Three hard, relentless strokes later, he followed her, coming hard and fast inside her, wishing he never had to pull out.

He rested his head in the crook of her neck and caught his breath.

After a few breaths, he brushed her hair to the side and pressed his lips against her neck. He withdrew slowly, careful as he lowered her to the floor.

After disposing of the condom, he pulled up his pants and tugged her close. His hands rested on her waist. Jesus but he didn’t want to let her go. “Are you okay?”

She bit down on her lip, but it couldn’t hide her smile. “I’m spectacular.”

His chest ached a little and he pressed a hard kiss to her mouth. “Next time, you’re going to be na**d.”

Chapter Six

Addison ran a finger along the scruffy edge of his jaw. “You go back first,” she said. “I’ll follow in a few.”

He stared at her, something flashing in those dark eyes. Taking her hands, he squeezed them once. He frowned but nodded in agreement.

When he closed the door behind himself, even though it was still warm in the poorly-ventilated space, Addy shivered.

She smoothed her dress and searched for her panties. She spotted two scraps of lace on the desk and groaned at the memory. He tore off her panties. Ripped them in two. Manly man, indeed.

Meow.

She tossed the ruined panties in the trash and waited a few minutes before heading back. The click of her heels on the metal stairs echoed through the empty garage as she descended, a stupid grin on her face.

As she slipped outside, the sun was beginning to set, and in the distance, she could hear the boisterous sound of Big Band music.

Something like hope fluttered in her stomach, and she pushed it away.

Just one night, she reminded herself, taking a deep breath and heading into the fray.

“There’s my girl,” her father called from the bar. He took a sip of dark liquid—bourbon, no doubt.

“Hi, Daddy.” She crossed to him and leaned her head on his big shoulder. Her father was a big man in stature and presence. His laughter could fill a room and so could his anger. As a little girl she’d equal parts feared and adored him. As a woman, not much had changed.

“Stacey was looking for you,” he told her. “You missed the bouquet toss.”

She wrapped her arm around his waist and squeezed. “I may have gone missing on purpose,” she admitted with a grin. “If I catch a bouquet, Mom will be picking out dresses and interviewing caterers.”

He chuckled, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and squeezing. “Smart girl. You’re not allowed to get married until you’re thirty.”

She raised a brow. “That seems a little young considering, last I checked, I’m not allowed to date until forty?”

“Good point. No jerk is going to put his hands on my baby girl.” He took another sip of his bourbon and grinned. “Let your old man have his delusions, okay?” he said, voice lower now.

“Of course, Daddy.” She smiled up at him, love for him nearly bursting her chest.

“You need to come home more,” he lectured. “Your mother worries and then I have to hear it.”

“I know.”

He waved a hand dismissively. “I’m real proud of my little girl. A Paris fashion designer. What can you do with that in Decadence Creek?”

She sighed. She had a few ideas, but her father wouldn’t be the only one who would think she was crazy for wanting to open a custom dress shop in their tiny town.

“Are you happy there?”

She forced a smile. “Who wouldn’t be?”

“Hey, Montgomery!” her father called out to Chase. “Come dance with my girl. She’s too pretty to be standing on the sidelines tonight.”

Addison tensed as Chase walked over, a grin on his face.

He extended a hand. “May I?”

Her father nudged her forward. “I’d rather you dance with Chase than one of these young guys who might think they can try something with my baby.”

She put her hand in Chase’s and something electric zipped up her arm.

“It’s my pleasure, sir,” Chase said, nodding at her father.

Chase led her onto the dance floor, placed a warm hand on her back, and grinned.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she hissed.

The corner of his mouth twitched. “Like this?” he asked, dropping his gaze to her mouth then down her body before meeting her gaze again.

She squeezed the hand that held hers. Not lightly. “He’ll kill you.”

He shook his head and pulled her against his chest. She looked over her shoulder and waved at her father, who winked at her before turning to speak with her brothers.

“He trusts me,” Chase said.

“He wouldn’t if he knew what you just did to me in your office.” She bit her lip and he pulled her closer still until she was pressed against the solid heat of his body.

“Relax,” he whispered the word into her ear, sending a zip of anticipation through her. “Think about what I’m going to do to you tonight.”

Her cheeks heated. “Not here,” she murmured, smiling at Aunt Sophie.

“Definitely here,” he said, his breath hot against her ear, his lips just barely brushing as he spoke. “I want you to spend the rest of the night thinking about what I’m going to do when I get you na**d. I want it to consume your thoughts until I’m buried deep inside you again.”

She took in a shaky breath. “You seem pretty sure of yourself.”

“Oh, you’ll be begging by the time I’m done with you,” he promised. “I’m going to spread your legs and lick you until you beg.”

His voice was low and sent a few thousand volts of electricity through her. All that energy settled in a pulsing little ache between her thighs.

“Want to put a little room for Jesus between you and my sister, Montgomery?” a deep voice called behind them.

Harrison. Dear God, Chase was whispering dirty things in her ear and her brother was right there.

“Not especially,” Chase called back with a grin.

Addy’s cheeks burned hotter. “They’re going to know,” she warned.

His mouth dipped to her ear again. “No one knows that I f**ked you in my office.” His tongue flicked across her lobe. “Or that I can still taste you on my lips.”

She closed her eyes at the pleasure his words shot through her. “You are so bad.” A lame protest but all she could manage.

“You have no idea how bad I can be.” He’d danced them into a dark corner and his hand slipped under her dress, find the exposed, sensitive flesh between her legs.

He groaned and she shuddered as her brushed his thumb against her clit. “I’m going to taste you right here.” His mouth trailed down her neck and back to her ear as he removed his hand then discreetly smoothed her dress. “Think about me.”

