“Don’t laugh,” he adds, side-eyeing me with a grin.
“Okay, I won’t laugh. A little smiling, but no laughing here.” I sneak a glimpse of him again, enjoying his playful expression. “I’ll share a secret with you since you shared one with me.” He leans a little closer as I go on. “When I was a kid, I dreamed of being a fireman, a firewoman, technically. I once saw a fireman save a dog from a burning house and I wanted to do that. I knew I could. I was the fastest kid in the fourth grade in the fifty-yard dash. I’d get in, save some lives, and get out. That was the plan. I told everyone I would be a hero one day.”
“You still can be.”
“How? Do you know someone who needs saving?”
His gaze penetrates deep. “Yeah, I might know someone.”
The air is dry, but the atmosphere has thickened. This time I give his hand a little squeeze before dropping mine back to my side.
Tilting his head to the side, he eyes me. “You hungry?”
“Famished.”
“Room service okay?”
“You want to stay in?”
He nods. “I like the privacy.”
“The suite’s not bad either.”
“No,” he says with a chuckle. “The suite’s not bad either.”
Inside, I take a seat on one couch and he sits across from me on the other, and asks, “What do you want to eat?”
“Where’s the menu?” I look around, but don’t see one.
“Anything you want.” He moves closer to the phone on the table. “Just name it and they’ll make it for us.”
“Why do I get the feeling that your job entails more than busting minors trying to score alcohol at the bar?”
He doesn’t bother answering, but says, “I’m ordering a burger.”
“You can order anything you want, even stuff not on their menu, and you want a burger. Interesting.”
“I’m gonna get fancy on you, order cheese on it too. You might want to note that down.”
“Noted. I’ll take the same.”
“A girl who lives in L.A. and eats meat. That’s impressive.”
“I’m chock full of surprises.”
With the phone pressed to his ear, he says, “I just bet you are.” He places the order and hangs up. Sliding down the cushion looking exhausted, he closes his eyes. “Thirty minutes. What do you want to do in the meantime?”
Too busy admiring him to respond right away, I follow the hard lines of his arms down over his body. Although he works in security, he’s definitely not a donut eating cop. He stays fit and the way the thin material of his shirt stretches across his stomach, I can see a six pack. Might be more, but I’d need a closer lick… er, look, to determine that. I linger, admiring as my gaze rolls over his chest to his jaw again—scruff, cut, strong, and masculine. When I reach his eyes, they’re already on me. Catching me in the act, he asks, “Did you ever decide if you wanted me to be kidding or not?”
Here we go again… He sits there, waiting for an answer, so I reply, “In all honesty, it’s not what I thought I’d be doing when we left the bar. At least not a hundred percent what I thought we’d be doing.”
“We both know I wasn’t kidding. Here I sit, across from a beautiful woman in a private suite. I can’t seem to take my eyes off her except when I force myself, attempting to keep her from feeling uncomfortable. But she has this delicate curve where her neck meets her shoulder that I can’t stop thinking about, curious to what it feels like to trace it with my finger, and then with my tongue, remembering just how sweet her lips tasted.” Motioning between the two of us, he says, “Whatever you decide, won’t change the fact that you’re feeling what I’m feeling.”
I release a long held breath, swooning inside while desperately trying to hold onto my sensibilities. All my willpower goes out the window. I stand and walk around the coffee table that divides us, and sit down next to him. With no space left between us—thigh against thigh—I lean forward and press my lips to his. “You remember what I taste like?”
His hands touch my face in such an intimate way, that I feel his warmth in my knees. With a small inch or two between our mouths, his words are just a whisper. “I want you, but there’s something about you that makes me want to know you even more. That will make it even better when we do come together.” I catch the double entendre just as his thumb softly grazes across my cheek, tempting me to give into my body’s wants, but I look down and his hand falls away.
The back of my legs are pressed to the couch, so I slide to my left, slipping out. I cross my arms over my chest and sigh, loud enough for him to hear. “You mean that, don’t you? You really do want to get to know me?”