Fortune's Promise: A Fortune Story Read online

  Without hesitation the bartender turned around, her hips swaying provocatively as she grabbed a glass, and he watched them with appreciation. Maybe he shouldn’t have been short with her. She wasn’t bad looking. She might have to do. Prospects didn’t look too good otherwise…

  The tiny hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, and he sat up straight, aware someone was watching him. He turned around to see a woman standing in the wide entryway of the bar, backlit from the bright lights coming from the hallway of the hotel, her curvaceous figure silhouetted perfectly for his perusal. He cocked his head, appreciating her voluptuous form, wishing he could make out her face. He waited, anticipation filling his gut and he damn near prayed she would walk inside the bar.

  She finally did, taking tentative steps, the skirt of her pale gold dress swirling around her feet as she entered the dark room. He recognized her immediately.

  The hot little piece who had caught his eye when he performed at the reception. The one who had stood in the corner and watched him with wide eyes the entire time he sang. The bridesmaid. There’d only been two, and Brittney had told him all three of them had won the lottery along with her.

  She could work.

  Her gaze scanned the room slowly, chewing nervously on her lower lip as she came closer to the bar. Just the sight of those even white teeth nibbling on the lush fullness of her pink lower lip had his mind conjuring all kinds of images. All of them dirty, all of them sure to shock the shit out of this chick. She had a regal way about her, reminding him vaguely of an ice princess. The tilt of her chin, the almost haughty expression on her face, the way she walked with perfect posture and graceful movements.

  Tanner wondered what she would do if he propositioned her, whispered in her ear that he wanted to fuck her brains out.

  Hell, he was in a mood. Not only did he want to get laid, but he also wanted to do it in every dirty nasty way imaginable. Little Miss Prim and Proper would put a lockdown on her panties if she had any clue as to what he was thinking about.

  Maybe she wouldn’t work.

  She finally ended up at the bar, a few seats away from him and she sat, pulling up at her skirts as she did. It didn’t help, he noticed. The bodice of her strapless dress slipped, revealing the delicate pale lace of her bra for the briefest second before she yanked it back up. She glanced around, her gaze meeting his and her eyes widened in shock. She had caught him watching every moment.

  He smiled at her and she looked away, her cheeks flushing a deep pink. The bartender ignored her when she tried to gain her attention with a wave of her hand and her shoulders slumped. Resting her hand on the countertop, she looked utterly defeated.

  Tanner cleared his throat when the bartender approached and she smiled at him, the look on her face flirtatious. “You ignored her.”

  “Who?” Her eyes widened and she glanced up and down the bar. “Oh, you mean her? I’ll get to her in a minute. I thought you might need something.”

  He certainly didn’t need her. “I want you to go over there and take her order. And tell her it’s on me.”

  The bartender nodded, the light dimming in her eyes. Maybe she realized he wasn’t interested. Damn right. “Of course, Mr. Robinson.”

  She walked over to the bridesmaid, pointing a finger at Tanner halfway through her spiel. When the bartender turned away to prepare her drink, the bridesmaid glanced in his direction, a tentative smile on her lips. He smiled back, and she looked away, her cheeks pink again.

  Tanner grabbed his drink and slid off the stool, walking slowly towards her. She didn’t notice, too busy gathering her drink from the now-jealous bartender who glared at him as he approached.

  She sipped from her drink, her lips wrapped around the skinny red straw, and he knew without a doubt that she was the one who could help him ease his troubles tonight.

  Now if only she would be willing.

  He sat on the stool next to her and she literally jumped, turned her startled dark brown gaze upon him, her lips still attached to the straw. She gulped loudly and set the glass down with a thump, a nervous smile on her face.

  “Thank you.” She waved at the glass. “For my drink. You didn’t have to do that.”

  “You’re welcome.” He tilted his head towards her, wondered what made this woman so damn nervous. Most of the women he encountered fawned over him but didn’t necessarily act nervous. No, they were more the type who knew what they wanted and went right for it.

  A free night in the sack with the famous singer, that’s what they always wanted.

