Gold Read online

  Okay. Enough. Enough.

  “Nothing.”

  She hopped off of him and went into the restroom to clean up and check out her hair. Just a little mussed. Nothing too bad. Plus, her makeup was still intact. None of the flyaways and smudges that had come from a hot elevator make-out session with Hugh.

  Bryna frowned at her reflection. In fact, she hadn’t heard from Hugh all week, not since he had left her at her doorstep last weekend, even though she had given him her number and he had seemed interested in another date. She knew in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t that long to wait. But fear still gnawed at her. Did I do the wrong thing in turning him down? Sex was her biggest advantage in all of this. Holding out should have made him desperate for it. Maybe she had tried too hard to keep the cards in her hands.

  No.

  She wasn’t going to doubt herself. She couldn’t at this point. Hugh was interested. He was simply taking longer than she had expected. She wasn’t going to think about it anymore tonight.

  Her plans for the evening would keep her occupied at least. With the football team home for a bye week, they had decided to throw a huge Halloween party. Beth, from the cheerleading team, had taken the reins this year and was putting on the annual Slutfest at her house. Everyone who was anyone was supposed to be there, dressed up and ready to get shwasted.

  Andrew had claimed that, last year¸ most of the guys didn’t dress up in anything, except for their letterman jackets, but all the girls went all out. Bryna hadn’t needed the encouragement to put together her outfit. She had decided on a rather appropriate Queen of Hearts dress, complete with a crown, red-heart stockings, and red high heels. She wouldn’t be painting the roses red tonight.

  She slid back into her outfit that Andrew had deftly removed earlier and added her crown. Queen.

  “Hey, babe, maybe forget these?” he suggested, holding up her thong. “Then, I can have fun whenever I want to.”

  Bryna gave him an amused look. “And who says I’m not going to have fun elsewhere?”

  “Because you had my dick inside you ten minutes ago.”

  “And?”

  “Come on, Bri,” Andrew groaned.

  “You and I both know what this is, Andrew.”

  “Yeah, but it’s so much fucking fun.”

  She shrugged. It was fun, but it wasn’t completely satisfying either. At least it got her off well enough.

  “We’re fucking. Not dating. That means I can fuck anyone else at the party tonight, if I want to.”

  “Like who?” Andrew asked. “E?”

  “What?” Bryna asked, taken by surprise. “Eric?”

  “Yeah, Eric. I was there that night you asked him out, you know.”

  Bryna raised her eyebrows. “I’m not interested in Eric Wilkins, and he’s not interested in me. That was a joke. I don’t even like being around him. He’s an asshole.”

  Andrew smiled at that as if she were making a joke. What the hell is wrong with everyone?

  The doorbell downstairs tore her from her thoughts, and then she heard her friends’ voices rising up the stairs.

  “Bri!” Stacia cried. “Put your clothes back on, and stop fucking around. We saw Andrew’s car in the driveway.”

  Bryna rolled her eyes. Dear God. “Anyway, get dressed. Almost time to go.” She walked to the door.

  “What if I lie here naked all night, waiting for you?”

  She sighed heavily. “Then, you’ll probably be waiting forever. At this rate of clinginess, I’m going to end up at someone else’s place tonight.”

  “Mine?”

  “No,” she said. Then, she left.

  She trotted down the stairs and into her living room.

  “Hey, slut!” Stacia said. She was even more giggly and bouncy than normal in some slutty lingerie that maybe passed for a French maid.

  Trihn was standing next to her, dressed like a rock star, in black cutoffs with a low-slung studded belt, a black bra, black leather vest, and thigh-high leather boots.

  “Trihn, we said to dress up,” Bryna said.

  “Ha. You’re hilarious.”

  Andrew trudged down a couple of minutes later. “Hey, Stacia, Trihn. You ladies look hot.”

  Stacia preened. “Thanks.”

  “Can you talk some sense into your friend while we wait?” he asked.

  “No,” Trihn said automatically. “Bryna wouldn’t know sense if it punched her in the face.”

