That One Night: A Fake Marriage Romance Read online

  She tore me up inside and left me raw and aching for her with just a glance and a few words. Well, now I was going to show her how it felt to need something, someone, so badly that it hurt.

  I licked her hard and soft, fast and then slow, making little circles around her clit until she was panting and breathless above me. I brought her right to the edge and then stopped. Over and over again, I teased her until she cried out and begged me for more.

  It wasn’t until she was moaning out my name in broken pleas that I rose back up to my feet and started stripping off my own clothes. As I did, she leaned against the wall, panting and completely naked.

  When I was just as naked as she was, I bent down and grabbed a small foil packet out of my wallet and slipped on the condom before walking toward her once more. My eyes never left hers as I crowded close to her. I reached down, wrapping my hands around her thighs and lifting her up, guiding her legs to circle my hips as I braced her between my hard body and the wall.

  “Hold on tight, Faye,” I whispered roughly, barely able to get the words out through the tightness in my throat.

  She didn’t hesitate to wrap her arms around my shoulders. I was totally enclosed in the warmth of her body as I pounded my hard cock deep inside her.

  Over and over, I took her as hard and fast as I could, focusing only on her reaction, on her cries of pleasure, on the way her body tensed when she was about to climax and then the way she howled in frustration when I pulled back just enough to leave her riding that sharp edge.

  “Damn it, Sam! Fuck me! Take me now!” There was pure demand in her voice. She was wild with need, just like I was.

  I let her slide to her feet, and she turned unsteadily in my arms, but I barely let her draw in a breath before I was back, slamming all the way inside her from behind. Faye threw her head back on a sharp cry of pleasure, and I felt that same wave of ecstasy travel from my cock buried deep inside her tight pussy all the way through the rest of my body.

  Our hands were entwined, and I did exactly what she had asked for. I took her, all of her. I took every inch she had to give and more. I wanted all of her, not just some fake, pretend version of her but the real Faye.

  I wanted the real moments, the real memories, and I didn’t want to have to give her up. She was mine, for now at least, and I was going to do everything I could to make her safe for as long as I could. And to drive her wild for as long as she would let me.

  Finally, I couldn’t hold back any longer. The feel of her inner muscles clamping down on my thick cock, milking the sensitive head, was too much for me to take. I felt her tremble beneath me and swept a light touch over her clit, and Faye exploded with a loud scream, taking me right over the edge along with her.

  We both stayed like that, locked together as close as two people could be, before Faye collapsed under me. I drew in a deep breath, drawing her all the way deep inside me where I had a feeling I would never be able to get her out again. And I didn’t give a damn.

  I leaned down, laying a gentle kiss on her shoulder, reveling in the moment. The calm after the storm. After a few deep breaths, Faye turned to me with an exhausted grin but a devilish light shining in her eyes.

  “My turn.”

  Chapter 19

  Sam

  The world was on fire. I knew it was a dream, a nightmare. A part of me always knew it wasn’t real. But it never made the horror lessen. It never made the flames less terrible. In the dream, my feet, clad in the same sneakers with the race cars on the sides, were frozen in place.

  I stood outside, watching my home burn to cinder right in front of my twelve-year-old eyes. As always, the flames rose up bright orange and crimson, a burning monster with big gaping eyes and mouth full of razor-sharp black teeth that spewed smoke.

  It was heavy and thick, filling the air and choking me. I coughed, struggling to breathe, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t inhale. The smoke flooded my mouth, the acrid, bitter taste of ash landing on my tongue, and I couldn’t escape it. I could never escape it.

  I reached out as I fell to the ground in one last desperate attempt to save them. My mom and dad. I knew they were still inside because I could hear their screams. The terrible, high-pitched sounds filled the smoke-filled air. I couldn’t save them. I couldn’t move. Over and over again, I had to watch them die as the house finally collapsed under the weight of the terrifying monster. Over and over again, I lost them.

