Head Over Heels (21 page)

Kari shoved the box in her bag. “This is crazy. I’ll go there to talk to him. That’s it. We’ll talk.”

Reagan nodded. “Whatever happens, happens.”

Kari hugged Reagan before leaving. She hoped Thane still wanted her like he’d seemed to only moments ago.

As soon as the elevator doors opened at the lobby, Kari darted out like a racehorse.

“Ms. Meyers.”

She wanted to act like she didn’t hear the guy behind the registration desk, but she couldn’t ignore him. Kari attempted to smile but felt her mouth go tight.

“Yes?” she asked quickly.

“There’s a message for you.” He handed her a small envelope.

“Um, thank you.” She accepted it tentatively.

Since she refused to answer Frank or Chelsi’s calls, she had a feeling they resorted to leaving her notes at the front desk. She opened it and simply saw
234
. She had to go get this man.

She sped over to Thane’s hotel and parked close to his Lexus. When she got inside, a night security guard stopped her. Where was this guy when the lobby had been filled with reporters? Maybe the hotel had hired him because of that incident.

“Room key, please.” He stared at her in a way that would probably crumble a lot of people.

Kari had stared into the faces of tough MMA fighters and boxers and never flinched. “I don’t have a room. I’m here to see a guest.”

“Who?”

“That’s none of your business. I know where his room is.” She attempted to go around him, but the beefy guard blocked her path.

“No key. No admittance.”

It shocked her that this muscle-bound wall knew such a big word. She went into her purse and pulled out her phone. She hit one key to dial Thane’s number.

“Hey.” Even over the phone, he sounded sexy.

“I’m in the lobby.” Kari kept her stare on the guard.

“Come on up.”

“Can’t. This guard said, wait, what was that again? No key. No admittance?”

“Hold on.” A pause lingered.

Kari heard a phone ringing behind the front desk. She kept her attention on the clerk who answered it. He glanced at Kari and the guard. When he hung up the phone, he took no time in running over to her.

“Excuse me, Ms. Meyers. I apologize for delaying your visit.” The young man split his attention between her and the guard, who didn’t look happy to have his authority usurped. “Right this way.”

Kari listened in on her phone. “Thane?”

“Are you on your way?” he asked.

“Yes. Getting escorted to the elevator.”

“Good. See you in a bit.”

The clerk called the elevator for her and hit the button for Thane’s floor. “If there’s anything you need, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Thank you. I think we’ll be fine.” She wished she could convince her knees of that. Since calling Thane, they hadn’t stopped knocking together.

When the car stopped on his floor, she took a deep breath before stepping out. She strolled down the hallway, the same one she had walked down when she helped him get to his room.

She almost expected to see Thane standing outside his room waiting for her. When she got to his door, she knocked and waited. After a moment, he opened it.

Thane had removed his shoes and socks, and taken off his jacket and sweater. He stood in bare feet wearing a T-shirt and jeans.

“Come in.” He stood off to the side to allow her to pass.

Kari tried to look confident as she walked inside. She figured the way she wrung the strap on her purse betrayed her cool front.

“Would you like something to drink?” he asked from behind her.

She shook her head, unable, or rather unwilling, to speak.

“Are you hungry?”

Kari turned to him. “No.”

Thane slipped the purse strap from her shoulder and placed her bag on the dining room table. Then he eased his hands over her shoulders to remove her jacket. With it off, she only had on a long maxi dress and her Keds, not sexy at all. The way Thane stared at her, it looked like he viewed her in a sexy corset and thong panties.

“I don’t know what I’m doing here.” She whispered the words.

“No pressure.” Thane shook his head. “We don’t have to do anything.”

His normally bright blue eyes darkened as he spoke.

“I haven’t done this in a long time.”

He stopped moving as he looked at her. “Seriously?”

She nodded. “I dated a guy a few years ago. I never introduced him to Michael. We did it a couple of times and that was it. I was content to remain single until Michael graduated from college.”

“And now?”

She stared into his eyes. “I’m scared. I don’t do fear very well.”

