You’re sleeping with me, he almost demanded. Instead he took a casual deep breath and stepped around her. Housekeeping had made sure all the lamps were aglow and the bed had been turned down. “If it helps, in all the times I’ve been here, nothing strange has happened.”
“What’s the story?”
“Stories.”
“Shit.”
He spun around in time to see her plop down on the edge of the bed. The view out the floor-to-ceiling window would have to wait. He sat beside her. “It’s not anything bad.”
“Okay.” She pressed her hands into her lap.
“You really want to know?”
“Yes. Otherwise my imagination is going to lean toward bad.”
“Over the years hotel guests have reported a knock on their door and a muffled voice announcing room service. When they open the door, no one is there, but some guests have seen the figure of a bellboy in the hallways. A few famous visitors have claimed to see the ghost, too, which makes it more of a story, but everyone says the ghost seemed friendly.”
The white of her knuckles lessened. “Go on.”
“There’s also a young boy who supposedly wanders the halls. Female guests have seen his image and some say the ghost touched their hand. The theory is he’s trying to reach his mother.”
“Anything else?” She peered at him under long dark brown eyelashes.
“On several occasions staff and guests have witnessed a transparent couple dancing in the cocktail lounge, smiling and laughing.”
“So no murdered ghosts.”
Ah, there was the crux of her fear. He took her hand. “No.”
“Not the little boy?”
“There was a boy who died here, but it was due to a rare heart condition.”
“That’s a relief. I mean, it’s really sad that he passed away but…” She gave him a weak smile just before the lights flickered and plunged them into darkness.
Chapter Seven
Charlie shrieked and landed in Connor’s lap, her arms around his neck, her legs wrapped around his waist, her face buried in the crux of his neck, two seconds later. This vulnerable side of her spiked a desire he hadn’t ever felt before. Mine, flashed in the back of his mind like the single most important word in the English language. He wanted to keep her safe. Be the only man to watch over her and erase her fears.
“Hey,” he whispered, rubbing her back. “It’s just a power failure. There’ve been a few electrical issues. I’m sure the lights will be back on in a minute.”
She nodded against his throat but continued to hold on with a grip worthy of a championship fighter. Having her so close, her breasts pressed against his chest, the juncture between her thighs at his zipper, generated a hell of a lot of electricity in his bloodstream. He sucked in a breath.
And ran his schedule through his head to get his thoughts off their compromising position. He had work to do here and one more planned Route stop before he dropped Goldilocks off in Oklahoma City and headed to Colorado to be a groomsman in McCall’s wedding.
Thinking about how in love McCall was with his fiancé Lucy, though, had Connor’s thoughts spiraling right back to the soft, warm body in his arms.
His cell phone rang in his pocket.
“Do not let go of me,” Charlie said.
“I won’t, but if you could lift your hips so I can grab—”
He toppled backward as she lifted at the waist and threw him off balance. Great; now he was lying on the bed with her sprawled on top of him and the last thing he wanted to do was answer his phone.
“Sorry.” Yet she didn’t budge.
He pulled out his phone and brought it to his ear. “Hey,” he said, with no idea who’d answer on the other end.
“Five more minutes,” Clay said. “One of the staff ran over the junction box on the street.”
“He okay?”
“Fine. Feels terrible about it, though. I had him drop and give me fifty.”
Connor laughed. “Only fifty?”
“One-armed.”
A chuckle sounded against his neck. He guessed Goldilocks could hear the conversation. “Thanks for keeping me posted,” Connor said.
“You coming down for dinner?”
Charlie shook her head, her hair tickling the side of his face. If she wasn’t leaving the room, he wasn’t either. “Think I’ll put room service to the test.”
“That the only thing you’re testing out?”
“Hanging up.” He tossed the phone to the side.
For a long time now, Connor had lived and breathed work. Given his heart and soul to the environment and dedicated his days to preserving important historical monuments and landmarks. He lived his life moving from one place to another. But with every hour that passed in Charlie’s company, a growing ache for more, for moments like this, holding her close and letting her fill the space around his heart, had him wondering if he could take a chance on something more than a quick fling.
