“You really need a retina scan for yourcellphone?”
She lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “Can’t be too careful in this day and age.” She picked up the phone and lifted it while it scanned her eyes. When the phone was open, she handed it back to him. “What do you need itfor?”
He tapped a number onto the keypad and pressed the call button. She heard a light vibration coming from his chest pocket, then he ended the call and locked his information into her contact’slist.
“That second custom says, if you find a beautiful woman you want to spend a little more time with, make sure you exchange contact information with her. This way she’ll never be able to lose youagain.”
She took her phone from him and looked down at it. “A cellphone number is all I need to guarantee I’ll never lose you…” She looked down at the bright screen again. “Mr. SladeHamilton?”
He leaned in for another kiss, then pulled his own phone out to secure her contactinformation.
“Darlin’, the way you say my name, like it’s dipped in something decadent, is a pretty sure bet I’ll always be at your beck and call. Now, what’s your last name, Ms.Mandisa?”
“Avery,” she offered. “And it’s not Ms., it’s Doctor. Doctor MandisaAvery.”
Slade quickly lifted his eyes from the screen of his phone and stared openly at her, his gaze slightly clearing the warm haze his kisses had created a few moments earlier. “Doctor?”
She nodded and took a step back, giving him a chance to process what she’d said. There were men in this world, even in the twenty-first century, who couldn’t deal with an educated woman. Somehow having brains seemed to be a threat to their masculinity. She was desperately hoping Slade wasn’t one of those men, but if he was, now was the time for her to findout.
“Is that aproblem?”
“No. Why would it be? It just means I’m in capable hands should I require mouth-to-mouth.”
She tilted her head and watched, trying to gauge his truthfulness as his lecherous smile was accompanied by his lifting eyebrows. Not that she’d known him long enough to be able to read his non-verbal cues, but his response didn’t give her pause, just made her want to roll her eyes, and so shedid.
“Sorry to disappoint, but I’m not that kind of doctor. PhD, notMD.”
He waved his hand. “Doesn’t matter. You still seem to know what you’re doing when you put your mouth onmine.”
She stopped for a moment, making an exaggerated appearance of mulling over his findings as she stepped back into his personalspace.
She whispered, “I really do. Don’t I?” before she ran slow fingers up his chest and circled her arms around his neck, drawing him to her. When their lips met, she pressed her mouth to his, happy to feel the warmth his touch brought toher.
God, this feels soright.
It did, for reasons she couldn’t fully understand, she felt grounded in his arms. She pulled away slightly, looking up into the crystal blue of his eyes, getting lost in their tranquil lure. She was standing in a hotel lobby, damn near climbing a perfect stranger, and the world seemed more level than it had at any other time in her recentyears.
“Not that I’m complaining about how we’re spending the present, but I thought there was gonna be a nice shared meal in ourfuture.”
“Does this hotel have twenty-four-hour roomservice?”
He took a moment to gaze at her, as if he were trying to connect the breadcrumbs she was dropping. “Yes, it does.Why?”
“Because I was thinking maybe we could skip the table and the people in the restaurant and have that meal in yourbed.”
He stared at her for a beat before he smiled and nodded his head. “Dr. Avery, I think that’s the best idea I’ve heard allday.”
* * *
As soon as he clicked the door shut behind him and turned around, removing his hat, Slade pulled Mandisa into his arms. Her warm curves tickling his skin in the most delicious way brought a moan to his lips. Even fully clothed she felt like heaven againsthim.
He reached down to kiss her, and she leaned back. “Can I use your restroom to freshen up?” He nodded and pointed her in the direction of the bathroom. In her absence, he removed his jacket and boots. He padded over to the bed and took a seat. He reached for the top button of his shirt ready to loosen it. A small creak in the air stopped his moving fingers and pulled his attention to the bathroomdoor.
“Please, allow me,” she crooned. Her voice alone was enough to make his semi grow to full mast. But when he looked up and saw her standing there with her stiletto boots on and a matching demi bra and panty set, he couldn’tbreathe.
“Jesus.”
“I don’t think that was exactly the reaction I was looking for.” She stepped slowly, taking entirely too long to get within his grasp, in his opinion. When she finally arrived, he had to lick his lips indelight.
