Page 68 of Wicked Heat

“Bree.”

My name is barely a whisper, but it sends sparks dancing over my body, his whisper of my name even more intense than my touch.

He cups his hand over mine, his fingers curling over to stroke my clit, and I groan. I’m so close. So very close, and I want to explode like this. His hand on mine as we careen down this highway, the power of this car humming all around us.

Instead, he gently pulls my hand away, then tugs down my skirt. “Top up,” he says.

“Ash, I⁠—”

He just points, and I maneuver the seat so that I’m sitting upright again. That’s when I realize that the sun has already slipped behind the horizon, and we’re pulling in front of the valet stand at the Stark Century Hotel & Casino.

“Ash! What the hell?” I’m beyond mortified, certain that every valet who works there and every person standing nearby had just gotten and up-close-and-personal view of me with my top down and my skirt up.

“My property,” he says, and all my warm fuzzy feelings turn to ice.

“That didn’t mean—” But I cut off my words as a valet opens the door and offers me a hand to help me out. I take it, then search the valet’s face for a smirk or a leer. Nothing. Which means he wasn’t paying attention or he’s very well-trained.

Since it’s a Stark hotel, I assume the latter.

But none of the guests mingling nearby are smirking either.

I’m not mollified, though.

Over the car, I see Ash say something to the valet before he circles the car to slide up beside me. As he hooks an arm around my shoulder, I elbow him in the side and step out of his embrace.

He just laughs.

“It isn’t funny,” I say, whipping around to face him, only to find him indicating the car, where I see the valet slide into the passenger side and close the door.

I frown. When do valets enter on the passenger side?

I scowl, trying to peer through the glass to see what he could possibly be doing, but I can’t see a thing through the window tint. I turn to Ash, intending to ask what the valet is doing and what we’re waiting for when the reality hits me with the force of a slap.

We’re waiting for me to get a clue.

Ash wasn’t exposing me to the world. The world couldn’t see me.

The fear that maybe they had, though....

Some deep and buried part of me has to admit to feeling a little bit of a thrill from being on display.

I don’t, however, have to admit it to Ash.

Twenty-One

Considering Ash’s father owns the hotel, it’s no surprise when we bypass the front desk and go directly to the elevators. As we cross the lobby, I see a few people turning to gape, some even lifting their phones, presumably to take video or pics of Ash, just as they do when Damien is out in public. Soon, I know, the fact that he’s here in Vegas will be all over the internet.

I glance at him, but he’s as cool about the attention as his father always is. I’m not surprised. He’d garnered his own fame early on as a race car driver, so he was already used to it before that fame had multiplied exponentially when his relationship to Damien hit the press.

I, however, am not used to it at all, and I move even closer to him, relaxing only when the elevator doors close. As soon as they do, Ash punches in the code for the penthouse suite, then backs me into a corner, his arms and body blocking me in. Not that I want to move. Right there in the protection of his arms is exactly where I want to be.

Even so, I gasp as he tugs the top of my dress down, freeing my breasts. He bends over, laving his tongue over my hard nipple. “Ash, no.” I’m amazed I can get the words out. I’m so turned on I can barely think, my body all ice and fire and need.

“Any time, any place.” His fingertips replace his tongue, and as they tease my nipples, his eyes hold mine. “That was the deal.”

“Cameras,” I say, ashamed that the word is only for form. I’m still tingling from the drive, my body craving his. I don’t know what he’s turned me into, but right then I don’t care what kind of a show we’re putting on.

“Breaking our deal?” The whispered question tickles my ears as his hand slides up my thigh, taking the skirt with it. I’m going to be fully exposed soon, blocked only from the few angles where his body shields mine.