Crush Read online

  Crush

  Tiffany Allee

  For adults only. This is an erotic romance that contains material that is not suitable for children.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2016 by Tiffany Allee All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means.

  Visit the author’s website at www.tiffanyallee.com

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Just Once More

  Also by Tiffany Allee

  About the Author

  1

  Lizzy Jones smoothed invisible wrinkles from her silky cocktail dress, and wondered what the heck she was doing. Fancy parties in Vegas weren’t exactly her scene, and while she’d enjoyed the dressing up and seeing all of the glitzy people around her, she was eager to get into something more comfortable, more her. She walked back to her table, hoping her stride looked more like the strut of a woman comfortable in heels, and less like the hobble of someone who rarely wore them.

  Crystal and Maya sat at the table, martinis in front of them. Crystal’s face lit up with a big smile at Lizzy’s approach, and she squeezed Lizzy’s hand when she sat down.

  "We ordered you a drink," Crystal said.

  She suppressed a grimace. She didn’t mind a drink now and then, but the martinis Crystal favored were terribly strong. But what the heck, this was likely to be her only chance to play dress up and hang out at a swank Vegas hotel for a long time. Soon, she would be home. And while home wasn’t so bad, this little taste of fantasy wasn’t bad either.

  Pushing thoughts of home from her mind, she took in the glitz and glam of the casino around her. The hotel was nice. More than nice, it was beautiful, elegant, flashy—all the things she wasn't. The only thing that could make the weekend any better would be a fantasy guy to go with it. But she’d resisted Crystal’s attempts to set her up with her acquaintances. The idea of hooking up for a weekend with a stranger was just a little too scary.

  "Wow, ladies. Check him out," Maya said.

  Lizzy turned her head slightly so she could check out the man Maya had indicated without tipping him off. A tall lean frame, adorned by a tuxedo greeted her. Dark hair was styled off of his chiseled, handsome face.

  A face that was all too familiar.

  "Oh my God," she muttered.

  "What?" Crystal asked. "Do you know him?"

  Lizzy could only nod. The cocktail party and fancy Vegas hotel faded into the background, and suddenly she was six years younger and getting ready to go to her high school prom. His eyes watched her walk nervously down the stairs, then slid away from her, disinterested.

  Now his eyes were fixed, staring out the window. Still not focused on her.

  "Who is he?"

  "Um…an old acquaintance," she said, then spared a glance for her friends. Crystal looked worried. Did she look that shocked to see him?

  "Oh? Because you look like you’ve seen a ghost," Crystal said.

  Yeah, a ghost. A ghost from her past.

  "I’ll be right back."

  She pushed up from the table and headed for him, and when his eyes didn’t move from the window, she had half a mind to keep walking. To not stop to talk to him, reconnect with him. But she couldn’t resist. Steeling her spine, she plastered on her most confident smile, and headed for her first crush.

  Ian Davis stared out the window, taking in the bright lights of the Vegas Strip, and tried to figure out how he'd gotten here.

  The divorce had been difficult. He and Elise had looked so good together on paper. But two years of a passionless marriage full of charity balls and newspaper photo shoots had been miserable for him. He'd longed for the days before his business had taken off. When things had been simpler.

  Oh the first couple of years had been a rush. For a twenty-six-year-old kid, they'd been a whirlwind. He'd gone from dirt poor to wealthy in what seemed like a matter of days. It had been years, really. Years of working his ass off. But it felt like one day he was poor and the next he was rich. And he'd enjoyed it—for a while. But he'd tired of Elise's world. So they split. And had been apart for nearly as long as they'd been together.

  But that didn't mean he was ready for this.

  He’d come to Vegas at his best friend's insistence. Dragged here in the hopes that he'd find a nice woman to spend a night with, at the very least. He needed some fun to pull him out of his shell, Jacob said.

  Jacob had been his best friend since the sixth grade, and despite the very different directions their lives had taken as adults, Jacob was still very much in his life. Unfortunately, Ian rarely got to see Jacob's family—his little sister, specifically. Which was probably for the best. She had blossomed into a beautiful woman sometime between college and his marriage to Elise.

  He could still picture her, beautifully decked out for his wedding. Even now, years later, his cock twitched at the thought of her. When he was happiest with Elise, he still had to fight the urge to pull his childhood crush into his arms.

  Jacob would kill him if he knew the thoughts that ran through Ian's mind about his sister.

  He turned from the window back to the upscale party he’d begrudgingly attended at Jacob’s request. It was supposed to give him an opportunity to mingle, to get out there, to meet a woman who could help him move on—even if the affair was short-lived. Jacob had insisted he attended with him, and then he'd been forced to go back to his room for a conference call, leaving Ian to attend on his own.

  But Jacob would be back soon. Maybe they could just get drinks later, some dinner. He didn’t want to be here among strangers. Jacob would give him a hard time, but he’d get over it. One last look to make sure Jacob hadn’t gotten away from his meeting early and he’d go.

