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“It’s the costume.” She ran a hand down the velvet stays of her black lace corset. “The makeup.” She drew a fingertip along her fair cheek. “The wig.” She tugged at a strand of crimson hair. “If you met the real me, you wouldn’t be beguiled in the least. You probably wouldn’t even notice I exist.”
“Only one way to find out,” he said, wanting, needing, to see her without the makeup and costume. There was absolutely no fucking way he wouldn’t notice she existed. He was uncomfortably aware of her every expression, every move, every breath.
Roux straightened, which made her tits look fantastic in that corset, but for once he wasn’t stupid enough to let the compliment fly.
The fire in her gaze as she narrowed her eyes lit a corresponding one in him.
“Mr. Aimes, if you’re suggesting I strip—”
“You can change in the bathroom. I won’t peek. Lose the wig. The makeup. You can throw on some street clothes if you like or wear nothing at all. I would like to see you naked. Can’t deny that fact.”
Her jaw hardened, but it was because she was trying to suppress a smile, not because she looked angry. “All right, but only to prove you wrong.”
“Then we’re having second dinner,” he said. In his hotel suite. But he’d give her that detail after he proved her wrong. “What do you like to eat?”
“I’m a vegetarian,” she said. “So no meat.”
He had some meat she was sure to enjoy, but again, he withheld his inappropriate comment. “Strict vegan or lacto-ovo?” he asked, but not because he wanted to impress her with his SoCal knowledge of the different forms of vegetarianism. Unless it worked. Then that was totally what he was doing.
“I eat the occasional egg, and I love cheese and yogurt. I just avoid meat. All meat.”
Well, that didn’t bode well for the meat in his pants.
“Will you hurl if I eat a steak in front of you?” He’d once gone to dinner with a staunch vegan who’d done exactly that. She also tried to change him to her ways with drawn-out speeches about ethics, and yeah, that never worked with him.
“No, it’s fine. Just like with drinking alcohol, it’s your body—put whatever you want into it.”
He simply could not ignore that opening. “And if all I can think about is putting something in your body?” His tongue, fingers . . . dick.
“You should probably keep those thoughts to yourself.”
She went to a suitcase that was lying open across one of the two double beds and scooped clothes into her arms before hurrying to the bathroom. She met his eyes just before she closed the door, and he held her gaze and his breath until she was no longer in sight.
He blew out that breath, staring at the ceiling for a moment to center himself, and then sat on the bed. He grabbed a menu from near the phone and called for room service. The kitchen was happy to accommodate his every request, which was what he was used to. They had no problem agreeing to deliver the food to his room down the hall.
The connecting door opened, and Raven peeked into the room. “I knew I didn’t hear enough moaning and rhythmic thumping from in here. Did she bail on you?”
“She’s changing into something a bit more comfortable.”
Raven grinned. “According to her, a suit of armor is more comfortable than that corset.”
He smirked. “I personally prefer the corset.”
“Roux’s a bit of a stiff until you get to know her.”
“I hadn’t noticed.”
“Liar.” At a thud from the bathroom, Raven stepped back into the adjoining suite. “Be good to her, even if it’s just for tonight. Be good to her.”
Before he could respond, the bathroom door opened, and the connecting door shut behind Raven. Steve was almost afraid to look at Roux. Makeup could completely transform a woman’s looks. What if Roux was a warty green toad under that makeup? What if that corset had been responsible for her amazing figure? He decided it didn’t matter. He wasn’t always attracted first by a woman’s looks; sometimes he was turned on by something else about her. Her smile, her voice, a nervous habit, her personality. That sexy dip above a collarbone. A scar, a stray freckle. Hell, there were thousands of things that made a woman beautiful to him. If Roux didn’t look as gorgeous as he expected, he’d just focus on the parts of her he was attracted to. Which was pretty much every part.
He turned to face her, and the earth stopped spinning as he held himself suspended in that first glimpse. Her natural hair was shoulder-length and a burnished coppery red. Light danced upon the strands in shimmers. Her pale skin wasn’t flawless—no warts, thank God—but pale freckles spotted the bridge of her nose and smooth cheeks. Her lips, now a light, natural pink instead of jet black, parted slightly as she licked them. His searching gaze hadn’t even made it as far as her eyes, but he knew he was a goner.
Her pretty lips twisted into a wry smile. “Why do you make me feel naked no matter what I’m wearing?”
His quick downward glance took in a baggy gray sweatshirt that did her figure no favors and the delicious curve of her hip undisguised by a pair of distressed skinny jeans. Her bare toes with black-painted nails wiggled under his scrutiny. And then he forced his gaze to meet hers. Those eyes of hers were the same—rock star disguise or no—and he felt dizzy as the earth whirled back into motion beneath him.
“Because I see you,” he said. “I don’t just notice or look. I see.”
Her slightly trembling hand tucked a lock of her hair behind one ear. “So that’s why I’m so nervous all of a sudden,” she said a bit breathlessly, not realizing her admission allowed him to see even deeper. And as much as he wanted to taste her lips, her skin, and the heat between her legs, he didn’t want to give her any excuse to put up barriers.
“I ordered room service. It should be delivered in a few minutes.”
She smiled. “Good. I’m actually starving now that I’m thinking about food.”
“We’d better go, then.”
Her smooth brow crinkled as she drew her eyebrows together. “Go? We’ll need to be here when the food arrives.”
“It’s being delivered to my room down the hall.”
“Ah, so there’s your move. I was wondering when you’d make it.”
He lifted both hands, pleading his not-so-innocence. “We won’t do anything you don’t want to do. I’m not that kind of guy.”
She grinned. “You just plan to be so charming, I can’t resist you, is that it?”
“Something like that.”
“Good luck, Aimes.”
She headed for the door in self-assured strides, and if her gentle beauty hadn’t already completely undone him, that confident walk of hers would have.
“Just so you know,” she said as she opened the door and waited for him to pass her and go into the hall, “I am the epitome of self-control.”
“Is that so?” He stopped beside her and placed a hand on her lower back.
At his touch, her breath came out in a trembling rush, but she nodded.
“We’ll just have to see about that,” he said close to her ear, coaxing her bare feet—which seemed to have rooted themselves to the carpet—forward.
She stood straighter as she moved into the corridor, but without those killer boots of hers, she barely reached his shoulder. He promised himself he wouldn’t make a move on her. He would not be to blame when she tossed self-control out the window and embraced the complete lack of control that Steve typically preferred.
“Which way?” she asked, peering down the empty hall in both directions.
