Wildest Dreams Read online

  Dedication

  To my mom and dad,

  who always encouraged me to follow my dreams.

  Acknowledgments

  2005:

  They say you should write what you know. When you decide to ignore that advice, you must find nice people who are willing to share their knowledge with you. For help with research, my thanks go to:

  Barbara Robichaux, tour guide extraordinaire, for answering many various and sundry questions about New Orleans, and also to Gloria Alvarez, Winnie Griggs, and the other ladies of Ninklink who provided helpful pieces of info on the city;

  Captain Bill Shewmake, for answering my questions about the bayou;

  Carrie Loque, for help with the fictional drive to bayou country, as well as being my Cajun French connection;

  Author Maggie Price, her brother Major Richard Neaves, and Brian Hoehler, for answering a wide array of “cop questions”;

  Daphne Wedig, for tidbits about life in the advertising world;

  Sarah Patrick, for her expertise in fine bed linens; and

  John Abbott, manager of Muriel’s, for a wonderful personal tour of the restaurant’s party rooms, which were the original inspiration for this story.

  I hope I got everything right, and any errors come with my apologies.

  Additional gratitude goes to:

  Renee Norris, for her brilliant and insightful critique of the manuscript—I’m indebted!

  Robin Zentmeyer, for lots of brainstorming, and also for traveling with me to New Orleans for research. I know eating beignets and drinking hurricanes was very hard work, and I appreciate the sacrifice!

  Jackie Floyd, for early brainstorming, not to mention constant moral support;

  Bobbi Casey, for teaching me to crochet, which inspired that part of the story;

  Michelle Combs and Martha Poston, for letting me borrow the part about the angels;

  And to Heather Lester, for hanging out with me in the red room at Muriel’s at a party back in 2001—and listening as I chattered endlessly about how I had to use it in a book someday!

  2013:

  I’m so excited to see this book being re-released so that it can find a new and expanded audience. In addition to the above list of people who helped the original edition become a reality back in 2005, I want to thank my editor, May Chen, and my agents, Meg Ruley and Christina Hogrebe, for making this new edition happen! My sincere appreciation also goes to everyone at Avon/HarperCollins who does such great work packaging my books and getting them into readers’ hands.

  Thanks also to Lindsey Faber and Megan Faber for helping me update Shondra’s teen slang.

  Contents

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Interlude

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Interlude

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Interlude

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Interlude

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Interlude

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Interlude

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Interlude

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Epilogue

  Welcome to Destiny . . .

  An Excerpt from One Reckless Summer

  An Excerpt from Sugar Creek

  An Excerpt from Whisper Falls

  An Excerpt from Holly Lane

  An Excerpt from Willow Springs

  An Excerpt from Half Moon Hill

  About the Author

  By Toni Blake

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  Interlude

  YOU SEE HER in shadow. Curves and lace. Her presence draws you closer, deeper into a dark room.

  Her face is hidden behind a Mardi Gras mask, red feathers fanning outward. Black sequins outline her eyes, eyes so powerful they leave you helpless as you move slowly but surely toward them. She lounges on a chaise beside floor-to-ceiling windows, waiting, watching.

  Outside the window rests a balcony of twisting iron, and moonlight—shining through the square grates to highlight her body. The room takes on the color of deep ruby red, but that and the windows and the balcony are all peripheral because you see only her.

  You want her with a force that turns you inside out; you fear she can see all your secrets, that they’re written on your face, in the clench of your fists, in the heat you know burns in your eyes. This is more than sex. More than you want to feel. But it’s pouring out of you like a liquid thing. You can’t stop it.

  Your eyes drop to her breasts, hugged by low-cut black lace with a rose embellished in red on each cup. You kneel before her and let your hands close over them, your fingers curling into their softness. Through the lace, firm nipples jut into your palms. Your stomach contracts. You’re trembling now.

  You squeeze, caress, bend your head to kiss through the bra. Her gentle moan shoots straight to your groin. More, you need more of her.

  Reaching up, you slip your fingers beneath one black strap and slide it from her porcelain shoulder. You grip the edge of the scalloped cup, pulling down. You lower your mouth to one pink nipple, hard as a pearl as you lick, suckle her, want somehow to take her inside you.

  As you inhale her scent—sweet roses—your hand glides down over her smooth stomach into the lace panties below. She sighs with pleasure, and touching her that way nearly buries you. There are things you want to say to her, desperately, but you can’t find the words. Maybe there are no words, nothing to describe what you’re feeling. You’re not a man gifted with a silver tongue—and besides, if you want to use your tongue to make her feel good, there are better ways.

  Releasing the hard peak of her breast, you tug gently on the black panties, where you find that same red rose inlaid on the front, until she lifts and lets you draw them down her thighs, over her stockings and sexy black heels. When she parts her legs for you, you think your chest might explode. You’ve never been this hungry for a woman. Never. You can’t wait another second before dragging a long, slow lick up her center.

