Tempting Her Best Friend(20)

Something is better than nothing. Her mother’s reason for always inviting her father back into their home. Alyssa had never understood it until now. He was giving her the opportunity to get a taste of something she wanted desperately, but she knew it came with a price.

One broken heart.

He crossed his arms over his chest. “‘Because’ isn’t a reason. It’s a stall tactic.”

Now that she had opportunity to study him some more in his nearly naked form, her blasted eyes lowered to the only part of his anatomy still covered. The bulge behind the loincloth shocked her, its size causing her to wince and yearn at the same time. Then she remembered Trent telling her that jock-stuffing was the norm when wearing skimpy costumes.

“Did that getup come with its own padding, or did you have to use your socks?”

He glanced down at his crotch and then raised a single eyebrow at her. “You think that’s socks?”

She half shrugged. “I hear it’s pretty standard in the industry and considering how exaggerated that particular area is…”

She let her statement trail off, leaving him to finish the obvious conclusion in his head and hoping it would make him self-conscious enough to take his focus off her long enough for her to escape. But instead of his cheeks flushing or his eyes darting away from embarrassment, he closed the small bridge of space between them until only inches remained. Gripping the gold railing behind her, she tilted her head back to meet his intense gaze.

“No padding. No socks. It’s all me, Aly, I promise you,” he said, his voice husky. “And any exaggerated state can be laid solely at your feet. You have this affect on me.”

She opened her mouth but nothing came out, so she shut it and tried to swallow the brick that had formed in her throat.

“If you don’t believe me, you’re more than welcome to try and prove me wrong.”

Oh, dear God. What would it feel like to wrap her palm around his erection? What would he do? Would he submit to the pleasure or take command? He’d always been a leader, never afraid to take the reins in any situation, and she knew he had a reputation at work for being fair, but tough.

Only he’d never been that way with her before. He’d always been content with going along with whatever her super-controlling, OCD self had planned. But that was not the man standing before her now. This man was a force to be reckoned with. One she wasn’t sure she could handle.

Though it felt like a lifetime, the elevator finally signaled their arrival and welcomed them to her floor with open doors. Alyssa didn’t waste any time. Skirting past him, she walked as fast as her five-inch heels would carry her. In record time, she reached her room, inserted her key card, and slipped inside. Dillon had been several yards behind her, and she almost had the door closed before he stopped it with nothing more than the press of his hand.

“You’re not getting rid of me until we talk.”





Chapter Five

Dillon held her gaze through the three-inch gap. Part of him felt guilty for pushing the issue on her, but he couldn’t back down now. He hadn’t flown all this way and opened Pandora’s box just to leave things hanging in the balance.

“Let me in, Aly,” he said softly.

The seconds ticked by without her even so much as blinking, but finally her hand slipped from the door and she retreated into the room. After hanging the Do Not Disturb hanger on the outer handle, he closed and locked the door.

He dropped his bag and looked up to find her standing beside the bed, arms hugging herself and her eyes tracking him with every step he took in her direction.

It was clear she wanted to hide her arousal. Wanted to deny it even to herself. But even if her mouth said one thing, her body spoke the exact opposite. Her nipples pebbled beneath the thin material, begging to be touched, sucked. He wondered how sensitive they’d be. If even the feel of her clothes right now caused them to ache.

Reluctantly, he moved his gaze up. Her chest rose and fell with shallow breaths. A little higher and he could see the rapid beat of her pulse at her slim throat. Full lips painted red, open just enough for air to saw in and out. Imagining them wrapped around his hard length, her cheeks hollowing as she took him deep, caused his cock to twitch behind the tight briefs. A jolt of sensation shot straight to his gut from the friction of the cotton rubbing the nerve-rich head.

She took a step back, knocking into the nightstand behind her. A box almost fell off the edge, but she caught it in time and quickly tossed it into the drawer, slamming it shut. She obviously didn’t want him to see it. He almost wished he hadn’t. The fact that she’d purchased a box of condoms brought home that she was serious about her quest to get laid by one of the cover models this weekend. Even though she’d told him as much, there’d been a small part of him holding onto the hope that she didn’t really intend on doing much more than flirting and groping.