Hot for His Hostage (6 page)

This magic…

So what if she didn’t see it yet? He’d already resolved to do the fighting for them
both—and recommitted himself to the cause now. 

Too bad he was too busy with the mental
hooyah
to remember one of the shittiest rules-that-weren’t-rules about unconventional warfare.

The outcome of a battle often hinged on the smallest of actions.

Like the one Zoe made in the moment he still struggled to take control of his dick,
force his feet forward, and make his way to her again.

From one of the pockets hugging that cute backside, she withdrew a room key card.
Waved it at the door in front of her. The portal beeped and swung in. She didn’t waste
a second stepping through it. By the time Shay caught up, she’d turned around, one
hand on the inside light switch, the other on the door. Her gaze returned to its guarded
anger. Her lips were a tight, hard line.

Shay clenched his jaw, reining back another growl. It was fucking impossible to fight
for something with a door slammed in one’s face.

Nearly
slammed.

“Thank you again,” she murmured, “for the help with Brynn and El. You racked up the
Good Samaritan points tonight, okay?”

He risked sliding his toes to the threshold of the room. Then tilting up her face
with his thumb once more. “I have a lot of those already.” He wasn’t lying. In his
years with the teams, he’d stopped counting how many kids he’d guided from land mine
fields, rations he’d passed out to villagers, bullets he’d pried from buddies’ thighs,
even kittens he’d pulled out of trees. “What if I simply want to cash them in?”

Her breath hitched. As she let it back out in shaky spurts, he dared pushing a whole
foot forward.

“Burnett…”

She moved her hand from the wall to his shoulder. To push him away? He chose to ignore
the possibility, and was damn glad he didn’t. The next instant, her fingers curled
into his sleeve. A visible tremor claimed her.

Shay moved his other foot into the room. Slid his thumb along her jaw, toward her
ear. He framed the other side of her face with his index finger, pulling her mouth
steadily closer.

“Please,” she whispered.

He lowered a hand to her waist, tugging her body tighter to his. “I love the way you
say that, tiny dancer.”

The endearment earned him a high-pitched little cry, vibrating from her throat into
his fingers. His bloodstream thundered in response. His cock surged through his pants,
against her stomach.

“Hell,” she gasped.

“Feels a lot more like heaven to me.”

“Please. We can’t.”

He drew back a little, making sure her gaze was consumed with the hot intent of his.
“I’m going to kiss you, baby girl. If you still believe that when I’m done, then I’ll
turn around, leave you alone, and never bother you again. Sound fair?”

She blinked hard. With every dip of her dark lashes, her eyes glittered more intensely.
Her chest pumped, deep and hard. Technically, none of it told him
yes.

But none of it was
no.

He fitted their bodies together. Slammed his mouth atop hers. As he did, his spirit
pumped a fist with its revision to his battle wisdom from earlier.

Small actions could definitely determine outcomes.

But bold actions created awesome explosions.

She was in trouble.

Hot, wonderful, beautiful gobs of it.

Shane Burnett and his mouth—and his hands, and his arms, and his thighs—were the hard,
incredible ring leaders of the mess. Even before he prodded her lips open with his
mouth, he brought a waterfall of heat to her blood, a cascade of need to her skin,
a profound pleasure to every sense she possessed—and probably a few new ones, too.
As he deepened their kiss, she matched his rough growl with a whimper that echoed
through every corner of her body at once.

He consumed her already—as she knew he would.

Pulled out every dark, sinful craving of her soul again—as she feared he would.

A corner of her mind tried to rationalize the sensations. Holy shit. Waterfalls? Cascades?
Cravings
? Would she next start comparing the man’s touch to a shower of rainbow-colored stars?
She was being melodramatic, plain and simple. But could she be blamed? The only male
touch she’d known since January had been from the guys in the show, who fantasized
about caressing each other when they had to fondle her for the steamier numbers. Dating
hadn’t been a consideration. After the disastrous night in the dungeon that had officially
ended her relationship with Bryce, vanilla
and
D/s-wise, she’d declared herself an intimacy disaster zone. Ten months later, it
was simply easier to keep the barriers up.

There was nothing safe about Shane Burnett. Nothing remotely easy.

From the moment their eyes had met in the bar, every passing minute had been torture.
Battling not to notice him. Gravitate toward him. Stare at him. Smell him.

Fantasize about being with him…exactly like this.

He groaned against her lips as he shifted their bodies, making room for the door to
thump shut behind them. Zoe sucked in a harsh breath through her nose, yearning to
keep the contact of their mouths intact. Shane groaned his approval, spreading her
lips wide before sweeping his tongue into the deepest corners of her mouth. His hands
splayed to her shoulders, dropped along her rib cage, and finally gripped her hips
in fierce possession, sliding her against the bulge now reigning over the apex of
his thighs.

