Unlike the place where we stayed the night before, this hotel room is simple but fancy and impeccably clean. I flop down on my back on the enormous, luxurious bed. After hours and hours in the car, this feels amazing. I close my eyes and inhale deeply. It smells so good in here, so clean and fresh, and I want to stay here for days and days.
But it's only one night. Just one night to really relax and sleep well before we arrive at our new destination tomorrow.
"Hungry, Marissa?"
I open my eyes to see Nicolai stripping out of his shirt and walking toward the bathroom. I sit upright, and pull a room service menu over to me.
"Starving," I tell him. "And honest to God, you should warn a girl," I mutter under my breath.
"Excuse me?" he says, halfway to the bathroom.
"Oh, nothing," I say, opening the menu.
But he's already making his way back toward me.
"Not nothing. You said something."
"The cheeseburger with fries looks excellent." I hand him the menu but my distraction plan doesn't work.
"Out with it."
He's so damn stubborn.
"I just said you should warn a girl when you're going to strip like that!" I blurt out. My cheeks immediately heat with embarrassment. "I mean, I—well, you know." I'm stammering like a fool. "Forget it. I didn't mean anything by it."
He looks down at his bare chest as if he's just realized he took his shirt off. "Warn you," he mutters.
"Warn me," I croak.
And when he looks at me, with a rakish grin and one eyebrow perched in curiosity, my heart tumbles in my chest.
"Marissa," he says. "I'm taking a shower. There, I warned you."
"Thank you," I barely choke out. "Have a good shower." And then while he showers like a normal person, I sit and berate myself for being such a dumbass. It's a quick shower, and I'm not surprised. He doesn't want to leave me alone.
"Now your turn," he says, but he's standing there wrapped in a towel, so my feet are tied in knots like pretzels. I stumble, and he reaches for my arm, my skin electrified at his touch.
"You okay?" he murmurs.
"Fine," I breathe, mortified.
"You should warn a guy," he says. I look up at him, and his eyes are twinkling at me.
"Warn them about what?"
"That you're going to trip and make them touch you."
I can't breathe, I can't think, I'm standing here like a dope, not even knowing what to do with myself.
Twenty-four hours ago, I was a teenaged girl with a crush on her bodyguard, convinced he hated her. I was free, but with restrictions.
And now? Now, I'm under his protection. And tonight there is no pullout sofa.
It's shocking how quickly things can change.
But there's no way anything will happen between us. Not now. Not like this.
"You're still holding my elbow," I whisper.
"I am," he agrees, nodding. But he doesn't make a move to let me go. Still holding me, he places one knuckle under my chin and draws my eyes to his. I want to ask him to do something. To kiss me. To let me sit on his lap and make out with him until he lays me on the bed and claims me in the way that I know only Nicolai, only Nicolai, ever could.
Does he want me that way?
He opens his mouth to say something, then closes it, takes a deep breath and speaks into my ear, his thick accent and deep voice all gravelly and husky-deep and so sexy I'm stifling a moan. God, what he does to me. "Go take your shower. I'll order food." Then he lets me go and takes a step back.
And that's what we need right then. A step back.
I blink in surprise, not knowing what to do or how I got here. He looks at me and points toward the bathroom.
"Shower," he orders.
"Shower," I breathe.
I turn and walk toward the bathroom tingling from my head to my toes. I shut the door tentatively, and just like last night, press myself against it and close my eyes. I'm sharing a room with the sexiest man I've ever known, and I come alive at the slightest touch from him. What would it be like if he took it to the next level?
Or do I need to?
I'm so much younger than he is. He has a whole lifetime of experiences I don't have...
But if I'm honest, that only makes me more attracted to him than before. I put the shower on, then strip out of my clothes and stand in front of the large, opulent mirror, rimmed with small oval lights. My eyes are bright and wide, my cheeks vivid with color. My hair hangs around me in crazy, unruly waves.
I trail a hand down to the fullness of my naked breasts, the flat of my stomach, my softly-rounded belly. And lower still. I close my eyes. Imagining Nicolai's hands on my body, touching me like this. I bite my lip and glide my fingers lower still. I stifle a little gasp. I'm slick between my legs, just from being near him, just from the thought of what he could do to me.