Chapter 1 The Sound of Consequence (Puget Sound ~ Alive With Love Book #1)
The hum of morning traffic woke her with a start.
Accustomed to living in a quiet neighborhood in Maine, it took Stacie Nightingale a few moments to remember that she was in downtown Seattle.
And that the warm body in bed with her was not her fiancé.
Correction! Ex-fiancé.
The weight of his arm was the first reminder of a nearly sleepless night. The ache between her legs was another reminder. She swallowed a chuckle, not wanting to wake the man who had her pinned to the bed. If only her best friend could see her now. Not only had Stacie had sex, something she rarely engaged in even with her ex-fiancé, but she’d actually enjoyed it, something she never did with said ex.
Stacie had intended to leave in the middle of the night, after the giver of multiple orgasms had fallen asleep. But here she was, exactly where she didn’t want to be…still in this man’s bed and unable to make a discreet escape.
A new relationship didn’t interest Stacie. She had been curious about her sexuality, which was the main reason behind her uncharacteristic promiscuity. She’d indulged in the one-night stand to prove that she wasn’t broken, that her inability to have an orgasm wasn’t her fault.
She’d never had one with her ex. Until last night, she didn’t know if she could have one. Now she knew better.
She could have multiple.
Orgasms.
With an s!
Now that that little mystery had been solved, it was time to get her new life started. She came to Seattle to write and paint. Leaving her stable teaching job and moving across the country to write children’s books was quite the coup. Her mother was likely fuming, once again disappointed in the middle child who never lived up to expectations. But Stacie knew the bigger revolution was having a one-night stand with a man she didn’t even know.
Memories of last night slowly seeped into her mind. The club. The cab. The elevator. Then…
The memories slammed her like a freight train at top speed. Their night had been better than fantastic. Their first kiss had exploded in a fiery dance, with Stacie’s last ounce of control turning to ash and being carried away like smoke on a windy day. She’d never been kissed like that before, so passionately, so thoroughly. It had awakened her senses in a dizzying sensation of lust and need. She’d never wanted anyone with such a reckless abandon. Nor had she ever been wanted so fiercely. Or taken. Yeah, she’d been taken last night, over and over again. She’d also liked it more than she ever could have imagined.
Despite the lingering need, all good things must end, and she needed to get out before he wanted to talk. Conversation complicated things.
Pulling a technique from her past, one she’d used on her ex almost every night for the last six years, Stacie whispered, “You’re snoring,” hoping that was enough to get him to roll over and off her hair.
He licked his lips and moved his arm up to scratch his chin. “Sorry,” he murmured, rolling onto his back.
Stacie wanted to smile as she eased her legs out of the knot, but she couldn’t allow herself to get too confident. Just because this trick had worked on the only two men she’d ever slept with didn’t mean they were anything alike. Her ex could sleep like the dead. She couldn’t count on that being the case with this guy.
As she stood, the giver of multiple orgasms stretched his legs, kicking the sheet to the floor. It was obvious from the perfect curve of his pecs to the washboard ripples of his abdomen that he worked out. As Stacie’s eyes moved further down his body, she bit down on her lower lip, remembering how their bodies had moved together, how he had felt inside of her.
