Hot Buttered Yum (12 page)

“I’m not going
to sleep with all of them.” Roni tried the smile
again. No impact. “It’s only the one I want,” she finished lamely.

She felt bad
about it. Truly. She didn’t mean to upset Kayla. But
how was she supposed to ignore the chemistry between her and Lucas? She’d never
been a part of anything with quite that kind of pull.

A thin, high-pitched
noise squeezed out of Kayla and Roni cringed. It
sounded like air being let out of a balloon by pinching the neck. Thankfully,
it only lasted a couple seconds.

“I’m sorry,” Roni began. She uncrossed her legs and stood, reaching for Kayla’s
hand. “Really. I’m sorry this worries you. But it
won’t be a problem.”

She’d made up
her mind already. She was going to sleep with him.

“Of course it’ll
be a problem. I’ve been hired to put on a professional event.”

“And you’re
doing an amazing job of it.”

Kayla snorted. “Not
if my master of ceremonies goes to bed with one of the contestants. That is not
an amazing job, Roni.
That
is a conflict of interest.”

“No, it’s not.” And
Kayla would realize it once she calmed down.

It may not be
the most professional behavior Roni could exhibit,
but obviously this connection between her and Lucas couldn’t be hidden.
Everyone in the auditorium had witnessed it, and in fact, no one would be
shocked to discover that she and Lucas had decided to spend time together
outside of the competition.

Though Roni would do her best to keep it on the down-low. She didn’t want
it to be talked about any more than Kayla did.

A frantic
whimper came from Kayla. She turned her back and paced to the middle of the room,
her arms crossed tight over her chest. The darkness outside the
floor-to-ceiling windows seemed to close in on her as she turned to face Roni. She appeared tiny in the middle of the black night.
“How will I explain this?” she asked.

Her toe started
tapping again.

Roni really did feel
bad for upsetting her. She liked Kayla a lot, even if the woman was strung so
tight Roni suspected she’d hum like a guitar string
if plucked. Roni hadn’t set out to add to the stress.

“Think about
it,” she said now. She headed toward Kayla and spoke calmly, hoping to soothe
frayed nerves. “I’m only the person reading off the script. I don’t really have
any importance in the grand scheme of things. I don’t get a say in who stays or
goes unless I buy in to vote. Just like everyone else. I couldn’t impact the
winner of the money if I tried.

“So if I spend a
few nights with one of them …” she finished, holding her hands in the air,
palms up, “it doesn’t really matter.”

“
Ohmygod
,” Kayla
muttered. “A few nights? How many nights do you plan
to spend?”

If the other
woman weren’t so stressed, Roni would laugh. Her
freak-out was pretty funny.

Before she could
tell Kayla that she would likely spend as many of Lucas’s remaining nights on
the island with him as she was invited to, a door slammed somewhere down the
hall.

“Kayla,” Roni spoke quietly. She had the sense that Lucas was moving
closer. “It won’t impact anything, I swear.”

“Andie will have my hide if I screw this up.”

“Andie won’t have your hide,” Roni
assured her, “because nothing is going to get screwed up.”

“I promised her
when she moved to Boston that I would do nothing to harm the company’s
reputation.” Kayla hands flapped again, but least she’d stopped tapping. “How
am I supposed to explain this to her if the committee fires me?”

The door opened to
the room and Roni looked over to find Lucas standing
in the doorway. His face was expressionless as his gaze took in her and Kayla.
Without a word, he stepped out of the room and closed the door.

“Roni,” Kayla’s harsh whisper caught her attention. “What am
I going to do?”

Roni forced herself
to look away from the door and concentrated on breathing steadily and thinking
rationally. Facts were facts. She was about to sleep with Lucas Alexander.

He’d come for
her. He wanted her.

And she was
going to have him.

She took Kayla’s
hands in hers and shoved Lucas and his abs from her mind.

“You’re going to
keep doing exactly what you’ve been doing,” she told Kayla. “Pulling off the
best darned event Turtle Island has ever seen.”

That
high-pitched noise leaked from Kayla. This time her shoulders deflated with the
sound.

“It’ll be fine,”
Roni assured her. “I wouldn’t do anything if I
thought it would hurt you or Andie. You know that.
And I’ll talk to the committee myself if anything was to come of this. I’ll talk
to Andie too. I’ll explain everything to her. She can
be mad at me if she wants, but you haven’t done anything wrong, Kayla. No one
will be upset with you. And no one is going to fire you.”

