One Night with the Sexiest Man Alive (The One 1)

Okay, good to go. “Top quality towels.” Also, where were his manners? “Have you eaten?”

She shook her head. Her shoes squelched as she shifted. Water dripped off her laptop bag. She had racoon eyes and he couldn’t remember wanting to kiss someone so badly for the sheer fun of it.

They stepped out into the vestibule and Rick let them into the suite and disappeared. For a man the size of a house, he had stealth-level discretion.

The suite was forty floors up and wall-to-ceiling glass, but there was nothing to see except cloud. Not a neon light, not a celestial one either. He pointed to the second of the three bedrooms. “Why don’t you take a warm shower, use the robe. I’ll see if the hotel can get your dress dry and order you something to eat.”

She went still. She’d stepped out of her shoes and placed her laptop bag on a glass-topped coffee table. Now she stood facing him, a look of indecision on her face, in her posture.

“Teela, you’re in control here. I won’t do anything you don’t want. The door is unlocked, and you can leave at any time. If you scream, Rick will be in here in less time than it will take you to wring out your hair.”

“What if

I want?”

He gave her a moment to finish that sentence and when she didn’t, he closed the distance between them. “What is it that you want?”

“To dry off, to eat, to spend time with you.”

He might be an actor who came alive with a good script, but he knew the value of silence.

She colored it in. “To do something out of character for me. To kiss you. To go to bed with you.” Going outside all the lines.

He watched her face. “Storm has set in. It’s nasty out there.”

“Looks like it.” Not that either of them did any looking.

“You don’t have anyone waiting for you?” Drama outside a day on set he didn’t need.

She shook her head. He took the brace off his wrist and tossed it aside. Took his suit coat off and draped it over a chair. Giving her time to get off this particular flight path, destination sex, if she considered the risk too high.

“Would you be cheating on anyone?” she asked. “This is unexpected.”

Delightfully so. “I’m not currently seeing anyone, no matter what you might’ve read.”

He reached for her hand. Ten p.m. Not late and he didn’t need to be anywhere early in the morning. He was intrigued by her, if not a little closer to captivated. “Spend the night with me.” He normally didn’t do that. He liked to sleep alone. Liked to send his dates home safely in the back of a limo with a smile on their face and a huge bunch of flowers to remember the occasion by. He’d be long gone before the blooms were compost.

He didn’t normally pick up half-drowned women on the street, or go for the accidental racoon look either. And Teela wasn’t standard-issue entertainment-industry savvy. He could see this kind of thing wasn’t something she was experienced with.

She slipped her hand into his. “I’d like that.” The first smile since she’d stepped into the suite. She wasn’t diving into this, consequences be damned, as if he was some kind of dare, and that was incredibly satisfying.

“I’m glad.” This would be an extended-play hit it and quit it arrangement where no one would get hurt. “Hassan will take you home or to your office after breakfast. But if you want to leave at any time, dial one on the black phone and Rick will pick up and get you what you need. Do you want that kiss now or after you’ve dried off?”

“I have to choose?” She put her hand to his chest and leaned in. He lowered his face, half expecting her to tease. He liked her confidence. It was well-considered, serendipity rather than rampant opportunism, and she wasn’t a star-fucker. He didn’t see her trying to insert herself permanently in his life. He didn’t see himself having to go cold on her, have Rick or one of the team keep her away. He liked her restraint. She wasn’t in total awe of him or all over him. She was neither reckless nor trying to impress him with her sophistication.

She was well worth waking up beside.

Up close, she smelled a little like wet dog, but under that there was a trace of something floral. Part of him was still surprised when she said, “Now,” and tipped her chin up, pressing her lips to his.

Other than the hand he still held, he didn’t touch her, let her control the kiss, parting her lips and sighing. The risk of this was on her side. As much as he could promise her safety and control, she was on his territory and he had the power.

Their tongues tipped, and she pulled away, laughter in her eyes, a hand to her mouth as if she wasn’t sure she still owned it.

“What would your mother think about that?” he said.

She took a step back, another. “My mother doesn’t need to know everything.”

He mimed a lip lock.