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I let out an annoyed sigh, and then immediately apologize. “It’s not your fault, I just… really need to get going.”

“I understand,” she says. “I’m sorry I don’t have better news for you.”

Irritation snaps under my skin, and it only gets worse as I turn around to leave the front desk area and nearly walk right into Tate.

“What do you want?” I snap, trying to push past him.

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Why do you care? Aren’t you supposed to be on Ares’ side in all this? Or are you just messing with me now to get even for him?”

“Brynn, you know what happened with us had nothing to do with that.”

“Do I?”

He frowns and then grabs my arm, towing me down a hall to what looks like a laundry room. He closes the door and then turns to look at me, his eyes intent. It’s the first time I’ve seen him look serious since we met on the plane. No hint of teasing or flirting to be seen.

“Listen to me,” he says. “I didn’t know anything about you and Ares. I don’t know how many different ways I can say that. He never told us your name, and we didn’t ask because it seemed painful for him. What happened between us on that plane was not because of Ares.”

“Then why?” I demand. “Do you just go around hooking up with random women for no reason?”

“There was a reason. I fucked you because you’re the hottest woman I’ve ever met. I was sure we’d never see each other again once we landed, and I didn’t want to let the opportunity pass me by.”

I stare up at him, suddenly breathless. He’s being serious. He really means what he’s saying. As much as I hate to admit it, all the things I thought about him on the plane, all the things that led me to let him fuck me in the bathroom are still there.

Frustrated as I am, the tension is different now, and with so many things out of my control, when the tension between us snaps, I give in and let it.

9

BRYNN

Tate’s mouth is so hot on mine, and he kisses just like I remember. It hasn’t been that long since the last time we were like this, but part of me wondered if the heat and urgency was spurred on by the location.

And, okay. I can admit that I was hoping it was. Maybe if he was less hot when we weren’t in an airplane bathroom, it would be easier to stop thinking about him and how good it was the last time we did this.

But here in this tiny inn, he’s just as fucking hot.

His mouth is just as insistent and soft, and he kisses the same way. Like he wants to devour me. He presses me against the wall, and his hands roam over my body. He doesn’t seem to care that I’m wearing a sweater and jeans. He touches me the same way he would if I wasn’t wearing anything, and that goes right to my head. And places lower down.

When he grinds forward against me, I suck in a sharp breath, my body immediately flaring with need.

The kiss turns messy as he presses his tongue into my mouth, and I let mine twine with his, returning the energy of the kiss and sinking into the feeling of passion.

“How do you do this to me?” Tate pants against my mouth. “Fuck, you’re so hot. Do you have any idea how much I want you?”

I shake my head, too overcome in the moment to make words come out of my mouth.

Tate’s eyes flash with heat. He grinds forward against me again, letting me feel the hard, thick bulge of his cock in his pants. “So fucking bad,” he murmurs. “I need you right now.”

I should tell him no. I should go back upstairs and resolve to keep my distance from this man. But my body doesn’t want that. My body wants him closer, wants him buried deep inside me the way he was before. It wants to feel him again, fucking into me hard and fast, chasing every other thought out of my head.

I open my mouth, and instead of telling him no, all that comes out is, “Please.”

“Please what?” Tate asks. “Tell me what you want.”

“Fuck me,” I pant, not caring in the moment how desperate that sounds. “Please fuck me. I want to feel you. I need it.”

He chuckles, a low, throaty sound. “Right here?” he says, glancing around at the laundry room. It’s small, really more of a large closet stuffed with stacked washers and dryers. There’s a table against one wall, and other than that, not much else to see. If someone were to come in to do a load of sheets or something, they would immediately see what we’re up to in here.