Her Best Mistake (Novella) (2 page)

“Hi, my name is Lisa Dennison,” she said, smiling at the desk clerk who smiled back. “I’m supposed to be meeting Eric Roberts here for a drink, but I can’t find him. Did he maybe leave a message for me at the desk?”

Cindy looked at the tall, mostly red-haired woman, laughing that Eric had called her a brunette. What did the man see in this one, she wondered? She was obviously older than Eric, but also much older than the typical dates he brought to the hotel. Even though the woman wasn’t bad looking, she also wasn’t the sleekly groomed model type either. The woman looked like every other businesswoman in Boston in her black dress pants, bright green cardigan set, and black pumps.

“Yes. Eric left a note for you and a room key.” Cindy said brightly, handing them both over with a friendly smile.

Lisa looked at the room key in her hand with confusion, and then back at the clerk who just shrugged her shoulders. Unbelievable, she thought. This was only their second date and supposed to be just a quick drink in the bar and maybe meet his brother. He had seriously left her a hotel room key? Really?

Shaking her head, she wondered what had happened to patience. Eric was attractive, but damn it, she wasn’t ready to jump into bed with him yet.
Or at least that’s what she’d been telling herself since she saw him last. Hell, maybe she had been putting out a ‘desperate woman’ vibe without knowing it. There hadn’t been anyone since her divorce. But she certainly hadn’t meant to come across that way to him. She hadn’t really even been dating much when Eric asked her out.

Looking down at the key in her hand again, Lisa figured this sideways play to get her in bed was probably just what she deserved for dating a younger man. She was too old for these games.

Reluctantly unfolding the note, she sighed. Eric had the very nice, very legible handwriting a person would expect an investment banker to have, yet obviously he had the masculine sensibilities of every other male his age.

My brother Finn, the great Harvard anthropologist, just got in from Egypt. I had a few too many drinks celebrating his return and decided I desperately needed to sleep it off. Didn’t want to completely miss our date so I stayed here at the hotel. Looking forward to being woken up by you. ~ Eric

Well, it wasn’t a completely indecent proposition, Lisa thought, frowning over the note. Maybe she could just pop up to the room and wake him up. Maybe it would even be fun. Snorting at the idea, she rolled her eyes.
Yeah, and maybe when he kisses me this time I’ll feel something wonderful instead of nothing
.

Lisa sighed over her inner bitching, trying to remember the last time a man had truly excited her with a kiss. That was why she’d said yes to Eric Roberts in the first place. She simply couldn’t remember the last time she was interested at all.

Maybe she was just getting old. What other reason made any sense?

A hot younger man was wanting to sleep with her, and here she was standing in the hotel lobby debating his blatant invitation to take things to the next level. The whole reticence thing she was doing was her most pressing problem.

She was freaking forty years old and already losing interest in men and sex. Well, no. Hell, no. She wasn’t going to let that happen.

Lisa marched over to the elevators and fiercely punched the button. Once inside, she chewed her bottom lip as the elevator climbed to the top floor.

Use it or lose it,
her OB/GYN had told her. What a lovely gift that had been for her fortieth birthday.

“You heard the woman, Dennison. Get in that hotel room and wake the man.
Use it or lose it
,” Lisa chanted out loud as she walked down the hotel hallway.

At his room door, Lisa took a deep breath and tapped softly. When there was no answer, she took another deep breath and slid the key into the lock. She made herself push the handle when the security light changed from red to green.

Inside the room was absolute luxury. So Eric had booked an executive suite—which meant he wasn’t too tight with his money to enjoy himself. She looked around in admiration of the interior.
Very nice
, she thought, smiling as she stepped quietly through the door.

In the sitting area that greeted her, there was a battered leather duffle sitting on the coffee table with several luggage tags hanging off it. Obviously that belonged to Eric’s brother, Lisa decided, worried a little now that she might be walking in on the two of them. But then why would Eric invite her to his room if his brother was staying here?

