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We made our way through the party to the steel door that led to the back of the hotel. But we didn’t go outside. Instead, he crowded me beside the door, pressing me into the wall with his pelvis.
This setting was more conducive to the dirty exchange we’d just had at the party. Dark. Intimidating. Full of sexual possibility. I could barely see his face—the light from the exit sign above the door cast a crimson shadow over his skin. But it didn’t diminish the hard line of his jaw, the soft edge of his nose. And it definitely didn’t do anything to mask the erection pressing against my stomach; hard, hot, and throbbing. Exactly how my nipples felt. And how it felt between my legs.
My entire fucking body.
Instead of more promises of getting me off, he swooped down and kissed me. Our lips mingled in perfect synchronization, and if I had my way I’d rip away his clothes right here and now.
But he controlled the pace. He controlled the action. And I was in no mood to push his boundaries. Not tonight. Not when I was so close to getting what I wanted.
Then his phone beeped in his pocket, and he pulled away quickly, ripping his mouth from mine, almost giving me whiplash in the process. He grabbed my hand, sending an electric sensation up my arm, straight to my chest, where it swirled and swayed then burst into a million tiny shivers.
He guided me outside and down the alley, where Ryan Maddox was waiting for us at the next door. He was Max and Ben’s oldest friend and had been given the nickname Fridge in high school for the obvious reason that he was as wide and sturdy as a refrigerator.
Despite being dark outside, the floodlights couldn’t hide the smirk that had spread across Ryan’s face as we approached. How Max had put a man with the mentality of a twelve-year-old as the head of hotel security was beyond me, but I was too dazed to care. Too on edge. My body buzzed with heat, an insatiable desire that I’d been battling for six lonely months.
Ryan lifted his hand and flashed a red key card between two fingers. “It’s all ready for you.”
I wasn’t sure how comfortable I was with Ryan knowing what we were about to do. But anyone at the party could have guessed where the night was headed for us. Ben grabbed the card with one hand, slapping the other on Ryan’s shoulder in appreciation.
When I sidled past him, his eyebrows wiggled at me.
We walked through the back of the hotel, past the public washrooms and the security office—the one section of the hotel that hadn’t been renovated, the walls still a boring taupe color. Quite the contrast to the battle of gray and blue that made up the new lobby.
We rounded the corner and entered the elevator bank, the shaft to the left binged as soon as Ben touched the button. He pulled me inside, guiding me toward the back of the steel box. Mirrors surrounded us on all sides, and for the first time since we’d walked outside he let go of my hand.
The last thing I noticed was him hitting the button for the penthouse, and then he was on me, over me, his hands wrapped around my neck.
“Tell me…” He exhaled against my mouth, his breath a hot, heavy pant filling up the small space. “Tell me everything I do that he doesn’t.”
He was still on the John topic. I thought we had left him at the party.
If Ben wanted to be the only man I thought about, so be it. But in all honestly, he already was. Because sex with Ben was…That’s all I ever thought about, and with the determined look on his face and the animal magnetism emanating off his body, holy shit. I could only imagine what he was going to do to me. I felt like I would combust just thinking about it.
“No one makes me feel the way you do.”
I exhaled softly, more like sighed. Because I was breathless. That’s what he did to me. Always. I’d said these things so many times before. So many lies. All the things men wanted to hear. Needed to hear in order to get off and feel more powerful. Get their cocks hard. Whatever the reason. But I’d never meant it. Not once.
Until now.
Until Ben.
Chapter 12
Ben
I opened the door to the suite with the shrill cricket sound of the keycard in the lock. I motioned Grace ahead of me, very aware of her body brushing against mine on her way in. When the door clicked shut behind us, it felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room.
She wasted no time, walking directly to the bed. She turned and sat facing me, her palms spread out beside her as she watched her hands smooth over the white duvet.
When she looked up, she whispered, “This is going to end badly, isn’t it?” There was an innocence in her eyes, a look I’d never seen before.
I made my way to her, stopping just when my knees touched her legs. I wiped my hand across her forehead, pushing aside her auburn hair. “I can’t see it ending any other way.”
We were going to crash and burn. It was inevitable. It was a guarantee. But there was nothing on this earth right now that could stop me from taking her in my arms. From taking what I wanted. Because the moment that asshole had touched her I’d wanted nothing more than to make her mine. To erase every memory. Every touch. Every visual she’d ever accumulated and replace them all with me. She was too beautiful, too perfect to be nagged by memories of a time when she’d had to do what was necessary to give herself the life she wanted. I admired that, more than anything I admired her drive to make her own future. It was something I’d never learned.
But if I was honest, my overwhelming urge to claim her was less about erasing her past and more about stroking my own insecurities. I’d never known what it was like to be someone’s number one priority—the person they put above all others. I knew I was never going to find someone to love me in that way, so I’d settle for proving to Grace that when it came to sex, I wanted to be the only man she thought of.
I grabbed her hand and
