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Jeff roared with laughter. “I didn’t know you were into that stuff. I like it.”
Mia poked her elbow back until she made contact with his ribs, and he yelped, momentarily loosening his hold. Sure that had been enough to make her point, she stepped away. He quickly recovered, laughing, and banded his arms around her so tightly that she could barely breathe.
Damn, she didn’t want to do the girlie thing and bite him, but if that’s what it took…
“Oh, hell, you’re gonna make me waste a perfectly good drink, you ass.” Shelby stood with one hand on her hip, the other holding a pineapple-and-cherry-garnished drink that she had poised to throw in Jeff’s face.
“That won’t be necessary.”
At the sound of David’s deep, rumbling voice, Mia’s pulse leaped. Embarrassed more than relieved, she turned her head to look at him. His face was devoid of expression, not so much as a brow moved, but she saw the fury in his dark eyes.
“Hey, David.” Jeff blinked blearily at him, oblivious to the unspoken threat. “How’s it going?”
“Let go of her.” David’s chin went up slightly, his jaw tight. His hands stayed relaxed at his sides.
“I was just leaving,” Mia said, not wanting to see the situation escalate.
With Jeff distracted, she easily shook away from him and went to stand between David and Shelby.
Jeff frowned, glanced from Mia to David. “Hey, are you two…?”
“Yes.” David tersely cut him off, and slid a possessive arm around her.
“Sorry, man.” Jeff shrugged, and then set his sights on Shelby, giving her a sloppy lopsided grin.
“Yeah, that’ll happen.” She snorted out a laugh, and then popped the cherry from her drink into her mouth.
Jeff just shrugged before he jumped into the pool, and the rest of them moved quickly toward the bar to avoid being splashed.
“Just so you know,” Mia said to David, “I totally could have taken him.”
He gave a grudging smile, telling her he hadn’t shaken all his anger. “I should’ve backed off. I would’ve liked to have seen that.”
She bumped him with her shoulder. “How about I buy my big strong hero a drink?”
He hesitated, glanced briefly at Shelby and moved his arm away from Mia. “I didn’t mean to intrude. I only came down for a swim.”
“You’re not intruding. We were just spying on our friend Lindsey.” Shelby shrugged. “We got busted.”
Mia pressed her lips together and gave her friend a withering look.
David laughed. “Spying?”
“No, not spying.” Mia sniffed. “We hadn’t seen her since yesterday and we wanted—”
“To check out the guy she was with.” Shelby’s eyes sparkled with mischief.
“That’s not quite accurate,” Mia said.
“And?” David was clearly trying to control a smile. “Did you approve?”
Shelby’s light brows knitted. “Surprised the hell out of me. Really cute, but not what I expected.” She looked to Mia for confirmation. “Not for Linds.”
Mia stared back at her, dumbfounded that she’d speak so freely in front of David. “Okay.” She stepped back. “I am going to my room and take a nice long shower. You two—” She waved a hand. “Do whatever.”
“Wait.” Chuckling, David caught her hand. “I’m going up with you.”
Mia hesitated, momentarily meeting Shelby’s eyes. She didn’t want to ditch her friend.
“Go. Good riddance.” Shelby made a shooing motion with her hand. “You guys are screwing me up. How am I supposed to get lucky with you hanging around?”
Mia groaned, shook her head.
“Bye-bye,” Shelby said, grinning, and then sauntered away, an exaggerated sway to her hips.
One of David’s eyebrows went up as he stared after her. “She keeps that up and she’s going to have more luck than she can handle.”
“She took a hula lesson this afternoon.”
“Ah.”
“You’re drooling.”
He took his gaze away from Shelby’s retreating back, and smiled at Mia. “Jealous?”
She coyly toyed with the top button of his tennis shirt. “Mmm, maybe a little.”
“Just so you know, I wasn’t drooling. At least, not over Shelby.” Ignoring the few remaining guests at the bar, he slid an arm around her waist, brought her close, stared at her mouth with an intensity that sent a shiver of anticipation down her spine. “I think it’s time we go to my suite.”
“I still have to shower.”
“Just so happens I have one, along with a sunken tub big enough for two.”
“But—”
He nudged her chin up and kissed her. A firm but leisurely kiss, nothing too risqué or demanding, but still his boldness surprised her. This spot wasn’t like the beach where trees or cliffs hid them. Here they had an audience. “Now,” he whispered.
DAVID KISSED HER AGAIN as they waited for the elevator, then kept his distance until the couple who’d followed them into the car got off on the fourth floor. The doors had barely slid closed when he leaned against the back, taking her with him, spreading his legs and cradling her between his thighs.
“You’re crazy,” she whispered breathlessly, her lips damp, her eyes glazed.
He took her face between his hands, kissed her deeply and almost didn’t hear the elevator signal its approaching stop on the eighteenth floor.
