My back bumped into a table in an entryway; then I was spun around and lifted into a pair of strong arms. All I learned as we walked out of the club was that my stranger’s name was Eric and he lived only a block away, which was extremely helpful. But everything else was a mystery. The moment I had agreed to his request, he crashed his mouth against mine. He kissed exactly how he looked – sexy, dangerous, and fierce.
Should I have been afraid to leave the club with a man I didn’t know at all? Yes, absolutely. Was I? Not at all, and I’m sure I would regret it in the morning, but right now, it felt like the best decision I had ever made.
Eric carried me to a bedroom where he gently laid me on the bed and threw me for a loop since he had been so aggressive up until this moment. On the nightstand, he turned on a lamp that cast the room of grays and blues in a warm, soft glow.
Leaning up on my elbows, I took my time glancing around the room. It was neat and tidy, with just the right amount of masculinity.
“Willow,” he bellowed, knowing that I was avoiding looking at him.
I wasn’t sure what I was afraid of, because when I turned my stare on him, I felt anything but fear. I felt – hot. He was single-handedly the most attractive man I had ever laid eyes on and definitely a few years older. I was entirely out of my league.
“If you don’t want to do this, tell me now.”
Eric’s jaw ticked as he ground his teeth and I could sense that he was barely holding onto his control by a thread. A thread that was fraying with each second that passed.
“I want this,” I whispered and liked a man possessed Eric reached behind his neck and yanked his shirt over his body. His chest was magnificent with just a light smattering of hair, but the abs? I had no idea that an eight-pack was a thing, but I was proven wrong.
“Thank God,” he growled as he crawled up on the bed between my legs.
His mouth fused with mine as I laid back onto the bed, my arms wrapping around his neck, and I knew in that instant that there wasn’t anywhere else I wanted to be.
Rough, callused hands glided over my body, removing articles of clothing as they went. Somehow I went from fully clothed to completely nude in a few minutes, and I had been so lost into Eric that I missed it all.
He stared at me reverently as he sat back onto his heels and took me in.
“God, you’re beautiful,” he said, one of his fingers trailing up and down the top of my thigh. I couldn’t hide my blush, compliments weren’t something I received very often, and I felt exposed to him. Not just physically, but mentally, emotionally. Something about Eric made me feel as if my entire being was laid before him bare.
“I want to see all of you.”
A beat passed before he slid off the bed and pulled down his dark denim jeans, the boxer briefs following the same path. Eric was a gorgeous man to look at fully clothed, but naked? He was a remarkable sight. I took him in, the strong legs, the taut waist, the erection standing proudly, but when I came to his eyes, I couldn’t pull away. He looked at me with the same amount of awe and wonder.
Boldly I sat up on the bed, moving until I kneeled on top of the mattress. I reached my hands up to his face and tugged him down toward me, fastening our mouths together. His tongue begged for entrance, and as it brushed alongside mine, I felt sparks crackle down my spine and out to all of my extremities.
In a matter of minutes, Eric had set me back on the bed, his cock resting against my hip as I squirmed my body beneath his. I wanted more, so much more from him.
His mouth made a path from my lips to my neck, nipping and sucking as he went, and I murmured, “Condom,” because I couldn’t take any more teasing. I was ready to explode.
He reached into his nightstand, grabbed a condom, then unwrapped and slipped it over his straining cock. Poised at my entrance, Eric trailed his cock between my folds, slicking his shaft. My body shook with every pass, and when he’d brush against my clit, I could feel a rocket of pleasure. But nothing had ever felt as good as when he guided himself inside my sex. My channel stretched to accommodate him and I welcomed the pain because I knew that I would always remember how he claimed me.
“Fuck, you’re tight.” He sounded agonized as he whispered in my ear. But the torture was on me because I needed him to move. Rocking my hips, he slid out some before thrusting back inside. His groans echoed in the room as I moved my body beneath his, but soon he had taken over and drove his shaft into my core repeatedly.
My body began to quake and I felt the waves building deep in my center. I was delirious as I chased my release, crying out as I fell over the edge.
“Oh.”
“Are you going to go?” a voice said from beside me, and I startled in my seat, noticing that the entire row I was in was standing, the boy next to me waiting for me to stand.
“Oh! I’m sorry.”
Quickly I moved in line behind the others as we approached the stage. I was appalled at myself. Who sits at their graduation and replays the best sex of her life?
“Willow Jeffries,” the Dean of Wellington Ridge called out.
I took each step carefully, making sure not to trip on my heels as I went. Over the small claps, I could hear Jolee and the ridge rogues, Ford’s brothers, shouting and cheering as I accepted my diploma and shook the Dean’s hand.
Just as I exited the stage, I noticed a head of dark, wavy hair move within the crowd, and my breath caught in my throat. I knew that I was imagining things, but it reminded me so much of Eric.
The remainder of the ceremony was a blur as I tried to catch a glimpse of the person, just to prove to myself that I was seeing things, but I continued to come up short.
Jolee rushed over toward me as graduation caps were tossed in the air, not mine, of course, because it was pinned to my hair. She gushed on and on about how excited I must be, but with the knowledge that I wouldn’t technically graduate until I completed my internship, my excitement was stifled.
“Your cheeks are all flushed, I bet you’re dying under that cape.” I didn’t dare tell her about my wayward thoughts during the ceremony. It was better for her to believe that I was simply hot and sweaty from the sun. Unzipping the polyester mass, a breeze swept through the material of my pale green dress, and I instantly cooled off.
“Congratulations,” a deep voice said from behind me and my back straightened on instinct. I watched in fascination as Jolee’s eyes widened in surprise just as Ford’s narrowed.
Closing my eyes, I inhaled deeply, letting the air fill my lungs before turning around. My eyes settled on his as they opened – brown to green – and I couldn’t pull them away.
“Eric.”
2
Eric
I had watched her walk across that stage to grab her diploma and my chest had swelled with pride. I couldn’t explain it, but I was drawn to Willow in a way that I hadn’t been with any other woman. She made me feel and want things I never thought possible – all after one night.
Hearing my name on her luscious lips, even in confusion, unleashed almost a year’s worth of lust within me. But I had waited patiently for this moment, not for an element of surprise, though I was pretty damned thrilled with her reaction, but it was out of need. Not mine – hers.
That night had left me craving her again, but I had woken to a cold and empty bed the next morning, wondering where things had gone wrong. Even though she had told me it was just for the one night – I had stupidly thought differently.