“I get it. I can’t either. This job has me on the road a lot, like I said. My plate is full, and I can’t hurt anyone else— I mean, I can’t?—”
“I understand.” She pressed her hands against my chest. “But for tonight, I wouldn’t mind going back to the hotel with you. Easier to get a cab there anyway.” Rachel pushed off the bench, adjusting the strap of her messenger bag across her chest.
“Okay,” I said as I stood. “Like I said, we can just talk. I’m not looking for anything more than that.”
“What if…” she started, chewing on her bottom lip again. “What ifIwas looking for more? More for tonight, that is. No expectations past the next few hours. What would you say?”
My brows shot up as I leaned in, curling my hand around the nape of her neck as I brought her in for another kiss. Soft and light, but sensual enough to make the blood sing in my veins once again.
What was this woman doing to me?
A night wouldn’t complicate things. Much. I could handle it.
Or fool myself enough to enjoy it for the glorious moment that it was.
“I would say, just lead the way.”
CHAPTER FOUR
RACHEL
What in thehell was happening?
Meeting Silas the way I had was already enough of a mind trip. It had been a long time since anyone new had come into my life. My days were all about Taylor and making sure I had the means to support her in every way that mattered.
It was why dating and men in general weren’t on my radar. My entire focus was on making a good enough living to support us and to always be present for my sister.
I’d been lectured countless times by friends and the family we had left, that sacrificing my own happiness wouldn’t help Taylor or me, and to stop obsessing over filling every single gap our mother had ignored before she’d officially left us behind.
Taking a reprieve for a day and into the next morning had seemed weird enough not to know what to do with myself, and that had brought me out here in the first place. I didn’t know how to be home and justbe. I’d thought walking away from my everyday life for a few hours would help me break the writer’s block I was having and be the reset I’d needed.
As I sat in the back of a yellow cab on the way back to Silas’s hotel, today and tonight seemed like a walk into an alternate universe rather than a reset. I’d wound up in another dimension,one where a gorgeous man who seemed to hang on my every word dropped out of the sky.
I was still feeling that kiss and the tingle between my legs when he’d told me to lead the way.
I’d believed him when he said we could just talk, but once that door closed behind us, there’d be no talking. The anticipation was why I was afraid to look him in the eye now. I’d either lose my nerve or climb on top of him until the driver threw us out of the cab.
I’d suggested a cab because I’d been too afraid of changing my mind and running to the train station in panic on the walk back. Thanks to traffic, it had been a slow crawl since we’d gotten in. I was surprised that being in an enclosed space with Silas calmed me down, the kind yet dirty smiles he’d give me at each jerky stop reminding me why I was here, where I was going, and how much I couldn’t wait to get there.
When I recognized the turn leading to his hotel, nerves kicked in again, and I sucked in what I hoped was a quiet, deep breath. This was what everyone had been after me to do—sort of. Tonight would be something just for me, something I wanted, regardless of all the reasons why it probably shouldn’t happen.
Itwassomething for me, no matter if I could keep it or not.
“Hey,” Silas crooned, scooting closer to me after the cab pulled up to a light. “I mean it, if you only want to talk, it’s fine. I won’t push?—”
I cut him off by grabbing his face and hauling his mouth to mine.My God, he was a good kisser.He laughed against my lips as he speared his hand into my hair, sliding his tongue past my eager lips and swirling it around in slow, torturous strokes. The kiss was sweet, yet dirty enough for me to grab a fistful of his shirt to yank him closer.
We broke apart, both of us breathless as he ran his nose along my jaw and planted a light kiss to the corner of my mouth.His lips were warm and soft, the scrape of his stubble against my skin drawing a moan out of me. I pretended to clear my throat and straightened when the driver glared at us in his rearview mirror.
I felt more than heard Silas’s chuckle next to me as he swept the hair off the side of my neck.
“You’re adorable when you blush,” he whispered, his breath fanning hot against my skin as he ran a finger over my cheek.
“Yeah, I’m cute as a button,” I said, not enough air in my lungs to pull off the snark I was aiming for. I lolled my head to the side as Silas’s lips came back to my neck.
“You’re sexy as fuck. But really goddamn cute when you blush.” He brushed my lips, smiling into the kiss when I sighed against his mouth.
The raspy way Silas had said “sexy as fuck” turned the pull between my legs into a full-on throb.
