Page 68 of Not Safe for Work

Ships sink. Tornadoes spin. Volcanoes erupt.

No one has ever kissed me like this.

He breathes my name, and I say it back because this is all I am right now. He tastes like sunshine and longing, and I lap up every drop. His hands wander to the underside of my skirt, fingertips skating the dangerous edge of my underwear.

His mouth moves down my throat, burying in the curve of my neck as he nips and bites at my skin, mapping a voyage across the range of my collarbone and over the valley of my breasts. I want this to last forever. Our pulses clash, our mouths tangle, our hands are greedy.

But then Rafe swerves from my lane, pulling back and lowering me to the ground.

I feel his absence burying into my chest like a wreath of thorns.

“Fuck,” he says. “Fuck. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. Tris, I’m sorry.”

It’s another sorry. We’re sorry again, but he’s right. This was a terrible idea.

I begin, quietly and appropriately freaking out.

“You kissed me,” I say, not sure if it’s an observation or an accusation.

Rafe’s nostrils flare, taking the latter bend in the road. “You kissed me!”

“You started it!” Though I’m not really sure if that’s true.

“You continued it,” he counters, and shit, that is totally true. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

I know why I shouldn’t have done that, but why shouldn’t he have done it? My stomach twists as bile creeps up the back of my throat.

He laces his hands at the back of his head and paces. The hem of his shirt lifts, and I catch a sliver of his Midas-touched stomach. My fingers twitch with the desire for more.

The feel of his hands and his mouth have now been tattooed onto me with ink and blood.

“Fine. That’s just fine,” I snap.

Nothing has ever been less fine.

I am such a fucking liar.

So, I’m left with no choice but to glare at him and then run away.

Chapter Nineteen

I stand in line at the check-in desk with my arms crossed and my toe tapping the marble while a family of nine hundred and forty-three people, all draped in floral-patterned shirts, crowd the reception area. It’s been fifteen minutes already, and I’m this close to hauling someone back by the collar and bulldozing my way through.

After storming away from Rafe last night, I didn’t see him again until this morning when I found him asleep on the couch. I guess our days of sharing the bed are over. Belinda finally responded to one of my many emails, claiming the room mix-up was an accident. She added that she called the hotel, and they had no other rooms to offer before assuring me we’d be just fine staying together. Thanks. So helpful.

But it’s no matter—today, I’m finding a new room for Rafe if I have to build it myself with some rusty nails and planks of desperation. I know they didn’t want me to ask again, but I’m losing my mind.

This morning, I dressed in my grey pencil skirt and a black T-shirt dotted with crystals. When I left the room, Rafe didn’t stir, and I harbor suspicions that he was pretending to be asleep. It seems like something he’d do.

Now, I’m waiting in the lobby, praying another room has opened up, but the human glacier wall in front of me isn’t moving. Nine hundred people need one million rooms, and I’m going to die waiting here.

I check my phone. This morning’s sessions are starting soon, and I’ll be late if I don’t get going, but I can’t spend another minute in that room with Rafe. It took me forever to fall asleep last night, even after I made use of my Sona 2 cranked up to level 12. But that totally backfired because it only made me think about Rafe and that kiss even more.

My thighs squeeze together with the intense recollection of Rafe’s iron-hard erection nestled between them. My hand flutters to my throat as I feel the burn of his mouth on my skin. I wonder if my Sona 2 has a power booster I can attach or something. This isn’t good. I have to think of something else.

“You coming?” I jump nearly a foot, entirely absorbed in my horny daydreams. It’s Andy, and he’s giving me an expectant look. “Class is starting soon.”

I look back towards the desk where the crowd is still six rows deep. These people probably took up every available room, anyway. I sigh. I’ll come back later and try again.