staring at me,” she said, her voice weak, breathless. As if even she wasn’t sure she meant it.
“I can’t help it,” he admitted. “You’re beautiful.”
Unable to stop himself, he moved closer, until his shoes nearly touched her toes. The robe flitted against his pants and he caught a glimpse of pale, soft leg.
Groaning low in his throat, he lifted a hand and slid it onto her hip. Memories flooded him, thoughts of how he’d like to encircle her waist in his hands and pull her close now. He’d brush his fingertips along the top curves of her bottom, teasing her lightly, knowing the caresses drove her mad. He would hold her like this, and pull her hard against him to kiss her until neither of them could even think.
She looked up at him, her blue eyes sparkling, and time fell away. Electricity sparked between them and for a half a second, Seth thought she might not punch him if he kissed her.
He leaned closer, needing to taste her. Needing to revisit that place where need and desire and emotion twirled into a quiet storm that both excited and fulfilled.
Their mouths met, a soft brush of lips, a quick tumble into memory, a time when they knew, without a doubt, they were meant to be together.
She tasted like heaven. Like sweetness. Like coming home.
And then she pushed her ice bucket hard against his chest and shoved him back. “That was way out of line.”
His hand dropped to his side. His fingers were tingling and hot, already missing the connection, and his mouth ached with the need to taste her more fully, to lick her tongue and plunge his deep, claiming her again.
“Sorry,” he said, not really meaning it.
“Just go away, would you?”
He would…except for the fact that his hand and her bucket-fumbling had done some damage to her robe and the thing was now practically gaping open. It was all he could do not to start drooling on the spot as the fabric played peekaboo with one perfect nipple, dark and puckered against the silk.
“And leave you like this?” Aroused? Unsatisfied?
“You’re acting like I’m half naked.”
Fortunately for him, she was half naked. He could stand here looking at her all day…or until she moved the bucket again.
Unfortunately, she was half naked in a public hallway. Where anyone else—any other dude—could walk up and see her. They were within eyeshot of the elevators. The doors could slide open at any moment exposing her to the leering eyes of a dozen ex-football players, drunk and horny, wanting to relive their high school carousing.
His inner caveman rising up as he imagined it, he frowned and took her arm. “Let’s go into your room and talk in private.”
“We have nothing to talk about, and I need some ice,” she insisted. Yanking away, she turned toward the vending area, which was right across the hall from the alcove where he’d hidden. At least she hadn’t been planning to hike down a long corridor in such skimpy attire.
But that yank and the quick turn made her robe flare even more, from the waist down. It was quick, just a second, then it settled back into place. Even a second was long enough to confirm what he’d suspected: she wasn’t wearing one damn thing else. Hunger flooded his mouth and blood roared through his veins, settling right in his groin. His head spinning, his mind tried to re-create the gorgeous, perfect image that had flashed before his eyes.
He was doing an excellent job of it, if he did say so himself. He’d always been a pretty visual guy.
But when he heard a door close from down the hall, Seth reacted quickly. He’d be damned if any other man would get such a gift. Not if he could help it.
He snatched the ice bucket from her hands. “I’ll get the stupid ice. Get in your room before some horny creep sees you like this.”
“Too late,” she said with a sneer.
Oy. Why the hell was he doing this? It would be less difficult to climb Everest than to think Lauren was going to forgive him. And less painful to gnaw his own foot off to get out of a bear trap than endure her insults while he tried to get her to.
“Please, Lauren, get inside,” he insisted, gesturing down her body. “That robe might have felt demure when you put it on, but considering your nipples are hard and your legs are shaking, you look like you’re begging somebody to do you like you’ve never been done before.”
Gasping, she gripped the edges of the robe and crossed her arms over her chest. “That was…”
“True.”
“Damn you, Seth.”
“Damn me all you want. Behind closed doors.”
She hesitated for a moment, then slowly nodded and turned toward her door, which presented him with the back view—Good God, that ass is a work of art. Recently, his memories had been mostly about how much he’d cared about her, loved her, so he hadn’t really anticipated such intense heat. It churned in his gut, sucking his breath from his lungs, emptying his brain. He was aware of nothing except her smell and her softness. And how she looked. Oh, God, the way those long, milky-white thighs had looked, topped with a soft tuft of curls he was dying to explore, with his hands, his mouth, his cock. All of the above, once and then again and again.
Every masculine fiber of his being was ready to do it, from his tingling fingertips, to his breathless mouth, to his rock-hard dick, which was currently putting his zipper through one hell of a strength test.
He’d never been so confused by his own emotions. He was torn between anger, regret, excitement and sharp, pounding lust. All directed at or caused by her.
Get her alone. Say what you have to say. Then see what happens.
Maybe he’d fly back to L.A. filled with all those same crazy emotions and that same twisted sense of pain and pleasure he felt every minute he spent with her. Or maybe he wouldn’t. Maybe she was protesting so much because she still had feelings for him, too.
She might claim to hate him, but once they were alone inside that room, would the ice queen’s facade melt? God, he hoped so.
Hardly able to stand the few minutes more, he watched as she unlocked her door and stepped inside. Then she turned and looked at him. He should have known by her expression she was going to say something he didn’t like.
And she did.
“Funny. I’ve suddenly decided I prefer my water warm.” With a triumphant smile, she slammed the door in his face.
Well, so much for melting.
“You could give the Snow Miser a run for his money.”
He only hoped he wasn’t the one who’d frozen her heart into such solid rigidity. God, did he ever hope that.
Seth considered leaving the ice chest right outside her door. It would serve her right if she tripped over it when she left her room. Then he thought better of it, imagining her tripping over the thing,
