Game On(52)

Nathan laughed. Glancing over, he looked almost relieved. “I told you so.”

“Guess I should have believed you,” I teased back. It felt like a weight had been lifted off of me. I still had to convince my editor. Considering neither of us had been that excited to share that with the public, I could understand why he was hopeful the article switch would be approved.

I, for one, just wanted to write something that mattered.

And I couldn’t deny that it had been nice to let the interviewer/interviewee dynamic drop between the two of us. To have an afternoon just being Nathan and Sophie. No guy had ever cared enough to spend a day just trying to cheer me up. Especially a guy who had a career-changing game to look forward to. I knew he could have been practicing. I knew he could have been doing a million other things that didn’t involve taking me to an animal shelter and reading with kids.

I also knew that he didn’t have to come to my room and tell me that Tim was planning on taking all the credit for the article. Nathan didn’t owe me anything, not really. We were basically strangers. Right?

I glanced over at him, admiring the view. His eyes were focused on the road, his hands at the proper ten and two, just as I assumed they would be, and he seemed more relaxed than I had seen him since we met. This was the real Nathan Ryder, I suspected. There was a small smile playing at the corner of his lips, one I doubted he even knew was there.

Something was happening between the two of us. Something that we had been fighting since we met. Something that I wasn’t sure I wanted to fight anymore.

I couldn’t help taking in the sight of him, the perfect chiseled profile with his strong jaw and cheeks bearing the lightest dusting of stubble. I imagined how it would feel if I ran my fingers across it, how it would tickle rubbing against my cheek, my stomach, my thighs.

I bit back a moan. Throughout all of this, my desire for him had not faded. If anything, it had intensified. And I could tell it was the same for him. At each light, he would look over at me, fire flickering in those beautiful green eyes of his. I wanted him.

And I was tired of fighting it. All my life I had worried about being different than my mother, about doing better than my circumstances, about being professional. And where had it gotten me? My boyfriend had dumped me for a sexy band member with no talent, my mom kept praying for me to quit my job to marry rich, and my co-workers thought I had slept my way into my job. No matter what I did people thought the worst of me. So maybe it was time to do what I wanted. What I had wanted to do the moment I first saw Nathan. The hell with the consequences. I had played by everyone else’s rules for too long. Now it was time to play by my rules.

When we arrived at the hotel, I had made my decision, and when Nathan got out of the car and came around to the door, I decided that I wasn’t ready to say good night.

“Maybe you should come up,” I told him, stepping out of the car.

He froze.

“If you want to,” I added quickly. Had he changed his mind? Had I misread the signals?

But he quickly tossed his car keys to the valet and took my hand in his.

“I do,” he said, his voice low and full of desire. I didn’t know if I was making the smart decision, but I did know at that moment that it was the right one.

***

I babbled all the way up to my room, my hand tucked in his elbow as he listened and said nothing.

“I think the article could be really good publicity for the shelter,” I was saying as I unlocked my room, grateful that I had both asked for my room to be cleaned and that I was wearing red underwear. It wasn’t lace, but it wasn’t old and stretched out, either. “If more people learn about it then maybe they’ll volunteer, or even better donate. I bet we can get people to donate a lot if we play up the possibility the shelter could get shut down. Lots of pictures with kids and those kittens. Lots of sad eyes. Probably in black and white. Really tug at the heartstrings. People will donate money, especially if they feel guilty about not volunteering or adopting.”

I was in the middle of the room facing the bed, when I heard the door click behind me. I whirled around to find Nathan leaning back against it, an amused look on his face.

“Did you invite me up to talk about the article?” he asked.

“I, uh…” I felt suddenly tongue-tied. I knew that if I said no there was no turning back. That I was officially taking the reins off whatever wild horse was pulling this carriage. I would be flying head first into dangerous territory.

But before I could second-guess it, he came over and took my hand. It was warm and comforting. It felt right.

“Tell me to go and I’ll go,” he said.

I looked up into his sweet, searching eyes and I was lost.

“Don’t go,” I told him. “Please, don’t go.”

And then I kissed him.

***

Unlike our first kiss, this one was slow and tentative. Reaching up on my tiptoes, I pressed my lips to his, savoring the feel of them against mine. Nathan took my lead, his hand coming up to trace the line of my jaw. The gentle touch of his fingers against my skin made me shiver and I felt his smile against my lips. He took my face with both hands and I sighed, my mouth opening, his tongue finding mine.

I leaned forward, pressing my chest against his, my hands fisted in his shirt. The kiss shifted, the tenderness replaced by intensity, as Nathan plunged his tongue into my mouth, the hot taste of him filling my senses. I moaned this time, pulling him closer, my fingers dipping down to the hem of his shirt, sliding under and then up, touching the hot, smooth skin beneath.