Lovestruck: A Romantic Comedy Standalone Read online

  Oh, crap, I forgot to even pay attention. Trevor has been relieved of his shirt, which judging by Brooke’s grin is thanks to her.

  “No, definitely not,” I say. I heft the stick and scan the table. Oh yes, there we go. Ready, aim, fire. Thunk goes the ball into the pocket.

  “Will,” I say without looking behind me, “pants.”

  The game ends one round later with me sinking the eight ball. “Let’s even things out,” I say, graciously. “Brad, join the ranks of the shirtless.”

  Brooke rubs her eyes, looking tired enough for me to hope that we’re finally putting an end to group activities for the day. I peek at Will, who’s leaning casually against the wall in his boxers and socks and nothing else. That itch really needs scratching now. I’ve been simmering on the verge of boiling over for the last ten minutes.

  But Lulu, still in a slip and everything beneath, sets her hands on her hips. “I think we’ve got enough on for another game.” Brooke and Maggie assemble at her side with what looks like resignation.

  Hell, no. I am drawing the line right here.

  I stretch my arms over my head in a pose I’m sure gives Will plenty to stoke his fire while I yawn dramatically. “You know, I am beat. I won that first game for women everywhere. You’ll have to excuse me—I’m turning in for the night now.”

  Lulu makes a disappointed noise, but Brooke says, “Of course, of course. Don’t wear yourself out!” with a smile that’s a little too knowing. I glower at her for a second before I pull my dress back on.

  “Have fun!” I call out to everyone as I hurry for the door.

  As soon as I’m out of view, I fish my phone out of my purse. Get yourself to my room ASAP, I text to Will. Clothing optional.

  I’ve just reached my door when my alert goes off. On my way.

  It’s happening. It’s happening now. After what’s essentially been four days of foreplay, I can’t imagine being more ready.

  Inside the room, I discard my clothes so fast you’d think they literally were on fire. Then I sprawl out on the bed, arranging my limbs and rearranging them as I try to decide what makes the most tempting pose. My pulse skitters in my chest.

  It’s just Will, I remind myself. He’s just a guy. The guy I’ve been lusting after since college, sure, but still. No man is that different when faced with a naked woman laying in eager wait.

  Just as my arm is starting to cramp from holding my torso at just the right angle, voices carry from the hall outside my door.

  “Will! Are you looking for Trevor and the others? The last I heard they were headed for the bar.”

  It’s Mrs. Tanner. And then Mr. Tanner. Right outside my room. “I’m glad we’re not cramping the younger generation’s style. You should have the best time you can without us old fogies around.”

  Will must be standing farther away, because I can’t make out what he says in return, other than his tone sounds gracious. Their voices fade as, I guess, Brooke’s parents insist on accompanying him back to the elevators. I drop my head into my hand. Oh, fuck me now. Literally. Come on, already.

  I slip off the bed and grab my bathrobe, wondering if there’s some way I can intervene. As I reach the door, someone knocks. I ease it open.

  And there is Will, clothes back on but shirt still untucked and open at the neck, dark hair tousled.

  Damn, but he’s hot. No other man has ever melted me with just one look.

  “If one more person gets in the way of me fucking your brains out, I’m going to explode.”

  I grab his shirt, pulling him into the room and yanking his mouth to mine.

  Chapter Eighteen

  It takes all of two seconds for Will to get my robe open. “Damn,” he murmurs, his hands already roaming from my breasts to my ass and back again, as if he’s trying to find a way to be touching all of me at once.

  For the record, I’m totally on board with that goal.

  He kisses me with such urgency that I think I might melt before we even get to the fucking part. My frontal lobe has already dissolved into a delirious fizz of pleasure. I don’t notice we’re walking until the backs of my legs hit the bed.

  I take the moment to curl my fingers into the smooth fabric of Will’s shirt and tug it upward. Our kiss breaks so he can tear it off over his head, leaving his hair more wild than before. Then I’m the most up close and personal I’ve ever gotten with his naked torso, and I’m going to enjoy every minute of it.

