My fingers started to tap against my thigh.“That was different.”
“Why?Because it wasyoudoing it?”
I glanced at her then; I couldn’t help it.Those defiant green eyes met mine, challenging and fierce.Something hot and unwelcome twisted in my chest.Heat that had nothing to do with anger and everything to do with how that dress cut across her collarbone, how her lips were stained dark from whatever wine she drank at dinner.
“Because I wasn’t myself,” I snapped.
“Oh?”She seemed genuinely curious by my response, tilting her head in a way that made her hair slide over one bare shoulder.“Then what were you today?”
The answer stuck in my throat.Trying not to think about what would happen if my car went into the wall again.“Doesn’t matter.”
“It does if you’re planning to wrap yourself around a barrier and take me with you.”
“Like you did to me in Miami?”Heat flared in my chest, welcome this time, because anger I could handle.Anger made sense.
That got her.She spun, hands on her hips, and suddenly we were close enough that I could see her breathing had gone shallow and quick, making that gold necklace rise and fall against her skin.I could count the freckles scattered across her collarbone.“For the last—”
But before my brain could catch up with my body, before I could think through the consequences of stepping so close to Lily, I moved toward her, closing the distance between us in one step.
“You’re insufferable,” I whispered, my voice rough.
“And you’re impossible.”Her words came out breathless, and I watched her throat work as she swallowed.
My gaze dropped to her lips—I couldn’t help it—and when I looked back up, I saw that she’d been watching my mouth too.My hand lifted, drawn toward that loose strand of hair falling across her cheek—
The distance between us evaporated.
Her mouth met mine halfway, fierce and demanding, and every coherent thought scattered.She tasted like red wine and something sweet, addictive, dangerous.My hand slid into her hair, angling her head back as she pressed closer, her fingers twisting into my jacket.
Wrong.After what I’d told her in Las Vegas, this was so wrong.
But her lips parted underneath mine, and suddenly wrong didn’t matter.Nothing mattered except the soft sound she made in the back of her throat, the way her nails dug through my shirt, the heat of her body against mine in this too-small elevator climbing toward floors neither of us cared about anymore.
The elevator pinged.
We stumbled out still tangled together, her back hitting the hallway wall as my mouth found that spot just below her ear.She gasped, fingers tightening in my hair, pulling me closer.
“Which room?”The words came out rough against her throat.
“3117.”
We made it maybe ten feet before I kissed her again—couldn’t help it—spinning her around until she was pressed against the wallpaper.Her leg hooked around mine, the slit in her dress revealing smooth skin that my hand found without thinking.
She broke away, breathing hard.“Come on.”
At her door, she fumbled with the key card, hands shaking as she swiped it once, twice.The light flashed red both times.I pressed against her back, kissing her shoulder, her neck, anywhere I could reach.
The lock finally clicked green.We practically fell through the doorway, my shin cracking against a small entryway table.Pain shot up my leg, but when I bent down to massage it, I saw a note with her name written across it on the floor.There was no signature, nothing to indicate who had sent it.I took it out of the envelope, read it twice, then looked up at Lily, who was now reaching for it.
“What is this?”
“Give it back.”She grasped for it again, but I stepped back, the piece of paper clasped tightly in my hands.
“What is this?”I demanded again.“Someone threatened you.When?”
“It’s just a note, Henri.”She rolled her eyes, though something flickered in her expression—something that looked like fear but was quickly replaced with indifference.“Can you not make this into a whole thing?”
“A whole thing?”I stared at her.“Someone isthreateningyou.”
