Page 15 of After-Hours Heir

Her heart was pounding hard, anxiety ripping through her body, creating a sharp feeling at the center of her breastbone, making her stomach feel sick.

She was very used to anxiety.

Excitement?

Yes. Maybe it was just excitement. Something she was far less familiar with. Something she wanted more of. God. She wanted more of it. She wanted ecstasy. She wanted… She wanted to feel special. She wanted to feel wanted. She was so lonely.

She hadn’t really let herself focus on how lonely she was until just this moment.

She craved another person’s hands on her. It did matter that they were meeting. It was okay that it was anonymous. She just wanted him to touch her.

She wanted him so much.

She nearly tumbled out of the cab after she paid when it pulled up to the curb, and she all but raced inside the hotel. She paused at the front desk. “I’m meant to be in room 807.”

She also had no idea how that was going to work, because he must’ve given the hotel his name, but not hers, because he didn’t have it.

The employee did not seem put off by this. “Of course. Here you are.”

He handed her a key.

So he had arranged this. Perfectly.

He must be a man with money. That surprised her. She hadn’t thought of him being…

She made a decent salary, but she had sacrificed quite a bit of it in the interest of trying to reinvigorate the company. It was why she lived so modestly.

Granted, she lived in New York, so modest was on a sliding scale, but she would have to think twice before throwing money down for a room like this. And after thinking twice would have to come to the conclusion that she couldn’t afford it.

But the service that she had gotten, the way she hadn’t been questioned…

He had left a specific set of instructions, and they had been followed.

She got into the elevator and touched her key to the panel inside. It began to take her up to the top floor.

She swallowed hard, unsure of what she would find when she got there. Except him.

You want this. You want this.

She said that to herself as she made her way out of the elevator and down the hallway. There were very few rooms on this floor.

She touched her key to the door and pushed it open. Her mouth was dry, her heart thundering. She let the door close behind her.

“Hello?”

She walked deeper into the space, holding her hands out, trying not to fall.

“I’m here.”

And suddenly, a hand reached from somewhere in the darkness and took hold of her arm. Pulled her close. “I’ve been waiting.”

A thrill shot down her spine. His voice was deep. He was speaking in a near whisper and softening it, but she could still tell that it was a low rumble.

There was something that itched at the back of her brain, but anything that had been in her brain suddenly evaporated, because he was, very suddenly, claiming her mouth. It was real. This was real, and so was he.

He was kissing her with a heat and fire that she had never experienced before. The fumbles that she’d engaged in in college had been tepid enough that she had not been tempted to pursue anything more, but this—it was a whole inferno. And she was desperate. For everything.

It was entirely dark, and she had no idea how he navigated them through the space. Perhaps it was the magic of him having been here longer than her. His eyes were maybe accustomed to the dimness, but certainly not enough to be able to see details.