“But I have a feeling if she did, she’d be impressed.”
His laughter chased her into the bedroom, where he heard the shower turn on. He had time to update Rick, stand Hassan down, check his messages, order room service and consult the concierge about Teela’s dress and shoes before she reappeared in the hotel robe, bare-faced, hair loose and partially blow-dried, curling around her face and shoulders.
“Feel better?”
“Much.”
“Food is coming, but before that we’re going to have a little excursion.”
She looked down at herself. “I’m not exactly excursion ready.”
“No one will see you.”
“You see me.”
And what he saw pleased him very much. He put his hands to her shoulders. The robe was one of those thick toweling types that made everyone look short and squat. Inside it she was still more imaginary than real.
She leaned into him. She smelled of the hotel’s fancy brand toiletries. “I’d like my after kiss now please.”
“With pleasure.” He slipped his hands down her back and pulled her close, and when she lifted her chin, he palmed her face and ran his nose over her cheek, delivering what would be the first of many kisses to her temple, before angling her face and taking her lips firmly. Her murmur told him she liked it. He took it deeper, added pressure, letting his tongue out to play and grazing his teeth over her bottom lip.
Somewhere between the simple loveliness of her clean, silky skin and the complexity of her response, a kind of trembling wonder that ignited his lust, and right before she jammed a hand in his hair and licked the roof of his mouth, he stopped feeling satisfied with himself for engineering an enjoyable night and started feeling inspired. Teela Carpenter was a one-night stand worthy of wowing.
“You’re doing a good job of making me forget my manners,” he said, lips coasting over her jaw. “We’ll come back to this.”
“I don’t see any reason for us to leave.”
He ran the backs of his knuckles over her cheek. “Hotel can’t save your dress and your shoes are a lost cause and you need something other than this ugly thing to wear.”
She frowned. “I can make do.”
“I’m sure you can. But not tonight. Not with me.” He took her hand and towed her to the elevator. “I had the concierge open the boutique for us. Let’s choose you something dry to wear to work tomorrow.”
The mezzanine floor was dark, except for the light in the boutique. He pushed the door open and noted the chilled champagne and strawberries set out for them. Teela took a stroll around the shelves and fixtures. She had pretty feet and bright red toenails, though her fingernails were unpainted and clipped short. Business on top, but a hint of less restraint underneath.
“Choose something to replace your dress.” He sat on a chaise longue to wait for her.
She held up something pink and shiny. “I can see the logic of having things for the morning, but the idea of you buying them for me makes me uncomfortable. I make a good living. I can buy my own clothes.”
That was a first. He was accustomed to being the one who spent money on others. “It wasn’t my intention to make you uncomfortable.”
“I know. You’ve got a lock on charming.” She left the pink thing behind and came across to him. “It’s sweet of you, but you don’t have to buy my attention, or compensate me, or whatever you’re doing. I’m being unprofessional, letting myself be seduced by you, and the only way this works for me is that it’s one secret night with no strings, but this,” she gestured at the racks of clothing, “is confusing.”
“Did you think I was simply going to throw you on the bed and have my way with you?” He could tell by the look on her face she did. “Now I feel uncomfortable. I didn’t mean to make you feel.” He stopped talking, swallowed the word compromised, when she sat over his legs, a knee either side of his hips. There was a lot of smooth thigh to look at and she wasn’t wearing underwear. He got a tantalizing glimpse of her pussy, a dark strip of pubic hair before the robe fell back in place and she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.
He got to know those thighs and the smooth curve of her ass; he got to be uncomfortable for other reasons to do with how hard he was before they came up for air. He’d almost forgotten where they were and why.
“I want to buy you something to wear because I can.” Assuming Rum hadn’t come up with a way to freeze his bank accounts and demand his rusted-on bachelor heart for ransom. “It will make me happy, not for any other reason. Just because this is one night, it doesn’t mean we can’t get to know one another.” It was, after all, what she’d hinted at wanting, along with kisses.
She snuck a look over her shoulder at the clothing. She wasn’t cold to the idea anymore. “Teela, go shopping for me because it’s part of the fantasy.”
That did it. “You get to approve my choice.”
If that’s what she needed to make this work. He poured them both champagne, dropping a strawberry into each glass.
This time she reviewed the shelves and racks with more purpose, sipping her champagne and picking up hangers and taking them to a changeroom. When she was satisfied with her selection she stepped inside, a hand to the curtain.
He stopped her. “Leave that.” He stood and went to her. “I’d like to watch.”