He walked away, leaving her breathless and hot and—dear God—desperate for the reception to end.

Chapter Seven

Chase took a pull off his beer and thought—for the thousandth time tonight—about the feel of Addison’s lips under his, her curves pressed against his chest, her slick, wet heat as he slid inside her.

“Where’s Addison staying while she’s in town?” he asked the groom.

Claiming jetlag, Addison had slipped out of the reception shortly after their dance. Chase had stuck around, but now most of the guests had left.

“She’s in the guest house,” Harrison said, “because God forbid she have to stay in the main house with all the guys. It’s like Mom thinks being male is some kind of disease she couldn’t save her first four children from, and she lives in fear that her last child might catch it.”

Chase grunted. “Can’t blame her. Until Addison came along she was surrounded by men.”

Harrison nodded, then narrowed his eyes at Chase. “Do I want to know why you’re asking about where my sister is sleeping?”

Chase looked down at his beer and smiled a little. “Probably not,” he said, peeking up at Harrison.

Harrison’s brows drew together in a scowl. “That’s my little sister, asshole.”

Chase raised a brow. “She’s not so little anymore.”

Harrison took a drink. “I like you, so when I cut off your balls, I hope you won’t let it interfere with our friendship.”

Chase chuckled. “Leave my balls out of this. Your sister can take care of herself. I’m pretty sure I’m the one you should be worried for.”

Harrison studied Chase for a minute. “Watch yourself. My father has no idea she hit puberty, and his loyalty to you ends right about where his irrational protectiveness of her begins.”

The mention of Mr. Duval sobered Chase a bit.

Harrison nodded. “Okay, then.”

Across the dance floor, the bride was laughing with one of the remaining bridesmaids.

Chase nudged Harrison with his elbow. “You want to tell me why you aren’t getting your beautiful bride out of here and into a nice oversized bed somewhere?”

An emotion Chase didn’t recognize flicked across Harrison’s features. “We have the rest of our lives, right?”

“Hmm,” Chase said. “You know, they make a little blue pill that might help you with that attitude.”

Harrison grinned and punched Chase in the shoulder, but he could hardly take his eyes off the woman in white. “She is beautiful, isn’t she?”

There was something going on here, Chase thought. Something other than a whirlwind romance. But he didn’t pry. “Congratulations, man,” he said, patting Harrison on the back. “I need to get out of here.”

Harrison winced. “Please don’t tell me you’re going to find my sister.”

Chase slid his bottle onto the bar. “No problem. I won’t tell you a thing.”

“Think real hard about how much you like them balls,” Harrison shouted after him.

Chase shoved his hands into his pockets and followed the lamp-lined walkway that lead across the estate.

He’d grown up across the river in a neighborhood politically-correct people liked to call “questionable.” There was no question his mom hardly made enough to scrape by, his neighbors sold meth, and by the time he was fifteen he’d stolen more cars than the average yuppie would own in a lifetime.

Chase had thought he was invincible in those days. He was good at what he did. Stealing cars, dismantling them, rebuilding them. Then he’d gotten busted, thrown in a jail cell and left to the mercy of a jury and an overworked public defender.

He’d never met Richard Duval before the day the man showed up to offer him the deal of a lifetime. Duval would pay for the best criminal lawyer he could find to get him a reduced sentence. And after Chase served his time, all he had to do was bring his skills to Decadence Creek and build custom rides for the rich man.

The deal had seemed too good to be true. Still did.

When Chase came to Decadence Creek, it felt like something straight out of Disney World. The town had 1500 people, one stoplight, one bar, one diner, and a convenience store. A quarter mile off Main Street was the Duval estate. If Decadence Creek felt like Disney World, the estate had felt like a magnified Ritz Carlton. With hot cars. Lucky as**ole that he was, he got to work there.

He owed Duval everything, Chase thought, climbing up the steps to the guest house and knocking on the door. But he’d spent two years without Addy and hated every minute of it, wondered the whole time if she’d still be in town if he had let her stay in his bed that night.

Addy didn’t come to the door, and he knocked again.

She’d been twenty-one when he’d found her na**d in his bed.

He’d slid between the sheets in the dark, and only realized she was there when she reached out and touched his face. He’d wanted to pull her against him, feel those bare curves against his hot skin.

“This can’t happen, Addison,” he’d told her. “If I touch you …” He shook his head. If he touched her, he wouldn’t be able to stop. “Let’s just talk about this in the morning.”

He’d made her leave, and the next morning she was on a plane to Paris. Pursuing her dreams, her father said.

Now, standing in the dark on the stoop of the guest house, he wanted more than one secret night. He already had more than he ever deserved, but he wanted it all, damn it.

He checked the knob, found it unlocked, and let himself in.

Chapter Eight

Addison shoved her arms into a plush terry cloth robe, ran her fingers through her hair and padded out to the little kitchen.

Chase lounged on a kitchen chair, nursing a beer. “I would have joined you in the shower,” he said, setting the beer on the table, “but I didn’t want to scare you.”

His shirt was unbuttoned, exposing the sun-darkened skin of his chest, the taught muscles across his abdomen.

She licked her lips. “I would have gotten over it.”

Reaching out, he tugged her toward him by the belt of her robe.

She reached for him, sliding her hands across the hard plains of his chest. She scraped her nails over his stomach.

He groaned. “Addison.” He cuffed a wrist in each hand, stopping her. “If you didn’t notice earlier, I lose my mind when you touch me, so I’m going to have to ask you not to do that.”

She raised a brow and tugged an arm free from his grasp.

“Not yet,” he murmured as she reached for him. He lifted her fingers to his lips and kissed the back of her hand. “Be patient.”

“I’m not good at patient,” she pouted.