Need You Now (1001 Dark Nights)(23)

“You’re naked,” he reminds me. “I’ll get it for you.”

“So are you,” I call out as he crosses the room, and good gosh, even naked, the man is all male grace and so much hot man, I feel like I didn’t just have two orgasms. “And you’re still bleeding.”

His reply is not to reply. Ignoring me, he pushes back the curtain and disappears outside. I hug myself, holding my breath for fear he will be seen. In a few beats, he returns without obvious incident, shutting the door and locking it. Of course, my phone has stopped ringing but at least evidence of our little patio adventure has been removed.

Sauntering forward, Jensen holds our clothes in front of him, blocking my full view of his glorious male body, stopping by the bed to toss the clothes on top. He offers me my phone, flicking a quick glance at the midnight hour on the bedside clock in the process, turning my earlier words on me with, “Who calls at this hour but a boyfriend or husband?”

“Katie,” I say, before I glance down and confirm I’m right. “She eloped.”

“Eloped,” he repeats. “Sounds like he decided not to let her be lonely anymore.”

“I guess. It was sudden and it’s worrying me.” My phone beeps with a text message, and I read it out loud. Don’t be upset. I love you. Call you tomorrow.

“Sometimes the spontaneous choices are the best choices. Didn’t we just prove that?”

My stomach knots, and thoughts of tomorrow morning return like a Miley Cyrus wrecking ball in all their naked glory, and it ain’t pretty. “You still think this, us, tonight, was a good choice.”

He takes the phone and tosses it on the bed with the clothes. “If you don’t know the answer to that, I still have work to do.” He laces his fingers with mine and leads me into the bathroom where he flips on the light.

Never letting me go, as if he thinks I’ll make a run for it, he leads me across the massive bathroom of shiny white tile and tries to drag me into the shower. I stop and tug on his hand. He doesn’t give me a chance to ask if we were a mistake, rounding on me and cupping my face. “This was good. It is good. We just need to keep it between us. We have to agree on that. Otherwise, my judgment could be questioned and this deal to save Meredith’s operation could fall apart.”

“I don’t want to get in the middle of the deal. If I need to leave—”

“No. We’re here now, Danny, and we aren’t turning back. Hell, we were here the moment we met.”

He tugs me forward again, and this time I let him lead me into the shower, both reveling in his words and rejecting them. Jensen stirs unfamiliar things in me, and I fear I’m going to fall and fall hard if I don’t put on the brakes. Instead, I let him wrap me in his arms, and I don’t even realize he’s reached behind me and turned on the water until an icy blast has us both gasping.

Laughing, Jensen settles me in the corner and covers my body with his, my hand flattening on his now damp, but still impressively perfect chest. “That wasn’t funny.”

“It snapped you out of all that worry going on in your head.”

“Who said I was worrying?”

“I could almost hear you listing all the reasons we’re a problem in your mind. I’ll tell you what’s a problem. One condom. That’s how many we have left. We’re going to have to either get creative or go to the store.”

I smile, my worry sliding away. “Can we do both?”

He laughs, a sexy, low sound that rumbles from his chest and awakens my nerve endings, his hands settling at my hips. “I like how you think. I like how you f*ck.” His hands slide to my face. “There’s something about you, Danny Woods, and about us.” He lowers his head, his lips a breath from mine. “If you run this time, I’ll come after you.”

“I didn’t run—”

He swallows the objection with a slant of his mouth and a swipe of his tongue, and running is the last thing on my mind.





Part Nine: The Morning After Take Two



I blink, waking in sunlight, twisting around and sitting up, the blanket tugged up over my naked body, inhaling the spicy scent of Jensen all around me. My mind travels back to our night of creative orgasms, sans the condoms, lots of laughter, and a pizza from a place down the road. Rolling over, my brow furrows as I realize that I’m alone. The sound of Jensen’s voice mixing with someone else’s has me tugging the blanket more securely over my naked body.

Not sure what to make of the company we obviously have, I glance at the clock. It’s nine a.m., confirming I haven’t slept ridiculously long. I scan for my clothes with no success. Then I hear, “Good, you’re awake.”

At the sound of Jensen’s deep, sexy voice, my gaze lifts to find him standing inside the French doors that separate the bedroom from the rest of the suite, and boy what a sight he makes. Proving he can look just as hot no matter what he wears, Mr. GQ has traded in his suit and tie for a white T-shirt and distressed jeans. His feet are bare. His thick, dark hair is a rumpled, adorable mess, made more so by the certainty that my fingers, at least partially, are responsible.

“Is someone else here?” I query.

“Room service was here. I thought we should check out the quality. We could eat on the patio—”