Tricks & Treats: A Romance Anthology (23 page)

Cassie stepped onto a sprawling stone patio. A large rectangular-shaped pool held what looked like synchronized swimmers doing some crazy Cirque de Soleil shit, but even they had masks on.

“Hey there, Boston.”

Cassie stopped in her tracks, blood rushing to her head. No way! She wore a mask and it was dark, well mostly dark. He couldn’t possibly recognize her. She turned around to face the deep voice.

“H-hi?” It came out like a question. She waited a beat before looking up, but it was definitely Mr. Steely Eyes in the flesh. She couldn’t believe he was the first person she encountered in a crowd of at least one hundred scantily clad people. Though, he was fully dressed in the same delicious outfit as earlier, but now he donned a white mask. Not that it mattered. She would know those eyes anywhere. She could get seriously addicted to them
. Look away!

“How’d you know it was me?” she asked, averting her gaze to the pool and the wild show taking place there.
Were they having sex?
No way. Her Catholic upbringing made her question the plausibility of that thought because surely that could not be happening right there. In front of all these people?

He chuckled and his eyes stayed on her and not on the sex show behind her. “That’s easy. There aren’t too many natural red heads around and certainly not ones with curves like yours.”   

 She laughed, but it didn’t even sound like her. “I’m sure you say that a lot.”

“Actually, I don’t,” he said, moving a little closer.

She swallowed hard, catching the whiff of his spicy cologne again. It was intoxicating.

He leaned in. “I have to be somewhere for a few minutes, but I’ll be back for you. Will you wait here for me?”

She nodded and he pressed his lips lightly against her cheek. Dear God. Would she be here? Yep. In a heaping pool of her own making right here where she stood.

“Uh huh,” she managed to choke out.

He flashed a brilliant smile and disappeared into the crowd.

A female voice sounded over a loudspeaker. “Ladies and gentlemen, would you please come together for the most exciting part of the evening. The moment you’ve all been waiting for. Ladies to the right of the pool; gentleman to the left.”

 Cassie looked up at a woman clad in a skin-tight silver dress speaking from a balcony above the pool area. Women began to cluster around Cassie. Okay, she was on the right side at least.  Good thing because she wasn’t sure she could move if she tried. She glanced around, but Siobhan and Scarlett were nowhere to be seen.

“Please, ladies, step forward when your number is called,” the woman said. “Let the Masquerade begin!”

Slow and sensual music sounded from some corner of this crazy party and people began to move and sway almost as if they were under a spell. The man who had handed out the tokens outside the mansion when they first arrived appeared again with the glass bowl. He nodded to the first man in line, who stepped forward to choose a token.

“Twenty-two,” the woman from the balcony said.

Cassie’s eyes shot up. This was a sophisticated operation. The woman next to Cassie stepped forward and walked over to the man who had picked her token. He leaned in and kissed her briefly, whispered something in her ear and they moved off inside the doors of the mansion. The next number was called.

Cassie’s heart thumped wildly in her chest. Did these people even know each other? Surely, Siobhan did not have sex with strangers in mind when she said they were going to a masquerade ball! Cassie thought the worst that could happen tonight was that she’d get drunk and dance on a table, maybe even fall down. There was no way she was staying for this.

She craned her neck, searching for her friends. The women around her buzzed with excitement. For a split second she was furious with Siobhan. Then she heard it.

“Number thirteen.”

A man started to walk towards her.
No fucking way!
Absolutely not. She was not doing this. He stopped a few feet away and extended his hand, coaxing her forward. Her breath hitched. It was Steely Eyes. Cassie’s mind raced, but somehow she moved toward him. Wait. What? When she was near enough he took her hand and pulled her in close. Whispering in her ear he said, “Hey Boston, looks like it’s my lucky night.”

Cassie was speechless as he placed a chaste kiss on her lips. When he pulled away his smile was wickedly sexy and Mother of God—those eyes. She melted right there on the spot.

