Page 17 of Naughty and Nice

Liza’s gaze drifted to the hallway, relieved to discover it empty. Otherwise, someone would have gotten an eyeful of her dry-humping Matt Russo’s leg.

Looking up, she realized they’d taken the elevator all the way to the top.

“I missed my floor,” she said, suddenly struggling to face him.

Matt didn’t reply. Instead, he stepped off the elevator, stopping just outside the door. When it started to close, he slammed his hand against it, holding it open.

“Have a drink with me.”

Liza was shaking her head before he even finished issuing the invitation. “No,” she said, forcing herself to look him in the eye. “We both know if I walk into that room with you, it won’t end with a drink.”

He didn’t bother to consider that, replying instantly. “You’re right. It won’t.”

“That would be insane.”

“Why?”

She narrowed her eyes. “You know why.”

“It’s the holidays, Ms. Moretti. A time when people loosen the reins.”

She had to get a grip, had to find solid ground again. As it was, she was teetering precariously on shifting sands and one wrong move was going to have her tumbling to her ass. “Now isn’t the time to lower my guard. Santa is watching,” she said, hoping humor might cut through the sexual fog threatening to suffocate her.

“I have no interest in those on the nice list.”

“But you’re interested in me?”

“I am,” he replied.

“Are you insinuating I’m naughty?”

Matt shifted closer, pushing a piece of hair that had fallen into her eyes away from her face, tucking it behind her ear. “There was very little insinuation in that statement.”

“This is a mistake,” she whispered.

“Do it anyway.” Matt hit her with that dark, demanding voice that ensured her pussy would win the battle over her brain.

She stood there, her feet rooted to the floor, searching for a way to do the right thing.

In the end, she realized she didn’t want to do the right thing, so she made the monumental mistake of stepping off the elevator and following Matt down the hall to the door of his room.

He lifted the key card, but she took a page from his book, gripping his wrist to stop him.

“Just a drink,” she said, in one last weakhearted attempt to put the brakes on this runaway train.

Matt didn’t even bother to respond to what they both knew was a lie. Not with a nod or a shake of his head. Instead, he tugged his wrist free and unlocked the door.

Stepping aside, he allowed her to walk in first.

Liza’s eyes widened as she took in the sheer opulence of the room, catching sight of the Philadelphia nighttime cityscape through the window. “So this is how the other half lives?”

“I’m not sure half is accurate, considering I’m in the one-percent.”

She shot him a dirty look over her shoulder. “That’s probably not something to brag about.”

Matt’s lips tipped up in something that could almost be considered a smile. She was making progress.

She walked to the window, anxious to put some distance between them by pretending to look down on the city below, even though she was hyperaware of his presence.

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