JOYCE

A loud slam sounded behind me, and I turned to look. It was Vincent. He was out of his car with a predatory look on his face that lit my body on fire. His eyes held mine with burning intensity as he made his way toward me.

I couldn’t thank the lord enough. I was worried if I had completely ruined my image in front of him, but seeing the look in his eyes, it was otherwise. He couldn’t defy the pull toward me, either.

I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could manage a word, his hands slipped to the back of my head and he crashed his lips on mine. A gasp of surprise leapt out of my lips, but it wasn’t entirely a surprise. I was hoping he would kiss me again so that we could start from where we left off. It was a moan of desperation.

His towering height was forcing me to bend back, so I tiptoed, wrapping my hands around his shoulders. The kiss was demanding, yet controlled on his part. If the kiss at the bar felt a hundred percent, this was a thousand. The passion had doubled and the sensation inside my body had, too.

“Fuck!” he grumbled, the force of the words passing into my mouth with the kiss. My legs wobbled. If it weren’t for him holding me, I would’ve collapsed right here on the floor.

My entire body hummed with pleasure. My nipples peaked, painfully straining against the fabric of my bra underneath the dress.

I wasn’t just turned on. There was a heavy emotion building in my chest that had my insides clench. It was too soon to have assumed anything out of this—whatever this was between us—but it was a strong feeling I couldn't shake.

The valet's chuckle rang like an alarm in my head and I pulled back, my senses streeled to reality. He stared at me and gulped as I stepped away from him, my heart hammering in my chest.

He glared at the valet before looking back at me, his chest heaving with every panting breath. “Should I say it with no filter?” I didn’t understand what he meant, but nodded, anyway. He closed the distance between us again and muttered, “I don’t think I’ve ever wanted a woman this desperately, and I would lose my mind if I can’t feel myself inside you right now.”

My lips parted in shock, but my legs squeezed together. Those words were filthy, yet so sexy. “So, what do you have in mind?”

“You want me to be honest?” He smirked. “I want to carry you to your room, tear that beautifully agonising dress from your body, and admire you at first. Then lick every inch—your tits, your pussy. Your neck. I want to fuck you into oblivion and make you praise the night. Do you want me to continue?"

"Here?" I asked and blinked at him with my wide eyes. Here? I scowled. What the fuck?

A smug smile appeared on his lips. "We can continue here if you want. I don't mind. Though, I believe, the hotel staff will have a lot to say about it."

I glanced at the valet standing and gave him an awkward smile, trying to hide my eeriness.

“Tell me you don’t want this night to end so quickly, Joy.”

The feeling of the sound of his voice hitting me straight between my legs, and the way he took my name, of course, I didn’t want this night to end. I needed more of it.

"Follow me," I said with newfound confidence.

He followed me to the elevator, keeping a safe distance between him and me, but the moment the doors closed, he held my waist and pulled me to stand in front of him, my back pressed to his chest.

He kissed my nape and whispered, “I feel like a fucking school boy waiting for a candy.”

“You mean to say I’m a candy?” I could barely recognise my voice.

He chuckled, the sound so soft. “I’ll eat you in the best way I can, while savouring it.” He trailed his fingers over my stomach and traced circles on my navel over the dress. “You’re trembling, you’re blushing and your skin is hot. And I know you’re wet for me.”

I leaned back against his chest, wanting to melt into him. I could feel the thickness of his hot erection digging at my back.

My celibacy hadn’t been intentional. I had fantasised over the years about how consensual sex felt like since coming out of my traumas. It had taken six years for me to finally be here, to be bold enough to go through with it. Thanks to the alcohol.

The elevator door opened, and it was finally time for us to go to my room. Taking out the swipe key from the purse, I hovered at the lock. As the double-beeping sound of it reached my ears, my body tensed.

If I let Vincent enter my room, that would be it. There would be no going back. I wasn’t sure I was ready for sex, but I was a hundred percent sure that I wasn’t ready for a commitment. My life was too complicated—I was too complicated for it.

“Are you looking forward to being carried inside, Joy?" Vincent breathed, his warm breath falling on my ears.

I walked straight inside the room. He followed suit and closed the door behind him, but didn’t follow me inside. I turned to look. He was leaning against the door with his eyes scanning me from top to bottom, observing my body as if I was the most fascinating sight for him. That boosted my confidence to a whole new level.

I dropped the purse on the floor and reached behind my back to unzip my dress, the sound of it echoing in the room. Neither of us was speaking, but our emotions were in the air. The need, the lust, and everything in between.

His Adam’s apple bobbed as he slowly moved toward me, like a beast creeping up to its prey. Pausing inches away, he said, “You want me to kneel before you, don’t you?”

I hadn’t imagined it, but oh what a sight it would be. Vincent Brown kneeling between my legs.

He grabbed my arm and jerked me back to him and planted feather-light kisses on my cheeks, slowly moving down my jaw to the crook of my neck. I loved his slow touches and his vexatious tortures. He knew exactly what he was doing and the effect that it was having on me.

He lifted his face to meet my gaze. “How do you smell so delicious?”

“Like candy?”

He nodded, and I bit my lower lip before kissing him again. His fingers curled around my thighs to hoist me up, and I wrapped my legs around his waist. He carried me to the bed and dropped with me, my back sinking into the soft mattress.

"Do you want me to stop?" he asked, sliding the sleeves of my dress down my shoulders.

"No, I just want to make something clear." I bet he had thought about making me his girlfriend of the week. That was who Vincent Brown was. This was only sex. "I don't know you and you don't know me. Let's not change that when we wake up sober in the morning."

This wasn’t a condition for him. It was for me to keep myself away.

