Stripped Defenseless (2 page)

Ava
swiveled around, angled her ass against his groin, and swayed her hips as she
ground into his jeans. The bulge in his pants grew, hardening against her
bottom. As she realized the extent of his length and thickness, her body
heated, and her pussy pulsed with need.

She
wondered how he would feel inside of her, filling her, stretching her. This
place was all about fantasy anyway. Usually the patron’s fantasy, but what was
the harm in indulging her imagination just this once? With this man, who she
was sure could have any woman he chose?

The
coarse hardness of his jeans grazed her ass and, as she rolled her hips back
just so, she felt the solid column of his erection against her center. Her
cheeks flushed with sudden awareness, and her pulse thundered in her chest.
She’d done this a hundred times before but not once had she enjoyed it, not
once had her head spun with possibilities.

Before
she could snap out of her haze, his hand slid around her waist, down her pelvis
and began rubbing against the thin, now-wet strip of cloth covering her pussy.
She didn’t push him away. She couldn’t. The shock from the pleasure he brought
her was too overwhelming.

Jarred
and the other two bouncers were busy throwing one of the drunken boys out of
the club.
Good.
She leaned against Kade’s solid chest and let her eyes
roll back. His long rough finger forced the strip of useless panty aside and
dipped into her wetness. She caught her breath, both startled and excited by
his boldness...and how hot she was for him. God, how long had it been since
she’d been touched like this?

“Does
that feel good?” His deep voice rumbled into her ear as his finger kneaded into
a sensitive spot deep inside her snug walls.

She
nodded, paralyzed to move any other part of her body—one single finger bringing
her close to a fast climax. Rough, long, and deep, it slid up into her slick
channel. Then out as it rubbed against her sensitive clit. Then in. Out. In.
Oh,
God.
This was crazy. Never had she let a stranger do something so personal
and in such a public place. And with her job at risk too.

Her
thighs weakened with slices of pleasure cutting through them. She panted and
dug her fingers into his muscled legs as her pussy danced with tiny pulses.

Before
she could come
or
pull away, he drew his hand back and dropped it at his
side, leaving her empty and cold. “I want to continue this somewhere private,”
he said, sounding confident he’d get his wish.

Focus,
focus, focus.

Ava
gulped and straightened. Her legs wobbled underneath her as she gathered her
wits and readjusted her panties as casually as possible. She should be used to
men coming on to her, treating her like a piece of meat, but this time had been
different. This time she’d let herself be vulnerable.

“I’m
not a whore,” she said over her shoulder, suddenly feeling completely naked in
more ways than one.

She
puffed out a breath, irritated with herself for allowing him to touch her, and
for liking it too much to stop. Just how far would she have let him go? How far
did she still want it to go? His proposal was annoyingly tempting.

“That’s
good because I’m not going to pay you.” He stood up behind her, dropping his
head to right above her neck. His warm, cinnamon breath swept across her bare
shoulders. “Just finish the job I already started.”

She
spun around and perched her hands on her hips, wanting him to know she wasn’t
intimidated by his brashness. With a bravado she didn’t feel, she looked up
into his pale blue eyes, swallowed her rising nerves, and said, “Why are you
still here?”

He
quirked up his mouth to a smirk. “I’m not a man who likes to waste time,
Lily
.”
He said her name with all the falseness they both knew it contained.

“I’m
not a woman who jumps on command,” she snapped back. The guy had a lot of
nerve.

“No?”
His eyebrows squinted together as he lifted the guilty finger and licked it,
his tongue consuming the bodily juices that still clung to his skin. Her
juices. He winked. “Sure tastes like you do.”

A
surge of heat pulsed where his finger had once been, but she did her best to
ignore it. “Sorry, sweetie.” She gave him a once-over and desperately tried to
look unimpressed. “I don’t fraternize with the customers.”

A
sexy grin spread across his face. “Room 112 at the hotel across the street.
Come over when you’re done here. You won’t regret it.”

Before
she could respond, he grabbed his coat and headed across the room toward the
door.

* * * * *

Kade
Gavin stepped out into the biting cold air and finally let out a breath. What
the hell was he thinking? It was as if the woman had put a spell on him and
made him forget his whole purpose for being in there. He had lost his entire
focus when she moved against him in her seductive way. Her lush, petite body at
his fingertips had pushed him over the edge. Almost to the point of picking her
up in his arms and removing her from that shit hole of a joint. He shook the
vision out of his thick skull.

He
had a mission to complete and none of it involved being anyone’s knight in
shining armor. Just the opposite, actually.

What
a fool he was for telling her his real name. “Fuck,” he muttered and stepped
across the street.

He’d
been watching her for the past few days. As a PI, it was his job to observe,
but it had never resulted with him getting a hard-on or fantasizing about his
target’s full breasts under his caress. But the fantasies had built up every
time he saw her swaying her hips on that stage or wrapping her toned legs
around that pole.

“Knock
it off, Kade,” he mumbled as he reached his hotel room. He was doing it again.
Envisioning. Imagining. What was so different about her? None of the other
women at the club had this arousing affect on him.

Get
a grip.
This was a
job. If she showed up later, he’d play it off. It would help if he knew she was
definitely the girl he was looking for, the one he was being paid to hunt down.
But he wasn’t positive.

Take
away the red hair and those obvious brown contacts, and maybe she could pass as
the petite woman in the fuzzy photo he’d been given. It was all the information
he had besides the description Zack Moreno had given him—long blonde hair, green
eyes, and full C-cup. Not much to go on, but at least that had cut it down to
two prospects. The one who called herself Poppy fit the description to a T, and
then of course there was Lily, trying so hard to disguise herself.

