COME UNDONE
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Copyright © KENDALL GRACE, 2010
All Rights Reserved, Ellora's Cave Publishing, Inc.
 “What time is it?” Sara called from her bedroom.
Placing the shrimp platter on the table, I glanced at the wall clock. “You’re fine on time, birthday girl. People shouldn’t start arriving for another half hour.”
A muffled “Thank God” was her response. I stepped back to survey the dining room table.
Not a bad effort for the entertaining-inept. I just prayed I had prepared enough for the crowd. When I asked Sara about a head count she just shrugged and informed me most likely everyone would be coming.
Hopefully this was enough food for everyone.
My mind drifted to Chase, as it had with disturbing regularity the past seven days. I didn’t dare ask Sara if she thought he would be coming to the party. Somehow acting as if I were disinterested made me feel stronger. He was just a man. And anyway, the odd reaction that raced through my body at first sight of him could have been a fluke. Or the wine. Or…something else.
It was that something else I feared.
An hour later Sara’s house was crammed with guests and I was mingling, trying to understand where this small town kept them all. Partygoers had spilled onto the front lawn, the house’s main floor nearly too tight in which to move around. My heart skipped a beat when I saw Madeline. Where there’s smoke there’s fire, or so they say. But she was surrounded by only her girlfriends.
Just as I was about to resign myself to his absence, I met his gaze across the room. How long had he been watching me scan the crowd? Would he assume I had been looking for him? If all I’d heard about him was true, of course he would.
I took an immediate interest in the beverage table behind me, playing the dutiful hostess, making certain everything was as it should be. I worked the stack of cocktail napkins into an intricate fan, an unnecessary and useless touch that would be ignored by the crowd quickly barreling toward inebriation.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end when I sensed him behind me. The electric awareness that had so stunned me the first night I met him took hold once again. But even without it, I would have known it was him… The scent of his aftershave would be forever embedded in my memory.
“Great party.” His breath was warm against the shell of my ear. When his hand gently grazed my hip as he brushed past me to help himself to another beer, the contact shot heat directly to my pussy. What was it about this man that turned me completely inside out? I had to be losing my ever-loving mind. I watched his broad shoulders disappear into the crowd before I plucked the bottle of Pinot noir off the table and poured myself a healthy dose of comfort.
I had almost finished the glass when I spotted him across the room once more. He smiled that wicked smile of his and raised his beer to me in a mock toast, making no move in my direction. I willed my gaze to stay on his—an effort that proved to be more of a challenge than I would have imagined. Raising my glass in return, I smiled, that odd rush galloping through me.
The decision I made next in all likelihood set the course for the summer, but I didn’t allow myself the time to think it through. I was aware what would happen, yet I did it anyway.
Turning on my heel, I walked out of the room, through the kitchen and out the back door, headed toward the only niche of the property the guests hadn’t yet encroached upon. My heels clicked along the boardwalk leading to the beach. Stopping just shy of the sand, I placed my hands on the rail. And waited.
I began to shiver despite the warm summer air. I knew he would follow me. I felt it in my bones. And when he caught up with me? Then what? My pulse drummed a staccato beat at the prospect, whether from panic or excitement I couldn’t be sure, but I wouldn’t be given the chance to find out.
“Jane.”
Never before had the sound of my name seemed so ominous to my ears. That one syllable tumbling from his lips had me shaking anew as I turned to look at him, the small amount of bravado that had driven me out here in the first place gone. His expression was unreadable in the darkness, but his intention was clear. Before I could reply, his mouth was on mine. Hot, searing in its assault. His tongue slid between my lips instantly, as if this wasn’t our first kiss, as if our mouths had met countless times before.
And I let him.
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