Read His To Shatter Online

Authors: Haley Pearce

Tags: #coming of age romance, #billionaire sex, #like shades, #contemporary erotic romance, #marriage of convenience, #billionaire romance, #Contemporary Romance

His To Shatter (7 page)

BOOK: His To Shatter
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The fervor was infectious, and quickly got
under my skin. I linked elbows with Ashlee and strutted down the
sidewalk. We laughed as the catcalls grew into a cacophony, and
this time I knew that it wasn’t just Ashlee that the masses were
responding to. Usually, that kind of attention just bothered me to
no end, but the shot of whiskey was doing the trick. The warmth of
that brown liquid courage was coursing strongly through my body,
and I couldn’t wait to keep going. If one drink had me feeling this
good and confident, what would two do? Or three?

I let my friends lead the way, seeing as they
knew the bar scene in our neighborhood much better than we did.
After a few more blocks, Dara pulled us up short in front of an
unmarked doorway, flanked by two impressively huge bouncers.

“Have room for four?” Dara asked one of the
gentlemen, popping her hip out in a practiced but sexy way.

The bouncer looked us over, his eyes
lingering skeptically on Kyle for a moment. I may have been
abstinent when it came to booze, but I usually went along with the
group when there was dancing involved. I knew that clubs were not
as keen on letting guys in as they were women. But apparently,
being flanked by three hot babes was helping Kyle’s case. The
bouncer nodded to us, a gesture which I gathered meant that we were
in. Dara beckoned us all forward, and we fell in behind her
eagerly.

Down a steep flight of steps, a gigantic
basement room opened up into a swanky, strange bar. The walls were
covered in taxidermy and other bizarre artifacts, and the light in
the place was a decidedly purple hue. I’d never seen anything like
it. Dara headed straight for the bar and got the bartender’s
attention without even trying. We crowded around her as the
bartender began mixing ingredients together, eventually producing
four slender glasses of bright pink liquid. The raging bass line of
the house music made it almost impossible to hear each other, so
Dara simply raised her glass in a wordless salute to the evening. I
took a tentative sip of the stuff and was surprised to find that it
didn’t taste at all like alcohol. Assuming that it must not be too
potent, I took a generous swig, and then another.

The warmth of the whiskey was intensified
with each passing moment, and before I knew it, the world around me
had grown thick and loose and incredibly sexy. Ashlee grabbed onto
my hands and pulled me onto the dance floor. I felt myself start to
writher beside her, moving my hips and arms in a way they’d
certainly never behaved before. I’d never felt more attractive and
untouchable in my life—and quite possibly, I’d never had so much
fun. Dara and Kyle joined us, and soon we were all four dancing
like there was no tomorrow.

Eventually, we began to meld into the crowd.
People outside our circle would come up for a moment and join us,
sometimes scooting up close to one or the other of us. We were
certainly popular out there on the dance floor. After a couple of
songs, or maybe it had been a dozen, I felt a hand on my shoulder.
I twirled around and found myself face-to-face with a pair of
beautiful green eyes. After a moment, the face and body attached to
those eyes swam into focus as well. A handsome young man stood
before me, smiling broadly.

He wasn’t exceptionally tall, but broad in
the shoulders and rather more muscular than your average guy. He
had a shortly cropped head of blonde hair and a big smile that put
me at ease immediately. As the music pumped around us, I moved
closer toward him, and his smile only grew wider. He reminded me of
the kind of boy I’d known back in West Chester, eager country boys
with everything to prove who just wanted to have fun and kick back.
There was definitely some Midwestern back story to this bloke, but
that’s certainly not where my mind was that night.

His hands came to a rest of my gyrating hips,
and I scooted in as close as I could. We were moving together,
against each other, as the rest of the room faded into a hazy blur.
There wasn’t a thing on my mind besides those lovely green eyes and
the pleasant buzz that had washed over my body. I’d never been so
uninhibited in my life, or so drunk. I couldn’t quite understand
how I’d gotten so tipsy—those pink drinks had hardly tasted like
they’d had any alcohol in them. But it didn’t matter at that
moment. I had better, and more attractive, things to think
about.

“You’re a good dancer,” my companion shouted
over the music. Even then I could scarcely hear him.

