5. Hannah Jane
5
HANNAH JANE
I woke in a cloud of Egyptian cotton. Rolling over, I glanced at the bedside clock and smiled softly. I could still feel the aftermath of my night with Isaac. Hell, I’d be feeling it for days. I knew that I needed to get up and get out of his room, but I was savoring every last moment of bliss.
Speaking of the best man from hell.
I sat up, rubbed my eyes, and looked around. He had brought me to bed with him after we got dirty in the shower. But now, I was alone.
My clothes were folded neatly on the desk where he had laid me out and fucked me hard. My shoes were right beside them.
And Isaac’s bags? They were gone.
A room service cart was in their place, packed with covered dishes and a small bouquet of flowers. I tugged the sheet around my body and pulled the cart closer.
Hell Yes Ma’am ,
Did you know that you burn 60 to 100 calories each time you reach orgasm? Breakfast is on me, even though I wish I was eating it off of you.
Thanks for the memories.
-Lawson
I giggled and tossed the note back on the tray. My stomach rumbled, and I didn’t hesitate to dig into the spread. I had an hour until checkout, which gave me at least two until housekeeping showed up to turn over the room.
Surprisingly, I’d never actually stayed at the inn. I knew each room and corner of the property like the back of my hand, but I had never snuggled the luxury linens or soaked in the clawfoot tubs.
I snacked on a danish that the inn bought wholesale from Maddie’s pastry team at Revanche and wandered over to the French doors that led to the balcony.
The Sunday morning sky was gloomy. There was a hurricane whirling off the edge of the coast.
When the forecast came in and said there was a hurricane approaching the week of her wedding, Maddie buried not one, but three bottles of bourbon in the courtyard.
Lucky for her, the old tradition worked. She and Luca were out of dodge, on their way to Europe, and the rest of us were here riding it out. Flights out of the airport in Raleigh were already being canceled. The traffic on Highway 70 would be backed up for miles as people pulled their boats out of the water, loaded them up on trailers, and drove inland.
There were only a few storms I had evacuated for over the years I had lived in Beaufort. Usually, I stuck around to ensure the inn was okay and that my clients were assured everything was being done to keep their wedding venue in tip-top shape .
I kept my generator at the ready, had a year-round stash of canned goods and bottled water, and packed my chest freezer full of casseroles and comfort food.
I was snapped out of my thoughts by the sound of the housekeeping cart squeaking around the corner and Kristin’s voice carrying from the next room over. Oh shit.
I sprinted through the room, gathering my clothes and shoes and darting into the bathroom.
The note.
“Shit, shit, shit,” I muttered as I snuck back into the room and snatched the note from Isaac off of the room service tray. I heard the beep of the master key clicking into the electronic slot just as I shut the bathroom door behind me and flipped the lock.
“He checked out early this morning. I figured we could get a head start on turning over this one and Room 327 since everyone checked out on the same day. That way, if the storm is bad, the rooms are ready for whenever guests come back,” Kristin said to whoever was helping her clean rooms today.
Oh, no, no, no. Isaac ripped my shirt in half last night when we got in the room. The buttons were all over the place, and there was no way I could make it out to my car in the tiny shreds of fabric that were left.
But I did have my emergency outfit still in my office.
I just needed to?—
I heard Kristin open the balcony doors to air out the room and turned on the TV. It was time to bolt. I tied the guest bathrobe tight around my waist, grabbed my things, and tiptoed out while they were distracted.
I took the stairs, hoping to avoid any other employees being privy to my walk of shame. Lucky for me, Sunday morning meant that the admin office wing was a ghost town. I shirked off the robe and quickly slipped into my emergency clothes, still feeling the delicious soreness between my thighs from all of Isaac’s handiwork.
Damn that man.
I didn’t want to admit it, but the bastard was right. I could do no-strings-attached sex. I could hook up, have my needs taken care of, and not fall hard. Go me!
Apparently, I just needed to find someone that I hated to get it on with.
So maybe Isaac wasn’t the repulsive, chauvinist playboy I thought he was. He just had well-defined boundaries.
Did I have fantasies about waking up next to someone after a night of passionate lovemaking? Sure. Doesn’t everyone?
Settling for waking up alone but sexually satisfied for the first time in my life thanks to Isaac Lawson? That wasn’t like me.
There was no way in hell I could tell anyone we hooked up, and I prayed to the good Lord that Isaac would share the sentiment.
I didn’t know why I hated the thought that maybe he wouldn’t tell Luca. Or that maybe he wouldn’t brag about me the same way I overheard him talk about other women he had slept with.
I shoved those nasty thoughts aside as I pulled into my driveway. Before I could even turn the car off, Maddie’s name flashed across my phone.
“Hey, babe. What are you doing calling me from your honeymoon?” I said, trying my hardest to keep from blurting out, I hooked up with your husband’s best friend.
“Layover in Boston before the long flight,” Maddie said. “But I actually need a favor.”
“Yeah, of course.”
“Luca just got a call from the alarm company saying a sensor was tripped at our house. It's probably just the storm making the power flicker. Do you mind riding over there to check it out?”
I backed out of my drive and headed toward the bay. “Yeah, I’m heading over there now.” It was barely sixty seconds before I pulled down Maddie and Luca’s driveway. Perks of living in a small town. “I don’t see any cars,” I said, peering around the steering wheel and studying the house. “The front door is closed. No lights are on.”
“That was fast,” Maddie remarked.
“I was already in my car.”
“Why? You usually sleep in the day after a wedding. I was worried I would wake you up.”
“Long story.”
Maddie laughed. “Dear God, please tell me you didn’t murder Isaac and spend all night disposing of his body.”
No, but I spent all night getting very well acquainted with his body.
“Nah, I just had things to do before the weather gets bad,” I lied. “I’m gonna get out and walk around. See if anything’s out of place.”
I got out of my car and circled the front porch, pulling on the door handle. Still locked. All the windows on the first floor were closed and, unless a ninja broke in, there was no way they were getting in the second-floor windows. I walked around the side of the house, to the back where the man cave had a set of double doors that led out to the waterfront. Circling the bushes, I trudged through the soft dirt, cursing the fact that I was still in those damn heels.
“Everything looks good around the back. It might have just been a short in the system or something,” I said as I pulled on the backdoor to make sure it was locked.
It opened.
I squealed and nearly toppled back, not expecting the door to give way.
“What was that?” Maddie asked when she heard me shriek.
I looked into Luca’s man cave, where we held poker night, and huffed .
“HJ? Do I need to call the cops? I’m calling the cops.”
“No cops,” I hissed. I would have told her to call pest control, but they didn’t handle this particular species of vermin.
“Are you okay? What’s going on?” Maddie clipped from her side of the call.
“It’s all good,” I lied. It was very much not good.
Because Isaac Lawson was standing in Maddie and Luca’s house, wearing that stupid smirk on his face that I could not wait to smack clean off.
On the other side of the call, I could hear Maddie freaking out. Rather than trying to talk her down, I just said, “I’m gonna call you back.”
Isaac leaned on the black lacquered bar like he didn’t have a care in the damn world. Well, he had another thing coming.
“What the hell are you doing breaking into Maddie’s house?” I shouted. “Aren’t you supposed to be, oh—I don’t know— anywhere but here ?!”
“And here I thought you’d be glad to see me. How was breakfast?”
“Short-lived,” I hissed. “I had to sneak out of the room because housekeeping came in. Oh, and you and your animal alter ego shredded my blouse, so I was basically streaking through the inn to get to my office. Thanks for that.”
Isaac strode toward me, but I held my hand out to keep him at arm’s length. I couldn’t let him get closer. This was not how it was supposed to go. He was supposed to be—well, I didn’t know where he was supposed to be. But it wasn’t here. Thankfully, he stopped in his tracks.
“Start talking, Lawson,” I clipped.
He chuckled, wiping his hands together. I caught a glimpse of that stupid ring again, and a streak of disdain pulsed through my veins. “I needed a place to crash, and I knew where Luca kept a spare key. ”
“So, when I call Steve and Chase, I’ll just report it as trespassing—not breaking and entering,” I said, throwing his own words back in his face.
“What is with you and having me arrested? Do you want to see me in handcuffs that bad? Princess, if you have a fantasy you want to play out, you could have just asked.” There was a twitch of amusement in the smile that quirked at the corner of his mouth. His eyes studied me intently like I was a formula to solve.
I huffed and pulled my fingers through my hair. The man was going to make me bald. “Why. Are. You. Here?”
“My pilot can’t fly here with the weather, so I’m stuck. I figured Luca wouldn’t mind me crashing here. I stay at his condo in LA all the time.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Your pilot?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged. “I have a plane. And a pilot. You know—to fly me places.” He shoved his hands in the pockets of his dress pants as if that little tidbit was no big deal. The sleeves of his white linen button up were cuffed just below his elbows, and his blue trousers were impeccably tailored. I was no stranger to designer threads, but he was on another level.
My beloved Louboutins were a once-in-a-lifetime find in a high-end consignment shop. Even then, they’d still cost me a chunk of my paycheck. Not that I’d ever tell him—or anyone else—that.
I did well for myself, but my shoe addiction erred on the pricey side.
The wedding industry was a fickle bitch. Maddie was lucky she could hide in her chef whites. I had to be dressed to the nines even when sneakers and athletic shorts would be more appropriate for the level of physical activity my job as an event planner required.
My phone exploded again. I checked my messages, assuming it was Maddie asking about the house. To my surprise, it was the poker club group text .
Isaac’s brow furrowed as he glanced at my phone, which had not stop buzzing with incoming messages. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, um,” I stammered. Why did he care? I scrolled through the texts, trying to make sense of what was going on. “Erica’s in labor.”
“Erica?”
“Steve Pelham’s, uh,” I paused to think it over. I could have sworn I had caught a glimpse of a diamond ring on her left hand, but they hadn’t made an announcement yet. “Steve Pelham’s girl. They were at the wedding last night.”
"Oh, well, good for them," Isaac said, glancing out the window behind me. "That's actually pretty badass."
"Huh?"
"Being born in a hurricane is a pretty badass move."
I stifled a laugh. "You're an idiot."
Chase sent a text asking if I wanted to ride with him, but I shut his offer down fast. I let the poker club know I'd be there soon. Once I dealt with the sexy intruder standing in front of me.
“You can’t stay here,” I said, looking up from my phone.
“Don’t get your nonexistent panties in a twist,” he sneered. “I’ll call Luca and get him to sign my permission slip for you. Happy?”
“Let me spell it out for you, pretty boy," I said, pointing outside where the ominous clouds had already started spitting rain. “This house sits on the water. It is typically advisable to stay away from the water during a hurricane.”
Well, except for Maddie when she stayed at Luca’s house and…
I shivered. I knew way too much about my friends’ sex lives.
Isaac rolled his eyes and walked to the door, grabbing the handle of his rolling suitcase. “Looks like I’ll be staying a few more nights at your hotel.”
“First off,” I said, whirling around and following him. “It’s not my hotel—I just work there. Second, it’s not a hotel—it’s an inn. And third, no you won’t. Because like I said five seconds ago, there is a hurricane coming, and the inn is right on the water. They don’t take guests during hurricanes. Everyone checked out this morning, and everything got boarded up.”
“So, what do you propose I do, Hell Yes Ma’am?” he snipped, crossing his arms, pulling the already thin fabric tight across his sculpted chest. “Sleep outside and hope for the best?”
The logical part of me would have told him to get an Uber and check into a hotel in Havelock or New Bern. However, the logical part of me was still sedated from all the orgasms.
Asshole.
“Get in,” I said through gritted teeth as I locked the door behind us and walked to my car.
“Where are we going?” he asked as he sank down into the passenger’s seat and tried to stretch his legs in the cramped coupe.
“I have a guest room,” I said as I pulled out onto the road. “Given that my mother would tan my hide if she knew I didn’t use all that damn southern hospitality that she beat into my head, you’re welcome to use it as long as you don’t make a mess. You are house trained, right?”
“Do I even want to know what tan my hide means?”
“Probably not.”
“What do you usually do during a hurricane?” he asked, stretching his arm across my shoulders as I backed out of Maddie’s driveway and headed to my house.
I tried to ignore the rush of butterflies that fluttered inside as soon as he touched me. “Hang out at home. Watch TV until the power goes out.”
“And when the power goes out?” he asked, trailing his fingers up the side of my neck. “I can think of a good way to kill time.”
I shivered in response and swatted his hand away like a pesky mosquito. “Let’s set some ground rules,” I began as I pulled into my driveway and got out of the car. “You will stay in the guest room, and I will stay in my room. If you come out of the guest room, I expect you to keep your clothes on and your hands to yourself. If you cook yourself something, see to it that you don’t burn my kitchen down. The fire department has more important things to do than clean up the aftermath of you leaving a fork in the microwave.”
Isaac opened the back door and tugged his suitcase out. “What makes you think I can’t cook? Maybe I’m a great cook.”
I laughed as I unlocked the front door. “Your best friend is a celebrity chef. You can’t cook and I can’t bake. We have Luca and Maddie for those things.”
“Fair enough,” he muttered, looking around the entryway.
I shoved down all my insecurities and marched into the house, holding my head high as I turned on the lights. I didn’t know much about Isaac besides the fact that he was insufferable and made his millions—er—billions in something to do with luxury real estate. My historic home in downtown Beaufort hardly counted as luxury. But it had character, and that’s what had drawn me to the property. It just took a little TLC and way too many trips to the hardware store to get her restored to her former glory.
“The guest room is up the stairs. First door on the left,” I said as I grabbed a snack out of the pantry and shoved it in my purse. “I’m going to the hospital. I’ll be back later.”
I was almost through the front door and home free when his hand closed in on my hip. “What if I have my own set of ground rules?”
“Rules plural ? Pretty sure it’s my house. My grounds. My rules.”
“Fine.” He smirked. “Just one then.”
I raised an incredulous eyebrow.
His tongue darted out, wetting his bottom lip. Reminding me what it felt like to kiss him.
I hadn’t been with anyone for well over a year before I hooked up with him last night. I knew how to keep my needs in line. Where were all these pesky urges suddenly coming from ?
Isaac’s eyes flitted down to my mouth and then back to meet my gaze. “Don’t fall in love with me, Princess,” he teased.
Who the fuck did he think he was? “Right back at you, Lawson,” I said, flipping him off with two manicured fingers before slamming the door on him.