Chapter 3
Reagan couldn’t believe that her best friend had met a guy at the park. Darcy setting up a date with a random guy she met was quite possibly the craziest thing she’d ever heard of. But then again, Rhomi had also met Mercer at the park.
Loneliness reared its head, and Reagan pushed the unwanted thoughts aside.
She didn’t want to be a bummer, and it was Rhomi’s party.
That she was the last single girl in their trio didn’t mean she was unlovable. It just meant she hadn’t found the right guy yet. And she’d been looking. Dating apps, blind dates…she’d tried it all and grown tired of it.
So she’d switched over to just hoping she might stumble into the arms of Mr. Right.
Assuming that he was actually real. Which judging by her mom’s thoughts, not everyone got a Mr. Right. Sometimes women got Mr. Not-At-All-Right, or Mr. Terrible, or Mr. I-Promise-I’ll-Call. And sometimes, they just stayed single.
But hell, Reagan didn’t want to be a spinster. She wanted to find someone to love. Wasn’t she worthy of that? Of finding a guy who would cherish her?
“It looks freaking amazeballs! You both did such a great job,” Rhomi said as she turned in a slow circle, her face glowing with happiness. Then she frowned. “You okay, babe?”
“I’m fine, and I think the space looks great too. I brought the flowers from work. The orange blossoms are a symbol of happily ever afters.”
“Oh, that’s so sweet!” Rhomi gave her a hug and then motioned Darcy over so they could hug together.
“I love you guys,” Darcy said.
“I love you both too,” Reagan said.
“Me three,” Rhomi said. She beamed at them. “I’m hungry.”
“Let’s get you settled in the seat of honor, and we’ll get the party started as soon as all the guests arrive,” Darcy said.
“I’ll fix you a plate to tide you over while we’re waiting,” Reagan said.
She hurried to the food table and lifted a plate from the stack. As she filled the plate, she had the oddest thought: leave .
She couldn’t figure out what was making her feel like she needed to get out of the building, but the longer she was there, the more anxious she grew.
Something deep inside her urged her to walk out, and she couldn’t figure out what it meant.
She was there to celebrate her best friend’s baby, not to wander aimlessly for no reason.
Ignoring the impulse to walk out, she put one of everything on the plate, grabbed silverware, and set them on the small café table where Rhomi was seated.
“Mercer went to get my parents, they’re at the front gate,” Rhomi said. “Then we can get things started!”
Reagan nodded but didn’t say anything.
Because part of her just wanted to leave. But she couldn’t, right? That would be so rude.
Except…
She moved away from her friends and the growing crowd of people coming in for the party and stepped outside. She inhaled and exhaled several times, taking in the crisp morning air and trying to shut out the thoughts that were banging around in her mind.
To keep going, to find something .
She looked at the closed door of the building, indecision making her hesitate, but then she ignored the warnings that she should stay with the party and walked away.
At first, she wandered and didn’t feel any better.
Whatever something that was leading her around the park, wasn’t really good at giving directions. Just what the heck was she feeling? It was almost like she was supposed to be somewhere, but had no idea where or for what purpose.
And then she picked up a strange scent.
Not strange so much as enticing.
Like sandalwood and sunshine, and very out of sorts with the safari park and the humidity-laced florals in the botanical gardens.
She found herself sniffing the air and moving away from the building, feeling a little ridiculous. But she wasn’t going to give up. Whatever the scent was, it was beckoning her and making butterflies go crazy in her stomach.
She followed the scent to a shed and hesitated, her fist poised to knock. Was she really going to knock on a shed door? That seemed kind of nuts, but then again, she felt kind of nuts. Curious and turned on at the same time.
How weird!
She grabbed the handle and pulled, the door creaking as it opened.
She stepped inside and the door shut behind her.
“Hello?” she called out, her voice a little shaky. She was nervous but excited at the same time.
A man stood in the middle of the shed that was about half-full.
He turned slowly and faced her, and holy crap .
The moment she locked eyes with him, she knew he was the one who smelled like sandalwood and sunshine. He was the reason her stomach was filled with butterflies and her knees were weak.