“Thanks,” I yelled back, spinning around to
face him. “You’re not so bad, yourself.”

“Can I get you another drink?” he asked,
beaming in my direction.

“Sure!” I said. What harm could one more
drink do?

“Come on, let’s hit the bar,” he said, taking
my hand. His firm, reassuring grip felt nice, and I allowed myself
to be towed off the dance floor. I waved back toward my friends,
but they were all three similarly occupied. Dara was already making
out with someone I’d never seen before, and Ashlee was showing off
her trained dance moves. Even Kyle had found some pretty brunette
to chat with over at the edge of the crowd. It was awesome, for
once, not to be someone’s third wheel—to actually be participating
in the fun instead of watching from the sidelines. I squeezed my
new friend’s hand and let him whisk me back to the bar.

The noise dropped off as soon as we cleared
the dance floor, as did the press of people. I had no idea how much
time had gone by since we arrived, but it seemed like the entire
bar had gravitated toward the open floor space. A whole crowd of
people bumped and writhed along with the music, and I couldn’t help
but smile. So that was what it felt like to be a part of the scene,
at long last. Usually, I was the only sober person in the room,
which meant that I generally left pretty early. But tonight, I
wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

My new friend directed me to a plushy bar
stool and sank down on his own beside me. He waved the bartender
over eagerly.

“Do you like tequila?” he asked, not having
to scream now that we’d gotten a little away from the dance
floor.”

“Sure!” I replied, down for anything. The
truth was that I’d never even tried tequila, but I was willing to
experiment. The whiskey had gone down nice a smooth, after all. I
thought of it as expanding my horizons.

“Two shots of Patron!” my buddy said to the
bartender. And in no time at all, there were two little glasses and
a couple of lime wedges sitting in front of us. “So you take the
shot, then suck on the lime,” the guy instructed me. I nodded, ever
the good student, and slugged back the booze. It hardly even tasted
strong anymore, it was just a nice little burn and a good taste of
my tongue. I brought the lime wedge to my lips and sucked, relished
the cool taste of it in my mouth. I couldn’t believe I’d been
missing out on all this for so long. There was a reason people
loved going out on the town, after all!

“What’s your name?” I asked my friend, as the
tequila worked its way down to my toes.

“I’m Ryan,” he replied, holding out his hand.
I smiled, charmed by this little professional gesture. It seemed so
adorably out of place at the bar.

“I’m Madison,” I said, running my fingertip
along the rim of my shot glass. The motion definitely didn’t go
unnoticed by Ryan.

“Madison,” he repeated, “That’s a very pretty
name.”

“Thank you!” I answered enthusiastically.

“A very pretty name for a very pretty girl,”
he went on, laying a hand on mine. It wasn’t a very original line,
but I appreciated it nonetheless. I was feel pretty, for once in my
life, and it didn’t hurt to have it acknowledged.

“What do you do, Ryan?” I asked, scooting as
close to him as I could without falling off my stool.

“I work on Wall Street,” he answered.

“Cool,” I said. That explained the clean cut
look. I was pleased that he didn’t have the power suit look about
him, though. There wasn’t much that appealed to me about the “frat
bro” look that lots of young Wall Street guys adopted. Ryan just
looked put together, a far cry from the shaggy, unkempt artists who
made up most of the neighborhood.

“What about you?” he asked.

“I’m studying international marketing at
NYU,” I replied. “I just landed a summer internship at Corelli. In
Paris.”

“Corelli?” he said, his green eyes widening.
“Holy shit! They’re
huge
.”

“I know,” I said proudly.

“Well, we need another shot to celebrate!” he
said. He motioned to the bartender, and in an instant second shots
were in front of us. We raised them in the purple light, smiling at
each other. “To you, Madison,” Ryan said.

“To me!” I replied happily, and down my shot
in one go. The room was definitely wavering now, and I felt like I
was floating through the world, untouchable. No wonder people liked
this so much! I felt like I could do anything that I wanted, that
the world was laying at my feet. And my companion on my first night
of freedom just happened to be a handsome, well-mannered man with
good taste in tequila. Things seemed to be off to a good start. I
closed my eyes for a happy moment, marveling at the way the air
seemed to spin around me as I sat still.