  With a jolt, my eyes shot open, but my body stayed frozen on the bed. After a moment, my pounding heartbeat started to settle down to a normal rhythm in my chest as the nightmare faded. It was the same one I’d had almost every night since I was a little boy, and it always seemed to come back when I was stressed.

  Finally able to move a little bit, I glance toward the bedroom window. It was still dark outside, night hanging over the Seattle skyline even though there was enough residual light for me to make out the buildings around us and the silhouette of the rest of the city in the distance.

  I tried to swing my leg over the side of the bed but was bemused to find that I was stuck in reality, not just in my dream.

  Faye had wrapped herself around me, our arms and legs tangled together along with the sheet, and her presence calmed the terror from the nightmare like nothing ever had before. Normally, it would take hours for me to calm down after one of the nightmares, or I would just give up on trying to sleep for the rest of the night and go play guitar or practice.

  I started to pull her even closer, and I was surprised that my body was already hard and wanting her again despite the marathon we had just had in the living room, and then in the kitchen against the counter, then finally making it to the bed for round three.

  I couldn’t believe it, but I was insatiable for her. I knew a part of it was that I wouldn’t have her for much longer. I knew after the end of the recording contract, she’d turn around and walk away, become just our agent again, professional Faye.

  I hated it. I didn’t know where we stood anymore. We hadn’t done much talking after I had barged into her place, but first thing tomorrow morning I was going to sit her down and figure it out. It was driving me insane. I wanted her. I wanted to be with her for real, not just because of the farce, but I still didn’t know her thoughts, her feelings about the whole thing.

  A dark tendril of hair had fallen across her cheek in her sleep, and I reached out to sweep it gently back behind her ear, and froze.

  A shuffling sound, muted but still audible, came from just outside her apartment door. For a second, two, I didn’t breathe. I didn’t move. And then it came again, a scraping sort of noise.

  With a curse, I jumped out of bed, nearly tripping as I tried to untangle myself first from Faye and then the sheets and blankets that were wrapped around my ankles.

  I rushed toward the front door, thinking only of finally catching the culprit red-handed and nothing else as I yanked the door open, but there was no one there.

  “What the hell?” Faye’s words were still slurred from sleep as she stumbled from the bedroom. I turned to tell her it was nothing, and that was when I saw the piece of paper stuck to the still-open door.

  I ripped it off, staring down at the grainy photograph. It was black and white but I was still able to make it out. It was from earlier, when me, Faye, and Archer were all in the parking lot outside the studio.

  “Fuck!” I bit off the curse as I stared at the photo. She had been right there. She must have been. And I hadn’t even seen her.

  “Sam? Sam, what is it?” Faye was just a few feet away from me, and I threw out a hand to stop her before she came any closer.

  “Just…just stay back, okay?” I wanted to crumple the damn thing and rip it to shreds, but I knew I couldn’t. “I thought you got those security cameras installed.”

  “I did,” Faye said, and then gasped as she pointed at the corner of the hallway. The wire was cut. “Why? What…oh my god!”

  I looked over at Faye
and saw that her eyes were wide with shock and glued to the photograph. She shook her head.

  “I thought it was over. I thought…I though your plan was working.”

  “It was. Look, it’s a different message,” I said, holding up the photograph. In red ink on the bottom was scrawled the messy message: You belong with Sam. Stay away from Archer. If you hurt Sam, I hurt you.

  Faye broke down right there in front of me, and I didn’t hesitate to pull her close into my arms.

  “I’m so sorry,” she sobbed. “I never meant to put a target on your back. I never thought…” She trailed off, the words broken, and I held her even tighter. “I never meant for you to be involved.”

  “I was involved from the very beginning, Faye. It was my choice,” I whispered as I held her as close as I could. I realized a hard truth as Faye’s tears cut through me: I would do anything to keep Faye safe and to make her happy, absolutely anything. If I ever met this woman in person, she would find that out firsthand.

