CHAPTER 5
Three Years Earlier
It was the summer I turned eighteen. If I had known that summer that Spencer would become my obsession, that he’d break me in ways I couldn’t fathom, I would have begged my parents to let me stay home in Woodinville. But neither they nor I could have known that how he treated me that summer would scar me for years to come.
He pinned me with an intense glare the second I stepped into Princess Resort’s vast marble foyer. He was sitting in the ivory leather sofa with a new blonde, undoubtedly, his most recent victim. She was hanging on him, her body language begging for attention, although he didn’t seem to notice her at all. Bellmen and guests were scurrying to and fro, but he didn’t pay any attention to them either. Only me. Dark eyes so intense I knew I turned a bright shade of cherry-red.
He stood up, left the girl by his side, and made a beeline toward me. Veins protruded from his forehead and he had a look on his face like he might do me in here in broad daylight with my parents standing only a mere ten feet away checking in.
When he reached me, he grabbed me by the elbow, hard. Rose was mesmerized by the fish in the huge tank beside the check-in counter, completely oblivious to my abduction. He pulled me with him behind a thick marble pillar and shoved me up against it. We were out of sight, being hidden by a huge plant. I didn’t fear for my life, there were people all around, but him being so near made me instantly alert and feel very intimidated.
“Why the hell did you have to come here again, bitch? You’re going to ruin my entire summer,” he snapped.
“I’m not trying to…”
“Did I give you permission to speak?” he interrupted me.
“No,” I peeped. “But you don’t own me.”
He squinted. “I don’t own you?”
“No,” I said, straightening even though my heart thumped so wildly I thought it would come out of my chest.
He slammed his palm into the pillar behind me and I startled. But no way in hell was I backing down. He wasn’t going to make my summer miserable. I had decided that before I came.
“Go back to your girlfriend,” I said. “Or find someone else to bully.”
He stared at me in silence for a long while. Then something shifted in his expression, as if he changed his mind about something. He let his hand slide to my waist. I sucked in a breath and with that small gesture, I knew, just like he did, that he owned me like he said he did. We were flush against each other and he pressed his knee between my legs. My mouth fell open in an unintentional, soundless gasp, and my body submitted to him in a millisecond.
“Have you been kissed yet?” he asked.
“That’s none of your business,” I snapped.
He gave me a half a smile. “That means no.”
I had been kissed but decided to keep that information to myself. Brady Fox, a boy from our neighborhood and the son of my dad’s business partner, had planted his thin mouth on me one evening after he invited me to watch a movie at his place. His lips were tense, and his tongue, too. As he was kissing me, I remembered thinking that it was boring, overly wet, and did nothing for me. All these years I’d fantasized about my first kiss and it was a huge letdown.
“What’s it to you anyway?” I asked, pressing against his chest, trying to create some distance between us. He didn’t budge at all.
“It only means there’s more to take,” he said.
I was about to get the hell out of there, but instead, he slammed his lips to mine and shoved me to the pillar by my waist with his strong hands. I was so shocked that it took me a second to register what was going on.
Honestly, I had no idea how to react. I felt I hated him, but my body turned into a firestorm of lightening where I tasted the wetness of his lips… when his tongue reached deep into my mouth. I wasn’t sure if I was in heaven or in hell, but what I knew was that I didn’t care.
His one hand moved up my torso, then to my upper back. He reached behind my head, cupping it and pulling me closer. I should have wanted to pull away, but my body wouldn’t follow my will at all. This kiss was nothing like my first kiss. This kiss did things to me that made me want to move my body in sensual ways. His full lips glided across mine in perfect deftness and I wanted more and more and more.
As he pulled away, he tugged at my bottom lip with his teeth. I wasn’t sure if I could manage to remain standing but somehow, I succeeded. His black irises scanned me with the same disdain as always, although I thought I noticed a hint of softness in them. But the softness vanished with the flutter of his eye lashes.
“Stay away from me,” he said.
“I will,” I replied, my voice breathy. “But will you be able to stay away from me?”
Without answering, he was gone, leaving me panting, wildly aroused, and needing him to quench the fire he had lit deep within me.
* * *
It was the night of my eighteenth birthday, and I was celebrating with my family in the atrium. My dad had me sit by the water fountain to open presents and I just finished opening the last one, a set of car keys to my dad’s old BMW.