“I hope I’m not being too forward,” Ryan
said, leaning in close to me, “But I’d really love to take you back
to my place.”

My stomach flipped a little. I’d heard those
words plenty of times before, but I’d never had the courage or
desire to act on them. But now, I felt brave enough to take a
chance. I smiled back at Ryan, ready for anything, and nodded my
head. He grinned, helping me down from my stool. I was amazed to
find that walking was actually a lot harder than I had expected.
When had the floor become so slanted? I was relieved when Ryan slid
his arm around my waist to steady me. What a gentleman I’d stumbled
onto, after all!

As we made our way toward the door, our
progress was suddenly halted by a figure standing in our path. I
squinted into the purple light, trying to see who, exactly, was
standing so rudely in our way. Suddenly, Kyle’s features swam into
focus. He was wearing an unhappy scowl, but I was still elated to
see him.

“Kyle!” I cried, throwing my arms around his
neck as I stumbled into him.

“Madison,” he answered coolly, steadying me
as I wobbled. “Have you had much more to drink?”

“Not such,” I slurred. “Not
much
.”

“Who’s your friend?” he asked, glaring over
my shoulder.

“Oh, this is Ryan!” I said, reeling back
toward my blonde buddy. I saw a rather mean look pass between them,
and decided to ignore it. “We were just leaving,” I told Kyle.

“Were you?” Kyle said.

“Yeah,” Ryan replied. “Does she have to ask
your permission first?”

“Of course not,” Kyle said, crossing his
arms. “I just wanted to make sure that Madison was thinking her
decision through.”

“Oh, totally,” I said, wanting Kyle to drop
that nasty look off his face and join the fun. “We’re going to go
back to Ryan’s place!”

“Is that really what you want to do?” Kyle
insisted.

“Yeah!” I said happily.

“Madison,” Kyle went on. “I think you’ve had
a little too much to drink. You might not be thinking as
clearly—”

“You heard her, man,” Ryan said, tightening
his grip around my waist. “Let it go, OK?”

“My friend’s safety isn’t something I’m going
to just ‘let go’, pal,” Kyle said. I could sense the tension
sparking between them.

“Kyle, it’s OK,” I said, moving past him.
“I’m totally fine!”

He looked at me sadly as I left with Ryan,
but I couldn’t worry about Kyle’s feelings just then. I was having
way too much fun to let it get spoiled by his lingering crush,
anyway. Ryan helped me up the steep staircase, and we finally
stepped out into the open air. I was glad to have someone escorting
me, as I’d genuinely forgotten where we were. The city rose up
around me into the night in a staggering blitz of glittering
lights. It all seemed so beautiful, so amazingly unlikely, that I
almost started to cry. Ryan guided me along the sidewalk, and we
laughed as we went along.

 

* * * * *

 

Chapter Five

* * * * *

 

“I’m just around the corner,” he said.

“Great!” I replied, high as a kite.

He led me up another flight of stairs and
through the front doorway of a building I’d never seen before. I
was amazed to find that there was a real elevator in the lobby—a
luxury I’d certainly never had myself in the city. We stumbled into
the car together and the doors slid shut behind us. I rested my
hands on Ryan’s shoulders for support and looked up into his
friendly face. We gazed at each other for half a moment, and I
suddenly realized that this was much more than a friendly visit.
Ryan closed the space between our faces and kissed me deeply. And
much to my surprise, I kissed him right back. I was not one to
casually jump into bed with strangers, but that night had me
feeling fearless and in want of company. I brought my teeth down
lightly onto Ryan’s bottom lip, drawing a low moan from his throat.
He brought his hands to the small of my back and pulled me against
him. I gasped as I felt the hard bulge in the front of his pants
press up against me.

We fell back against the elevator wall, our
mouths and hands moving wildly. I ran my hands through his short
blonde hair, savoring the boozy taste of him. The world spun around
me as I closed my eyes and trusted myself to the moment. I was
utterly without fear or inhibitions, for once in my life, and I
meant to make the most of it. Ryan pulled me out of the elevator as
the doors chimed open and whisked me down the hall to his door. He
fumbled with his keys for half a moment and wrenched the door open,
all but pulling me inside.

BOOK: His To Shatter
3.27Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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