“Then no room number. However, I can call her if you’d like to see if she’d talk with you.” The clerk hummed as her fingers flew across the keyboard. “Oh, it looks like Mrs. Hunihan is no longer staying with us. She checked out hours ago.”
Chapter Seventeen
Trapped in the elevator at The Palms, speeding up to the fourteenth floor, Beth fought the urge to strangle Hank.
He'd gone all dark and surly the moment they found out Sarah Jane had checked out. A few phone calls later and his mood had gone from surly to irate. Sarah Jane had bought a last minute ticket to Mexico. The plane had been in the air an hour by the time they’d found out.
Tight, wound-up energy filled the elevator. It burrowed under her skin and plucked at her already high-strung nerves.
“Why are we going to your hotel room?”
Hank's heated gaze sent fire straight to her core. He only grunted in response.
Ass.
Mr. Grumpy needed to find someone else to take his bad mood out on because she'd find another room. It was a good plan but it left an aching need in the pit of her stomach and lower.
The elevator doors opened. Hank stepped out onto the floor and scanned the area, then held out his hand for her. Shooting him a dirty look, she ignored his hand and strutted down the hall to his room.
Hank opened the door and ushered her inside. “Wait here.” Walking ahead, he looked into the bathroom and scoped out the rest of the room before making his way back to her. He closed the door and flipped the security lock.
Noting the empty bathroom and freshly made king-size bed, tension mounted inside her. “I don't know why you’re so pissed off, but you'd better spit it out.”
Instead of answering her, he crowded into her space, forcing her to back up until she was flat against the door. Her breath caught. Electricity sparked in the air around them, muddling her ability to form coherent thought.
“When I saw the guy from the chapel in the casino, I thought I was too late.” Something dark swirled in the hazel depths of his eyes.
“Too late for w
hat?”
“To save you. I thought I’d let you down.” He lowered his lips to hers, possessive and hard.
Stunned, she couldn't move as his tongue teased her lips, sending heat flaring through her body. One thing she knew for sure in this twisted-up world was that Hank would never let her down. Ever. Need and want surged from her core. Forgetting the world and the dangers outside the door, she dropped her briefcase. The thunk it made when it hit the carpeted floor sounded a million miles away.
“Open your mouth, Beth.”
Her nipples hardened at his growled command and, ignoring all the reasons why she shouldn't, she opened for him.
He deepened the kiss and his hands swept down her sides, coming to rest against the outside of her thighs. The silken lining of her black sheath dress felt so cool as it slid against her bare legs when he inched it higher and higher, until it bunched around her waist.
The contrasting texture of his rough hands and the delicate lace of her panties against her hip teased her desire. She buried her fingers in his thick hair, wanting to touch him everywhere at once. It was happening too fast and not fast enough. Lust overrode her need for control. She wanted what only he could give. God, she didn't think she could live another moment without it.
Desperate for more, she pulled back from his hungry mouth. “Hank.”
He squeezed her hips. “No talking unless it's you telling me exactly how you want me to make you come.”
Grabbing a handful of his button-up shirt in each fist, she looked him straight in the eye.
There was no going back.
Not for her. Not for him.
Not this time.
Buttons flew across the room when she yanked it open and exposed his muscular chest. His nipples hardened in the cool air conditioning.
“You want me to make you come?”