Naked Thrill

by Jill Monroe

  More.

  Had she moaned that? Had he? Hell yes, he wanted more. So much more. Everything.

  A car honked loudly as it passed. Tony forced his eyes open as a truck full of teenagers laughed and waved as they sped away.

  Hayden’s fingers wrapped around his shoulders. Was she trying to decide whether to push him away from her or tug him closer?

  With a deep sigh she leveraged some distance between them, slumping against her seat and fighting for breath.

  He found it difficult to drag in air, too. He wrapped his fingers around the steering wheel, commanding his body to settle. But despite the pain he knew he’d be feeling on the drive back to Dallas, he had to chuckle. “Guess I was right earlier.”

  “When?” she asked, her voice tight.

  “When I said that you feel it, too.”

  4

  ABOUT TEN MILES away from the Oklahoma-Texas border, large flashy billboards advertising the Endeavor started popping up along the highway.

  Get Lucky—at Endeavor Casino.

  Great, now Hayden was thinking about how close she’d come to getting lucky in the car with Tony. Again. The man could kiss.

  Perspiration broke out along her forehead and across the back of her neck. Her eyes began to drift shut as her body relived the delicious sensation of his mouth against hers, the taste of his tongue and the heady scent of his skin.

  Go All the Way—at Endeavor Casino.

  Hayden crossed her legs to stop more sex thoughts. She’d wanted to go all the way with the gorgeous man beside her, that’s for sure.

  Score Big—at Endeavor Casino.

  “Oh, come on!” Tony muttered beside her.

  She giggled. “Glad to know I’m not the only one reading nothing but innuendo on these signs.”

  “Are these ads nothing but insinuation and allusions to sex or am I only seeing it now because I’m frustrated as hell?”

  Frustrated? Her stomach did a flip-flop. That Tony could want her even a fraction as much as she wanted to tear off that stupid T-shirt he wore made her mouth dry and her heart beat like crazy.

  Was there a hotel at this casino?

  She gave her heated cheeks a quick, and hopefully discreet, fanning. “Jeff said if we missed the place then we just weren’t looking. Now I understand what he meant. I’m surprised there’s no Get It On—at Endeavor Casino,” she said. Two could play the covering-awkward-moments-with-humor game.

  “Or Do It Big—at Endeavor Casino,” he added.

  “We should suggest these to their marketing team. Or we could talk about what happened between us a few moments ago.”

  The traffic grew heavier the closer they came to the Endeavor. Tony flipped on the blinker at the Turn Now to Score sign.

  She rubbed her sweaty palms down her legs. “Tony, I—”

  But what was there to say? There was a song about this, about just meeting someone and it being crazy. When she’d first heard the song, she’d laughed off the sentiment. You didn’t see someone and instantly want him. You had to have shared interests. Common jokes. Complementary outlooks on life.

  But with Tony it had been more like: You. Me. Bed. How do you talk about that rationally? With the person you were so completely irrational about?

  Parking was free—the last thing that would be, Hayden was sure. Tony pulled into a space and shut off the car. He turned in the seat, his dark eyes sparking with exactly what she wanted to see—need and want for her. Completely irrational.

  “Or we could get some answers from the casino and talk about us later.”

  She couldn’t nod fast enough. Apparently Tony liked to play the avoidance game, as well.

  What had happened to roll with it? She’d tossed it to the side at the first hint of real introspection. “Absolutely let’s put that off.”

  “For as long as possible. Agreed.”

  She’d also ignore the fact that they’d just found they shared a complementary outlook on life—even if it was filled with avoidance and most likely dysfunction.

  Hayden reached for the door handle, but Tony clasped her arm. Gently. The pads of his fingers lightly caressed her skin, as if he couldn’t help himself. She twisted in her seat to ask what he needed. Then his lips were warm and insistent on her mouth. Her. That’s what he’d needed. Her.

  Delight and pleasure engulfed her. It took her a moment to respond since he’d caught her so off guard, but only a moment. She opened her lips to him and their tongues entwined as she threw her hands around his neck.

