Catch My Fall, page 1
Natalie Clarke
Catch My Fall
Copyright © 2024 by Natalie Clarke
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
Natalie Clarke asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book and on its cover are trade names, service marks, trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publishers and the book are not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. None of the companies referenced within the book have endorsed the book.
First edition
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Contents
Also by the Author
Author Note
Prologue
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Also by the Author
The Game - Billionaire Romance
The Promise - Billionaire, Single Mother, Second Chance Romance
Strip Me Down Series
Strip Me Down - Student/Teacher Romance
Fix Me Up - Age Gap, Friends to Lovers Romance
Promise Me Forever - Second Chance Romance
Guide Me Home - Reverse Age Gap, Second Chance Romance
Under The Mistletoe (A Christmas Novella) - Small Town Romance
Hudson Hearts Series
Drown In Me (Book 1) - Forced Marriage, Soulmates
Lost In You (Book 2) - Friends to Lovers, Single Dad
Catch My Fall (Book 3)
Author Note
Catch My Fall is the third and final book in the Hudson Hearts series. It is a protector, age gap romance. It is not a standalone. This series must be read in order. Book 1 and 2 must be read first as the subplot continues throughout.
Get caught up with the series…
Drown In Me (Book 1)
Forced Marriage, Soulmates
Lost In You (Book 2)
Friends to Lovers, Single Dad
Available on Amazon
Catch My Fall is intended for readers 18+ due to explicit sexual content. It deals with subjects such as kidnap, graphic sexual assault (on the page), post-traumatic stress, mental health, with references to a hysterectomy and suicide which may be triggering for some readers.
Please excuse some British spellings of certain words, please remember I am a British author writing American characters set in the USA.
There are numerous references and detailed descriptions of injuries to both of the central characters. Please remember I am not by any means an expert in the medical profession and I am certainly not a doctor. While I have conducted research into these topics, it may not always be 100% accurate. Remember, this is a work of fiction.
Prologue
Five Months Ago
The bass of the music pumps from De La Rosa’s sound system so loud the vibrations ripple through me like waves. There’s not a single part of my body that isn’t pulsing. The strong throbs alone could defibrillate my heart should I happen to go into cardiac arrest. Pair that with the strobe lights and the four glasses of God knows what I’ve already drank tonight, I’m beginning to feel heady as the music carries me through my dance.
Today I finally turned twenty-one, and I don’t think I’ve ever been happier than I am right in this moment, dancing with one of my best friends, Reese.
I’ve never felt so free.
I let my arms fly above my head as I twirl in circles with Reese. Her flaming red curls that cascade down her back are a stark contrast to my jet black locks that fall just past my shoulders. It’s one of the many things I have in common with my mom, so I’m told. That, and my smile, my self-confidence and compassionate nature. I can’t say how much of it is true seeing as how she died when I was only eight, but I’d like to think it is.
“So, how’s your first day of freedom going?” Reese shouts, her voice just about audible over the music.
“Let’s just say I’m in for one hell of a hangover tomorrow!” And if I play my cards right, drinking won’t be the only first I encounter tonight.
A tingle zips up my spine as the sense of someone watching me steals my attention. I let my gaze drift over the crowded dancefloor to the far wall where it collide with eyes I’ve been dreaming about since the first time I saw them.
Alec McKenna, my eldest brother, Gage’s bodyguard. He’s a six-foot-four Greek God of a man that has my lady parts humming to a tune only he knows. With a head of thick brown hair, storm cloud grey eyes and chiselled jawline, the man is a danger to the female population.
I don’t know exactly what it is, but my heart always skips a beat, my stomach flipping upside down and all around when ever he so much as looks at me. His gaze on me is always steady, with an intensity that has me blushing way more than I’d like, it has me wondering what he’s thinking. He never gives anything away, he’s always so calm and collected and it irritates me that I can’t tell what he’s thinking. It’s the same look I’m met with now, staring at me from across the dancefloor, his grip tight around the neck of the beer bottle he’s holding.
My other brother, Rafe is talking to him, and Alec nods along, not really listening because his focus is trained on me. All the while our eyes are connected, I never stop dancing.
I don’t have much experience where men are concerned, and when I say not much experience, what I actually mean is, I have none. Zilch. Nada. And while Gage still considers me a child, the thoughts that swirl around my head are anything but those of a child, because one thing I know for certain—I want Alec McKenna.
I’ve wanted him since the first time I saw him when I literally bumped into him in the hallway of our house about half a year ago. He was hired as my brother’s head of security and he’s consumed my thoughts ever since.
