Chapter 9 #2
He hadn't approached her. In fact, he made it his duty to avoid her, which was all well and fine.
She was having the time of her life and wasn't short of male companions.
She flirted, something she wouldn't normally do under any other circumstances.
She wasn't a flirt after all, but tonight she was feeling reckless and edgy.
After dancing the third time with someone named Michael Ranger, a trust-fund baby and an executive at his daddy's financial institution, she became conscious of the fact that he might have mistaken her intentions and was reading something more into her harmless flirtation.
She also realized that, as the evening progressed, he was getting more tipsy.
He was also getting a little too handsy.
And her brother seemed to have disappeared.
As soon as the song ended, she made her escape.
Requesting her wrap from the attendant, she made her way out of the room and into the hotel lobby.
Needing a bit of air, she went outside, pulling the wrap around her.
The wind had a bite to it. She was making her way to an enclosed gazebo in the lush garden when she heard footsteps behind her.
"I wondered where you'd gotten to."
Closing her eyes in irritation, she turned to face the now weaving, determined young man. "I went to get a drink, and you'd disappeared."
"I came out here to be alone," she said pointedly. "You need to go back in."
He came forward instead. "I like you a lot, and I have a feeling that you like me too."
"I'm sorry I gave you that impression. Now..."
She tried to step back when he reached for her, but she wasn't quick enough. His hands clamped on her arms, fingers digging in.
"Michael..."
"I think we should go back to my place," he leered. "Or I could get a room here. Much nearer."
"Kindly take your hands off me."
"What do we have here?" His leer turned into a sneer. "A tease? You were practically rubbing up against me back there, stirring me up. Playing hard to get, sweetheart?"
Before she knew it, he ducked his head and started slobbering all over her.
His breath suffocated her, and she could not get out of his hold.
Panic threatened to set in when he clamped his mouth on hers, his hands banding around her waist. When she managed to sink her teeth into his bottom lip, it only served to make him angry.
"Bitch!" His hand dug into her back, causing her to cry out in shock. One minute he was all over her, and the next he was on the pavement. It all happened so quickly that for a moment, she stood there paralyzed. It was when he was being hauled up by his collar that she was shaken from her stupor.
Landry was slowly and viciously using the man as a punching bag.
Galvanized into action when Michael started gagging and men were beginning to rush outside, she rushed over and grabbed his arm.
"Stop it!"
"Step back." Without even looking at her, he had the man by the throat and was squeezing.
"Landry, you're killing him!" Her cries and the fingers gripping his arm were not getting through to him. She almost sagged with relief when several beefy men rushed forward to intervene. It was then she spied her brother.
"Mr. Crenshaw, we got this," one of the men told him.
"Get him the hell out of here!"
Kyle had come next to her, his arm going around her waist.
When Landry whirled to face her, his anger was like a live thing that had her stepping back.
"He had his hands on her," he told her brother, before swiveling those darkened eyes to her. "He had his hands on you."
"I..."
She sucked in a breath when he took her hand and hauled her toward him.
"I'm taking you home."
"I came with Kyle."
"I'm taking you home," he repeated between his teeth.
Lifting his hands, Kyle nodded. From the set look on the other man's face, he doubted he was going to budge.
Without another word, Landry half-dragged her toward the valet, who came running toward them. Handing him the ticket, he stood with his hand shackling her arm as they waited for the vehicle.
"Get in!" The cold, set look on his face warned her to do as he said without argument.
Besides, she was freezing. As soon as she was buckled in, he peeled out of the parking lot and shot out onto the main road.
They had been going in the opposite direction for ten minutes before she noticed.
"Where are we going?" She sat up and began to take notice as the lights from the high-rise office buildings were left behind them.
"Landry..."
"Shut the hell up!" He was so angry that he could barely contain himself.
"You don't get to talk to me that way. You turn this vehicle around right now, do you hear me?"
Instead of complying, he pressed the accelerator, causing the car to leap forward in traffic. He knew the guards were right behind him, but he did not give a damn.
"You allowed that... that bastard to follow you outside.