He finally pulled back, fanning her face with his lustful breaths, dropping his face
to the top of her head. “Please don’t tell me the Samaritan points are still my only
option tonight.”

She smile. “Please don’t tell me that running after the kids is mine.”

He answered that by screwing his grip tighter to her hips and hiking her higher on
the wall so he could kiss her at a direct angle.
Holy hell
. She’d scoffed at comparing the man’s touch to stars but her body felt like a damn
meteor shower as he controlled her positioning against him…the blatant slide of her
pussy along his huge erection.

“Speaking of the kids,” he said against her lips, “how long do you think we have?”

Zoe pried her eyes open. “How long? For what?”

“Until your roommate stumbles in.”

She grinned wider. It was refreshing to be with someone who knew so little about her
world. Even Bryce, for all his surface charm, got a little tiresome about showing
off her lead dancer status, as well as her comp show seats and other perks, to all
his friends. “The lead gets her own room, Mr. Burnett.”

His groin pulsed against hers. “Dear fuck.”

She giggled again. “Yes, please.”

He dipped his gaze to her lips and kissed her soundly there again before returning
her to her feet with a reluctant expression. “In that case, grab your phone.”

Her smile fell. “
Qué
? Why?”

“Safe call.” His brows jumped when Zoe stared like he’d just said
squirrel farts
. “You think I’m going to ask for your nakedness and trust after knowing me a little
over an hour, without a safety net of some sort?” His gaze turned dark bronze. “You
need to call or text a friend, preferably one who isn’t drunk at the terminal, and
tell them that if you don’t re-contact them in three hours, they need to call the
Los Angeles PD and send them to this room.”

“
Mierda
.” Zoe had slipped her cell from her pocket but now froze, eyeing him as if the squirrel
had done more than fart on him. “You’re joking, right?”

The air gained a chill as Shane stepped back, clasping his hands at the small of his
back and widening his stance. “Not by any stretch of the word. Your trust is key to
me, dancer. As much as you’ll give me, as far as you’ll let me go. The power here
belongs to you as much as me, and having a back-up for your safety gives us a clearer
path to that.”

He looked thoroughly dominant now. Totally breathtaking. Nevertheless, Zoe blurted
in confusion, “I’m still not sure I understand.”

The man stiffened his stance and shook his head. Great. He had her a little scared
as well as a lot muddled now.

“Why don’t you sit?”

His stiffened stance and hardened jaw told her the polite phrasing was a courtesy.
As tempted as she was to go for a cheeky comeback, something in her psyched nixed
the move.

She lowered her butt onto the edge of the bed.

Shane positioned himself directly in front of her. She looked down at his shiny black
dress shoes, strangely afraid about looking up again—and embracing that sweet thrill.

“Zoe, what do you want from this—from me—tonight?”

A pile of rocks tumbled into the base of her throat. “You—you just want me to say
it?”

“That would be the purpose of the question. Yes.”

“I—I just can’t—”

“Take a deep breath. I’m not asking for fancy words. Just tell me the way you did
when you explored the D/s dynamic with others.”

She nervously licked her lips. “There weren’t
others
. There was only one, okay? And he sure as hell didn’t ask me questions like that.”

Burnett let out a slow but dense breath. “Let me guess,” he stated. “The conversation
revolved around how
you’d
serve
him
, all the things he’d do to you, and all the pleasure
he’d
get out of it?”

Zoe pressed her hands together between her thighs, sandwiching her phone with them.
The sizzle from their kiss had faded from the room, aided by the palpable tension
from Shane—no doubt because he discerned how her silence confirmed his accusation.

In return, she couldn’t let go of her astonishment. How had he known? He’d quoted,
nearly word for word, what Bryce had said to her on both their disastrous visits to
the dungeon outside Henderson. But he hadn’t been the only Dom in the place saying
things like that. She’d simply been the only sub who couldn’t seem to get mushy from
it.

“He wasn’t a bad guy, okay? Just because
I
couldn’t get with the program or be turned-on because—”

“Your Dom didn’t learn anything about your needs
before
you two stepped into the dungeon?”

“Look, we dated for a few months first. We got along great. He knew a lot about my
needs alr—” His angry snort not only stopped her, but irritated her. She gave into
the temptation to glare. “Forget it. I don’t want to hash this out with you tonight.”

“Believe me, dancer, your asshole ex-Dom isn’t my fascination, either.” His grim laugh
turned his features into a portrait of dark sensuality, especially as he snaked a
hand around the back of her head. “
You’re
my priority tonight.” His long fingers curled into the roots of her hair, pulling
gently—then after her blissful sigh, not so much. “God
damn
, you’re beautiful.”

Zoe turned her sigh into a full gasp. “And you’re my priority, too.”

She only had these few special hours with him. It was what she had to believe. For
all she knew, the guy was actually based in Vegas too, but something about him, lingering
in his eyes and voice, said his passion was only ever on loan to a woman. There’d
be nothing between them after the hours in this room. That meant every moment counted
more. Every touch. Every word. Every kiss.

