Consumed by a Stranger (Craved Series #4) Read online

  Consumed by a Stranger

  Hazel Kelly

  © 2015 Hazel Kelly

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, copied, or stored in any form or by any means without permission of the author. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  All characters in this story are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons is purely coincidental.

  “You know it's gonna make it that much better

  When we can spend the night and stay together”

  -The Beach Boys

  Chapter 1: Audrey

  I was messing around with Photoshop when I heard a knock at the door. I wasn't expecting anyone which explains why I was in shorts that hadn't looked PG on me since I was in high school.

  "One second!" I called, slipping some yoga pants on and wracking my brain for who it might be. I couldn't recall having ordered anything online recently. Then again, I’d been up late on my computer most nights since I got home so it was very possible I had.

  I smoothed my hair down as I leaned forward to look through the peephole but something was blocking the light.

  I opened the door slowly. The bright hallway lights shone down on a person with a huge bouquet of flowers in front of their face.

  “I think you have the wron-”

  The delivery man lowered the wall of flowers between us. "Surprise."

  I squinted at him at first, positive I was seeing things. "Jack?"

  He shrugged, a familiar smile traveling up to his eyes.

  “What are you doing here?"

  "I came to apologize."

  "How did you even find me?”

  “I can explain everything,” he said, extending his arms. “First though, these are for you.”

  I took the flowers with both hands. “Thanks,” I said. "They're beautiful." I looked between him and the flowers, not sure which I was more surprised to see.

  “Can I come in?” he asked.

  “Of course." I stepped back, opening the door wider and moving out of the way with the flowers so he could pass.

  “Thanks.”

  Once I closed the door behind him, I led him to the sitting room while my mind raced, trying to remember if I left anything embarrassing lying around that I didn't want him to see. “Can I get you something to drink?”

  “I'd love a coffee if you have some," he said, sitting on the edge of the couch. "I'm a big jetlagged."

  "I'll see what I can do," I said, disappearing around the corner where I was finally able to let my face convey the shock I felt.

  “Isn’t Seattle famous for their coffee?” he asked from the other room.

  “Seattle is,” I said, filling the kettle. “But I can't say the same for me.”

  I tiptoed out the other kitchen door into the bathroom to make sure I didn't look like a complete wreck. I still had a little color from the trip so bronzer wasn't necessary, but I decided a few coats of mascara wouldn't go amiss and applied them in record time. Then I checked my teeth and swished some mouthwash around before going back to the kitchen.

  A minute later, I poured two mugs of instant coffee.

  "Milk and sugar?" I asked, popping my head around the corner to make sure I hadn't imagined him.

  "Please," he said, his bright eyes making my legs feel weak.

  I added some milk and sugar to both mugs, gave them each a quick stir, and carried them to the coffee table.

  Jack had already unstacked two coasters so I put the mugs on them and sat down on the opposite end of the couch.

  "Thanks," he said.

  I didn't know what to do. It felt weird to be in my apartment with a man I'd been so intimate with so far away. It was like my worlds were colliding and I couldn't tell yet whether I thought it was a good thing.

  "So," I said as casually as I could, “what are you doing here?”

  Perhaps "what brings you to Seattle" might have been more welcoming, but I was startled. After all, he’d showed up on my doorstep uninvited twice now after standing me up.

  At the same time, there was no denying that he was even more gorgeous than I remembered, and seeing him made me hurt all over again.

  “I needed to see you,” he said, angling himself towards me.

  I lifted my palms. “Well, here I am.”

  “Please, Audrey.” He laid his hand on the couch between us. “Hear me out.”

  I took a deep breath, relaxing my shoulders so they dropped significantly.

  “I didn’t like how things ended with us,” he said.

  "I wasn’t thrilled myself."

  “To be honest, I didn’t like that they ended at all.”

  I swallowed. “How did you find me?”

  “I tried to come to your room in the morning, but you were already gone."

  I kept my face as still as I could.

  "So I tracked down Matteo and he gave me Megan’s email address.”

  “Megan knew you were coming?”

  Jack nodded.

  “Why would she tell you where I live?”

  His eyes crinkled at the corners. “Because I’m crazy about you. And I wanted to tell you what happened so you’d know my missing dinner had nothing to do with my feelings for you.”

  I felt a slight smile trying to emerge like the sun breaking through clouds.

  Jack clenched his jaw. “Sorry. I thought I knew what I was going to say, but I’ve gone completely off script.”