You don't think I saw you with him on the dance floor?
He had his hands all over you. I wanted to kill him!
" He barely made the light before it turned red and whipped the car around the bend that led to his home.
Kady's heart was in her throat, and she found herself gripping the armrest.
He came to a screeching halt inside the driveway of the building where he lived.
She had just enough time to notice the surrounding trees, the glimmer of a lake, before he was opening the door and unsnapping her belt.
Taking her hand, he pulled her out, holding on even as he punched in a series of codes to disengage the alarm.
Shoving the towering hardwood door open, he slammed it shut behind him, keying in the alarm sequence before letting go of her.
"I want to go home." Kady had never seen someone so furious before. Folding her hands over her breast, she watched as he paced the length of the elegant foyer.
"What the hell were you thinking?" He whirled around so suddenly that he had her stepping back. "What were you trying to prove? He had his hands all over you."
"It's called dancing." She quivered under his heated gaze. "And I didn't ask him to follow me outside. I needed some air..."
"You were leading him on!" he shouted.
She bristled at the words as much as the tone.
"So, what you're saying is that I deserved to be manhandled."
She gasped when he gripped her arms and shook her. "I wanted to kill him." His eyes swirled with fury. "When I saw him doing that to you, hurting you, touching you like that, I wanted to kill him. I still do."
"Stop it," she whispered shakily, alarmed at the intensity he was projecting. "I'm fine. I was about to knee him in the groin when you came charging out. I know how to defend myself, and he was drunk."
"I wanted to kill him," he repeated hoarsely. His touch gentled as he drew her closer to him. "He had his hands on you."
"Landry." She lifted a hand to touch his face gently. "I'm fine. He didn't hurt me."
"I could not bear to see him doing that to you..." His hold loosened, his hands running up and down her arms. The cashmere wrap slid to the floor, giving him freedom to touch her skin.
Suddenly everything shifted. The anger that had fueled his emotions for the entire evening changed. She saw it in the darkening of his eyes, the touch of his fingers gliding over her skin.
Heat met heat as her breathing accelerated, and she knew, instinctively knew, that it was going to be tonight.
All the times she had been avoiding this, telling herself she would be a fool to fall into his arms again, it was going to happen, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
What was even more important was that she didn't want to.
Her hands settled on his chest, not to push him away, but to feel the warmth pumping through his shirt.
Sliding them upward, she was the one who took off his jacket.
His breath tunneled inside his chest as he watched her unbutton his shirt.
He went still when she tugged the tail of his shirt from the waistband of his dress pants.
He couldn't move. The years fell back as if by magic and they were teenagers again, but this time more mature, more confident in what they were about.
"Kady-Ann." Her name was a prayer torn from him.
He touched her reverently, slowly, fingers trailing along her cheek, loving the feel of her soft skin, which felt like silk.
Her scent surrounded him, just as heat poured through him like a river.
Wrapping his hand around her throat, he brought her face up.
Her body jolted at the passion etched on his face.
There was no doubt that he was incredibly aroused.
"Kady-Ann." His voice was thick, his body already trembling. He drew her to him, lips brushing hers, breathing in her scent. Ignoring her parted lips, he continued to nuzzle, to sip, to taste, fingers gliding over her skin. He was determined to take his time.
Desire, molten and thick, was roaring through his body like a river gone wild, but he was going to take his time. He had waited years for this, the taste of her, the feel of her, and he wanted to savor every moment.
The scrap of a dress that had fueled his anger first seemed to melt away at the touch of his hands.
His body jolted as he noticed that she was naked underneath, that her seductive curves were finally his for the looking and the touching.
And he touched. He wanted to familiarize himself with every inch of her body.
Her breasts quivered as he passed his hands over them, lingering on the already aching and rigid nipples.
She arched toward him, her breath escaping in pants.
She was wearing only the strappy heels but did not show an inch of shame at being so exposed.
Swinging her into his arms, he headed for the staircase, but the foot of the steps was as far as he got. No further. His body, the yearning so intense, would not allow him to go any further!