Page 12 of 5 Golden Flings

“Any time.” The friend winked at Nova before heading out the door with the others.

She lifted her brows at Hatch. “He thinks you’re going with me.”

“I am. No way am I letting you drive to town at this time of night by yourself. I’ll follow you.”

“I won’t invite you in,” she warned. “I don’t do casual sex, never have.”

He paused, then gave her a burning look. “There’s a first time for everything, but I won’t push. You’re running this show.”

She clenched her legs together, reveling in the rush of pure lust. She was honest with herself; she wanted to invite him into her motel room. She wanted to spend long hours skin to skin with him — but not in her immediate future. Tonight she intended to sleep alone, because she had a lot of think about.

CHAPTER 6

The headlightsof his truck stayed right behind her all the way to town. Having him there was nice, beyond nice. Despite her precautions, driving an unfamiliar, almost completely deserted road at this time of night wasn’t on her list of things she felt comfortable doing. She wondered if men ever thought of things like that and made a mental note to ask him.

During part of the way she didn’t have cell service but when she did the navigation app confirmed she was still on the correct route, not that there had been many opportunities to stray from it. The lights of the small town glowed in the distance and soon she was there, in a place with streetlights on the corners, some worn Christmas decorations at the intersections, decorated trees occasionally shining in windows. She followed the nav app instructions to a small but decent-looking two-story motel. After pulling under the portico in front of the office entrance she got out and waved goodbye to Hatch, but wasn’t the least surprised when he pulled into a parking slot and turned off his engine.

Briskly she walked inside, checked in, got her room, electronic key card, instructions on the location of vending and ice machines, and was out in five minutes. Hatch was in thepassenger seat of her SUV, checking his phone. Nova briefly checked her stride, then circled around to the drivers side and got in.

“Let me see your phone,” he said, his tone brooking no argument, and pulled it from the slip pocket on her bag before she could get it out herself. She rolled her eyes and pulled around to the back side of the motel where her ground floor room was located. He was swiping and tapping on her phone and she knew exactly what he was doing.

“You do know I can erase your number, eliminate you from my contacts list — everything, don’t you?” she asked in amusement.

“Don’t,” he replied, sliding the phone back into the slip pocket and holding out his hand. “Let me check your room before you get out.”

He was in full protective mode. She passed over the key card, appreciative of his male instincts and thanking God for the opportunity that had been given to her. She had embarked on this adventure not expecting fireworks but then Hatch had walked through the barroom door and her blood hadn’t stopped sizzling since that moment.

She watched him open the door, turn on the lights, make a fast but thorough check of the room before returning to get her suitcase from the back of the SUV and carry it in for her.

“The bathroom window was unlocked,” he said as he deposited the suitcase on the bed. “Now it isn’t.”

“Thank you.”

He tossed the key card on the bed, said, “Unfinished business,” and wrapped one strong arm around her waist, pulling her hard against him.

Coming home. It felt like coming home, combined with a flare of heat that engulfed her. Instinctively she went up on her tiptoes, twining her arms around his neck and meeting himhalfway as he lowered his head and their mouths met, shaped together, clung. He kissed her with tongue and lips and a fierce, hungry power. She countered with her own power and need, her tongue stroking his, her fingers sliding through his hair as the hot scent of his skin enticed her to let him do whatever he wanted, for as long as he wanted.

Her nipples had tightened; could he feel them through the layers of fabric between them? She could feel his erection, growing and pushing hard at the juncture of her thighs. He’d lifted her off her feet — when had that happened? She didn’t know and didn’t care. Her instinct was to wrap her legs around him and pull him in tight before they fell onto the bed.

Yes, he was definitely kissing her stupid, and she was enjoying every second of it.

Still.

“Not tonight,” she murmured. “There’s a lot to think about, before jumping into bed.”

“Jump first, think later,” he muttered against her neck as he strung a line of light bites down to where her pulse hammered in the soft hollow of her throat.

“You said —” She broke off, gasped; his hand was suddenly between her legs, squeezing in a way she found unutterably arousing. “No pushing,” she managed. “My decision.”

The string of curse words he uttered would have done a sailor proud but the effect was muted by the way he interspersed each word with a kiss on any portion of her skin he could reach. He lifted her enough to bend her back over his arm and clamp his mouth over her left nipple, heat and moisture searing through her tunic and thin bra. A thin, humming sound broke from her throat and for a long moment she teetered on the edge of consent, but she forced herself to take a deep breath, then another as she tried to find the steel that was supposed to be in her spine.

“No.”

The single word was all she could manage, and she hoped it would be enough because she wasn’t certain she could say it twice. She wanted him, wanted him with every fiber of her aroused body. The rather mundane day had produced magic, the magic of emotional and physical connection that she didn’t want to ever end.

He released her nipple, moved his mouth to her throat. Without the heat of his mouth the chill penetrated her wet tunic, and at that moment she realized the door was still open. She yelped, gave a brief struggle that ended with him setting her on her feet with a thud, and she blurted, “The door’s open.”

He looked a bit dazed as he lifted his head and stared at the door, as if he couldn’t imagine how it came to be open. A pickup truck drove slowly by, maybe a late check-in looking for the correct room just as she had done. “Why’d you leave it open?”

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