He doesn’t answer right away. Instead, he steps closer, just enough that I can feel his warmth in the cool night air. “Guess we’ll have to find out.”
My breath catches, my heart pounds, and as we close the distance to the hotel, I can’t stop the war waging in my mind between the part of me that knows exactly how this ends, and the part of me that, for the first time all night, isn’t entirely sure.
FIVE
Ty
? Do Not Disturb – Halestorm ?
Afew minutes later, we’re in the elevator at some fancy-ass hotel a few blocks from the diner, about to go into Eric’s suite. He’d showered in his dressing room after the show, and in the close confines of the elevator, the scent of his body wash and cologne are not helping my mind stay focused on anything but him.
I know what’s coming when we enter that room. Something he’s likely done with hundreds of women before tonight and will do hundreds of times after, and something I’ve done with less than a handful of people. But right now, I can’t get myself to care.
I’ve been a good girl for twenty-nine years. Maybe it’s time I do something reckless.
Something very, very stupid.
Make a good, bad decision.
We enter his suite and it’s as clean and tidy as his dressing room was, which for some reason, surprises me. I assumedsomeone who lived on the road would live in chaos, but as I step inside, I notice that there isn’t a single thing out of place.
This man is nothing like I assumed he would be.
When we step into the living area, he turns to face me. His dark blue eyes are somehow even darker now and full of promises. Empty ones, I’m sure, but I’m too far gone to care.
“Can I touch you?” he asks, stepping closer to me, and I almost laugh.
“Isn’t that why I’m here?”
“It doesn’t have to be,” he says, tilting his head to the side.
I consider his words. Then consider what I want.
He spent most of the afternoon talking to me. Getting to know me. Asking questions that went beyond the basics—beyond small talk just to loosen me up enough to make a move. He had me alone in his dressing room for hours and didn’t force himself on me. Took me to get something to eat.
He didn’t force me to come here. He asked, and I accepted.
Despite barely knowing this man, I feel safe. Whatever this is between us may only last one night, but I want to know where it leads.
“You should know, if you haven’t figured it out already, that I’ve never done something like this before,” I admit. “I mean, I’ve had sex before. But not with—” I stop myself before I say the wrong thing. Before I take it too far and he asks me to leave.
“Not with…?” he asks, placing a bent finger under my chin and tilting my head up, forcing my eyes to his.
“Not with people I’m not…in love with.”
“Well, you should know, if you haven’t figured it out already, that it’s impossible not to fall in love with me,” hesays, a confident smile growing across his lips and revealing those goddamn dimples.
And I don’t doubt it. I can see how easily I could fall for the man standing in front of me. How easily all the other women that had come before me had fallen.
“Don’t worry,” I say, as his forehead dips to rest against mine and his hands gently cup my face. “I’m not naïve enough to believe love has anything to do with what’s happening right now.”
He looks into my eyes, and I feel like he’s already stripped me bare. His lips meet mine and the kiss, like the rest of him, is not what I was expecting. I expected rushed and sloppy. All tongue and teeth with his hands groping mindlessly over my clothes. But his hands never leave my face and his lips move slowly, almost cautiously against mine. Like he’s not sure he wants this. Like he’s having second thoughts.
I’m about to pull away when his tongue lightly brushes mine before retreating. A silent request. An invitation. A question.
Is this okay?
I answer by lightly brushing my tongue against his, and a groan escapes his throat and vibrates through me, igniting the spark I’d been trying so hard to stifle. He presses himself against me and any thoughts I had about him regretting this are forgotten when I feel how hard he is through his jeans.