His brows knitted together as if he hadn't expected this. "Sounds good to me. Does that mean we’ll never see each other again?"

‘Do you want to?’ was at the tip of my tongue. "No," I said. “I sound like a slut, don't I?" I covered my face with my hands. “You’re a complete stranger. It’s all so exciting and, at the same time, it's frightening that you'll turn into a dangerous dream. I just don’t want to carry this back home. What happens in Paris stays in Paris.”

He muttered, "Stop talking and listen. I don’t think you’re a slut. You’re right. What happens in Paris should stay here. I wouldn’t want this to affect me as my other relationships have.” I nodded, and he smirked. “This night is going to be very long."

I smiled and whispered back, "Very long."

***

VINCENT

By the time I entered my suite, it was almost a quarter to three. I had no intention of walking in on a butt-naked Cole mid-action. Then I remembered I had nowhere else to go. This was my hotel room. Strangely enough, the room was empty, with no signs of Cole, which was a relief.

I removed my jacket and threw it over the couch while scanning the place. There was an open whiskey bottle on the tea table beside the couch and three tumblers. One glass was full.

A rustling sound coming from inside the bedroom drew my attention. I tiptoed toward the room, my guard on high alert, and peered through the crack between the doors. The lights in the room were off, but the sound came from within. If Cole was here with the girls, the sounds would’ve been different. I cringed and pushed the door open.

That was when I noticed the shy brunette from the club—ebony eyes, long chestnut hair straightened over the shoulders, her skin dusky and figure petite and slender—wiping her neck with a white towel, the light from the living room lighting her profile. She stood there in a way I had least expected. She wore a lace bra and panty, both with the perfect combination of pale red and sap green stripes.

I couldn’t remember her name, not that I cared. "What the hell are you doing here?" I asked, trying not to move my gaze from her eyes.

"We came here to get wasted, but then Jessie wanted to go to the new Cuban place two blocks down, so they left," she answered in a broken accent.

“And you stayed back for?”

“I was waiting for you.” Her blatant reply made me quirk a brow.

I was not in my right mind to have her or any other woman around me. But, at the same time, I was too turned on to elude the offer sparkling in her eyes.

"For me?" I walked past her to the bathroom door, pulling my t-shirt off. Tossing it to the side, I queried, “What if I hadn’t come back?”

"Hmm. I wanted to freshen up anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”

I shook my head as I went into the bathroom to wash my face. My mind was heavy with so many thoughts. I needed a gateway out of this and if this girl could be it, I wouldn’t mind.

I was in the bathroom long enough for her to get dressed, but when I came out, she was still in that lingerie.

“I did see you leave with someone. It made me upset since I was looking forward to talking to you and getting to know me.”

I sniggered. “We both know you don’t want to know me, so spare me the crap.” I stood at an arm’s length from her. “If you wanna fuck, let’s get on with it. I’ve had enough bullshit for the night.”

Sonia smirked and pressed her hands on my naked chest. She pushed me until my back was against the bathroom door. Definitely not shy. Unbuttoning my pants, she skimmed her hands down my underwear.

I groaned at the contact. This was more action than what I’d had in weeks because of my tight schedule. Even today.

She dipped her face to my neck, her breath warming my skin, and whispered, "Would you mind if I overstayed my welcome?"

I loved a dominant woman in bed, but right now, I needed to be in charge. All the pent-up lust and anger inside me was burbling. Taking a fistful of her hair in my hands, I pulled her head back. I wanted to end this as quickly as possible and send her off with no strings tied.

Drawing my face close to hers, our lips only inches apart, I questioned in a heavy voice, "I’m not kicking you out, am I? Besides, are we still talking?"

She smirked and planted sultry kisses on my chest, creeping lower. Her tongue grazed on my belly button, sending shivers down my spine. I leaned my head against the door, my eyes tightly shut. Within seconds, she pulled my pants down and massaged the bulge strained underneath the tight briefs.

Everything happened too fast after that. Her mouth on my cock, my silent moans reverberating in my ears, my hands over her mouth to stop her from screaming while I fucked her, each thrust faster and harder, her legs locked around my waist. There was no kissing involved, no attachments, just a quick-fuck.

This was the only way to force my anger out. Rather than uncontrollable rage, I let it out as an overwhelming sex drive.

All of this only to keep that wicked woman out of my mind. I had not only been pushed away once today, but twice by the same woman. Yet even though there was someone else under me, my mind drifted to that one question: why the hell did she push me away?

Joy rolled the T-shirt over my body, practically tearing it off, and threw it away before shoving her dress down, revealing the sexiest strapless bra I’d ever seen in the shade of red. Thinking of it, she looked fierce in red.

There was a hint of hesitation in her eyes that prompted me to stop, but the tight grip of her legs around my waist said otherwise. I wanted her naked now.

I trailed my tongue down her collarbone to the swell of her breast. Her lavender scent intoxicated me. I cupped her creamy breasts with my large hands and kneaded them, earning a few moans from her.

The next thing I knew, those sounds of pleasure turned into sniffles. I looked up and my entire world came crashing down. Beads of tears trickled down the corner of her eyes, her chin quivering and body shaking with fear.

I had pulled back from her, not knowing what to do. But I couldn’t leave her like that. I had waited, had caressed her face and had whispered soft words to her until she had fallen asleep and then left.

There was this upsetting feeling in the pit of my stomach that was turning into knots. I was never the type to stay through things like these, since I feared emotions above all. In a relationship rich with emotions, there were complications and vulnerability, either of which I didn’t have enough time for.

Yet I didn't know why I couldn't stop worrying about her.