by Claire
“Don’t,” Seth interrupted, his voice slightly gruff. Something had changed in his eyes. “You don’t have to say it.”
Erin slumped against him. “I’m sorry. I know how nice it would be if we could just jump into some sort of happy ending. But I can’t force myself to lo—” This time, she cut off the word herself. Realized that hearing her say it would hurt Seth.
And she really didn’t want to do that.
They were silent for a minute, until Erin felt the tension relax in Seth’s body. He tilted up her chin until she was looking into his eyes. “Erin,” he began, the heat flaring up in his eyes again. The momentary angst was entirely gone. “I think you’re making this more complicated than it has to be. I’m not saying you need to fall for me overnight, but you’re stressing so much about it that you can’t even enjoy what we do have together.”
She opened her mouth in an automatic objection, but he kept speaking before she could get any words out.
“We’re good together. I’ve never had better sex than the times I’ve been with you. And I enjoy just being with you.”
“But...” she began, a kind of panic now vying with the beginnings of her arousal.
Seth shook his head. Looked calm, confident, handsome, charming—not remotely vulnerable or hurt. “Why can’t we just enjoy what we do have together? And then see if anything else happens to develop.”
This time, when Erin opened her mouth, she didn’t have a word to say. She didn’t have an answer.
She wanted him physically—that much was clear—but she also didn’t want to hurt him.
He was a mature, intelligent man, though. And he was asking for this. How was she supposed to decide what would hurt him the least?
“Seth,” she said at last, her hand fisting in his black shirt. “What if nothing develops?”
He leaned down. Breathed his response just above her lips. “But what if it does?”
Her lips parted, and she stared up at him. Felt heat coursing through her. Felt like her heart might beat its way out of her chest.
For a moment, she caught a glimpse of something in his eyes: something deep and molten and unspeakable.
Then she couldn’t see anything at all. Because he was kissing her, and her eyes had fallen closed. Her breasts pressed into the hard line of his chest, and her hands wound around his neck before she could begin to stop them. Her tongue darted out to meet his, and her mouth became urgent and hungry.
She breathed desperately through her nose, taking in the familiar scent of him. His arms moved around her tightly, one hand sliding down to her ass.
She moaned into his mouth, flooded with waves of sensation. She felt like she was devouring him. Felt like he was devouring her.
Then she heard him make a sound in his throat—guttural, involuntary, deeply sexy.
And she wanted him so much it terrified her.
She turned her head to the side, abruptly pulling out of the kiss. She still clung to him, however, afraid her knees might buckle otherwise.
“Erin?” Seth asked. He was panting just as much as she was, and his whole body was burning up.
“That was really good, but I’m afraid of doing something on impulse that we’ll both regret later.”
He was quiet for a moment. Seemed to be distancing himself, although he didn’t move at all. “I won’t regret it.”
“But maybe I will,” she whispered, finally finding the courage to look up at his face again. His expression was mild, but shuttered, and it made something ache in her belly. “I just need to think about it a little more.”
He released her, and she crossed her arms over her chest, hugging herself. He was tense and silent for a moment until he relaxed. Then he almost smiled. “All right. Think all you want.”
Erin felt a little better when his irony and easy charm returned. She returned his smile. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re rather pompous?”
Seth chuckled and put a companionable hand on her back as they moved toward the French doors. “Actually, I think you’re the only person who’s ever told me that.”
“Well, then it definitely bears repeating.” As she looked in through the glass panes on the doors back into the lobby, Erin jerked to a stop. “Shit.”
Seth looked down at her in concern. “What is it?”
“That’s Mary Carlyle,” Erin hissed, keeping her voice low, as though it could be heard through the doors. “She runs that blog. You know the one.”
Seth stiffened slightly beside her. “I thought this place was supposed to be exclusive.”
“If we walk in there now, then our picture might end up online tomorrow, along with a ridiculous story about our hidden, torrid affair and our secret love child.” She darted a look up at Seth. “She’d definitely recognize me and put some sort of melodramatic story together. She was in the same journalism program as Liz, and she hates her because Liz got the editor’s position instead of her.”
“Why don’t we just stay out here until she clears the lobby?”
Relieved that he agreed with her—and that he didn’t think she was overreacting—Erin stepped back from the door, pulling him with her. “Good plan.”
From a vantage point mostly out of sight, Erin peered into the lobby. “That’s her husband. She must not be working—that’s a good sign.”
“Indeed.”
Something in his voice sounded suspicious, and her suspicions were confirmed when she saw that Seth’s lips had tightened. “Stop laughing at me. This is serious.”
“I know, but you seem to be enjoying the subterfuge so much.”
Erin decided the best response to this insolence would be disdainful silence—mostly because she couldn’t think of an appropriate reply. But when she looked into the lobby again, she leapt back, releasing an embarrassing little squeak. “She’s coming this way.”
Seth’s face was infinitely sober as he gestured toward the railing of the balcony. “Shall we hurl ourselves over the side?”