He stroked her back and wound his fingers around the soft, silky strands of her blond hair. Any last remains of tension seemed to leave her body as she grew heavier against him. Her warm breath tickled the underside of his chin. He inhaled her delicate floral scent and knew no matter what happened between them, he’d always remember it. Remember the way her fragrance made him…happy.
The lights flickered back on. Charlie let out a breath and pressed up just enough to leave a whisper of space between their noses. Grateful blue eyes he’d need hours, days, years to explore looked down at him. She hovered there, her lips near enough to kiss and continue what they’d started on the Ferris wheel.
Desire was stamped in the blush of her cheeks, the parting of that lush mouth.
She shifted her hips, a subtle movement, but he was so in tune to her that he had to stifle a groan. This unexpected woman lanced intense need and want that reached beyond basic arousal. The spark that had ignited poolside in Arizona had grown hundredfold with her smart motor mouth, enthusiasm, and sincerity. Today at Las Mundas had been something special.
Another little wiggle, followed by a smile, and he couldn’t keep that arousal from growing. By the way her gaze flared with hunger, he knew she felt it. Was ready for it.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“My pleasure.”
“I think I’m over my stupid anxiety.”
“It wasn’t stupid.” He tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “Certain situations can leave us with apprehension that sticks around. No shame in that.”
“Has anything ever scared you?” Her fingertips danced along the back of his neck. The gentle touch aroused as much as it soothed.
He trailed his hands down her sides to her waist. She shivered. “A couple of years ago I was on site at a temple in Japan when a fire broke out. A few us were trapped and…” Fuck. He could feel the heat licking at him like it was yesterday. He gulped back his unease. Man up, bud. “And we were lucky to get out. I still can’t be near any sort of fire without sweating and thinking back to that day.”
She brushed the hair off his forehead. Her eyes searched his, looking for what, he didn’t know. He’d never shared what happened in Japan with anyone outside of WHF.
And Christ, he’d just told it to a reporter. He wished he knew how she got him to open up.
“I guess a campfire is out of the question, then.”
That was how.
He laughed, happy Goldilocks had a sense of humor to go with her scorching-hot body. A body that obliterated his misgivings and needed some thorough exploration.
It was time to see this attraction through.
“Yeah, but…” He flipped her onto her back. Took her wrists and lifted her arms above her head. He slipped his watch over her hand, brought his mouth near hers. “I’m hoping this isn’t.”
A sexy little catch in her breath fanned his jawline. He stayed still to give her time to say no. To push him off. But all she did was look up at him with eyes more beautiful than the bluest water
on Earth.
“I don’t make a habit of going on test runs,” she said. “Just so you know.”
“I don’t do much testing.”
“I’d say we’re good then.”
He lowered until his mouth grazed hers. “You’re anything but a trial run.”
Her lips stretched into a smile for a split second before he fused their mouths together.
They exchanged fierce, devouring kisses. He released her wrists, one hand slipping to the back of her head while the other found the outside swell of her breast. He skimmed his hand sideways and took her fullness into his palm.
She let out a breathy sigh and arched into his touch.
Connor slowed and softened the kiss. His thumb rubbed over her nipple, tight as a pebble through her clothing. At the contact she opened her mouth to welcome his tongue and slow returned to hungry.
Her fingers ran through his hair, and their bodies rocked together. She took his bottom lip between her teeth as her hands moved down and tugged his shirt up. He raised his head so she could pull it off.
“God, you’re beautiful,” she said, her palms roaming over his chest. “I’ve never wanted to lick something so badly in my life.”
He sat back, his legs straddling her hips. “Have at it.”
She pressed up, her arms extended behind her, and swiped her tongue across his skin. “Mmm. If you taste this good here, I wonder how good you’ll taste elsewhere.”
