Chapter Three
Laurie
I pushed open the door and was greeted by the sight of a confused giant of a man with long, pale-white hair fluttering in the cool breeze.
“Can I help you?” I asked, wondering why he was standing in front of my balcony doors. The second-story balcony ringed the entire rear of the house, stretching from one end to the other. Each room had its own little offshoot from the main pathway, precisely where the man stood.
“Perhaps,” he said, looking directly at me, providing the first glimpse of a pair of turquoise eyes the likes of which I’d never seen before.
“O-okay,” I stammered, thrown off balance by the physical impact of locking gazes with the stranger.
It was doing strange things to my body, provoking reactions that no simple gaze should be allowed to do. I inhaled deeply as blood rushed through my body, courtesy of a rapidly accelerated heartbeat. It’d been calm, but now it was racing at top speed, like a drag car off the starting line.
There was more to it than that. A thrill ran down my spine from how well his plain black button-up shirt was contoured to his body. The broadness of his shoulders was well evident, and he definitely did not skip leg day.
Stop it. You’re engaged.
But my body wasn’t listening. Things were becoming enflamed that shouldn’t, and my bra suddenly felt tighter as my nipples hardened. I was breathing harder, too, almost sniffing the air, desperate for the scent of the strange man outside my room.
He was staring at me expectantly, the sharp lines of his face drawn tight as he regarded me with an odd curiosity. Had he not been expecting anyone in the room?
“You must be one of father’s new grounds crew,” I found myself saying. “I don’t recognize you.”
Frown lines deepened on his forehead, then relaxed as an easy grin spread across his face. “Yes, I am.”
“I’m Laurie,” I said, extending a hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“Laurie,” he murmured, repeating my name. “A pleasure to meet you. I’m Rip.”
To my surprise, instead of shaking my hand, he swept it up into his meaty paw and brought it to his mouth, brushing his lips against the back of it. “A pleasure,” he repeated, his eyes looking up at me through surprisingly thick lashes.
I tried to calm my thudding heart as the rest of my body clamored for more touches from him. It wanted his lips to explore the rest of me. Preferably the parts still covered in clothing.
“Who do you do here, Rip?” I asked, then inhaled sharply, knowing my normally pale cheeks had to be as red as tomatoes. “What do you do here?”
“Whatever is required of me,” he said. “A bit of this, a bit of that. Your father sent me up here to ensure everything was perfectly cleaned for your arrival. I must admit, I was later arriving than expected. I should have been gone by the time you got here,” he said with the casual confidence of someone who knew they weren’t in trouble.
“That sounds like him,” I said wryly. “Always trying to control everything.”
Rip shrugged. A quiet type? I cursed, knowing I had a soft spot for those.
There was a depth to them, and of Rip, I knew he fit that type.
There was so much unsaid. I could only pick up parts of it in his eyes.
Not all of it was good, either. Rip had seen things, bad things.
I didn’t know how I could tell, but I could.
We stood in silence, me looking up at him through my lashes, knowing I was inadvertently pulling off a slightly sultry attitude. It was wrong. I shouldn’t be acting like that around a stranger.
And a stranger shouldn’t be setting fire to my pussy just by staring me down. I don’t care how unique and mesmerizing those turquoise eyes of his are. They don’t own me. He doesn’t own me. I’m free to make my own choices, and I choose not to be seduced by his looks!
“I hope it’s to your satisfaction, Laurie.”
My knees quivered and heat coiled between my legs, burning more intensely, like a rattlesnake sounding its warning, ready to strike if anyone came closer.
I hoped he couldn’t tell just how strongly he was affecting me because if he could, and Rip wasn’t a good type, I would be in serious trouble.
Just the way he said my name had me wanting to do all sorts of things to him—right there on the balcony.
“I-it’s great,” I said, eventually stuttering out the reply, hating how I sounded so awkward. My voice was throaty, distracted, and, to my mind, at least, full of sex.
