Hot On Her Heels
A Ravenous Romance™ Modern Love™ Original Publication
Monica Newcomb
A Ravenous Romance™ Original Publication
Hot On Her Heels
Copyright © 2008 by Monica Newcomb
Ravenous Romance™
100 Cummings Center
Suite 125G
Beverly, MA 01915
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher, except by reviewers who may quote brief excerpts in connection with a review.
ISBN: 978-1-60777-062-6
This book is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
Chapter One
Champagne. That’s what she felt bubbling along her veins and going straight to her head. And not the cheap stuff. No, this intoxicating feeling called success definitely came from the expensive Cristal variety. Excitement clogged her throat and threatened to come out in the form of a shout.
Grace swallowed past it. Taking a deep breath to compose herself, she willed her features into a polite mask.
Tomorrow, though, she would call her mom and announce to her entire disbelieving family that she, Grace Young-mi Park, upstart publicist, would be getting that office with a view and even more A-list clients! Oh, and a raise.
Which, of course, her traditional mother would translate as: Yes, I’m staying in the big, bad City of Angels, and no, I’m not coming home to settle down with the local doctor to pop out cute little Korean babies!
Because she had done it. Brought a complete nobody into the limelight. Blake Kelley had been one of many young, hot actors pounding the pavement of Hollywood. Now he’d be a household name, as full-scale posters of his perfect body began littering the walls of every tween in America.
The fishnet-clad dancers at this informal launch party for Blake’s movie pulled the girl next to Grace up onto the stage to gyrate along to the seductive beat with them. She was almost tempted to join them, the heady success going straight to her brain.
Almost.
But this party was still all business. Despite the free-flowing drinks and shiny stripper poles.
Grace sipped her second glass of champagne as she scanned the fashionable crowd packed into the restored ballroom, searching for her star client.
Then she saw him. Not her client, but him. And she promptly choked on the bubbly sliding down her throat. The tall, dark figure stood like a shadow on the fringes. But it was him, Nick Matthews.
This couldn’t be happening. Running into Nick happened to be a rather frequent fantasy in Grace’s head. She’d play it like her favorite DVD for a pick-me-up after a long day. Always in these fantasies, he’d actually stare back into her eyes with a reflection of the desire she felt for him.
That’s why it was a fantasy.
It wasn’t as though this was the first time she had seen him out on the party scene. In fact, over the past year, while their best friends were dating, she had run into him quite a bit. But always he had been accompanied by some tall waiflike actress or model.
But tonight he seemed to be alone.
Not that she was his type. Short, sarcastic Korean women who overcompensated for their height-challenged stature by wearing arch-killing five-inch Jimmy Choos had never been a part of his endless stream of arm candy.
Not that Grace ever wanted to be any man’s arm candy. Even a man as hot as Nick.
But staring did no harm.
Indeed, staring was almost enough, Grace thought, as she clenched her thighs together against the moisture that gathered there.
Nick Matthews was a god among men. With his towering height and impossibly broad shoulders, he should have been intimidating, but instead radiated nothing but plain, animal sex appeal. His hair was plain brown, as were his eyes, but on him it all looked good, and anything but plain. Grace bet that his plain brown hair would be soft under her fingers and those eyes would be bottomless pools she could dive into.
Those eyes drew her, like a doomed moth that just couldn’t stay away from the damned flame. That thick fringe of lash, with the right hardness in his stare, and sexy wrinkles fanning out from the corners.
Hardness. The word brought a hot flush to her checks and Grace felt her nipples harden under her sheer Dior slip dress. His body was sure to be hard all over.
She had to know. Upending her glass of champagne, Grace felt the bubbles spill down her throat, urging her to action.
As she responded to this urgent need building inside her by heading off in his direction, the rhythmic tap of her patent, cherry-red, open-toed stacked heels clicked out a beat much faster then the slow gyrating song the dancers on the stage swung their hips to. Putting a subtle swing in her hips, she started after her prey. True, she didn’t have the voluptuous body of the dancers, but she knew a few tricks to draw a man’s gaze. Her face flushed at the thought of Nick Matthews’ eyes on her, roving down the valley of her low-cut black dress, and maybe scorching her bare back, but Grace schooled her features to polite interest, and let the beat take her away. Now or never, her flushed body screamed.
