Hen Party 1 (Hen Party #1) (6 page)

“Then why have you stayed with me from the moment we first met?” She yearned for his arms to fold around her while he told her she’d done well to protect Elin’s wedding dreams. She curled her fingers until her nails bit into her palms. “Tell me the truth.”

His face was grim as he looked down at her. There was pain etched into the shadowed contours of his face. It left her breathless. Someone had beaten up his heart and left those wounds.

“When the party is over, you’ll know whether sticking to your moral code was the right decision for Elin or not. No one can change the outcome of the party but you,” he said with gravity. “You’re the natural leader of the women.”

“Those are strange comments for a holidaying businessman to make about a group of women he doesn’t know.”

His face blanched. She watched him a little longer, gathering her thoughts. Yep, she’d hit on the truth—he was hiding something from her.

“Why are you thinking about the outcomes of the hen night? Why, Joe? Why is Elin making the right decision even on your mind?” Frustration overcame her, and she grabbed his upper arms in a plea for an honest answer.

* * *

The touch of Kyra’s hands on Jovanni’s body sent a zap of electricity up his spine. She was crossing a physical boundary and joining them together as a couple. The vibe about her was alive and thrilling as she pounded at the walls in his head. Time came crashing down around him and his thoughts spun around in circles at breakneck speed.

When the whirlwind slowed, he stopped stressing over the split in his loyalties. The scars on the old Gina wounds were sealed. It was up to him to block out all of the complications that separated him from Kyra.

The thump of his heart against his ribs called for him to sink into this special moment with her. He gazed at the wild beauty of her messy appearance. Her mane of glossy chestnut hair had a wind-blown look from chasing Maddy around the furniture in the lounge.

He took in the smear of ruby gloss on her trembling lips and her teary eyes. Her smoky makeup intensified the usual color of her eyes, brownish when she was in control of herself and greenish when her passion was ignited. How would it feel to kiss the upset out of her hazel eyes?

“If you don’t tell me why you’re following me around, I won’t believe another word you say to me,” she said, giving his arms a shake.

He crossed his arms and wrapped his fingers around her slender wrists to calm her flightiness. “I’m here because I want to get to know you. That’s the truth,” he said. “I don’t want to miss any of your big moments.”

“My big moments,” she spluttered. “So my takedowns are your entertainment for the night. You’re no better than Maddy.” She dropped her arms to the side of her body. “You’re a flawed man, and I’ve lost my taste for insincere douches.”

What was she accusing him of?
His heart bounced all over the place as she raced toward the open grill gates at the back of the restaurant. She was leaving. He was losing her. He took to his heels and reached the exit first. There he stood, with his back against the brick pillar and his ankles crossed in the walk-way. “Where are you going?”

She marched up to him. “Anywhere away from you is a better place to be.”

He took the insult on the chin, recognizing the signs of a sizzling temper stoked by the clash of their strong personalities. “I can help you jump off the hamster wheel,” he said in a steely voice.

“What an incredible offer to fix me,” she snapped.

“I don’t fix women.” He held out his hand to her. “I dare you to ride out the storm at the party with me.”

She shook his hand. “Thanks for the invitation, but I have other plans right now, and you’re not part of them.” She torched him with her flaming eyes before she let go of his fingers. “I’m going to skid off the hamster wheel sideways, and I don’t care if it’s a rough landing. I’ve got nothing left to lose. Go home, Joe!”

Her abrupt dismissal gave him no choice but to turn up the heat to change her mind about him. His gaze dropped to her stunning bust. “Are you coming home with me?”

Her face paled. She opened and closed her mouth but no words came out. Mossy green was the color of her eyes when she said, “If I remembering correctly, the next step in Maddy’s intervention is for you to get me out of my knickers.” The words lashed out of her like a whip.

He took another step nearer. “Is that a round-about way of saying I’m the man with the know-how?” He opened his arms to her. “I’m ready for action. Watch your ankles and don’t trip over your lingerie.”

She gasped, and the blood rushed back to her face into two crimson splotches on her cheeks. “As if I’ve lost my brain and would leave the hotel with a stranger who’s shadowing me?”

“I could show you how much I like you with a kiss?” he said, laying on the charm.

“Huh?” She screwed up her cute nose as though it was a weird idea out of left field, but he knew better. If she didn’t want to take their sparking chemistry to the next level, she would have been long gone from his side.

He reached for both of her hands and took them in his. “A kiss is an honest way of saying I like you the way you are. Don’t change to please your critics.” He swung her arms from side to side before saying, “Well, at least not before I loosen you up, or you’ll spoil the fun.” He let go of her.

