Holiday in Danger (14 page)

Holly leaned against the hallway wall and watched more and more people filter in. People she’d groaned over when she was a teenager. People who her mom had picked over her own husband and daughter.

Holly ran her tongue over her lower lip and tucked a bit of hair back in place. This wasn’t a party for her.

“I thought I might find you here.” Trent’s deep voice tickled her ear and his hand slipped around her waist.

She tried to smile. “Hi, Trent.”

He pulled back and turned her around. “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

Holly shook her head. “No. It’s…not my thing, you know?”

Trent snorted. “Not mine either, can you tell?”

Holly smiled for real that time. If anyone screamed
I don’t want to be here
, it was Trent. He hadn’t even bothered to put on a tie. “Where’d you find a tux?”

He groaned. “Ian. Did you know he has a tailor on call? She told me I was too tense in the shoulders.”

Holly laughed. “You have been under a lot of pressure.”

“Tell me about it.” He ran his hand over his hair. “If I could just get a single lead, we could figure it out.”

“You will. I’m sure of it.” Holly wished she could snap her fingers and put a smile on her face and help Trent relax. But being back at a party in Midnight Cove was turning out harder than she’d anticipated.

“I take it you’re still uncomfortable here?”

It was Holly’s turn to groan. “That obvious?”

“I guess I figured you’d have been a regular. Once your mom married what’s-his-face, I assumed you’d be part of the jet set here.”

Holly raised an eyebrow. “You seriously think my stepfather wanted me anywhere near his money? Not a chance. And my mother was too busy falling all over herself to get in with the rich crowd to pay me any mind.”

She thought back to the divorce and how her mother practically disowned her. “She didn’t even come to graduation.”

“Holly, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Moving to LA with my dad was the best thing to ever happen to me. I wouldn’t be a chef if I’d stayed.”

Trent reached out and slipped a strand of hair behind her ear. “Did you come back when she died?”

Holly shook her head. “No.”

“Why not?”

She leaned back on the wall and sighed. “Because I didn’t see the point. Any money she had wasn’t hers. Or mine. I didn’t want to move back. I certainly didn’t want to get into a fight with Brandon over his dad’s inheritance.”

Trent chewed on his lip. “I take it you two aren’t close.”

Holly laughed. “Close? Unless you mean how much we hate each other, then no. We’re not close.”

He looked at her for a moment but didn’t respond.

“What is it?”

“Didn’t you two date?”

Holly exhaled and leaned against the wall. “For a minute before our parents got together. He was an asshole and I dumped him. End of story.”

“Sounds like there’s more to it than that.”

You betcha.
But Holly wasn’t about to get into it with Trent. “It’s not important. Like I said, when my mom died, I just told the lawyer to donate whatever I got to charity. I didn’t even find out the terms.”

“That was kind of you.”

I wish.
“No. It was selfish, really. My dad had just gotten over her and was doing really well in LA. When he had a heart attack, the last thing I wanted was to drag it all up again. She’d almost wrecked him, Trent. If I hadn’t been with him in LA…” She forced back a rush of tears. “He wouldn’t have lived as long as he did. When he died the doctors said he’d been lucky not to have had a heart attack years before.”

Trent reached out and she could see the concern in his eyes. “Holly, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

She gave him a small smile. “It’s been a long time, Trent. I’m over it now. But it doesn’t mean I want to see any of these people.”

“Because your mom picked them over you?”

Holly shook her head. “Because they remind me of what we had and lost. What she threw away.” She fingered the necklace and pushed back the emotion threatening to take over. “I know Ian wants to show me off—parade me around like I’m some trophy he’s won—but I can’t.”

“I told him those were over the top.” He motioned at the diamonds and a glimmer of the old Trent was back—the one full of attitude and cocky assurance. Holly smiled wider.

“Guess he didn’t listen.”

“That’s Ian. But if you don’t want to be here, he’ll understand.”

“You think so?”

Trent nodded. “If you’re finished, let’s get out of here. I’m sure there’s some empty room in this place we can hide out for a few hours.”

“What about Ian?”

“I’ll let him know we’re not into the party. He’ll come find us eventually.”

