Authors: Elle Saint James
“Maybe. But I doubt it.” Although Deacon didn’t think he’d be surprised at all. He usually read women pretty well, and made his selections for sexual partners based on his gut. His only surprise so far was being so attracted to someone wholly unsuitable for his current unbridled lifestyle with Boyd.
If he so much as mentioned the words voyeur, exhibitionism, or especially double penetration sex, she’d probably run out the nearest door, leaving a Roadrunner-like smoke trail in her wake.
Maybe that was for the best anyway. Perhaps the right thing to do would be put all his cards on the table and see her reaction. Then again, he’d hate to lose her as his favorite concierge by scaring her off. He could easily envision the next very awkward conversation when he needed a favor here at the hotel.
Fuck
. He should likely just say nothing and move on.
But Deacon knew in his bones that particular scenario wasn’t going to happen. Not tonight. However, she certainly compelled him to further their acquaintance one way or another, and the possibility she might enter their lives made him happy for the first time in a long while.
* * * *
Jessica entered the upscale steak house exactly twenty minutes after her shift ended. She hadn’t taken the time to go up to her quarters in the hotel. She’d simply pulled her hair down out of the twist she wore at work and removed her name badge. Her hair fell halfway down her back, and it felt particularly good to let it hang loose and free at the end of a long day.
She’d also touched up her makeup in the hotel bathroom and added a touch of perfume here and there. This wasn’t a date after all. It was simply a meeting to discuss a possible job opportunity she wouldn’t actually take. But it would also give her the chance to get to know both Boyd and Deacon a bit better. Then she could make a decision and move forward with her next personal goal. The removal of her virginity.
The letter she’d received in the mail last month had actually been the impetus for ramping up her new quest. She only had a couple more months before she truly wanted her virginity gone. She did have a time table in mind.
The steak place was so close, she simply walked across the street and left her car parked in its regular spot.
The atmosphere in the restaurant was sedate. This was a high-end establishment and not a brash, loud chain with peanut shells littering the floor. The interior of the entrance was well appointed with a small waiting area and the bathrooms to the left, the maitre d’ straight ahead, and the entrance to a dark rich bar on the right. She’d only been here once before, a long time ago as a field trip for the hotel to then recommend the place to the hotel patrons. She’d never been back on her own as the expense was too much for her budget.
The scent of charred meat that she expected never materialized. The ventilation must be exceptional. The wide opening into the restaurant suddenly filled with a couple that had come in just ahead of her. As the maitre d’ escorted them to their table, Jessica glanced through the opening, hoping to catch a glimpse of Deacon, but didn’t see him.
A member of the waitstaff suddenly exited the space and crossed her view. She turned away, trying not to look like a poor, underfed waif illegally trying to enter the premises without an invitation. The bar was open to everyone first come, first served. However, the restaurant was reservation only. Were they here? She needed to peek in and look toward the back booth. But she wasn’t quite ready yet.
A sense of panic over her true motives regarding this meeting had her taking a step in the direction of the bar. Another step, and she then paused, mulling over her options. The maitre d’ hadn’t returned yet, and another group of four people had entered behind her to wait at the reservation desk.
Before she could decide to either escape back to the hotel or show some backbone, a man staggered slightly into her path. He’d come out of the bar on a seemingly drunken trajectory straight toward her.
“Hey, little darlin’, are you here for a date with me?” His slurred speech and overall drunken appearance made her feel sorry for his unseen date.
“No. I’m meeting someone here.”
His chest puffed up. “Well, I’m someone.”
Jessica went immediately into “deal with the difficult customer” mode. She’d had to
handle
a few high-maintenance people in her career. Contrary to popular belief, she didn’t think the customer was always right. Oftentimes they were just a pain in the ass. She sensed Mr. Drunk On His Butt was one of them.
The man wore a wrinkled business suit. In fact, it looked like he’d slept in his clothes the night before. He wore a vest beneath the jacket, but it was already riding up over the healthy-sized potbelly he sported. She smelled his alcohol-soaked bad breath before he got within three yards of her.
Mentally arming herself to deal with an unpleasant situation, she was completely unprepared when he leapt forward, threw his arms around her neck, and plastered his slobbery mouth on her cheek. It was the preferred place, as she’d turned away just in time to miss having his disgusting, cracked lips pressed against her mouth. For a man obviously drunk beyond a healthy limit, he moved incredibly fast.
Jessica stiffened in outrage, but she’d been caught off guard, and also off balance. He had a good hold around her body. He pushed her into the corner next to the entrance of the bar. If only there were some people around. She sent a frantic look to the maitre d’ stand, but the group of four was already gone. And so was the maitre d’.
Focused back on her attacker, she growled in frustration. “Let go of me,” she fairly screamed. Pushing with all her might against his chest was ineffectual, because her arms were pinned at an awkward angle beneath his.
“Now don’t be coy, little darlin’, Uncle Tommy is here to make all your dreams come true.” The stench of his sour breath made her gag. She tried to push, kick, or somehow get him off, but they were stumbling. She was moving backward in this unwanted dance across the floor.
She didn’t truly panic until her back hit the wall, and she felt his hand travel from the center of her back on a path to one breast. She attempted to move her arm to elbow him from his journey, but couldn’t move. More panic rushed through her fear-saturated body.
“Stop it!” Her voice didn’t seem to carry very far as her face was mashed into his shoulder. Jessica pushed her hands against him to free her face and scream the walls down. Growing panic filled her being, but his substantial weight sandwiching her against the wall held her in place. She kicked her legs against his, but he found a way to pin her there as well.
