Page 81 of Where There's Smoke

Inclining his head a little, he said, “Anything I can do to help?”

Just stay calm, Anthony. Please, please, stay calm.

“No, it’s okay.” I glanced around the room. “Just…kind of difficult to focus with…” I gestured at the crowd.

“Hmm. Yeah. I can understand that.” He faced the gathered staff and supporters. “All right, everyone out. I need to run through some things with our future governor to make sure he wins this debate, and we need a little peace and quiet.”

I closed my eyes and exhaled, not sure what relieved me more: the fact that everyone would be out of this room in no time, or the fact that Anthony had taken charge. I rested my hands on one of the dressers and closed my eyes, listening to everyone shuffling past me and out of the room.

Theclickof the door silenced the remaining noise of the mini mob, and I pushed out a breath.

“Thank.God.”

“Well,” Anthony said, “you don’t have to call methat.”

I laughed, and damn if that didn’t get the air moving. “That shouldn’t surprise me, coming from you.”

“Hey, you said it, not me.” Anthony laughed softly, but when our eyes met in the mirror, my nerves came back. He stepped up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. His lips brushed my neck as he whispered, “Relax. You’ll do fine. You were born for this, Jesse.” He kissed beneath my ear. “Casey doesn’t stand a chance.”

Closing my eyes, I put my hands over his. I wanted to tell him that was easy for him to say and we’d see what happened and all of that, but his warm breath on my neck brought an entirely different set of words to the tip of my tongue.Debate? Casey? What?As Anthony drew me closer and his hardening cock pressed against me, I didn’t have to ask if his mind had gone down the same road.

Hotter breath on my skin told me his lips were close, and I tilted my head, exposing as much flesh as possible a second before he touched me. He kissed just above my collar. Then a little higher. I opened my eyes, watching his reflection as he moved from one long, soft kiss to the next, his eyes closed and brow furrowed like his entire existence was concentrated on those moments of warm contact.

Then he paused, lips still against my neck, and exhaled hard. His shoulders sank. His eyes stayed closed. His arms loosened just slightly around me, and I realized the breath he’d released was one of resignation. When his lips lifted off my skin, the words that followed were no surprise:

“Damn it, this isn’t… This is such a bad time to do this.

“We’re not doing anything.” I tightened my grasp on his hands just enough to counter his reluctance.

“Yet.” His eyes met mine in the mirror, but he didn’t pull away. Not completely, anyway. “God, Jesse, I want to…”

I moistened my lips. “We have time.”

“Not enough.”

“I’ll take what I can get.”

He growled—groaned, maybe—against my neck, and used a shiver as an excuse to pull me closer. “You don’t even know how tempting it is.”

“I do.” I reached back and ran my fingers through his hair, closing my eyes as he kissed beneath my ear. “I know exactly how tempting it is.”

“We shouldn’t…” He trailed off and kissed my neck again as his fingers laced between mine across my stomach.

“We always shouldn’t do this,” I breathed, startling at the sound of my own voice. “But I want you to fuck me. Please, Anthony.”

“Rest assured,” he murmured between gentle kisses and warm breaths across my skin, “that I have every intention of fucking you again, but not until we have the time and privacy to do it right.”

I shivered. “You make it sound so easy to not do anything now.”

“Easy? Oh, I promise you, it’s anything but easy. I want…” His voice fell to a sigh, and he pressed his lips to the side of my neck.

“We’re alone in a hotel room.” I closed my eyes and licked my lips. “I have condoms with me.”

“Do you, now?” He dragged his lips along the side of my neck, working his way up to my jaw, and another shiver pressed his body against mine.

“Yes. I do.”

He raised his head, and I opened my eyes, meeting his in the mirror. Then I turned around in his arms, facing him instead of his reflection.

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