  He turned to survey the room. Glitzy dresses and shining hair abounded among tailored tuxedos and colorful drinks. The women that attended these things were too similar to Elise—exactly the sort of woman he didn’t want.

  Breath catching, he took in the beautiful woman walking toward him. The dress held tight to her slim form, accentuating her breasts and hips. She was slender, but still quite feminine. Dark hair curled around her heart-shaped face. Just his type. He moved his gaze up to her bright smile, to her stunning hazel eyes, and his mouth dropped open.

  "Lizzy." Her name came out of him in a rush of breath. "I never expected—"

  "Hi Ian." Her voice was stronger than she’d hoped, and she mentally congratulated herself for not squeaking.

  "My God, how long has it been?" He reached down and hugged her, and as his hard arms closed around her, her breath caught in her throat, and a dull ache settled inside of her.

  "Well, I think I saw you for two seconds last Christmas, but then you were off on another adventure with my brother," she teased. Her voice remained confident, but her insides were ready to explode. She was teasing Ian Davis. After watching him from a distance for so long she was actually standing here teasing him.

  And how she'd watched him. Rich. Powerful. Self-made. And her brother's best friend since she was seven years old. The boys had been twelve at the time. Her first and—as fickle fate would have it—only crush.

  Oh she'd dated other men. Stewart's face flashed in her mind, and she shook her head. He'd been a man in sex and age—but a real man? No. They'd dated through most of college—her only real relationship. But Stewart wasn't the kind of man she needed in her life. He was weak willed and wishy-washy, hardly a knight in shining ar
mor.

  Her stomach clenched, and her breasts ached. God, she'd never wanted anything so much as she wanted Ian. But he'd been out of reach ever since she could remember—too old while she was a teenager and too out of her league by the time she'd matured.

  "So are you here with friends?" His gaze moved to the table where Crystal and Maya watched. Blatant interest was plain to see on their faces.

  "Oh, yes." She took a breath to tell him that Crystal, a friend of hers from college, had dragged her to Vegas, gussied her up, and allowed her to spend the weekend pretending she was a socialite rather than a librarian, but then snapped her mouth shut. There was such a thing as oversharing, and while she knew Ian would never buy her glamorous girl facade she’d donned for the trip, she didn’t have to admit it just yet.

  "Want to have a drink with us? I mean…unless you’re here with someone."

  "I’m actually supposed to be here with Jacob."

  "What?" Sudden heat flushed her cheeks at the thought of her brother watching her drooling all over Ian, and she scanned the room around them.

  "Yes, but he’s abandoned me. I’m afraid I’m all alone," he said, voice husky. His gaze locked with hers, and there was something there. An intensity she’d never seen in him before.

  "Well, I can’t just leave you all alone." Wow. Wonders would never cease. She was actually keeping her cool around Ian Davis. Pretty soon a pig would fly across the city view behind him.

  A sexy grin crept onto his face and she smiled back hesitantly. She couldn’t believe he was standing here in front of her on the night when she had dressed up like one of the glamorous women he favored. She was here for a night of forgetting. A night of fun. A night of fantasy.

  It was hardly fair her fantasy man had shown up for it.

  2

  It took exactly one drink with Lizzy and her very enthusiastic friends for Ian to realize that the only thing he wanted to do in Vegas was get Lizzy alone. He waited until the other two women were chatting amongst themselves, and then he bent close to Lizzy’s ear.

  "Would you like to go somewhere…quieter?" he murmured.

  Her eyes met his, bright and wide and just as beautiful as he remembered. She nodded and then turned to her friends.

  "I’ll catch up with you guys later, okay? Ian and I are going to get some food."

  Neither of the women was gauche enough to point out that there was plenty of food at the party, but the laughter dancing just under the surface of their faces contradicted their polite replies.

  "There’s a restaurant," Lizzy said as they left the event room. "It should be quiet this time of night."

  Ian knew where the restaurant was, but he let Lizzy lead the way. She looked so different, and yet exactly the same. The dress was beautiful, as was her makeup and styled hair, but it was still her beneath it all. The woman he’d fantasized about for years. Even now, he wondered if her skin could be as soft as it looked. If she tasted as good as he knew she had to.

  He shook his head. No. This was his best friend’s little sister. He needed to remember that. They were catching up. Old friends. That was all.

  Lizzy paused in front of the host, an older man with a shiny head and tired eyes. Boredom laced his expression, but he perked up at the sight of Lizzy, and then quickly showed them to a table.

  As he’d expected, the restaurant was almost empty.

  "So where is Jacob?" Lizzy asked. She glanced behind him as if her brother would suddenly appear.

  "He had to call in for work."

  "So you’re meeting up later?"

  "That’s the plan," he said. An emotion flashed across her face, gone before he could identify it for sure. But it looked a lot like disappointment. Why would she be disappointed? Was it possible she wanted to be alone with him as much as he did with her?

  Blood rushed to his ears at the thought, and just the idea made him harden. And why not? They were both adults. She didn’t have to know he’d held a torch for her all these years. They could have a night of fun, if she was interested too. Why the hell not?

