Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 83699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
She should have taken a cold shower instead.
Darn that clerk. She would have been so much better off if they’d had rooms on either end of the corridor, far, far away from each other. As it was, she couldn’t stop thinking about Ransom, couldn’t stop thinking about what he’d admitted. Couldn’t stop thinking about his hard body and his too-kissable lips.
But she had to remember how badly she and Ransom had failed the last time. Just as she’d told Gabby, she and Ransom sucked at the love game. Dane and Cammie could make it. The Mavericks and their ladies could. But she and Ransom hadn’t made it work before, and they wouldn’t be any better at it now. He was still married to his career, and hers was of the utmost importance to her. If anything, the gulf between them was wider. And she had no intention of having a casual affair. At least not with Ransom. Because there would never, ever be anything casual about an affair with him.
She must have slept in the end, because she woke to the last vestiges of a naughty dream about him, his hands all over her, his mouth doing things, his body taking her to places she hadn’t been in far too long.
Throwing aside the covers to dispel the sexy images, Ava jumped out of bed.
Her Supermart bags were strewn across the floor, and she knelt to rummage. The only clothing at Supermart was end-of-season summer wear. They weren’t stocking the winter stuff yet, and Ava had bought a thin, spaghetti-strap dress. She couldn’t pair it with her high heels, so she’d found cute white tennis shoes with multicolored glitter all over them and huge wedges. They might have been only fifteen dollars, but she loved them, even more than her thousand-dollar Jimmy Choos.
When she was dressed, she shoved her suit into the empty bag, not caring about the wrinkles. It would have to be dry cleaned anyway. She didn’t bother to bring all the snacks and drinks they hadn’t shared—and that irritated her too—then left her room, intending to knock on his door.
Ransom was already waiting for her, wearing a Hawaiian shirt, board shorts, and flip-flops. Together, they could have been mistaken for a couple heading off for a Hawaiian vacation.
Ava couldn’t help laughing. “What, are we going on vacation instead of getting to work?”
His gaze seemed to heat up the hallway. A tickle of something—she hoped it wasn’t desire—shimmied down her spine as he said, “We could. Right now. Just take off on the next flight to the islands.”
She barely managed to stammer, “I was joking.”
But God, how she wished he’d stop saying things like that, like how he understood why she’d left him because he’d been a jerk or how they could fly to Hawaii or the Bahamas or anywhere. Together.
He couldn’t possibly mean any of it. But the thought that he might messed with her insides.
Especially since she hadn’t slept much last night. And she’d awakened from that very explicit dream. But a casual affair with Ransom was out of the question. They had too much history, too many emotions. Even casual would spell disaster for her heart.
Turning, she tromped along the hallway to the elevators, both of them silent for the entire ride down.
The same young guy manned the desk. Ava marched right up to him, ready to take him to task for giving them connecting rooms with an open door.
But once again, he didn’t let her get the words out, a grin spreading across his face. “You guys said you weren’t together, but look at you now, all ready for vacation. I knew you were just jerking my chain with that separate-room thing.” He shook his finger playfully at them, then he gasped. “I get it. You two were playing some kind of sex game, right? Role-playing about being two strangers meeting in a motel room?” Chortling, he slapped the counter. “And the door just happened to be open between those two rooms. I couldn’t have planned it better.”
The man literally stunned Ava into near speechlessness. All she could do was slide the key cards across the counter. “You’ve got my credit card on file. Thanks.”
Still laughing, he said, “Thanks for all the dreams I had last night.”
Oh my God. How totally inappropriate. She wanted to act like a little girl and stick her fingers in her ears so she wouldn’t have to listen.
Outside, she looked at Ransom, and he looked at her.
“He wasn’t actually talking about wet dreams, was he?” she asked.
Ransom said, “Yeah, I think he actually was.”
After one more look at each other, they simultaneously burst into laughter, so hard she had to drop her bags on the ground and cover her mouth. And still she couldn’t stop. Leaning over, hands on her knees, she laughed until it hurt.