By Chance Box Set 1 Read online

  I text my mother that I’ll be there. No reason to wake her up this late, and honestly this way I don’t have to listen to her complain about my lack of proper phone etiquette. Yet, the thought of that party makes my mind wander back to JJ, and that adorable sweater she was wearing and the way her body fit to mine so perfectly.

  I will find her.

  I have to.

  “Okay you need to go out.” Clara says from my doorway. “Let me rephrase that, we are going out, so get ready.”

  I roll my eyes and lean back over my computer and continue the edits on my client’s thesis.

  “I’m not going. I need to finish this.” It’s not a total lie. I do need to finish, but I’m so ahead of schedule that I could take a few nights off and still be done on time. Instead of lying in bed and thinking about Liam, I used this as a distraction. I did everything in my power to take my mind off anything that would remind me of his gorgeous dark eyes, and sexy smile that made me soak my panties in a matter of seconds.

  “Did I ask you if you wanted to go?” Clara calls from her room down the hall. When I don’t answer she pokes her head in, again. “No I didn’t. I said we are going, as in you have no choice. Now get dressed in something slutty and let’s go get free drinks.” Getting a drink does sound nice. I turn to see her smirk and she knows she’s hooked me.

  “Can we go to Charlie’s?” I ask, knowing that’s probably where we were headed anyway.

  “Sure. As long as it gets you out of that chair, I’m good. Now get dressed before I do it for you.” I stand, not wanting her to dress me. Clara is gorgeous, but her style is not mine…at all. Where she likes to show off as much skin as possible, I’m on the more modest side of things.

  “Fine,” I mutter. “You know, you would make a great dictator of a small country.”

  “We all should have goals,” she says, smiling as she shuts herself in her room. I glance at her door for a second before I snap into action, grabbing my best outfit and getting ready.

  Charlie’s is what I like to call a hybrid bar. It has the classic feel of a pub but with the atmosphere of a club. There is a dance floor at the back with tables and booths that surround it. The lighting is always dim and the music is always loud. The food’s always amazing, but right now I’m in the mood to drink and dance…no food involved.

  I pull Clara away from the table and onto the dance floor where the music surrounds me, making my hips sway in circles, displaying my assets. I chose a tight black sequin skintight dress that shows off everything I have to offer. I usually go with something more loose fitting, but the more I looked in my closet, the more this dress called to me. I am not a small woman, but I know I have curves and I use that to my advantage. I also know the bright red heels I chose make my legs look stellar.

  Clara smirks as my hips move to the beat, and before I know it, there’s a hard body against me. I lean my head back and see a very attractive man grinding against my ass. My eyes lock on Clara’s and she winks, letting me know she thinks I should go with it, so I do. My hands find their way into his slick hair as his hands find my hips. The image of Liam’s face pops into my head and I can’t help but wish it were his hands on me instead of the guy currently dry-humping me like it’s his mission.

  After a few songs, my dance partner goes to get a drink, and the fact that he didn’t offer me one makes it crystal clear that my dance partner is done for the night. I guess grinding my ass against his weak hard-on wasn’t enough for him.

  Oh well.

  My eyes search the floor for Clara but come up empty. I know she wouldn’t leave without me knowing, and so I take out my phone from my clutch and text her quick, asking where she is. As I’m typing, I get this eerie sense that someone is watching, so my eyes scan the room, seeing nothing. I shrug the feeling off and go back to my phone, seeing a text from Clara come in.

  In the bathroom.

  I smile and I wonder if she’s in the bathroom for natural purposes or for extracurricular purposes. I chuckle at my own joke as a looming presence overtakes me. I look behind me to see a guy that thinks way too highly of himself. How do I know? Well for one, he’s wearing a polo shirt, with the collar popped—what is this, 2002?—and second, he’s wearing a self-satisfied smirk that sends revulsion through me.

  “Can I help you?” I ask as politely as I can, still feeling like eyes follow my every move.

