Temporarily Yours(17)

“Watch it!” he called, just as she stumbled forward.

She righted herself quickly, trying to hide her embarrassment. “I’m okay.”

He caught him fighting back a grin. “Good. That car seat came out of nowhere, huh?”

After that, they walked the rest of the way up the jet bridge in silence until they reached the gate. “Do you have baggage to pick up?” she asked.

“No, this is all I brought.” he said, gesturing to his bag. “But I’ll go with you to the baggage carousel if you want. If not, that’s okay, too.”

Oh, she wanted, all right. The question was, did he? He hadn’t said a word about continuing what they’d started on the plane somewhere else yet. But he hadn’t walked away yet, either.

So that meant something, right?

“Sure, come on.” She took a step, then remembered something he’d said to her earlier. “Wait, you said you would see me after the flight. If you didn’t have baggage to collect, then why did you say you’d see me again? Did you lie to me?”

“No.” He shifted on his feet. “I would’ve come to check on you.”

“Even though you didn’t need any luggage?”

He met her eyes. “Yep. I would’ve made sure you were all right before I left. I don’t make empty promises. If I say I’ll see you later, I’ll see you later.”

“Oh.” Her heart melted even more. He was oh-so-dangerous to her well-being with all his heroic thoughts and his magical orgasm-inducing fingers. She might as well climb out of her underwear and straddle him now, because that’s how tonight was going to end if they didn’t part ways soon. “I see.”

He fell into step beside her. “After we’re done here, I need to grab the keys for my rental. Want to come with me? I can drop you off at your hotel.”

That sounded promising. “Okay.”

She couldn’t wait to bring him back to a hotel for one hell of a night.





Chapter Six

After picking up the key from the rental car desk, Cooper followed Kayla outside, wheeling her suitcase behind him. She’d been quiet ever since they landed. He wasn’t sure what was going on in that pretty little head of hers, but he was dying to know.

He didn’t want to walk away yet.

He swallowed hard and glanced up at the moon. It seemed just as unreachable as the beauty in front of him. “My car is in spot 123C.”

She pointed off to a row across the lot. “There’s row C.”

“Yeah, I think I see my ride.” When she headed in that direction, he picked up speed so he could walk beside her.

There was no other car near his rental, which made sense considering the hour. It had to be pushing one in the morning, if not later. In fact, the only reason the front desk was still open was because he’d asked if they’d wait for him to arrive. Now that he’d picked up the key, even the desk attendant had turned off the building lights and was nowhere to be found.

Halting mid-step, she grabbed his arm, stopping him in his tracks, too. “Wait. Should you be driving?”

He cocked his head. “Why wouldn’t I be okay to drive?”

“You were drinking.”

He snorted. “I didn’t drink as much as you did. You didn’t notice, but I stopped drinking a while ago. I’m sober as a clergyman.”

“Oh.”

“So, want that ride or not?”

When she nodded, anticipation shot through his body. Moments later, they reached his car. He loaded their bags and unlocked the doors so they could get in, and then tossed his jacket in the seat. Before he could climb in the driver’s side, she came up to him and held out her arms. “You ready?”

He eyed her. “For?”

“Dancing, of course.”

“Haha. Real funny.” But then he realized she wasn’t kidding at all. “Wait. You really want to do this? I might break your foot.”

“Of course I want to! Consider it payment for helping me tonight.” She flushed as soon as the words were out of her mouth. Even in this dim lighting he could see that. “For keeping me talking, I mean.”

He walked up to her and placed his hands on her hips. “All right. Show me.” He moved so close her chest brushed his. “I’m ready if you are.”

Setting a hand on his shoulder, she instructed, “Hold my hand, but leave the other one on my hip.”

He did as told, slipping his leg between hers. He had a pretty good idea that he wasn’t supposed to do that for a proper dance, but she didn’t correct him. “Okay. What now?”

“Now, we take two steps forward, two steps back…” She followed him as he did what she told him, her body moving with a grace he’d never possess. “Good. Keep going, but move around as if we’re on a ballroom floor, instead of staying in this spot.”