  She sighs at each stroke of your tongue, rising to meet you. You’re making love to her with your mouth, praying she knows it’s lovemaking, also scared she knows. You’ve never let a woman’s need become the biggest part of sex for you, but in this moment, your desire is secondary—this is all about her. Her. Her.

  She slows her rhythm, but accentuates it at the same time, lifting higher, harder. You know she’s getting close. Your only reason for existing is to make her come. You wonder if it’s possible you could come, too, just from this.

  A low, keening cry from above.

  Fingernails grazing your scalp, hands coiling into tight fists in your hair.

  A glance up to the black sequins finds her eyes shut; she bites her bottom lip as she leans her head back against red pillows.

  Come. Come for me. Now.

  As if on your silent demand, her cries deepen, stretch, fill the room as her sex fills your mouth with even more intense strokes. Your hands curve around her ass to help her, lift her, and it goes on and on, this orgasm from this woman who
se face you can’t see but whom you still need so much.

  Finally, she relaxes, her pelvis easing back to the chaise, leaving you with the taste of her on your tongue, the sight of her closed legs below you. You lower one last, delicate kiss at the juncture of her thighs. Perfect fulfillment.

  Chapter One

  IT WAS ONLY by chance that she sat before a mirror as she rolled the silk stocking up her leg. She saw herself in the glass, wearing only the stocking and a pair of satin cream-colored panties.

  “Get a thong,” Melody had instructed her. “It’ll make you feel sexier.”

  Stephanie had ignored that part. She hadn’t particularly wanted to feel sexy.

  But as the second stocking whispered up the smooth skin of her calf, thigh, the lace top resting only a couple of inches from her crotch, a hint of titillation rose there, unbidden.

  “It takes more than a pretty dress,” Melody had said. “You have to feel it. Sell it. You have to be it, or you’ll never fool anybody.”

  Sell it. Those were the two words she’d plucked from Melody’s advice. If Stephanie was adept at anything, it was selling. Products. Pitches. This was a little different, of course. No, a lot different. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t pull it off.

  She glanced back at the cheval mirror in the corner of her room. She’d never seen herself look so purely sexual.

  Getting to her feet, she stepped into the ivory cocktail dress, sliding her arms through spaghetti-thin shoulder straps, reaching behind to the zipper. The fabric pulled close, again sending an unexpected tendril of awareness through her body. Awareness of self, of her own sensuality.

  Strange, the journeys life led a person on—strange what someone could make themselves do for love. If anyone who knew her could see her now—sexy dress, strappy shoes, about to plunge into a decadent city’s underworld—they wouldn’t believe it. She could hardly believe it herself.

  Fastening a bracelet, she glanced to the bedside clock. Ten-thirty. “Plan to arrive just before eleven,” Melody had said. “That’s prime time at the hunt.”

  A fresh shot of trepidation whirred through her. Wait a few minutes and maybe you can convince yourself it’s too late, past prime time. You can take off this silly dress, put on pajamas, and watch TV or read a book.

  Only problem was, if she didn’t go tonight, she’d have to go tomorrow night, or the next night. And every night she talked herself out of it was another night Tina was missing.

  Letting out a sigh, she took one last look in the mirror. She didn’t even recognize herself.

  Maybe that was a good thing.

  HALF AN HOUR later, a cab pulled to a stop on an ancient, narrow street, delivering her to her destination. She felt sinfully beautiful. She felt naked. She wished she were anywhere else.

  “Chez Sophia,” the driver said.

  She handed the polite middle-aged man a ten over the seat. “Keep the change.”

  Stepping out into the sultry night, she watched the taxi dart away and battled a brief second of feeling too alone. Put her in front of a roomful of hard-nosed CEOs in a sharply cut suit and she was a confident, eloquent woman in perfect control of everything around her. The stark contrast of where she was—who she was—tonight, struck once more.

  Yet she’d come too far to go back. So she took a deep breath and turned toward Chez Sophia, staring up at elegant fern-hung balconies, all curving wrought iron and grace. That quickly, the aura of the place began to surround her, the sensation nearly as cloying as the sticky air.

  Moving toward the front entrance in heels that clicked on the sidewalk with each stride, she subtly tugged upward on the bodice of her low-cut dress in some last-minute stab at self-preservation.

  But no. She wasn’t here to be herself. All her suits were at home. She’d come to be someone else—someone she could never really be. Biting her lip, she gently pulled the clingy fabric back down, maximizing her cleavage. Feel beautiful. Not naked.

  “Good evening, miss. Welcome to Chez Sophia.” The twenty-something doorman wore a white shirt, red vest, black tie.

  She manufactured a smile. Sell it. “Thank you.”