I struggled to take another breath of cool air without reacting, but the inhalation caused my chest to rise and my nipples, stiff and taut, to rub against the inside of my bra, which only made the matter worse as I realized something else.
I wanted Rip to touch them. To touch me. No, I didn’t want it. I was eager for it. I needed it. Needed him.
Holy hell, woman. Get your shit together. You’re engaged to a wonderful man. This playboy is nothing. Just the hired help. He’s absolutely not worth risking your relationship over. That’s for sure!
It didn’t matter that Eric had never made me feel like that before. That no man had ever turned my body to mush the way Rip did, with only the barest of touches. I had a ring on my finger, and I had to behave.
You’re just going nuts because Eric has been gone for three weeks, and you’ve been coming off birth control in that time. You aren’t thinking right. Calm yourself and save it for some baby-making later tonight! Don’t let hormones wreck everything you’ve been so happy about for the past few years.
Taking a deep breath in, I let it out slowly, pulling my eyes off Rip and his finely chiseled body hidden beneath the shirt and pants.
“Laurie?”
The voice came from somewhere in the room. A familiar voice. One I hadn’t heard in close to a month.
“I’m sorry,” I said to Rip with a smile. “I, um, have to go. That’s my fiancé.”
“Of course,” Rip said, nonplussed. He made no move to leave, however. “It was very nice to meet you, Laurie.”
“You, too,” I said, finding myself drawn back into the swirling depths of his eyes, twin maelstroms of color and darkness.
Somehow, I turned and headed back inside, trying to ignore the fact that, minutes later, my hand was still tingling from where Rip had gripped it.
The back of my palm pulsed slowly in time with the pressure from my clit, as if the caress of his lips on my hand directly linked to the space between my legs.
“Hey, babe,” Eric said as he approached me, wrapping me in a hug.
I returned it, still in a daze. How could someone have made me feel that way?
“Why are you carrying your bag?” I asked, my hands finding the duffel bag strapped across his chest and hanging off his back. I should’ve seen it, but I wasn’t thinking straight. “Did Winston not take it for you?”
“No, I can carry it,” he said, casually brushing off the insult from the butler, who was paid to do things like carry people's bags for them.
“It’s his job,” I muttered somewhat angrily. “It’s his way of insulting you by not offering to carry it.”
Eric smiled and waved it off, bending down to kiss me. I let him, but guilt swarmed me as I spent the next few seconds wondering what it would be like to kiss Rip instead.
Enough. That is crossing a line.
“I’m a big boy,” he said, puffing out his admittedly large chest.
“Eric Wrexton II,” I said teasingly. “You are one of a kind. You know that?”
He laughed and kissed the top of my head with affection. “I’m serious. It’s no big deal. I know he’s not my biggest fan. I’d rather pretend it doesn’t affect me. That way, he won’t take any satisfaction from it.”
I sighed, shaking my head. “Okay, I guess. If you insist.”
He nodded. “I do. Now, what?”
“Take a shower. Put on some non-airplane clothes. Dinner will be served shortly, and Daddy will never let me hear the end of it if you’re late or not freshened up.”
Eric pouted at that. “So you won’t be joining me in the shower?”
“Maybe later,” I laughed. “But not now, no.”
“I’ve missed you,” he said in a low growl. “I’m ready.”
“Me, too,” I said. “I haven’t taken a single pill since you’ve been gone.”
“I’m gonna put a baby in you,” he purred before coughing, completely ruining the mood.
“After dinner,” I told him with a laugh. “Now, go, shoo, hurry up.”
Eric disappeared into the bathroom, peeling off his clothes in a trail as he went. I stared after him, but I wasn’t seeing my fiancé. I was seeing someone else. Once the door closed, I turned to stare out the glass of the French doors.
Who the hell are you, Rip, and why are you so suddenly all I can think about? I’m not unhappy.
So, why am I reacting this way?