  He grimaced. Fuck, when did his life get so pointless? So empty?

  She must have noticed his grimace because she frowned, even looked ready to hop off her stool. “I’m sorry, I’ll leave you alone.”

  Without thinking, he rested his hand on her forearm to prevent her from leaving. The tips of his fingers sizzled at the contact, sending a jolt of awareness throughout his entire body. She appeared affected as well, gooseflesh blossoming on her skin beneath his touch.

  “Don’t go,” he murmured. “Stay with me, just for a few minutes.”

  She settled herself on the stool and he removed his hand reluctantly.

  “Did you enjoy it?”

  Maddie was confused. Was he talking about the drink? Him? Yes and yes. Not like she could say that…

  “I noticed you at the wedding reception, particularly when you left. You only heard one song.” He shrugged. “I thought I might’ve done something you didn’t like.”

  “Oh, yes I definitely enjoyed it. You have a wonderful voice.”

  He smiled and shook his head. “I’m not fishing for compliments. I’m just not used to having women run out on me during a performance.”

  No—more like they threw their panties at the stage or attacked him after a concert. This man could have any woman he wanted, had women available to him at any time.

  So why was he wasting his time talking to her?

  “It had nothing to do with you or your singing, really. Watching my best friend dance with her new husband I just got…emotional, I guess. I can’t believe you noticed.” There, that was a good answer. Better than your voice and the way you looked at me turned me on and I wanted to get out of there before I did something stupid. Like throw myself at your feet.

  “Of course I noticed, you were right in my line of vision, I couldn’t miss you.” He cocked his dark head towards her. “Are you meeting someone here?”

  She glanced about the bar, noticed Lauren and her date still hadn’t shown up. “I was supposed to, but I don’t see them.”

  “A boyfriend maybe?” His voice was cautious, the look on his face guarded.

  Could he really be interested? In her?

  “No, no boyfriend.” She swore she saw him sigh with relief. “One of my best friends and her date were going to meet me here. They might’ve headed up to their hotel room instead.”

  Maddie’s face heated and she wanted to die of embarrassment. No denying what Lauren and Marty would want to do in their hotel room. She was jealous—could imagine doing those things with the man sitting beside her. Him stripping her naked, touching her everywhere, whispering naughty suggestions in her ear, describing in detail exactly what he wanted to do to her.

  She squirmed in her seat, suddenly uncomfortable. And unbearably aroused.

  “That doesn’t sound like a bad idea.” He brought the glass of amber liquid to his lips and tilted his head back, drinking the liquor in one swallow. She watched, breathless, her gaze lingering on his throat, sliding up to catch the slumberous expression on his face, his long tapered fingers clutching the glass.

  He was dead sexy. Gorgeous and rich and successful, beyond successful, an international superstar. He could probably have any woman he wanted, yet he sat in the bar with her. She didn’t get it, and she also didn’t want to question it. Tanner Robinson was not the kind of man she attracted. Gorgeous, confident men weren’t her normal style. Maybe they should be.

  She had always
wanted them to be.

  “What doesn’t sound like a bad idea?” She’d lost her train of thought, couldn’t even remember what he referred to with his last comment. He had that strong of an effect on her.

  He set the glass on the counter with a quiet clunk, the tips of his fingers twirling the glass around and around. She watched, mesmerized, waiting for his answer.

  “Going up to my hotel room, it sounds like a good idea. Care to join me?”

  Maddie blinked at least a dozen times, confusion swirling in her brain, making her dizzy. Did he just invite her to his room? Was he looking for simple conversation or something more?

  Her gaze met his, saw the heat blaze in the depths of his beautiful blue eyes and she knew he didn’t just want company. His invitation was most definitely sexual in nature.

  She heaved a big sigh and he smiled, his hand suddenly on top of hers. So large, it engulfed hers, a stark contrast of sun-darkened skin against her pale coloring. His fingers curled around hers, his thumb brushing across the top of her hand in a subtle movement. She felt that stroke as if he touched her most intimate area. Her skin burned, prickled with goose bumps, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to resist him.

