Total pages in book: 183
Estimated words: 174715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 874(@200wpm)___ 699(@250wpm)___ 582(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 174715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 874(@200wpm)___ 699(@250wpm)___ 582(@300wpm)
Her eyes narrow on me, and I realize I’ve done what I never do. I’ve given her a piece of information about myself, what drives me, what motivates me, that I give no one. She knows. She’s smart. She’s sharp. She sees people. She sees me. Before I can analyze how I feel about that, she says, “Right,” and cuts her gaze, telling me that she hasn’t just seen more of me than I let most see, but that I’ve seen a piece of her, some open wound that my own wound has torn at.
She wants an escape, not confinement, and while I want to know why, I know I have to wait. I can’t drive and push and corner, which is my nature. Not yet. Not now. I slide a finger under her chin, studying her, but whatever was there is gone. “Let’s just focus on ruining each other for the night,” I suggest.
“You think you can ruin me in one night?”
“I’d like to try.”
“That’s interesting,” she says.
“What’s interesting?”
“I thought you’d declare victory already,” she replies.
“Why do anything that easy? You’re not easy. You’re a challenge.”
“I ran, and you have to catch,” she assumes.
“Maybe,” I say. “But you’re standing in front of me, and I haven’t caught you yet.”
“Then why aren’t we walking?”
“We are,” I say, drawing her hand into mine and setting us in motion. A few steps forward, and my fingers slip between hers, and I bend our elbows, inching her close, our hips aligned. Not about to let her escape. “Where are we going?” she asks.
“The Four Seasons.”
“Two blocks,” she says, confirming by her knowledge that her frequenting of the courthouse area isn’t a one day, and night, circumstance. This is, as I’d assessed, her world, while up until present day, or near future rather, it’s been mine only on occasion, but she’d nailed me. Age, career, attitude. I am arrogant. I have to be. It’s survival of the fittest.
The wind lifts around us, and her perfume is something almost smoky and floral, addictive and unique, like everything about this woman. And she is unique, despite the fact that I’ve known ambitious, intelligent women in the legal field. I’ve fucked women that should feel just like her, but that simply isn’t the case. She’s layers of secrets I want revealed. I’ll analyze why later, after we fuck. Or maybe I won’t. Fucking tends to put things in perspective. As my father said when he gave me that first condom, “What you want when you have a hard on for a girl, is rarely what you want when you pull out.” Crass, and ultimately as pathetic as he was, but he was right. Sex has a way of distorting reality and then punching it right back in your face.
We cross the street, bringing the hotel into view, and without a conscious decision to do so, when I never do anything unconsciously, I tighten my grip on her hand. She’s already bolted once. I’m not letting her bolt again. We approach the front door, and thankfully the doorman is attending someone else, considering Lori appears to want privacy, anonymity. I don’t waste any time guiding her toward the elevators, and once we’re inside, I stick my card into the slot to set us in motion. I snag her hand and walk her to me. Her hands settle on my chest. We stand there, the floors dinging by, the air charged between us, but we don’t speak. She doesn’t ask me a question. Not about the hotel. Not about when I’m coming back. Not about who I am.
Somehow, I know she knows that quid pro quo I’ve started. Every question she asks allows me to ask one of my own. I don’t push her now. Not with cameras in the elevator. That’s not what people like me do. We save our dirty business for private places. And this is going to get dirty, in all the right ways. I’ll ask my questions, and I’ll get my answers. When we’re inside my suite. When we’re naked.
The elevator dings, and then I lean in and kiss her, a gentle, barely-there brush of lips on lips, our breaths a warm puff between us that turns to fire and heat. “Come on,” I say, taking her hand, guiding her down the hallway until we stop at the penthouse suite I’ve been calling home for nearly a month. The place where I plan to strip her naked in every possible way.
I lead Lori to the door, and pull her in front of me, my body framing hers as I slide the key into the security panel. It buzzes and I shove open the door, inviting her to enter, and in doing so, I know that I have a choice to make: Take the edge off, and do her hard and fast right when we go inside, or let it simmer, let the attraction between us burn us alive until we’re both about to combust from the heat.