“You certainly wouldn’t be the first.”
His hands froze, and he looked up, brows lifted. A laugh bubbled out of him. “Excuse me?”
“I’ve seen plenty.”
He smirked and finished securing his pants, then grabbed her and swung her around in his arms, making her squeal and laugh. “Seen plenty, huh?”
“Uh-huh.”
He kissed her. Kissed her again. Loved the way she framed his face, pressed her forehead to his, and smiled into his eyes. “Did you cause any of them?”
“Would it matter if I did?”
A distant pinch tugged somewhere deep in his body. A completely foreign sensation that he still somehow identified as jealousy.
And wasn’t that a conundrum?
He cupped her cheek and gave her the only possible answer. “As long as what you’re doing makes you happy, no, it wouldn’t matter.”
“Hmm.” She kissed him. “I’m not the only sweet one around here.” Then she turned and started toward the lobby with an extra sassy sway in her step. “But it wasn’t me. Must have been another tramp stirring up the hopes of some celebrity loser staying—”
He caught up with her before she finished the thought and slung an arm around her waist. She was already laughing when he pulled her off her feet and h
auled her back up against his chest. “Did you just call me a celebrity loser?” She giggled in answer. “Because I am no celebrity. And don’t you forget it.”
She laughed so hard, he had to put her down so she could catch her breath. Only when he opened the lobby door for her did he think of the security cameras. “I’d better behave, or we might get a visit from Austin’s finest over a misunderstanding.”
She followed his eyes to the security cameras. A soft gasp pulled Keaton’s gaze to the alarm in her eyes. “Oh, my boss would not be pleased if I were involved in anything that could reach the public.”
He squeezed her waist. “Don’t worry. I’ll be good.” He pressed a kiss to her neck below her ear and whispered, “In public.”
She shot him a sidelong grin and crossed the lobby to the elevators. The hotel was quiet, with just one desk clerk on duty as they passed. Keaton moved behind her and pressed his body against hers. He loved the way she leaned into him.
“What floor?” he asked, barely above a whisper.
“Nine.”
“Mmm. After you get on and the doors close,” he said at her ear, “take off your panties.”
She turned her head just enough to lift a brow at him.
“I’d do it,” he told her, “but…cameras.”
She grinned. “But it’s okay if I do it.”
“You’d be way more discreet. I’d get…distracted.”
The elevator dinged, and the doors opened. When they entered, Keaton waited for Brooke to meet his eyes, then darted his gaze toward the camera’s location. Grinning, she moved to the corner mostly hidden from view. And Keaton leaned back against the opposite wall, crossed his arms and watched this sweet thing inch her hands beneath her skirt, showing a little more of those luscious thighs. With her lip between her teeth and her beautiful eyes shining with the most adorable mix of both mischief and nerves, she tugged a pair of ocean-blue lace panties down her thighs and let them fall around her feet. Then exhaled and closed her eyes a second, as if that had been the biggest feat ever.
And Keaton softened to her just a little more. Which he couldn’t afford—as she’d so accurately pointed out. He was leaving, and they didn’t know when they’d see each other again.
But she was definitely his tonight. And he was definitely going to reward her for whatever that little escapade had cost her in dignity.
He pushed off the wall, dropped his arms, and crossed the elevator. He put both hands on the railing behind her and looked directly into her eyes. “Knowing you’re standing here with nothing on under that dress is unspeakably sexy.”
She smiled. A giddy, I’m-so-glad-I-pleased-you smile. The experience was so fresh, it shot a thrill up Keaton’s spine.
He lowered the hand out of the camera’s view to her side and slid it to her hip as he kissed her. “Are you wet, Brooke?” He kissed her again, not waiting for her answer, letting his hand drop until his fingers skimmed her thigh. “Can I feel you?”