Page 5 of Tease Me

“Oh wow, that’s interesting.” He tapped his temple with his finger. “Mental note: never challenge Memphis to a game of blackjack then.”

I put on a fake chuckle. “Yep, that’s right.” That’s me, a card shark from way back. Not.

“Okay, if you don’t want to give me your number, can I at least give you mine?”

I grinned and nodded.

“Have you got a pen?”

I reached into my bag and removed a Hot Horizon Hotel pen.

Hunter twisted the pen in his fingers. “Ha. I pinched one of these too.” He scribbled his number on a napkin and handed it to me. Then he leaned over and kissed my cheek. “I’ll be waiting for your call.”

Hunter turned and strode away, and I watched his sexy butt until he climbed the stairs of the hotel and disappeared.

It was a long moment before I dragged myself from the Blue Haven Café. I decided to go for a walk to clear my head.The sun was nearly directly above me, butthankfully,the winter weather kept itquitemild.

I walked along aimlessly, enjoying my scenery and replaying every wonderfulmoment of my morningwith Hunter. For the first time in my life, a man, and a sexy man at that,hadasked me for my phone number. That one simple move had me grinning like a crazy woman.

My wandering led me outside the pharmacy, and I went inside to buy more condoms.Unlike last time,todayI had a fair idea of what I was doing.I grabbed the same brand I’d bought before and strode to the counter.

The creepy guy at the checkout didn’t eyeball me like he had last time, and the purchase took less than two minutes.

I made my way back to the hotel, put my head down, and charged across the lobbyin an attemptto avoid Needledick.Though, I didn’t need to worry because he was on the phone at receptionwithhis gaze toward the computer.

The first thing I did when I entered my room was take the napkin with Hunter’s number out of my bag. I kissed it. I had no idea why I did that, but for some reason, this simple token made me feel like a silly seventeen-year-old girl who’d just been asked to the prom by the hottest guy in town. I secured his number to my fridge with a surfboard magnet and stood back to admire it.

After brushing my teeth, I stripped off and put on a floral cotton pajama set.As I saton the bed, I reached for my diary, turned to the 1st of July, and wrote,Mr. Hunter McCall Room 4.

There was something about Hunter that made himspecial, and he, in turn, made me feel warm and fuzzy as if I was falling under a magical spell. I detailed ouramazingsex in the shower and our breakfast afterward. That’s when I wroteSex for Breakfastbeneath his name.

I put the diary aside and crawled under the blanket. Hunter’s lovely scent was still on me, and as I closed my eyes, I pictured the two of us lying side by side, him with his arm around my neck and me with my leg curled over his thigh, capturing all the warmth of his exquisite body.

As I allowed sleep to take me, I drifted into another perfect world.

Running out of staples was one of my pet hates.What waseven worse was when someone else used the last one and was too lazy to replenish them. I huffed at the inconvenience, stood up from the reception counter, and wandered into the staff room.

The stationery cupboard was immaculate; thanks to my endless hours of boredom, I alwaysmade sureevery item was in itsrightfulplace.

I plucked the box of staples from the shelf at eye level andproceeded to openit as I strolled back to reception.

“Hey, gorgeous.”

My jaw fell to the floor at the drop-dead hunk with his bulging biceps resting on the counter. “Corben!”

“That’s me.”

Frozen to the floor, I tucked a slip of hair behind my ear and played my eyes over the muscles bursting from his tight T-shirt. The rose tattoo on his left bicep was stunning. I couldn’t remember seeing thatamazingartwork last time. Surely, I wouldn’t have missed a masterpiece like that.

“So,” he said, snapping my attention back to his lips. “What would you like to do first . . . fuck or go for a jog?”

The staples launched from my fingers and tumbled to the floor like scurrying ants.

“Are you okay?” A frown drilled across his forehead.

I nodded, dumbstruck, then lowered to the floor to pick up the mess, hopeful the distraction would release me from the mind scramble I’d fallen into.

“Jane, are you there?”

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