Surely he wasn’t thinking of sharing her, was he? That certainly wasn’t her style. If it turned out it was Eric’s, then she would let him pitch his case and then leave with dignity.

Taking a deep breath, Lisa moved quietly into the single massive bedroom, barely able to appreciate the polished woods and gleaming surfaces all around her. Instead her gaze was locked on the biggest, most luxurious bed she had ever seen and the miles of naked male flesh in the middle of it.

If his complete nudity wasn’t a blatant sexual proposition, then she was definitely off her dating game. But at least there was only male, Lisa noted, so the brother must be safely elsewhere. Breathing out a sigh of relief that her wild imaginings hadn’t been the reality she’d walked into, she let her now considering gaze wander over the naked male again.

She chewed her lip a moment wondering what Eric had done with his poor jetlagged brother, and then chastised herself for worrying about something that wasn’t her problem or concern. He was probably just in another room at the hotel since the bag was still in the sitting area.

Frowning at her mind wanderings again, Lisa pulled her attention back to the matter at hand. Her sole concern should be whether or not she was going to wake up the sleeping man who had asked her to do so. She had to admit that he looked damn good without his clothes.

Lisa smiled despite her irritation at his nerve in stripping off to wait for her. He was lying facedown with muscular legs spread wide, feet hanging off the end of the bed. She’d had the impression Eric was tall the other night but hadn’t really processed him as all that much taller than her. A guy had to be really tall not to fit a king-sized bed. Right?

And any woman would have to be dead from the waist down to not be intrigued with all those muscles and long expanses of tanned skin. Where did all that brown come from? Gingers rarely tanned and yet his back and legs were bronzed.

She firmly pushed the distasteful thought of Eric going to a tanning bed from her mind. It wasn’t like lots of men didn’t visit tanning beds regularly to chase their natural New England paleness away.

A giggle welled up at her silly thoughts over a man with an ass to die for, salon tanned or not. A normal woman would be using her cell phone and taking a picture of what was very likely was the most perfect male ass she’d ever seen. If her phone had been working properly, Lisa might have talked herself into clicking a shot for a souvenir. It would have been something to smile about later at least.

Damn, she needed to buy a new phone and stop putting it off.

Snorting as quietly as she could, she took in a nervous breath, suddenly stopping to sniff the air. What was that smell? Her stomach rolled and flipped while her heart began to flutter. Sniffing the air again like a dog, she almost laughed out loud at herself, but seriously—
what was that?

She walked to the bed, leaned over him, and sniffed hard. Smiling to discover it
was
him smelling so great,
she ended up feeling like an idiot because dear
god, the man smelled incredible.
What was he wearing?
He smelled like sandy beaches and something else that she couldn’t quite figure out.

Leaning over him further, she smiled down at his perfect ass and breathed his scent inside her. As she did, moisture gathered in almost forgotten places. It made her sigh at how good it was to know her body was still working the way it was supposed to in such a situation.

After her divorce, things had changed a lot for her. Now it looked like the freaking gynecologist had scared her for nothing, though she had to admit that two years was a really long time to have had no desire for intimacy at all. She rarely even pleasured herself because she simply hadn’t felt the need. It was a relief now to know that her libido had not been in the process of dying. Instead, it had been merely sleeping. Who knew a great smelling, naked man was all that was needed to change that?

Lisa sat down carefully on the edge of the mattress, trying not to wake the sleeping male because she still wasn’t sure she wanted to. But indulging the rampant desire flooding her senses, she leaned a little closer and sniffed again. Yes, that was definitely him smelling so good, and it was definitely getting her all jazzed up.

Now why hadn’t she noticed Eric’s masculinity last weekend? Her non-reaction then now exasperated her. She tried to recall their dinner date, how Eric had looked, what he had worn. Maybe he had been wearing some sort of woodsy cologne that evening, but she could barely remember now.

She certainly didn’t remember him smelling like this.

What she remembered was Eric texting in between conversation bits with her. When the food came, he finally paid attention to it, and had been more attentive to her after that.

