Page 15 of A Lucky Shot

If he wasn’t such an obvious player, she’d wish he lived in Calgary. And that was her problem. This was a hookup. A raging hot, explosive hookup. Nothing more. She was leaving town tomorrow.

They’d kissed when they first explored each other, but that, as he’d said, was testing the waters. Now it would cross a line into real intimacy. Casual and done. That was how this worked.

Her heart rate still raced, her skin rubbed raw, and if she had to guess, her hair was tousled into an outrageous mess. The sheet stuck to her skin as she lifted to her elbows, and she blew a strand out of her eyes with a grin. “I guess I should be going.”

His eyelids peeled open, smile still in place. “Or you could stay. There’s a great diner down the street for breakfast.”

The offer sounded genuine, but dealing with the awkwardness of morning breath, toilet noises, and the deeper intimacy of sharing a bed? So many chances to make the night less than perfect, and every minute she stayed was giving her heart a chance to build scenarios in her head that wouldn’t amount to anything. Late nights watching movies, later mornings lazing in bed. Lingering kisses over light bondage …

She shook her head. The last thing she needed was another man she couldn’t have taking up space in her thoughts.

“Want to shower first?” His eyes raked over her breasts, where traces of him lingered on her skin. “Think I might have missed a spot. I’ve got the fancy shit. I’ll give you the best body scrub of your life.”

The thought of him slicking soap over her nipples while he dragged his teeth over her neck and his cock hard in her hand sent a fresh rush of heat between her aching thighs. Why am I saying no to this?

Right. Player. Who knew the game, far better than she ever would. She steeled her resolve. “I really should get back.”

“You got something on the stove or something?”

Cass giggled into her folded arms. “My friends and I have early morning plans,” she said awkwardly—which was mostly true—then gave a genuine smile. “But this was really, really fantastic.”

“It was fantastic a few times,” he replied. He pulled on a pair of sweats and handed her phone to her, reciting his number. “Call me the next time you’re in town. I know some theatres with less shitty light and sound we can check out. Maybe I’ll be lucky enough to run into you again one day.”

Being in two different cities, it didn’t seem likely, but it was the polite thing to say. She kept her head down as she plugged his number into her phone. “Maybe you will.”

She dressed quickly as she could without making it look like she was trying to escape. At the last second, she looked down to see the exposed seams of her inside-out underwear, and bit back another giggle.

“Ride’s on its way. Silver Tesla,” Josh said, closing the app. He walked her backwards until her butt hit the door frame. “Now, what could we do for the next five minutes?”

Take off all my clothes again so I can put my panties on right-side-out? And once her clothes were off, all bets would be, too. Cass tipped her head to the side to give him better access to the ear he was taking nips out of, and let her hands slide under the band of his sweatpants to explore the dimples at the base of his spine. Of course, he had sexy dimples everywhere, and she reluctantly withdrew her fingers before she let herself get carried away. “I’m going downstairs to pull myself together, so I don’t grin like a fool the whole way back to the hotel.”

His musk enveloped her one more time as he covered her mouth with a lingering kiss. “Text me when you get there,” he whispered against her lips, “and call me if your plans change tomorrow.”

Cass pulled back before her heart could override her brain and she agreed to anything he lay out in front of her. Including himself. “Okay.”

In the Uber, she did her best to ignore the fact that the driver was probably thinking Cass had been doing exactly what it looked like she’d been doing: her curls in wild disarray, her lips swollen and smiling, looking just a little wicked. Sated and undone and thinking about herself first, for once.

Look at me go!

Her room key hadn’t pulled its usual trick of demagnetizing in her purse, and the hotel room door flashed green. The lock snicked open louder than it needed to, and the bedside light flicked on as Cass tiptoed into the room. Libby sprawled on the pull out couch in her usual dead-to-the-world slumber with her hair obscuring half her face. Jill was already leaning back from turning on the light, squinting at her through sleep-crusted eyes.

“I thought you’d be back in the morning. Is everything okay?”

Cass did a little scream into her hands. “If multiple orgasms with a smoking hot guy who is generous with his compliments is okay, then yeah, I’m okay.”

“Hell, yeah,” Libby yawned, rousing herself awake. “Didn’t really deviate from your type, though, did you?”

“What do you mean, my type?”

“Hot, dark hair, and a where-did-my-panties-go smile?” Libby said. “Sound like anyone we know?”

Jill raised a wary eyebrow but said nothing.

“Everyone likes hot, and lots of people liked dark hair. And who could resist smiles like that?” He was the last person she wanted to think about. Not when she just had an amazing time with Josh, who paid attention to her instead of the other women around them.“Anyway,” she continued, evading the dangerous territory, “that was fun. I’m a wreck, and I need to sleep.”

“Oh no, you are not getting off that easy.” Libby pressed on. “Did you get his number? Did he ask for yours?”

“Not sure if you noticed, but Sexy Dimples and I live in different cities.”

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