Mia quickly spun around to face the doors as they slid open. A stooped elderly couple, the man walking with the aid of a cane, slowly entered the car. David had immediately straightened, but stayed cautiously behind Mia to hide his aroused state. She moved back, to give the couple room, her bottom intimately bumping him.
David hissed in a sharp breath.
Mia’s back went ramrod stiff. She’d clearly figured out the problem and eased away from him. Though not much. Not enough to stop his body from reacting to the snug feel of that sweet, curvy ass.
The white-haired woman considered the numbered panel, peering closely, both through and then over her glasses, while David prayed that the pair would get off on the next floor.
Her gnarled finger hovered a moment, the doors already starting to close. “Is this elevator going down, dear?” she asked, turning to Mia.
The woman blinked, then tilted her head and frowned over her glasses at David as if seeing him for the first time. Her gaze swept Mia’s face, and then went back to David, her eyes narrowing in indignation.
He stuck his head out to the right so it wouldn’t look as if he were hiding. “We’re going up, ma’am,” he said politely, wondering why Mia hadn’t answered.
With an air of disgust, the woman abruptly gave them her back. “Harold, we’re on the wrong elevator. We need to get off.” She stared up at the flashing floor numbers as they ascended.
“So what,” the man snapped. “We’ll ride the darn thing back down.”
The woman stubbornly searched the panel, but by the time she figured out which button to press, they arrived at David’s floor. “Excuse us,” he said, his hand pressed to Mia’s back as they both exited.
He walked them out of view, then stopped to look at Mia. Her face was stained a guilty red, and she looked as if she were ready to explode at any second. They heard the doors sliding close, and she burst out laughing.
“What?”
“That woman—” Mia sniffed, dabbed at her watery eyes, laughed some more. “Did you see her face? I don’t know what she thought we were doing.”
“We weren’t exactly innocent.” David couldn’t help but join in on the infectious laughter, though he wasn’t entirely comfortable that they’d been caught.
“We were only kissing, and not even in front of them.”
“Right.”
“Oh, David, she didn’t see you.” Mia automatically glanced at his fly.
He said nothing as they continued toward the suite, while digging in his pocket for his key card. It wasn’t like him to behave in such an undignified manner. In fact, he’d indulged himself quite a few times today. Funny, he’d never pictured Mia letting her hair down that way, either.
“You’re not upset, are you?”
“No, of course not. No one knows us here.” He stopped at his door, opened it and stepped aside for her.
Her brows had drawn together in a slight frown, but as soon as she stepped over the threshold, her pensive mood appeared to vanish. “Whoa. This is some hovel. And what a view.”
She seemed to take everything in at once, her gaze sweeping the rich, dark hardwood floors, Oriental rugs, the Hawaiian artwork on the walls. At the sliding glass door to the ocean-side balcony, she paused to stare at the polished dining room table that could accommodate eight diners.
“This place is bigger than my apartment,” she said, twisting around to survey the subdued tropical-print sofa and love seat. “I don’t even want to know how much this sucker costs for a night.”
He snorted. “Trust me, you don’t. I only splurged because I haven’t taken a vacation in years.”
She stepped out onto the balcony, noticed that it wrapped around the corner and laughed with delight. “I could spend the whole week right here and be happy.”
He came up behind her, slid his arms around her and nuzzled her neck. “Okay,” he murmured against her warm sweet skin.
She laughed softly and leaned back into him, hugging his arms to her waist. “From up here you can see the ocean’s different shades of blue,” she said in a shaky voice. “You drive me crazy when you kiss my neck like that. But you know that, don’t you?”
He smiled. “We can have dinner out here if you want. We should be able to catch part of the sunset.”
She turned in his arms to face him, the bewitching green of her eyes knocking the breath out of him. “But then we’d have to hurry our shower.”
“Screw dinner,” he said, and covered her mouth with his.
Her eager response pleased him, triggered a need in him impossibly greater than he’d experienced on the beach. She pushed against him so hard that he stumbled back a step. She went with him, clutching the front of his shirt, returning his kisses with a fervor that matched his.
But it was no good, her arms shielding her breasts like that. He wanted to feel them pressed against his chest. He wanted to see her perfect round breasts bared again. He needed to see all of her.
With Herculean effort, he pulled away, ignoring her wide startled eyes. “Inside,” he said, all but dragging her into the parlor.
He headed straight for the bedroom, unable to tamp down the pressure building inside of him like a volcano ready to explode. This wasn’t him, nothing close to who he was or how he behaved with a woman. Normally he was patient, waited for the right mood. He tried to be thoughtful, even romantic at times, designing the right setting—candle, flowers, the whole thing.
But with Mia, he couldn’t think straight. Around her it seemed that all he did was react, lose himself in the primal satisfaction of tasting her eager mouth, coaxing her nipples into tight buds flushed dark with arousal. The way he felt was crazy—animalistic—and he couldn’t seem to do a damn thing about it.