“Oh, my God. Thank you, dad!” I shot to my feet and flung my arms around his neck. “What will you drive then?” I asked.
“Your mom and I bought a new car.” He beamed at her and she placed a hand on his shoulder.
“You are always so good to me, dear,” she said to him. Then she turned to me. “We had the BMW serviced and it’s in perfect condition. Now you don’t have to worry about saving up money for a car.”
“Can I give Ellie her present now?” Rose asked, her bright green eyes wide with excitement.
“Sure,” my mom said.
Grinning ear-to-ear, Rose handed me a pink gift bag.
“Thank you,” I said as I took it.
“I made it myself,” she said. Inside the bag was a yellow silk scarf. “We made them at school.”
“It’s lovely.” I wrapped it around my neck and posed with one arm up in the air, one hand on my hip. Rose laughed.
“Does it look good on me?” I stood up so I could see my reflection in the window behind the fountain. That’s when I saw Spencer staring at me with his black eyes from behind the window.
The three weeks we had been here went by in a blur, and I was equally upset and relieved to find that Spencer had vanished without a trace. I had seen his dad around the resort, and his new blonde girlfriend, too. But he seemed to have disappeared into thin air. Yet here he was, staring at me from the other side of the glass as if he wanted to talk to me. I should have ignored him… should have been smarter than to willingly walk into the dragon’s den. But the magnetism was too strong… as if my mind and willpower were completely vanquished by his spell.
“It’s stunning,” I said to Rose. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I just have to go to the bathroom.”
“Don’t be long. We have to cut the cake!” my mom yelled after me.
I waved back at her and headed indoors. Immediately, Spencer approached me. He wore khaki shorts and a white linen shirt with the two top buttons open, revealing a more muscular chest that I remembered him having. My insides tightened, and I felt that familiar overwhelming draw toward him.
He took my hand, pulled me into an empty, dark conference room, and shut the door behind us. I pressed my back to the door and just stood and stared at him, waiting for him to say something.
“Your outfit…” he said, his dark gaze drinking me in.
I looked down at my tight-fitted red dress my mom had got me for my birthday. The skirt reached to my mid-thigh and the top was a spaghetti strap.
“What about it?” I asked, expecting an insult.
“It looks good on you.”
It was the first compliment he’d ever offered me. I was suspicious to say the least. And suddenly mute.
“Fitting for a girl who just turned eighteen.” He took a step closer and my body reacted by going limp. This was not good. So not good.
“I think I qualify as a young woman now,” I said.
“Yes. A woman.” His eyes narrowed and a crooked smile tugged at his perfect lips.
What was he thinking? Nothing good, I was certain. I should have despised that thought, but instead, I found myself wanting to know exactly what indecent thoughts were whirling around his mind.
“I…I should get back to my family now. There’s cake and...” I found the doorknob behind my back and started to turn it.
“Come to room 1467 after you’re done,” he said. “Mike will be there, too.”
“I… I don’t want to go to a party.”
“It’ll just be you and Mike,” he said.
“Why would I go to some room with a guy I don’t even know?” I said.
“Oh, come on. Don’t play coy.”
“First of all, I’ve never officially met Mike. Second of all, Mike’s not my type at all.” You are. “Third…” I had nothing more to say.
He looked puzzled for a moment, as if what I was saying was news to him.
“So who is your type?” he asked.
“I don’t… really have a type…”
“You don’t have a type?”
I shook my head and he undid the scarf at my neck.
“I’ve been thinking… I’m sorry I’ve been so rude to you,” he said.
Whoa. That was unexpected. An apology? I didn’t really know what to do with that. And was this his way of sweet-talking me? Well, I didn’t want to admit it, but it was working. My walls were tumbling down faster than I could keep up. And it was rather unnerving.
“So why have you been so rude to me?” I asked.
His brows gathered together in the center and he looked away. For a split second, I saw pain in his expression, but it disappeared so quickly that I wondered if I might have imagined it.
“It’s a long boring story. But…” He shook his head. “It’s in the past now.” His gaze flicked to mine and he held out his hand. “Friends?”
Slowly, I raised my hand and took his. We shook.
“Friends,” I said, although there was a part of me that wondered what he was hiding and when he’d revert back to Mr. Dark Knight.
