Page 13 of A Mustang River Christmas

This was like something new. Something entirely different to what he had experienced before in his life.

This was like a baptism.

He had been a regular delinquent kid back before Melinda had gotten pregnant. Hadn’t thought much about his different sexual partners.

Then he’d had to. Had been in a committed relationship for a while. And when he had been lost in the throes of addiction and self-destruction, his body was something he was actively trying to destroy. Which meant sex had become just part of the pursuit of oblivion. It was why he had cut himself off from it, like he had anything else he’d been using as a crutch.

And it was a relief, a damned relief, to discover that it didn’t feel like it had then.

No. This was good. All good.

And he didn’t want oblivion. He wanted her.

He pushed his fingers through her hair, held her face as he consumed her. She whimpered, and he felt her body go limp. She moved closer to him, arching her back against him, pressing her breasts against his chest, and he released one hand from her face and wrapped it around her waist so that he could hold her closer. It was such a luxury. Feeling a woman’s body against his.

And not just any woman.

Laney.

He had been lusting after her for months. Like a part of him that had been dormant for so long had suddenly woken up.

And goddamn, had it woken up.

He was filled with need. Desire. The outrageous, driving force of it enough to send him to another planet.

She gripped the front of his shirt, pulled him all that much closer.

When they parted, she was panting hard. “I have a... I have a room here. And a key. I... We can go upstairs.”

“Yes, Chef,” he said.

He wasn’t going to argue.

Not even a little.

There was nobody back in the kitchen now, and the lobby was clear, but of course this was a hotel, which meant there were patrons walking around at all hours, and there was a good chance they would be spotted heading up the stairs, a good chance it would be obvious what they were about to do.

But Pike was a man who didn’t do a damn thing he couldn’t stand ten toes down on. Not anymore.

Radical honesty was the order of the day.

So, if somebody saw, that was just fine.

There were things he might prefer to not have broadcast out to the public, but he was not going to lie.

He took her hand, and they bypassed the elevators. She took him up a staircase, to the first floor of guest rooms.

“I’m lucky, I have one near the stairs so that I can get up and down to the kitchen without hassling with the elevator,” she whispered.

Her room was also just a couple doors down. She tapped a key card on the door, and opened it, revealing a beautiful studio space. There was a couch, a desk and a bed, all in one spot. Of course, she didn’t need a kitchen. She had one.

She slammed the door shut behind them and flipped the deadbolt over, ensuring they were locked in there.

Suddenly, she looked nervous, which didn’t seem normal for Laney.

“I haven’t done this in a minute,” she said, blowing out a shaking breath.

He chuckled, because what else could he do. “How long?”