“Hello, yourself,” he said, his voice a deep rumble that made warmth shoot down her spine and pool in her belly. “I’m Indio. Are you lost?”
“I…” was following something that smelled good and I found you.
No. That was insane.
But…it’s what happened.
He moved closer and the scent of him, like the best cologne she’d ever smelled in her life, wrapped around her.
“I’m Reagan,” she said, finding her voice. She stared up at him, lost in the depths of his eyes that were light brown, ringed with gray, an enchanting color she’d never seen before.
He was definitely the sexiest guy ever.
He had broad shoulders and was tall enough she had to tilt her chin up to look at him. The shirt he wore—a black collared shirt with the park’s logo on the pocket—hugged his muscles and made her want to reach out and give his biceps a squeeze. Or two.
“I’m not lost,” she said.
He chuckled. “Good. You’re really beautiful.”
She was so shocked at his blunt words, because she honestly couldn’t remember the last time someone besides her besties had told her she was beautiful, that she just stared at him.
“You’re beautiful too. I mean handsome. Sexy. Shit .”
She pressed her hands to her face as her cheeks heated. She was sure they were bright red. A flush crept up her neck and she wanted to run away, but she was rooted to the spot. Because Indio was there and he was sexy as hell and smelled like sandalwood and sunshine.
Her new favorite scents.
He gently pulled her hands free and tipped her chin up. “Why are you here, Reagan?” His gray-brown eyes searched hers, like he knew exactly what was going on in her head, but he couldn’t, right?
“You’ll think I’m crazy.”
He was still holding her wrists, and she liked it.
“I promise I won’t. Maybe I have a good idea of what brought you in here.”
She pursed her lips, her gaze dropping down to his mouth and the perfect curve of his lips. Her stomach tightened.
Holy crap, she’d never been so turned on in her life. What the hell?
“I’m friends with Rhomi and was at the baby shower, but I felt like I needed to leave. And then I smelled sandalwood and sunshine and I followed it here, to you.”
He pulled her closer, their bodies bumping. He slipped his hands around her back and drew her more firmly against him. Her curves fit against the hard planes of his muscles like they’d been made for each other, but that was nuts, right?
Hadn’t she just been thinking about soulmates and questioning whether that was in her future? She’d been feeling a little desperate to know whether she’d get a forever-guy. Especially if her forever-guy might be Indio.
The scent of him deepened and she panted for breath, feeling totally out of her depths. What was she even doing?
Her mother’s voice reared its ugliness inside her head, the years of hearing that there were no good guys, that they only wanted one thing, that there was only heartache and no happiness at the end of the day when it came to them.
She pushed the thoughts away.
She wasn’t doing anything but being here in the moment with Indio.
The sexy guy who smelled like sandalwood and sunshine.
“I’ve been feeling odd myself today,” he said. He touched her face, tracing her jaw with his thumb. “I can’t believe how weird fate is. I was wondering when I might meet a beautiful female, and here you are, looking like my best dream come to life.”
That was freaking awesome.
A line? Maybe.
Was she falling for it?
Hell yes.
She tilted her face a little bit more and he did exactly what she wanted him to: kissed her.
Their lips met and she swore the whole world dropped away.
All she could hear was the pounding of her heart, all she could feel was his strong arm at her back, his calloused thumb tracing light patterns down her neck to her shoulder, and the sweet scent of him deepening even further and calling to something ancient inside her.
Ancient and horny.
Their lips parted at the same time, tongues dancing together like they’d been kissing each other for years and knew exactly what they liked.
His fingers played over her shoulder, slipping under the fabric of her dress and caressing her skin. She wanted more of his touches, more of his kisses.
Was she actually doing this?
She pushed away the worries that crept into her mind and focused on Indio.
He walked backward slowly, bringing her with him, without breaking the kiss.
Then he lowered himself down and she left his lips for a moment to open her eyes and see he was sitting on a wooden bench against the wall.
He crooked his finger at her with a devilish smile, and she grasped her dress in both hands and lifted it up her legs, then climbed onto his lap.
Her knees bit into the hard wood, but he brought his hands up under her skirt and squeezed her thighs and she completely forgot about it.