His lips widened into the brightest smile I’d ever seen, lighting up the entire room and me on the inside. I’d never seen him smile but the effect it had on me was visceral. I felt as if sunbeams had lit up every part of my body, from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. I became so enthralled that all my resistance toward him was no more.
He pulled me in for a hug and his cheek pressed against mine. His stubble tickled the skin on my face, sending goose bumps through me. I could feel his entire body flush against my own. And then I felt him… hard.
“If you ever want to hear the rumor about you, the rumor everyone here at the resort thinks is true, come to my room after your party,” he whispered, his breath fluttering in my ear. “1312.”
“I can’t,” I said.
“Can’t or won’t?” He cupped the back of my neck with his hand and pulled my hair gently. He caught my bottom lip with his mouth and sucked on it gently. It reminded me of the moment I arrived at Princess Harbor when he kissed me, and a vision of him undressing me, of touching me, of claiming me flashed before my eyes.
I fumbled with the doorknob for a moment before finally managing to open it. I needed to get the hell out of here, or I knew I’d something I really didn’t think was a sane idea… which was to kiss him… and perhaps let him have his way with me.
Once outside in the hallway, I inhaled a deep breath. I hadn’t realized I’d been breathing so shallowly until I was free from Spencer’s presence. Flustered, my emotions running wild, I hurried down the hallway and went back outside to join my family.
Rose was busy splashing in the water fountain and my mother was lighting the candles for my birthday cake.
I reached for my neck to take my scarf off so it wouldn’t catch fire in the flames. But my hand met nothing but bare skin. Completely bare, my necklace gone as well.
Spencer. Oh, my God. He’d taken my scarf and necklace as collateral.
* * *
After I’d stuffed myself with birthday cake, Rose and I headed back to our room to go to bed. My plan was to pretend to go to bed, and once Rose had fallen asleep, I’d slip out and go to Spencer’s room.
Once back at our room, I put my pajamas on and hopped into bed. That’s when the thoughts about how Spencer’s body felt against mine started to whirl around in my mind… how his cheek felt against mine… how his smile lit me up on the inside. I glanced over at Rose in the moonlit room, and she was already snoring.
“If I go to see Spencer, I’m so screwed,” I whispered. Even so, I couldn’t stop myself from getting out of bed. Besides, he had my scarf and necklace, so I really didn’t have a choice, did I?
I dressed in my jean shorts, a T-shirt, and flip-flops and headed into the hallway. Before I knew it, I stood in front of Spencer’s door.
1312.
I paused and stared at the door for at least two minutes. I knew that if I went inside, I’d end up doing things I probably would regret.
What was this disturbingly intense attraction between Spencer and me? Was it love? I couldn’t tell. I’d thought that love would feel calmer and that the man would be a gentleman like my dad told me long ago. Spencer, with a dark side darker than the devil himself, was my Dark Knight.
“Dammit!” I muttered beneath my breath. I closed my eyes and just then, I heard the door swing open. When I opened my eyes, Spencer was staring at me. He had changed into faded jeans and a black button up shirt and he had the usual disdainful look on his face.
“I thought you’d be wearing your red dress,” he said with a scowl.
“This was a mistake.” I turned around and headed down the hallway.
“Hey! Hey!” He ran after me, gripped my elbow, and I stopped.
“I didn’t mean to be a dick about it. I just really liked you in that dress,” he said. “Please, come back with me. I’ve ordered room service… chocolate lava cake… champagne… strawberries…”
I glanced at him cautiously. “I don’t drink alcohol. I’m eighteen.”
“That’s fine.” He shrugged.
How was he being this reasonable all of a sudden? And why was he ordering food that screamed romance? Of course, I knew why, but I didn’t want to admit it
“What about your girlfriend?” I asked.
“We broke up,” he said.
My belly flipped. He was single now? Oh, dear.
“This is the last summer I’ll be coming here,” he said. “So… we probably won’t see each other again after tonight. I’ll most likely spend my summers at home from now on.”
My stomach dropped like a brick. Oh, God. Such a roller-coaster of emotions. Even so, I think I managed pretty well at not showing my disappointment on my face.
“Where are you from?” I asked.
“Long Island, New York. You?” he said.
“Woodinville. It’s close to Seattle.”
“Nice.” He nodded as if in agreement with himself. “My dad owns a couple of hotels in Seattle.”
