Riptide (Renegades 6)

Then she was up against a wall, Ian’s body pressing into hers. She turned her head to catch her breath. His mouth slid over her cheek, to her jaw, then her neck. He had one arm around her waist, his forearm low on her back, pulling her hips against his. The bulky package between his legs rubbed low on her belly, and Tessa released his shirt with one hand to wrap her arm around his neck and draw herself higher.

“Jesus Christ.” He pressed his temple to her shoulder and murmured against her skin. “Come back to my room with me.”

Fear crept in, chilling the heat, but her mind was steeped in lust. “What?”

He lifted his head and looked into her eyes. The hand in her hair massaged her scalp, and it felt so damn good.

“Your daughter’s asleep,” he said. “I’m just across the street. You can leave any time.”

Her mind wouldn’t engage, and her automatic response was to deny, to reject, to return to what she knew. “I…um…”

He kissed her again, stroking his tongue into her mouth and rolling it with hers. His hips pressed and rocked until she whimpered. Then he broke the kiss abruptly. “Come to my room. I’m dying to see everything beneath this suit. Dying to taste you. Touch you. Feel you.”

“Oh my God.” His words created a column of heat straight through the center of her body, all of it pooling between her legs. “I don’t know… I mean, I don’t…” She hadn’t had anyone in her life since she’d discovered she would be responsible for the life, growth, and well-being of a child. And even when she had dated, the men hadn’t been anywhere near as charismatic as this one. In her awkwardness, she stuttered, “W-why?”

He laughed, the sound hot and playful. “You ask that a lot.” He rocked his hips against her again, and fire flared through her body, making her moan. “That’s why.”

She wasn’t built for this whole go-back-to-a-room-to-fuck-and-then-walk-away thing. “I, um…” She swallowed and winced a little. “I don’t do this.”

“Don’t do what? One night?”

“One night, or with a virtual stranger.”

“There’s always a first time.” His lids drooped a little lower, and his gaze rested on her mouth. “Don’t you want to let go of all the control you have to manage every day? Just for a little while? ’Cause I’m dying to watch you come apart at the seams. I promise you won’t walk away wanting for anything.”

And he lowered his head to assure her of that with his next kiss.

4

Tessa’s Mensa-qualifying IQ vanished into thin air. She got lost in the heat of his mouth, in the thrilling male taste of him. And as he turned her in a circle and stepped her toward his hotel, Tessa couldn’t come up with one decent reason not to sleep with him. In fact, she wanted to do exactly what he’d suggested—let go of control. Maintaining everyone else’s life while holding her own together was exhausting. For once, just for a little while, she wanted someone else to take the reins.

She pulled out of the kiss and reached into her pocket for her phone. “I should check in with my nanny.”

A grin exploded across his handsome face. “Do it.”

Then he stepped back, grabbed her hand, and set a deliberate pace across the street toward his hotel.

Tessa wanted to call Abby, but she didn’t want to wake Sophia, so she tapped out a quick text as they walked. How is everything? I may be later than I thought.

Then her brain chimed in. Oh my God. What am I doing?

They reached the front doors of the ritzy hotel just as her phone buzzed again, but there wasn’t a hiccup of doubt in Ian’s stride.

Abby’s message read, Everything’s fine. Sophia’s out cold in my bed

. Did you talk to him?

No. Long story.

Then why will you be late?

Tessa’s fingers froze. How did one phrase “Because I’m getting lucky with the hottest guy I’ve ever met” in a politically correct way?

Good for you, girl. Abby texted before Tessa could respond. Obviously, the twenty-one-year-old’s brain worked far faster in these situations than Tessa’s did. Enjoy yourself for a change. No worries, we’re fine here.

“Everything okay?” Ian asked, leading her into the grand lobby.

She closed the message screen. “Yes. She’s asleep. Abby took her to the museum this afternoon, and I spent the morning with her at the beach. She’s wiped out.”