Holly nodded. Part of her hated to bail on Ian and his plans for the night, but she couldn’t think of anything better than leaving the party behind and going somewhere with Trent. Alone.

At last, she nodded. “Lead the way.”

* * *

TRENT

He knew he should be out in the main room, mingling and scoping out the party guests. One look from Holly with her haunted brown eyes and her small, sad voice and he couldn’t help it. There was no way Trent was leaving her side. Not when she needed him.

Ian could take care of himself. Holly was more important.

He squeezed her hand and slipped into a room down the hall. Dark and vacant. Perfect. He pulled her inside and shut the door behind them before reaching for the light.

“No. Leave it off.” Holly brushed past him and pushed open floor-to-ceiling curtains. The outside lights and the moon combined to give more than enough light to see.

They were in an office, probably the space that got the most use in a mansion that size. No one who lived that large had time to be anywhere else. At least not people who earned their money like Ian.

The man never slowed down. Trent was impressed—between the two of them, they were burning the candle at both ends—but Ian never once complained. If only they were closer to finding who wanted to hurt Ian. Holly, too.

She perched on the edge of the desk and he smiled.
So fucking sexy.

“You look beautiful tonight.”

She fingered the diamonds on her neck. “Thanks. Ian sent them over.”

“I wasn’t talking about the necklace, Holiday. I was talking about you.”

Holly didn’t smile. “Can I ask you something?”

Trent tensed. Questions like that never ended well. “Of course. You can ask me anything.”

“Why did you leave Midnight Cove?”

He exhaled. “A whole host of reasons.” He walked over to the window and stared out at the manicured gardens and stone walls. “You know I didn’t come from the best family on the block.”

“I remember.”

Trent was sure she did. It wasn’t easy to forget the shouting matches his parents had on the front lawn. Or his father’s buddies showing up in their patrol cars and calming them down. Or how his leather jacket hid more than tattoos. “My dad might have been a cop, but he wasn’t the nicest guy. If I’d stayed, it would have only gotten worse.”

“So you enlisted? That seems—”

“Ironic? Yeah, maybe. But it was the best thing to ever happen to me. Boot camp knocked some sense into me. All the rules and the structure and the conditioning—it showed me I wasn’t my father’s son. No one cared where I came from. They cared whether I’d be able to do my job.”

“Whether you could go to war.”

“Among other things.”

Holly pushed off the desk and the hooked rug dulled her footsteps. She slid up behind him and ran a hand over his back. “You’re different now. You have this calm confidence about you. It’s like you know what you’re capable of and don’t need to prove it to anyone.”

Trent’s lips twitched. “Like I said, the military was the best thing to ever happen to me.” He turned around. “Until I ran into you.”

Holly bit her lip. “I think it was the other way around.”

“Details.” He slid his hands around her waist and she melted against his chest. “Why are you mixed up with me and Ian, Holly? What can you possibly see in us?”

She smiled and her eyes sparkled in the light from outside. “I see two men who know what they want. Who accept me for who I am and not who they want me to be.”

He licked his lower lip and slid his hands up her sides. “What else?”

“I don’t…I…”

Trent leaned in and kissed her neck, just below her ear. “The sex isn’t half bad, either. Am I right?”

She shuddered against him. “I won’t lie. It’s pretty spectacular.”

He pulled back with a grin. “I don’t know how we all ended up together, Holly, but I’m in this for more than a vacation. I don’t want you to go back to LA.”

“What about your work?”

Trent shrugged. “I can have a home base anywhere. Midnight Cove’s as good as New York.”

“What about Ian?”

“I can share, if you want me to.”

She paused. “I don’t want this to come down to me picking a winner. I’m not some prize to be won. Trent, I—”

Trent shushed her with a finger on her lip. “I know. I don’t want to make you choose.”

“You don’t?” Her voice cracked on the last word and Trent grinned.

“No. But if you hadn’t noticed, it’s just you and me in this office. And I can think of a million things I’d rather be doing instead of talking.” He leaned closer and slid his hand down Holly’s body to cup her ass.

He plumped the soft swell of her flesh and tugged her closer until her thigh pressed into his crotch. She gasped as he rubbed his erection against her leg and Trent’s smile grew. “Let me fuck you, Holly.”