He lowered his head and brushed his lips over hers, slow at first, never putting his full pressure on her. Kari felt the motion seemed fitting for what he’d said to her. No pressure. He didn’t want to push her to do anything she didn’t want.

Kari’s breathing increased. She backed away from him. “I think I need to sit down.”

“Are you okay?” He helped her to the sofa.

“It’s all a bit too much to take.” She stared at her purse sitting on the dining room table.

Kari had condoms inside in preparation of bedding this man. When the fantasy started to come into focus as reality, it hit her hard.

As she looked at him, the same hot feelings she felt earlier flooded her body. She stroked the side of his face. “I do want you.” With that admission, the heaviness escaped the room. Kari could take in a deep breath.

“Let me take care of you.” Thane spoke like a man who knew what to do with his woman. He held up his index finger. “Rule number one. I only want to hear you say one word. Yes.”

“But I—”

He put his finger over her lips. “Say yes.”

He kissed her cheek and dragged his lips down to her neck while he caressed her face. Shivers ran up and down her spine as he sucked on the sensitive flesh.

“Yes,” she moaned.

He moved down to her clavicle as he made his way over to the other side of her neck where he licked that area.

“Mmm, yes.” Kari wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders, letting him lave her neck area until her body trembled.

Thane pulled back from her and stood. When Kari started to stand, he surprised her by picking her up in his arms and carrying her to his bedroom.

“Yes.” She held on to his shoulders until he placed her down next to the bed, and even then, she didn’t let him go.

Thane swept his lips over hers and this time, he introduced his tongue, brushing it over her bottom lip and darting it into her mouth. As he teased her with it, Kari only wanted more. She moved in closer.

At that point, she realized that he had pulled up her dress, gathering it in his hands that he rested on her hips. With the dress around her waist, he slipped his index fingers into her panties and pulled them down, but only halfway so that they now rested in the middle of her cheeks.

She reached down to push her panties down all the way.

“No. Leave them right there.” Thane released her dress on one side.

He used his other hand to grip her ass cheek.

“It feels weird to have them down only part way. Let me—”

“Say yes.” He wrapped his free arm around her waist and pulled her against his body. “Say it.”

Kari loved feeling his hard body brushing hers. “Yes.”

A knock sounded on the door, which sobered her to their situation. She backed away from him like a teenager caught with a boy in her room.

Thane gave her a quick peck before he lowered her dress. “Don’t pull your panties up, and don’t push them down. Leave them right where they are.”

She opened her mouth to argue with him, remind him that she had a few years on him and had a child. Instead, she simply said, “Yes.”

He went to the door, leaving Kari in his darkened bedroom. She could hear him talking to someone. In the meantime, she scanned the room. It hit her that she hadn’t brought her purse. She would need the condoms inside.

As she started to leave the room, she met Thane.

“Where are you going?” He carried a tray of strawberries with a bowl of frothy whipped cream and another bowl of grapes.

“I need something in my purse.” She pointed behind him.

He set the tray on a dresser and turned to her. He shook his head. “You don’t need anything right now. Let me take care of you.” He kissed the side of her face. “Say yes.”

She nodded, feeling the sandpaper grit on his cheek.

“I took the liberty of ordering some food.” He nodded back toward the tray.

“I’m not hungry.”

Thane removed his T-shirt and smiled. “You might work up an appetite later.”

He faced her. Kari approached him and reached for his jeans. He arrested her hands and eased her back toward the bed. Before allowing her to sit on it, he pulled her dress over her head and tossed it aside.

Kari didn’t care where it landed. She stood in front of the sexy Thane Wells wearing a plain white cotton bra, matching white panties, and Keds. She should have worn her sexy red bra-and-panty set tonight instead of the night she had dinner with him.

With her panties still at half-mast, she felt off balance. Thane probably wanted her that way. He controlled this moment. Usually the idea of giving someone else power over a situation would bother her. With Thane, it didn’t.

Nothing about him felt like an impetuous young man. He didn’t grope and grab at her. He didn’t kiss her like he wanted to chew off her face or devour her. He didn’t dive his hands into her panties and finger her until it felt good and painful at the same time.

