Champagne Cravings (2 page)

Poor Biel probably felt like diving back into the pool, or
maybe the elevator. Escape the gaping looks and personal humiliation by hiding
out for the rest of her life. I knew the feeling all too well.

Beside me, Mav’s fury radiated from every pore of his being.
“What the
hell
?” he demanded in a low tone as his fist balled at his
side, while the other one nearly squeezed the life out of the champagne glass.
I was shocked the stem didn’t snap as his knuckles turned white.

“Holy fuck,” the VP of Marketing said, not-so-eloquently
summing up the horrific turn of events. “That was
not
supposed to
happen.”

“Ya think?” This snide remark from the VP of PR.

The press went absolutely apeshit, converging on a
speechless and distraught Biel with their cameras and microphones.

“We are so screwed,” another Elan exec groaned.

Mav turned to me, his face beet red as he seethed. In a very
slow, measured voice, he said, “I want someone’s head on a platter, Lacey.”

Okay,
now
I had my work cut out for me.

Note to Self—When Confronted by a Naked Man Built Like
a Modern-Day Hercules,

Do NOT Look Down.

I arrived home before midnight. Security at the hotel had
whisked Biel away following the makeup debacle and the ensuing media frenzy.
Mav and I had followed, along with his top brass. Gathered in the suite where
Biel’s makeup had been applied shortly before her appearance on the rooftop, we
carefully inspected the bottles and confirmed that, indeed, the appropriate
cosmetics had been replaced with their non-waterproof counterparts.

Biel had been beside herself as she’d wiped off the mess on
her face, making it difficult to get any answers to my questions. My heart
really did go out to her. She muttered mostly incoherent words, but I’d caught
the gist of her rant. She feared she was ruined, her career murdered by a
sabotage beyond her control.

Everyone in the suite was in an absolute uproar, so I
collected and sealed the evidence and made appointments for the following
morning with each of the Elan execs who’d come to the Montlimiere. Through her
tears, Biel agreed to meet with me in the afternoon. I left a furious Mav, who
intended to do damage control with his PR people. I instructed him not to
release a statement until we talked in private, to make sure he didn’t
inadvertently reveal something critical to my investigation.

After letting myself into my apartment, I shut and locked
the door behind me, then dropped the keys, my clutch and the cosmetics bag in
the large decorative bowl on the foyer table. Crossing the hardwood floor, I
entered the hallway and stepped into the dressing area between the bedroom and
the bathroom. Only to draw up short and let out a scream that would have woken
my neighbor and had him crashing through the front door to save me.

Had he not been standing naked before me.

“Holy Christ, Mike!”
I glared at him as my heart leaped into my throat, both out of
extreme shock and instantaneous arousal.

Mike Lucas, private investigator and supermassive hottie,
had a melt-me-right-into-my-Jimmy-Choo-shoes grin, but did I mention the man
was naked?
Gloriously
naked? From head to toe, nothing but
bronze-skin-covering-hard-muscles naked?

And dripping wet. Oh God was he wet. Making me want to lick
the beads of water from every luscious inch of him.

While the desire to drop to my knees and run my tongue along
the grooves of his rigid abdomen rose within me, he said in a casual tone, “Hey
there, Lace. I borrowed your shower.”

“What the fuck?” was all I managed to choke out, just as
tactless as Elan’s Marketing guru had been earlier.

My eyes were glued to Mike’s smooth, wide chest, the
well-defined ledge of his pectoral muscles too impressive to look away from,
even though the angel on my shoulder shouted, “Uncouth!” and urged me to lift
my gaze. Conversely, the little devil on the other one prodded me to take a
peek south. I resisted the temptation, despite curiosity burning a hole in my
head.

I’d never seen Mike without his clothes on and the image of
his expansive and cut chest would forever be ingrained on my brain as it was—I
didn’t need to add more fuel to the fire by knowing what crown jewels this man
possessed.

In an amused tone, he said, “Babe, you’re gawking.”

Yeah, I knew that. But I’d yet to recover my breath or any
semblance of common decency as I took in his solidly built torso and smooth
skin. Nor could I stand the suspense a moment longer. I stole a glance
downward. His cock was nestled against neatly trimmed black hair.

“
Oh.
” The word slipped unchecked from my lips as my
pulse kicked up a notch or ten. His thick shaft wasn’t erect, but it hadn’t
succumbed to the shower shrinkage-factor either. I got a very good idea of how
satisfying this sexy man could be to my deprived libido.

No, no
.
All bad and wrong!