Torn between panic and ridiculous laughter, Erin grabbed him by fistfuls of his shirt. “Seth, help me. Do you want a story about us and Mackenzie to be plastered on her blog tomorrow?”
“Maybe we can be so lost in a passionate embrace that she can't see who we are. She’ll think we're just a random, horny couple.”
“People aren’t really hidden when they kiss, you know.” Peeking into the lobby again, Erin gasped. “I think they’re coming out to the balcony. Seth, stop joking and help.”
His face grew serious, and his mouth softened. “Erin, there’s nowhere we can go. If she comes out here, she’s going to see us. Maybe we could—”
With a flash of inspiration, she put her hands on his chest and pushed him backwards, maneuvering him into the cluster of potted plants. They were so tall and thick that they should effectively hide two people from the casual observer.
“Really?” Seth began, his face torn between disbelief and amusement. “Are we actually going to hide behind the plants?”
“Shh,” she hissed, pushing him back into the farthest corner, where there was some added shelter from the architecture of the building. Then Erin backed into him, fitting her body against his to achieve the best concealment. She was just adjusting one of the plants in front of them when the French doors opened and voices moved out onto the balcony.
One of the voices belonged to Mary Carlyle, commenting on what a nice night it was. The couple moved toward the railing but didn’t even glance in Erin and Seth’s direction.
Her heart beat so frantically that it took her a minute to truly assess her position. She was pressed back against Seth’s front, trapping him against the wall. One of his arms had slipped around her waist, but she hadn’t even noticed when that had happened.
But now she could feel him. All of him. His heat, his strength, the lean lines of his body behind her, his breath when he said almost soundlessly into her ear, “You’re out of your mind.”
Once again, she was torn between anxiety and
involuntary amusement. She really didn’t want to become Atlanta’s latest gossip—truly, it was one of her nightmares. But this particular situation was rather ridiculous.
As Seth had noticed earlier, Erin was starting to enjoy the subterfuge, especially now that she was becoming more and more confident that they weren’t going to be caught.
But then the whole situation changed in an instant. Everything transformed. Nothing was funny anymore.
Because Erin felt something else behind her.
Seth was hot and solid and hard behind her. Hard in more than one way.
His pelvis pushed into the top of her ass, and she was suddenly aware that he was aroused.
Really aroused.
She could feel his erection.
Pushing into the top of her ass.
She sucked in a sudden breath and clutched at the arm that was wrapped around her waist. Part of her wanted to pull away, wanted to flee from this confusion, from Seth and his irresistibility and his rampant masculinity.
But part of her really, really didn’t want to flee.
She tensed, holding her breath and trying to deal with the waves of heat flooding through her.
It shouldn’t be this unsettling. She’d fucked Seth before. She’d felt his cock before. She’d taken his semen inside her body.
But, for some reason, this felt entirely different.
He wasn’t pushing into her, but he wasn’t pushing her away either. She just kept feeling it, feeling him, as Mary Carlyle and her husband made mundane conversation on the balcony.
Implausibly soon, her body started to respond. She’d been aroused only a few minutes ago, and his proximity to her now and the hard evidence of his desire pushed her arousal into new life.
She flushed, from her cheeks down to her neck and then even farther down. Her breathing started coming out in urgent little pants, and she felt a deepening ache grow at her center.
Seth must have noticed the change in her responses because he pressed his pelvis against her in a small, experimental thrust.
Erin bit her lip over a gasp and couldn’t stop herself from pushing back into him.
His arm tightened around her waist, and his hand somehow slipped under the bottom edge of her sweater until his fingers were touching the bare skin of her side.
Erin arched her neck to the left, and he bent his head forward until he was mouthing the side of her throat. She could feel his lips, his tongue, his teeth. Could feel his fingers on the sensitive skin of her belly. Could feel the bulge of his arousal pushing into her from behind.
The last two times they’d had sex, Seth had been spooning her from behind. And that’s what it felt like right now. Like they were making love. Fully clothed, in the open air, and hidden behind a cluster of potted plants.
Erin shook helplessly, knew she was wet, felt like a lit fuse or a flame. One of her arms reached up until her fingers dug into the back of his neck. And her intimate muscles kept clenching every time he pushed into her from behind, as if some kind of primitive instinct was trying to pull him back into her body.
She’d lost track of the conversation between Mary Carlyle and her husband. She’d lost track of everything except the feel, the touch, the scent of Seth behind her.
However, one part of her mind realized when the voices on the balcony faded and the French doors opened and closed again.
She and Seth were once more alone on the balcony.
She stumbled forward, barely missing one of the plants, but then she immediately turned around and sank into his embrace again.
“Seth,” she gasped, fumbling with one hand on his ass. She rubbed her pelvis against the top of his thigh. Couldn't seem to stop.
His mouth was everywhere—all over her face, her neck, her mouth. He spoke over her skin. “God, Erin. Please don’t tell me you need to think about this some more.”