Thane reached behind her and unfastened her bra while keeping his stare directly on her eyes. This man knew what to do. Again, he didn’t take off her bra. He allowed it to hang loosely over her breasts, still covering them.

He held her shoulders and gently eased her back so that she sat on the bed. Then, without a word, he put his hand on her chest and nudged her so that she would lie down.

Kari stared up at the ceiling. She felt Thane removing her shoe. When he did, he kissed the top of her foot.

Sexy.

She exhaled when she felt his lips touch her. He did the same for the other foot, kissing it after removing her shoe. Then he hooked his fingers into the sides of her panties and finally pulled them down her legs.

“Do you mind if I eat something?” he asked.

Kari’s heart pounded. She would not be uttering the word
yes
at this moment.

Thane parted her thighs. She felt cool air blowing over her inner thighs up to her throbbing core. When the mattress dipped down like he braced his hands on it to stand, she brought her head up to see his actions.

She felt her eyebrows furrowing before she realized what he’d done. She caught him standing and getting the tray of food. He placed it on the floor next to him.

Thane resumed his spot, picked up a strawberry, and bit the tip. “Mmm, so good.” He presented the bitten berry to her. “You sure you don’t want one? It’s really good and sweet.”

She shook her head but watched him carefully. He slowly ate the fruit and licked his fingers when he finished. Then he picked up another one, this time he dipped it in the whipped cream, evident from the fluffy tip. Instead of eating it like he’d done the other one, he dragged the cream-covered strawberry up her inner thigh, leaving a white trail up to the apex of her thighs.

Thane licked the whipped cream from her leg, dragging his tongue so slowly it felt like he controlled time. She dropped her head back and moaned. Even with her bra unfastened, she felt like it constricted her body.

Without shame or permission, she pulled her bra off and threw it to the side. “Yes.”

Thane swept the fruit down her other inner thigh and licked the cream away like he’d done on the other leg. When Kari felt him painting her clitoris with the tip of his tongue, her body constricted.

“Yes!” She gripped a handful of the comforter as her body writhed.

The air filled with an aroma of fresh fruit and cream along with her own essence. What a scintillating smell. She reached down and ran her fingers through his hair as he continued licking her, loving her, caring for her like she hadn’t felt in a long, long time.

Like he did with his kisses, Thane took his time. He made slow, easy passes over her hardened nub and occasionally dipped his tongue inside her vagina, which made her twitch each time. When he covered her clit with his mouth and pressed his tongue against it while massaging her thighs, Kari broke.

She felt her body trembling before she grumbled a guttural moan, a sound she didn’t think she could produce. He pressed his tongue against her and brought her over the edge.

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” She jackknifed up from the bed and held the back of Thane’s head.

When her body eased back down, she couldn’t believe he had so much more to give. She surrendered to him. He twirled the tip of his tongue around her clitoris.

Kari felt the familiar tightening in her gut the longer he worked on her. Thane moved one hand up to her chest. He held her breast, massaging it like he’d done her thighs. He matched the motion of his tongue by swirling his thumb around her hardened nipple.

She gripped his hand, not wanting him to stop, nor willing to let him go. Thane gave her nipple a slight pinch, causing another orgasm.

Thankfully, Thane removed his hand and pulled back from her, giving her a chance to catch her breath. When she looked up, she watched him placing the tray on the dresser. He turned to her and kept his gaze on her eyes as he undid his jeans.

He pulled them down along with his underwear. Although Kari had seen Thane completely naked, seeing him now, his erection jutting from his body, gave her a new appreciation of his form.

Before she could protest again about having to get her purse to retrieve her stash of condoms, he opened a nightstand drawer and removed a box.

“I told you I would take care of you.” He smiled as he opened it.

He removed a string of condoms and tore one away from the lineup. He ripped the package open and rolled the prophylactic over his long, thick cock. Thane crawled onto the bed and over her body.

Instead of immediately sliding himself inside her, he positioned his body next to hers. He dragged his fingertips over her chest between her breasts to her belly, barely touching her flesh with his fingers. The sensation drove her crazy with desire. She writhed on the bed in anticipation of more of his handling.