  “You’re doing fine,” I said. “Why don’t you start with why you didn’t come to dinner?”

  Jack scooted back a few inches on the couch. “It was an emergency. My Dad was in an accident.”

  “Is he okay?”

  “No. He’s not okay. He’s a drunk.”

  I realized I was holding my breath and exhaled.

  “I didn’t tell you because I don’t tell anyone,” he said. “To make a long story short, my Mom kicked him out years ago. He was drinking himself into financial problems, getting into fights, spending nights in jail. I was worried it would come out when I started getting publicity for my book.”

  I nodded.

  “I thought he might destroy his reputation and my career,” Jack said. “So I took him to Thailand where the drinks were cheap and the cops could be paid off when he got into trouble.” He looked down at the floor. “I didn’t know what else to do. It was only ever supposed to be a temporary solution.”

  “Did you try rehab?”

  His eyes met mine. “Six times.”

  “So the night we were supposed to have dinner…?”

  “He drove my motorcycle into a mango cart. If he hadn't broken his leg, they would've taken him to jail instead of the hospital. As far as I’m concerned, he got lucky because I was in no mood to pay his bail after he made me miss our date."

  I placed a tentative hand on Jack’s shoulder. "I'm so sorry."

  “Not as sorry as I was thinking of you all dressed up for a night out and feeling blown off.”

  “I was really disappointed.”

  “I would never do anything to hurt you,” he said. “I just wanted to protect you from my Dad’s bullshit because you were on vacation. Unfortunately, my plan backfired terribly.”

  “I understand,” I said, lowering my voice.

  “Do you really? Because I can’t bear-”

  “My Dad’s an alcoholic, too. The accident I told you about- he was drunk driving when it happened.”

  Jack looked at me with a pain in his eyes I hadn't seen before. “I’m so sorry,” he said, shaking his head.

  I nodded. “Me too. For both of us.”

  Jack took a sip of his coffee and forced a smile. “Instant
?”

  I shrugged. “Sorry to disappoint.”

  He put his cup down and turned to face me on the couch. “That's the thing, Audrey. You could never disappoint me. That’s why it was killing me to know I’d disappointed you.”

  “Is that what you came all this way for?” I asked. “Just to say you’re sorry?”

  “And to check on your foot.”

  I laughed.

  “Seriously, though, I wanted to apologize in person and explain my inexcusable behavior.”

  “Well I forgive you,” I said, feeling instantly lighter.

  “But there’s something else.”

  I raised my eyebrows.

  “I wanted to thank you,” he said.

  I tilted my head at him. “For what?”

  “For giving me some much needed perspective.”

  “How’s that?”

  “Thinking I’d lost you made me realize my priorities were all screwed up.” He pursed his lips. “I don’t want to throw my life away taking care of him. I want to take care of you.”

  I felt my stomach drop.

  Jack took my hands in his and locked his eyes on mine. “Audrey, you’re the most beautiful, vibrant, engaging woman I’ve ever met.”

  I swallowed.

  “And I would give anything to have just one more day with you.”

  My lips fell apart.

  “What I’m trying to say is-” He looked down at my hands in his and then back up at me. “It was never a fling for me.”

  Chapter 2: Jack

  She looked so confused I was worried I hadn't said anything out loud. All she did was break eye contact with me and look down at our hands.

  I clenched my jaw.

  "Thanks for letting me know," she said, lifting her eyes to mine. "And I'm really sorry again about what happened to your Dad."

  I wanted her to smile or something, anything to let me know I wasn't totally out of line coming here.

  "When you say it wasn't a fling for you," she said, wriggling her hands away and tucking her hair behind her ears. "What does that mean exactly?"

  I looked between her blue eyes, noticing the freckles fading across her nose. "It means I don't want this to be over," I said, scooting towards her on the couch. "It means I want to keep seeing you."

  She pursed her lips for a moment, and when she relaxed them, they looked bigger and pinker than ever. "But you live in Thailand?"

  "I know," I said. "But I figured I would come see if you wanted to go out with me again before I started making any massive changes to my routine."

  She smiled, but she seemed nervous.

  For a moment, I was worried there was someone else. Maybe I'd been a fool to think a woman this special would even be available. "But if you don't want to go out with me again, you don't have to. I just thought-"

  "No," she said. "I do. I-"

  "What?"

