Page 17 of The Bachelor

She handed it to him, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip. “Here. Do you think the clerk thought—

He cut her off, putting his fingers across her mouth gently. “I don’t think he thought. I think he knew. Just like I know.”

“What do you know?” she asked, her words muffled behind his fingers. “Because I know what I know but not what you know.”

Shane chuckled. “I’ll tell you what I know.” He shifted his fingers into her hair, and with his free hand, gripped her narrow waist. Moving into her personal space, he forced her back against the door to the hotel room. He gave her a deep, erotic kiss that had her gasping in surprise. He pulled back and stared into her gorgeous eyes. “I’m going to worship you from your head on down to your toes and then I’m going to make my way back up to the top again, stopping everywhere along the way.”

Her mouth formed a perfect “o.” “If you want,” she said in a soft, breathy voice.

Damn, she was cute. “I want.” For a brief second, he pressed his lips into her hair, breathing in her scent. Then he pulled back before he did things to her in the hallway he shouldn’t.

By all accounts, he should be sleeping right now. He should be at the very least tired, but he wasn’t. He felt wired, wide awake, extremely alert. Opening the door, he held it against the wall so she could pass into the room. The room was cool, hushed. Avery shivered. “Do you want me to turn the air down?” he asked.

She nodded, and he could see that she was nervous. Rubbing her arms together, she avoided his gaze, glancing around the room. There was a big king-size bed and a desk in the corner. She took her purse off over her head and dropped it onto the desk. “I guess I should take a shower,” she said, sitting down in the desk chair and bending over to start to tug at her cowboy boots.

“If you want.” To him that seemed like an avoidance tactic. Like she was delaying the eventuality, and that made him concerned she didn’t really want him there. He found the thermostat and turned the temperature up. “Or you could wait and take one in a little while.”

“I mean, you’re not going to want to… do things unless I’m clean.”

Shane sat on the bed across from her and bent forward, his arms on his thighs, so he could study her. There was color in her cheeks but she wasn’t looking at him. “That doesn’t matter to me.”

It didn’t. He wasn’t offended by the natural scent of a woman’s body. It was sensual to him. He didn’t mind fresh from the shower either, obviously, but he actually didn’t like lotions and body washes. “A pussy isn’t supposed to smell like gardenias. It’s supposed to smell like a woman. Like sweet arousal. Like sex. Like skin and dampness. But I don’t want her to be uncomfortable. Whatever you need.”

He did want to at least feel her body up against him before she disappeared into the shower. And before she took those boots off. He was having sexy thoughts about those boots on his shoulders while he sank into her warm heat. So he put his hands on her knees, startling her. When she glanced up at him in question, he spread her knees apart, pulling the rolling chair towards him. Her dress rose on her thighs and he caressed her knees, her thighs, studying her face, committing it to memory.

He wanted to remember this. All of her.

He closed the distance between them and kissed her softly, teasingly, flicking his tongue over her bottom lip.

Avery briefly tried to close her legs, but his feet and knees prevented it. Then she drew a deep breath and nodded, like she was convincing herself. He eased his grip on her thighs. She was breathing rapidly, her chest rising up and down.

“Do I make you uncomfortable?” he murmured, sliding his lips down her jaw, into her neck, until he reached the collar of her dress. He moved back up again, so that he could kiss her mouth.

“No, that’s not it. I want this. I want you.” She opened her palm onto his chest, like she was putting a barrier between them.

He understood that. This was an unusual role for him. He had to be both the leader and the follower. “You’re nervous?”

She nodded. “I have been with Ben for eight years, like I said before.” Then she made a face. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to talk about him. But I can’t help it. I don’t know how to act.”

It was a challenge, one he was determined to rise to. He wasn’t going to fail her. But the question of how to relax her was a new one. Normally, the women he went to bed with were eager, experienced, ready to get down with the get down. He cast his thoughts back to high school, to being seventeen and gently coaxing Rhodie Masters into letting him get her naked. How had he calmed those nerves?

He had held her in his arms. Made her feel special.

Lots of women had thought they wanted and needed his company but he had been a whole lot of nothing to them. An hour of pleasant body rubbing, nothing more. Avery’s need was deeper, more emotional. It wasn’t just physical. She wanted validation, a companion in the dark lonely room. She needed to feel sexy. Which she was. Damn it all to hell, she was sexy.

“You just need to be yourself. Because you’re pretty fucking amazing.”

Then he did something that was usually never a part of his repertoire. He reached out and tugged Avery over onto his lap. She didn’t resist, and she settled onto his thighs easily, lithe and in a whisper of white lace. Her hair fell forward and she shook it back as she wrapped her arms around his neck for balance. An ache he didn’t understand formed a tight fist in his chest and he kissed her. He kissed her from that place of need, from the realization that she wasn’t the only one who needed this. That maybe he had spent too long keeping people distant. He was craving an authentic connection, however brief.

He never let himself feel anything.

And tonight, here, with this slip of a girl, who was both sweet and strong, he wanted to feel something.

Avery sighed, her mouth opening for his tongue. He swept it over hers, tasting her, before pulling back. Their lips fit together easily, without awkwardness, and he pressed his to hers over and over, enjoying the slow pace, the sweetness of it. There was nothing heavy about her, and he liked the sensation of her small tight ass resting lightly on him and the way her breasts occasionally brushed against his chest.

Shane thought about what would be the right words to say to Avery, but then he decided she didn’t need words. She wouldn’t want words. What could he say to her? He could tell her she was beautiful again, but she’d probably protest. He could offer compliments about her body, announce how or why he wanted her, but that was for women who were flirts. Or for a woman who was his. He and Avery were borrowing each other, indulging in intimacy they clearly both needed and he didn’t want to come off as trite or as the guy tossing out canned lines.

So he said nothing. He just kissed her again and again, until she lost the stiffness in her shoulders. Until she sighed in contentment and shifted closer to him. Until her fingers crawled up his neck and gripped the back of his head, like she wanted to ensure he didn’t escape. She felt amazing in his hold, every touch further sparking the desire he felt. There was nothing planned or rehearsed. He just kept rolling with what felt right, and just keeping her there, on his lap, while he worshiped her lips, was what made the most sense to him.

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