“Sounds like it. Not enough to keep you away from my hotel room though, right?”
I conveniently made sure she knew my room number after she dropped me off for check-in. I’m anything if not thorough.
Silence stretches between us. The drop of her handbag on the ground resounds like a gunshot in the night. “Easton.” My name on her lips is my favorite sound. “I’ve spent most of my adult life running. Chasing a dream that never even existed.” God must truly be fucking with my self-control right now, because Collie slides the tan colored trench coat off her shoulders, and all I see is lace.
Ferrari red lace against the creamy pigment of her soft skin.
My breath catches at the back of my throat as her coat hits the floor, revealing the prize of a century. Thick lace, bows, and tight ribbons, all accentuating Collie’s toned curves. Not to mention the sexiest garter strap outlining the plumpness of her cheeks—ripe for the fucking taking.
A short tilt of my head also reveals a hot pink dildo twirling at the ends of her fingertips. Not sure how I almost missed that.
“My girl come to play?” I groan with anticipation.
It’s a miracle I’m not on my knees submitting to her mere presence right now.
But I know a better outcome will come with my patience.
And I’ve perfected that at this point in my life.
“Always,” she whispers. “You make me question everything, Easton. Every little thing.”
“I know the feeling,” I mumble hoarsely, gripping the seams of my pants to keep from reaching out. My gaze lingers on the arch of her midnight-black heels, showcasing her muscular thighs to perfection.
I follow the length of her legs that lead to the center of her back. Just when I’m about to reroute elsewhere on her body, I stop short at something new. Something I know wasn’t there two months ago.
Just above the center of Collie’s tailbone, permanently inked, is a lightning bolt. Shaded in greyscale. Simple and gloriously intentional.
I’m down bad.
I step closer, if that’s even possible. I’m less than a fingertip length away, just barely coasting her back, yet I refrain. I need her to initiate this.
She must feel my self-control breaking.
“Is that a tramp stamp I see, lost girl?” Without touching her skin, I crook my hand into the thickness of her hair and gather it to the side. The heat of my breath causes a flush of tingles to spread across the column of her neck.
“It is,” she exhales, refusing to move.
“Why?” I have to know. I need to hear her admit what I’ve been feeling since the moment we said goodbye two months ago.
Collie shifts her head to the side, just slightly enough to see me in her peripheral. Good. I want her to see the way her voice alone consumes me. “Because I felt nothing until you.”
And all the people saidamen.
I hum against the shell of her ear, waiting for her tocontinue. I’m in for the fight of my life right now. “Keep going.”
“If what we had in Yellowstone was truly over, I needed to remember it. I had to. It meant too much to me to forget.”
“But why a lightning bolt?”
She takes no time to think it through. “Because it represents you. You may restore power to hundreds and thousands of people in this world, Ranger, but it’ll never equal the restoration you gave me. My heart. My mind. My body. My fucking soul.”
“Baby,” I groan, my fingertips grasping the seam on her garter and tapping the dildo in my pursuit. I can’t help myself. I need her to tell me I can touch her. Ravish her. Let me finally surrender to the makings of her hands.
“We can talk later,” her breathy voice whimpers. “Just touch me, Easton. Please.”
“Thank fuck.” As if on autopilot, I spin her to face me, and my hands are in her hair, holding her with everything I have to keep her close to me. Collie wraps her legs around my waist and abandons the dildo altogether as I slam us into the nearest wall.
“Collie. My Godddd, you beautiful woman.” My words come out as a strangled cry as my lips travel the length of her neck, leading to her chest at a wickedly fast pace.
