Chapter 2

Sulking alone while seated at the bar, Joslyn sipped from a glass of water as she scrolled through her phone; precisely through the international dates and times application.

Oddly, Joslyn sometimes liked to see how different countries in different regions and varied hemispheres had distinct times from one another. She didn't know if it was as a result of always traveling around, but the idea of the dissimilar time zones between countries always intrigued her.

She had just finished informing her parents and twin brother, Joshua who was serving in the Canadian Marines but was currently on one of his rare military leave, of her arrival in their resident city, Vancouver, when the air suddenly shifted and she vaguely noticed someone settling two barstools away from her.

From her peripheral vision, she could make out the person's figure; it was a guy or perhaps, a woman who had spent way too much time in the gym to possess such bulging muscles and towering physique even while seated.

Before she could confirm their gender, her phone vibrated and lit up in her hold, signaling the entry of a message and she couldn't smother the urge to roll her eyes when she saw it was yet another text from Sigourney.

So far since they'd separated after Wesley's arrival, her best friend, under the guise of coming to fetch a drink, had come twice to speak with her—or better yet, threaten her—to have fun and now, this marked the tenth text from her. However, it didn't contain the same threats or cusswords the previous ones had. 

'Ahhh!' The first word read, followed by a series of OMG stickers. 'He's hot as fuck!!!' Joslyn raised a brow at her repetitive use of the exclamation mark with a chain of fire emojis trailing behind.

'Oh my fucking gosh, Jos! You mustn't let that sex on legs of a man go, or I'll murder you myself!' came the rest of the message.

Mildly amused, Joslyn's brows shot up her forehead as she looked up from her phone and toward the general direction her friend seemed to have walked from and headed back to on her short visits to the bar. She tried to make out the familiar face or at least, the slender figure of her friend or her friend's boyfriend but to no avail; their side of the club was too dimly illuminated.

With furrowed eyebrows, she returned to her phone, replying Sigourney's text. ‘Shouldn't you be focusing on Wesley, AKA 'your boyfriend'?’ She emphasized then continued, ‘Plus how can you see me from there? I don't even know where you are.’

She didn't have to wait for long before Sigourney's reply came in. ‘FYI, Wes is currently reading our conversation *makes out with him* and he's totally cool with it.’ Joslyn rolled her eyes as she faked a gag into the air, hoping Sigourney could see her from wherever she was.

It worked.

'I'm gonna get you back for the gag and regarding why we can see you but you can't see us—we're in the shadows but the lights from the bar are reflecting on you.’ Instinctively, Joslyn looked up at the pendant lights hanging overhead. True.

'That doesn't explain how you know this so-called guy is hot? I'm pretty sure it's his dorsal view you can see from there.’ She was genuinely curious about what preposterous reply her best friend would give.

'Oh, that's easy. I'm a pretty good judge of an individual's—especially a man's—drool-worthiness from the view of their ass.'

Joslyn, who had resorted to taking a sip of her water while awaiting her friend's response, immediately choked and let down the glass, having to force down a spit-take before laughing and coughing at the same time. She was certain she appeared crazy with her tomato-red face but she couldn't care less.

She was still attempting to get her laughter under control when her phone beeped with another message. 'How'd you think I met Wes? His ass was just so beautiful and flat and I tell you, I made the right choice. That baby boo is so fucking hot and taut and deliciously smack-able!'

Joslyn was, by now, letting out a full guffaw and not giving two fucks about the people around her at the bar. Majority of them were already drunk out of their minds, anyway. What hit her next, however, shocked her out of her amusement.

'Anyway, I'm not going to tell you where we are, but just in case the guy turns out to be a kidnapper or perhaps, a rapist, don't worry. We've got your back.'

Joslyn's eyes widened and she was about to protest vehemently when another frantic text entered. 'Stop texting me! He's about to talk to you!' 

And truthfully, immediately her eyes landed on the exclamation mark indicating the end of the message, Joslyn heard a deep voice speak, "Water? At the club?" She could vividly hear the amused tone in the unknown voice.

With stubborn eyebrows raised and voice thickened with unbridled annoyance, she replied without looking up at him, barely acknowledging him as she lifted said glass of water and brought it to her lips. "And is there a law against drinking just water at the club?" She sassed, then sipped.

