“Oh, you definitely have a room!” The desk clerk reached for an envelope. “Here’s the key.” Then he glanced at Zach. “The room should work out fine, at least temporarily. With the top floor out of commission, we had to do a little squeezing.” He chuckled, as if that was a huge joke.
“All right.” Hannah took the envelope, which had the room number written on it. “Twenty-five B? Where is that, exactly?”
“It’s one of our few basement rooms. Quite charming, really. There may be some slight noise from the furnace units, but on the whole, it’s very quiet. No hallway noise, which is such a bother in the rest of the hotel.”
“Um…” Hannah looked over at Zach. “Are you okay with that?”
He was trying hard not to laugh, because he wasn’t sure if she thought this was funny. Now that he’d decided to risk his whole future on one night with her, everything seemed funny. “I never liked hallway noise,” he said, trying to keep a straight face.
“Then let’s go take a look at it.” She picked up the envelope with the key and started toward the elevator. “I am so embarrassed,” she said once they were out of earshot of the desk clerk.
“Don’t be.” Zach put his arm around her shoulders. “Suite, schmeet. Who cares what kind of room it is?” But he had to admit he was curious about this basement deal.
“I’m not embarrassed about the room.” She pushed the elevator button and the doors slid open. “I’m sorry we don’t have the suite, but if they had pest issues, I’m just as glad we’re not up there.”
“Me, too.” He stepped into the elevator with her. “I hate to think what would cause them to seal off an entire floor.”
“I just wish I’d known in advance, that’s all.” She punched a button marked B.
“Yeah, I’m sure you don’t want them manhandling your stuff.”
“You don’t know the half of it.” Her cheeks had turned pink again.
“Oh?” As the elevator descended, he massaged the back of her neck. “Gonna tell me about it?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Then I might have to kiss it out of you.” As he leaned down to try that technique, the elevator thumped to a stop and the doors opened.
“Greetings!” A short, stocky man in a gray maintenance uniform stood beside the elevator. “You folks lost?”
Hannah stepped out of the elevator and held up her envelope. “We’re looking for 25B.”
“With any luck we’ll have to take a secret passageway and use pitch-soaked torches,” Zach said.
The maintenance guy laughed. “Not quite. Go all the way to the end of that hallway. You’ll find it.” He got into the elevator and the doors closed.
“Alone at last.” Zach reached for Hannah. Yes, he should probably use some restraint and wait until they were inside the room, but his lust had been building for two solid days. “I need to kiss you.”
“Here?” Smiling, she dropped the key into her purse and wound both arms around his neck, letting her purse dangle over his shoulder.
“Right here.” And he backed her up against the wall beside the elevator. “Right now.”
“This place reminds me of a dungeon. It echoes.”
“Yeah.” He wanted her so much he could barely see straight. “Kinky, isn’t it?” Then he kissed her with all the longing he’d kept bottled up, all the passion he’d tried to deny as he’d been making his rational decision not to do this.
But he was so doing this. He was going to taste, touch and enjoy all that was Hannah Robertson, starting with her incredible mouth. The dank scent of the basement made everything seem forbidden and exciting. From the way she moaned as he thrust his tongue deep, he thought she might be experiencing the same thrill of breaking some unspoken rule.
So much woman, so little time. He hadn’t really meant to unzip her dress, but when she arched against him, he slipped his hand up her back. And darned if there wasn’t a metal tab right there just asking to be pulled down.
As the zipper gave way, she wrenched her mouth from his. She was breathing hard. “Should you…do that?”
His voice was thick. “I have to.”
“Okay.” Then she went right back to kissing him, her mouth even more hot, more wet.
He managed to pull the top half of her dress down, but only after she dropped her purse with a loud clank to the cement floor. She’d had tuna in there, no doubt. But once he cupped the lace of her bra, he forgot all about the tuna.
With one flick of his wrist he opened the front catch and pushed the material aside. She quivered and gasped against his mouth. With a groan he filled both hands with her plump, silky breasts. To think he’d ever questioned whether she would be worth it.
Lifting his head, he gazed into her eyes as he ran his thumbs over her nipples.
She licked her lips and her eyes darkened until they were almost black. “This is crazy. We have…a room right…down the hall.”
“It seems miles away.”
“I know.” She dragged in a breath, making her breasts shimmy in his hands.
“And I want…this.” Crouching, he closed his mouth over one turgid nipple. As he sucked, his erection pressed urgently against the restriction of his suddenly too-tight slacks.
She whimpered. “That feels so good.”
That was all he needed to hear. Kissing his way back to her mouth, he tasted its sweetness one more time before sliding his lips close to her ear. “I’m taking your dress off.”
She shivered against him. “Someone might come.”
“Uh-huh. You.”
She inhaled sharply. “I meant-”
“I know what you meant.” He worked her dress over her hips and let it fall to the floor. “No one will.” He peppered her face with kisses. “We’ve been banished to the basement.”
“You’re a wildman.”
“If you don’t want this, then tell me no.” He cupped her face in one hand and slipped the other one inside her panties. Her very wet panties.
She looked into his eyes. “Yes,” she whispered.
“I thought so.” Threading his fingers slowly through the curls covering her secrets, he watched as languid surrender relaxed her features and brought a wanton glow to her eyes. He’d thought she was beautiful before, but now…now there were no words to describe how she affected him.
He wanted to give her everything, starting with a mind-shattering orgasm. As he found the right spot and caressed her there, she closed her eyes and leaned her head against the wall.
“I feel shameless,” she murmured.
“Good.” He slid his fingers in deep, exulting in how ready she was. He had condoms. They could do it up against the wall.
No. When that moment came, he wanted to be horizontal, braced to take his time and draw out the pleasure. This was about spontaneous combustion. The next time he would light the match slowly and tease the flame until he’d created a roaring fire.
He stroked her gently at first, loving the way her labored breathing made her breasts quiver. Leaning down, he kissed the point right below where her necklace nestled. Then he nibbled his way to one erect nipple, all the while coaxing her higher with the rhythm of his fingers and the insistent pressure of his thumb.
She moaned and thrust her hips forward. He nipped at her breast and increased the speed of his probing fingers. She was so wet, so very wet. He sensed that it wouldn’t take much… On an impulse he sucked hard on her nipple and pressed upward with his fingertips. She came in a rush, gasping and bucking against his hand.
Her cries were suddenly drowned out by a giant boom that bellowed around them, as if the basement had exploded right along with Hannah. Her eyes flew open and she struggled to speak. “What…?” She gulped.
“I don’t know.” With his fingers still buried in her moist heat, while he was still registering the contractions of her climax, he tried to get his bearings. Somewhere nearby a giant motor churned away, and at last his passion- fogged brain figured it out. “The furnace.”
“The furnace?” She looked at him in dazed incomprehension.
