Sinful Pleasures

Somehow, someway, she’d gotten under his skin and made him want more of her. Except Hunter was pretty sure that she’d already left the building. With a knot of apprehension settling in his stomach, he tucked his towel around his waist and ventured into the front rooms . . . just in case he was wrong.

And fuck, he wanted to be wrong in the worst way.

But as soon as he saw that her dress and purse were no longer where they’d been the night before and the living room and his kitchen were empty, the disappointment that washed over him was overwhelming, which was quickly followed by frustration. He jammed his fingers through his damp hair and turned to head back to his bedroom since there wasn’t anything he could do about finding Elle at the moment, but the sound of the elevator arriving on his floor had him quickly pivoting back around.

His normally passive heart raced expectantly as he walked in that direction. “Elle?” he called out, hoping against all hope that she’d changed her mind and had come back.

He reached the entry just as his sister stepped into his apartment wearing a pair of faded jeans and a casual white blouse, one side of her mouth quirked in amusement. “No, not Elle,” she said in a light, teasing tone as she took in his attire with a raised brow, which was just the towel secured around his waist. “Were you expecting company?”

“No,” he said, his tone more annoyed now that he was dealing with Tempest and not the woman he’d been anxious to see. “She just left and I thought . . .” Realizing how much he’d been about to reveal about someone he’d just met, he cut himself off and shook his head. “Never mind.”

“You thought that I was her returning?” Tempest persisted, trying to drag more information from him as she strolled the rest of the way into his apartment.

“It doesn’t matter.” His tone was as irritable as his scowl, telling his sister without words that the conversation was over. “Why are you here at my place so early anyway?”

“I thought we could head up to Maddux’s apartment together to find out what happened last night with Theodore,” she suggested. “That way he only has to tell the story once, instead of two separate times. I guess I should have called or texted you first, but I obviously had no idea you were otherwise busy.”

“I’m not busy,” he snapped, and his sister just smirked.

And how in the hell could he have forgotten about meeting up with Maddux this morning and finally being able to celebrate Theodore Cole’s ruination? Clearly, Elle had preoccupied his thoughts throughout the night, and the morning, to the exclusion of everything else, and that never happened with the women he slept with.

“Give me a few minutes to dress and we’ll head up to his apartment.” He returned to his bedroom, where he put on a pair of worn jeans and a plain T-shirt, along with socks and his most comfortable pair of Nikes, which was more his speed than the formal suit he’d been forced to wear the evening before.

When he returned to the living room less than ten minutes later, his sister was holding one of Elle’s sparkling crystal heels in her hand and was studying the shoe curiously.

Tempest glanced his way, a wry smile on her lips. “It appears your visitor left something behind. A crystal-encrusted shoe, of all things. Did you find your own Cinderella at the ball last night?” she teased.

Hunter frowned. Elle had forgotten her shoe? Or maybe she hadn’t been able to find it and had been in such a rush to leave that she’d abandoned the heel. Reaching his sister, he took the footwear from her.

“Where did you find this?” he asked, running his thumb over the smooth crystals.

“Just underneath that chair.” She pointed to one of the armchairs he’d passed when he’d carried Elle to his bedroom, and he remembered hearing the drop of her heels onto the floor. “The toe of the shoe caught my eye, and unless you have some fetish I don’t know about, which is totally cool by the way,” she said humorously, “then I’m guessing that it belongs to your lady friend?”

“It does.” Why deny the truth?

Tempest crossed her arms over her chest. “Why would she leave it behind?”

“Because she was in a hurry to ditch me while I was in the shower, I’m assuming.” Hunter’s irritation returned tenfold at the thought of Elle’s desertion. Never mind that he’d normally do the same damn thing to any other woman he slept with, but this deep-seated craving he had for Elle told him that he wasn’t done with her just yet.

Tempest gave him a goading smile. “Was the sex that bad that she’d run off the morning after?”

Hunter’s jaw clenched in annoyance, even though he knew his sister was messing with him. “No, it was that fucking good.”

Tempest’s eyes widened in shock. “So, this woman . . . you actually want more than one of your normal one-night stands with her?”

He set the sparkly shoe on the end table to deal with later and shook his head indignantly at his sister. “You know way too much about my personal life.”

She shrugged. “One and done has been your MO since Natalie died,” she pointed out softly. “This is the first time in years that I’ve seen you so affected by a woman.”

Hunter didn’t respond and jammed his hand through his hair. The more difficult truth was that he simply couldn’t wrap his head around never seeing Elle again. Did he want to sink his cock inside her soft, sweet, giving body a few more times? Definitely. But he didn’t just want her physically . . . he was shocked to realize that he wanted to learn about all those other intriguing nuances he’d seen glimpses of the night before. The sadness when she’d talked about the situation with her stepmother and sisters and her own decency despite their selfish decision to exclude her from the ball. And most refreshing was the fact that

she had no ulterior motives when it came to him and his wealth, when he was so used to women trying to pursue him as a rich commodity.

For the first time in a long time, he’d just been himself with Elle. There had been no pretenses and no expectations between them beyond pleasure. During the first few hours they’d spent together at the ball, that cynical, jaded part of his personality he’d worn like armor for years had gradually faded away because she’d been so genuine, guileless, and so incredibly easy to be with.

“Considering how she left, I’m thinking she wanted to keep it a one-night stand,” Tempest said, cutting into his thoughts with her assessment of the situation.

Hunter shrugged, undeterred. “Then I’m going to have to track her down and find her and convince her otherwise.”