  *

  Faye

  I shifted uncomfortably in the booth for the hundredth time since Sam and I had sat down, but it didn’t seem to help—just like the previous ninety-nine times.

  The swanky downtown restaurant was bustling at seven o’clock in the evening. Lori adjusted the lens of her camera before waving her hand in the air.

  “Okay, guys, lean closer. Give us a kiss,” Lori said, her face completely obscured behind the giant piece of equipment. After a moment, she a gave a snort, dropping it enough to give us a glare over the top of the camera. “At least pretend to like each other.”

  I forced a smile onto my face and turned back to Sam. But that was the problem. I did like Sam. And I was terrified that I was beginning to more than like him.

  After last night and the new threatening message left on my door, things seemed even more tense and fragile between us than ever.

  I had tried to come up with some way to counteract the photo, to stop feeling so powerless, and a call to Lori had been all it had taken to get Sam and I a reservation for three at one of the most high-profile new restaurants in Seattle. We were out on a date.

  The idea was to try to make our relationship as public as possible. I hated having my life publicized, but after the message we found last night, I was willing to do just about anything to keep myself safe.

  Lori snapped a few more pictures, and I had to force my shaking hands to stop fumbling with the gold-plated fork and butter knife on the crisp white tablecloth. Sam reached over, grabbing one of my hands and holding it under the table, squeezing it as if he could drain some of my nerves. I was surprised to find that it actually helped.

  The camera flashed again, and I prayed to god that all of this was going to be worth it.

  “You’re sure you can get this to run in this week’s print? It’s pretty tight, isn’t it?” I asked, looking across the table at Lori. She just shrugged, shooting me a determined look.

  “Don’t you worry about me. I’m the magazine’s golden girl. I can get my boss to run the story, especially when I tell them the juicy details.”

  There was something in Lori’s voice that had me shooting her a worried look. “What juicy details?”

  “Oh, just that Bryce Cabot is back in town—and he’s claiming that he’s still in love you and will do anything to get you back.”

  My stomach sank like I had just eaten a ton of bricks. “Oh Jesus. No. No, this can’t be happening. Bryce is the last thing I need mixed up in this. My life is already messed up enough.”

  “Don’t worry,” Lori said with a casual wave of her hand, already dismissing him. “Bryce is a joke. He’s just doing it for the publicity. I’m going to make sure you two are the headline news.”

  All I could do was shake my head, but Sam must have sensed my nerves because he gave my hand another squeeze. I squeezed back. I needed something to hold on to damn it.

  “Lori, you understand why this is so important,” I said, keeping my voice low. “I…I got another threat last night.”

  “What?! I thought—” Lori paused, looking around to make sure she hadn’t drawn any extra attention by her outburst before leaning forward and continuing on in a whisper. “I thought the plan was working.”

  “It was but… It was a picture of me and Archer and Sam this time. It said to stay away from Archer, that I belong with Sam. And it also said if I hurt him…”

  “Then Faye gets hurt.” Sam finished the sentence for me, his voice dead serious. I glanced over at him, and there was a surety in his dark eyes that I clung to as hard as I clung to his hand.

  “Holy shit. This chick really is cuckoo,” Lori said, her eyebrows raised in shock.

  “I know. That’s why we’re doing all this.” I tried to sound more determined than I felt. “I was…I was hoping we wouldn’t actually have to go through the whole wedding thing. I mean, I know it’s not real, but…”

  Sam rubbed his thumb in little circles on the back of hand before twining our fingers together.

  “We’ll figure this out together, Faye. I promise I’m not going to let anyone hurt you, not even if I have to chain myself to your side twenty-four hours,” he said as he tugged me closer to him, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

  I laughed, giving in to his embrace for a moment. But I could see how serious he was and knew I had to stop that before he decided it really would be the best thing for me.

  “That might be a little extreme, don’t you think?”

  He just shrugged. “Hell, we’re already getting fake married – what’s more extreme than that? I do think you should move in with me though.”