****
Nick saw Grace Park weaving her way through the crowd of fashionable young Hollywood types and his muscles tensed under his Armani suit. Could her dress be any shorter? He swore. Clearly, he was her desired target. And her sleek legs couldn’t be sexier, especially when he thought of them wrapped around his waist, her hot breath panting for more.
Stop. He had to stop his dirty thoughts. If she knew what he was thinking, she’d rip him a new one.
Ripping. Interesting concept, since every time he ran into Grace he felt an overwhelming desire to rip off her clothing. Like now. He had no right to feel like ripping away her flimsy black number to satisfy his corrupt curiosity.
God, it would be so easy. And then he’d finally get to see if her naked body was as perfect as he imagined.
Grace Park was small and slender and petite, the type of woman he had never been attracted to before, but she had curves in all the right places. Nick wanted to slide his fingers around her slender hips to that beautifully curved ass. God, that she could be so sleek and elegant, fitting right in with this crowd, but then draw this unexpectedly lusty response from him. With her curtain of black hair tied up in an intricate knot, and her serene almond-shaped eyes tilting up at the corners, she cut a striking image.
Would she be a freak in bed?
And he longed to see those pert breasts, to see her beg for his eager hands to soothe those aching nipples.
Stop! Grace Park would never beg for anything. But God, he wanted to be proven wrong. Preferably in the privacy of his bedroom.
But without a doubt, Nick knew that Grace was one of those women. A relationship chick. And he didn’t do that. Ever. Not even for a woman who seemed damn near perfect and, if he was honest with himself, made him have occasional bouts of insanity.
Like, Maybe it won’t be all bad to come home to her. To have her smile at him, wearing nothing.
Yeah, Grace Park scared the shit out of him.
That was why Nick made it a point to avoid her.
Until now.
Now she stood directly in front of him. In all her perfection.
He was trapped. In the dark depths of her eyes, he saw only invitation. Nothing of her usual caution was evident. The only thing he wanted was to scratch this damn itch, inside her hot body. And if she was all too willing, he didn’t think he could resist.
Then she’d hate him.
Or he’d lose his freedom.
He didn’t like either option.
“Maker’s and ginger,” she stated as she held out one of the drinks in her hand. “We’re celebrating, cheers.”
He took the drink she held out to him by habit.
Just to be polite, he told himself. Because he was tired of avoiding her.
Clinking his glass with hers, he took a fortifying gulp, and watched over the rim as she took a dainty sip with those full lips.
Lips he wanted wrapped around his cock, which bobbed against his zipper in eager agreement.
Swallowing past his tight throat, he asked, “What are we celebrating?”
“Maybe I’ll tell you. Later.”
Her words came out barely a murmur, but they reverberated through Nick’s body with the potency of the whiskey in his hand. He knew his way around women, and he read the message loud and clear: Grace wanted him, and this blatant invitation challenged him to accept.
Even as his brain scrambled to come up with a list of rules for fucking your best friend’s girlfriend’s friend, another part whispered, freedom.
Ah, what the hell? They were both two consenting adults.
Nick’s gaze dropped to those lips again. The shiny lip gloss slathered over her plump lips reminded him of a dessert. He wanted to lean down and taste. And lick them clean. An image of a naked Grace writhing beneath him while he licked every delicious inch of her flickered across his mind, again.
His control snapped.
Nick’s arm acted of its own accord, reaching out to wrap around Grace’s slim body. She slammed into him with more force then he thought possible from such a small woman. He felt her fingers, still cold from her drink, reach around his neck and pull his head closer to hers and then her warm, tasty lips softened against his, as shivers ran down his spine and his blood rushed south. He darted his tongue out to toy with hers, but she pulled back abruptly.
“Not here,” she panted into his bent neck, as her gaze darted around the ballroom. “Do you live close by?”
Not nearly close enough. But there were tons of hotels.
Nick looked into her eyes, and saw heat and desire. She wanted him, Grace Park wanted him. The reality exceeded all his fantasies. Freedom be damned. His groin swelled and his heart began to thunder in his chest. He felt alive, and he needed to be inside of her.
Now.
****
Grace let Nick drag her through the tightly packed crowd. A thrill of panic sang through her nerve endings. How could she be doing this? For the first time ever, she was going after the man she wanted, and she was going to get him. Goody-two-shoes Grace was going to have a one-night stand with the hottest man on the planet.