“You asked what I wanted?” she whispered. “Well, it’s this.” She reached to press
a hand along the breathtaking line of his jaw. “To see more of this desire on your
face. To know whatever I’m doing is okay…is good enough to please you. To see how
I make you feel and to feel it with—”

She hesitated, suddenly embarrassed.
Caramba
, she probably sounded like a cheesy soft porn script. She wondered if the tremble
she felt through Shane’s body was his way of stifling a chuckle.

No. Not a laugh. Instead, as he cradled the other side of her head, he emitted a growl
so lush, her skin tingled. “Don’t stop there.” The veins in his forearms stood out
as he yanked her face higher, pinning her with his heated stare. “Say it, goddammit.
The whole nasty, sexy truth of it. You want to feel my cock inside your body, don’t
you? You want me to fill your beautiful cunt until you scream from being stretched
by me…fucked by me?”

“Yes.” She quivered, too. “That’s exactly what I want. Your hands all over me. Commanding
me. Showing me how to please you…”

She surrendered to breathlessness when the thunder from his throat took on a savage
edge. The world narrowed to a pinpoint. Every heartbeat was a sweet struggle. Even
that awareness was impossible to grasp as he slammed his mouth over hers again. With
her head bent back, she was an open vessel for his lust, accepting every vicious stab
of his tongue and drop of his passion. There was no other choice. And she didn’t want
one. 

A cry of protest escaped as he pulled away. Shane hovered his lips above hers, letting
their breaths continue to tangle as he softly ordered, “Get the fucking safe call
handled, Zoe. I have plans for you.”

“Yes, Sir.”

She finished it off with a giggle, mostly out of nerves. The man did
not
copy the humor. He turned back toward her while pulling off his jacket, jaw set and
brows arched, turning her into a puddle of equal parts fear and arousal. “Patience,
girl. You’ll be speaking that ‘Sir’ for me again very soon and sounding just as beautiful
doing it. Get the call handled first.”

Puddle? She was a whole lake of sensations now. “Yes, S—” While stopping herself in
the nick of time, she hit the button showing a picture of Ryder with a dazzling grin
on his face and a margarita in his hand.

There was no way her best friend wouldn’t answer. Once, the guy had even picked up
on a frantic call from her while having sex. After her sister Ava, he was her lifetime
rock for the worst storms. They’d been through calculus, prom, college applications,
dorm life, real life, and moving to Vegas, where they’d both nearly starved for two
years before Zoe landed her first show gig while Ry was picked up by the city’s biggest
modeling agency.

Halfway through the third ring, her friend’s smart-ass baritone filled the line. “How’s
la-la land, hot stuff? Everyone good and passed out now? Have you tucked everyone
in and are calling to squee about meeting David Gandy in the hotel bar, who insisted
on showing you what
really
rhymes with ‘candy’?”

Zoe had no idea how she kept a straight face. “Actually…it’s better than that.”

There was a rustle on the line. She’d made Ry sit up. “What the fuck? You’re serious,
aren’t you?”

“Yeah. I sorta am.”

“Fuck. Me.”

“That’s
my
line tonight.” She tugged her bottom lip with her teeth and bashfully glanced at
Shane. “At least I hope. That’s why you’re getting the honor of the safe call.”

“Thank God. Your ticket is
way
overdue for a punch, Zo-Glow.”

She couldn’t help a soft giggle at his nickname for her since high school. “Thanks
for the vote of support.”

“So…” Ry extended the word with anticipation. “
Is
it David Gandy?”

She laughed harder. “Better, sweetie.
Much
better.”

After Ry confirmed details with her then expelled a celebratory whoop even Shane could
hear, she disconnected the call with a smile.

Her mirth dipped into perplexity all too fast when she looked up—and found a similar
smirk on Shane’s face.

“What now?” she blurted. “Did I do it wrong?”

He instantly frowned again. “Why do you keep obsessing about ‘doing it wrong’?”

She tugged at the edge of a pillow. “You were smirking.”

“I was
smiling
.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s beautiful when
you
smile.” The admission caused a chain reaction across his gorgeous features, as if
bigger doors of comprehension opened in his mind. “Actually, baby girl, you’re breathtaking.”

Zoe dropped her head to hide her flush. This was
loco
. So silly. She was a dancer in one of the sexiest shows in Las Vegas. She was used
to
a lot
of people ogling her, cheering for her, and desiring her, all while she was dressed
in a lot less than a T-shirt and jeans.

But none of those fans, even the ones who came to the show weekly, ever truly knew
her. None saw her as this man did only an hour and a half after meeting her. Had ever
studied her as Shane did now and called her
breathtaking
in a way doing nothing with what she wore, how perfect her makeup was, or how alluring
her dance steps were. Could stand more than six feet away yet awaken her whole body
with the knowing caress of his molten gaze.