“More than that, honey,” he said under his breath.
“Is that how it’s gonna be? Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
“That’s not a promise you have to worry about me keeping.”
We burst into the hotel, laughing, stumbling into each other and completely oblivious to the world around us. The elevator opened the second Henry pressed the call button and he roped his arm around my waist as he ushered me inside.
He backed me up against the wall, his arm braced above me and his hand splayed on my hip. I reached inside his jacket, running my palm up his side. He was granite under my touch, solid and unyielding in the best ways. I wanted to rip his shirt off and map the bend of those muscles with my mouth. But I wouldn’t stop with the shirt. Rip it all off, explore all of him. Take everything.
He leaned in, his lips on my neck, my jaw. I pulled him closer, tipping my chin up to meet him. A low growl sounded in the back of his throat as our lips met. We were slow at first, almost studious, but then a switch flipped, as if we’d both remembered that the night might be long though our time together was short.
My hands were in his hair. He flattened me to the wall. He was hard against my belly and his beard was rough where it rasped against my chin but I didn’t care. He kissed like he wanted to see if he could get me off from that alone, and I wasn’t against that kind of research.
“Hold the door! I’ll be right there! Hold that door for me, please!”
I heard those words though I didn’t process them. They were distant and muffled, like a phone lost in the bottom of a backpack while playing an audiobook.
But then someone bustled into the elevator and I realized we hadn’t even left the lobby yet. A stunned laugh stuttered out of me as Henry held me close to his chest.
“Don’t mind me, don’t mind me. I’m just hitching a ride. I didn’t see a single thing, Henry. Oh, biscuits! I’ve dropped everything.”
I peeked around Henry’s shoulder to find Aunt Luisa, in all of her witchy glory, shaking her head at the overturned purse on the elevator floor.
“Let me help you with that, Lulu,” Henry said as the doors closed.
He stared at me while he adjusted himself, a big, devious grin stretched across his face that saidLook what you’ve done here, and I had to fold my lips together to keep from laughing.
“Oh, would you look at that,” she murmured.
Henry shifted away from me and I spotted a few tarot cards on the floor beside a flask definitely filled with liquor and a leather pouch definitely filled with crystals. “I’ll get it,” he said.
Luisa was quick to wave him off, saying, “Don’t you dare.” She picked up one card and stared at it for a long moment. “The World.” She tapped a finger against the mostly naked woman on the card. “The World reminds us that we only get this one sensational life and we better not waste a single second of it.”
“Right,” Henry drawled, settling an arm over my shoulders.
She held up another card, this one with a naked jester on it. “The Fool is tarot’s way of saying the universe wants you to bet on yourself and bet high. Leap, even if you don’t know where you’re going to fall.”
“Yeah.” He nodded, his tone gentle. I appreciated that. We couldn’t have another snorting situation on our hands. Not in this proximity. “I hear that.”
“I’m sure you do, Henry.” She arched a brow at the last card, also adorned with naked people, and gave us a knowing smile. “The Lovers. I can see this one doesn’t require much explanation, but when it appears in this position with The Fool, it tells us of powerful new beginnings.” She gathered the cards and tucked them back into her bag. “And soul mates.”
A laugh barked out of me as Henry said, “Wow, so you’re really doing this.”
“Mmm.” She twisted open the flask and drank deeply. “It could be that we’re on a path to find a soul mate. Or it’s tarot’s way of kicking us in the ass and telling us to stop obsessing about finding that person, and just open our eyes because they’re right in front of us.” The elevator came to a stop and Luisa stepped out. “You two have fun tonight.”
“Thanks for the reading, Lulu,” Henry said.
“Use protection,” she called over her shoulder.
“Oh my god.” A strange, fizzy laugh shook my shoulders. “What just happened?”
The doors closed and Henry jabbed the button for his floor again. “Nothing. Just Mason’s aunt telling us what she thinks we want to hear. I know for a fact that she makes this stuff up as she goes along.”
I blinked up at him. “Really?”
“I’ve known her my entire life. I consider her family, so when I say she’s full of shit, I say it with love.” He backed me against the wall again and traced the line of my dress where it hugged my breasts. “She was trying to be my wingwoman.”
“Because you need the assist?”