“How dare you try to sleaze onto me?” She hooked her right arm up high and her hand sliced through the air to knock his head off. He leant back quickly and dropped his chin to his chest.

She stumbled forward with the momentum of her swinging arm. He held up his palms to call a truce. She gave a feminine grunt of annoyance that she’d missed her target, which made him laugh.

“My mistake, I misread the signs you were interested in a kiss,” he drawled. “Go back inside the lounge and wear out your temper in another round of the catfight.”

She was so mad at him that more gutsy sounds were tumbling out of her mouth. He gazed into the depths of her misty eyes, and the world around him closed down. Time meant nothing to him as he fell into the twin pools of passion. He was lost there…and didn’t want to leave.

She lifted her hand to cradle the side of his face. His breath was jagged at what she would do next. Give him a stinging slap or what? Her fingertips caressed the stubble over his cheek and jaw.

“Kyra, it feels good when you touch me,” he murmured.

“I thought you were a cut above the average guys I’ve met,” she said, choked up. “It’s cruel to throw Maddy’s words back in my face.”

What had he done to her?
“I’m sorry. I was a parroting idiot. It was dumb, and I won’t do it again.”

“You’ve treated me as a joke and twisted me in knots.” She drew a shuddering breath and exhaled with gusto. “Go away so I can forget I ever met you.”

“Don’t blow me off,” he said, devastated. A volcanic eruption of heated Italian threatened to pour out of his mouth. He clenched his jaws together to hold it back. The thrill of getting to know her in a personal sense combined with the effort required to block out their professional hierarchy was pushing him to breaking point.

“Give me another chance to be your friend.” He rested a hand in the crook of her neck. Her skin was warm and perfumed. It took all of his self-control not to blurt out about how her fire was burning down the cold walls inside that had kept him locked up in a stark, loveless prison for so long.

“Look, it’s been a chaotic evening, but I can feel something special growing between you and me.” He pleaded with her like he had never done with a woman before, but she was worth the humble skid. “We might find something crazy spectacular together.”

She shook her head in denial. “Thanks for the offer, but I’ll pass on the bumpy ride. You and I are done.” She continued to walk past him to leave the garden restaurant.

Before Kyra could take another step away from Joe, he snaked his arm around her waist and tugged her close to his chest. “Stop fighting with me. It’s a waste of time,” he said, as if he was in charge of their attraction.

No way.
Kyra pushed her shoulders back to widen the gap between their bodies. “What are you talking about? There is no fight. I’m finished with your jokes.”

“But you and I aren’t finished. I think we have a long way to go before we run out of steam,” he said in a masterly voice.

The implication of how they were going to generate that steam crackled the tension in the air. Her life on the hamster wheel wobbled in that moment. A guy who didn’t give a toss about her three core relationship values was a powerful thrust out of the friend zone, heading into dark and dangerous territory.

Tomorrow, she could pick up the routine of her ordinary, boring life again. Tonight, she could play with fire. Yep, Joe’s magnetic allure had the power to defeat sensible thinking.

“Take it or leave it.” His eyes glowed with brilliant brown light and some animal part of her brain switched on. She looked at him, eye-to-eye, wild tigress to his tiger. Both of them were defensive beasts and survivors of relationship hemorrhages. The chances of two losers in love from opposite sides of Australia finding each other like this defied the odds.

“Stay with me.” There was an unmistakable yearning in his voice.

Dare she run wild on instinct with an enigmatic guy at a hen party? “Give and take are my terms for hanging around, and then we’re equal partners in what, if anything, develops between us,” she said, adamant.

“You’re a tough negotiator, but I accept your terms, starting immediately,” he said, a little too quickly for her liking. His hands slithered up her bare back and fluttered her nerve endings into overdrive.

“Joe, you’re making a fast move on me.” She jostled her shoulders, which spread the zingy sensations through her body.

“You’re a straight-shooting woman. Why pretend our paths didn’t cross for a reason?” he said without a doubt.

His fingers traced the hollow of her spine. The sensory overload was too much. She shivered, but he didn’t let up, stroking a new cycle of sensitivity over her back.

There was a passionate glint in his eyes as he said, “When I first saw you in the public bar looking ravishing and full of smarts and sass, I knew at once I had to get to know you.”

“I felt the same way about you,” she said in a rush. Warmth flooded her chest from the wonderful vibes both his hands and words were giving her. “Please don’t let us make a mistake by rushing into getting to know each other,” she pleaded.

“You and I are not a mistake. We’re following our destiny, lovely lady,” he said with a ton of confidence. “Believe me. I know the difference between genuine attraction and the other type that needs money and social opportunity to prop it up.”