  I run my hands down his chest, following the dips and ridges of all that solid muscle. His skin is blazing hot. His breath comes ragged, but he holds still through my exploration, stroking my sides with his thumbs. I press my lips experimentally to his shoulder, his sternum. The musky, woodsy smell of his skin is intoxicating. I flick my tongue over one hard nipple, and a rough sound breaks from his throat. He picks me up and tosses me onto the bed.

  I bounce on the duvet, and then Will is on top of me, devouring my mouth again. His chest brushes my bare breasts with a delicious friction. I pull him closer, and the swell of his cock presses between my legs through his slacks. A whimper slips out of me.

  There’s still far too much clothing on this man. I reach for his fly, but Will is already easing down me, moving the prize I’m after farther away. But maybe there’s another prize to be won. I writhe as the slow, hot slide of his mouth travels from my jaw down my throat, across my collarbone to my breast. He sucks my nipple into his mouth. His fingers close around the other with a twist that makes me moan. My hips arch, but it’s hard to say whether I’d rather he stop and get on to the next step or stay here as long as humanly possible. He teases his teeth against my nipple, and I let out another whimper.

  Here. Here is good.

  “Will,” I say, breathless. He raises his head. His gaze caresses my body with just as much heat as his hands and mouth.

  “Damn, you’re beautiful,” he says.

  My brain is fizzing too much to pull together any better response than, “Mmhmmm.”

  His hand slides down to cup my pussy. My hips buck up to meet his touch. I grab his shoulders to haul him back to me, but he shifts in the opposite direction. His lips and tongue chart a path between my ribs and around my navel as he brushes lightly against my clit. A wash of flame sears up through me. The pleasure is so sharp it’s almost painful. Even though I can guess where he’s heading, a cry cuts through my gasp when his mouth takes the place of his hand.

  His tongue teases around my clit. His thumb strokes over my opening. Then he sucks me hard. I moan. My head arches back into the pillow as the most blissful sensation in existence radiates up from my sex. I clutch the sheets, riding that wave.

  “Yes,” I murmur. “Oh, God.”

  Will chuckles against my pussy. The vibration the sound sends through me somehow melts me even more than what he was doing before. He slides a finger inside me, and I let out a noise that would be truly embarrassing if I wasn’t way past caring.

  There’s a time to be self-conscious, and when a guy has his tongue swirling over your clit is way past that moment. Will sends me writhing with every touch, until I can’t hold back any longer. The tension coils tighter, rising with every lick, and kiss, and slow pulse of his fingers until I come, arching off the bed as pleasure slams through me.

  Holy fuck, that was good.

  And I want more.

  The waves are still racing through me when I yank him back up to me.

  “Pants. Off. Now,” I gasp out. He’s already reaching to comply. Our mouths meet, the taste of me tart on his lips. I quiver with anticipation at the rasp of his zipper.

  WAAAAAAAAH.

  The blare of a fire alarm tears through the air, and for a moment, I wonder if we were so hot that we set them off.

  Then I hear the echo of the alarm outside the window, all around the resort.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” I cry. The alarm doesn’t care that it’s just cock-blocked what was on track to be the best sexual experience of my life. Will sits back and ru
ns his hand through his hair.

  “Of course,” he mutters. “Of course.” Then he points a finger at me. “Grab something to wear and get out of the building. Because this is absolutely to be continued, and that’ll only be possible if the hotel doesn’t burn down first.”

  He zips his fly back up and snatches up his shirt as he hurries for the door. I grab my nightshirt, pull it on, and hustle out about a minute behind him.

  Will is already long gone when I step into the hall. Guests are trickling out of their rooms, looking puzzled and in many cases bleary-eyed. One of the resort staff stands by the stairwell at the end of the hall.

  “This way, everyone,” he calls, waving his arm. “We apologize for disrupting your sleep. We’ll have this problem sorted out as quickly as possible.”

  I wouldn’t mind so much if it were only my sleep that was disrupted.

  I spot Brooke and Maggie down the hall and jog over to join them. “Any idea what’s going on?”

  Brooke shakes her head. “We just got up. The pool game kind of fell apart when Will had to dash off a little after you did.”