  “I was wondering if you’d like to dance.” Give him points for being polite. I smile up at him, taking in his shaggy mane of dirty-blond hair and the diamond earing in his left ear. If I were thirteen I would be all over this guy, but alas, I am twenty-seven and not at all interested.

  “That’s really sweet. But I’m pretty danced out…I’m just waiting for my friend to come back,” I say, motioning to the washroom as I turn to head back to my table. A hand clamps around my arm and I’m jerked back.

  “I saw the way you danced with that dude earlier,” he snarls, leaning in close. I can smell the rum on his breath. “You can’t wear something like that and not expect guys to want to dance with you.” He cannot be serious.

  Okay, new plan.

  “I don’t give a shit what I’m wearing,” I yell over the blaring music, pulling my arm out of his grip. “I could be wearing a bathing suit and it wouldn’t give you the right to manhandle me.” I turn around, trying to walk away as fast as I can before I say something stupid.

  “It’s just as well. You’re a little too thick for my taste. You should try eating a salad once in a while. Might get you better dance partners.”

  I don’t want the words to sting, but they do. I love my body, have for years, but that doesn’t stop all those bad memories from coming back. The bullying, the comments, and the laughter. It still haunts me all these years later.

  As I turn toward my table, I know there is someone behind me and I hear a muffled roar. I turn to see what the commotion is about and stop dead in my tracks. Because standing over Polo Boy, who is down on the ground holding the side of his face, is Liam. And he’s staring directly at me.

  All I wanted to do was go home, but my best friend Damon decided I needed a night out. According to him, he was sick of seeing me mope around the office like a lost puppy. I can’t say I blame him. It’s been one day since I lost sight of JJ, and I can’t seem to get a grip. All my thoughts are consumed with her, finding her, and taking her as my own.

  “Dude, you seriously need this.” He pushes a whiskey on the rocks in front of me and I take a sip, feeling it burn on the way down. Damn, this place is cheap with their booze. “I know you’re all heartbroken about this chick, but loosen up! There are plenty of woman here that can take your mind off her.” That’s the problem. I don’t want a distraction. I just want to find her.

  I spent the last twelve hours scouring the internet for anyone with the nickname JJ or even her full name and came up with nothing. I wish I knew what she did for a living. That way I could at least narrow my parameters. I even considered a private investigator but then deemed it too much and threw that idea in the trash. I was desperate, but that was heading into stalker territory and I wanted to keep her, not scare her away.

  “Damon, you know that’s not gonna work,” I say, keeping my drink in my hand and periodically taking a sip and trying not to cringe each time the liquid hits my tongue. “You haven’t met her yet, man. She’s everything…” Damon rolls his eyes and I smile, knowing when this happens to him, karma will be oh so sweet for me.

  “Well, damn, the great William Arthur Huntington is in love…” He trails off and I shake my head. It’s too early for that kind of talk, but the way my heart beats three times its normal rate when she enters my mind, I know it’s not far off.

  “Hardly,” I mutter and tap on the bar, motioning for the bartender to come over. I order a beer and hope it’s better than the whiskey. Once it’s in front of me I take a swig and feel Damon still. I look over and his eyes are trained on the dance floor. “What are you looking at?” I ask, and follo
w his line of vision, but there is just a sea of people. He never answers me as he walks through the crowd and straight toward a woman with long blonde hair and a dress that would give a priest a heart attack. Once he’s occupied, my eyes scan the room and then the floor drops out from under me.

  Because standing across the room is the woman I have spent the last 24 hours searching for.

  She’s here.

  She’s here and she looks absolutely mouthwatering in her black dress that hugs every curve of her beautiful body. The sight of her shifting hips has my cock hardening and my hands fisting at my sides. My need to touch her is so strong, it’s coursing through every vein in my body, but I hold back and just watch her.

