Fever (Breathless #2)(6)

It was a promise. It wasn’t speculation on his part.

“How much time you need?” he asked impatiently.

“Thirty minutes maybe?” she guessed.

He touched her again, his fingers gliding over her cheek and up to her temple, where he toyed with loose tendrils that had fallen from her clip.

“Then we’ll see you in thirty minutes.”

Chapter three

Twenty-five minutes was how much time it took for her to realize she was out of her mind. Twenty-five minutes to know she’d made a huge mistake.

Bethany washed her hands and then checked her pocket again to feel the folded bills. The kitchen had died down and most of the staff had left except for those remaining behind on clean-up duty. That wasn’t her gig, thankfully. Her job was done.

She hesitated as she glanced between the door leading to the alley and the door that led back to Ash and Jace.

Jace hadn’t lied. The ballroom had cleared in fifteen minutes. She wasn’t sure how he’d managed to pull that one off, but then he seemed the type of man who always got what he wanted.

Now all that was between her and a night of hot sex and good food was that door.

The door to the alley swung open as one of the guys hauled a sack of garbage out to the trash bin. A rush of cold air blew in, penetrating Bethany to the bone. She shivered as chill bumps raced across her arms.

That was her other option. Cold. Loneliness. Another night of uncertainty.

Put that way, door number two seemed like the only logical choice.

She pushed off the edge of the counter she was leaning against and walked toward the exit. As she reached it, she took in a deep breath and let herself out.

Jace stood there waiting, hands in his pockets, leaning one shoulder against the wall. His gaze found her and penetrated as swiftly as the cold air had a moment earlier. Only this time, instead of a bone-deep chill, heat spread like wildfire through her veins.

“You ready?”

Even before she responded, he moved, pushing off the wall and then he was next to her, his hand sliding around her nape, his thumb brushing over the soft skin right at her hairline.

Damn but the man’s touch was lethal.

“Ash is in the room taking care of dinner.”

She glanced up at Jace, for the first time directly meeting his gaze. “So we’re staying here?”

A smile twitched the corners of his mouth. “I own the hotel. Seems as good a place as any to stay for the night.”

He owned the hotel. Okay, not that she didn’t know he and Ash were stratospherically out of her league, but hearing those words, I own the hotel, just reinforced that she should have chosen the cold over temporary warmth.

“Obviously I didn’t prepare for this,” she murmured as they headed toward the elevators. “I don’t have any clothes or . . . stuff.”

She wanted to laugh because the entire conversation was absurd. Even if she’d known, she wouldn’t have been prepared because she didn’t have stuff. She had nothing except the hope of the next day being better than the last.

Again, Jace’s mouth twitched and his eyes gleamed as he ushered her into the waiting elevator.

“You won’t need clothes. