Chapter Three
Elizabeth
My heart picked up at the sight of a huge, six-foot-four, at least two-twenty man with broad shoulders and a suit that was definitely more expensive than my boss’s. Mr. Keaton was a billionaire, so this man either spent all his fortune on his clothes or he rolled in the same financial circles.
Either way, he was out of my league. I was just an assistant, one who had a father in prison and a mother who’d abandoned me when I was born. I didn’t belong at this party, and I certainly didn’t garner attention from men like the one standing in front of me.
“You don’t touch what’s not yours,” he told the bartender in a calm but commanding tone. He hadn’t raised his voice. No, his deep timber carried the weight of his words all on its own. My heart raced and my pussy pulsed hypnotically to his act of possession.
“Yes, Sir.” Maurice had lost all the charming male bravado he had earlier as soon as the powerful masculine man stepped in his path.
My body gravitated toward him, needy with an unexplained, uncontrolled desire.
Yes, I wanted to get out of my mundane and explore, but I never expected to ache to explore this giant piece of man in front of me.
He leaned over the bar and practically snarled at Maurice as the words ripped from his throat in an angry whisper, “Did you put something in her drink?”
“Just the regular ingredients,” the bartender stammered as his face gave away his lie. His eyes widened in fear and his bottom lip shook.
“Are you lying to me?” Even I could read the lie dripping from the perspiration off of Maurice’s forehead.
“No.” The one syllable turned into three as he stammered.
The handsome stranger raised his brows. “I’ll ask you once more. Did you put something in her drink?”
“Yes. A sedative.” I gasped, leaping forward to slap the shit out of the bastard, but my handsome watchdog stopped me, gripping my hand in his strong one.
“I don’t want you to sully your precious skin on such filth.
It’s already disgusting that he put his hands on you.
” I tried to control the urge to jump into his arms. I was turning into a horny mess.
His fingers ran over my wrist, stroking my pulse.
With his other hand he snapped his fingers, and then two men came up and snatched the man from behind the bar.
“What are you doing?” a woman in an elegant gown that cost more than my annual salary said.
“Replacing your bartender. He’s faulty,” he stated without waiting for her approval.
She didn’t argue. In fact, she sighed, but nodded and then said, “Very well. Can’t have a night like tonight ruined. At least try not to make a scene.”
“Layla, take over.” A woman in a pretty silver gown got behind the bar, who immediately looked at my rescuer with hungry eyes.
“What would you like?” she asked me.
“Suddenly, I’m not thirsty anymore. I think I’ll call it a night,” I replied, my stomach twisting with anxiety. I could have been drugged.
My knight intertwined our fingers as if that would stop me from leaving, and I hated to say it was working. “I hope I didn’t scare you off.”
I shook my head and looked around the room, avoiding his gaze as I spoke.
“No. Thank you for your help, but I’m over my head and I’d rather not be here.
” He was dangerously powerful, and I wasn’t even talking about the way he controlled the situation.
He had my body at attention, and if I wasn’t careful, he’d have so much more.
I’d never been in a serious relationship, and a man like him didn’t give the vibe that he did that kind of thing.
He released my fingers from his grasp, and I started to walk away, but he wasn’t having it.
He took my hand in his, pulling me gently back to his broad chest. I didn’t resist, even though my brain was screaming for me to run.
My nose brushed against his expensive suit and I breathed him in.
The man smelled so incredible up close. Even at a party filled with expensive colognes and perfumes, his scent engulfed me in the best of ways.
He leaned down and pressed his lips against the shell of my ear. “Don’t leave, little treasure.”
I twisted my head and smiled up at the magnetic man in front of me and tried to ignore the way my pulse shot up from his touch. “Staying could be dangerous.” The words that had been in my head fell effortlessly and truthfully from my lips.
“I’ll protect you,” he insisted. From the show that I witnessed, he was telling the truth. I was physically safe from this man, but would I be emotionally safe?
He pulled me toward the dance floor as the music moved to a soft rhythmic beat. Perfect for slow movement with firm bodies pressed up against each other and that’s what he did. His large palm lay flat against the small of my back and pulled me right up against every plane of his taut body.
“Who is going to protect me from you?” I challenged, tossing a red-lipped smirk at him as I peered up at him through my dark mascara-rimmed lashes.
“You don’t need protection from me.”
I arched my brow and gave a light, sardonic laugh. The way he held me close, a part of me believed it and another knew he could crush me.
“I wouldn’t harm a single hair on your pretty head.”
“There are more ways to wound than physical, sir.”
He slid his huge hand under my chin, demonstrating the massive size difference between us. He could easily take me away, and I bet no one in this place would stop him. Hell, I wouldn’t even stop him. “Again, you don’t have to worry about that.”
I smiled at his handsome face and brushed my hand quickly against his chiseled jaw. “You’re right, because we only have tonight.”
His brow arched as his lips twisted in a questioning smirk. He gripped the back of my neck, tipping my head as he leaned in. “Why is that? Are you leaving the country?”
“No. Because one night is all I want and all I’m willing to give.” That had been the truth before he put his hands on me.
“You won’t be saying that in the morning.”
“Yes, I will,” I stated. This man was everything I wasn’t, and I couldn’t handle that.
My brain screamed at me to run, but tonight I wasn’t operating with all my faculties.
Maybe it was the few drinks I’d already consumed, or perhaps it was the titan of a man I was clinging to. “Tell me who you are, gorgeous.”
I shook my head and bit my lip. “No. No names. I’ve spent my life playing safe. Now I just want to let everything be. No names, just fun and free for one night.”
He slid his hand along my jaw and to the back of my head, cradling my skull. His fingers laced into my hair, and then he gave it a tug. “Fine. If you’re not sharing names, then we need to leave because everyone knows my name. Tit for tat.”
“You’re the host?” I asked with a concerned gasp. This man was more powerful than I’d imagined and that meant he was Magnus Masterson, the oil tycoon out of Texas.
“No, my sweet nothing. I am just extremely well known.” He brushed his finger under my chin and lifted my lips up to meet his. “Happy New Year.” Cheers erupted in the room, and his mouth came down on mine. How had time slipped by me?
“You taste so good,” he whispered against my lips as he gently pulled back. “It’s time to go.” I nodded in agreement, lost in his kiss.
“Yes, before someone blurts out your name and ruins the night.” He swooped me into his arms and carried me right out of the party, barely gathering my things from the clerk by the exit, and to the elevator. Several men were standing by who looked like security, but they hadn’t said a word.
We entered the elevators and the second the shiny steel doors closed, he was on me, pinning me to the back wall, mouth on mine, kissing me hard and thoroughly.
His hard, firm mouth dominated mine in a way that told me I’d made the right choice.
The man I’d walked out with tonight would make sure I was satisfied.
“Wait—what are you planning on doing to me?” My confidence had been a front and I hoped I didn’t disappoint him.
“I’m planning on fucking you until neither of us knows our names.” Maybe that was for the best. No names at all.
“Well, that’s the plan. We were keeping this anonymous. No names, no questions, absolutely nothing,” I whispered, reminding myself more than I was informing him. Anonymity was for the best.
“You’re the one asking questions. If you don’t want to know who I am, then don’t go snooping where you don’t belong. Although if you do, I’ll gladly tell you. Besides, the only questions I have pertain to what we will do to each other tonight.”
“Oh, yes. I was under the impression that you planned on fucking me.” His eyes narrowed and his breath grew heavy as his hands tightened around me.
“That’s without a question. It’s more like how many times will you come on my tongue, on my fingers, and on my dick?
” he growled and then continued his assault on my mouth while his hands slowly caressed my body under my coat.
Tonight, I was losing my virginity, and tomorrow, I’d never see this man again.
I might regret our goodbye, but I had a feeling that his touch would be embedded throughout my core.
The doors to the elevator dinged open, and without looking, he dragged me out. We were so busy that I hadn’t paid any attention to where we were. All that mattered was his hands and mouth on me.
He swiftly lifted me into his arms and carried me to his suite, making quick work of getting us inside. Apparently, he rented one of the hotel's condos. He was wealthy. This needed to be only for one night.