  "I'm sorry. I just wasn't expecting you today. Or ever. So I'm not sure what I'm supposed to say."

  "You could start by saying you're happy to see me."

  She lifted a hand and ran it over my shoulder, watching where her palm made contact like she still hadn't accepted the fact that I was really there.

  "I am happy to see you," she said. "How could I not be? I mean, I thought we had something, too.”

  I felt the tightness in my chest dissipate.

  “I'm just a little shocked because I spent the last two weeks trying to convince myself that I was okay with never seeing you again."

  "You could say I'm even better looking than you remembered."

  Her eyes swept over my face.

  "Cause you are," I said, unable to help myself. "I swear I spent every minute with you trying to remember the details of your face, but even my memories don’t do you justice."

  She shook her head. "So you came all this way to hit on me?"

  "I came all this way to have you again," I said, lifting her legs and laying them across my lap.

  "Well, I have to admit I'm flattered that you would travel so far for sex, especially when I know how rampant it is right on your doorstep."

  "That's the thing," I said, tilting her chin up with my fingers. "It's not just sex with you."

  Her breath grew shallow as her eyes dropped to my lips. "What is it then?" she asked. "If it's not just sex-"

  I couldn’t describe it. And I didn’t want to. All I wanted to do was kiss her. So I did, leaning in and interrupting her with my lips.

  She gave into the kiss slowly, her tongue moving as if it was in unfamiliar territory, but her kiss was no less sweet for it. On the contrary, it was pleasantly surprising how tentative she was. Even though we were in her comfort zone, she still seemed vulnerable in a way that excited me.

  And while it was never my intention to jump her bones as soon as I arrived, I knew nothing could make me pull away from her after coming so far.

  I leaned her back on the couch without unlocking my lips from hers and kicked my shoes off as softly as I could. "I never would've stopped looking for you," I said, running a hand up her thigh and under her t-shirt. "I had to see you again."

  She looked up at me through shiny eyes and kissed me back.

  I felt myself swell in my pants at the feeling of having her underneath me, at the idea of sinking into her the way she was sinking into the cushions.

  I moved my hand up over her chest, running my palms over the outside of her bra, no less excited about unwrapping them than if I were fifteen. Then I pulled my hand out from under her shirt and trailed my fingers over her pants to the warmth between her thighs.

  She sucked the breath from my mouth as I pressed my fingers against her opening and circled her clit through her thin pants. My intention was to warm her up until her body was so overwhelmed she would have no choice but to let me take over.

  And with every whimper from her lips, I could feel her giving into me as my fingers grew warmer. Soon I couldn't wait anymore to feel her hot center, so I leaned against the back of the couch just enough that I could slide my hand down the front of her pants.

  When I discovered that she’d already soaked through her underwear, I let out a guttural growl of approval. A moment later, I laid my fingers against her wet slit and pushed them inside her, relishing the way she gushed around them.

  I craned my neck back to look at her as I worked them deeper. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyelids looked heavy. But as I forced my fingers to her center she only broke our gaze when her eyelashes fluttered.

  "Oh Jack," she breathed.

  The sound of my name in her throat filled me with a desire for her that frightened me, and I plunged my fingers deeper again, causing her to gasp.

  She lifted her hands to the front of my shoulders and let her head roll to the side as I began to fuck her with my fingers, savoring the way her pussy clenched around them.

  Soon my dick started to hurt from wanting her so badly, and I became desperate to see more of her.

  I twisted my fingers into her as deep as I could one last time and then slipped them out slowly, her eyes widening as I pulled them out.

  "Stand up," I said, helping her to her feet.

  I made her stand between my knees so I could admire the way her stretchy black pants hung off her curves, the way her tousled hair looked from writhing against the cushions.

  "Take off your shirt," I said.

  She swallowed and pulled her shirt off. Her bra was so plain, but I knew there was nothing plain about what it concealed.

  "And your bra," I said, feeling bolder with each new flash of her flesh.

  She bent her arms back and unhooked it before sliding it off one shoulder and letting it fall to the floor.

  I smiled and reached forward, pulling her pants down to her lower calves.

  She stepped out of them.

  I leaned back.

  Her nipples were hard and dark, her snatch looked more inviting than ever, and her fading tan lines highlighted all her sexiest parts.

  I pulle
d my shirt off as fast as I could so I wouldn't have to take my eyes from her gorgeous body any more than necessary. Then I looked up at her as I moved my hands to my belt.