SeducedByTheAntiHero (4 page)

When her mouth dropped open, he laughed and got up to move
toward the house, yelling at his twin to toss him another beer.

Had that really just happened? He was barely civil toward
her and now all of sudden he wanted to help fuck her into a better writer?

“What the hell’s the matter with you?” Emma hissed when Ben
was safely out of earshot.

Chloe shot her a sly smile, as though all had gone according
to plan. Well, it had, hadn’t it? “Hey, at least it got you a man to try out
your experiment with, didn’t it? And a damn fine man, too.”

“Oh come on, like he really meant all that. I’m sure he was
just playing along with you.” Had to be, right?

“Hmm…I dunno. I’ve never known Ben to joke about anything
like that, have you?” she asked Kim.

Smiling as if she’d been in on Chloe’s plan all along, Kim
said, “Nope. He’s not really the joking type.”

“Usually when he says he’s going to do something he does
it.” Chloe narrowed her eyes. “And don’t act like you’re upset about this. You
forget, I know you too well. You can’t hide the fact that you want him.”

“That’s beside the point,” Emma grudgingly admitted. “I
didn’t expect you to tell everyone and their brother about my problem, Chloe.”

“I didn’t tell his brothers, just him.” Chloe laughed when
Emma glared. “How did you expect to find someone to help you out if you weren’t
going to tell anyone you’re interested?”

Emma opened her mouth to reply, had nothing, then closed it.
Chloe had a point there. But still. “It’s one thing to let a man know that I’m
interested and quite another to lay it all out on the line. Tell him that no
man has ever given me an orgasm before. Nothing like putting on the pressure.”

Shaking her head, Chloe said sagely, “If you don’t present a
challenge to them up front you’re just going to have more of the same
experiences in bed. This way, they know they have to work harder. It’s a male
ego thing,” she waved her hand in the air as if everybody knew that, silly. And
apparently everyone did because Kim was nodding in agreement.

It made sense. But Emma was still pissed Chloe hadn’t given
her any warning before she opened her big mouth, so she ignored it. “Besides, I
figured that I would just hook up with one of the fighters while I’m here
anyway.”

The incredulous expression on Chloe’s face was comical but
Emma refused to laugh. “Why would you want one of the fighters when you have
Ben
freaking
Serano
?”

Well that was just it, wasn’t it? She’d only known him for
less than a day but she didn’t want anyone else now that she’d met him. Rude
behavior and all. But come on. Didn’t men like him usually go after stick
figures with a low IQ who were too vapid and self-absorbed to notice how closed
off he was? She had a healthy self-image but no way someone as gorgeous and
private as Ben would want her with her inquisitive intellect and her size
twelve figure.

No, she figured she’d have to scale it down just a bit. After
all, she wasn’t looking for Mr. Right at the moment. Just someone who could
make her come so hard she forgot her own name. Ben was a little too complex for
something so simple.

Oh she knew that
he’d
want to keep it simple but his
complexity would spark her curiosity until she couldn’t leave it at just sex. She’d
want to know more, delve deeper and that wouldn’t be good for either of them.

So she let the conversation drop for the moment and moved on
to more pleasant things. But she was resolved to find herself a fighter and
leave Ben Serano and his complicated deliciousness the hell alone.

Saturday night found Emma in a rather unexpected, but not
entirely unwelcome, place. As with everything fall-related, Halloween was her
favorite holiday and when Chloe had called her that afternoon to ask if she
would like to go to a haunted factory, Emma had jumped at the chance. They hadn’t
been to something like this since college.

The lazy orange October sun was just starting to set as she
and Chloe waited in line outside the dilapidated-looking building housed in a
random part of town. A brisk wind picked up, causing little wisps of her black
hair to dance around her face and she zipped her hooded sweatshirt up a little
farther.

The line was wrapped around the building and as she waited
she contemplated why people liked to frighten themselves so much. Maybe it was
the blood pumping adrenaline or the exciting sense of the unknown. She had to
admit that it had a way of making a person feel alive in an otherwise
predictable existence. In a controlled environment, such as this one, a person
got a thrill without an actual threat. No heart palpitations or loss of bladder
control because deep down she knew that none of it was real.

And even though the people working the factory looked
creeptastic as hell, she knew they weren’t actually allowed to touch her.

Chloe’s apprehension, however, radiated off her in waves as
she danced from one foot to the other.

“What?” Chloe asked ceasing her hopping-in-place routine
when she noticed Emma’s narrowed eyes.

“What do you mean what? For as long as I’ve known you,
you’ve hated haunted houses. Why are you putting yourself through this if it
scares you so much?”

Hands on her hips, Chloe lifted her nose up in the air. “Since
when have I ever been scared of anything?”

That would have been a point well made had they been talking
about anything else. But as it was… “Remember the last time we went to a
haunted house? Remember the gross seven-foot clown that followed you around the
whole time?” Chloe visibly paled and Emma knew she had her. “You were so scared
we had to sleep with a nightlight on in the dorm for two weeks. After that you
swore up and down that you would never go to one of these things again. So why
the sudden change of heart?”