  She glances at me sideways. I put on an innocent face. “I hope there isn’t an actual fire.”

  “I doubt it,” Maggie says. “It doesn’t take much to set those systems off.”

  Everyone mills around for several minutes, their expressions turning increasingly grouchy. There are no flames shooting from windows or trails of smoke streaming from the roof, at least. I’m going to take as a good sign.

  And a sign I’m going to get laid, ASAFP.

  Finally the young man who ushered us down here steps up on a chair at the head of the crowd and clears his throat. “Sorry, everyone,” he says. The restless murmurs quiet. “There’s nothing to be concerned about. The alarm was triggered by a guest’s cigarette. Please remember that smokers must remain thirty feet from any of the resort’s buildings. You can return to your rooms now.”

  I look around, but there’s still been no sign of Will. I don’t know what kind of administrative shenanigans are involved when you have a situation like this. I text him as soon as I’m back in my room, and ten minutes later he still hasn’t answered. The tangle of sheets on the bed taunts me. Looks like our To Be Continued will be picked up tomorrow.

  I pull on my PJs, a simple cotton tank and shorts, and wash off my seductress makeup. I’m just climbing into my bed when there’s a knock on my door.

  At the sight of Will standing outside, my pulse skips. That’s the sort of untempered joy I should absolutely not be indulging in. But I’ll be damned if that easy smile doesn’t warm my heart just as much as it sparks a fresh fire in the more lustful parts of my body.

  He’s got a folded blanket under one arm, and he brandishes a bottle of wine with a label I don’t recognize. Given who’s holding it, it’s probably both very pricy and worth it.

  “I thought we might need to reset the mood,” he says. “Join me for a moonlit interlude? Somewhere nobody can find us, even if this whole damn place burns down,” he adds, looking determined, and I have to grin.

  I at least got a little satisfaction before we were interrupted, but poor Will here must be just about ready to explode.

  I close the door behind me. “Lead the way.”

  We slip down the stairs. In the wake of the fire alarm, the hotel is nearly silent. Outside, Will guides me down a narrow cleared path through the brush to a more secluded section of beach. We emerge into a little clearing surrounded by curving palm trees.

  Will spreads out the blanket under the dim glow of the near-full moon. The warble of the ocean waves provides a fitting background ambience as he pops the cork and takes a drink before passing it to me.

  “Remind me to uninstall all the fire alarms,” he says, sounding worn out.

  “Aww, come here,” I say, reaching for him. I’m not waiting around for the world to throw some other interruption at us.

  He sets the bottle in the sand and leans over me. His fingers slide into my hair and kisses me.

  Mmmm …

  Somehow, even though we’ve been hungering for this for hours, this kiss is slower. Almost leisurely. I tug Will’s shirt off, and he makes short work of my pajama top. I want him just as much as I did before, and I feel the same intensity from him every time our eyes meet and in every caress. But there’s a steadiness, a sureness to the moment now. As if we both know we’ve finally passed every roadblock, and that this is exactly where we ought to be.

  He lays me down on the blanket and strips off my PJs. The sand beneath it shifts to fit the planes of my body as he tugs off my shorts. His fingers trail back up my inner thigh to stroke over my clit. I squirm with a sharp inhale. My body is still humming from before, and this time when I reach for his pants, there’s no interruptions stopping me from stripping him bare.

  Hello.

  His cock is already so hard, I shiver eagerly as I wrap my hand around it. Will groans, leaning back on the blanket as I explore every inch. I can’t resist bending over to slick my tongue up that hard length. The stutter of his breath in response makes me giddy.

  “Ruby,” he groans roughly. Then I take the head of his cock right into my mouth, and he can’t seem to produce anything but inarticulate sounds. He tastes so good, like salt and musk and Will, but it’s not long before Will tugs me up again and kisses me. His thigh presses between my legs, and I gasp and grind at the friction.

  “Enough waiting,” he murmurs. His thumb circles my clit with just enough pressure to send sparks through me. “I need to be inside you. Now.”