  Her eyes dart around the room as if she’s searching for someone, almost as if she can sense my eyes following her, and that makes me smirk into my beer. I love that her body’s attuned to me already, and it makes me wonder what else that body desires from me.

  Her head shakes slightly when she doesn’t find the source of the gaze and I lean against the bar, content with just watching as she takes out her phone and texts someone. Then an Abercrombie fucker comes up behind her and my back straightens.

  Nope. Not happening.

  I make my way to her and when I’m within hearing distance, and that scumbag calls her fat, I don’t hesitate before my fist finds his face.

  “Don’t you fucking touch her…” I growl as he cowers on the floor, holding the sides of his face. My eyes lift and meet those emerald gems that have captivated me for the last day and a half. I hear the guy groaning on the floor, but my eyes don’t leave hers as I step over him and make my way toward her.

  “You okay?” I whisper, taking her face in my hands and sighing at the contact. Damn, does she feel amazing. She says nothing, her mouth opening then closing. I smirk as my fingers trace the sides of her face and down her jaw. She shivers and I know I need to get her away from prying eyes before I fuck her right here on the dance floor. “Come with me,” I say, motioning to the hallway across the room. I take her hand in mine and we navigate through the throngs of people until we’re blissfully alone at the end of the hallway.

  “Liam?” she whispers as I spin her and push her up against the wall. My nose trails along her neck, and I breathe her in, loving the scent of her perfume mixed with the sweat from her dancing.

  “You were sexy as fuck on that dance floor,” I mutter, trailing kisses up the same path my nose took earlier. She lifts her hips as if she needs relief and I can’t take it anymore. I push her against the wall and flatten her body against mine. My hands tangle in her loose strands as I bring her face inches from mine, her eyes searching mine.

  “What are you doing here?” she asks, as if she can’t believe I found her. I can’t believe I did either. Now that she’s here in front of me, in my arms, she won’t be getting away.

  “I don’t know. Buddy of mine wanted me to go out for drinks because I was moping all day about this amazing girl I was trying to find.” My forehead dips to meet hers, feeling her breath on my lips. I groan internally at the memory of what those lips feel like as they mold to mine. I can’t wait to feel them again and again…and again.

  “You were trying to find me?” she asks as I nod slightly, smiling down at her. Did she really think I would let her go that easily?

  “Angel, I would search the earth for you. You changed everything.” Her eyes widen at my admission. Before she has a chance to respond, my lips are on hers in a powerful kiss that rocks me to my core. My hands tighten in her hair, bringing her closer as she whimpers against me. Damn, that sound goes straight to my cock.

  She pulls away all too soon, leaving me breathless. “We can’t do this…” she murmurs as I shake my head, lifting her chin so our eyes meet.

  “No, I’m not letting you do this again,” I say, pushing my cock against her stomach and watching her eyes flutter shut. “You see what you do to me? This is only for you, and I won’t let you throw it away because you’re scared.” I didn’t intend to be so harsh, but the idea of her leaving again makes me insane.

  “Liam, we hardly know each other…” she sighs as my hips rotate and her hips lift, getting the friction she desperately needs. “This is crazy…”

  “JJ, I know it’s crazy. But what I have with you is beyond anything…it’s so amazing and I can’t let that go…I won’t.” I kiss her again and she melts against me.

  Fuck.

  His lips are pure sin. My brain is screaming to get as far away from him as I can, I know he’ll be nothing but trouble, but my body wants more…so much more. His hands delve into my hair as his lips move against mine, and before I have sense to stop it, his tongue meets mine and I’m lost. This feeling is so unreal, like I’m suspended in the air, not knowing if I’ll reach the ground. “Liam…” I whimper, his lips moving across my jaw and down my neck. My body arches off the wall, his hands tracing over my skin, until they reach the hem of my dress.

  “Sweetheart…” he groans as his hands grasp the naked flesh of my thighs, moving ever so slowly up until he squeezes my ass.