“Really? Which ones?”
“You wouldn’t know,” he said, waving his hand dismissively.
We stood and stared at each other for a while, the silence… and the magnetism between us so thick you could cut it with a knife.
“It’s up to you, Ellie.” He stuffed his hands into his jean pockets, anticipation brimming from his sparkling black eyes. “If you want to come inside. I’m dying to tell you about that rumor.”
“For a few minutes,” I said. “I mean, I can’t deny I’m curious about this rumor… And I need my scarf and necklace back.”
With that, he chuckled, wrapped an arm around my shoulders, kissed the top of my head, and led me down the hallway. Once inside his master suite, he offered me to sit at the table that was set for two. A red candle was flickering in the center of it and a single red rose was placed across one of the place-mats. My scarf was draped across my chair and my necklace was draped across the red rose. I picked up the scarf and tied it around my neck.
“Allow me.” He picked up my necklace and secured it around my neck.
“I thought I’d color coordinate with your red dress.” He pulled my chair out, and I sat. Who was this guy? And what happened to the Spencer I knew? And why was he being so nice to me?
He sat down in the other chair and lifted the silver lid off the cart, revealing decadent desserts.
“I don’t know what you like, so I got all of them,” he said.
“The lava cake looks amazing,” I said.
He placed the lava cake on the table in front of me.
“And the chocolate-covered strawberries,” I said, completely unable to resist.
He placed a couple on my plate and after, licked his fingers. It was distracting as hell. I looked away to re-center myself and to get a hold of the desire for him that was building on the inside.
He poured some champagne into his flute and set the bottle back into the ice.
I eyed the bottle.
“Want some?” he asked. “I won’t tell if you don’t.”
I hesitated for a few moments. What the hell. Today was my eighteenth birthday and I was going to live it up. I mean, a sip wasn’t going to hurt anybody, right?
“I’ll have a little,” I said.
He poured my flute half-full and placed the bottle back into the ice.
“Happy birthday, Ellie.” He lifted his flute toward me, and I lifted mine, toasting him.
“Thank you.” I took a sip of the champagne, the bubbles fizzing on my tongue.
“What do you think?” he asked.
“It’s… it’s ok.”
“That bottle is five hundred bucks,” he said. “The best champagne this resort sells.”
I wasn’t sure if he was trying to impress me or spoil me… or make me feel guilty that I wasn’t that impressed. I decided to take the conversation in a different direction.
“So, when is your birthday?” I asked.
“December 25th.”
“On Christmas?”
“Yeah. Bad luck, I know.” He sat his champagne flute on the table and bit into a chocolate-covered strawberry. I followed his lead and took a bite of my chocolate lava cake. It was to die for.
“How old are you?” I asked.
“Twenty,” he said.
“Do you have any siblings?”
“An older sister. She’s twenty-one. And you have a younger sister, right?” he asked.
“Rose.”
“She’s a cutie.” He winked at me.
“Yeah…” Not wanting to talk about me, I continued asking questions. “So… are you in school… or are you working?”
He got a certain prideful look in his eyes and nodded. “I’m already a multi-millionaire from my own ventures and I have a degree in business. I finished my degree in two years.”
I didn’t want to be impressed by his ambition, but I was. And unfortunately for me, it made me like him more.
“Once my father croaks, I’ll inherit half his empire,” he said.
Croaks. I thought that was an odd and cold way of referring to one’s father’s death. But then again, Spencer never seemed to have the loving relationship I had with my dad. In fact, in all the years I’d visited here, I’d not once seen them engage in friendly conversation.
He placed his phone on the table and turned on a slow, sensual tune. After he stood up, he offered me a hand.
“Care to dance?” he asked.
“You dance?” I asked, surprised.
“My mother insisted I learn at a young age. She said men who don’t know how to dance are out of touch with their feminine side and will never be able to understand women.”
“She sounded wise.” I took his hand and he pulled me up to a standing position. I recalled the heated conversation I had overheard between Spencer and his father two years ago when I was playing hide and seek with Rose. I learned then that his mother had passed away. I wondered what had happened but didn’t ask. I felt bringing it up right now was not the right time.
