“Okay, bye,” I said, snickering as I hungup.
I’d heard my phone buzz while we were chatting, so I checked mymessages.
JACE: Ooh, this is a nice room. Better than the one you had in Fever Falls, that’s forsure.
It was just what I needed after chatting with mymother.
Oh, he was going to be living a very different life now that he’d signed on to theproject.
ME: Enjoy it. I’m working, and then I was going to meet you in thebar.
JACE: Cool. I was going to see what sightseeing stuff I needed to do. It’s my first time inLondon.
I froze. I didn’t know what possessed me, but in trying to pull all this together, I hadn’t even considered the possibility that Jace might have never been toLondon.
I glanced at my laptop, but then my gaze shifted back to themessage.
ME: Take a quick shower and text me when you’re ready to goout.
Work was going to have towait.
He texted me when he was ready, and I headed down to the lobby. When the elevator doors opened, I stepped out and walked around a corner, seeing him near the reception desk, searchingaround.
A polo fit snug around his bulky form, and his jeans showed off that curve in his rear. I figured I’d be eager to see him, and the chemistry he’d stirred that night in my hotel room awakened once again as I felt a shift in the crotch of mypants.
When I caught his gaze, he gave me a once-over, a grin spreading across hisface.
“Hey, there, sharp stuff,” hesaid.
“How’s my Hottie Firefighter?” I asked, offering ahug.
I was surprised I’d just called him the very thing I’d been so frustrated with Carter for saying, but he was one hell of a hottiefirefighter.
As I pulled away, he said, “I’m assuming you’ve been to Londonbefore.”
“Yes, I’ve been toLondon.”
“You’ve been to a lot of places, Iguess.”
“Yes.”
“Well, I’m gonna be real. I’m starving right now, so do you mind if I grab a bitefirst?”
“There’s an amazing restaurant around the corner. We can head over there, and then we’ll go see Big Ben, maybe the Tower of London. You just let me know what you want to see, and I’ll take youthere.”
“Really?” he asked, glancing me up and down the way he hadbefore.
I burst into laughter. Of course I wanted to mess around with Jace. Anything with a pulse would have wanted to mess around with theguy.
I knew we couldn’t do more than that, knew we had to draw the line, because fuck if I was getting involved with some guy who was about to skyrocket into fame, but after that kiss, there wasn’t a thing in the goddamn world that was going to keep me from finding a way to have that again…and so muchmore.
One time in college.That kept playing again and again in mymind.
However, as much as I may have wanted to just take him back to my room and scratch this itch, I wasn’t going to let him miss out on an impressive city because I was a greedymotherfucker.
“Trust me,” I told him, “you save the sights that are easiest to see forlast.”
I set my hand on his shoulder, guided him to the main entrance of the hotel, and we took to thestreets.
