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“Wow.” Her eyes widen, and she giggles. “Aren’t you just full of secrets?”
She has no idea…
I brush past her with a wink and lead her into the ensuite, setting down the bottle and my flute on the counter. She follows slowly, lip between her teeth, watching me and trying to figure out where I’m going with this.
“Don’t look so scared.” I grin at her and reach for the small pink bottle on the counter. “We’re taking a bubble bath.”
Her brow furrows like she can’t quite comprehend what I just said, and her gaze drifts over to the large soaking tub. “A bath?”
“Mmm hmm.” I plug the drain and crank on the hot water while Jack leans against the counter, looking at me like I’m batshit crazy. “A nice, hot, bubble bath.”
“You don’t seem like the type who takes bubble baths.”
I bark out a laugh that echoes off the tile and slowly pour in the bubble mixture, swishing the water with my hand. “I’m not. I was probably five the last time I took one. But for you, I’ll make an exception.”
She pulls her bottom lip back between her teeth, shifting on her bare feet and glancing toward the door. “Actually…I probably should get going…”
Get going?
Something slowly tightens around my chest, making it hard to breathe. A feeling I haven’t experienced before, a longing for someone who is standing right in front of me.
I push to my feet and make my way over to her slowly, not wanting to make her any more uneasy than she clearly already is. “You have big plans today? Somewhere to be?”
She glances up at me, twisting her lips. “No. Not really, but this seems a little…”
“A little what?”
Her slender shoulders rise and fall. “I don’t know…intimate?”
“Intimate?” I close the distance between us, pinning her against the counter with my body and taking her face between my hands. “I’ve literally been inside you, almost non-stop, for the last twelve hours. You came down my fucking throat in that hallway last night. And taking a bath with me is too intimate?”
I raise a brow at her in challenge, daring her to consider my words and still stand by her statement. The smile pulls at the corners of her lips until she can’t fight it anymore.
“Well, when you put it like that…”
I lean into her and stop my lips just short of hers. “Stay with me another night. My flight doesn’t leave until almost noon tomorrow. I’m not ready for you to leave yet.”
That admission awakens something deep in my gut, pulls at something dormant, something I’ve refused to even consider before this moment. If she says no, if she decides to walk away from this room and me today, there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it. I can’t force her to stay if she doesn’t want to, and I never would try, no matter how much I want it.
This was supposed to be one night, and that one night is long over. It just doesn’t feel like this is.
I brush my lips over hers gently. A request. An invitation. A plea for her to give me, give us more time—one more night. She issues a tiny little groan from somewhere deep in her chest and wraps her arms around my neck, clinging to me like she needs me as much as I need her, when I had been so afraid she would try to push me away.
Our kiss deepens, our bodies pressed together tightly, almost begging for more, but the sound of the water running behind me forces me to drag my head away from hers. I glance back to ensure the tub isn’t overflowing yet, then turn to Jack and ask with my gaze what I can’t seem to voice again.
Please stay.
Her amber orbs burn into mine for a moment before she peeks over my shoulder and offers a lop-sided grin. “We should probably get in there before it overflows.”
Thank fuck.
JACK
Between the warm, bubbly water completely enveloping me and Nolan’s firm body at my back, I could easily drift off and never return to the stress and turmoil of the life that awaits me outside this bathroom, this hotel, this man’s arms.
That’s why I stayed when the rational side of me screamed that I had to get out of here. This all has just felt too good to be true. I don’t get to have things as beautiful as Nolan, a man as kind, caring, generous, and passionate. I get told what to do, have orders barked at me, have my entire life controlled under the pretense of “protecting me.” Staying here means my world is likely going to shit.
I’ll have to face the consequences when I return, but I can’t even consider them right now. That would ruin this incredible moment with this incredible man.
