Page 10 of One Night Stand After Another
The hungry gleam in her gaze delighted him. “Noted—and that’s just the first of the intimate details I plan to uncover tonight.”
She shivered against him.
“Cold?” he asked.
Her laugh was breathless. “Hardly.”
The vestibule was empty. He pulled her to a stop and backed her into a clear space between the frames on the wall. “I can’t wait to kiss you.”
“You dragged me out of a perfectly secluded closet to maul me in a public hallway?”
He threaded his hands into her silky hair. “I guess I did.” Because if he didn’t get his lips on hers in the next five seconds, he might lose his mind. The noise she made as his hardness pressed into her softness nearly undid him. “You make me feel like a teenager.”
One of her brows arched, and he guessed where her thoughts went. “Let’s hope so.”
He closed the last few inches between them slowly, giving her plenty of time to see him coming, plenty of time to change her mind. He meant to be gentle, to make this kiss a new beginning, but the instant he tasted her, he was plunged into the center of their volcanic connection. Immediately intent on getting inside her skin. He released her hair and palmed her sweet ass, lifting her straight up and bracing her against the wall so he could reach her better.
She tasted like champagne and smelled like citrus and musk. He kept his eyes open, avidly eating the signs of her surrender: blown pupils, fast breath, the way she clutched his shoulders. The seeking motion of her hips and the way she kept raising a foot and then putting it back down as if she wanted to wrap her legs around him but kept remembering where they were.
Shit.Stepping back was hell. Keeping his hands to himself when he wanted to keep them on her was—what was worse than hell? Purgatory? He should know. He’d been there for years.
“That was supposed to be a friendly, I’m-so-glad-you-said-yes kiss. Not anything that might get us arrested or on the front page of the gossip magazines.”
She jerked upright from her satisfyingly dazed slouch against the wall, giving him a slight push away with both hands.
He laughed. “Nobody saw us.”
Her violet eyes were wide pools of lust, and he loved seeing her look at him like that. “Let’s be teenagers again,” he said. “Let’s make out in the back of the car. Let’s buy condoms at Duane Reade and stay up all night.”
“Zane. I’m with you. One hundred percent. But you’re going to have to get me out of here first. Because I came here to apologize, and I’m sure as hell not doing anything while I’m here that is going to require another apology.”
He checked his phone. Pete, his driver, was right on time. Zane whirled her away from the wall and out the front door, into his waiting car.
Chapter Five
She was going to have to wake up at five in the morning to get back to her hotel, pack, and arrive at the airport on time. Going to her hotel was a way better plan, but she was curious. How did Zane live? What sort of life had he built for himself?
“Do you live alone?”
“I do,” he said. “It’s not far. Or fancy. Mostly I work and travel, so I’m not there much.”
She was stalling, using words to reestablish the balance she’d lost when he kissed her. No one kissed like Zane. She hadn’t exactly gone on a mission to find someone, but she’d had a few serious boyfriends. She’d had sex. Good sex… Decent sex? After that kiss, though, she was pretty sure all of her past experiences had been mediocre at best.
This was a terrible idea. She had to be on a plane in less than twelve hours. She had a chance to reroute her life. To right the mistake she’d made by running. To maybe, eventually show her designs to James Buchanan, the artisan fiber king, and instead of resting up and working on her interview skills, she was going to stay up all night having sex?
Yes.
It was a terrible idea, but she was doing it anyway.
Zane fiddled with his phone and then pocketed it. The partition between the driver and them rolled up. Then Zane unbuckled his belt, slid into the middle seat, and rebuckled his seat belt. She could feel the heat of him all the way to her bones now, and her whole body melted. He cupped her chin and pressed those killer lips to hers. Instantly she was lost to sensation. Her nipples tightened. The tingles between her thighs rekindled.
“Clara?” he asked against her lips.
“Hmm?”
“It’s not like we just met, but I feel a little abrupt putting my hands places that you might not want them. Are we on the same page? Can I touch you?”
A blast of heat shot through her. Zane was asking permission. Oh, that was hot.Red, red, and more red shot through with smoky gray hot.“Where do you want to touch me?”
