of nowhere to bed him was too surreal. Maybe he’d write his own letter to Penthouse. Maybe he’d read one she inspired.

  His dick was now giving her its undivided attention, which meant he was having trouble focusing on anything logical. “If you don't leave right now,” he started, using all of his willpower to keep himself off of her, “you're gonna be stuck with this decision. I'm not going to be your boyfriend. I'm not going to meet your parents.” The first half of the sentence was a courtesy; she was already stuck with this decision. He just wanted to make sure she understood the arrangement before he pulled her into his room.

  “I promise. You will never have to meet my parents.” She gave him a coy smile. He detected a hint of sadness in her eyes, but it was gone with the next moment. It made him hesitate, but when she ran a smooth fingertip down his chest and then hooked it in the waistband of his boxers, he forgot all about his reservations and the having to kick her out of his bed—and his life—in the morning.

  He briskly ran his fingers through her wavy hair as he grabbed the back of her head and pulled her to his mouth. Her mouth was soft, and the firmness of her kiss created a sexy contradiction. She was confident and skilled. Ryan ran his tongue over hers, and she let out a barely perceptible moan that sent a shot of pleasure across his skin. It had been a long time since he made a woman moan, and he had forgotten how much he liked it.

  She pushed herself against his body as they moved into the room. Their hot kisses didn't stop until the door clicked shut behind them. He pulled back, taking her bottom lip with his teeth as far as it would go. She shot him an angry look when he stopped, and in less than a moment she was going back for more. He grabbed her wrists with both hands and pushed her into the wall. Her little purse fell to the floor, and the contents spilled everywhere. He looked down at the dozen or so shiny square packages that littered the carpet.

  “I see you came prepared.” He slammed his body against hers and playfully bit her neck.

  “I always come,” she paused for a second to suck on his neck, “prepared. Gentleman’s choice.”

  He met her mouth again, and the wetness of her kiss made him even harder. She brushed her pelvis in small circles against his, and he began to throb with want. Her tight body managed to wriggle its way from beneath him, and she walked into the bathroom.

  “Where are you going?” he demanded. “You can’t just start something like that and then lock yourself in the bathroom.”

  “I wasn't going to lock you out. I want you to join me.”

  She slid her hand up the side of her body and to the top of her strapless dress. Her fingers grabbed the zipper under her arm, and she pulled it down along the curve of her body. Within moments the dress had sunk to the tiled floor and around her ankles, but once the dress was gone, he didn't care where it went. He just wanted it to stay away.

  She revealed a black strapless bra that clung tightly to her large breasts. Golden mounds peeked over the top, begging him to release them. His eyes followed the lace that rimmed the bottom of the cups, and then his gaze lowered to a thin piece of matching lace that left nothing to the imagination.

  The gold heels kicked away the pile of sheer fabric, and she looked up at him with inviting eyes. Eyes that screamed “screw my brains out.”

  She held out a hand to beckon him to her, and then Ryan watched as she disappeared behind the bathroom door. As though there was a string that tied the two of them tog
ether, he followed the sound of her heels tapping against the tile.

  In a brief moment of lucidity, he ran back and grabbed one of the condoms off the floor. He entered the bathroom to find his sex-goddess standing in the sunken shower with the frosted glass door wide open. She looked at him intently as she turned the water on. The shower head came to life and rained cold water onto her head. Drops crawled down her body, and her bra and panties became soaked. Two stiff peaks formed at the center of her breasts.

  She licked the water off her lips and then bit her bottom one as she released the hooks on the back of her bra. It fell to the floor. He stepped into the shower, closing the door behind him and rushing over to the hard nipples that called out to his mouth.

  He flicked his tongue over her cool nipple and then enclosed it with his lips. She moaned audibly, and it gave him more vigor. He ran his hands the length of her body, stopping at the triangular mound still covered by lace.

  She reached into his boxers and ran her fingers over the top of his burning head. Her soft hand reached farther down and squeezed his length. He bit her shoulder to keep from calling out. Her hand glided along the length of his shaft twice, and then released him for a moment to push his boxers down to the drain and out of her way.

  As she stood, he let his hand slide down her stomach and into her panties. He felt her slick moisture and slid a finger along her clitoris. Her head tilted back into the stream of water.

  “Mmmm… I love that,” she exhaled. She took in several quick breaths. Her eyes remained closed as she straightened her head. She caressed his thigh with her fingertips, and his erection pulsed with pleasure when she ran her fingers along his sack.

  “Are you ready for me?” she asked. The condom he had been holding was now between the fingers of her other hand.

  “I'm not going to get any more ready.”

  She delicately tore off the top of the packaging and slowly rolled the latex down the length of his penis. It was his turn to moan. By the time he was able to open his eyes again, her panties had been tossed aside.