A cold shard of fear lodged in her body. She was in serious trouble.
Chapter Three
Boyd left the Ryder Hotel separately from Deacon to come to the restaurant, where they had a standing reservation. Deacon planned to stop by the concierge desk briefly and wave at a Jessica. Boyd had come in his own vehicle to the hotel, so he headed over to the restaurant alone. His friend followed within minutes.
They’d no more than sat down when Deacon’s cell phone rang.
“What the hell?” With a glance at the caller ID, Deacon sighed. “It’s Mr. Mercer. And I’ve been trying to get ahold of him all damn day. Sorry.” Deacon exited into the back hallway at the restaurant for privacy as Boyd, back against the wall the way he liked it, watched the front entrance for the concierge they had a business date with this evening.
He was oddly touched by Deacon’s heartfelt admission that a woman had intrigued him. It didn’t happen very often, and Boyd was smart enough to know she must be something special if Deacon was so suddenly taken with her.
However, Boyd didn’t know her very well, and hoped Deacon would be done with his call before she got here, as he wasn’t sure what he’d say to initiate a conversation.
My absent best friend has discovered he has a huge schoolboy-like crush on you, so we were both wondering if you’d ever consider having double penetration sex on a stage with the two of us while others watched,
probably wasn’t the best icebreaker.
His cell phone buzzed. He retrieved it from his pocket and said, “Hello,” as a groin-tightening brunette with luscious long hair dancing past her shoulders entered the building and stopped for a moment, framing the entryway door in profile. He only caught a glance at her face before she turned, but the curtain of dark hair made his cock swell.
“Hey, it’s Deacon. I really hate to do this to you, but I just ducked out of the restaurant. I’m in my car and already on my way to Colorado Springs.”
“The hell you say.” Boyd only half heard him as the dark-haired beauty stepped out of his field of vision and headed toward the bar area. “Are you coming back sometime tonight?” Now
she
was something to take note of.
“Not likely. Mercer’s on a rampage about some crazy addendum to a contract he signed and now regrets. You’ll have to handle Jessica on your own. And you can kill me later.”
“Okay. Fine. But I won’t need to kill you later. You can’t help this schoolboy crush.” Boyd stood and started walking through the restaurant toward the entrance. He was on a mission to find the delicious brunette and hoped Jessica didn’t come in as he chatted her up.
The maitre d’ passed by him, followed by a young couple. Boyd wondered what on earth he’d say to Jessica when she got here if Deacon wasn’t here as a buffer. “Tell you what. I’ll do my best to set up another meeting for you, privately. How about tomorrow sometime?”
“Maybe that’s not a good idea.”
Boyd paused in the middle of the room. “Too damn bad. You can’t desert her. Remember how we aren’t allowed to hurt her feelings? I’ll pretend to ask her a few job-related questions and reschedule so you can be included later on. You’re the one who needs to get her out of your system, right?” He waited and allowed the maitre d’ to pass him. He wasn’t gone two seconds before being followed by a party of four headed for an empty table to his right.
“Thanks, Boyd.” His tone of voice suggested his supreme gratitude.
“Yep. Drive safe now.” He snapped the phone shut and dodged a waiter with a tray full of drinks. He glanced to his right toward the restrooms just in case she’d slipped by while he was talking to Deacon. Empty space.
Before he even looked toward the bar, a muffled, “Stop it!” came from his left. He saw a man in a wrinkled suit with his brunette beauty struggling and pressed against the wall. Boyd acted before thinking through what he was doing. He marched over to the two of them, grabbed the man by the back of his suit and his belt at the same time, and hauled him backward with all the strength he possessed before releasing him with a push.
The man stumbled back, tripped on his own feet, and promptly fell on his ass. Boyd wasn’t the least bit sorry.
He turned to check on the beautiful brunette and realized it was Jessica, the concierge, with her hair down. He hadn’t even recognized her when she came in.
Shit
. The look on her face was one he loathed to see on any woman. Terror.
“Are you okay, honey?” Boyd took a step in her direction. She sent her gaze to his face. Her first expression was one of supreme relief, and then recognition. They’d spoken briefly once or twice at the hotel.
Tears spilled quickly over her lower lids and splashed on her face. Her bottom lip suddenly trembled. Then she launched herself into his arms, buried her face against his throat, slipped her fingers into the hair at the base of his neck, and started babbling, “He grabbed me. I was trapped. I couldn’t get away. But I was off balance. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t get out. I couldn’t get away…”
Boyd resisted the urge to tighten his grip around her back. Instead, he patted her back gently with one palm and murmured reassuring, nonsensical words in her ear trying to calm her down as the maitre d’ came rushing up. The bartender also arrived from the other direction, and the two of them hauled the drunk man out of the building. The manager of the bar came out and said he’d called the police.
She was shaking when she finally released him. “I’m sorry.” She stepped back as if embarrassed to have broken down. Boyd found he didn’t mind.
“There’s not a single thing for you to be sorry about, honey.” He already missed the feel of her luscious body against his. Deacon was perhaps on to something in lusting after this extraordinary girl. He’d seen her several times before at the hotel. Her hair had always been efficiently swept up away from her face. When she’d strolled into the restaurant tonight, she definitely moved with a different sort of strut.
She brushed her hair off one shoulder, straightened her stance, and looked him in the eye as if she’d just gotten a booster shot of attitude. “Thank you so much for getting him off of me.” Her intense gaze melted away any resistance to a future. She was projecting something very powerful, yet intangible. Boyd wanted whatever she wanted, and was ready to hand her the world.