By the time we get back to our room, it’s almost five, and dinner is—as usual—at eight.
“Nap?” I ask, since she looks exhausted.
“Lead the way.”
I do, and when we reach our bed, I turn to her. “Do you trust me?”
She nods, and I know she means it, but at the same time, she looks a little apprehensive. I reach down and lift her t-shirt over her head, revealing her fucking amazing tits encased in a white lace bra.
Holy mother of hell.
“Ryan—”
I shake my head. “I’m not going to take advantage. I just want to sleep next to you like this.” It’s true. She can see that in my eyes. So I reach down and undo her shorts, slipping them down her legs before an involuntary groan forces its way out of my throat.
“Ryan—”
She tries again, but I stop her. “I promise to be good; it’s just the matching white lace bra and panties.”
She smiles in a way that tells me she knows exactly what she is doing to me.
I take off my own shirt and shorts, not caring if she sees the tent in my boxer briefs.
I want her to see it. I want her to know the effect she has on me. She sinks her teeth into her full bottom lip when she notices, and then her eyes scroll up my chest to my eyes.
“Nap time?” she whispers, and I nod, taking her hand and leading her to the bed. When I pull her down next to me and wrap my arms around her warm soft body, she giggles. “Do you know that I have never slept in as many clothes as I do when I’m next to you?”
“What do you mean?”
She rolls over so that we are face to face on the pillow. “Normally, I only sleep in my panties.”
My eyes snap shut, and I lower my forehead to hers. “Are you trying to torture me?”
“Maybe a little,” she admits, and a laugh huffs out of me.
“Well, it worked.” I look down at myself, raising an eyebrow.
“I thought you said we were napping before we have to get ready for dinner?”
“We are, sweetheart. We are.” I fold her into my chest, wrapping my arms around her and burying my nose into her hair.
Fucking heaven.
She sighs deeply, allowing her body to sink into mine. Her soft perfect chest pressed up against mine.
“In case I haven’t told you,” she raises her head so our eyes meet. “I’m having the best time.”
“Me too, love, me too.” I realize too late which endearment I used, but she doesn’t comment, just sighs contentedly, closing her eyes.
I, on the other hand, do not go to sleep yet.
Instead, I snap a picture of her in my arms with my phone. Once that is done, I allow myself to surrender to her pull and close my eyes, never wanting to wake up from this perfect dream.
15
Ryan
* * *
I’m asleep maybe a half an hour when my phone rings on the nightstand behind my head. Reluctantly, I pry myself away from a beautiful and comatose Katie and slink into the living room. I swipe my finger across the screen to answer the call.
“What’s going on, Luke?”
“Ah, finally. The man himself,” Luke’s enigmatic voice fills the phone.
“Cut the shit, man. I just sent you the code the other night. Don’t tell me you’ve gone through it already?” I ask, sitting myself down in one of the large chairs that faces the windows and the view.
“Oh, but I have my friend, I have, and it looks really fucking good.” I smile at that. I knew it was right on, but having Luke confirm it just makes it better. “How on earth did you come up with this? It’s going to be killer and get a lot of hype, which is not really your thing, man. I’m surprised you want to do this.”
I run a hand through my hair because he’s right, I don’t like hype or publicity. I like to remain under the radar, but I want to do this, so it is what it is.
“I’ll manage it, and we have Claire to field a lot of the extra bullshit.”
“True.” He’s silent for a minute. “Where are you anyway?”
I hesitate, but only for a brief moment. Luke knows pretty much everything there is to know about me. He’s one of the very few people I trust.
“Vegas.”
He laughs out loud and hard. “Shut up, really?”
“Yup.” I look out at the evening sun as it sets over the mountains.
“What the hell are you doing there? Is this all part of your road trip?”
The way he says road trip sounds a bit condescending. Like he thinks I’m being childish for doing it in the first place. That doesn’t surprise me, though. Luke has lived in his own small bubble since college. Since the FBI came knocking on his door. That was enough of a scare for anyone, so I get it.
“I am, but I’ll be there for the meetings that you graciously set up on the eighteenth.” I look over at the dark bedroom, wondering what things will be like for me by then—looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time.
“You’ll thank me after the meeting. It’s a big-time name, and if we can penetrate their system, which the dude tells me is impenetrable, then we’re looking at big things.” He’s excited. I know he is.
Luke’s a scrapper and he needs this. I don’t. I’ve made all that I’ll ever need and this new software that I created is only going to add to that. I do it for the fun of it now. For the challenge. So I say, “Sounds great, man. I told you about Tommy’s new app bullshit, right?”
“No,” he draws out the word because he knows as well as I do what dealing with Tommy entails.
“He’s got something new I promised to take a look at. He’s giving us twenty and a favor.”
“For real?” he blows out a breath into the phone. “Damn.” He’s silent a moment like he’s thinking this over. “I guess we can’t really say no to twenty, and certainly not to another favor.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
I hear movement to my right, and as I look over I see Katie hovering by the bedroom door wearing what looks like only my t-shirt. Fuck, that’s all kinds of hot.
“I gotta go, Luke. I’ll call you.” I hang up without waiting for a response and set my phone down on the small table next to the chair I’m sitting in, unable to remove my eyes from the vision that is now walking toward me. “Did I wake you?”
She shakes her head, her messy blonde waves only adding to the bedroom thing she’s got going on. “No, I didn’t want to sleep too long,” she says with a coy smile. “We have a big night ahead of us, after all.”
Katie pauses in front of me. My shirt is enormous on her and stops just above her knees. My hands reach out, grabbing her waist and pulling her so that she’s straddling my lap with her bare thighs on either side of mine.
“Do we? What sort of big night?” I lean forward to kiss her sweet mouth.
“Well, I was thinking about whoring myself out.” She tilts her head, her arms stretched out wide. “You know, to pay for the room and the clothes. And after that is done, I was thinking about maybe going to dinner and a club.”
“Hmm.” I run my fingers up and down her silky thighs, stopping just under the hem of her shirt. “Are you offering your services to me, or some stranger? Because I have to tell you, I’m willing to pay way more than the other guy,” I smile, kissing her lips again just because.