# Chapter One

The floor-to-ceiling windows of the waterfront ballroom reflected the warm glow of crystal chandeliers and the dark, shimmering expanse of the harbor beyond. The reception was in full swing, a blur of clinking champagne flutes, bass vibrating through the hardwood floor, and laughter drifting across the tables. Amanda was practically vibrating with adrenaline and heat.

Her wedding gown was a custom mermaid-cut masterpiece of ivory silk and French lace that clung ruthlessly to her shape. The sweetheart neckline pushed her heavy, brown-skinned breasts upward into full, pillowy cleavage, while the boned bodice tapered down to a tiny waist before flaring out beneath the swell of her wide, generous hips and round, heavy ass. Her dark curls were pinned in a loose, tumbling updo with tendrils framing her flushed face. Every step she took drew eyes, but all evening, one gaze in particular had burned into her skin from across the floor.

He was a stranger—tall, broad-shouldered, with sharp features and an insolent, amused smirk that told her he knew exactly what she looked like underneath the lace. She had no idea who he was, a plus-one of someone, perhaps, but to Amanda, he was pure, dangerous temptation.

Overheated and dizzy from champagne and the unshakeable, throbbing ache between her thighs, Amanda slipped out through the French doors onto the waterfront terrace. The salt breeze hit her bare shoulders, cooling the sheen of sweat on her skin, but it did nothing to calm the fire brewing low in her belly.

A moment later, the door clicked shut behind her.

"You're even more breathtaking under the moonlight," the stranger's voice was a low, gravelly rasp behind her.

Amanda turned, her pulse spiking. "You shouldn't follow the bride out here."

"A bride looking the way you look shouldn't be wandering off alone," he said, stepping closer until the heat of his body radiated against hers. He reached out, his calloused fingers trailing along the slope of her bare shoulder, down to the edge of her gown where her full breasts rose and fell rapidly. "You've been dripping for hours, haven't you? I saw how you looked at me during the toasts."

Amanda's breath hitched. Under ordinary circumstances, she would have slapped him or walked away, loyal and poised. But tonight, high on the sheer excess of the day and overwhelmed by an uncontrollable, primal horniness that had been building since …