When Staci Takes Charge (Leave Your Shoes On 2)

him with fiery eyes that were tawny, mostly golden with flecks of orange. She was beautiful. Breathtaking, actually, with high cheekbones, honey skin, and rosy lips.

He had to run a few medical terms through his head in order to divert his attention from how stunning and scantily clad she was. The tactic was also necessary to help ascertain whether the vision before him was real or not, for Evan had a tendency to sleepwalk. He never went far and typically woke up after a few minutes. But hotels could be a bit hazardous for someone with the affliction. It’d been a while since he’d done it, so he’d thought he’d broken the habit.

But there really couldn’t be such a striking, half-naked woman standing eight feet away from him. Could there?

He mentally shook his head. Whether he was imagining this or not, he was willing to fall down the rabbit hole when the fantasy spoke.

“Sooo, this is awkward,” she said, her tone low and breathy. Sultry. Sexy as hell.

His groin instantly tightened. His pulse hitched a notch.

She kept talking as his body started to burn. “See, I was on my way to get some ice—”

“You know the valet could have gotten that for you.”

“Yes,” she ground out. “I realize that. Not my first rodeo at a swank hotel.”

He bit back a grin. The fantasy had some spunk to her.

“Anyhoo,” she said. “I didn’t think there’d be anyone in the hallway in the middle of the night. I even checked.”

“And you would have been in the clear. Except that you got a little loud.”

“I did not get loud. And what the heck are you doing up at three a.m.?”

He sighed. “I was working late. Then I drifted off at the desk. I woke up and did more work, then drifted off again…”

“Aha,” she softly said. Her entire demeanor softened, in fact. Making him wonder how malleable she’d be in his hands, how she might writhe against his body if he held her in his arms.

Whoa. Where were those thoughts coming from?

They were not normal ones for Dr. Evan Hart. By any stretch of the imagination.

But the fantasy was incredibly titillating. Enthralling. Tempting, even.

In her arousing voice, she mused, “So you could actually still be asleep at this very moment. And you never, ever saw me.”

She flashed a pearly white smile.

He smirked. “That’s not exactly how you convince someone they’re sleepwalking and dreaming.”

“And you’re an expert?”

“As a matter of fact, yes.”

“Well then.” She shifted from one foot to the other. “Why don’t you sleepwalk your way back into your suite, I’ll follow and use your phone to call down to the front desk to let them know I’m locked out of my suite, and we’ll pretend this never happened? Whether you’re truly awake or not.”

“You shouldn’t leave your key in your room when you go for ice.”

“Gee. You think?”

Evan shook his head. “I see you like to be antagonistic.”

“No, I like to be fully clothed when caught in situations such as this.”

His gaze swept over her. He couldn’t help it. Hoped he could blame it on the supposed sleepwalking and justify it that way to both himself and to her.

But Evan had to concede that, even in his wildest dreams, he would not have conjured this insanely beautiful, perfectly sculpted creature. And she sure as hell wouldn’t have such a smart mouth. Evan preferred women who were a bit more demure. Studious. More bookish than…sassy and seductive.