He pulled her outside and the hot, sticky L.A. air made her want to rip off her clothes that much quicker. She looked up at her soon-to-be lover — his jaw clenched so hard it looked painful. Did he want her as badly as she wanted him? A taxi pulled up and they jumped in. All her senses were inundated with the feel and smell of a big, sexy man. He pulled her to him, crushing her breasts against his rock-hard chest. Grace couldn’t help it—she rubbed herself back and forth, creating the most delicious friction, counter to the gentle pressure of his lips on hers.
His hot hands spanned her waist and moved slowly and tauntingly up her rib cage to just beneath her breasts.
“Wanna tell me now?” His low voice sent shivers from the tiny hairs at her neck down her body, making her nipples pucker and protest against the thin fabric of her dress.
“Tell you what?” She sounded so breathless and unlike herself.
“Tell me what we’re celebrating. I seem to be playing a big role.”
“Umm,” she hummed in her throat as his fingers skimmed the underside of her breast. She was tempted to touch him back and see just how big a role he would play indeed. Settling her hand on his thigh, she felt him shudder.
She felt powerful and on top of the world. There was really no reason not to tell him.
“My promotion.” That giddy laugh couldn’t belong to her. Grace hadn’t laughed like a preteen, even when she was one. “I am the best publicist in L.A., and finally the world recognizes it,” she confided in his ear. Champagne and desire coursed through her blood. “I took an absolute nobody actor, and now’s he’s a star. The brightest one in L.A. at the moment.” Grace inched her hand up higher, and that hard thigh got harder. “Maybe you’ve heard of him. Blake Kelley?”
She laughed harder. Everyone knew of Blake Kelley.
“So, it was all you, huh?”
One of his hands had dropped to her bare leg, mirroring her hand on his. As she moved hers closer to the large bulge at the front of his trousers, he moved his closer to her damp panties.
Sucking in a breath as heat suffused her face, she answered. “Of course his superior acting ability might have contributed. But everyone has secrets. And there are definitely career-killing secrets in Blake’s closet. Without me, he wouldn’t be able to keep his closet fully closed, if you know what I mean.” Grace gasped as his hand got impatient, lightly stroking her sensitive inner thigh.
Grace followed her fingers up, until she could feel the heat emanating from his cock, through the fabric of his trousers.
“Image is everything in this town.” She gasped again. Maybe conversation was overrated.
“Are you saying Blake Kelley’s gay?” His finger finally stroked her there.
“Yeah, umm.” Her garbled reply was lost, and she threw a leg over his lap to straddle him.
The cab halted. Grace opened her eyes and blinked.
“Just in time,” Nick murmured. “I thought we were going to give the cabbie an eyeful. I guess maybe he would have waived the fare.”
He chuckled as Grace scrambled out of the cab, mortified that she’d lost it that much. She had forgotten where they were. He was by her side in moments, leading her into some hotel lobby. She shifted from heel to heel as she waited while he got a room and checked in. Finally he led her onto an empty elevator. She noted her flushed cheeks as she checked her appearance in the mirrored walls. Nick pulled her close, and nuzzled her neck.
“You’re even beautiful when you blush.” His tongue licked out and traced the shell of her ear, tugging on the lobe, and then she felt the scrape of his teeth and shivered in his arms. She was easy, and now he knew. Although it wasn’t a secret when you asked someone to take you home. She should stop worrying. She should take action.
The elevator doors beeped open, and he tugged her out into an empty hall. She tugged back and pushed him into the wall next to the elevator. Jerking his head down to meet her seeking lips, Grace opened her mouth under his. She could feel his surprise, but didn’t hesitate to take what she wanted, going so far as to slip her hand between their bodies to cup his full erection.
“Grace, honey, we gotta get to that room before I embarrass myself.” He pulled her around the corner and jerked out his card and as soon as the door let him in he pulled her after him, and kept pulling until they were by the bed. Nick flipped her onto the bed. Landing on top of her, he planted his lips over hers.
But she wanted to be in control. Wrapping her legs around his hips, she arched her back and pushed her hips into his, feeling the heavy length of his cock against her damp panties. She felt his hot hand once again creeping up her bare thigh with a little deliberation and more urgency. His fingertips brushed the lacy edge of her thong and one slipped beneath to touch her.
God, she nearly ignited.
She heard his groan echo in her ear.