A rich manly chuckle made its rhythmical pathway into her ears. The water got stuck in her throat at the sound, but there was more. "I guess not," he said again in his deep and husky baritone voice. Gulping, Joslyn willed her eyes to stay glued to the stickers of different country flags shining vibrantly on the back of her phone. 

"So what is a beautiful woman as yourself doing all alone?" He spoke again when she made no move to initiate a conversation. Irritation and slight disappointment sparked in Joslyn at his cliché pickup line. 

All spine-tingling husky baritone voice yet as lazy and egotistical to put in the efforts to get a woman as most men; players. 

Joslyn fought to stifle an eye roll as she finally raised her head to look at the intruder who had still refused to let her be after her clearly showing signs of wanting to be alone. Her honey coloured orbs immediately collided with vibrant greens and blues which appeared to scintillate like the stars sparkling on a dark night. They were like twinkling turquoise gems against his shadowed face half cast in darkness.

Getting fascinated by the swirls of colours and the iridescent effect the overhead bar lights had on his eyes, Joslyn tilted her head in fascination and couldn't seem to stop staring. 

Gabriel smiled, allured and amused by the scrutinising look the woman before him addressed him with. He watched her eyes go slowly down his body before making a trip back up again and although it appeared like an harmless gesture, Gabriel couldn't help but think of how fucking seductive she looked at that moment.

He stared directly into her eyes, attempting to plumb all of her complexities. So many women had looked at him with lust and desire in their eyes and it had proven to be a marvelous harbinger of the amazing (or not-so-amazing) one-night stand that was sure to happen. 

But this woman, after assessing his features, only gave him a blank stare before looking away. Gabriel's eyebrows raised in pure shock, yet his lips couldn't resist the urge to pull up in a challenging smirk. It was either she was playing hard to get or he just wasn't playing his game well.

No one had ever resisted his charm.

"If that's the same pickup line you use with other ladies, then I'm afraid you'll have to try harder than that." Joslyn scoffed, turning her attention back to the stickers on the backside of her phone whilst draining the last of her water.

"Hmm... I didn't think you'd peg me as the pickup line kinda guy, but it's not at all your fault. We just got off on the wrong foot." Joslyn, again, looked up just in time to see him swivel on his barstool to face her fully, making their knees bump against each other.

Now completely bared to the lights from the bar's ceiling, Joslyn could finally see the stranger's features clearly. He was sporting a low side fade haircut with some unruly strands of his light brown hair left to fall over his left eye. His face was clean-shaved, without a strand of facial hair in sight.

Allowing her eyes run down his frame again (as though she were window-shopping because no matter how stubborn she was, she couldn't quite deny that the man was gorgeous), she noticed that he was packed with just the right amount of muscles and in the right places as well. He was neither lean nor too buff and his appreciative body was donned in a grey shirt, a pair of black skinny jeans with a slick leather jacket topping his whole outfit.

His entire demeanor blared the term 'bad boy'. 

"So how about we rewind and start this whole thing again. What do you say?" He flashed her a confident smirk. This man was drop-dead gorgeous and apparently, he knew it.

Twisting her mouth from side to side, Joslyn eyed him, struggling to cloak her approval of him with fake disinterest. She prepared to turn away, waving her hand in an elegant dismissing gesture. “Not interested.” 

But before she could drop her hand, Gabriel caught it in a gentle hold and her attention returned to him, watching as he brought her hand to his lips. A whiff of hot air fanned her skin before he placed a gentle kiss on her knuckles (all the while staring into her eyes unwaveringly), deliberately lingering briefly before returning her hand to her lap while lightly brushing his slightly rough thumb along her exposed lower thigh as he did so. 

From the mischief lurking beneath the swirls of colors in his eyes, Joslyn could tell that he had done all he had deliberately. 

She raised an eyebrow at his cocky smirk. "I'm Nicholas Reid and you are...?" he waited for her to fill in her name.

"The woman you met at the bar," Joslyn deadpanned with a taut smile as she turned away again from his gaze, hoping that he couldn't see her cracking bit by bit at his charms. The idea of letting loose was starting to seem really appealing to her, but just in time, her phone vibrated with a text, effectively distracting her for the time being.

Gabriel's eyes drifted to the screen just in time to catch the first word of the sentence before she pulled her phone to take a look at the message. ‘Jos’ was what he had glimpsed.

