She was propped up against the pillows on the bed, wearing that leather jacket, those heels . . . and nothing else. He unbuckled his belt.
“I thought I told you not to move?” he asked her as he approached the bed.
She nodded, her fingers zipping and unzipping the jacket like he’d done earlier.
“It’s true. You did tell me that. But you also told me you wanted to see me in this jacket and nothing else. Do you want me to put my clothes back on?”
He dropped his pants to the floor and stepped out of them, kicking off his shoes in the process.
“Over my dead body.” He crawled onto the bed and straddled her. He grabbed her hands and pulled them away from that zipper. She watched him play with it for a while, as her hands ran up and down his body. Then, without any warning, she pulled off his tie and threw it onto the floor.
“I’ve been wanting to do that all night.”
He unzipped the jacket all the way, rolled over, and pulled her on top of him. She sighed and leaned against his chest. He loved the way she always relaxed into his arms whenever he touched her. Even at the bar, when they hadn’t seen each other for two weeks and he knew she was mad at him, as soon as he’d pulled her against him, her body had molded to his.
“I missed this,” she said.
He turned them both over so he was on top of her again and kissed her in that hollow between her breasts that he loved so much.
“Did you miss this? Or did you miss . . . me?”
She opened her eyes and held his gaze for a long moment.
“Both.”
He smiled.
“That’s what I wanted you to tell me.”
“You have too many clothes on.” Alexa unbuttoned his shirt all the way. He pulled it and his undershirt off and threw them across the room.
“I was in too much of a hurry to take them all off,” he said.
She pushed him onto his back and enjoyed the sensation of the warm, firm skin of his chest under her fingers. It wasn’t like she’d forgotten how much she liked having sex with him—that was impossible to forget. But somehow, she’d forgotten how free she felt with him. How she could relax enough to lie naked on his bed in only a leather jacket and high heels and wait for him. She’d never been this confident with anyone else.
“Drew?” She paused as her hand ventured lower on his body. “You do have condoms, don’t you?”
He grinned without opening his eyes.
“The same box I bought the last time I was in a hotel room in San Francisco with you. I didn’t take it out of my bag.” He opened his eyes. “Why, is there something else you’ve been missing?”
She caressed his hips, and he closed his eyes again.
“Mmmmhmmmm,” she said.
“Are you going to tell me what that is, or am I going to have to guess?”
“Hmmm, I think you should guess. But be quick about it. I’ve been missing . . . it so much. Everything feels so . . .” She rubbed his chest again, up and down, and stopped just at the base of his stomach. “So sensitive. I feel like I’m going to explode for needing . . . it.”
When he opened his eyes, the need on his face almost pushed her back against the bed. He jumped off the bed and dove for his luggage, coming up a few seconds later with a triumphant look on his face and a box of condoms.
“Oh, I have a guess.” He dropped the box on the nightstand and tore open a condom packet as he stood next to the bed and looked at her. “I’m going to guess over and over again. All night long and most of the day tomorrow. We have to make up for lost time.”
The next morning, Alexa sat back against the plush pillows of the hotel bed and watched him pour coffee from the room service carafe into her mug. He added one sugar and handed it to her before pouring his own.
She beamed down at her mug. She couldn’t help it. He remembered how she took her coffee. She cupped her hands around the mug and let the warmth spread through her body.
He got in bed next to her and pulled the basket of pastries up to join them.
“One of the best things about hotels,” he said, “is that you can get crumbs in the bed without worrying about it. I know it’s no doughnut, but do you want the bear claw?”
He turned toward her halfway through his raspberry Danish.
“Hey, what’s going on with your program for teenagers? The arts thing?”
She paused midway through pouring herself more coffee to smile at him. Wow, did it feel good for him to care enough to ask about that.
“I’m cautiously optimistic. The goal is to get it on the city council calendar for mid-July. Keep your fingers crossed.”
He tore the top off the blueberry muffin and offered her half.
“Great, will do.” He held up two crossed fingers and poured her more coffee.
“I saw Abby and Jack the other day, by the way. She told me about how much you’re helping them. Thanks for that.” He leaned over to kiss her. His lips were sprinkled with sugar. Perfect.