Have fun Siobhan had said.

Could she do this?
 

***

He closed the door behind them and crossed the room to the bed. She leaned back against the door, eyes pinned shut and her hands behind her back laid flat against the door. She raised one leg and fixed her boot against the back of the door. She was fastened to this poor old door like a magnet, knowing that if she moved at all she might fly into this man’s arms and the thought of that terrified her to no end.

“I don’t bite.” His voice oozed sex. She opened one eye. He was sitting on the end of a king size bed on the other side of the room, elbows on his knees, leaning slightly forward, watching her. He could be an axe murderer for all she knew.

“Don’t you?” she managed to croak out.

He threw his head back and laughed. “I could, I suppose, if that’s what you’re into. But, you don’t look like that kind of girl to me.”

“Ha.” She almost snorted. “You don’t know the half of it.”

“I bet I do.” His eyes raked over her. “Let me guess. Your friends dragged you here under false pretenses and you can’t wait to get out that door.”

“You read minds too?” she asked.

He chuckled again. “No, but I’ve seen that look before.”

“You do this a lot then?”

He frowned. “No. I don’t usually take part, but I saw you walk in tonight and I just couldn’t resist.” He stood up slowly and walked across the room not once taking his eyes off her. He took off his mask and tossed it on a chair in the corner of the room.

“Did you really just randomly pick my number?”

He stopped and placed his hands on either side of her head against the door. “What do you think?”

She couldn’t think. His spicy leather smell filled her head again and those eyes looked at her like she was the only person in the world. She took a deep breath. Did she really care? “Are all these people pairing off just to randomly have sex?” she asked.

He smiled. “Is that so terrible?” He lifted off her mask, his thumb taking an extra second to slide across her cheek before tossing the mask to the side. He must have felt her pulse race because he placed his hand against her heart.

“Is that for me?” he whispered.

She nodded slowly. “I—I’ve never done anything like this before.”

His lips grazed her neck while his hands slid up her body then to her neck before getting lost in her hair.

“I mean—I—could never do this.” She was almost breathless as he brushed kisses along her jawline and then across her cheek. His hands slid down her back coming to rest on her ass.

“I would never make you do anything that made you uncomfortable.” His lips were a breath away from hers. “You can leave whenever you want.” His lips found hers again and this time he kissed her. Like really kissed her. She groaned into his lips and her belly fluttered as he smiled briefly against her mouth. It was a shockingly intimate feeling. How could she feel such a connection to this man? 

In between kisses he said, “You don’t sound like someone who wants to go just yet. Do you want to leave?” He didn’t wait for a response. His lips devoured her, his kiss more urgent this time, his tongue darting out to make her open wider. Cassie gasped, her hands suddenly coming to life sliding up his thighs and resting on his chest. His rock hard chest.

As her body’s grip on the door loosened, his arms slipped around her waist and he turned them around, leading them toward the bed. He guided them down gently, picking her up like she was a feather and moving her up until her head rested on the pillow. He settled next to her, never once breaking their kiss.

It wasn’t just any kiss. It was an all-consuming, toe-curling, never-forget-as-long-as-you- live kiss. Cassie had been with Jack for five years and not once had they shared a kiss as passionate as this. A nervous excitement filled her to the core. As he shifted closer, she felt his hardness against her leg. Behind her, his hands moved to unlace her corset. As he pulled the strings loose, her breasts spilled out of the leather bodice and he broke the kiss long enough to catch one of her nipples between his teeth and suck hard.

Cassie writhed beneath him, her hands tugging his shirt out of his pants. She touched his slender hips and when the shirt was free, she felt the washboard abs hidden underneath. She groaned again. This couldn’t be real.