  He motioned toward the interior of the grand saloon, abuzz with people drinking, smoking, laughing. A Dixieland trio played in one corner, the large bass briefly drawing her eye. “Our high-tech dance club is straight down the hallway, the Zydeco Lounge is to the right, and—”

  “I’m here for the private party.” That’s what Melody had told her to say.

  The doorman’s eyes changed. To disappointment? Lust? Surely she was thinking too much. Either way, his gaze dropped boldly to her cleavage before he brought it back to her face. That’s all she was tonight—cleavage, curves.

  “Through the doorway past the stairwell,” he said.

  “Thank you.” But she could no longer meet his eyes. Damn it, you’re supposed to be selling it.

  As she walked farther into the club, she decided now would be a good time to start doing just that. If all you are is cleavage and curves, sell that. Feel it. Be it. Like Melody said. Just for tonight. Everything depended on it.

  Men watched as she passed, clearly thinking her a different sort of woman than she was, even without the knowledge of the “private party” she’d come for, and again the juncture of her thighs suffered a slight tingle. Strange, maybe even shameful, to feel that now, yet as she was drawn more deeply into the place, she understood Melody’s advice. She couldn’t do this halfway. If she were to pull it off, she had to let herself feel every forbidden bit of it. So as she exited the door past the stairwell, she attempted to relish the fresh sensitivity in her breasts, to embrace the soft, slight throb between her thighs.

  A large, dark-skinned man wearing a familiar red vest and black tie waited outside the door. “Private party?”

  “Yes.” She’d turned the one simple word silky, sexy. Practice.

  “All the way to the top.” He pointed up a wooden stairway painted white. Old brick walls surrounded the steps on all sides, and as she ascended, she realized she was outside again, in an enclosed courtyard. It seemed as if she were traveling a maze to reach the soiree tucked deeply within Chez Sophia—but she supposed that made sense. A thin line of perspiration trickled between her breasts.

  Four half-flights of stairs later, she found another doorman, this one young, blond. “Welcome to Sophia’s private party.” He held the door open with a ready smile.

  A wild sense of nervousness barreled down through her chest as the reality of what she was about to do struck her full force. But as she entered the room through red velvet curtains drawn back by gold cord, she struggled again to condense her feelings to the sensual, the sexual—nothing more.

  The scene before her was awash in elegance, from the crystal chandeliers to the gentle clink of wineglasses to the soft jazz permeating the air. Men in well-tailored suits stood chatting with beautiful women in cocktail dresses, some shimmering with sequins and beads. Others sat on the plush couches and graceful divans that sprinkled the space in bold splashes of scarlet, amethyst, cobalt.

  That’s when it hit her. I can do this. Outwardly, the crowd didn’t appear unlike those in her world. This was just another cocktail party. The only difference was that instead of selling an ad campaign, tonight she was selling herself.

  She scanned the crowd for Tina. Her heart sank when she didn’t find her, but she hadn’t expected it to be that simple anyway, and now she had to mingle, pretend, convince. She had to flirt. But she was horrible at flirting, so even if this was all about selling, something she could do, she needed a drink to bolster her courage.

  Clutching her small sateen purse tightly, she made a beeline for the long mahogany bar to one side of the luxurious room. A dark-haired guy stood behind the expanse of polished wood operating a blender, his back to her, as she climbed up onto a bar stool. A moment later, he stopped the blender
and turned. “What would you like?”

  Her heart nearly stopped just from looking into his eyes. He was everything she’d never been attracted to. Rugged. Unshaven. Unabashedly sexual without even trying. Midnight black hair framed his strong face, along with several days’ stubble curving across his upper lip and chin. One wayward lock of hair dipped onto his forehead, drawing attention to deep, sensual brown eyes. Warm and chocolaty, a place to drown. A black T-shirt stretched across a muscular chest and broad shoulders, a hint of a tattoo peeking from beneath one sleeve. The forbidden sense of arousal already coursing through her veins deepened.

  He cocked his head slightly. “Did you want a drink, beb?”

  She finally caught her breath. “Um, yes. A Chardonnay, please.”

  As he reached for a stemmed glass, she dug in her purse, placing a twenty on the bar, all the while fighting her reaction to him. This wasn’t her. She didn’t get excited by a guy on mere sight. Especially not one who looked so . . . dangerous.

  When he lowered her wine to a square napkin, his eyes fell on the cash. “What’s that for?”

  She blinked. “The wine.”

  His narrowed gaze only added to the sensation between her thighs. “Ladies don’t pay.”

  She softly pulled in her breath. “Oh. Right.” His tone said she should have known that. She shoved the bill back into her purse, then reached for the glass, taking a large swallow.

  “First time here?”

  What sort of accent was that? Something slightly Cajun? “Um, yes.” She nodded, softly, trying to quit feeling like a schoolgirl. Here she’d finally begun to think she could control this situation as efficiently as she controlled the rest of her life, and this darkly sexy man was already turning her soft and vulnerable, emotions equally as foreign as the sensuality currently pummeling her.