Grace jerked her hips up towards his questing fingers. He needed to be closer. Then he slid one finger into her quivering flesh and she sighed, feeling his thumb slide over her clit. That’s where she wanted him.
Then she lost track of his body as hers began to hum with pleasure out of every pore, in places she never thought to find pleasure, like her neck, collarbone, the valley between her breasts, her belly button. Nick hit every place she’d never noticed as he made his way down her body, his lips leaving an inflamed path in its wake. She didn’t even remember losing her little black dress, but she was most definitely naked when he settled between her legs, not going straight at her desperate little nub of sensation, but tracing the crease of her thigh with his tongue, and then drifting to her knee as his fingers kept up their playing.
She lost herself, her body tightening around his fingers as his lips and tongue replaced his thumb. She was so close.
“More!” she demanded.
His laugh whispered over her naked clit, and that did it. Her body stiffened and clenched and pulled around his fingers, sound drowning out as wave after wave of pure pleasure washed over her. His tongue massaged her through the heights of her orgasm.
Grace opened her eyes and looked into the intent face of Nick Matthews. How had he done that so quickly? She’d never—
“Gracie, I have to be inside of you now.” His low voice jolted her body’s awareness of him back to the forefront.
As he levered himself above her Grace found the strength to shake her head. Confusion knit his brow. Grace scrambled from underneath him, and pushed him back on the bed. She let her hands fly along his shirt buttons and then move to his belt. She was shaking and fumbling with it so much that she felt his hands cover hers. He had his pants undone in what must have been record time, his cock thrusting into her open hands.
Grace was not disappointed. Just like the rest of him, it was big. She reached out searching fingers with a tentative touch and the pulsing throb she felt through the soft skin echoed in her own body. Tracing her fingertips along the length, she laughed as he closed his fingers over her hand in a tight grip. Together, their hands moved along the length. Until he groaned.
“Please, Grace, put me out of my misery.” Nick reached for his pants and pulled out a condom. He had it rolled down his length before she could even offer assistance.
Laughing with the full realization of her power, that she could make this sexy man so needy, she pushed his shoulders back on the mattress, and straddled him like she’d done in the cab.
Only this time no barriers existed between her and his cock. Grace guided him to her opening. Gasping with pure sensation as he pushed up, she felt him push into her a glorious inch. She slid deeper down on him until he was fully sheathed, her body shivering in response.
More.
He was going to give her more.
****
So tight.
Grace was so fucking tight.
His balls pulled up but, gritting his teeth, he let her test the fit, holding back so she could get comfortable. And he looked at the best view he had ever seen: those small firm breasts bouncing with each slide of her body. He ran his eyes up the column of her neck to her face. God, she was beautiful, her eyes closed, and her face tight with focus.
And then she hit the stride, that primal rhythm that echoed throughout time, and she started fucking his brains out. When he heard her moaning and felt her tightening around him, he couldn’t help it; he exploded in an intense tide of heat.
Pulling together the last of his strength, he lifted Grace off his sensitive cock. She curled up by his side and watched him through heavy eyes as he pulled off the condom and dropped it in the wastebasket.
Shit, he almost missed. His fingers were trembling, and not only because that hot sack session had drained the hell out of him, but because Grace’s unwavering gaze hadn’t left him.
She expected something. Soft meaningless words, or cuddling, for God’s sake.
Nick never did this shit.
But then, avoiding her eyes, he climbed back in bed beside her, and pulled her against him. Cuddling. This was why guys like him didn’t fuck with girls like Grace.
But personal rules didn’t seem to matter with Grace’s warm, soft body wrapped around him. And finally his heavy eyes gave up the battle and Nick’s last thought before sleep claimed him was the memory of Grace’s bouncing breasts.
He was so fucked.
****
The familiar sound of clicking woke Grace up from her dreamless sleep. Except for the glow of a monitor screen, the room was dark. But she wasn’t alone. He was still in the room with her. Lifting her head and looking around the room, she saw him at the desk sitting at a laptop. Where had that come from?
But then, it didn’t matter.
Because the man was just as beautiful by the light of the computer as he was in full light, and Grace found herself staring.
No one was more handsome.
Her body fluttered in memory of those big hands on her body.
And then he turned to her.
“Hey, Gracie, you’re up. And here I thought I’d worn you out a little more than that.” He closed the laptop and stood up to his full height. “I guess I need to work harder.”