Kayla shoved her
hands into her hair on either side of her head and pulled. “I just want to do a
good job.”

Kayla’s words
came through gritted teeth, and Roni couldn’t help
it. She finally let out the laugh. “You
are
doing a good job. A wonderful job. I’ve heard nothing
but compliments since we started.”

The other
woman’s eyes narrowed as if she didn’t believe her. Her hands lowered to her
sides. “Really?”

“Really.” Roni nodded. “Lots and lot of
compliments.”

A tremulous
smile tried to form on Kayla’s mouth before falling off. She grunted. “I still
don’t agree with this,” she said. She lifted her chin and her gaze drifted to
the darkened night. A forlorn look painted across her face. “But if I had a man
looking at me the way he looks at you …” She shook her head. “I can’t say I
wouldn’t do the same thing.”

With that, Kayla
turned and headed across the room. She swung the door open and at the sight of
Lucas waiting there, she ducked her head and hurried down the hall.

Roni laughed again,
a small sound barely making it out of her body, and had the thought that Kayla
needed
a man to look at her that way.
Maybe then she’d unwind just a bit. There was more to life than being stressed.
She caught Lucas’s eye from across the room and he shot her a wink. Her clothes
suddenly felt too tight.

“Want to go for
a ride with me?” he asked. The steadiness with which he watched her let her
know that he wasn’t just talking about a ride. Well, not only in his car.

Her grin was
wide and fast.
Oh, yeah.

“Only if it ends
at your hotel.”

The ride to the hotel was short and silent. Lucas had hustled Roni out of the convention center and into his rented sedan before she came to her senses and told him to take a hike. If her hand on his thigh was anything to go by, though, she had no intention of changing her mind.

He turned into the hotel parking lot, heading toward the valet area, and gripped her creeping fingers in his. His hold was too tight to be polite. She had him on the cusp by doing nothing more than tracing tiny circles on his upper thigh for the five-minute drive over.

“Is your intention to draw unwanted attention to me as we walk through the hotel?” He tugged her hand closer to his crotch to make his point, but stopped just short.

She didn’t seem to have the same hesitancy. Her fingers stretched forward until they slid over his straining length. He groaned, and when she squeezed him through his jeans, he almost drove through the valet stand.

“Christ, Roni.”

She giggled. She already had the look of a woman who’d been thoroughly loved, and he hadn’t put a hand on her. Her cheeks were flushed, her brown eyes hooded. She was blazing hot.

He braked in front of the hotel, but held her hand where it was, letting her feel his blood pulsing through him. “Did you think of me the other night?” he asked her. His voice was tight as he pictured her in bed alone. Thinking of him. “Did you touch yourself?”

The way her gaze dipped to their joined hands and the rushed rise and fall of her chest gave him his answer. Christ almighty. He may not be physically able to step out of the car.

When an attendant headed their way Lucas turned loose of Roni’s hand and practically shoved it back to her side of the car. He grabbed a jacket from the back seat and shoved it in his lap. Roni giggled once more and he shot her a look. He wasn’t upset. But damn, it would be nice if he could actually
walk
through the hotel instead of hobbling.

“I owe you,” he threatened.

“I think we might be even after the dancing you did on my table tonight.”

He shook his head. “Not even close.”

The deep brown of her eyes went hot, and she ran her gaze quickly down to his lap once more before coming back up. “Then show me what you’ve got, big guy,” she taunted.

Sweet Jesus, that didn’t help his predicament any.

Doors opened and they both stepped out. The shaggy-headed kid who approached took a longing look at Roni before eyeing the jacket Lucas dangled at his waist. He gave Lucas a conspiratorial look. Lucas handed over his keys and a couple of twenties.

Keep your mouth shut, kid. No one needs to know about this.

The attendant gave him a too-wide grin.
Hell.
Word would be spread within minutes that one of the contestants had arrived back at the hotel with a hot woman and a raging hard-on. Just what they needed.

He narrowed his eyes on the valet, considered ripping the twenties back out of his hand, then slammed the car door and rounded the hood to Roni. If he took the bills back now, it would only make the story worse.

“You just lost money,” Roni told him as they entered the hotel lobby through the middle set of double doors. The amber lighting cast a seductive glow down on her. “He’s going to tell everyone he knows.”

The nonchalant way she stated the obvious surprised him. “And you’re okay with that?”

“Well, I’d prefer he didn’t.” Her tone was sarcastic. “But what can we do?”

“We could have gone to your house,” he grumbled.