MIA ENTERED THE BEDROOM ahead of David, both of them ignoring the light switch. The drapes to the balcony door were open halfway, and pinkish gold rays bathed the room in a sensual glow that made her heart lurch. The Asian-inspired armoire and headboard matched the tasteful parlor furniture, and the beautiful tan silk duvet that topped the king-size bed was a far cry from the floral spreads that serviced her economy room.
She was startled to discover that her legs were trembling a little when she turned to face David. Maybe because there was something different about him. Nothing scary or awful, kind of thrilling really. The way he looked as if he were doing everything in his power not to strip her naked and force her back onto the bed.
“David?” Her voice came out strange, husky and tentative.
“I know, Mia,” he said quietly, brushing a gentle finger across her lips.
What did he know? She wasn’t even sure what she was going to say herself. But when he drew his fingers down the front of her top and then slipped his hand underneath, she said, “Shower first.”
“All right.” He splayed his fingers across her belly, grazed the underside of her breast through her bikini top.
It wasn’t fair that his palm could feel so dry and cool when her skin was fever hot. Nor was it fair the he smelled so clean and masculine. “Don’t.”
He met her eyes, his surprised and alarmed. Promptly he let his hand drop. “Mia, I’m sorry.”
“No,” she said, feeling horrible for giving him the wrong impression. “No. It’s just that you’ve showered. I haven’t.”
Relief softened his mouth. “Would it help if I told you that you smell so damn good I want to—”
“No.” She put a hand over his mouth, and then laughed when he nipped at her palm. “Don’t you dare try to talk me out of it.”
He took her by both wrists and stretched her arms over her head.
Her pulse went nuts. He had to feel it. “What are you doing?”
“Helping you undress.” He yanked her tank top off before she could respond.
“I doubt that’s going to work out well,” she said, and gasped when he freed her bikini top and bared her breasts. The cool air danced over her nipples, and she knew without looking that they were fully extended.
He tossed both tops over his shoulder, his gaze captured by her breasts.
Then he hooked his fingers into the elastic of her bikini bottoms.
All rational thought deserted her. The trembling started in her chest and moved down her legs, and there didn’t seem to be a damn thing she could do about it.
David was crouched in front of her, urging her to step out of the bottoms, and she braced a hand on his shoulder, praying hard that she wouldn’t end up in an embarrassing heap.
He kissed the area just above where her bikini wax ended, and then slowly got to his feet.
At the raw hunger in his eyes, a wave of warm pleasure washed over her. He tenderly touched her breasts, and rubbed the pad of his thumb over one aching nipple. She swallowed hard, wishing his shirt were off, wishing he were as naked as she was. It would only mean trouble. She really did want that shower before they made love, but right now, like an addict craving a fix, she needed to feel the friction of his bare, muscled chest rubbing her naked breasts.
“Go,” he whispered hoarsely.
“Take off your shirt first.”
“Go.” He gripped her by her upper arms, his fingers digging lightly into her flesh as he held her away from him. The anguished expression on his face should have been enough to keep her at bay, but a part of her was thrilled that she’d undermined this man of iron will. “Now.”
She shook free and pushed his shirt up. “Come with me.”
“Mia.” He hesitated, but only for a second, and then fumbled with the drawstring to his swim trunks, stopping long enough to help her pull off his shirt.
She stepped back, watched him strip off his trunks, barely able to catch her breath. He was hard, really hard, and much bigger than she’d imagined. When he kicked his trunks out of the way, a sudden and totally inappropriate giggle tickled inside her throat.
This was hardly the same man who was always impeccably dressed, never had a hair out of place, or God forbid, tolerated a cluttered desk or office.
He didn’t notice her amusement. His gaze roamed her nude body, his lips damp and slightly parted, muscles tensed, like a hungry cougar ready to pounce on his next meal. His attention lingered on the recent wax job, and his small smile seemed just as predatory.
“Shower,” she reminded him as she backed up, no longer feeling in control.
“Right direction,” he said, “but you’re about to ram that cute behind of yours into the door frame.”
“Oh.”
“You can turn around. I won’t bite.” Amusement gleamed in his eyes. “Yet.”
She lifted her chin, and then her gaze snagged on his twitching penis, and she got all wobbly inside again. When he touched himself, she forgot what she was doing and stared at him, a warm flush of excitement enveloping her entire body. It took her a second to snap out of it. She continued to back up, annoyed when she bumped her hip before crossing the threshold into the bathroom. She patted the inside wall, found the switch and flooded the bathroom with a soft golden light.
The room was huge, lots of glass, brushed silver fixtures, glossy tile and granite. Her gaze went briefly to the big deep whirlpool tub. It would take too long, she promptly decided, and reached for the handle of the glass-enclosed shower.
“Be careful.” David was right behind her, his hand touching her back, his thick arousal rubbing her ass, as he reached around to turn on the faucet. “The water gets hot quickly.”
She smiled to herself. Who didn’t?
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