He drew me in, and we started to sway. His cologne wafted into my nostrils, a divine musky, manly scent that was as intoxicating as his closeness. He placed a hand at the small of my back and secured my hand with his. His moves were fluid and perfect, like a dream. His mother must have seen to it that he got the best dance instruction money could buy.
“That really is a lovely necklace,” he said, eyeing it.
“It was my grandmother’s,” I said. “My parents gave it to me for my birthday when I turned sixteen. It’s… it’s very dear to me.”
He pulled me in closer and my body was flush with his.
“So what do you like to do for fun?” I asked, trying to not sound as breathy as I was.
“Ski. Sail. Travel the world. Golf. ”
“Where’s the favorite place you’ve traveled?”
“Italy,” he said.
“Italy. Oh wow.”
“Have you been?”
“Me? No. I’ve never left the U.S., even,” I said.
“We need to remedy that,” he said.
“We?”
“I mean… I was thinking… I’d like to stay in touch with you…” He glanced down at me as if to read my expression.
I felt like I needed to pinch myself. This couldn’t be real. It was as if someone had switched the real Spencer with an imposter. A nice imposter. A Gentleman instead of a Dark Knight. Did he have a secret twin or something?
“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked.
“It’s just… You’re… you’re different.”
“I guess I realized a few things.”
“Like what?” I asked.
He swiveled me around and dipped me. I giggled like a little girl and felt my cheeks turn hot.
“Like that I want to be different,” he said. “Kinder.”
He pulled me up to a standing position and I tried to gather my senses. But from the way he just dipped me and how kind he was being, gathering my senses seemed impossible. Especially since I found myself drowning in his bottomless, black, kind eyes.
His gaze dropped to my lips and I shuddered at the thought of what might happen. Reason didn’t stand a chance. My body ruled right now.
I lifted my chin and he sealed his lips to mine. I raised myself up on my tip toes, kissing him as fervently as he was kissing me. I poured all my frustration, all my longing for him in that kiss… Years of longing, from the day I first laid eyes on him.
He knitted his hands through my hair and tugged hard, just beyond what I could handle without crying out. His tongue slipped into my mouth and I could taste the champagne on his lips. I’d never wanted a man like this. It was sinful. It was divine.
I was in such a haze that I didn’t really care where this went any longer. All I wanted… all I needed was for him to quench the flames that burned deep within.
His fingertips skirted beneath my shirt and he caressed my back, causing a shiver to go up my spine. He loosened my bra clasp and I felt cool air against my breast. He fondled my breast and squeezed my nipple, and my head fell back as I let out a moan.
“You’re so goddamn beautiful, Ellie,” he said. “Do you now that?” He pulled my shirt off and my bra fell to the floor. Not a second later, he took my nipple into his mouth, causing a scorching heat to travel from my nipple to my deepest core with every suck.
He kissed me deeply as he walked me backward toward the bed. Everything about Spencer turned me on, his deep voice, his scent, the way he kissed me, the way he was in control of every situation. Especially this situation. The way he commanded my body, his desire for me, his confidence in knowing what to do to turn me on, drove me crazy.
He broke from the kiss and smiled down at me with the same scintillating smile that had melted me earlier.
“Your body is amazing,” he whispered, his lips pecking kisses from my cheek to my throat. His hands caressed my stomach, then he cupped my breast and kneaded it.
The yearning I felt for him in that instant was so overwhelming it was painful.
I ran my fingers through his black hair, tugging lightly, uncertain of how hard was too hard. I could see the hungry gleam in his eyes, and I shuddered with need.
He took off his shirt. Oh, my God. Being this close to him, seeing the ripped muscles of his chest and shoulders, feeling his body heat against my own skin… it was synapse frying. Everything about him exuded sexuality. He was pure man, pure beast, pure desire in the flesh. His six-pack abs sat below a muscular chest and broad, defined shoulders. My fingers itched to run across all of him.
I could see the bulge in his jeans, and it made me excited beyond anything I had experienced. Was tonight the night I’d lose my virginity? That thought made my insides coil tightly in sweet anticipation.
“I can’t wait to fuck that tiny pussy of yours,” he said as he gently shoved me onto the bed so I fell. “To be the one to take your virginity.”
His overly-vulgar words shocked me. I looked him in the eyes, and there I saw a wildness I’d never seen before. He was coming to get me and that thought stirred fear in me. All of a sudden, I realized th