“When do we have to be out of here?” She looked around him to the clock radio on the bedside table. “It’s almost ten. Wait, when’s your flight?”
“Twelve thirty, but I can change it, like I . . .” His voice trailed away as he turned away from her to pick up his phone. “I can change to the flight at eight tonight?”
“Yeah, that works.” She was glad he looked back down at his phone and couldn’t see how wide her smile was.
He moved the pastry basket to the foot of the bed and put his arm around her.
“Last night . . . you didn’t say whether you were sleeping with anyone else.”
“Oh.” She hadn’t expected him to bring this up again. And her whole “don’t overthink it” motto certainly wouldn’t have let her do it. “No, I’m not.”
“Good.” He smiled and leaned down to kiss her, but she pulled away. Now that he had brought it up . . .
“I don’t want this to be . . . but when you said you weren’t sleeping with anyone else, did you mean . . . I know you meant the ‘not at the moment’ thing as a joke, but—”
He kissed her cheek and pulled her against him.
“What I mean by that is that you’re the only person I’ve slept with since I met you in that elevator, and that as long as we’re doing this thing, that will remain the case. Okay?”
“As long as we’re doing this thing” rang in her ears. She knew it meant there was a time limit on their relationship, such as it was. But she didn’t want to push this conversation too far; she didn’t want to fight with him and spoil it all again, so she buried those misgivings.
She rested her head on his shoulder.
“Okay.”
He lifted his hand to her cheek and rested it there for a moment before turning her toward him for a long, slow kiss.
“Now, let’s make good use of our last hour of this hotel room, shall we?”
When Alexa got in Drew’s car at LAX the following Saturday morning, he kissed her for so long that airport security banged on his window to move him along. Oops.
“How was the event last night?” he said when he finally drove away from the curb. The mayor had had a big charity event the night before, so Alexa couldn’t fly down until Saturday morning. Drew was on call that night, so he couldn’t fly up.
“It went well, I think. I haven’t had a chance to check to see what the press said about it. I crashed when I got home, and the Wi-Fi was broken on the plane.” She settled against the seat and grinned at him. “Is one of those coffee cups for me?”
He lifted the coffee he’d gotten her out of the cup holder and handed it to her.
“The drive from the coffee shop to the airport should have cooled it down enough for your delicate tongue.”
She lifted the coffee halfway up, paused, and opened her mouth. He laughed.
“I love that you’re going to make that joke, but I just meant you’re always complaining about coffee being too hot.”
She smirked and put her purse on the floor in front of her before she took a sip. Then she looked up at him.
“Hey, Drew?”
He fought back a smile. He knew what was coming.
“Hey, Alexa?”
“What’s in this bag right here?” she asked, pointing to the waxy paper bag at her feet. They both knew what was inside.
He didn’t fight his smile anymore.
“Why don’t you open it up and see?”
“Doughnuts! And they’re still warm? How did you manage that? You’re my hero.” She’d bitten into one almost before she finished that sentence. He looked over to see pure bliss on her face and grinned. The only other time her face looked like that was right after sex. Maybe he needed to work to keep that look on her face more often.
Thank God for that conference. He was so glad this woman was back in his life.
On the way back to his apartment, they drove by the Santa Monica Pier.
“I haven’t been there since I was a kid,” she said. “It was always so fun.”
An SUV pulled out of a parking spot ahead of him, and he made a snap decision.
“No time like the present.” He reversed into the spot and grabbed her hand. “Let’s go.”
When they got back to his apartment, they were both giddy, sunburned, and exhausted. They’d ridden the rides, played arcade games, eaten too much, and laughed even more. They’d even goaded each other into temporary tattoos—she’d gotten a flower on her cheek; he’d gotten an anchor on his bicep. Before they’d come back to his apartment, she’d made him run down into the water with her and shrieked when he splashed her.
They dropped down onto his couch as soon as they walked in the door. She leaned her head against his shoulder, and he pulled her tighter against him. She curled her legs up on the couch so that her body was tucked against his. He wanted to drag her into the bedroom for a long afternoon sex session, or even just have her here on the couch again. But right now they were so comfortable. He’d wait just a few minutes.