I tried not to feel disappointment and rolled the other way.
As I hastily dressed, I informed him, “I’m stealing your tee since you messed up my blouse.”
“I’ll buy you a new one,” he said from the bed.
“Don’t bother,” I muttered, then felt it important to note, “And I’m not stealing your tee because it’s yours.”
It was his turn to mutter and when he did, he muttered, “Right.”
“I’m not,” I declared, zipping up my skirt.
“I believe you, lady,” he stated like he absolutely did not.
I decided to let that go and get out of there.
Sandals in hand, I moved to his jeans on the floor and yanked out my phone before I moved to my purse in his easy chair. I grabbed it and walked to the door barefoot.
I did this intent on leaving, intent on not looking at him. Just as, when he left me, he didn’t look at me.
So intent, I didn’t think when he called my name when I was at the door, and I looked at him.
He was lying na**d across the bed, up on an elbow, head in his hand, eyes on me, looking so amazing I had absolutely no idea how I didn’t throw my stuff aside, rush across the room, take a flying leap and join him.
“See you tonight,” he stated. My head jerked because I was focused on my thoughts, so his words came as a surprise.
“What?” I asked.
“See you tonight,” he repeated.
I finally got it together and therefore was able to lie. “I’m busy tonight.”
He didn’t say anything.
“So I won’t see you,” I went on.
“You’ll see me,” he declared and my eyes narrowed on him.
“Hop—”
“Tack’s comin’ down the mountain, lady. You wanna be gone before he gets here or any boys around get up, you better haul ass,” he advised.
Damn!
“Careful of High,” Hop went on. “He’s curious so he’s gonna be lurking.”
Double damn!
“You sure you don’t want me to take you to your car?” he asked.
“I don’t want anything from you,” I answered.
He grinned.
I glared.
This went on for some time before he prompted, “Babe, you don’t want anything from me, why are you standing in my room staring at me?”
Gah!
“I’m not staring, I’m glaring,” I countered.
“What you’re doin’ is hangin’ on to an argument that’s long since over ’cause you don’t wanna leave me,” he shot back.
God.
I gave him one last glare, opened the door and shot through it.
I didn’t slam it.
I walked as quietly as I could through the Compound, calling a taxi service while I made my way to the door. I then walked as quickly as I could through the forecourt of Ride while I ordered my taxi. Last, I sat on the bench of a bus stop a block away to wait for my taxi and, while I waited, I put my sandals on my now filthy feet.
And I did all this not thinking that I was looking forward to seeing Hop that night.
No, I wasn’t thinking that.
Definitely not thinking that.
Absolutely not.
Even though I was.
Damn.
Chapter Five
Whatever
I was in my office at work.
I had taken the morning to fight back the overwhelming craving the promise of seeing Hop that night caused, created a plan to avoid him and put it in action.
Therefore, I had not hung at home or at Tyra’s, went out to get a pedicure, or done anything I normally did on a Saturday.
I had bought a big sub, a bag of chips, a six pack of diet cherry 7Up and a huge chocolate chip cookie, and went to my office in downtown Denver. I picked my office as shelter from the storm because I had a strict rule that I didn’t work weekends. My weeknights might end at nine, ten, even ten–thirty, but my weekends were my own so no one would think I’d be there. I also picked my office because it had a good security system, the kind where you could arm the door but move around the offices without tripping it.
In other words, no one could breach my sanctuary without me knowing it.
I had also packed a bag and made a reservation at Hotel Monaco for two nights. I’d always wanted to stay there even though it was located in the same city where I lived. I often thought of booking a weekend, getting away, doing nothing but being in a cool hotel in the heart of a beautiful city and just vegging. I’d just never found the time.
To escape Hop, I decided now was the time.
So my overnight bag was on the floor beside the couch in my office and I was seeing the silver lining of the situation.
I was getting my shot at Hotel Monaco and I’d been at the office for five hours. Five hours without the phone ringing, emails coming through, or any of my ten employees walking into my office. This meant I got to do things I never did, like clean up my email inbox, tidy my desk, organize my files and concentrate on work without distractions. This also meant I did ten hours of work in that five hours and not only would I hit my organized desk on Monday, I’d do it ahead of the game.
I thought this was fabulous. The first hint of fabulousness I’d had in weeks.
No, months.
No, years.
And this was the thought I was having when I heard the warning beep of the security system that said the door was opened and you had a minute to put in the code or the call was going to Dispatch.
My body jerked, my eyes went to the wall of windows that looked into the interior office, and my mouth dropped open.
Hop, in deliciously faded jeans, his black motorcycle boots, his black leather cut with his hair falling appealingly in his face, and his jaw not shaved since that morning, was just inside my office. He was carrying a white plastic bag that looked like it held Chinese food containers.
He was also with a Native American man who had his gorgeous, glossy black hair pulled back in a ponytail at his nape. The guy was standing at my beeping security console.
Without me telling them to do so, my feet pushed back my chair, my body straightened from it and, woodenly, I walked across my office to come to a halt just inside the door.
Hop watched me do this. When I stopped, he called casually, “Hey, babe.”
I stared at him, then my eyes drifted to the Native American guy who was working at the wires he’d pulled out of my console. The beeping stopped. He twisted his neck and took me in then aimed a slow, shit-eating, unbelievably sexy grin at me.
A shiver shook me from top-to-toe; his grin was that good. Not to mention, he was shockingly handsome. He also had a very wide, gleaming gold wedding band on his finger, beaming so bright against his luscious brown skin, I could see it from across the interior office.