After she quickly typed a reply back to the sender, with her eyes drifting towards a certain location on regular intervals—the earlier effect of his charm slowly wearing off of her, Gabriel tried again. "Your name is Jos, I presume?"

Joslyn looked up at him in surprise which quickly morphed into annoyance, slowly tucking her phone into her purse. "Spying on my text messages? That's an invasion of privacy, y'know?" she narrowed her eyes at him to which he shook his head with a chuckle.

"Not at all. I would much prefer to use the term, ‘fate’ instead. The universe clearly wants us to have a fun night together." He leaned closer to her, spreading his legs apart so he could cage hers in.

"So Jos," he drawled seductively, his tone lowering, voice deepening. "Do you really not know who I am or you're just a damn good actress?" He asked playfully, albeit seriously, because earlier when he had introduced himself (although not using his actual first name), he had expected her to give the same reaction—starstruck—he usually got from women he introduced himself to, that is, those that didn't already recognise him at first glance.

He watched her intently as she frowned, her eyebrows etched together as a sign of confusion. She blinked. "Am I supposed to know you? Are you some kind of celebrity?" she asked, tilting her head to the side with a hint of mockery and sass in her tone.

Gabriel's eyebrow rose, satisfied. "Well then," he smiled, his colorful eyes gleaming, "not the reaction I was expecting but I can't say I hate it either. It's quite refreshing actually." He grabbed his glass of alcohol before gulping down its contents, his eyes still trained on Joslyn's face.

He seemed to be unable to peel his gaze off her frame and although he found her confused expression adorable and comical, it didn't stifle the growing desire he felt for her one bit. Instead, it seemed to grow even more. He wanted her in his bed, that was an established fact.

Placing down his now empty glass, he eyed her own glass of water, which had been refilled, before looking at her. "Are you honestly going to spend the entire night nursing a glass of water at a club?"

Joslyn rolled her eyes, huffing out a loud, exaggerated sigh before asking him, "What exactly do you want, Mr. Reid?"

"Now you're talking," Gabriel smirked and leaned unexpectedly closer to her until their breaths were fanning each other's faces, making Joslyn's breath hitch as their eyes crisscrossed from the proximity. Turning his head a tad, he brushed his cheek against hers.

"I want you, Jos," he whispered in her ear, "I want you. In my bed. Tonight. Right now." He blew a hot breath on her earlobe, causing her to inhale a sharp breath.

He pulled back just enough to look her in the eyes again. "So what do you say?" He whispered, his gaze subconsciously drifting to her glossy plump lips.

Joslyn's eyes were hooded as she stared into Gabriel's intense lustful gaze. His eyes constantly drifted from her lips to her eyes and then back again. She thought about how stressed she had been and although her warm baths usually relieved her, it was only for a short period of time before she got worked up again. 

Only sexual release could work the wondrous magic her body truly desired. Only a sexual release could really relieve her stress. Her mind began to conjure reasons to indulge in the temptation of a man seated in front of her. A man who clearly wanted her.

Besides, she had nothing to lose.

So with that resolution in mind, Joslyn looked up into Gabriel's desire filled eyes, the irrepressible need in their gazes matching, before suddenly pulling his face down to hers by the lapels of his leather jacket.

Their lips collided and battled in a kiss before their tongues took over, plunging the both of them into a sea of passion. They continued kissing, their tongues fighting for dominance against one another but neither of them were willing to back down or surrender until the law of nature began to kick in and they both had to pull away to breathe but never actually detaching from each other.

Gabriel continued to nibble on Joslyn's lower lips with his big arms wrapped tightly around her waist, looking deep into her honey colored orbs with carnal intent evident in both their gazes. "What do you say we take this to the room, Jos?" She winked at him in response, only able to free her lips for a millisecond to flash a quick smile before Gabriel attacked them again.

They both hurriedly stood to their feet with sloppy, unsteady movements as they rounded up their stuff and began to walk out of the club and off to the side of the anteroom where a flight of stairs led to a private and restricted area. Joslyn was too clouded by lust to ask how Gabriel had the keys to the restricted space as they walked down the little hallway and into the only room at the end of the hallway.

Joslyn heard her phone buzz from her purse and just before Gabriel could jump her again, she was able to catch a glimpse of the text before the starved man whipped her into the room, letting the door slam shut behind them.

'Don't forget to use protection!' was followed by a winky faced emoji.