  “I-I don’t know.” She wanted to die of mortification. Why couldn’t she just say yes? Why couldn’t she just abandon her boring old personality and embrace a new Maddie, a new way of life? Her substantial bank account made her free in so many ways, why couldn’t she get over her past hang ups, her shyness with men?

  Tanner slid off his barstool to stand next to her, his chest brushing against her shoulder. She didn’t look up, couldn’t look at him, didn’t want him to make her feel even more like a fool. She already had taken care of that on her own.

  He spoke, and she nearly jumped off her stool. She had no idea he was so close, his mouth hovering just above her ear. “Come with me to my suite, and I promise you a night you’ll never forget.”

  Her heart dropped into her stomach, her pulse sped to a rapid pace. A single index finger tucked a stray tendril behind her ear, his touch nearly setting her on fire. He leaned in towards her again, his mouth tantalizingly close to her ear, so close she actually felt his tongue brush against her lobe when he licked his lips.

  Oh dear God, she was in heaven, and he hadn’t even done anything to her yet.

  “What’s your name, sweetheart?”

  “Maddie,” she whispered, her voice raw and rasping.

  “It suits you.” He squeezed her hand, lifted it to his mouth and pressed his lips to the back of it. “Do you want to, Maddie? Come with me? I can take no for an answer.”

  She didn’t want to give no for an answer. She wanted to scream a loud and firm yes. She wanted to throw herself at him and beg him to touch her.

  “I’ll go with you.”

  He smiled, the smile of a man who was triumphant. “You won’t regret it.”

  She didn’t think she would.

  Chapter Three

  Tanner’s hands shook as he poured each of them a glass of vodka, adding a splash of cranberry in Maddie’s per her request. He set the bottle on the counter of the custom bar situated in the corner of the suite, grimacing. What the fuck—was he actually nervous? He couldn’t remember the last time he had felt like such a bundle of nerves. Especially right before what promised to be an exciting bout of sex.

  He glanced towards the seating area where Maddie the beautiful bridesmaid sat perched on the edge of the loveseat. If he was nervous she was even more so. She wrung her hands in her lap, had long since chewed off all the lipstick from her lush pink mouth. Her foot tapped impatiently on the floor, and she kept crossing and uncrossing her legs.

  No wonder he was nervous. The woman sitting on a couch was a giant ball of jitters. Her hectic vibe had to be rubbing off on him.

  She certainly was a gorgeous jittery woman. All of that thick dark red hair piled on top of her head, her pale creamy skin, her curvy body. The women he was used to dating in L.A. were blonde, tanned stick figures. No meat on their bones and they looked the same. Plastic, like one manufactured Barbie Doll after another.

  This one was different, a far cry from his usual women, an even further cry from his ex. Just what he needed.

  Tanner grabbed the glasses of liquor and headed over to the couch, sitting next to her and handing her a glass. “Here you go.”

  “Thank you.” She took it from him and gulped the entire glass down, then set it on the side table. Her lips were damp from the liquid and her little pink tongue swiped out to lick at it.

  He repressed the groan that threatened to give way and drank from his own glass, hoping the liquor would kick in and soothe his nerves. Wished like hell he would’ve poured himself a bigger glass.

  “Do you go back home tomorrow?”

  “What? Oh, yeah, I head back to L.A. tomorrow. I have an album due soon, and I’ve been working on that pretty heavily lately. In fact, it’s all I’ve been doing for the last three months.”

  He noticed her hands clutched at the gold fabric of her dress and he wanted to touch her, calm her seemingly frayed nerves. He restrained himself, though, not wanting to startle her with too fast of a move. Yet.

  “Oh, more love songs? Your last two albums have been filled with them. They’re beautiful.”

  Tanner fought against the bitterness that wanted to spew out of his mouth. Best he not put forth the venom he felt towards Paula the cheating sudden lesbian. He shook his head.

  He needed to get over this shit.

  “I’ve gone a totally different direction with this album, I’m afraid. It’s a little funkier, infused with blues, some jazz. Lots of piano. I wrote every song.”