  “Wow. Thanks,” Bryna said.

  Trihn shrugged. “It’s true.”

  “Harsh, Trihn,” Stacia said.

  “I mean it with all the love in my heart,” she said. “Now, when is this group bus thing coming to pick us up? And do I have to hang out with football players all night?”

  The doorbell ringing kept them from answering her.

  “That must be them,” Andrew said, bounding toward the door.

  He opened it without waiting for Bryna’s permission, and standing in the doorway was a relatively short man in a suit and tie with a large box in his hand.

  “What’s up?” Andrew asked.

  “I have a delivery for Bri,” the man said.

  “That’s me.” She stepped forward.

  He handed her the box, which she promptly transferred to Andrew.

  “Sign here.”

  She scribbled her name down on the line. “Thank you.”

  Beep. Beep.

  Her head popped up, and she saw the bus the guys had rented to transport them to and from Beth’s house pulling up into her driveway.

  “Come on, Holloway. Let’s get the fuck going!” one of the football players yelled out the window.

  “Put that on a chair, and we’ll head out,” Bryna told Andrew.

  “That’s a huge box,” Trihn said.

  “What is it?” Stacia asked.

  Bryna shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t order anything.”

  The bus honked the horn twice more, indicating their impatience.

  “Why don’t you tell them we’ll be there in a minute?” Bryna suggested to Andrew.

  “Yeah. Sure.”

  When he disappeared through the door, she grabbed some scissors and cut open the box. The lid yanked free all in one motion. Inside was layer upon layer of silver tissue paper and a single red envelope. She reached for the card and turned it over to find a wax seal with a WC from a signet ring. Her heart fluttered.

  Hugh.

  She cracked open the seal and removed the cream linen paper. She read the short note, and it took everything in her not to jump up and down.

  BRI,

  CLEAR YOUR SCHEDULE FOR THURSDAY EVENING. I WANT YOU TO WEAR THIS FOR ME.

  SEVEN O’CLOCK?

  HUGH

  “Well,” Trihn asked, reading over her shoulder, “hot stranger worked out then?”

  “Seems like it,” she agreed.

  “Oh my God, open it!” Stacia cried.

  Bryna placed the card on the side table, and with shaking hands, she peeled back the layers of tissue paper. Inside was the most beautiful gown she had ever seen in her life. She removed it from the package, and it flowed with silky rose gold layers to her feet. The top was intricately hand-beaded with a series of tiny buttons to wrap up around her neck.

  “Is that what I think it is?” Trihn asked. All her sarcasm was gone as she stared at the dress.

  “I think it is,” Bryna breathed.

  Trihn delicately fingered the material as if she were touching pure gold. She turned the neckline in, so they could all see the tag, and they sighed in delight.

  Alexander McQueen.

  “This looks like an original, Bri,” Trihn muttered in awe.

  “Looks like I have a date for Thursday night,” Bryna said.

  She carefully hung the dress up in her closet, and then the girls hurried out to the bus. They chatted excitedly about the possibility of where she might be going in that beautiful dress.

  Bryna slid into the seat beside Andrew, and he dr
opped an arm over her shoulders.

  “Um, no,” she said. She removed his arm and crossed her legs.

  She was going to have to stop fucking him if he kept this up. She thought she had made herself clear.

  “What was in the box?” Andrew asked, seemingly unperturbed.

  The girls giggled but knew better than to answer.

  “Nothing. It doesn’t matter,” Bryna said.

  She wasn’t going to talk about Hugh with anyone, other than the girls. People could think what they wanted about her, but she didn’t need to encourage the dirty rumors that seemed to be floating around already.

  “Nothing, huh?” Andrew asked, unconvinced.

  “It was probably from one of her admirers,” Eric said from the seat in front of them.

  She hadn’t even been paying attention to see that he was on the bus. There were about ten of them inside, and it was completely full. She suspected it would be dropping them off and then going back out to pick up more students. It would have been easier to go to Posse, but Beth had a big enough place that a lot of people would crash there, and Bryna had been told that things would get out of control.

