Maria felt a heady delight at the impact, but before too much more could register, he bumped her face up with his chin and took her lips under his. There was nothing gentle about his kiss. It wasn’t rough, or brutal, but it held no gentleness. He simply took her mouth as if he had every right, as if it were his and his alone, as if he’d been doing it for years and years.
With his lips almost smothering hers, his air of self-confidence enveloped her and she realized all at once that that was the one thing that most attracted her to him. He walked into a room and he owned it. He opened his mouth and he owned the attention of everyone around him. His lips fell to hers and he owned her. His body touched hers and he owned her even more so.
Thank God that was something that only she knew. He’d never know, he could never know, not in a million years.
His hands released her and he lifted them to wrap around her face. He tipped her chin, affording himself better access and the kiss deepened. The trembling in her stomach turned into full-blown sexual excitement, and in the recesses of her mind was the thought that if his self-confidence didn’t manifest into such full-blown arrogance, that maybe, just maybe, he’d be the perfect man to have for a lover. Sexy. Dominant. Take-charge.
Certainly her libido was telling her that he was the perfect man as he held her against the wall and continued to kiss her as if it were a given that she’d wind up in his bed. His tongue stroked against hers, learning every inch of her mouth with a dedication and skill that had the oxygen snagging in her lungs. His teeth nipped at her bottom lip, his hand running to her chin and holding her in place as he devoured her. Bottle rockets exploding in her head, she vaguely realized that with him, she was in danger of drowning, in danger of losing her independence, because he was the type of man who’d expect more than a mutually satisfying, sexual relationship. He’d expect to own her, to have full control over her . . . to dominate her.
Under his onslaught, her brain was only half functioning as she had that thought once again. So it was with no small shock that she suddenly found herself leaning against the tiled wall without any support from him. He’d released her and stepped back, and now stood a few feet away. The look on his face seemed to contain agitation or confusion, as if she’d messed him up somehow. Running his hand through his hair, his features tightened and became the same mask that his face usually reflected.
Her heart skipping a beat at the sudden lack of emotion in his eyes, all she was capable of doing was leaning against the wall while waiting for him to make a move.
She didn’t have to wait long. With an intense, lingering look, he swung around and walked out of the room, the door ringing a loud echo behind him.
Maria tiptoed around Garrett the entire next day. He was making her antsy, so much so that she couldn’t stay one hundred percent focused on her job, and that worried the crap out of her. Determined to force him from her brain and resolving to do better at her job, she set out to ignore him.
That evening, the Calderon party was in attendance. The family and their friends were in town for the wedding of one of their grandsons, and Maria was determined to make their stay perfect as well as memorable.
The Calderons were a lovely family. They’d lived in Miami at one time and still had family and friends in the area. The older couple had been coming to the hotel for years, more often than not making a vacation of their stay here, and usually, at some point, having their two grandsons in attendance. Maria was well acquainted with both young men, having gotten to know them off and on through the years.
It was Friday night, and they’d reserved the ballroom for a hotel-catered rehearsal dinner before the small church wedding the next day. Evidently not wanting to step on any toes, they’d not only invited the entire wedding party to the dinner, but all of their out-of-town guests as well. The party was a huge affair, with approximately a hundred and fifty guests.
Before the family’s arrival that afternoon, Maria had inspected their block of rooms one last time. Finding a small fault with only one room, she’d called maintenance but one employee was taking a day of vacation and the other man was resolving an issue with the swimming pool pump. Knowing that the pool problem was more crucial than this, but determined to make these rooms perfect, she hadn’t hesitated, but had gotten on her hands and knees to clean the stain from the carpet herself. She didn’t mind helping or the hard work, but the outfit she’d been wearing was now wrinkled and smelled of cleaning fumes.
Glancing at her watch, she slipped to her room to change clothes, knowing that she’d be amongst the partygoers that evening. Letting out a breath, she knew she’d been foolish to think she could have done the cleaning in her best outfit and come out of it unscathed. She’d planned to wear that particular dress tonight; it had been perfect, and, as her clothing pieces were limited, it was about her only choice for the event.