Stepping out of the bathroom, I found Walker already dressed. His hair was damp, clearly from a shower. “Okay, how’d you pull that off?” I asked, resting a hand on my hip as I gave him a once-over.
Walker in a suit was downright dangerous. I was going to need a fan. Heat licked over my skin and my pulse took off. He wore a charcoal gray suit, which merely served to set off his silver smoke eyes. At the moment, his crisp white shirt was open at the collar. He glanced over, casting me a quick smile.
“I figured you might need some time to get ready. Dave had already told me they had a suite set aside for any of the men whose partners might be tying up the hotel bathrooms. I snagged a shower and a shave. It’s early enough that no one else was there yet.”
He shrugged out of his jacket, and my eyes landed on the flex of his shoulders as he moved. He draped his jacket over the back of a chair beside the dresser. Rolling up his shirt sleeves, I was then treated to the sight of one of his muscular forearms flexing as he lifted a cup of coffee and took a swallow. “Got one for you,” he said, nodding to the desk where he’d set another cup of coffee.
This was what I’d been reduced to—a woman in thrall of a forearm flex and the almost drool-worthy temptation of the V of skin showing at the top of his white shirt. I wanted to lick him. Lick him! Dear God. I needed to get a grip.
Stepping closer, I lifted the coffee cup.
“I guessed you preferred your coffee with cream,” he said, his gaze sweeping up and down my body.
“You guessed right.” I took a sip, closing my eyes and savoring the flavor. Opening them, I said, “Thank you. This is some seriously good coffee.”
Walker flashed a smile. “Can’t take credit for it, but it is delicious.” He paused, his eyes assessing. “You look beautiful.”
I flushed all over again. It shouldn’t matter what Walker thought of how I looked, but it did. I didn’t sense Walker was a man to hand out compliments easily. I wanted him to notice me just as much as I didn’t want to want him to notice me. Talk about conflicted.
“I actually need help with my zipper. I was hoping you wouldn’t mind.”
He set his coffee down on the dresser. “Of course not.”
I turned, lifting my hair and spinning it around my hand as I pulled it over my shoulder. “There you go. I’m sure you can handle a zipper and don’t need instructions, right?” I teased in an attempt to keep myself distracted.
Walker’s responding chuckle sent a prickle chasing over my skin. He rested one hand on the curve of my hip. With the other, he caught the zipper pull and drew it up slowly. One of his knuckles brushed lightly against my spine on the ascent.
That subtle touch and the soft sound of the zipper felt like a string pulling tighter and tighter inside, spinning me full of need. I was practically breathless by the time he reached the top. No more than a few seconds could’ve passed. And yet, time didn’t particularly seem to matter when it came to the way I felt around Walker.
I swallowed and attempted to take a breath, getting no more than a little sip of air in my lungs. That did absolutely nothing to quell my racing heartbeat and the butterflies amassing in my belly.
“There.”
A single word, spoken in Walker’s gruff voice, reverberated through my body. I was feeling so off-kilter with the way this chemistry kept burgeoning between us that I suddenly wanted to take control of it. Maybe then, it would dissipate.
Whether I was alone in this or not, I knew I recognized the answering flare of desire and the heat banked in his gaze. Electricity sizzled between us.
Galvanized, whether by my decision to take control of the driving force inside of me or something else, I stepped closer and lifted my hand, letting it fall lightly on his chest. Through the thin cotton shirt, I could feel him as I slid my palm across the surface. His chest was all hard, muscled planes, just as I’d expected. His eyes widened slightly.
“Here’s the thing, Walker. Inconvenient though it may be, I want you. Speak now or forever hold your peace if you’d rather me not kiss you right this second,” I whispered.
A glint entered his gaze, but he stayed silent. Sliding my hand up to cup his nape, I gave a light tug, and he met me halfway. I liked to feel in control. I needed to feel in control in situations like this. Or so I thought. A sense of relief I didn’t want to consider washed through me when he didn’t try to go all manly and alpha on me.
I brushed my lips against his, once and then twice, before arching up further. Only then did Walker assume control. Angling his head to the side, he murmured something softly against my lips. I sighed against his mouth, and his tongue swept in.
One of his arms, strong and sure, slid around my waist, cupping the edge of my hip