She could hear the smile in his voice, even though his face was all shadow.
And he was getting closer.
Grace felt her nipples pebble under the cover as her heart picked up speed.
The bed dipped as he knelt down on the bed and leaned in to brush her lips.
Grace plunged her tongue into his mouth, reaching her arms around his wide chest and pulling him closer.
Hot, she felt so hot, and when she felt his hard cock brush her she knew she could have another fantasy to remember after he left her bed for good.
Reaching between them, she squeezed his cock the way she had before, even as she kissed him with all the pent-up passion she had ever felt for him.
She heard him fumbling before he pulled away.
What? He wanted her, she knew it.
Then he flipped her over, onto her stomach.
His breath stirred the hair at her ear as she felt his weight press her into the mattress, his cock nestling up to her ass.
“This time you will be good and tired.”
His words rumbled through her body, even as his hands skimmed down her thighs to pull her to her knees.
Grace felt moisture pool between her legs, as excitement raced through her limbs. He was going to take her doggie style. She pressed her cheek to the soft mattress as his cock once again brushed her ass.
“Spread ‘em wider, Gracie,” he murmured.
She obeyed, once again feeling his breath by her ear as his hand reached between her legs, finding her clit, and teasing her with gentle strokes.
“Please, Nick!”
His laugh sounded evil as he brought his other hand up to pluck her nipple. Startled, she let out a shout.
“More, beautiful?”
His fingers were working in time, and Grace wasn’t sure she could hold out, but he wasn’t letting her fly over the edge—he was keeping her hovering. He pinched her nipple while his other hand moved down to her slit and he slid a finger inside her. But it was only one, and she wanted more.
He must have heard her sound of protest. “Tell me what you want, Gracie. Tell me.”
“More.” Her demand came out little more than a whisper.
“I didn’t catch that…”
And still just that one finger worked her. Beyond pride at this point, she shouted, “More!”
Obligingly, another finger slid inside, and her body gripped it, that glorious pleasure just out of reach.
“More!”
Her own shout rang in her ears, and almost brought her out of the moment. Grace never raised her voice.
But she quickly forgot her embarrassment as the heavy head of his cock bobbed at her opening. Fingers withdrew and Grace arched her back pushing her closer to his erection.
Not close enough.
Until he grabbed her hips, holding her still, he pushed himself in.
Overwhelmed with sensation, Grace gasped as wave after wave of pleasure hit and her sheath clenched around his cock.
She heard herself crying out – even muffled by the sheets, she was loud. And Nick didn’t join her. As she slowly came back to reality, she felt him still filling her, still hard and heavy.
Then he began to move. Long slow thrusts, almost pulling out until he sunk himself in to the hilt. And amazingly, Grace felt her own body responding once more. She arched her back to meet each thrust and even pushed herself up on her elbows to get more leverage.
She urged him to go faster, and he met her thrust for thrust, their frantic sweat-soaked bodies slapping, her pants mingling with his groans, until she felt his body tense. Amazingly, once again she felt his finger slip down her body to her nub, and this release hit her like a tornado touching ground. A stillness as both of them tensed, frozen by pleasure, and then the crazy storm. The screaming and grunting, and vibrations rocked both the bed and her very core, until finally the storm passed and they collapsed in a tangle of hot, sweaty limbs.
Grace’s lungs worked in overdrive, pulling in great gasps of oxygen to her oversensitive body. Never had she experienced that degree of sensuality and overwhelming satisfaction from a partner. She wasn’t sure if her body would ever return to normal.
Of course, she had never been a “multiple girl” before now either. At least, not with a partner. She might be able to get used to it.
But hearing Nick’s labored breathing next to her reassured her. Maybe she wasn’t alone in being awestruck by their lovemaking.
Suddenly, Grace wanted more than anything to talk about this wondrous thing, maybe even confess the secret of never having had an orgasm with a partner. Maybe completely unburden her heart. Maybe they could discover tons of common interests and do this again sometime.
But then Nick tugged the covers over them both and pulled her close, her ass to his front. He left his heavy arm lying across her stomach, as his breathing normalized into the deep slumber of the truly exhausted. Grace inwardly sighed. Maybe talking would ruin this perfect moment. And it had been a perfect moment. The best sex of her life, to be precise. Settling into his embrace, she once more fell asleep.