Jesus. His erection strained against his fly with painful tension, ready to give her a mouthful.
But Connor did the pleasing first, and he planned to draw his name from Goldilock’s lips before she had her way with him.
“My turn,” he said, lifting her shirt and tossing it to the floor. She fell back and his gaze latched onto the velvety-smooth globes spilling out of her pale pink lace bra. Her nipples pressed against the fabric. “You are breathtaking.”
The sweet bashful smile she gave reminded him of the girl he’d first met at the pool. He dipped his head for a taste of one perfect breast, tugging on her nipple through the thin material of her lingerie. She moaned in pleasure and stretched her shoulders back.
While his mouth played with one nipple, his hand played with the other. It was then that he noticed the front clasp. With one flick he had the bra open and her bare flesh exposed. She drew the straps off her arms and flung the bra across the room.
His mouth and hands took equal advantage, kneading, fondling, sucking. Sexy pants fell from her lips. Her nails raked over his shoulders and down his back sending a hot shudder through him. He moved south, his lips traveling over the flat expanse of her stomach.
Kisses tickled her waist—damn her giggle was hot—as he undid her jeans and pushed them down.
Air rushed out of his lungs when he stared down at her in nothing but a tiny pair of panties that he could tell had nothing but a string in back.
Connor had never been so fiercely attracted to a woman before. The simplest of touches hurtled his nerve endings into the best kind of chaos. Her uninhibited responses told him she felt the same intensity he did. Whatever zinged between them was in a whole other orbit from his normal encounters. Goldilocks had messed with his orderliness from the second he’d laid eyes on her.
And he wanted to trust her enough to embrace it.
…
Connor’s gaze whipped pleasure through her almost as hotly as his hands and mouth did. Flecks of silver sparkled in those gorgeous eyes of his and their attention traced over every inch of her with desire.
She pressed up, scooted her bottom to the edge of the bed, and went for the button of his jeans. “These need to come off.”
One of his hands covered hers while the other lifted her chin. Their eyes locked and then he bent and kissed her. The slow, deliberate kind of kiss. The kind that made her heart beat out of her chest because there was feeling behind it. Care.
He let out a groan and stood, made fast work of his zipper and shucked out of his pants and boxer briefs. His shoes and socks somehow came off in the process, too.
Charlie swallowed. He was gloriously sexy. The hottest man she’d ever seen with his sculpted chest and abs, narrow waist, long muscular legs dusted with dark brown hair. Her gaze roamed over every inch of him before settling on his erection. It was big, thick, and hard for her. Her mouth watered in anticipation.
She reached out to touch him but his hands moved to her waist and with quick speed and strength, he lifted her up and planted her farther back on the bed.
“You don’t mind if I taste first, do you?” With eyes trained on her, he kissed the inside of her ankle, slipped his lips and tongue up higher.
“Not at…” Oh God, his mouth grazed the inside of her thigh and his fingers made contact with the curls between her legs. She tingled and tightened with excruciating pleasure and need. “All,” she managed to get out on a breathy sigh.
His gaze burned with voracity. She felt his lips curve into a smile against her flesh.
“There’s one spot I’ve been especially hoping to try.” He hovered just above her mound, his nearness alone making her wet.
“My spots are all yours.”
That drew an impossibly perfect flash of white teeth and crinkles in the corners of his eyes that reminded her this man had it all.
He skipped right over her needy, achy center—the big tease—but did cover her body with his. Sparks skittered over her skin. “You’re sexy everywhere,” he murmured. “But I’ve been thinking about the curve right here ever since the Ferris wheel.”
Connor both thrilled and frightened her. From the moment he’d kissed her atop the Ferris wheel a piece of her had belonged to him. And with every touch and kiss and kind word, more pieces fell.
He doesn’t even know your real name.
But that wayward thought fled the second he rained kisses along her collar bone. His open mouth sent delicious quivers to the tips of her breasts. Lower.