Roni just shot him a roll of her eyes and jabbed the elevator button. He’d suggested her place when they’d left the convention center, but she’d shot him down. Hotels kept things simpler.

The excuse had irritated him.

“The damage is done,” she said. “Plus, it’s not like it’ll be the first time I’ve shared an evening with a man.”

Of course not. She was a beautiful woman. She’d traveled the world. He knew she wasn’t celibate.

However, jealousy flared at the thought of her with other men.

The elevator doors slid open and he took her hand. After the unloading passengers exited, the two of them moved inside and stood quietly facing the front. The doors closed and he considered jumping her right there. He wanted to kiss her. He wanted her to forget—for just a minute—that she’d ever been with another man.

He wanted not to be jealous. It wasn’t like
he
had been a monk.

The doors slid open and he started to step forward, his hand still clasped around Roni’s, but stopped when he once again saw the lobby. Three people boarded. A man and woman a few years older than them, and a boy who looked to be around ten. The doors slid silently closed.

Lucas remained where he was, dumbfounded until Roni leaned into his side and whispered, “We forgot to push the button.”

The woman peeked at them over her shoulder and smiled around a laugh.

Embarrassment heated Lucas’s neck. He reached out and jabbed at the buttons, catching both the three and four. They should have just taken the stairs.

The family got off on the second floor, the woman once again shooting them a smile.

“Which floor are you on?” Roni asked gently.

“Four,” he growled. At least his erection had gone away. Mostly.

Roni laughed softly, then gave his hand a squeeze. “You’re acting nervous, but I don’t believe for a second that this is the first time you’ve taken a woman to your hotel room.”

He stared at her, wondering how many times she’d gone to some man’s hotel room. Then he wondered why he cared.

“No,” his voice deepened and he backed her into a corner, “not the first time. And don’t worry; I’m not nervous.” Just more excited than usual. He lifted her chin and focused on her lips. They had a slight natural curve at the corners that had the ability to draw the eye whether he wanted to be looking at her mouth or not. “I know exactly what I’m doing.”

He covered her lips with his, inhaling the sweet fragrance of her when she clasped both hands on his shirtfront and held on as if afraid he might get away. He wrapped an arm around her and brought her against him. He groaned at the feel of her softer body pressing into his reappearing erection.

The elevator dinged softly at the third floor, but they ignored it. If anyone saw them, it was just too damned bad. He wasn’t ready to turn her loose yet.

The doors swished closed again, and when the bell sounded once more, he forced himself to take a step back, noting that he wasn’t the only one struggling for breath. When he turned to the open doors, they came face-to-face with another contestant.

The other man’s eyebrows shot up toward his forehead.

“Great,” Lucas murmured, wondering what else could happen before they got to his room.

The guy’s expression quickly changed to envy, and he eyed Roni as if wondering if it might be his turn next.

“Not on your life,” Lucas ground out as he dragged Roni from the elevator, growling in frustration when she tossed out a flirty hello to the other contestant.

She laughed with a teasing, light note when Lucas tugged her behind him harder. “You’re acting like a caveman,” she pointed out.

He swiped his keycard over the entry panel and opened the door, letting a shaft of light into the room. “I feel like a caveman. Do you have to flirt with every man you meet?”

“Are you jealous?”

He practically shoved her into the room and she turned to him with a taunting smile. He followed her in. “I don’t get jealous.”

Liar!

The door closed and the room went dark. He had her against him before she could accuse him of anything else. He didn’t need her to point out that his actions were a direct contradiction to his words. He was well aware of that. What he didn’t understand was why he felt jealous at all; he was going to be with this woman for, at most, ten days.

Roni’s hands slid up over his chest and landed at the base of his neck, and he scooped her up, dangling her in the air. “You’re too short,” he muttered.

“My mother’s fault,” she whispered. “I look just like her.”

Her legs wrapped around his hips and he grunted in appreciation. She felt good pressed against him. He fought the urge to shove her against the wall and continue what he’d wanted to finish in the elevator. He wanted to explore her first.

And he wanted to see that damned piercing that had about driven him out of his mind.

He lowered his head and kissed her, his mouth taking it far slower than his pounding blood insisted. She was a combination of sweet with just a hint of lusty. He didn’t think he’d ever tasted anything so tantalizing.

Her tongue brushed his and he gripped her tighter. He saw stars behind his closed eyes.

Needing to put distance between himself and the wall before he changed his mind and took her there, he headed across the room. He moved easily in the dark while her hands burrowed into his hair. Their mouths never parted. When he reached the bed, instead of setting her down, he reached behind his back with one hand and went to work on her shoes.