“Ugh! Alec is looking so hot tonight,” I say to Reese, and she follows my eyes to where he’s standing with Rafe.
She leans in close to my ear. “So, go get him! You’re both adults, go get your man and jump his bones already.”
I take a sip of the vodka and coke. “Gage would literally kill me, and then him.”
“Gage has no right to interfere with your life, or your happiness,” Reese points out.
I know she’s right, but tell that to Gage. He’s always been the overprotective one, and since our dad died a few months back, he’s taken overprotective brother to a whole other level.
I glance over to Reese as she eyes up my brother, who’s also giving her the ‘fuck me’ eyes. Something passes between them, and I’m not sure what it is, but it makes me wonder if it’s something more.
“Rafe literally can’t keep his eyes off you. Is there something going on between you two?”
Her eyes snap to mine. “What? No. Of course not.”
“I just wondered.” I shrug.
“Let’s skip boy talk and let’s dance!” she yells, taking my hand.
“Hell yes!” I know she’s trying to deflect and I don’t protest it. Whether something is happening between them or not, there soon will be, I’m sure of it.
The song switches to a more seductive one and I let her spin me around as we move to the music, twirling and swaying as the song’s tempo turns seductive, using everything we’ve got to catch the attention of the men across the room.
And it’s working.
Rafe watches my best friend with rapt attention as she gyrates her hips, letting her hands drift up her body, dancing as if the only ones in the room were her and my brother. And Alec… his eyes are burning into my skin so hot I’m bound to catch fire some time soon. His gaze sets my body alight, and I welcome the burn. It makes me feel alive. Sexy.
It’s not long before Reese is approached by a good-looking guy with blonde hair and the two of them begin to dirty dance in the middle of the dancefloor. She grinds her ass against his dick while his hands grope her body, and I can’t help but steal a glance at my brother who looks about two seconds away from dragging the blonde dude out by his hair.
I dance for a few more minutes before I weave through the crowd in the direction of the bathrooms. Pain stabs at me like someo
Rather than wait and risk embarrassing myself, I head into the restricted area upstairs where my brothers’ offices are, opting to use the bathrooms up here instead.
It’s quieter up here, the air fresher and cooler and the bathrooms a whole lot nicer, after all, I did help design them when my brother first opened this club a few years back.
The lights are off, so my only source of light filters up from the club through the wall of windows that look down over the dancefloor.
Despite having to use the flashlight on my phone so I don’t have to pee in the dark, my bladder thanks me for not having to risk a UTI by waiting in the mile-long queue downstairs.
Once I’m done, I leave the restroom and head for the stairs back to my party, but a voice behind me stops me in my tracks. “Are you enjoying your birthday party?”
I smile to myself as I spin on my heel, my heart leaping in my chest when my eyes meet his. Alec leans back against the wall with his eyes trained on me, his smooth as butter voice making my insides melt.
“I’m having a great time. You? I’ve gotta say it’s a surprise to see you in some normal clothing for once. There’s me thinking you only own seven suits, one for every day of the week.” It’s true, I’ve never seen him in anything that’s not a suit, but tonight he’s wearing a pair of dark jeans and a t-shirt that hugs every deliciously sculpted muscle on his upper body. If he looks this good dressed, my mouth waters at the thought of what he looks like naked.
He chuckles, pushing off the wall and coming to a stop in front of me. “It’s a novelty for me too.” His eyes sweep over me from head to toe and back up again. It makes me shiver.
I picked out my new white, sequined party dress especially for tonight. It ends just above my knees with a small slit on the left that exposes my bare thigh. The thought of Alec seeing me in it was one of the reasons I chose it. I wanted to get his attention, and the way his eyes eat me up, I know my plan worked.
He smiles. “You look stunning, princess.”
Princess. I can’t remember when he started to call me that, but I’ve grown so used to it, I crave to hear it.
“Thank you.”
He goes to speak, but something in his brain tells him not to, all the while his eyes never leave mine. Not once.
“What are you thinking?” I ask.
His eyes drift over me again before coming back to meet mine. “Nothing good,” is all he says, letting me decipher the hidden meaning in his vague reply.
“Are we gonna dance around this thing between us for the rest of our lives? I know I’m not the only one feeling this.”
He steps even closer, so close I can smell the notes of sandalwood in his cologne. Even in the four inch heels I’m wearing, he still towers over me. “But it’s a beautiful dance, isn’t it?”
