When he pulls back, his beard is shiny, and he smiles up at me. “I could spend hours savoring this sexy cunt of yours, Naomi.” He nips at my thigh as he guides my panties and jeans up my legs.
My face is already heated, but the way he speaks to me with such palpable desire makes another ripple of lust buckle my knees.
As he stands, he shifts the hard-on that’s tenting his pants and scoops up his T-shirt from the floor. He turns, giving me his back, and I’m rewarded with a closer glimpse of the artwork that’s drawn there. I can’t help but reach out and trace the compass and coordinates at the center. Out from there are shapes of small birds and paper airplanes—some shaded in black and others just outlined.Beautiful.He pauses, letting me touch.
He wouldn’t know, considering I left my shirt on, but I have tattoos along my back too. I never wanted tattoos, but it’s one of the many things that’s different about me now. I needed something that was pretty on my skin when I arrived here. I wanted something to offset the ugliness that lingered. Where his are black and gray, taking up the expanse of his entire back, mine are bright and bold. Pinks and greens and golds run up my spine. Tattoos of the flowers I remembered from my grandmother’s garden. I didn’t want to see them every day, but I wanted to know they were there and that I could look at them when I wanted.
I finish righting myself, and without overthinking, I say, “I don’t want this to be over.” Turning around, I watch as he runs his hand along the back of his neck, weighing his response.
“Neither do I,” he says, moving toward me, claiming my lips in another kiss. His arms wrap around me, hands wandering, making me feel the most wanted I think I ever have. I’m drunk on this man—this stranger. I don’t care if it’s because I’ve been celibate and healing, or in doing so, I’ve realized just how lonely I’ve always been. This moment feels too good to stop and dissect or explore the deep-rooted whys.
I smile against his lips as he kisses me. His tongue tastes like me, and I think about how much I’d like mine to taste like him. Moaning, I nip at his lower lip.
With a lazy smile, his lips press to mine again before he asks, “Where did you come from?” He doesn’t wait for my answer as his mouth moves lower, lips gliding below my ear as he grazes his teeth along my pulse point.
I unlock the door and twist the knob. “Small town,” I say with a small shrug. When he lifts his head, I lean forward and kiss him again, seemingly unable to stop. “Somewhere I doubt you’d know.”
He ghosts his fingers back and forth along the slip of skin above the waist of my jeans. The hum and vibration of the fan, the quieting of my heartbeat, the way he’s touching me—all of it is soothing.
We both shift into the hall, with me walking backwards and him forward, as if he’s leading. My back reaches the wall between the fire extinguisher and the open office door.Where do we go from here?
His hand frames the side of my face as his thumb brushes along my jaw. Smiling and looking as dazed and disheveled as I feel, he looks up and over my shoulder as he says, “I want more time. Come with me.”
The reality is, I can’t bring anyone to where I’ve been staying. It's been a moot point up until now. Feeling safe and starting over have been the only plans I’ve had for the past few years here. Even if it’s just to his car, it would be more time. And I want more. I finally look up, not ready for this night to be over, and notice the way his body goes rigid before he says, “You lied.”
He looks inside the office and moves away from me. It takes me a moment to stop smiling and realize this door shouldn’t have been opened. It’s Boss’s space for filing paperwork, keeping track of newcomers, and making calls.
My body tenses as silent alarms trigger.
“You said you’d never heard of Hideaway,” Julian says, staring at the map of Montana behind the desk.
Four yellow Post-it notes are stuck on various places, and one of them is placed at exactly two miles from where we’re standing right now. It’s marked Hideaway Ranch.
Nervously, I glance down the hall, my heart racing for a whole different reason now. “That’s not?—”
“I had a feeling you knew more,” he cuts off my lie as he turns to face me.
“You what?” I ask, instantly angry. “So...you were using me?” I say quietly, almost not believing what’s happening. “Who the fuck are you?”
He doesn’t answer, eyes only narrowing as he searches mine.
What the hell have I done?I take a step back. “You lied. You weren’t lost,” I rush out. This is bad.
There’s one rule I have to follow. One that must stay in place not just for my safety but for too many others. I don’t have time to question why he wants to know or if he means any harm.
He steps closer, making me take one shaky step back. This time, the choreography of our movements is blanketed with an entirely different mood. Quickly, I step just past the threshold of the door and back into the hall, sliding my palm against the wall, reaching the cutout where the fire extinguisher hangs.
“Get out,” I warn as I feel for the grip of what I have hidden.
Stepping closer to me, he says calmly, “I’m not looking to hurt anyone. Just—” His words cut off when he feels what I have in my hand that’s now pressed to his groin. “What’s in Hideaway?” he still asks.
“Nothing.”
Glancing down, he holds his hands up in surrender. “Then why lie, Naomi?” He looks down at the weapon in my hand.
“Says theliarwho just tried seducing me for information,” I bite back.
“Triedto seduce you?” he says, his eyebrow quirking in question and pissing me off further.
