Tinsel In A Tangle

She stalked over to the windows and turned her back to him. The surrounding hotels glittered in the morning sun. “For the record, I’m not looking for someone to be good with.” Under her breath—but still loud enough for him to hear—she said, “I was actually hoping to be rather bad.”

Then, louder, “I’m very clear on what we are and what we are not, Adam. We’re two people in a weird moment in our lives. There’s no future.”

She took a deep breath, dove into the humiliation. “But you simply walk in the room, and I get hot and wet. That’s never happened to me before.” She was grateful her voice didn’t shake. Why was she opening herself up like this? Risking rejection and humiliation? So not her. Especially not for what could only be a one-night stand.

But she couldn’t ignore the lingering closeness they’d discovered together the night before. Any woman would want him for his plain-as-day sexiness and charisma—and she was far from immune to that. But it was the way he looked so sick on her behalf when she talked about her dad. It was the fact that he truly only stole from people who deserved it.

He stared at her, open-mouthed, and she quickly cut off the thoughts that were probably painting tenderness all over her face. She lifted her chin. Might as well finish her angry little speech. “So forgive me if I’m disappointed in how last night ended. And for being disappointed that we don’t have another night here together to behave badly.”

He was so quiet she didn’t hear him walk across the room to her. Actually, he was there a millisecond after she finished talking, so he must have almost ran.

“Interesting thing about Vegas,” he said, his voice rough and guttural. He yanked the thick brocade drapes closed, and the room went entirely black. “It’s always night.”

Chapter Ten

Standing in the dark, heart racing, Adam forced himself to count to ten. One last chance to change her mind. But then he felt her tentative hands, reaching out blindly to him. Thank Christ.

He pulled her to him, rested her hands against his chest. The room was quiet except for the ragged sounds of their breathing. He lowered his face to her neck, breathed in her scent. She smelled like lilacs and vanilla.

“Once I kiss you,” he said, licking the side of her throat. “I won’t be able to stop. So when you think back to this day, remember that I tried to be noble.”

She slid her hands up his chest and around his shoulders, laced her fingers behind his neck. Standing on her tiptoes in her robe, she responded with one of her rumble-purr laughs. “We’re about to be naked together and what you want me to remember is that you tried to be noble?”

She never stopped busting his balls. It made him even harder, and he wouldn’t have thought such a thing was possible. But when she put it that way... “Actually, no,” he admitted. “Maybe this instead?”

He finally, finally, kissed her.

It started as a mere brushing of lips, but they’d both been waiting too long and imagining too much for it to stay that way. With a tiny, eager gasp, Jess opened her mouth to him and he went wild. He kissed her again and again—hard and demanding kisses that molded her lips to his. Desperate to taste, he tangled his tongue with hers until she was panting, her fingernails digging into his neck.

He was burning up. He broke away from her, absolutely loving her whimper of protest, just long enough to whip his sweatshirt and t-shirt off. Then he found her mouth again, kissed her even harder and deeper than before. He felt her hands exploring his bare torso, groaned against her open mouth.

This time it was Jess who broke the kiss. “It’s too dark in here,” she whispered, running her hands over the muscles of his chest. “I want to see you.”

“Next time.” He was much too far gone to be stumbling around looking for light switches. He was desperate to see her too, but he was going to learn her by touch—and taste—first. He brought her face back to his for another long, wet kiss. Her skin was on fire and she trembled under his hands. Time to get rid of that damn robe. With one quick tug he released the tie, and then he used both hands to push it off her shoulders. It fell to the floor.

He didn’t know what to touch first. His hands were shaking like a teenager’s, for God’s sake. She reached for him, put her arms around his neck, and pressed her bare breasts to his chest. Fuck. They needed to get to the bed before he just gave up and dragged her down to the floor. He rubbed his hands down the warm, smooth muscles of her back, bit her bottom lip as he gripped her ass with both hands.

“Hold on to me,” he commanded. Then he lifted her up until her hips were above his. She giggled, a sound of pure surprise and delight. She straddled him in mid-air, wrapping her legs around his waist. He could feel her wetness against his stomach, her long hair tenting around him. He raised his face and her mouth found his again. She thrust her tongue between his lips and he shuddered.

Hoping his sense of direction was sound, he walked five steps forward, grateful when h

is knees finally hit the edge of the bed. Carefully, he bent forward and she clung to him until her back hit the mattress.

The bed was closer to the bathroom. The light was on in there, and even though the door was closed, the crack at the bottom cast a tiny sliver of light into the room. Enough so that he could see her a little now. Dark hair fanned out against the white comforter, long legs bent at the knees with her heels on the edge of the bed, small but perfectly round breasts.

Best of all, she watched him with those huge, black-fringed chocolate eyes. He couldn’t wait to see what her eyes looked like when she came. He got rid of his jeans in two seconds flat, only pausing to grab a condom from his wallet.

She could see him now too, he realized, as her gaze swept over his abdomen, lingered on his arousal, and back up to his face. “Wow.” She exhaled. “Just...wow.”

His dick twitched, no doubt pleased at her blatant admiration. Ignoring it, Adam knelt on the carpet. He ran his hands over her gorgeous thighs, stroking the soft inner skin with both thumbs. “I’ve been meaning to tell you...you have the absolute best legs I’ve ever seen. I’ve been wanting to do this since the first night we met.” He pressed his lips to her left calf muscle, then her right. Moved his face up her leg to lick behind both knees.

She arched her back into the mattress, and every muscle in both legs tensed. Yes. He kissed up her leg until his tongue was stroking her inner thighs. She raised herself on her elbows and stared at him, her breasts bouncing from deep, shaky breaths. “That’s right, baby,” he said. “Watch me taste you.” And then he nuzzled his face between her thighs and licked her core, swiveling his tongue until she cried out.

So, so good. She tasted warm and creamy and like vanilla and he would have spent all damn day down there if she hadn’t said, “Get up here. Now.”

He kept licking and swirling, intending to give her a hell of an orgasm first, but she pulled his hair and moaned, “I’m going to come so hard, Adam, and I want to do it with you inside me.”

And...a man only had much self-control. He’d been wanting inside her since the first moment he saw her. He climbed up her body, stopping to suck on each rosy nipple, because he just couldn’t help himself. “Please, please, now,” she begged.