“I know what’s real and fake, too,” she said, before her mind turned blank from his fingertips caressing the groove of her spine. She strained to get more contact with his blissful hands. He rewarded her with a gentle massage to draw out the stiffness from her back muscles.

“My bad feels good, doesn’t it?” he said seductively.

“Too good.” With a moan, she caved from the spread of sensual goose bumps over her flesh. He angled his head to press his sultry lips into the crook of her neck. “Oh Joe, your bad is melting me,” she said, short of breath. She opened her mouth wider to catch more air and drag his male scent to the bottom of her lungs.

His lips nuzzled a trail up to her ear, and she was falling apart from the desire for more caresses. “Babe…melt into my arms like a little bit of me is not enough for you,” he murmured into her neck.

She buried her fingers in his silky hair and pulled his face toward hers. “You are pure temptation, scary and exhilarating at the same time. I can’t resist you.” She closed her eyes and pressed her lips into his to kiss him sweet. Her salty tears mingled with his tang, and her heart took another knock.

“Joe…Are you looking for love?” she asked, caught in the tide of emotions washing through her.

He pulled back. His breathing was heavier than before. His eyes were stormy brown until they flipped shut and reopened in a daze. “We’ll work out this attraction somehow.”

So that was all the commitment he could give her. It wasn’t unreasonable. But it wasn’t enough to feed her humongous crush on him. She peered at his handsome face to drink in every detail of his features.

“See what’s possible between us,” he said quietly, his voice so sincere more tears brimmed in her eyes.

She leaned into him to savor the wrap of his sinewy arms around her. He held her as if she was a precious bundle, as she’d been longing for him to do for the last half hour. “I want all of you Joe, the dark knight and the light,” she said softly. “I can see you’re a man with a story in your heart. Please share it with me.” She slipped her arms around his neck to entwine them together.

“Kyra… I don’t know,” he said in a hoarse whisper.

His heart drummed against hers in a primitive way as if they belonged to each other. She didn’t care if it was only an illusion, because intimacy with this mysterious guy was a lesson in forgetting about old, tired thinking, and opening up to a new, meaningful experience.

“The warped and twisted parts of me…I can’t fix them.” His voice was laden with sadness. “I’m sorry I can’t be your shining knight.”

She put a finger to his lips. “Beneath the scars of life, I know you’re a caring guy with good manners.”

“Keep dragging him out bit by bit. He hasn’t seen the light of day for years.”

“Forget about the past. Let it go.” She lifted her hands to frame his face. “Joe, the future isn’t written yet.” She stroked her fingers over his bristled cheeks, relishing his masculine texture. “Let’s shape it our way.”

“Kyra, what do want from me?” he asked in earnest.

“I thought I knew the three things I was looking for in a man,” she said, spreading her fingers over the strong line of his jaw.

She looked deeply into his tumultuous eyes to say, “It’s not up to you to give me anything or save me. After a brutal wakeup call…” She paused to take a shaky breath. “The tears I shed were for the miserable life I was living. Fresh hope, finding happiness and love is the way forward for me now,” she said, her voice full of husk that came from the bottom of her heavy heart.
Love is what I can’t live without.

“I want to live in the same dream with you.” His mouth moved over hers in gentle exploration.

She gave a huge sigh of contentment at the glide of his lips, tasting, and not rushing. She pressed herself into his rugged chest, enjoying his delicious wall of male flesh. As his mood lightened, he nipped at her lips. Her enjoyment of his experienced kisses lifted her higher and higher into a wonderful place of togetherness.

She sagged into him even more as his hands continued to stroke her back.

His lips captured hers, and this time the heat of his kisses became more urgent and demanding. She sunk beneath waves of sensual pleasure and kissed him back with the same abandon.

His fingers traced circles on the tops of her shoulders before untying the bow at the back of her neck. The panels of her dress flopped down to the crest of her bosom. His wicked move made her quiver all over.

There was sparkle in his eyes as he said, “Hold your gorgeous breasts tight against me. Tease me, sexy woman.”

His request scrambled her brain. She forgot how to breathe. Her taut nipples were aching as she snuggled into his chest, pressing the night air out from between them.

She kissed him deeply. His tongue flicked and rolled with hers. There was fire in her veins for this guy. She dragged his shirt out from the waistband of his trousers and slid her hands up the inside of the garment. She splayed her fingers over his warm back while she moved in a slow dance to the music drifting out from the lounge. His hips soon swayed in time with hers.