“Well, my boys are helping out and I’m showing my moral
support.” She bit her lip.

Emma cocked an eyebrow. “Your boys?”

“Yeah, you know,” she waved her hand in the air absently. “My
brother, Matt, Brian and the Seranos.” She mumbled that last bit so fast Emma
almost didn’t catch it. But she did and she felt a thrill run through her that
had nothing to do with fear.

“No ulterior motive, then?” Emma eyed her doubtfully.

Chloe rolled her eyes. “Absolutely none. They do this every
year to raise money for the high school and I support their efforts.”

Valid explanation but Emma wasn’t buying it. Crossing her
arms to block out some of the wind, she said, “I don’t care who’s working here,
if you don’t want to do something no one can talk you into it. You’re that
stubborn, Chloe. What’s the real reason?”

By this time they had made their way to the front of the
line and were about to go in. Letting out an exasperated breath, Chloe
whispered so that the ghoulish woman taking their money wouldn’t overhear. “I’ll
tell you later.”

With a sigh of resignation, Emma handed over her money and
decided to let it drop. Whatever Chloe’s plan was—and she was certain her
friend
did
have a plan—she would find out soon enough. She wouldn’t have
been able to get out of it anyway so she made the choice to go with the flow
and see what would happen.

Before their group was allowed to enter into the maze of the
haunted factory, Ghost Lady gave them a spiel that served as the ground rules
and a warning.

“Be forewarned, gentle travelers. To enter beyond these
walls you must be on your guard at all times. The ghouls and spirits herein
find their joy in harassing the living. Be wary of unseen taunts, dark figures
stalking through the corridors and footsteps running past you in the dark. But
don’t lose heart. If you do not seek to touch the spirits, they will let you
escape unharmed.”

Sooooo, basically, that was a fancy way of saying don’t
molest the workers.

Yeah right
, Emma thought. Now that she knew Chloe was
up to something, she kind of wanted to get through the maze as quickly as
possible. No way was she about to grope one of the people working here,
especially as one of those people very well could be Ben.

That
was a sobering thought and suddenly she had an
idea as to what Chloe’s plan was. And when she slid her a narrowed glance of
dawning understanding, Chloe’s complete avoidance of eye contact was a dead
giveaway. Emma shook her head. Chloe never listened.

When they finally entered the maze, she could barely see her
hand in front of her face once the door shut behind them. But then a soft low
glow coming from a strand of lights lining the floor flickered to life and she
saw that there were several entrances into the maze. She hadn’t known that this
was going to be a choose-your-own-adventure kind of deal. Usually these kinds
of places take you on a guided path from beginning to end.

This should be interesting.

Seeing a few people take the farthest entrance on the right,
Chloe and Emma looked at each other and both shrugged simultaneously. Laughing,
they followed the crowd. One entrance was just as good as the others, in Emma’s
opinion.

The near complete darkness had them wandering around the
first corridor at a snail’s pace until someone wearing a hockey mask and
holding a chainsaw jumped out at them. Screaming they put their asses in gear,
running to get around the next bend.

“Holy shit,” Chloe rasped, panting and out of breath when
they had finally gotten away from the Jason wannabe. “The things I do for you,
Emma, you don’t even know.” She poked Emma in the side making her jump before
putting her hand to her chest. “I feel like my heart’s in my throat.”

“Hey, I’m not making you do anything. And I thought that you
were here solely to morally support your boyfriend.” With a scowl, Emma rubbed
her side where Chloe had gotten her. But Chloe was no longer listening.

Emma followed her line of vision to see Brian standing farther
down the corridor. Speaking of the devil, he stood dressed in tight black
bondage pants with random safety pins poking through the material in haphazard
positions. His black muscle T had tears in places and it showed off his
beautifully sculpted arms, chest and broad shoulders to perfection. His skin
was made to look vividly pale, sticking out in sharp contrast to all that black
and his dark blond, messy hair fell around his face in a way that seemed
careless but Emma knew was styled just so.

His stillness in the darkness as he leaned up against the
wall made him seem almost invisible. Until a group of girls strayed too close. Hissing,
he bared a gleaming pair of pearly fangs that looked alarmingly real. The girls
screamed and jumped backward as he stalked toward them, growling menacingly. The
group hurried to disappear around the corner and he came back to his post,
laughing lowly to himself.

Now
this
intimidating badass was what Emma had been
expecting when she had first met him. Seems Halloween brought out all different
aspects of people and Chloe stood transfixed by this side of her boyfriend.

“Oh, we are so gonna have a good time with those fake fangs
when he gets home tonight.” Chloe licked her lips. “C’mon, let’s go say hi.”

Before Emma could protest that he seemed more apt to bite
her face off than say hello at the moment, Chloe was already moving toward him.
Emma rolled her eyes and went to follow when a smoke machine suddenly went off
right above her head, obscuring her vision and giving her a coughing fit.

