“Yes, hot stranger in a bar. But in a good way.”
I can’t suppress a smile. “You keep calling me a hot stranger. You have no idea what that does to me, Duchess.”
A slow, coy smile spreads across her face. “Maybe the same thing as when you call me Duchess.”
“Maybe there’s a fantasy I could help you live out.”
“I have no doubt you could.”
I run my fingers through her hair until my hand reaches the back of her neck. My thumb massages the soft skin there. Her shoulders drop an inch.
Her resistance slips away, and that hazy look returns to her eyes. “I’ll make you a deal. Come next door with me, and let me kiss you some more. You can overthink or laugh or whatever.” I lean close so my next thought is just a whisper in her ear. “Or just let me fuck every thought from your head so you stop torturing yourself.”
I plant a kiss on the skin beneath her ear and trail my lips across her cheeks until I get back to her mouth. This kiss isn’t hinting or soft. It’s deep and intentional, claiming her as mine, at least for tonight.
When we break the kiss, she’s already nodding.
“Yeah. Um, yeah. Yes. Please.”
CHAPTER 6
Tessa
It’s notthe first time I’ve followed a guy back to his place for a hookup, but it’s been a long time—Hannah’s wedding half a dozen years back, to be exact—and somehow this feels different. Much, much hotter.
Fitz puts an arm around me like we’ve known each other longer than twenty minutes. If someone saw us, we’d probably look like a cute couple, him leaning down to whisper into my ear and me giggling at the soft brush of his beard against my cheek.
But I have no illusions about what we are as he leads me into the building next door, which is a gym or some sort of workout space, based on the array of machines and equipment set up on black mats across the floor.
After escorting me to the restroom, he guides me carefully, making sure I don't bump my knees or shins on the hulking weight sets as we move through the room to a back stairway.
In the narrow stairwell, we half climb, half kiss and stumble to a second-floor landing. There are two doors, and he opens oneand flips a light switch. The room illuminates in a warm, pale yellow, like candlelight, just enough for us to see each other.
Fitz leads me inside the space, where a queen-sized mattress takes up most of the space. No bed frame, but at least the bed is made, and the blue quilt on top looks clean.
“What is this place?” I ask, fearing that it really is some sort of psycho’s lair. Or a really convenient place for the town playboy to have sex with ladies he meets next door without catching a chill on the walk from the restaurant. But this is California. It doesn’t get that frosty.
“It's an office,” he says, the smirk settling in as he watches me take in the minimalism.
“You have a bed in your office?”
“I didn't say it was my office.” He closes the door behind him and moves closer to me. The clean, masculine scent of him overwhelms my senses, and reminds me that I don’t give a crap why this room is here. It’s my birthday, and I want his greatest hits.
“Whatever, it’s perfect.” I throw my arms around his neck, and his lips are again on mine, exploring and tasting, then devouring. Conversation over.
Everything except the sight and feel of this man falls away.
While our tongues search and tangle, he loops his arms behind my back and walks me slowly, carefully, three steps back until my knees hit the bed. I surrender to the cool, cotton comfort and slide upward until my head is on the pillow.
He follows my lead, moving over me, never breaking the white-hot intensity of a kiss that I feel deep in my bones.
My hands find the hem of his denim shirt, working it up until he rises onto his knees and yanks it over his head from the back of the collar. So. Damn. Hot.
I take a moment to admire the pecs and abs I could feel through the fabric of his shirt, but seeing the hard planes ofmuscle under his taut, tanned skin makes me suck in a breath like it’s my last chance at air.
Kneeling at the foot of the bed, he surveys me and smiles, but he doesn’t move.
“What?” I say, pushing up onto my elbows.
