Eva smiled. “Good.”
He opened his eyes. “What about your ex. Does he see your kids much?”
She snorted, then scoffed. “No. His children are a burden. An inconvenience. He used them as pawns in the divorce, but otherwise he has very little to do with them, which is fine by them, because they want nothing to do with him.”
“So you don’t get much free time then?”
She shook her head. “Nope. But my boys are good kids, and even though I certainly feel drained or tapped out some days, I wouldn’t trade them for the world.”
He rolled over on his side like she was and propped his head in his hand. “I wouldn’t trade Freddie for anything either.”
Sexy, kind and an attentive father. This guy certainly seemed like the whole damn package.
But there had to be a catch.
Todd had seemed like a great guy at first too. Then his manipulative monster came out of hiding after they said their vows—after it was too late.
Did Scott have a monster lurking somewhere deep? Did all men?
“What is it you would like, Eva?” he asked, drawing her from her roaming appraisal of him, her eyes having drifted over his face, down the length of his body and ultimately lingering on the V of his dark-wash jeans just a fraction longer than was seemly.
She blinked a couple of times, not understanding the question. “What do you mean?”
He lifted an eyebrow almost impatiently, as if her not understanding the question was taxing on him. “What is it you want, Eva? You invited me up to your hotel room saying that you’d be the one taking advantage, and I’d like for you to explain that to me. What kind of advantage had you planned on taking?”
Heat raced into her cheeks and wormed its way down her chest. Even if Scott hadn’t said a single word to her, the way he was looking at her, so earnestly, so seriously and focused, she would have probably swallowed her own tongue. But the fact that he actually asked her what she wanted, asked what her plan was, made it all the more exciting.
“Hmm?” He reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “What is it that Eva wants? Is it still the same thing as down in the bar? Or have your intentions changed?”
She swallowed and dragged her bottom lip between her teeth. “I … I haven’t been with anybody in quite a while, and the last person I was with was—”
“Your manipulative jerk of a husband,” he said, finishing her sentence for her perfectly.
With a sigh, she nodded. “Exactly.”
“And he was controlling,” he asked.
“Very much so.”
“In all things?”
“Yes.”
“Including the bedroom.”
“Especially there.” Which ordinarily she had no problem with. She was actually quite submissive in bed, preferring to just go with the flow and ride it out. But Todd had taken things to a whole new level. His level of control had stopped being sexy years ago. After a while, sex was only when he wanted it, how he wanted it, and if she was lucky enough to have an orgasm, she should consider herself grateful. The man never really put any energy into her pleasure. It was very much a wham, bam, thank you, ma’am kind of thing. By the end, she loathed even the thought of him touching her and would lie and say she had a really heavy period or a migraine and then go sleep in the spare bedroom.
Just as well. Turned out Todd was sleeping with his massage therapist anyway, so it’s not like he missed the sex. And after she snuck and stole his phone one time to see if her suspicions of his affair were true, she realized just how horrible a person Todd really was.
Not only was he sleeping with his massage therapist, but he was also one of those horrid cyberbullies. You know, the keyboard warrior guys. The middle-aged white men who bully and haunt women, threatening to rape and kill them if they don’t appreciate the unsolicited dick pics. Yeah, Todd was that kind of guy.
For the most part, Todd ignored her when they were in the house together, and when she started sleeping in the guest room every night, he stopped making a stink when he started sleeping with his massage therapist. Except for that one night …
“Earth to Eva,” Scott said with a chuckle, lightly running his hand over her arm. “You okay? Not too much wine?”
She shook her head to dislodge the thoughts of Todd and send them flying out of the room. She hoped they landed in the toilet where they belonged. “I’m okay,” she replied. “Just remembering how controlling he really was.” She shuddered. “Glad that chapter of my life is over.”
“You wanna burn the whole book? Start a whole new story? I can get my hands on some lighter fluid. I’m pretty sure we can figure out a way to get up to the roof of this place and torch some shit in a trash can.”
The idea of setting fire to every memory she had of Todd held appeal. “That doesn’t sound like a half-bad idea, actually.”
His smile got real again, and his eyes gleamed. “Back to my original question, though. What do you want, Eva?”
The way he said her name was intoxicating. Her name on his lips held promises of what he could and would do to her. The subtle scrape of his top teeth over his bottom lip as he enunciated the V in her name. It was erotic and sexy, and with that deep, masculine rumble, she felt a quake way down in her core each and every time he said it.
“I want to be in control,” she whispered. “I don’t normally take control in bed, and generally I prefer not to. But my ex was very controlling … very selfish.”
“And you want a night all about you?”
She shook her head and pushed up to the sitting position, happy that she hadn’t had any more wine and had all of her wits. Boldly she shoved him to his back and swung her leg over his torso so that she was straddling him. “I want a night I will never forget,” she whispered. Her fingers went to task on the buttons of his shirt. “I want a night with a stranger where there is no manipulation, no head games or expectations, no pre-conceived ideas. Just … ” She leaned down and drew one of his exposed nipples in between her teeth, tugging until he hissed out in either pleasure or pain, she didn’t know—or care—which. “Two people enjoying each other. Give and take. I want you to show me what I’ve been missing these past few lonely, celibate years. And I want to remember what it’s like to be with a real man.”
With adrenaline and arousal now fueling her every move, she sprinkled gentle kisses across his hard, muscular chest over to his other nipple, scissoring her teeth across the tight bud.
“Eva”—his hands in her hair stopped her effort—“you’re sure?”
With one hand still propping herself up, she moved the other one down between them to his now very noticeable, very hard, very impressive erection. She unsnapped his jeans, slid down the zipper and slipped her hand inside, taking him in her palm. “I’m very sure,” she whispered, stroking him as much as she could, given their awkward position. “I need this, Scott.” She lifted her head and pressed her lips to his, just enough to touch, not enough to kiss. “I need you.”
Fuck, she was something else. Sweet and sexy and so goddamn gorgeous, Scott lay there in awe of his luck as Eva continued to undress him, taking her time and making sure those nails of hers drove him to the very edge of insanity.