  “Fuck…” I grunt, loving the feel of his hands on me. I never got to feel this last time, and damn, I might have stayed if I felt this. My body responds with every firm grasp of his fingers on my flesh and I squirm against him. I won’t be able to take this much longer, I know it.

  My eyes dart down the hall and see we’re hidden behind a doorway. I make either the most reckless or the most needed decision of my life. “Touch me…” I beg. “I need you to touch me.”

  His lips stop their torment as his eyes lift to meet mine. A smirk appears on his handsome face and I notice an evil glimmer in those dark depths. God, that look turns me on. I know if his hands shifted and cupped my heat, he would see how turned on those lips were making me.

  “You need me to touch you?” He growls as his lips take mine again, not giving me a chance to answer. “I’m desperate to have you JJ, I need to feel you come…right here.” All I do is stare because words aren’t possible as his tongue darts out, trailing down my chest. I arch into him once more, needing some kind of release. “I know what you need,” he whispers against my skin, sending goosebumps all over my body. His eyes dart down the hallway right before his hands leave my ass and press into my breasts.

  Damn. This is heaven.

  Before I can utter my love of his hands on me, his fingers delve into my dress, pulling down the fabric to reveal my naked chest. “No bra?” he says, arching an eyebrow. “Dirty girl.” His eyes gleam with satisfaction right before a gasp leaves my mouth the moment his lips wrap around my pert nipple. Who knew dirty talk could be so good? Who knew a gorgeous man attacking your nipples in the middle of a hallway could be such a turn-on?

  My hands find their way into his hair, loving the softness between my fingers. He growls when I pull a little too hard, but he doesn’t stop teasing my nipples. He does one, then the other, until my hips shift, looking for friction. “Patience, sweetheart,” he murmurs into my skin as his mouth meets mine once again. God, his lips are magic, so I hold him to me, keeping them on mine.

  He’s not going fast enough. One thing he’ll learn about me is that when it comes to sex, I am not a patient woman. I wrap one hand around his wrist, slowly pushing it down to where I want him the most. A laugh rumbles through his chest as he takes over, brushing his fingers at the hem of my dress. His fingers finally trace along the edge of my panties before tracing my clit over the wet fabric. A groan rumbles through him as his head dips into my neck.

  “So fucking wet,” he mutters, my skin so sensitive to his touch. I love the trickles of pleasure that course through me at the feel of his fingers against my heat. “You need me to touch you?” His fingers delve past my panties and cup my sex, making me sigh in frustration. “Here?” he finishes as he lightly traces over my clit, making every nerve ending in my body light up. My head falls back against the wall with a thud, as a sound I didn’t even know I could make comes out of my mouth.<
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  “Fuck, Liam. Please…” I beg…for what? I’m not exactly sure. Do I want him to fuck me here in the hall? Do I want him to finger fuck me until my legs turn to jelly? Who knows? All I know right now is that if he stops touching me I might combust.

  “I know, baby. I know,” he whispers into my ear, pulling at the lobe with his teeth. “But I need you to do something for me first.”

  I whimper at the commanding tone of his voice. “Anything…” I say breathlessly as his smile whispers over my cheek.

  “Touch me,” he says, his hips shifting so his very impressive shaft brushes against my stomach. He groans at the contact and that sends a bolt of heat straight to my core, where his fingers lightly caress. My eyes close at the euphoric feeling of his fingers on me as I grind against his hand, needing more. But his fingers stop their torture as his gaze meets mine. “You touch me, I touch you. That’s the deal,” he commands, shifting his hips once more as I get lost in the pure lust of his gaze. He’s just as turned on as I am, and I fucking love the power I have right now.

  With shaking hands, I undo his belt, the metal clanging loudly in the empty hall. My fingers seek his cock, my hand breaching the top of his boxers. My eyes never leave his when I find his hard erection and clasp it, making Liam gasp.