He was a guaranteed heartache, I had no doubt. But he sure
got my juices flowing.

As he chuckled at my inability to curb my curiosity, my
stomach took a wild tumble and a flickering flame teased my clit, creating a
deliciously uncomfortable sensation. While I could have easily given into it, I
chose, instead, to be up in arms over his presence in my bathroom. It really
shouldn’t be such a big deal, since he popped by every other night or so for
dinner and a movie. But he’d always been fully dressed…

“You know, I haven’t got a clue as to where you keep your
towels.”

My gaze snapped to his ocean-blue eyes, framed by sooty
lashes. He smirked at me, having every right to stand there with a smug
expression on his ruggedly handsome face. Good Lord, he was magnificent.

I forced myself to speak. “Seriously? That’s all you have to
say for yourself?”

“By the look on your face, I’m guessing I should either
apologize for scaring the crap out of you or be embarrassed I’m standing here
in the buff.”

“Both would be appropriate and acceptable,” I assured him.
“Exactly what are you doing here?”

“Showering,” he repeated, slowly this time, as though I were
dense. “I’m having a small plumbing problem next door.”

“So you came to
my
apartment?”

“Well, I do have a key,” he said in his defense.

“For
emergencies
,” I shot back, incredulous. The
man’s audacity knew no bounds. “That key is for emergency purposes
only
.You know, like when no one’s seen me for a week and you need to come in
here to determine if I’ve choked on takeout chow mein. Or if I’m about to burn
the building down because I left the iron on and need you to turn it off.
Those
are the types of things the key is intended for.”

I was amped up, trying to be irritated with him in lieu of
drowning in the sea of erotic thoughts encroaching on my sensibilities.

“Well, this was kind of an urgent situation,” he said, not
looking the least bit contrite—or ashamed. “I have to work in the morning and
won’t be able to use my shower until tomorrow night.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Just because you’re built
like…
all that
…” I said as I narrowed my eyes on him, “doesn’t mean you
can be so incorrigible. And just because you have a key to my apartment doesn’t
mean you should feel free to use it.”

As I chewed him out, a large drop of water fell from his
earlobe to his broad shoulder. I was back in lust mode in a heartbeat as the
wet bead rolled slowly down his chest, coating his small, hard nipple before
curling under the ledge of his pecs and continuing its path downward. I
adamantly refused to follow the droplet farther. Been there, done that and I’d
jump the man’s bones if I nabbed another full-on gander at what he had to
offer.

“At the very least,” I huffed, “you could have called me to
warn me you were here.”

“I was sort of working off the buddy system,” he told me,
his grin a disarming one. “Besides, I wasn’t expecting you home so early.”

“Being naked in my bathroom pushes the boundaries of the
buddy system, Mike.”

We’d been friends for three long, increasingly tense years.
Had flirted with each other just about every day of those three years. Yet I’d
managed to keep my hands off him, despite his best efforts to convince me
otherwise. At the moment, however, his bad-to-the-bone grin and
hotter-than-hell body had the potential to sway me, especially given the
fireworks happening
down there
and the way my nipples puckered so tight,
I could hardly stand the erotic torture. Yes, I wanted him. But I knew better.

Stay strong, girlfriend.

Unfortunately, the gorgeous bad boy currently dripping on my
bathmat had assured me long ago he was more than capable of scratching any
sexual itch I might have. An offer difficult to refuse, particularly given my
heightened state of arousal. But I reminded myself the renowned womanizer
standing before me in all his hunky nudity wasn’t the relationship type, which
meant he had no place on my to do list. I’d rather be celibate than be played a
fool again by his kind, thank you very much.

“Hey,” he said in a mocking voice as I ruminated over how
tormenting it was to want someone I couldn’t have. “Mind looking me in the eye
when you speak to me, dirty girl?”

My cheeks flamed. Tearing my gaze from his chest, I bent
down and opened the cabinet beneath the marble vanity in the dressing room.
Yanking a towel from the shelf, I snapped it open and tossed it at him.

“Where are your clothes?” The sooner he covered up, the
better. Not that I wouldn’t fantasize about his chiseled-to-perfection body
tonight. And the next night. And the night after that…

I groaned. I’d outrun a speeding train since the day I’d met
him. Yet in one night, I was
this close
to whipping off my gown and
begging him to take me right then and there.

He said, “I stripped down in the bedroom.”

“
Wh-at?
” My errant thoughts came to a screeching
halt. Then slowly returned to me in a very disturbing manner.