He kissed her ear, diamond and all. She shuddered.

“I want you. Right here. Right now. Let me show you how little I care about the world outside and all the people you can’t stand.” He squeezed her tighter. “I’ve got all I need in you.”

* * *

HOLLY

Oh my God
. She’d known Trent had changed. That he wasn’t the troubled boy she knew all those years ago. But this? The way he gripped her tight and whispered dirty words in her ear? He didn’t do this when Ian was around.

Holly ran her hands up his chest and dug her nails into the starched white of his tux shirt. She wanted to rip it off him. Strip both their bodies as bare as she felt on the inside. He’d gotten inside her head and opened up the past. Exposed her fear and anger. The bitterness she still held onto like a crutch.

Maybe a few stolen minutes with Trent would banish all her insecurities and hurt. Let her see the good in Midnight Cove instead of her unhappy past. Holly reached up and cupped his face in her hands.

“You haven’t answered me. Tell me yes, Holly. I need to hear it.”

She swallowed.
Admit what you want. Just say it.
She pulled her lower lip into her mouth and let it go. “Yes.”

Before she could say another word, Trent spun her around on her heels and crashed against her.

His breath heated her neck. “Grab your dress. Pull it up.”

This is really happening.
Holly shook as she grabbed fistfuls of the black velvet. She pulled it higher and higher, bunching the mass of fabric around her waist. The cool air of the room hit her ass and Trent’s hand followed.

“Hmm. This is the Holly I can’t get enough of. The one who’s so proper on the outside and dirty underneath. The wild one.” His fingers slipped beneath her thong and Holly’s breath caught in her lungs.

“Are you sure we—”

“Shh. Don’t talk.” Trent’s hand slid over her hip and down the front of the lace and Holly bit back a groan. His fingers parted her folds, stroking and caressing and searching. The pad of a finger swiped across her clit and Holly couldn’t hold back, couldn’t keep it in.

A moan rumbled up from the depths of her, loud and dangerous, and Holly let go. Screw caring what anyone at the party would think. Trent stroked her clit again and she trembled.

“You’re so wet for me, Holly. So fucking wet.” Trent’s breath fanned across her bare neck and he pulled his hand free. “Bend over.”

The sound of Trent’s zipper sent a shudder through Holly and she did his bidding. She bent at the waist until her breasts mashed into the wood grain of the desk and her ass stuck out behind her. So very exposed.

His satisfied moan sent shock waves through her body. “That’s it. Just like that.”

As she turned her head to find him in the moonlight, Trent’s hand stroked her bare skin.

“You have a perfect ass.” He circled his hands, up and down, over and around, touching every swell and curve.

She was so vulnerable in that moment, bent over a stranger’s desk, her whole backside exposed. But Holly didn’t care. Trent’s hands spread across her ass and her sex throbbed with unsatisfied need. He’d stoked her desire with barely a touch. Turned her reckless and brazen and wanton.

She moaned and he stepped forward. His words came out rough. “I’d find something to hold onto.”

Holly reached out, scrambling for the edge of the desk. As her fingers wrapped around the polished wood, Trent tugged her thong to the side.
Oh!
One thrust and he’d claimed her. His cock sliced through her slick channel and his thighs slammed against her ass.

Holly was full and throbbing and so close to coming all she could do was hold on. He fucked her mercilessly, pulling back and plowing home as she rocked into the desk. Over and over. His thick shaft filling her up, again and again.

Her breasts slid up and down on the wood grain of the desk, her ass bounced in the air, and as Trent slipped a hand back inside her thong, she cried out. He shoved his fingers through her swollen folds and…
there!

One swipe of his finger across her clit and she came. An orgasm barreled through her. Gone was the desk, the office, the party outside. Just light. Magic. Bursts of euphoria pulsing inside her.

Trent grabbed her by the hips, pistoning his way to his own climax as Holly rode her orgasm to the very end. He grunted his release, holding her tight and still as he emptied deep inside her. The rush sent shockwaves through Holly and she shook on the desk, overcome.

At last, Trent leaned over, draping his body over hers. He kissed her earlobe and Holly exhaled.

“That was amazing.”

“My thoughts exactly.” As Trent braced to stand, a woman’s voice carried into the room.