  “No one asked for your opinion, Eric,” she snapped.

  Eric leveled her with a look and shrugged. “Yes, Your Highness.”

  Even if she hadn’t been wearing a crown tonight, she would have known he was mocking her. “Maybe if you treated people more like royalty, you wouldn’t be such a prick.”

  Stacia made a playful scratching motion like a cat. “Retract your claws, B.”

  “Yeah,” Andrew agreed. “Eric is the nicest guy on the team. He was joking.”

  Bryna raised her eyebrows and twirled her necklace. “I’m sure he was,” she said sarcastically.

  “Can’t help it that you can’t take a joke,” Eric said.

  His eyes were full of mischief, and she wanted to lean forward and smack that smile right off his face.

  Here Eric was, the asshole, and she was the one catching flak because she had a bitch reputation. Fabulous.

  Bryna plastered on her sweetest smile and stared right back at Eric. “You’re right. Sorry. Thanks for helping to put this bus situation together.”

  “You’re so bad at this,” Stacia said, laughing.

  “What? I’m being sincere!”

  “My ass!” Trihn said.

  “Fine. Forget being nice. It won’t happen again. You all have totally ruined it.” She glared at her friends. “It’s not like Eric is even part of the team, so I don’t know why he is even coming to this party.”

  “Babe, he’s a student coach,” Andrew said.

  “Are any of the other coaches coming?” she asked.

  “We’re not doing this again, are we, Bryna?” Eric asked. “I busted my knee up a year and a half ago. I could still play if I wanted to risk it. I’m that good, but I happen to want to be able to walk when I’m older.”

  She pursed her lips. Arrogance was such a goddamn turn-on. She crossed her legs and tried to appear unaffected. She was not interested in Eric Wilkins because absolutely nothing could come from that. He was not interested. He was not interested in any women whatsoever. Asshole.

  The conversation changed topics, and Bryna stayed out of it. She was trying to remember the Alexander McQueen dress waiting for her at home. That was what was important, not some stupid comments from football players.

  The best part of it all was that, in the end, she had won this round with Hugh. Her game had worked out.

  Tonight, she would get drunk with her friends and enjoy the Halloween weekend, but on Thursday night, she would be one step closer to the person she wanted to become.

  And so the cycle would continue.

  BRYNA TWIRLED IN HUGH’S ARMS around the crowded dance floor in the giant ballroom. They were at some gala for one of Hugh’s business associates. It was a big affair with several hundred people all decked out in their best. So much wealth was all concentrated in one place. She didn’t know what they were here for, but she didn’t really care. It was an excuse to wear an expensive beautiful dress, and she would take any excuse for that.

  The song ended, and Hugh escorted her over to a group of men standing around with their cocktails in hand, discussing business. Hugh jumped right in. The whole time, his hand rested lightly on the small of her back. In some ways, it was strange to be there but not there.

  Arm candy.

  Even when she had been with Gates and had purposely gone to events as his arm candy, she hadn’t felt like this. She didn’t mind, not really. But people seemed to know that was what she was, so they didn’t talk to her. She was there to be looked at, not spoken to. She wondered if they thought she must be an idiot with a pretty face. Or maybe they didn’t care.

  Bryna shrugged the discomfort away. She was wearing an Alexander McQueen original and living the life she wanted. Who cared if all the men ogled me? Who cared if they direct all their conversations to Hugh?

  Hugh finished whatever he was saying and then made some excuse for them to walk away. His hand still rested possessively on her back.

  “Do you know how jealous every man in this room is?” he asked against her ear.

  “How jealous?”

  “Blindingly.”

  “And you like that.” She knew he did.

  “I like being the one to touch you in this dress when everyone else here is wishing for the same thing,” he said.

  He nipped at her earlobe, and she shivered all over.

  Desire. It was such a strong motivator. It made smart men stupid. It was even more powerful than jealousy. But desire and jealousy combined? She might as well be carrying around his balls in her pocket.

  “Let’s go somewhere more private,” he suggested.

