Play Maker(34)

“Oh,” I could hear the confusion in her voice. I turned to see her, looking a little lost in the enormous suite. Her hair was mussed, her lips red and she reached down and began to fumble with her bag. “Maybe I should go.” I suddenly saw the vulnerability all over her face.

Shite. “No!” I reached out and grabbed her arm before she could head to the door.

“I shouldn’t have come,” she said, her head tilted away from me, hair blocking her face.

“I’m glad you did,” I told her. “Look, I’m sorry,” I let go of her arm and ran a hand through my hair. “I just wanted to slow things down a bit. Take our time, you know?”

She glanced up at me and I could see exhaustion mixed in with the nervousness.

“Would that be ok?” I asked, really not wanting her to leave.

Nicole took a deep breath and seemed to make some sort of decision. “Yeah, that would be ok.” She gave me a small smile. “I’m sorry.” She pushed her hair out of her eyes. “It’s just been a long day.”

Suddenly her stomach grumbled. Loudly. She clasped a hand over it.

“Are you hungry?” I asked, noting that she did look a little paler than usual.

She shook her head, but her stomach disagreed and growled even louder. She sighed. “I guess I am,” she confessed. “I haven’t eaten much today.”

“I can fix that,” I told her, pleased to be able to do something. “Let me order us some food.”

She shook her head. “No, no, I should probably head home anyways. I can get something on the way there.”

“Are you sure?” I grabbed the room service menu from the table. “I’m pretty hungry myself.” It was a total lie – I had eaten enough steak and lobster to last me a week, but if getting her to stay meant eating more, I would happily indulge in another meal. “Besides, I’ve been hearing pretty good things about the waffles here,” I said, winking at her.

I held my breath as she stood there, bag in hand. Slowly, she lowered it to the floor and came over to me, peering over my shoulder at the menu.

“I guess a small appetizer or something would be ok,” she conceded, but I held the menu away from her.

“Why don’t you let me order?” I offered. “I’ve been wanting to try out the room service here. It would actually be a huge favor to me.”

She gave me a look that said she was totally aware I was bullshitting her, but in the end relinquished the menu to me.

“You could also do me another favor.” I gave her one of my most charming grins.

“Oh yeah?” She crossed her arms.

“Well, the hotel has left a whole bunch of fancy bath things for me. But I don’t take baths.” All true. “But I’d hate to let all those gifts go to waste. I don’t suppose you’d be interested in trying out the bath while we wait for the food,” I offered, even though I knew that the bath supplies just came standard with the room and would be reused if I didn’t use them.

From the way she narrowed her eyes at me, I could tell Nicole knew that as well, but I could sense she was so tired that while she might have immediately said no to my offer another night, she was seriously considering it now.

“Would you be joining me in this bath?” she finally asked, raising an eyebrow.

The thought of her, covered in suds and nothing more, definitely gave me some extremely x-rated ideas, but I had a feeling that taking her up on that offer would bring the evening to an end much sooner then I was hoping.

“I thought I’d let you try it out on your own first,” I said. “Maybe I’ll join you another time.”

I let that offer of future encounters hang in the air between us.

Nicole blinked at me. But she quickly recovered, giving me a saucy smile. “You’ll see if I let you,” she teased and before I could respond, had whipped off her white shirt and tossed it at me. It was quickly followed by her jeans, but I barely had a chance to register the black lace of her bra and thong before she was gone, the bathroom door closing behind her.

The paper-thin fabric smelled of her perfume and my cock hardened behind my zipper. I groaned as I tried to focus on the room service menu, when all I could think about was the woman on the other side of the door, who would soon be wearing nothing more than a few bubbles.

Part of me thought of joining her. The lift of her eyebrow had clearly indicated an invitation, and I had no doubt she would welcome me with open, wet, perfect, glistening arms. I shook my head, keeping my attention on the task at hand. Savor the evening. There’s no rush.





21





Nicole





I told myself the bath would be a quick one. That I’d just drop in a few scoops of the bath salts and soak for a minute or so. James had looked so cute making up all that stuff about room service and testing out the bath. But I couldn’t linger After all, this wasn’t my room. This wasn’t how I did things. After all, I worked here. Using the rooms for one night stands were one thing, but acting like I was a guest was another. This was the kind of place I would never be able to afford if I went on vacation – something else I never did. It was a bad idea to indulge in luxuries I would never experience again. Still, I was so tired and the bath looked so tempting. It was just a bath. How great could it be? But the moment I stepped into the fragrant water, I forgot all the excuses I had thought up and allowed myself to relax. To really relax.