  He jerked away from her.

  “That was really getting interesting,” she protested, her eyes still closed and her breathing thready.

  He laughed, a sensual chuckle deep in his throat that she craved to hear again and again. “Too interesting. You bring out something in me, especially in cars.” He straightened. “Let’s get our answers.”

  Because then they could start asking new questions.

  He grabbed her hand as they wound their way through the parking lot. How many times had he taken her hand today? Such a simple gesture, and yet she really enjoyed it. Her last couple of boyfriends had been just as studious as she was and spent as much time either at work or in the lab as she had, so there hadn’t been a lot of time for the pleasure of merely touching of hands. But she liked it. More than liked it. The gesture was intimate and personal. She better be careful, or she’d be drifting into shared interests territory. This was supposed to be Project Getting To Know The Man You Plan To Romp On Later, not Project Overanalyze Every Gesture So You Will Fall In Love.

  The dings and electronic whistles of the slot machines greeted them along with a haze of cigarette smoke and flashing lights as they stepped inside the Endeavor. The casino designers had apparently adopted an overcoming-every-obstacle theme with salutes to space exploration, holograms depicting crossing a raging sea and a bizarre display with electricity. Well, she was about to endeavor to learn all she could.

  “Hey, Hay,” called a woman in a sky-blue strappy cocktail dress as she rushed toward them.

  Tony choked back a laugh.

  She shot him some shade, which was difficult in the dimly lit room, but he only shrugged. “You have to admit the nickname’s kind of catchy.”

  “I admit nothing.”

  “Come to hit the tables again?” the woman asked once she neared them.

  Hayden shook her head. “Oh, I don’t know how to play blackjack.”

  The waitress gave her shoulder a playful shove. “Ha, ha, that’s not how it looked here yesterday. And thanks again for the nice tip last night, especially since the two of you were only drinking water.” She gave her another playful elbowing. “Of course, you were already flying pretty high by the time you got here.”

  Hayden’s ears perked up like a puppy who hears the sound of the treat bag opening. Flying high? Before? A new clue. Okay, so they’d already been under the influence of whatever the heck they’d been subjected to when they’d arrived at the Endeavor.

  “Trying your luck again?”

  “Something like that,” Tony told her.

  She shot Hayden a conspiratorial wink. “I’m sure you got pretty lucky last night. The two of you, whew—” She fanned herself with the drink tray, the makeshift breeze ruffling the curling tendrils of hair that had escaped from her bun.

  Now normally—if this kind of situation were normal—Hayden would be mortified right about now. Get a room was a motto she lived by, and now people had witnessed her lusty intentions toward Tony?

  But then, she was at a casino where a fresco of a naked Prometheus stealing fire and gifting it to mortals stretched above her head. Their friendly cocktail waitress had probably seen way weirder stuff play out here on the floor.

  “I think Danny is dealing again. He was bummed when you two hit it out of here so quickly. He’s saving for school and that tip you gave him was a decent little start. It’s wonderful when nice people win.”

  “Maybe you should go over there and see him, T
ony,” Hayden told him with a smile. Of course he’d have to figure out who Danny was, but Hayden didn’t feel one tiny bit sorry since he’d played the same trick on her at the car dealership. It was going to be fun watching him try to bluff his way out of this one.

  “Sure, and you could—”

  “Oh, I know what she can do. They just posted your picture to the Wall of Winners. Follow me. I’ll show you where it is.”

  So she didn’t get to watch Tony scramble to come up with a story for Danny, but he didn’t get to weasel his way out of it, either. After a quick finger wave, Hayden dutifully followed the waitress over to the wall.

  “These pictures only stay up until the end of the year, so if you want the photo afterward, the manager can mail it to you. He does that a lot. Goodwill and all.”

  Hayden finally managed to snag a discreet glance at her name tag—Darcy.

  Near one of the complimentary drink stands was a large gold and glittery wall with black-and-white photos attached. Dozens of pictures of people, all smiling, stared out at her. Then she spotted her snapshot. She wore the clothes she’d been dressed in Thursday morning before she’d gone to school and then work—one of the last things she remembered. Why’d she have to pick that morning to wear her favorite bra? Still mourning.

