Her demand unleashed molten lust. His feet tangled with hers as he guided her the final few steps to their room. He could barely process that she’d crossed this line along with him, that their act in the parking lot was as hot for her as it had been for him. He just hoped she didn’t regret it tomorrow. He’d locked down his feelings for her for too long to fight off the hunger even one more time.
“Get the key,” he said, his hands full with the food bag and her breast. He’d be damned if he intended to let go of either. “It’s in my front left pocket.”
She slid her fingers from his pants in a torturously slow glide of her nails that pulled his shirt free. The quick yank sent his wallet tumbling onto the sidewalk. The overstuffed billfold fanned cash along the concrete.
They both bent, heads nearly colliding. He snagged his wallet and she gathered up the bills and—holy crap—three condom packets. He snatched the condoms and she grabbed the cash, folding the money in half and tucking it down the front of her shirt.
“Enough foreplay, Liam.” She plucked the carryout bag from his hands. “Open. The. Door.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He fished in his front pocket until he found the old-fashioned key. Metal. Not plastic. This place was so old and dingy, it didn’t even have key cards. There had to be another way, another place…
“I can see where your mind’s going.” She skimmed her palm up his chest. “Quit thinking, and let’s just get inside.”
He pushed into the room, the need for her ramping up his already adrenaline-saturated body. The two dogs had claimed the double bed farthest from the door. Their ears perked up as he and Rachel stumbled inside, but once the pups seemed to realize they were going to be evicted back to the floor, both closed their eyes again, playing possum.
Good enough for him. He turned back to Rachel.
The door closed. He placed their late-night supper on the table. Food could wait.
Rachel sagged against the closed panel. The room key dropped to the floor. Finesse was gone. He didn’t know the whys of her change of heart, and right now, he frankly didn’t care. He just wanted her. Here. Naked. Then again in the shower. Anywhere he could have her. He hoped like crazy she agreed.
“Now? Really?” he asked.
“Absolutely now.” She grabbed the hem of her T-shirt and tugged upward.
“Let me.”
He swept away her hands and peeled her shirt over her head, easy enough, as she raised her arms to accommodate him. Which happened to put her br**sts within easy reach for touching, licking, sucking until her head writhed against the door. And oh God, she had the all-over honey tone to her skin he’d wondered about. No tan lines. Just pure sweet Rachel, bared for his total and undivided attention.
Her nails scored down his back until her hand came around and grazed the front of his fly. His legs just about buckled underneath him.
Bracing one hand against the door, he stroked her hair away from her face with the other, enjoying the glide of dark strands between his fingers. “When did you decide on taking this step?”
“I thought about it the first time I saw you. And then about a thousand times since then. As for when I decided to act on it? I’m not sure exactly. Maybe somewhere between when you fed the puppy and when you felt me up in the parking lot.” She nibbled along his jaw, her tongue flicking his earlobe. “Some things in life just happen. This was meant to happen.”
“That works for me.”
She stroked the length of him. “Condom? Do you have one?”
“In my wallet, remember? Three of them, I think.” He wished he had more.
“Yes…” She yanked the leather billfold out and open. More cash tumbled to the floor, but thank God, so did three plastic packets.
He grabbed one off the floor and tore it open while she unfastened the button fly of his jeans. The pressure of her hands, her touch even through denim, had him throbbing harder.
The floor vibrated under his feet. Or was it the door? His brain cleared enough to realize someone was pounding from outside.
His reflexes went on alert. He snatched Rachel’s shirt off the back of the chair and passed it to her, pushing her behind him in one fluid movement.
“Police,” a male voice shouted from outside. The fist pounded again. “Open up.”
Biting back a curse, Liam buttoned his pants and reached for his .45 caliber on the table.
“Sir, ma’am?” the voice shouted again. “Open this door now or I’m going to be forced to kick it down.”
Liam tucked his hand behind him, silver handgun in his fist, and opened the door. A burly dude in uniform blocked the doorjamb with his foot and flashed his badge. It looked legit.
Carefully, Liam tucked the gun into his waistband at the small of his back, hidden in the hem of his shirt Rachel had tugged loose seconds earlier. They really didn’t need this kind of attention. But like it or not, this guy wasn’t going to disappear.