“My condo was robbed.”
Silence pulsed on the line while he took that in. “Stay where you’re at. I’m maybe two hours behind you.”
“What? No. I need to get there.”
“Sarah. Don’t leave Austin,” he ordered.
“John—”
“Who called you about the robbery?”
Sarah took a deep breath. She didn’t like where this was going. “Randall.”
“Stay the fuck where you’re at.”
“I can’t stay here for two hours!”
“Look around and tell me how many hotels you see.”
It didn’t occur to Sarah where he was going with this. She looked around. “There’s a DoubleTree right in front of me.”
“Okay, that’s good. Pull around and check in. I’ll be there as quick as I can.”
“I’m not checking in! That’s ridiculous. I need to get to Dallas.”
“You’re not continuing on without me. If you won’t check in, go wait for me in the hotel restaurant.”
She pushed the oxygen out of her lungs. “John—”
“Stop arguing with me. You are not going alone into a house that’s been burglarized. And you’re not going to go meet up with that fucking douche. It is so not happening, babe. And why the fuck did he call you anyway? You said you live alone. What the fuck, Sarah?” His voice blistered her over the line.
“I do live alone. The security company has his name on the list in case the alarm goes off. They couldn’t get me, and he’s the next in line.”
“Why didn’t you take him off already?”
“I didn’t think about it. I’ve been kind of busy this summer with you, John.” She couldn’t quite contain the sarcasm.
“Yeah, well, I don’t fucking like it and you’re staying put until I get there. I don’t want you sitting in the heat at a gas station, so get your little ass to that hotel.”
“John—”
“Let me put it to you this way, baby. When I get to the DoubleTree, if you’re not there, you’re going to live to regret it.”
“Oh my God. Is that a threat?”
“What do you think?”
“I think it’s a damn threat.”
“You want to test the outcome of not doing what I say? Because trust me, babe, I will find you.”
A shiver of sexual heat traced down her spine. “Fine. But I’m not sitting in a restaurant that long. I’ll get a room, but you’re going to pay me back.”
“When you get checked in, text me the room number.”
“Fine.”
“And have your panties off when I get there.”
His last growling response induced such exhilaration that she simply ended the call.
****
After two of the longest hours of his life, John rode the elevator upstairs. The little witch hadn’t texted him right away, oh, fuck no, she’d left him floundering on the goddamn hook until he hit the outskirts of Austin. She’d timed it pretty accurately, and now he couldn’t contain the primal emotions fueling his blood.
He walked up to the door and rapped on it.
When she pulled it open, he almost passed out in pure, unmitigated relief at the sight of her. Until he actually saw her, he wasn’t one hundred percent sure she would even really be here.
He stepped inside, bolted the door and turned and put his hands on her waist. “Panties off?” he asked.
He stepped forward, purposely pushing her back farther into the room. He couldn’t contain the feelings rushing through his bloodstream, and he damn sure couldn’t stop from acting on them. He wanted her naked and he wasn’t going to rest until he got her that way. He could feel her body trembling under his palms and he admitted to himself that it gave him a sense of satisfaction.
He pulled the t-shirt over her head. “I asked you a question.”
“No.”
“No, what?”
“No—I still have panties on.”
“That’s not minding me very well, is it Sarah?”
He unclipped her bra and gave a massive, internal sigh of relief when her soft white breasts came into view.
She shook her head and wet her lips as her hands landed on his biceps. Oh, yeah, he wanted those lips. He needed them now, wrapped around his cock, sucking and licking and—goddamn, she was driving him fucking insane.
He was going to go insane.
She couldn’t go back to Dallas.
She couldn’t.
He wouldn’t let her.
He unbuttoned the button on her shorts and then pulled down the zipper. He pushed his hands down inside the loosened material until he was holding soft, firm buttocks in each of his hands. He felt his cock swell and push against his jeans, demanding to be inside of her.
“You’re not going to run from me again.”
“I didn’t run from you. I needed to leave for a bit, that’s all.”
“That’s not allowed. You don’t go anywhere without telling me first unless it’s to the goddamn grocery store, got it?”
“J-John—”
He ignored her and pushed her shorts and panties down her legs. “Step out of them.”
She did as he asked and he couldn’t help it. He fisted one hand in her hair and he sank one hand in the heat between her legs. He pushed a finger up into her.
She shuddered in his arms and her wet heat slid magnificently over his finger until it touche
d his palm like liquid sugar. Jesus Christ, he was going to come in his pants.
“J-John, stop—stop—”
“No way.” What the hell could she possibly mean, stop? He wasn’t going to stop. He wasn’t ever going to stop.
She began panting hard against him and he could feel it egging him on. She was totally wet and juicy, running like hot, wet honey around him, and he manipulated his finger inside of her, wanting her to come. He needed her to come.
But she was still trying to fight him verbally. “I’m going to have to go back to Dallas. I have a job there.”
“No.” Un-fucking-acceptable. He wasn’t going to let her go back. Wasn’t happening.
“John, I need my job.”
Her arguments were beginning to grate on his nerves. He didn’t want to argue about this anymore. “No, you don’t.”
“I have a home there,” she said.
“You don’t need it. I want you to sell it.”
“But my job—”
“You don’t need the fucking job. You don’t need any money. I’ll cover it. All of it.”
“No, that would be wrong.”
“Why would it be wrong?” Fuck, he was going to go insane if she kept fighting him on this. He needed to be inside of her silky little body, and all she wanted to do was threaten him with going back to goddamn Dallas. Fuck that. He let go of her long enough to strip his jeans and underwear off and then began to push her against the nearest wall.
He pressed her spine against the wall and words came tumbling from her lips as he lifted one smooth, silky leg around his waist. “It would be wrong because—because—” He began to push into her. God, it felt so good. She felt so good. “J-John, I can’t th-think straight—”
“Don’t think baby. Feel.” He took another stroke and closed his eyes as pleasure, intense and hot, bolted through him.
“This w-won’t solve anything. I have to go back—I can’t stay with you.”
He opened his eyes and lifted her chin, and tried to focus. “Why not? Don’t you want to be with me?” He held his breath and asked, “Don’t you love me?”
He took another stroke and he felt her suck in her breath. Was it from him pounding into her, or was it from what he said? He took another stroke and waited, his eyes on hers.