  “What? No, Sam. That’s crazy. The security camera—”

  “Obviously didn’t help the last time,” Sam said, interrupting me. I hated that he was right.

  “I think it’s a good idea,” Lori said. “Sam will keep you safe, Faye. And this crazy stalker doesn’t know where he lives.”

  They were both looking at me expectantly, and I just shrugged, giving in with a defeated sigh.

  “Fine,” I said sourly. I didn’t think it was a good idea, mostly because I was afraid that spending more time with Sam would make my feelings for him more intense than they already were.

  It wasn’t real. I had to remind myself that none of it was real.

  I glanced over at Sam, and he wore a small victorious smile on his face. I just hated being scared. That was all. And the only place I wasn’t scared was in Sam’s arms.

  I was too distracted by my own worried thoughts to notice the knowing look Lori gave us, but that was probably a good thing.

  “Okay, lovebirds,” Lori said cheerfully, making me roll my eyes, “smile for the camera one more time.”

  Chapter 20

  Faye

  My heart skipped a beat in my chest and then lurched painfully as I opened to the article Lori had gotten pushed through in Vibe of me and Sam. Vibe was one of the biggest music magazines in the country, and there we were, front and center, headline news, just as she had promised.

  I barely scanned the text. My gaze was drawn to the full-page photograph of us. We were sitting in the dimly lit restaurant, surrounded by glittering candles and firelight, and staring into each other’s eyes as if the rest of the world didn’t exist.

  There was a warmth in Sam’s face as he looked down at me and small, secretive smile on mine. We really looked like we were in love with each other. The photo made my pulse race again, beating against my chest, and I had to swallow the sudden butterflies. It was just photo. Nothing more. A publicity stunt.

  “Is that Lori’s article?” Sam asked, walking up behind me and leaning over my shoulder to peer down at the magazine suddenly clenched in my hands. I inhaled deeply. I couldn’t help myself. The spicy masculine scent of him drove me wild and soothed me at the same time, an infuriating combination. And the warmth of his body surrounding me made me want to lean back, let myself melt against the hard planes of his muscle
s.

  “Yeah,” I finally said, my voice oddly rough. I had to clear my throat before I could talk again. “She did a good job. I owe her.”

  “We owe her,” Sam corrected me, emphasizing the word. Sam wrapped his arms around me from behind like it was the most natural thing in the world, and the thing was, it really was. It felt perfect to have him here, to lean on him. So perfect that it scared the living daylights out of me.

  With a jolt, I pulled away, grasping for anything to say to break the sudden tension that rose between us.

  “So, I unpacked my bag in the closet. I hope that’s okay.” I stumbled over the words but didn’t care. At least I was starting to get my breathing back under control. Earlier in the day, I had moved a suitcase full of stuff into Sam’s apartment. It wasn’t as big as my penthouse, but there were things about it that I liked, namely the tenant.

  “Hey, lovebirds. I saw Lori’s article. You guys make such a cute couple,” Casey said as he walked into the living room. I rolled my eyes at him but was grateful for the distraction.

  “Shut up, Case.” Sam growled but there was humor in his dark eyes. “We are very cute.”

  “I said that, didn’t I? Didn’t I, Alice?” Casey said, shooting a pleading look at Alice, who was busy sifting through a box of paper decorations. The whole band, plus Connor, was in Sam’s apartment, and it was kind of cramped with everyone shoved inside, but there was an easiness between everyone that made it okay.

  “Uh-huh. You sure did, Casey,” Alice muttered, still trying to untangle some paper streamers as Casey handed out beers to everyone except for Alice. He gave her a juice box, and Alice sneered but then took it, shoving the straw through the top with more force than necessary.

  I looked around the room at the band in gratitude. They had all shown up to help with some last-minute wedding details.

  I was hit all at once by how surreal it felt. Archer had offered to pay for everything—after I had made a pointed suggestion that it was, after all, his crazy ex-girlfriend who was tormenting me.