  Beside her in the photo stood Tony, looking so handsome in jeans and a dark shirt with his sleeves carelessly rolled up to his elbows. He’d draped his arm around her shoulders and her hip grazed his. They appeared so at ease with one another. Intimate. Definitely a couple.

  Although she had been gazing solely at the camera with a wide, easy smile on her face, the photographer had caught Tony midglance. At her. As if he couldn’t force his eyes away. When had a man ever looked at her like that? Warmth spread through her body and some place in her chest began to ache. She had known then how it felt to have a man shoot you that longing, I-want-only-you kind of look. But now she didn’t. She longed to have him fix on her again like that.

  “Why can’t I remember?” she groaned.

  “Excuse me,” Darcy said.

  She shook her head, “Oh, it’s nothing. At least nothing a time machine couldn’t fix.”

  “Or a Time Lord. Gotta go. Someone’s signaling for a drink.”

  Alone, Hayden studied the photo, searching for a clue as to how they’d wound up here at the Endeavor. But her gaze kept drifting to Tony. How many times had she slid her fingers through his dark hair? She’d probably run her palms down his chest and over his flat abs half a dozen times. She certainly wanted to now, and last night she’d have had the freedom. She stared at his mouth. Hayden could only imagine how many times she’d trailed her lips across his mouth, down his skin, grazed his nipples with her teeth when she’d been allowed free rein to his entire delicious body.

  She sucked in a breath and closed her eyes, ordering her thoughts to stay focused and her hormones to stay tamped down. C’mon, wasn’t as if she’d never been a teenager. And they had to solve this mystery if she had any hope of being sure there was no danger to the future she’d worked so hard for.

  Lean fingers settled on her shoulders and gifted her with a gentle but way-too-short massage. She breathed in Tony’s addictive scent and the warmth returned. She relaxed against the solidness of his chest. “That isn’t fair,” she told him, half moaning the words.

  “Huh?”

  She’d been trying to talk herself out of not responding to him until they solved the mystery, and here he was touching her. Making her body warm and soften toward him. Welcome him. She was more ramped up than ever. Why was she resisting him again?

  “Oh, what the hell.” She smoothed her hair out of his way and leaned farther into his tender fingers. “More,” she urged, her voice low.

  “You look tense.”

  She was a lot of things. Hot. Turned on. Aching for his touch. So yeah, she’d accept tense. With a sigh the muscles of her shoulders relaxed under the kneading of his fingers.

  “I can’t keep this up,” he told her after a moment.

  “You only need to continue until I’m done.”

  His chest rumbled against her back. “You can’t mean what I think you mean.”

  She faced him and gave Tony a wink. “Maybe.” Although technically she’d only been thinking of him massaging her until he’d worked out the knot under her shoulder blade.

  The smile faded from Tony’s face, and something dark and sensual flickered to life in his eyes. And he was looking at her. Just as he had in the picture. Her skin tingled in response, her breasts became heavy inside the thin cami.

  Amazing. That’s how it felt to have a man look at her like this. As if he’d crawl on broken and bloody hands for a touch. A taste.

  Her cheeks heated. She’d drag his mouth down to hers, grip him by the wrists and shove his hands on her breasts if she didn’t wrest her gaze from his. Right. Now.

  “Hayden, I—”

  Hayden twisted away from him, then squinted at the picture as something she hadn’t noticed before caught her attention. Maybe it was because she was hyperaware. Or maybe she frantically needed a distraction to make her think of something other than sex. Whatever it was, she now zeroed in on an object in the photo she didn’t recognize. “What’s on my wrist?”

  Tony rubbed the back of his neck. For a moment she felt the pressure of his gaze as he studied her profile. She tried to act naturally, as if having the hottest man she’d ever seen devour her with his eyes was something she was used to. Yeah, sure, that happened in the engineering lab all the time. He stood so close she felt the muscles of his arms tense. As if he was getting ready to grab her. To drag her against his chest. Hold her close. But then he exhaled and focused all that intense energy where she’d pointed.