Mike in my bedroom? Where I kept my…bed?

Holy hell
.

How would I sleep in there tonight and not think about him
peeling off his shirt and pushing his jeans and briefs over his hips to reveal
a body worthy of the drool I felt pooling at the corner of my mouth? How would
I not think of him sprawled across the large mattress with me, doing
crazy-wicked things to my body as I pleaded for more?

“Seriously?” I asked in a breathy voice. “You were in my
bedroom?”

It was a wonder I could get the words out, the way my mouth
watered at the delicious feast before me and my mind reeled from sudden images
of us singeing my sheets as we made wild, passionate love all night long.

“Bring it down a notch,” he said as he rubbed his
obsidian-colored hair with the towel. “I wasn’t getting it on with Goldilocks
in your bed, baby bear.”

Smartass.
Although that particular notion wasn’t what
I’d obsessed over, it was good to know. I’d be furious with him if he’d had sex
with his latest fling in
my
bed. Though, if I recalled correctly, he was
currently in-between sex goddesses.

A more alarming thought occurred to me. “You didn’t get nosy
and open any drawers, did you?”

His grin was downright wicked. “Lacey’s got a goody drawer.
Oh man.” He let out a low grunt as he narrowed the gap between us and leaned in
close. So close I could feel the heat from his skin and smell a hint of Scotch
on his breath. “That makes me even hotter for you, babe. And gives me more
fantasy material.”

“Please don’t say things like that.”

“Come on,” he said in a voice meant to coax me over to his
side. “I’m naked and getting hard just standing this close to you. You don’t
think I fantasize about you on a regular basis?”

My pulse shot through the roof. I corralled every ounce of
willpower I possessed into keeping my gaze from dropping to his cock to see if
he had an erection.

“I’d never given it thought.”

He had the good grace not to call me a liar. The way my
cheeks and neck continued to burn, I had no doubt he knew the thought had
crossed my mind on
numerous
occasions. Hell, he’d likely deduced long
ago that
I
fantasized about
him
on a regular basis.

“Gotta tell you,” he said as his gaze slid over me, “making
you come in reality would be so much more exciting than doing it in my head.
Ah, the things you demand I do to you when I’m thinking of the two of us
together…” He let out a wistful sigh and wagged his brows.

I blocked his words—and his lascivious look—from my mind. I
was certain he could make me come with very little effort on his part. Over and
over again. I didn’t need any more visuals or stimulants to complicate my
situation. I didn’t need him saying anything further to make me wonder what it
would feel like to have his hands and mouth on my body. I wondered about those
things all the time and they didn’t help my plight.

“Listen here,” I said in an edgy tone as I took a step
backward, lifting a hand to warn him off. He was too tempting by far. “I’m not
buying what you’re selling, so get your clothes and get out.”

He chuckled again. A sound that oozed through my body like
warm honey, filling all the hollow cracks and crevices. Turning me molten
inside. Threatening to crumble that fragile wall I’d erected around myself
three years ago.

I had to suppress my own wistful—or
lust
ful—sigh. The
latter probably being more accurate.

His half-assed grin was a heart-stopper. “Relax, will you?”

Impossible.
I could barely breathe and every fiber of
my being wanted to get naked with him. But…

“I don’t want to cross any lines here.” Though the devil on
my shoulder sure did.

Mike leaned toward me once more and whispered, “You’re wound
way too tight, Lace.”

Moving past me, he headed out of the small room. He hadn’t
bothered to wrap the towel around his waist. Damn it all to hell, I couldn’t
keep my head from whipping around to see if the backside was as awesome as the front.
It was. Unable to stop myself, I turned and gave him a pat on the butt. I
really wasn’t good at ignoring the devil.

Mike glanced back at me with another crooked brow. “That was
patronizing.”

“You deserved it.”

“Hmph. The next time you spank me, you’d better put some
meaning behind it.”

My cunt clenched and my nipples tightened. Why oh why did I
have to play with fire? I’d laid down the law from the onset of our friendship.
Having been burned twice by bad boys like Mike Lucas, I refused to fall into his
sexy trap. My heart couldn’t take it. Nor could my damaged ego.

Yet I wasn’t exactly stepping away from the rabbit hole, was
I?

I remained rooted where I was as he ducked into my bedroom
and dressed. Yes indeed, I’d probably have to camp out on the sofa tonight if I
wanted to get any sleep. Otherwise, I’d stare into the darkness and imagine him
strutting in, stripping down and climbing into bed with me.