“How do you get these things off?” He pulled his lips from hers to speak, already missing her eager mouth.

“There’s a zipper.” Her voice was raw. “Hold me and I’ll do it.”

He kept one hand on the curve of her butt and braced the other against the middle of her back. She reached down while lifting her leg higher. The movement rubbed her more intimately against him and he buried his face in her neck. “Hurry,” he encouraged.

A zip and then a thump sounded behind him.

“That’s one,” she whispered. “They’re cropped boots so they’re easy to—”

“I don’t care,” he interrupted impatiently. “Just get them off before your wiggling causes the wrong kind of ending to this.”

She giggled and switched arms and legs, still squirming dangerously against his dick.

“Roni,” he warned. “You’re doing that on purpose.”

Zip. “Maybe.” Thump.

With rapid speed, he unwrapped her legs from around his waist, but instead of laying her on the mattress, he stood her on it.

“What are you doing?” her voice was a surprised whisper coming from above him in the dark.

“You’ll see.”

He gripped her at the hips and tugged her a couple inches closer, bringing her almost to his chest, her breasts practically touching his face. He let out an anguished groan.

“Don’t let me fall.” Fingertips clung to his shoulder.

“I would never let you fall.”

He would eventually turn on a light because he was dying to see her spread out on his bed. But for the moment, he enjoyed the heightened sense of touch and taste the darkness provided.

He could smell her—she always carried the scent of berries, along with a hint of soap and the salty breeze of the ocean.

“Lucas?”

He spread his hands wide on either side of her tight jeans. “Yes?”

“This feels …”

He slid upward, slipping his hands under her untucked shirt and over the heated skin of her waist. Her stomach dipped in with a harsh breath.

“Yes?” he asked when she said nothing else. “It
feels
… what?”

His thumbs met in the middle of her bare stomach and smoothed back down. She let out a breath, ruffling the top of his hair. When he reached her jeans, his thumbs inched underneath.

“Roni?” he said. The breathing, a few inches above his head, was getting louder.

“What?” she bit out.

He lowered his thumbs further inside her jeans, searching for the top of her panties, and focused hard to keep his own breathing steady. “Does it feel okay?”

“Yes.” The word was short and hurried.

“Should I stop?”

Both hands now held his shoulders, her fingers digging in. “Only if you want to die.”

He chuckled. “Not today.”

He removed his hands from inside her jeans and palmed her ass, hugging her against him, while he buried his face between her breasts. The feel of her made him break out in a sweat.

A soft moan slid down from above and he gritted his teeth to keep from letting his mouth seek out the nipple that he was so desperate to touch. He wondered if it was just the one that was pierced, or if she’d done both.

With forced effort, he moved her back from him and brought his hand around to her waist. “I’m going to take off your jeans now. Is that okay?”

The sound she made couldn’t be considered a word, but it was answer enough.

He undid the button and lowered her zipper, his eyes rolling back in his head at the brush of heat across his knuckles. He didn’t have to touch her to know she was already wet. Then he peeled the denim down her hips, gliding his palms over her smooth skin as he went.

The rustling sounds of the fabric were overly loud in the quiet room. Seconds later, the material was at Roni’s feet. He drew a deep breath in through his nose, wanting to drown in what he knew was in front of him.

“Lift your leg,” he instructed, his voice rough.

She did and he pulled the material over her foot. Silently, they worked together to do the same to the other.

Once they’d finished, he closed his eyes and pictured what she must look like. Wild hair at the top, eyes glazed and half-closed. Probably biting her lip. He could see her standing there only in her panties and shirt, those silky smooth legs gloriously bare. And behind that shirt …

He wet his lips and swallowed.

He would bet his house that her nipples were rock hard. Same as his.

With concentrated effort, he somehow managed to continue going slow. He began at her calves, trailing his fingers over the lines of her muscles. Next were her thighs. They were shapely and lean under his palms. He could tell that she worked out. He didn’t stop to linger, though. He had another destination in mind.

When he reached the back curve at the top of her thighs, he paused.

Roni swayed toward him and the softness of her breast brushed against his cheek. The muscles in his neck tensed.

“I’ve never had someone undress me in complete darkness before.”

Good. He wanted to know that the next time she took her clothes off in a dark room, she would be thinking of him. He didn’t speak. Wasn’t sure he could at the moment. With great effort, he ignored the piercing that taunted him only a few inches from his mouth and focused all his attention on his hands.