“It’d be better if it was a horizontal dance with a lot less clothing,” I shoot back.
“Here? With all those people down there?”
“I don’t care about them.”
A small smile pulls at the corners of his mouth. “I should warn you to be careful what you wish for, princess. If you were mine, you’d be exactly that. Mine. For my eyes only.”
“And would you be mine?”
His stormy eyes flick back up to meet my own. “I’d be whatever you want me to be, princess.”
My heart pounds in my chest as I go to speak the words I’ve wanted to say for months. “I want you to kiss me on my birthday.”
He swallows hard. “I don’t think I should.”
“Why?”
He reaches up and swipes a piece of hair behind my ear, letting the tips of his fingers linger on my cheek. Just the slightest brush of his fingers has an inferno raging under my skin where we’re connected.
“Because I already know that one kiss of your lips will never be enough for me.”
“Is that such a bad thing?”
“Aside from the fact your brother, my boss would have my balls if I lay a hand on you.”
“He’s not my keeper. I’m twenty-one years old, I can make my own choices. And the one thing I want more than anything for my birthday…” I reach for the hem of his t-shirt, closing the tiny gap between us, “…is for you to kiss me.”
He inhales deeply as his jaw muscles clench, his restraint wearing thin the longer this stretches on. “You’re playing with fire, Sierra.”
“Then it’s a good thing I like a little heat.”
Before my brain can catch up with what’s happening, his mouth descends on mine in a searing kiss that steals my breath away.
On instinct, I kiss him back, my hands reaching for his wrists, his hands cupping my face. His kiss is raw and rough where his touch is soft and gentle as he backs me against the wall, pinning me between his body and the wall.
His lips are strong and soft as they glide over my mouth, controlling the kiss, and my entire body ignites under his touch, every nerve ending coming alive.
He moans into my mouth, like he’s as desperate for this kiss as much as I am, like he’s been waiting for it as long as I have. Like all of the tension that’s been steadily brewing between us these past months has finally spilled over.
I can’t form a single thought other than the fact that Alec is kissing me. His breath is hot as it mingles with mine, and he tastes like whiskey, his musky cologne drifting into my nose, invading my senses.
He’s intoxicating.
His hands roam over me like he can’t get enough. His left drifting down my body to squeeze my ass while his right dives into my hair, deepening the kiss further.
The gasp that leaves my lips allows him entry, his tongue slipping past my lips to taste me, seeking out my own as they tangle together.
I’ve been kissed before, but never anything close to this. They were boys who barely had a clue what they we’re doing, but Alec is all man and boy does he know exactly what he’s doing.
My body’s on fire, and I crave the burn.
“You taste divine, princess,” he mumbles against my lips before he dives back in, not allowing me a second to catch my breath.
His mouth dips to my chin, and then my neck, his hands cupping my ass as he reels me in, the hardness in his jeans grazing my stomach and I can’t stop the gasp falling from my lips.
Holy shit. He feels huge.
He lifts my left leg and I hook it around his waist, the perfect angle to grind my core against his erection.
“Alec,” I pant, “touch me.”
He brings one of his hands between our bodies, dipping under the hem of my dress, goose bumps erupting on my skin as his fingers drift up the inside of my thighs, inching painfully slow to the spot where I crave him.
When he reaches my underwear, his fingers brush my clit over the thin fabric that separates us. I gasp as he begins rubbing circles over the bundle of nerves that throbs beneath his touch. The combined sensations of his fingers between my legs, working my clit, and his mouth on my neck has me climbing higher and higher towards the orgasm that’s been building the second he kissed me.
“No, absolutely not, we go on as scheduled…”
We jump apart at the sound of a voice coming down the hallway. A voice that sounds a lot like Gage.
Alec takes my hand and tugs me back into the women’s restroom, closing the door as silently as he can as we wait for my brother to leave.
“That shouldn’t have happened,” Alec pants. I can’t see his face through the pitch dark, but I can hear the torment of what we’ve done in his voice and my stomach sinks with disappointment.
“Don’t say that.”
“It’s true, Sierra. That can’t happen again. I’m sorry.” His hand comes up to my face, his thumb sweeping across my cheek gently. “Enjoy the rest of your birthday, princess.” And with that, he leaves the restroom, his footsteps gradually fading into nothing.
I lean back against the wall and blow out a breath.
Did that actually just happen?
It doesn’t feel real. The man who’s consumed so many of my thoughts these past months finally kissed me, and it was over faster than I could blink.