Thinking was an impossibility. Erin couldn’t do anything but feel.
“I’ve thought enough,” she mumbled, her hand moving from his ass to the front of his pants. She palmed the hard bulge there. “Do you think you could get us a room?”
Seth didn’t respond with words—just urged Erin over toward the French doors again. He peered through the glass panes, searching for signs of Mary Carlyle. When he saw no trace of her, he took her hand and pulled her through the lobby.
“Seth?” Erin asked breathlessly, feeling rather overwhelmed with desire and disoriented by his haste. “A room?”
He pulled her toward the staircase at the far corner of the main hall. “We’re on our way.” His hand tightened around hers as they started up the stairs.
Halfway up, Erin’s lust-clouded mind finally closed around an explanation for his behavior. “You already have a room?”
Seth met her gaze, his own eyes hot and urgent, although his mouth tightened with suppressed humor. “As a matter of fact...”
She sucked in another indignant breath and stopped with her foot poised on the next stair. “Why you smug, over-confident...” She narrowed her eyes and glared at his slightly flushed face. “So you had this whole thing planned all along? Like I was just some gullible, easily-seduced...” She almost sputtered as she searched for the right word.
Seth froze for a minute, a few steps above her, as if thinking through the best way to handle the situation. Then he moved down to her level on the stairs. Closed the distance between.
He backed her into the wall with his body.
Leaning his face toward hers, he captured her mouth again, his tongue sliding temptingly along the inside of her lips. When he released her mouth, he didn't pull back very far. “Erin, we haven’t had sex in six months. And we’ve had sex a grand total of four times, despite my making it clear for at least a year that I’d be willing any time you said the word. In what fantasy land would I be living if I believed you were easy to seduce?”
Erin was flushed and trembling, and the ache of arousal at her center was pulsing insistently. But, incongruously, she choked on a laugh. “Good point.”
Then she grabbed his shirt with one hand—it was already wrinkled from her clutching at it earlier—and pulled him closer to her again. Faced no resistance when she reached for the back of his head with her free hand to pull him down into another kiss.
She felt off-balanced, perched in the middle of a flight of stairs. But Seth’s hard body trapped her against the wall, and she found herself rocking into the bulge of his erection and clawing at the back of his neck.
Seth’s hand tangled in her hair, holding her head steady as his firm mouth worked hers over. When she finally jerked her mouth away, he nibbled a line along her jaw.
She was so hot and wet between her legs that a spot on her panties must have been soaked—which surprised her a little, since she’d been told that nursing mothers were sometimes dryer than normal. Her breasts were throbbing, a sensation that sent a jolt of recognition through her fuzzy mind.
She and Seth weren’t horny teenagers, although they were acting like it at the moment. And Erin hadn’t nursed in several hours.
Which meant her breasts were very full.
Which meant sex was likely to be a little messy.
Which reminded her they probably shouldn’t begin on a public staircase. Especially with Mary Carlyle in the same building.
“Seth? The room?”
“Right.” He pulled away from her—as if he had to force himself to do so—and grabbed her hand again. Led her all the way up the stairs and into the empty hallway.
He stopped in front of the only door to the left of the stairs and pulled a key out of his pocket. As he fumbled with the old-fashioned lock, Erin found her eyes crawling over his long legs, trim hips, firm ass, and broad shoulders. Then her gaze focused on the back of his head.
She wanted to slurp him down, from his shiny shoes to the little kink he could never smooth down at the back of his hair.
Unable to stop herself, she pressed her body into his back, wrapping her arms around his waist and
rubbing her breasts against him. “God, you’re hot,” she murmured throatily, not even embarrassed by her shamelessness.
One of her hands slid down until she could massage his hard arousal through the front of his pants.
Seth had almost been at the point of turning the key in the lock, but at her touch he lost his grip on it. He groaned helplessly, his whole body tensing and his hand flattening against the closed door.
Erin was almost high on having this visceral power over such a cool, controlled man. Felt wild and wanton and as sexy as she’d ever felt in her life.
“Erin,” Seth choked, fumbling with the key again. “If you keep it up, it will be over before we get in the room.”
She made a sound that was half purr, half husky laugh. “Really?” she asked, her hand growing still although she couldn’t seem to move it away from the tight bulge in his trousers. “Maybe I should test that theory.”
Seth finally managed to get the door unlocked, and they fell into the entry of a lovely suite filled with soothing colors and expensive antiques, the most obvious being a huge, mahogany four-poster bed.
“Arrogant bastard,” Erin muttered as she looked around the room, more out of principle than out of any real resentment. “Reserving a room and assuming we’d end up here, based on nothing more than—”
“Wishful thinking,” he interrupted, pushing her back against the door he'd just closed and locked. Instead of kissing her again, he met her eyes. “Really. I had no real expectations, given our past. Just thought I’d be prepared.”
She grinned at him, something warm in their shared gaze that wasn’t even sexual. “Always good to be prepared. Just think of the inconvenience if there weren’t any rooms available.”