“Does that mean you’re staying, Boston?” He found her mouth again. His tongue darted in and out, tasting her, exciting her, making her crazy. Lifting himself until he straddled her, he hooked his fingers in the fabric of the leather bodice by her thighs and tugged. He slid the whole piece off in a matter of seconds and her breath hitched as the cool air hit her nipples. In an instant he covered her with his chest, leaning down to kiss her neck and then behind her ear.

“You enchant me,” he whispered.

A kaleidoscope of colors appeared behind her closed eyelids. This only happened in movies and romance novels. Not to Cassie Kennedy. Home-grown girl next door, Catholic guilt to the core Cassie Kennedy. Every nerve ending in her body was on high alert. And it felt —it felt good.

She unbuttoned his shirt and realized his lips were no longer on hers. For a moment she felt empty. She opened her eyes. He was still straddling her, but had leaned back to slip his shirt from his broad shoulders. She instinctively sat up, sliding her hands over his torso and then she laughed.

“You’re laughing at me.” He raised an eyebrow.

“No, I’m not,” she said, still laughing.

“I’m pretty sure I know what laughter sounds like, Boston, and you’re laughing at me.” He crawled up her body, coaxing her back onto the pillow. “Should I be offended?” He kissed the base of neck.

She shook her head. “No. I truly wasn’t laughing at you,” she said. “I was just laughing at the absurdity of this situation. You don’t understand. This kind of thing doesn’t happen to me.”

He stared down at her. “Nobody does this to you? Nobody makes you feel good?” He kissed his way down between her chest, taking his time with both breasts and then down past her naval to the tip of her underwear. He dipped his fingers inside and groaned. He rested his head on her stomach, kissing every inch of her bare flesh. “You’re killing me, beautiful girl.”

When he touched her there, however brief it was, common sense Cassie gave way to hormone-induced and lust-filled Cassie. She couldn’t stop now even if she wanted to—and she didn’t want to. Her hands slid over every muscle in his back as she sought out his mouth; this time her tongue pushing its way inside first. He opened willingly. Her fingers fumbled to undo his belt buckle and his pants. As if reading her mind, he helped slide them down his hips and she reached forward to touch him, freeing his erection.

He moaned as he knelt on either side of her legs and caught the band of her fish net stockings, pulling them off her in one fluid motion. His mouth found her sweet spot and she grabbed his hair as she cried out. His tongue darted in and out and his thumb brushed lightly over her clit. She arched off the bed. He was relentless and Cassie felt the swell of her climax building until it over took her and she cried out again; a throaty, breathless cry she couldn’t believe even belonged to her.

In her passionate haze, she was aware that he reached over her and grabbed something from the night stand. Her chest heaving from the mind blowing orgasm she just experienced with a perfect stranger, she slid up on her elbows and saw him rolling a condom over his length.

“You still with me, Boston?”

She nodded and his lips curled into his signature sexy smile. He rubbed his hard erection over her clit and teased her opening slightly before pushing inside until he filled her whole. As his hips rocked gently back and forth, Cassie moaned, but it was stifled by Mr. Steely Eyes who laid his mouth on hers and kissed her like she’d never been kissed before. 

***

A heavy arm was draped across her stomach and she woke with a start. She looked at the man beside her and grinned. My God he was beautiful. And his mouth. And his—her face grew hot thinking about the sex she’d just had with him. Siobhan had called him Jay back at the hotel, but she couldn’t remember him even telling her his name. She frowned. She hadn’t told him hers either. She should be embarrassed by that. She’d just had sex with an absolute stranger. The girls were never going to believe this. She stifled a laugh. Oh My God. The girls! They were probably wondering what the hell had happened to her.

Cassie slid Mr. Steely Eyes’ arm off her and quietly slipped out of bed. Searching in the darkness for her clothes was a challenge, but she pulled all the articles together and threw them back on. She bet she didn’t look nearly as put together as when she had entered the house, but not even she cared at this point. The girls probably thought she was sulking in a corner somewhere. Well, she would show them. They weren’t the only ones who could have a good time.