  Man, he really wants to get inside me.

  She wondered what his colleagues thought of him bringing someone other than his wife here. She hadn’t checked to see that he had one for sure, but she didn’t really think she needed to. Did all these men know he was cheating on his wife and not care? Or had he made some excuse about her? It didn’t really matter to her either way. Nothing was off the table at this point.

  “All right,” she agreed. Her nerves rattled a little.

  She knew where this was leading, and she needed to make sure she could keep the ball in her court. When he kissed her, everything got fuzzy. It was easy to forget what she was doing with such a rush coursing through her body.

  She knew Hugh had a room upstairs in the hotel, and she was sure that was where they were headed.

  He had his arm tightly wrapped around her waist on the way to the elevators. They were walking down a darkened hallway with balconies overlooking the courtyard below. They had made it almost to the end when he stopped.

  “On second thought.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her into one of the balconies.

  The curtains swished closed, partially obscuring the view into the hallway.

  Her heartbeat skyrocketed when he looked at her. Oh, yes.

  He was doing this. She could see it in the devious glint in his eyes that he wanted her right here, right now.

  She slowly backed up until her hands hit the ledge of the stone balcony. “Anyone could see us in here,” she said evenly. She tried to keep the excitement from her voice. Her whole body ached for him, and she had to somehow control her urges.

  “I know.”

  “You’re not worried that someone might try to look through the curtains?” She arched an eyebrow.

  He took two paces in front of her. “Let them watch.”

  She swallowed hard. Shit.

  “You seem nervous,” he said.

  She tilted her chin up. A haughty smile appeared on her face. “I’m never nervous.”

  “Good.”

  His hands landed softly on either side of her face, and then his lips were on hers. He tasted like scotch and honey and all things that made her melt on the spot.

  How did he elicit such a reaction with one touch?
>
  It had to be the forbidden nature of the affair. She needed it, craved it. It was too easy when she could have anything and everything she wanted on a silver spoon. She wanted more. She wanted power and passion and the knowledge that he wanted her more than anyone else in his life…if even for a moment.

  Their kiss was electric, and he left her panting as his lips slid to her earlobe and then down her neck. She tilted her head back and breathed in the crisp, clean air, trying to right her senses. But when his hand reached down and grabbed her ass, she knew there was little hope for her.

  How the hell am I supposed to keep from sleeping with him?

  She had no fucking clue. And she wasn’t even fighting it. Alexander McQueen had done the trick.

  Her hands went to the waist of his pants, and she made quick work of the button and zipper. She forced her way into his boxer briefs and found him hard and ready for her. He roughly bit into her neck as she grasped him in her hand.

  All hers.

  “Fuck,” he growled.

  “That’s what you want, isn’t it?” she asked as she stroked him.

  “Yes. But right now, I think I want you on your knees.”

  He pushed her shoulders down, knowing exactly what he wanted and knowing there was no way she could refuse him at this point. She struggled to her knees in a puddle of expensive fabric. She was both terrified that she would rip the outrageous gown and excited that he clearly cared so little for the price tag on the garment that he would risk tearing it.

  He removed his cock from his pants, and she licked her lips.

  His thumb traced the outline of her bottom lip. “I like that. Do it again.”

  She repeated the movement and swirled her tongue around his thumb where it rested at the corner of her mouth. He groaned and then seemed to lose control as he grabbed her head and shoved his dick down her throat.

  She gasped around it and pulled back, so she could breathe. Fuck!

  Hugh seemed unperturbed by her initial reaction and bobbed her head forward and back on his dick. She easily took up the motion, grasping on to his legs to steady herself. Her tongue licked up and down him as he filled her over and over again. She could feel her jaw locking up the longer he went at it, but she wasn’t about to stop.

  Bryna could hear footsteps and voices in the hallway, and it only added to the excitement. She knew she should have felt fear that some other guests from the gala might catch them at any minute, but she felt none of it. In fact, it only made her pulse beat harder and her core throb in time with their movements. He was going to need to do something about that after this.