Chapter One
Lucy
Clutching his face with both hands, I feel it pressing into my stiffening chest. A little sound escapes me, something brushing my nipple on one side as I feel a familiar tingle between my legs.
My jaw tightens and I feel my fingers trace absently over the thick hardness before I’m bouncing all over again.
I feel like calling his name between my clenched teeth, but it’s my own name echoed back to me from somewhere that sounds far away.
“Lucy Scarborough! The Plaza Inn hotel is our next stop…”
Oh, Mr. Cartwright. What you do to me, and I haven’t even seen you in person yet.
The bus convulses as it slows down, the heavy gears grinding through the floor right up into my seat.
My hands are reluctant to let go of the stiffness between my fingers, but I turn the cover of the hardback book to see his face just one more time before I get there.
The coach driver offered to drop me off at my hotel once he saw the book I’m carrying.
“I’m going to the book convention. Nathan Cartwright is the guest speaker,” I gushed, noting the driver’s eyes widen with envy as he whistled through his teeth.
“I know where I’d rather be,” he sighed, relating to me how much of a fan he was of the famous author himself.
“If I get to meet him, up close I mean, I’ll try and get you a signed copy,” I heard myself almost shouting as I boarded the bus, acting as if I’m on first name terms with not only Nathan Cartwright, but anyone who wants his autograph.
This whole trip has gone to my head, as well as a few other places, and the coach driver has an almost pleading look in his eyes once he stops long enough to let me out and fetch my suitcase from the luggage compartment.
“If you do get to meet him, Nathan, I mean, I’d be awful glad if you could…” he reminds me. “…get me an autograph, I mean,” he blushes, looking at his feet.
“I can send it to you through the bus station back home?” I ask, and his face changes as he lifts it, a broad smile showing all his teeth.
“You certainly can. It’s Jones, Lionel Jones. They’ll pass it on to me if you just leave it at the station. I can pay you anything due if you leave your contact details with them,” he instructs me, still beaming.
“Oh, and Ms. Scarborough?” he asks, reaching for my arm but thinking better of it as I turn to go. “Thank you,” he says, the responsibility of my promise weighing heavy on me already, but today I feel like I can do anything.
“Thanks for the ride, Lionel,” I call over my shoulder, flapping one hand as the other struggles to keep my suitcase off the ground.
The weight of it feeling like it wants to drag me around in circles, but I’m determined to head straight for the reception area.
The same author’s portrait from his books flutters in the light breeze on either side of the hotel entrance.
Huge printed banners announcing him as the guest speaker at the book convention.
I feel the familiar shiver at the sight of him, and having him towering over me with those piercing dark eyes from two Nathan’s no less. It’s like he’s watching me, waiting for me.
He’s an older man, but for me, most people are older.
Plus, his age has nothing to do with his level of handsome but I’m sure it contributes to his level of smooth style and certainly plays a part in his knowing look.
Truly a man who knows what he really wants, and from what I can tell he’s used to getting it too.
Being just barely nineteen, I had to convince my dad it was safe enough for me to go to the convention alone but he still insisted I have a chaperone.
Some woman he works with, Marie who’s also a Nathan Cartwright fan. She jumped at the offer and even offered to pay the extra for a meet n’ greet for us both, as well as a better room.
It’s supposed to be my first time alone apart from college, out in the big bad world. I guess it kinda still is, and dad’s promised that Marie is just there as a family friend, not to spy on me.
She was supposed to call me before I got here and meet me out front, but so far she’s a no show.
But Marie’s the last thing on my mind once I feel my chest stiffen and a sudden rush of heat to my sex for the second time today.
Walking up to the entrance, I feel lightheaded as I stare into his eyes like it really is a pair of twenty foot Nathan’s drawing me in closer, like a moth helplessly magnetized by that light in his eyes.