  “Yes,” I say around a whimper. Two of his fingers dip right into my pussy. I rock against them. “Please.”

  Will keeps his fingers working inside me, stroking gasp after gasp out of my mouth. He retrieves a condom from his slacks pocket with his other hand. In what is possibly the hottest act I’ve ever seen, his gaze stays locked on my face as he tears the packet open with his teeth. I rest my hand over his, and we sheath his cock together. I spread my legs wider. He settles himself between them, his length brushing over the terrain his fingers just finished exploring. I arch up to meet him, and with a groan he plunges into me.

  Yes. This. This is what I needed.

  I rock with him, reveling in his firm length as it fills my pussy to the brim, over and over, building that delicious ache. We kiss at first, roughly, but before long our mouths are too occupied with the panting of our breaths. That sound and the wave of bliss gathering inside me mingles with the hiss of the surf. For a minute or two, a strange sensation comes over me, as if I and Will and the sand and the sea and the trees rustling with the breeze above us are all some vast interconnected being moving together toward this one purpose.

  I’d laugh at myself if Will didn’t adjust his angle right then. His cock thrusts against the sweet spot inside me. A cry escapes me. I grip his back.

  “Right there. Just like that.”

  Will gives a hoarse chuckle. He speeds up his rhythm. All I’m aware of is the pleasure swelling through me with every stroke. The wave builds higher, and higher, and higher, until I’m throbbing with the need for release. My fingernails dig into his back. Then the wave crashes over me, so hard my vision shimmers. My body shakes against his and I cry out.

  Will thrusts faster, and the wave of my orgasm rolls on and on, keeping pace. With a growl, he pushes himself even deeper than before. I cry out with a fresh rush of bliss. His muscles tense beneath my fingers, and I feel him shudder against me, both of us breathless and clutching each other as our climaxes roll through us.

  Holy shit. What was that?

  I’m not one to hold a grudge, but damn, I’ve got some exes who owe me refunds.

  Wow.

  Will slowly rolls off me. He kisses my collarbone, my jaw, before he finds his way back to my mouth. “You are incredible, Ruby Walters,” he breathes.

  “You’re not so bad yourself, Will Cassidy,” I whisper back, and a strange feeling of longing twists in my chest.


  I don’t understand it. How can I not be sated after that?

  Except it’s not my body that’s still hungry. Part of me wants flowery words and promises, wants to be held like this all through the night. Part of me wants this to be the first of more nights than I can count.

  I swallow hard. I can’t think like that. That path only ends in hurt. I drag my gaze away, toward the tossing surf at the foot of the beach, and inspiration strikes.

  “So now that we’re down here, and stripped down, what would you say to a quick skinny dip?” I suggest, needing to get some distance from all this intimacy.

  “Hmmm,” Will grins. “I’d say I like the way you think. But you already knew that.”

  My legs still feel like jelly, but I manage to push myself up onto them. We dash across the sand to the water. I shriek, feeling the cold water splash my skin, and Will picks me up and tumbles me into the surf, laughing. Yes, this is perfect. Just a careless, playful fling.

  Will catches hold of my and spins us around, then we’re kissing again, salty and slick from the water. He pulls me flush against him. His hands slide higher, to the sides of my breasts. My heart starts to thump again, a tingling spreading over my skin from between my legs.

  I like this guy’s stamina.

  “Already?” I tease, and Will grins.

  “Baby, I haven’t even got started yet.”

  Something soft brushes against my calf. I wriggle in anticipation, drawing closer. “Promises, promises,” I tease. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”

  The next thing I know, a burning pain is stabbing up my leg.

  Chapter Nineteen

  I wake up with my head in a haze and a dull ache stretching from my left ankle to my knee. The sun is shining way too brightly outside my room’s broad windows. I grumble and rub my eyes, squirming deeper into my mattress. At least the bed is a lot cozier than the padded chair in the resort medical center where I spent half the night.

  Fucking jellyfish.

  Raised pink bumps streak across the skin on my left calf where the thing’s tentacles stung me. Ugh. I test them with my fingertip and wince. Well, it’s a good thing the bridesmaid dresses are ankle-length.