Page 24 of Faking It at Sea

I slammed a hand against the elevator wall to keep from crushing her against it, but she grabbed my belt and yanked me closer. My cock had been aching for her all night, and with that one move, my control slipped. I pressed against her, pinning her to the polished surface.

The pressure between our bodies was enough to drag a groan from me, and I forced myself to ease back. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing to me?” I rasped.

She answered by looping her hand around the back of my neck and pulling me down into another kiss.

Goddamn, she was all kinds of trouble.

I slipped my knee between June’s legs, giving her hot center a point of friction as I ground my painfully hard cock against her. She moaned into the kiss, and the sound slammed into me with the force of a pickup truck.

Everything she did—every little roll of her hips, every sound—dialed the flames inside me higher, and I couldn’t get enough.

Then, in some distant place that could have been a thousand miles away for all I cared, the muted ding of the elevator let us know we’d reached her floor.

No.I growled the word in my mind. My grip on her tightened. It was too soon. I wasn’t ready for this moment to end. At least, not until a throat cleared behind me, and June turned to stone in my arms.

Shit.

I eased back an inch and helped her straighten her dress. Crimson rushed up her neck and cheeks, and if she hadn’t looked so mortified, I might have laughed at how adorable she was when she blushed.

Instead, I took her hand and turned, putting myself between her and the older couple waiting patiently for us to clear out of the elevator.

9

JUNE

I’ve been embarrassed before. Plenty of times. But this was different.

Sutton was...

My brain refused to latch onto the word I was looking for because all I could focus on was the way my neck and cheeks and ears burned.

The kiss was a mistake. Maybe not the one at the party. That one at least sent a clear message to our friends. It also made my pulse race.

I’d wanted more, and when it came time to leave the party, I’d given in to the desire swirling inside me. A fact that only added to my chagrin.

With the older couple gone, I shrugged out from under Sutton’s arm and turned to face him, but it took me a couple tries to look him in the eyes. When I finally opened my mouth to say something—anything—nothing came out.

“Hey,” he soothed, reaching out for me. “We have nothing to be embarrassed about.”

I backed away before his fingertips could so much as brush my arm. If I let him touch me again, I wasn’t sure I was strongenough to stop myself. And the way I’d behaved... that wasn’t me.

My life was organized and controlled. I had plans and systems that I stuck to. What I didn’t do was give into the urge to kiss a man I’d known for all of a day. Though, calling what just happened on the elevator a “kiss” didn’t even scratch the surface.

When I was in his orbit, there was no fighting his pull.

It was a frightening realization, but what really scared me was how much I didn’t want to fight it. I wanted his kiss and his heat and—heaven save me—that delicious friction.

If we hadn’t been interrupted by the couple with the knowing smiles, we might have groped and stumbled our way back to the suite Missy and I shared. Never mind that we’d made a deal not to bring guys back to our rooms. My brain was making decisions like I was tipsy, reckless and wanton, but I’d only had a few sips of alcohol all night. So, I couldn’t even use that as an excuse.

No, the problem was definitely Sutton and my reaction to him. My attraction to him.

I smoothed my skirt and eased back another step.

“June?” Even his damned voice had a visceral effect on me, making me burn in ways I wasn’t ready to explore.

What the hell was I thinking coaxing him onto the elevator with me?

I forced myself to look up at him again and shook my head. “I should go.”

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