“So good.” He nipped her shoulder. Kissed her neck next, skimmed his lips down her chest, teased her sensitive nipples, and finally closed his lips over one.
She pressed her palms into the bed covers and arched her back. He nibbled and licked, and everything inside her grew tighter. She moaned.
Then his mouth and hands traveled down until he had her panties in his fingers and slid them off. His warm breath fanned her core as he spread her legs apart.
“Please, Connor.” She couldn’t take any more. Her release hovered so close, his every touch bringing her higher.
“Please what?” He blew over her swollen flesh, the bastard.
“Please make me come.”
His thumb rubbed over the magic spot and she thrust into his hand. “Nothing would make me happier.”
After a few more seconds of stroking, he lowered his head and closed his mouth over her. His amazing tongue circled and skimmed and exquisite pressure built. She spread her legs wider and put her hands on the back of his head to keep him close. Every caress made her gasp in pleasure until one especially nice lash of his tongue sent her blazing over the edge.
She might have screamed his name loud enough for the next floor to hear.
He continued to suck and taste until he’d wrung every last bit of her orgasm out of her. Only then did he stand at the foot of the bed and bless her with a gaze that put a whole new set of flutters inside her.
“I know just what you need next,” he said, his voice husky.
“If it’s not you inside me, then you guessed wrong.” She pushed up onto her elbows. “And please hurry.”
That wicked, sexy grin of his took hold but a second later it vanished. He glanced behind him. “Shit. My bag’s in the other room. I don’t have a—”
“Don’t move,” Charlie said, dropping a quick kiss to his abdomen and gliding a finger over the tip of his penis. “I do.”
She grabbed all three condoms she had tucked away in her bag and jumped back onto the bed. Lying against the pillows, she dropped them down onto he
r stomach one at a time.
Just to make sure he got the message.
The happy bend of his lips made her legs weak. Good thing she was off her feet.
His hands and mouth worked their way from her ankles to the foil packets. Unbelievably, her body responded with pulses and trembles that spiraled her back to the verge of orgasm again. He positioned himself at her opening, the tip of him touching her swollen flesh.
Their eyes locked. He slipped inside her slowly until his restraint broke and he thrust deep, filling her completely.
Perfectly.
He laced their fingers together and brought their arms above her head. With delicious slow motion he moved in and out. Tingles rushed and curled inside her, heightening her senses. She smelled the scent of soap on his skin. Felt his possessive hold from the tips of her fingers to deep in her core, relished the husky sound of his voice when he said, “You feel so fucking good.”
Saw the blazing sincerity in his eyes when she said, “So do you.”
His strokes increased. She writhed and arched her hips as her pleasure surged higher and higher. Her eyes drifted shut, ragged sighs escaped her lips.
And then he kissed her. He captured her excited sounds and breathed new life into her. Rough, greedy. She felt impossibly sensitive to every brush of his lips and tongue. Her nails dug into his hands.
He left her mouth to kiss her cheek, her jaw, her ear. “This is what I call connected,” he whispered.
A dizzying explosion of feeling overcame her and she shattered in release. He sank himself deeper and groaned in blissful agony right behind her.
Room service and lots more connections followed until sometime after midnight she fell asleep with her head on his chest, a leg swung over his, and one thought in her head.
You have to tell him the truth.
Chapter Eight
Goldilocks mumbled in her sleep again. Something about a name. Her soft whispers were hard to decipher, and Connor contemplated waking her, but he wanted to stare at her a while longer. Early morning sunlight streamed in through the window and he’d never woken to anything or anyone more beautiful.
He’d slept soundly. Peacefully. He’d gone too far and crossed the line between business and pleasure, but he wasn’t sorry. Charlie had him actually feeling, craving an honest connection with someone. He wanted to know all of the things she’d seen, done, and overcome; all her mistakes and the chances she’d taken. Because her past made her the person she was today. And right now, after a night of making love to her and listening to her laugh, and staring at the warmth in her blue eyes, his heart was wide open and raw.
His Million Dollar Risk Page 7