  “I’m sure they’re wonderful.”

  If you’re against love and relationships, they’re fucking fabulous. “They’re okay. My producer hasn’t told me I suck so that’s a good thing. Tell me.” He scooted closer to her on the couch, ready to change the topic of conversation. “What do you do? For a living?”

  Maddie shrugged and reached for her glass, realized it was empty and set it back down. “I work for an employment placement agency. I’m the office manager. My mother owns the place so it’s sort of a family operation.”

  He nodded, noticed that she didn’t look thrilled. Maybe she hated her job. “Boring?”

  She burst out laughing and the sound of it went straight to his dick. She had a wonderful laugh, joyful and loud. As if she didn’t hold anything back. It contrasted sharply with how he had perceived her so far.

  “It’s the worst job I’ve ever had. Pretty much the only job I’ve ever had,” she finally admitted.

  “You don’t leave because you don’t want to disappoint your mother?”

  “Yes, that’s exactly it.” She sighed, her fingers plucking at the fabric on the couch. Those slender fingers so close to his leg, he wanted her to touch him. Just once, on her own, to see if she had the nerve. To see if she wanted him as badly as he wanted her.

  “You’re a good girl then.”

  Her head turned sharply, her big brown eyes staring into his. “I guess you could say that.”

  Normally he wouldn’t touch a good girl with a ten-foot pole. He preferred them bad. Bad girls knew what he wanted, which was absolutely nothing but mindless sex for one night. Good girls hoped for everything—a relationship, words of love, a commitment. He couldn’t give any of that to a woman right now. No woman would want him, hell he didn’t really want to deal with himself.

  He was too much of a fucked up mess to bestow that on an innocent woman looking for relationship material.

  “Are you a good girl looking to be bad?” He rested his arm on the back of the loveseat, his fingers coming round to tug on one of her dangling curls.

  Her eyes grew wider and her cheeks flushed a faint pink. She nibbled on that damn sexy lower lip of hers again and he wanted to nibble on it instead. Lick and suck at it, nip it with his teeth before he soothed it with his tongue.

  His cock grew harder ima
gining it.

  “Are you offering to corrupt me?”

  Her words startled him, and he couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped him. She was full of surprises. “Do you want to be corrupted?”

  “I thought so.” Maddie stood abruptly and headed towards the door. “I’m not sure if I’m what you wanted, though, Tanner. Maybe I should go.”

  “Wait.” Tanner scrambled off the couch, followed her as she walked towards the door. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the wrist, stopping her from reaching for the handle.

  Maddie turned around to face him, her wrist still captured by his fingers. “Is something wrong?”

  He shook his head, tugged on her so that she took a couple of steps closer. “You sure you don’t want to have another drink?”

  “I don’t think so, but thank you.” She tried to smile, but the intense look in his eyes made her go still, her mouth drop open slightly.

  His thumb brushed the delicate skin on the inside of her wrist, across her pulse, making it quicken. “Are you always this polite?”

  “Yes. Yes, actually I am.” She suddenly felt foolish, wondering again why she was in this man’s hotel room. The minute he had started talking about bad girls she’d become uncomfortable, even more nervous than she’d already been. She had a feeling he sensed that.

  “You need to relax.” Tanner pulled her closer, released his grip on her wrist to curve his big hands around her shoulders. He turned her slowly to face the mirror that hung over the table close to the front door, and her breath caught in her throat at their reflection.

  He was tall and broad, his sun-darkened hands pressed against the fair skin of her shoulders. Sensuous masculine lips curved, vivid blue eyes watching her as his fingers began to skim across her skin, tracing her collarbone. Her skin flamed.

  Her shoulders fell at his touch, relaxing, though a different kind of tension stirred in her belly. “What are you doing?”

  “Touching you,” he murmured. “Trying to make you feel good, relax you.”

  She closed her eyes, confused at his words, lost to his touch. “Why?” The single word came out an aching whisper, full of need and she wished she never would’ve said it.