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Her mouth flowered open beneath his, and he felt her sigh against him.
Something about this woman brought out the beast in him, the one he had to hide, to lock up tight so it never ever threatened his father’s white-picket-fence world. When Tasha was close, the beast ripped open the cage and took over. It felt so fucking good.
He took her hand and started for the elevator. She was here. She’d kissed him like she needed him to breathe. As far as he was concerned, they were going to pick right up where they left off.
“Dare.” Tasha sounded out of breath.
He turned as they reached the bank of elevators. “Did you come back because you want to spend time with me? Because you want more of what we had the other night?”
Her chin came up in a sweetly stubborn expression as though she knew he was pushing her and wouldn’t back down. “Yes.”
“Then come with me. You walked out on me without a good-bye, and we’re going to discuss that upstairs.”
Her eyes flared as though she knew what that “talk” would involve. “I left a note.”
The doors came open, and he marched her inside, waving his key card since this was a private elevator that only went to the upper floors.
A couple started to follow them.
“No.” Dare wasn’t going to share an elevator with anyone.
There must have been something in his expression because those doors closed without a single argument.
“Sir is impatient today.”
Oh, there was that brat he craved. She had a saucy smile on her face that he was going to spank right off.
“Sir is annoyed that you left him. You could have woken me up. You could have left me your number. I would have taken you home, Tasha. You didn’t need to call your cousin.”
She frowned at him, and he couldn’t help but love how full her bottom lip was. “How did you know Kara picked me up?”
“It wasn’t just Kara. Who was the guy, Tasha?” He didn’t like the jealousy creeping into his tone.
That saucy expression softened. “He’s an American friend of Kara’s. He’s doing a semester abroad. He’s a nice guy, but I’m not exactly his type. There’s a reason he was out with three women having brunch, and he’s not dating any of them.”
He was glad to hear there wasn’t a love interest hanging around.
“So now that we’ve settled that I didn’t run off with another man, I think we should talk,” Tasha began.
The elevator doors opened, and he didn’t want to talk. Not here. He wasn’t going to take her back downstairs for a civilized lunch where they discussed the parameters of their probably short relationship. The thought turned his stomach. But other thoughts…
He leaned over and shoved one strong arm under her knees and hauled her up to his chest. He was letting his caveman side out a little today, and damn, but it felt good. On this floor there were only four suites and the hall was empty.
“Dare, what are you doing?” Tasha had thrown her arms around his neck. “I came here to talk to you.”
He managed to make it to his door and set her on her feet because he needed the key card. “Did you? You put on that dress to talk?”
A brow rose over her dark eyes. “I put on the dress because it’s pretty and I feel confident in it.”
Damn it. She brought out all kinds of instincts in him, and he knew it was better to bury them all. He was being an ass. He took a long breath and prepared to apologize.
Her head shook, and she got into his space. “I’m sorry. I did put it on because I kind of hoped you would take one look at me and decide to give it another chance. What is this, Dare? Is this another chance or some revenge?”
He was confused. He let his hands find her shoulders because she wasn’t pushing him away. “Why would I want revenge, sweetness? We didn’t have a contract. We didn’t say anything at all about what would happen the next morning. I had my feelings hurt because I thought that night meant something that maybe it didn’t to you. When you showed back up…”
“You read the room, Dare.” Her hands came up to frame his face, stroking his cheeks. “I walked out because that night was everything to me and I was overwhelmed. I wanted to avoid the whole ‘it was nice to know you, see you later’ thing. I screwed up. When Kara told me she’d seen you, I knew I had to talk to you again, but maybe we communicate best like this.”
She went on her toes and pressed her lips to his, and the beast came fully off the leash.
He managed to get the door open, to get her inside, and then she was pulling at the hem of his dress shirt. He heard the door close behind them as he pressed the straps of her dress down. He turned her and pushed her up against the wall, catching her wrists with one of his. He let his nose run along the curve of her neck, reveling in the scent of lavender and the stirrings of her arousal.