But this smell—if that had been present then, she really felt that she would have remembered it clearly, especially since it was definitely revving her engine.

Up this close, she could also smell a little alcohol on him. Since that meant he was being truthful in his note to her, she gave him credibility points. It also explained why he was so completely unaware of her presence.

Sighing, Lisa stood and walked to the giant window to look out at the city. She thought of all the other women out there just like her, some not even dating anyone. Just like her.

Boston was a large city, and it wasn’t always easy to meet guys you were interested in that were interested back, especially enough to cause this quandary she was facing. Certainly she loved the city because it had always been home, also because it was busy and important and endlessly interesting. The Copley Plaza Hotel was both a city landmark and a fixture, as well as one of her favorite places to have a drink now and again. She had even stayed in the hotel a time or two, but never in a suite.

And definitely never with a man she was dating.

Lisa looked back at the bed. Sure enough, her belly tightened in desire as she let her eyes take in the male landscape splayed out for her viewing pleasure. It had been so long since she had felt real arousal that she was actually scared of her feelings. That alarm was disturbing on many levels because it wasn’t really like her to be afraid.

Once, she would had been brave with men she wanted.

Once, she would have looked at his perfect ass, stripped with enthusiasm, and crawled into that big old bed with him to take a bite. It made her smile just thinking about it.

It was after her divorce that her sexuality seemed to wither. It felt damn good to feel sexually attracted to someone again, even if it was for someone she barely knew.

Lisa looked at the man in the bed and thought hard. Really, what did she have to lose if she decided to take him for a test run? Sure, they had little in common. That and other things, like the age difference, made it impossible for her to think they might have a real future together.

When her belly fluttered again, she chided herself for her serious thoughts because the arousal had her feeling lighter than she had in several years.

She took another deep breath and smelled that intriguing scent that would now forever be associated with seeing him like this.

Once more she ran her gaze over his back muscles and the back of his legs. She wondered how the other side of him looked. Eric certainly had been hiding a great body under those suits. Her thoughts about the front of him had moisture gathering again, which really was her body making its own decision about what to do.

“
Oh, what the hell,” Lisa said softly. She was not a prude, and the man had issued the invitation. It wasn’t like she was just using him without his permission.

It took about thirty seconds for her to drop her clothes into a nearby chair.

She walked completely naked to the bed, already anticipating his pleasure as she woke him up.

***

God, that felt good.
If it was only a dream, Finn decided that he definitely did not want to wake up. Her hands were cool, but her mouth was hot as it explored his back, his shoulders, his. . .hey, did she just bite his ass?

He pried open one tired eye and saw a mass of reddish-brown hair hanging over his hip. Rolling to his side, he saw smooth white skin dotted with freckles. Then he saw her breasts for about three seconds before her hand clamped around him and stroked.

Lord, that felt wonderful too.

Finn blinked several times, trying to clear his head enough to think about things. His eyes drifted closed again as he let her raise his interest to the point of a painfully hard erection. It had been so long . . .
No, she had to be stopped. But. . . damn . . . she was good at what she was doing.

Finn looked into soft brown eyes that smiled and crinkled at the corners.

“Hi” she said.

“Hi,” he said back, thinking she was definitely a fantasy woman. “Can I kiss you? I would really like to while you do that.”

The woman snickered at his request and then laughed, obviously thinking it strange that he would ask so politely to kiss her when she had her hand busy stroking his erection.

“I really wish you would kiss me,” Lisa said, crawling up the bed to give him access to her mouth. His lips skimmed hers once, then a second time. He kept his eyes open and on hers. Why was his kiss so different today, she wondered? A little shiver danced along her arms in response to his heated gaze.

On the third pass of his talented mouth, Finn ran the tip of his tongue across her bottom lip. When she stopped stroking him to enjoy the moment, he smiled, happily knowing exactly what she felt. Again he ran his tongue along her lips, this time pushing the tip of it into her mouth just a little. She moaned and closed her eyes.