Fine. On the bright side, the time it took him to check in at the front desk gave her a second to gather her thoughts. She guessed she had about five minutes to figure out how to play this.
Did she tell him that when it came to sex, she talked a good game and knew precisely where the male genitals were located, even if she hadn’t—ahem—handled them?
Or did she fake her way through it in hopes that an above-average sex IQ on paper could disguise lack of actual experience?
Sam glanced over his shoulder as the hotel desk clerk did her thing on the computer screen, and the smile he gave her was pure sex.
She’d been on the receiving end of that look before, of course. But this was the first time she intended to act on it. No, that wasn’t true. She’d intended plenty of times.
This was the first time she was excited about it.
And not just because it was long past time … but because it was Sam.
She wanted him so badly she ached with it, even as she feared the inevitable moment that he tried to push her away. But tonight wasn’t about tomorrow.
Tonight was about finding out what all the fuss was about … with a man who she was pretty darn sure would be worth the wait. Hell, with a man who may have been cause for the wait. Not that she was ready to admit that.
Not even to herself.
“You ready?” Sam asked, handing her the plastic key card. She hesitated only briefly before reaching out to take it. She tugged, but he didn’t release it immediately, and she lifted questioning eyes to his.
“You’re sure about this?”
That she could answer. “Yes.”
And yet still, he didn’t release the card.
“Why me, Ri? Why not one of the thousands of other men who’d kill to be standing in my shoes right now?”
That she couldn’t answer. So she deflected.
“Are you sure about this?”
In response, he relinquished the card before offering his hand to her. She took it.
The elevator ride was silent, as was the long walk down the hall to the corner room. He stepped aside so she could do the honors, and she deftly slipped the key into the card reader, watching for the little flickering green light that signaled the end of her pseudo virginity.
He followed her into the room, and she started to go for the light switch before thinking better of it. These things were better done in the dark.
Weren’t they?
She went back and turned the dimmer until there was soft light filling the room. She wanted to see him.
“You know, if I’d known that the anticipating of sex could make you stop your annoying chatter, I might have initiated it a long time ago,” he said, coming up behind where she stood in the middle of the room.
“If you had initiated this a long time ago, perhaps you wouldn’t find my chatter annoying.”
Sam let out a soft chuckle as his hands went gently to her upper arms. “You’re that good, huh?”
Tell him.
She opened her mouth to spill her guts as he turned her toward him. “Sam—”
His expression went from aroused man to concerned friend in the flash of an instant, and she hadn’t even begun.
“What is it?” he asked. “You look scared to death.”
And just like that, her resolve to come clean was washed away by a tidal wave of pride. Sam was slipping into big-brother mode, and if he knew what a crucial moment this was for her, he wouldn’t touch her with a ten-foot pole.