She was living in the moment, enjoying every kiss and touch.
She’d never felt so wanton, but it felt good to give into it.
She undid the buttons of his shirt and pushed it off his shoulders, pulling from the drugging kiss to see what she’d revealed.
At the same time, he pushed his hand between her thighs and rubbed his knuckles against her panties, and she knew he could feel how hot and wet she was, even with the silky barrier.
She was positively on fire.
“How are you so sexy?” she asked, tracing his pecs.
“I could ask you the same question, Reagan,” he said, his knuckles pressing lightly to her clit, the soft friction making her gasp. “I want to find out how wet you are, beautiful.”
She let her head drop back and moaned softly. “Yes. I’ve never wanted anything more.”
He made a snarling sound that she found wholly erotic as he slipped his fingers inside her panties. He gently moved them up and down, and she was immediately thankful she’d shaved that morning so she could feel everything he was doing.
Then he pushed a finger inside her and she tilted her hips, lifting up from his lap and giving him better access. She kissed him as she gripped his shoulders, her nails digging into him.
There was a pull against her hip and a tearing sound, and her panties were toast.
And she didn’t care one bit.
He added a second finger, groaning as they kissed. Then he pressed his thumb to her clit and her whole body jolted. She freed herself from the kiss, fucking his fingers as he rubbed her clit, feeling even more wanton, even more turned on than she’d ever been in her life.
As she cascaded toward bliss, she didn’t care that she didn’t know him, she didn’t care that they were in a shed in public, she only cared that he didn’t stop.
“Please don’t stop,” she said hoarsely.
“I promise,” he said. “Come for me, Reagan.”
While he fingered her toward climax, he found the zipper at the back of her dress and lowered it, her breasts freed from the gauzy confines of the only day in her life she’d decided to go braless. Thank freaking goodness.
When she came, hard and fast on his fingers, she let out a sharp cry and then curled against him, her face buried in his neck.
“More, Indio, more,” she whispered against his neck, sucking on his flesh and biting down. He tilted his hips up, and she felt his hand move from her pussy to his pants, and in moments, he’d wrangled his jeans down his thighs and freed his cock.
And then he was pulling her down on him at the same moment he drove himself up into her.
Everything inside her both rioted and quieted at the same time.
Soulmate .
She pushed the thought aside. She was horny and bummed that her besties had seemingly moved on without her. Even if he was the sexiest guy she’d ever met, and he touched her like no one ever had before, Indio was just a body to tend to her needs.
But that seemed harsh.
She wasn’t a one-nighter kind of girl.
His hands gripped her hips hard as they moved together, and she lost all other trains of thought except finding out what it was like to come at the same time as a guy.
She’d never done that. Hell, she’d never had a guy make her come before.
She’d always had to take her pleasure into her own hands, literally.
But not with Indio.
He knew just how to touch her.
He moved a little, twisting his hips, and she lifted from his shoulder and braced herself against the wall. She found a little ledge and gripped it, kissing him as her body reheated from the spiral of pleasure and bliss seemed within reach again.
He nipped at her throat and worshipped her breasts, making her whole body sing as his thick cock moved in and out of her. And then his movements grew more hurried and her body rushed past the point of no return.
Spiraling into the sort of pleasure that took her breath away, she felt him come inside her, felt his body jolt with pleasure, and heard him whisper her name through clenched teeth.
And she knew she’d never be the same.
Boneless in his arms, she waited for her body to come back online and her brain to start firing on all cylinders again.
And that’s when she realized what she was doing.
She was half-naked on an also half-naked guy’s lap, his cock still inside her, with no condom . And she had walked off from the baby shower without a word or even her phone.
What had possessed her to act like this?
Crap crap crap.
Rising from him, she put her shoes back on, which had fallen off when she’d climbed onto his lap, and pulled her dress up. As she zipped it, she said, “I have to go. Sorry.”
“Wait! Reagan!”
But she didn’t wait. She ran.
Because…she wasn’t the sort of girl who climbed guys like trees and had two orgasms while her friends were having a baby shower nearby.
What the heck was wrong with her?