“I’m sure we’re fine,” I said, still somewhat breathless. “My cycle is regular, and I should have Aunt Flo on Monday. That’s probably why I’m so frisky right now. Hormones and whatnot.”
He grinned up at me. “I thought I was the one who made you feel this way.”
“You are.” I rolled to the side so I could open both of our robes fully. I rested back down with my body touching his from chest to toe. I rocked my hips, pressing against his hard cock, nestled between our bodies. “I want some more.”
He said, “Grab a condom, you insatiable mermaid.”
“I will this time, but we need more convenient birth control soon.”
He blinked up at me. “I’ve been tested for everything, in preparation for marriage.”
“Me, too, a while back. And I usually play safe, this evening the surprising exception.”
He slipped his hands around to my bu**ocks and squeezed the flesh. “How am I still so hard, despite this unsexy conversation?”
“You’re my stud-pony, my Lionheart.”
I scrambled off him and started hunting around for the condoms he’d mentioned. “You’re getting colder,” he said as I hunted around the pile of clothes on the floor. “Warmer,” he said as I stepped back.
We played the hotter-colder kids’ game until I found the pack. I tossed off my robe and climbed up onto the bed, where I pretended to not know where his c**k was. “I roll the condom on here?” I asked as I grabbed first one of his big toes and then the other. We played the hotter-colder game for a while, and I finally found the right appendage, but only after sucking on various body parts.
With the appropriate preparations in place, I climbed on top, straddling him on my knees with my hands on his chest, and we f**ked until I came again, and he did, too.
When we were finished, we cuddled together on the bed and bickered over which one of us was going to get out of bed, cross the room, and turn off the standing lamp.
The last thing I remembered before I fell asleep was him combing his fingers through my hair and saying it was the most beautiful hair in the world. “You should wear it twirled up in a twisty thing for the wedding,” he said.
“A bun? A chignon?”
“Twisty thing,” he repeated sleepily, and he rubbed his fingertips against my scalp. “Such pretty, pretty hair.”
CHAPTER 20
I woke up to the sound of Dalton talking to another man in the adjoining room.
The fancy hotel suite was similar to an apartment, with the bed in its own room with double doors, and the hallway door opening to a living space with sofas and tables. The double doors were only open a crack, but once I was awake, I could hear them clearly.
The man thanked Dalton, then the suite’s door opened and closed. Dishes clinked. The double doors to the bedroom opened and a rolling tray entered. I could smell both bacon and coffee, though everything was covered in gleaming, metal domes.
Dalton wore a pair of blue jeans, and no shirt. His usually-bare chest had the stubble of some hairs I hadn’t noticed before. Sometimes you have to see someone a bunch of times before you see everything.
“I got your mocha,” he said. “They didn’t have Pop Tarts, though, so will blueberry pancakes be nearly as good?”
I sat up, holding the sheet across my br**sts for modesty in the bright morning light. He’d opened the curtains and the room was gleaming with the promise of a mostly sunny day, with just a touch of the famous San Francisco fog over the harbor.
“How did you know about my Pop Tarts?”
“The first night you were staying at my house in LA, you gave me heck for not having Normal People Food.”
“Right.” I climbed out of bed just long enough to grab a T-shirt and panties from my suitcase and slip them on before climbing back into bed. “Your house is really great, by the way. I was impressed. Especially when I came over to get my computer, and you turned on those crazy fans. You were acting so weird.”
“Me?” He lifted the domes off the food. “You were f**king my look-alike. How was that not supposed to make me crazy? And you brought Carter Crow into my house.”
“Keith Raven.”
Scowling, he stood near the foot of the bed, picking at the fruit tray. “That guy wasn’t right for you.”
My stomach pitched uneasily, and I regretted bringing up Keith, especially mentioning his name.
“He’s out of my life now,” I said.
“Was it just physical?”
I held my hands out. “Duh.”
He got a smug look I didn’t like at all, with a twisted grin. “Fair’s fair.”
“What do you mean? Did you hook up with someone, too?”
“Would you have a problem if I did?”
“No, but you might.”
He raised his eyebrow at me, but kept on eating strawberries, standing near the foot of the bed and looking like the devil himself.
I took a deep breath and let out an audible sigh. “I’m a hypocrite. Whatever or whomever you did, so long as it’s in the past and nobody I know, it’s fine.”
He didn’t say anything.
My insides started to hurt. I narrowed my eyes at him, squinting like I had a superpower for reading his mind, and maybe I did, because I knew, without a doubt, that he’d f**ked someone we both knew.
“Who?” I asked.
“It was just physical,” he said.
I grabbed a pillow from beside me and hugged it to my chest. “Who? Just tell me and get it over with. Alexis?”
He stuck his tongue out in disgust. “Ew, no. She’s like a sister to me.”
“Golden?” As I asked, I imagined the two of them f**king in the back of his car after getting milkshakes, and I was filled with murderous rage.
“Of course not. She’s dating your other boyfriend, remember?”
“Yeah.”
“Plus she’s not my type.”
“I know!” I exclaimed, feeling better instantly. “Brooke Summer, that copper-haired reporter skank. You totally boned her. Hah! I hope you broke her heart.”
“Brooke? No, not exactly. By which I mean not at all.” He waggled a finger at me. “Interesting reaction on your part, though.”
He began to pace the room, still shirtless. As I looked at his body and face in motion, I felt a buzz of excitement from Miss Kitty. I didn’t care so much about where he’d been, but about where he was going to be… in the next five minutes.