  "Sorry, what?" Idiot. He’d missed what she’d said.

  "I asked if you wanted a glass of wine." She smiled, obviously cheerful at his lack of cool.

  "Sure."

  Neither of them ordered food. Instead they sipped wine and chatted about the old days. She was just starting in on the beastliness of his first car when his phone vibrated in his pocket. He jumped a little, and tugged it out.

  "Sorry," he muttered.

  "No problem."

  He blinked at the text message from Jacob. It was too perfect. Running into her here. And now this. He had to go for it.

  "Looks like Jacob won’t be joining us," he said, although he’d never actually informed his friend of Lizzy’s presence. And he’d be damned if he was going to do so now.

  "Oh?" Her tone was just a little too perfect. A little too disinterested. He might be reading her wrong, but he didn’t think so. To hell with it. Never take a chance, never get anywhere.

  He leaned forward, holding her gaze with his own. That little worried glint she always carried in her eyes was there, but something else overrode it. And he was ready to bet that it was the same passion that ran through him.

  "Want to come up for a nightcap?"

  Ian pressed down the number for the penthouse, and Lizzy shifted her weight from foot to foot. Was she really doing this? Were they even doing anything? Maybe he just wanted to talk. Oh God, what if he only wanted to talk?

  As numbers crawled up on the elevator, her heart thumped more quickly in her chest. Her mind reeled, and she took a deep breath to calm herself. She could get through this. She’d made it this far, hadn’t she?

  "Are you all right?" Ian took her hand in his. "You don’t have to come up. I just—"

  "I’m fine," she lied, knowing that she didn’t sound totally convincing.

  He raised an eyebrow.

  "Really, I am. It’s just…"

  "Yes?" He touched her shoulder softly with the back of his fingers. Hand loosely fisted, he slid it across her skin in way that was no doubt meant to be comforting, but it only made her heart race faster. But not because of her nerves.

  She shivered. This was her chance. A fantasy night wearing a fantasy dress. Why shouldn’t she enjoy it with her fantasy man?

  Because it’ll kill you to say goodbye in the morning.

  She shoved the thought into the back of her mind. No. She was stronger than that. She could do this.

  "Lizzy?" His brows were drawn together and his mouth formed a tight line of worry. She’d been silent too long.

  "I just don’t usually do this," she said, finally, unable to think of a better excuse. His eyes widened. "I mean…just go up to hotel rooms with strange men. No matter how handsome." She couldn’t tell him the truth. That she’d dreamed of him kissing her, touching her, making her his since high school. That would only scare him away.

  He ran his thumb across the top of her hand. "I’m hardly a stranger."

  "Touché." She said, and his answering smile dropped her tension a notch.

  She followed him out of the elevator to his room, which was far nicer than the simple suite she stayed in.

  "Nice room."

  He glanced around it as if he hadn’t noticed. "It’s all right."

  All right? The differences between them couldn’t be more pronounced than that simple statement revealed them to be. To him, this opulent room was the status quo. Sudden certainty hit her like a kick to the stomach.

  She didn’t belong here.

  Oh, she might have fooled some of the strangers milling around the party that night, maybe even fooled herself a little. But Ian knew who she was, where she'd come from. He knew that she was a simple librarian who had just barely finished her graduate degree. She couldn't fool him.

  "Look, this has been nice—catching up, I mean. But I should really be going. It’s getting late, and I’m sure the girls will be worried about me." That was a blatant lie.
Crystal knew who Ian was. Lizzy had confessed her crush for her brother’s best friend to her long ago. But it was the best excuse she could come up with. Because no matter how much she wanted him, she didn’t belong in his world.

  "You could call them," he said.

  Ian could hardly believe his eyes when he'd realized that Lizzy stood in front of him at the party. And even now, his heart hammered in his chest, so loud that he could barely understand what she was saying. But the panic in her gaze made him realize something wasn't right, and when she turned to leave, the shock faded enough for him to act. This was his chance. His chance to finally be with the woman he'd teased since childhood. His chance to make her see him as more than a friend of her brother's. His chance to see if she was the woman he'd always thought her to be. The woman he could be happy with.

  "I should go."

  He gripped her shoulder and said, "Don't go."

  She turned and blinked at him. "You want me to stay?"

  He nodded his head, unable to speak for a moment; the emotion in her eyes was so raw.

  "But you could have any woman up here, Ian. And I…I don’t belong here." She looked down at the carpet, and he slid his hand under her chin and nudged her face back up.

  "Lizzy I—" He swallowed. How could he say he'd been half in love with her for years? Yearned for her even while he married another? There didn't seem to be a way to say those words without sounding like a spineless ass for not pursuing her sooner. Or worse, a liar hoping to get laid. "I don’t want anyone else. Not tonight."

  She licked her lips, a quick slide of her tongue, and he forgot what he was trying to say.

  "Me either," she murmured, her eyes finally locking with his.

  He hardened painfully at her words, at the sight of her tongue. He could figure out how to tell her how he felt later. For now, he needed to show her.