  He peered at their image. “Those are wristbands we’re wearing, aren’t they?”

  She nodded. “I think so. The half paper, half plastic kind you get at dance clubs.”

  “So I either picked you up there or—”

  She held up both hands. “Whoa, whoa, I may have picked you up, for all we know.”

  “And I would have let you.” Then his brow furrowed. “Strange, nightclubs aren’t usually my thing.”

  “The only time I’m at a club is to work.”

  He lifted a brow. “I didn’t think it was possible after you threw out the whole you-picking-me-up scenario, but this conversation just got a lot more interesting.”

  “I work at a club waiting tables occasionally. I don’t strip. The more I think about it the more I doubt I picked you up.”

  He held up a hand. “Don’t ruin it for me.”

  “Ha, ha—I’m saying we must have gone to the club together. You said clubbing’s not your scene—it’s not mine, either. Believe me when I tell you, nothing turns you off drinking and being rowdy more than serving beer and potato skins to people drinking and being rowdy.”

  “So this club had to have offered something pretty special to make us go inside. Sounds like a clue. Good work.”

  Darcy walked by, her tray empty. “Darcy, you wouldn’t happen to know if any cell phones have been turned in?” Hayden asked.

  “We have a lost and found. It’s right by the boutique. Let me go drop this order in the kitchen and I’ll show you the way.”

  Hayden tensed when she was alone again with Tony. Her attraction to him was just too sudden. Too intense. Her last two boyfriends had been lab partners. They’d been slowly deepening relationships that had grown out of friendships. Not this instant heat. Instant want. Some space to clear her thoughts wouldn’t be a bad thing right about now.

  “Everyone is so nice to us here,” she tossed out for something to say. “I’m surprised they even remember who we are. They must have thousands of people parade through here every day.”

  “When you’re giving away Benjamins...” Tony joked.

  But she didn’t get the joke. “Benjamins?”

  “Benjamins are hundred-dollar bills. At least that’s what all the hip kids cal
l them. When I finally found Danny, he mentioned the kind of money we were spreading around.”

  Hayden laughed. “I was raised by my grandparents and I wanted to be an engineer. Believe me, math girl here was never hip. Come to think of it, Darcy mentioned that we gave the staff good tips, but I had no idea she was talking that kind of money. I don’t even want to tell you what my college student loan looks like right now. There’s no way I’d be passing out the Benjis. Not even Lincolns. Maybe a George Washington here and there.”

  Ugh, she was rambling. Stop referring to money by its president—you sound like an amateur. But had she lost her damn mind last night? One Ben—just one single hundred-dollar bill would keep her in tuna, noodles and dry cereal for a month.

  She glowered at her image in the photo. Last-night Hayden had a large smile, a wristband and yes, cash wadded in her hands. “How much did we make last night?”

  “Just a hair less than what we’d need to catch the attention of the IRS agent, according to Danny.”

  “Ready, you guys?” Darcy asked, and they dutifully followed her as she meandered a weaving path through the various tables. A path designed to take them past every means of gambling, from roulette, blackjack and Texas Hold ’Em to the row after row of dinging, clanging and flashing slot machines.

  Beside the cages stood a lone unbarred desk with an Information sign suspended from the ceiling above a team member’s head. Darcy waved to the guy at the desk. “These two are looking for some cell phones.”

  He shook his head. “Sorry, folks, cells are rarely turned in because they can be easily pawned. But you’re welcome to check.” He bent down and retrieved a large plastic tub from under the desk. Several jackets, a ball cap and, oddly, a lone shoe rested on top of a large heap.

  “You mind if I dump this out? It would be easier to sift through,” Hayden asked.

  He shrugged. “Be my guest.”

  She tipped the large bin over, catching the pyramid of clothes before they toppled off the desk. But something jangled and tumbled out of the pile, clanged against the desk, then dropped. Hayden gasped as she spotted the bright green unicorn horn against the beige of the carpet.