Dirty Little Secret(7)

She let him take her hand and lead her back down the hallway, past the dance floor, and out the front doors. He signaled a passing cab, and within minutes they were at the nearest hotel.

Well, it’s not a Motel 6, at least. It was easily five-star, but she couldn’t help being disappointed. She’d hoped for more than the typical hotel treatment of a one-night stand, and how stupid was that? A one-night stand was exactly what this was.

She reminded herself to breathe and not fiddle as they stepped onto the elevator together. His grip on her hand anchored her until they reached their room on the sixth floor, a room dominated by a king-size bed covered in more fluffy white pillows than she’d ever seen. Immediately the thought of how to use those pillows thrust itself into her mind, and she turned away, blushing again.

Only to face a knowing smirk on Alex’s handsome face.

It was the first time she’d gotten to study him in the light, and though she’d known he was big, like this he was overpowering. Tall, broad shouldered, with at least two hundred pounds of muscle being slowly revealed as he stripped his clothes off piece by piece. The lines of his body made her mouth water—not an inch of fat, just sheer masculine perfection.

Wow.

“Shower with me,” he demanded as he undid the button of his trousers, then slowly lowered the zipper. Thirty seconds more and he was completely naked. And aroused. Cailin thought she’d have a heart attack—and die a happy woman.

“I…uh…”

“Come.”

Every time he said that word, she wanted to, desperately.

Alex pulled her into the bathroom. The tiles chilled her bare feet as she lingered by the door, watching him start the shower. Only when steam began to form did he turn back to her. She crossed her arms over her stomach, shivering, and watched him prowl toward her.

“Clothes. Off.”

“Alex—”

He laid a single rough finger against her lips. “Never mind. Let me.” And he started to undress her.

Inch by inch, limb by limb, Alex revealed her soul even as he revealed her body. By the time she stood in her garter and stockings, he’d stripped her of every bit of armor she had. Nothing could protect her from the assault on her senses. And when his fingers slipped beneath the thin straps resting against her thighs and traced the naked skin beneath, she didn’t want it to. All she wanted was more.

“So pretty.” Alex took her hands and drew them out to her sides, stepping back to peruse her nakedness. A brief rush of sadness filled her. She would never be stick thin, her body’s natural inclination favoring curves, but her belly was soft and flat. Four years without birth control. She should have been a mother; Sean had wanted her to be a mother, blamed her for not succeeding. It was one of the reasons she’d divorced him. The constant blame had taken its toll on her heart.

But the appreciation in Alex’s gaze eased that remembered pain, just a little bit. Her body pleased him, just like it was, not for what it could give him. It was more than she had gotten from Sean after their first year of marriage.

“Now what was that thought?” Alex asked.

“Hmm?”

He ran a finger along her brow. “That thought. What made you unhappy?”

“Oh.” Cailin ducked her head. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”

Alex didn’t look satisfied with her answer, but he didn’t push either. Instead he pulled her behind him—giving her a mouthwatering view of his tight buns—into the steamy shower stall.

If kissing in the shower were an Olympic sport, Alex would get a gold medal. The rush of hot water over their bodies matched the rush of adrenaline as his tongue met hers, tangling, melding, saturating her with his taste, his scent. Her hands came up of their own volition to trace the silky line of hair from his belly button to his pecs, where it spread into a sparse diamond from nipple to nipple. When Alex released her mouth, she lowered her chin and nuzzled his chest. God, she loved chest hair.

Alex’s jaw nudged the top of her head. “Who was he?”

“Who?”

“The man who put that look in your eye.”

She sighed into his skin. “You don’t give up easily, do you?”

Alex’s chuckle rumbled under her ear. “No.”

“He was my husband.”

A heavy pause met her words. Then, “Was?”

She nodded.

“Well, that explains a lot.”

Jerking back, she blinked against the water in her eyes, not all of it from the shower. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Alex cupped her cheek and leaned over to whisper near the corner of her mouth. “You were very tight, Cailin.” At her shiver, he shook his head. “What did you think I meant?”