After what felt like an eternity of waving her hands to
clear the smoke, she looked to where Chloe had taken off but Chloe and Brian were
nowhere to be seen.

Maybe they had gone around the bend to get out of the way. She
walked farther down the path and around the corner but the corridor was empty. Eerily
so.

Okay, so maybe this place was starting to get to her. She
was severely skeeved out.

“Chloe,” she hissed as she rounded yet another bend that led
into what looked like an empty room. The walls were lined with black curtains
swaying in the slight draft that seemed to permeate the entire building. But it
was a dead end and Chloe was nowhere to be found.

“Damn it,” she muttered to herself as she turned to leave. All
the while the words
they aren’t allowed to touch you
repeated like a
mantra in the back of her mind. The last thing she wanted to do was go through
this haunted maze, being chased down by actors in disturbingly vivid costumes,
by herself. But though she was frustrated with Chloe for taking off, the
knowledge that this was all fake gave her a modicum of comfort. And hadn’t she
been thinking she needed to add some excitement to her life? Who knew? Maybe
she could use this in her writing somehow. It certainly gave her an accurate description
of fear to draw from.

That was when a pair of hands shot out from behind a
curtain. One strong arm wrapped around her waist while a hand clamped over her
mouth to drag her backward behind the heavy black material and out of sight.

White-hot fear gripped her as she was pulled close into the
hard body behind her. Her attacker’s head dipped lower until the silky softness
of his lips reached her ear.

“You should know better than to wander off the beaten path,
little girl.” The low, gruff timbre of his voice sent goose bumps down her neck
where his warm breath fanned out over her skin.

Emma’s frightened whimper was muffled by the calloused palm
that still covered her mouth and he chuckled against her hair. In a movement so
fast it was almost inhuman, he spun her around, pinning her between the brick
wall at her back with his solid frame at her front. Now it was Emma whose heart
was in her throat. Who
was
this guy? And what happened to the no
touching rule?

The hood of the black sweatshirt he wore covered his head,
obscuring his features from her view. Even through the dense material, she
could see the muscles that bunched and tensed with the effort of keeping her in
place. He removed his hand from her mouth and grabbed her wrists to hold them
above her head against the wall. Though he was firm with her, surprisingly, he
wasn’t hurting her.

He dipped his head forward and it was then that she realized
who held her captive.

Ben put his face level with hers and her gaze dropped down
to the mouth that was bare inches from her own. Those full, sensuous lips of
his curved up into another rare smile. This one even more brilliant than the
one she’d witnessed earlier, revealing perfect teeth in a grin that was almost
devastating. Her eyes flashed to his and this close, she saw that they were
lighter than the rest of his brothers. A deep whiskey color with hints of
yellow around the irises, they were beautiful and haunting, containing a heat
that the sane part of her didn’t even know what to do with.

Though, her body had a few ideas.

Moving closer, he aligned the full length of his body with
hers, letting her feel every hard inch of his frame against her softer one. Some
of that hardness was concentrated below the belt and was pressed against her
belly. All that pressure and knowing what was about to happen, had her heart
beating out a rapid staccato in her chest.

As if he could hear it, his smile turned mischievous before
he ran the tip of his nose along the side of her neck, breathing her in. “Are
you scared?” Sharp teeth nipped at her skin before his tongue laved at it to
soothe the sting. She swallowed hard and his tongue tracked the movement before
he pulled back slightly.

Guess he really had been serious about taking Chloe up on
that bet. Who knew? The way he’d left the bonfire without speaking to her, she
figured he’d just been leading Chloe along.

“Should I be?” The question was breathless and she knew it
wasn’t from fear. Maybe she should have been afraid. To have a virtual stranger
pressing her up against a wall like this, and no one knew where they were. But
there was something about his scent, like wood smoke and dark spices. Something
about the way he was touching her, like if he was too forceful she would break,
that had her initial fear turning into a liquid desire that pooled low in her
belly.

A wicked light flashed through his eyes. “Isn’t that what
you came here for? To find a new and interesting way to make yourself scream?”

Holy. Shit.

Any response she might have given was cut off by the feel of
his lips softly brushing hers. Just a sweep of flesh against flesh, nothing
more, as he slowly dragged his lips back and forth. It was almost calming,
maybe even had her slightly mesmerized, so when his tongue traced the seam of
her lips she gasped. And he took full advantage.

His kiss was unhurried despite this unusual situation. He
took his time tasting her, rubbing his tongue against hers in a sensuous rhythm
that chased all rational thought from her mind. This man was decadent and she
couldn’t deny that she wanted him. So she kissed him back.

The low growl of his approval flowed into her, making her
shiver. Slowly, he slid her wrists back down the wall and held them at her
sides. The pressure he put on them was a clear warning to keep them where they
were before he lifted his hands. Not wanting this to end so soon, she obeyed.

Deft fingers pulled at the zipper of her sweatshirt, then
slid it down over her shoulders to tangle at her wrists, effectively tying them
together, binding her where he wanted her. All the while his lips never left
hers.