He
walked into the hotel room and fell onto the bed. His mind raced as he let the
name slide off his tongue. “Ava Lureau.”

I’m
coming to get you.

* * * * *

Snow
lightly fell around Ava as she stood outside her hotel room. A chill wind blew
past so she pinched her jean jacket shut. The pink and blue neon sign “Girls,
Girls, Girls” buzzed across the street. Three months ago, she’d chosen this
place because of its convenient location...and because they took cash and
didn’t ask for identification.

But
now she wished she were anywhere but here. She was too close to the mysterious
blue-eyed stranger. Two rooms down to be exact.

The
temptation to knock on his door was overwhelming.

She
was more than entranced by the tall, broad-shouldered man who had branded a
desire in her so deep she ached to have it quenched.

And
spending another lonely night in a cold, bland hotel room all by herself wasn’t
exactly a thrilling thought. Waking in the middle of the night whenever she
heard strangers outside her room window didn’t warm her heart too much either.
It was frightening to think she was a thin door away from some depraved
lunatic. Or Zack Moreno.

Was
there a difference?

She
shook his image from her head once again.

She
should be used to being alone, but the fantasy of having a safe, normal life
with a loving husband and family always crept into her mind. It was silly,
really. The only thing she needed to concentrate on now was survival, and if
that meant being on her own for the rest of her days, then so be it.

“You’ve
got the wrong room,” a deep familiar voice said behind her.

Ava
swung around to see Kade standing less than two feet away with sprinkles of
snow falling onto his dark hair and a brown paper bag in his hand.

“No.
No I haven’t.” She backed up against her door and pulled the key from her jean
jacket pocket. “See?”

He
stepped closer and towered over her. “You have a room here.” It was a
statement, not a question. He stared at her with a blank expression. “Why? And
for how long?”

His
leather blazer opened as he reached inside to pull out his own key. She fought
back the urge to wrap her arms around his waist and cuddle up against him,
indulging in the warmth of his body.

“Uh,
not too long. My house is, um, being fumigated,” she said, using the same lie
she’d used at least a dozen times in the past couple of months.

“Your
house? Is it near here?”

“Why
do you want to know?” No one else had cared to ask, and she hadn’t quite worked
out that detail of her fabricated life yet.

“Just
curious.” His mouth quirked up to half a grin. “Want to get out of the cold?
Your lips are turning blue.” He rattled the bag in his hand and caressed her
face with a gaze that warmed her insides. “A beer and some company on a chilly
night?”

Company.
What a concept. Besides work, she didn’t allow herself to have that.

For
a good reason.

She
opened her mouth to say no, but a pang of loneliness deep in her chest forced
her to close it. Her dark, dreary room was all that awaited her. The stiff
comforter that never quite warmed her. The small television that had a lousy
signal. The romance novel she’d read for the hundredth time. The telephone that
never rang.

It
all sounded so bleak and depressing. And cold. God, why was she always so cold?

She
looked at Kade and could almost see the warmth emanating from him. How would it
feel to be wrapped up against him for one night?

What
could it hurt? One night with a gorgeous man.

Ava
nodded once and gestured toward his room. Her room was out of the question
since she couldn’t remember if she’d hidden her contact case or thrown away the
bottle of medium auburn brown hair dye—or any other self-incriminating
evidence. Not that she was a criminal. Far from it. But she
was
a
survivor. If anything was true, it was that. And she didn’t want to make any
stupid mistakes to jeopardize the only thing she had going for—her beating
heart.

Beating
faster every second she was in Kade’s company.

As
Ava Lureau, never would she have thought of going into a strange man’s hotel
room, but as Lily, it almost seemed natural. Besides, what if he turned out to
be someone she could trust? How wonderful would it be to have someone on her
side? To protect her, to keep her safe...to fight for her. Maybe she was being
unrealistic and foolish, but what could she possibly have to lose that she
hadn’t already? Just this once she’d allow herself to play out a fantasy to see
where it took her.

He
led her to his room, unlocked the door, and waved a hand toward the dimly lit
room. “After you.”

* * * * *

Kade
pulled the six-pack out of the paper bag and set it in the mini refrigerator
that also served as a nightstand. “Would you like a beer?” he asked as he used
his foot to nonchalantly slide his duffle bag farther under the queen-sized
bed.

“No
thanks.”

He
eyed Lily, taking in her nervous lip biting and the way she tapped her three-inch
heels on the carpet. She stood guarded by the door with her arms crossed.
Tomorrow he needed to find out exactly how long she’d been living out of a
hotel room, where this mysterious house of hers was or if it even existed.

But
tonight the only burning question on his mind was if she was going to scream or
score her nails into his back when he made her come. It was all he could think
about ever since he’d had a taste of her. Whoever
she
was.

After
draping his coat over the wooden chair by the desk, he closed the distance
between them and lifted his hand to cradle her flushed cheek. His other hand
wrapped around her tiny waist and gathered her up against him.

“I’ve
never done this,” she murmured just as he was about to kiss her glossy
rose-colored lips.

“Done
what?” He pecked at them, sampling their strawberry flavor and wanting more. It
was just how he’d imagined they’d taste.

“Had
a one night stand.” She looked up at him with the combined expression of
naivety, lust and fear. “I mean, that’s what it would be, right? I don’t know
anything about you other than you travel a lot and sell... What do you sell?”

“Software,”
he answered simply. Of course it was a lie, but she didn’t need to know that.