He groaned with pleasure as she used her hands to trace the bands of muscles and contours of his back. Her body went up in flames for him. They embraced each other intimately, as lovers, her heart beating against his. This moment of clinging to Joe wasn’t about superficial attraction or love. All consuming, intense emotion was burning inside her. It was unlike anything she’d ever felt for any guy before him, and might never feel again. She was a goner. Joe was the man with the sparks of chemistry to bring her undone.

She kissed him with all of the passion he had set alight inside her. The chorus of sexy sounds they gave each other filled her ears. He was matching her fire with his hungry lips and with every stroke of his tongue.

“Phwoar!” Denise’s loud voice boomed through Kyra’s head. “Sizzling sisterhood, that’s hot.”

Kyra clenched her hands on Joe’s lower back as her bliss shattered into pieces. She glanced sideways at the Henriettas’ googly eyes and gaping lipstick mouths. The shock of seeing the obnoxious intruders turned her legs to glue.

“Well…hello, Kyra,” Denise said. “Maddy’s tart tips going live are va va voom. I think you better thank her for hooking you up with Mr. Sex-on-Legs.”

She lifted her gaze to Joe and swallowed over the log jammed in her throat.

His eyes were fierce obsidian chips. “I didn’t hear the spectators arrive,” he said tightly. His hands moved to tie up the straps of her dress and cover her bosom. “I apologize for putting you in this situation.” His face was drawn in harsh lines. It was a dramatic makeover of the sensitive guy who’d been lost in a passionate tryst with her a moment ago.

She rested her forehead against his shoulder, trying to get her bewildered brain to work again.

“Go away,” Joe growled at the cluster of gawking women.

“Hon, when did we start talking to you?” Denise asked, hands on hips. “Give the dog a bone.”

“Don’t tease him,” red-headed Susie piped up. “He’s sweating a horn-dog boner.” The tartan clad terror burst into laughter and she wasn’t alone for long.

Joe’s body stiffened into a plank. “Let’s get out of here.” His voice rumbled like thunder.

In a daze, Kyra grasped the hand Jovanni offered, and he led her out of the garden restaurant at a fast pace. What was she doing, running off into the night with a stranger? Each step she took by his side was a show of her surrender to his magnetism.

Her stomach flip-flopped as he drew her farther away from Elin and the party. He strode on with an athletic gait. Her awareness was entirely focused on the brush of his hip against the side of her body, not on where he was taking her.

Her heels clattered along the dimly lit laneway as her brain tried to catch up with the rapid turn of events. From the car park entrance, she glanced back at the two-story hotel building. Elin was inside the tavern expecting to blowout the night with her girlfriends. Kyra pulled on Joe’s hand to slow him down.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” he asked, impatiently.

No, she wasn’t okay at all. Her heart was being tugged in two different directions. Joe held one half in his hand and Elin had the other.

She was sneaking off into the night without an explanation or a goodbye to Elin, and giving Maddy free rein to run amok. “Joe, you’re moving too quickly,” she said in a wobbly voice.

“I thought we both wanted to spend the night in each other’s arms. I have a hotel suite booked in downtown Perth, the Litton Tower, do you know it? Come with me, and I’ll check in.” He went to embrace her.

She held up her hands to stop him reaching for her. “Right now I’m thinking about Elin,” she said gracelessly.

A frown creased his forehead. “What about her?”

Then Kyra realized she’d left her handbag, phone and money cards behind in the hotel. “I have to go back to the lounge to pick up my purse.”

He muttered under his breath, and the words didn’t even sound like English. “I’ll get it for you.”

“No, I’ll go back,” she hastened to say.

“Are you returning to the party?” he asked, scowling now.

She drew a quick breath. “Yes, I have to.”

“Why? I don’t understand, not after what just happened.”

“Elin is like a sister to me, and she’ll be a bride soon enough. Then our friendship will change again.” She looked him in the eye and saw doubt cloud his vision. “I promised Elin I wouldn’t miss her celebration for anything in the world.”

His brawny chest rose and fell in a lengthy sigh. “So I come in a poor second to a group of shameless girls using you as target practice to shoot off their vulgar mouths?”

“You were the only rooster at the hen party.” She tried to joke but it came out lame.

“My rooster pass has expired,” he said with reluctance.

“That’s not quite correct. You weren’t given one in the first place,” she teased.

“Put me back on my perch then.” He held her hand to the middle of his chest. “But you and I are going to pick up where we left off, real soon,” he said in a rich voice lathered with confidence.

“Do I have a say in this?” she asked, feeling her cheeks warm.

“Speak now babe, but make it the truth or I won’t hear you.”

Kyra chewed on her lip. “I like you a lot and can’t wait to see you again.” Her smile grew. “Please don’t forget me while we’re apart.”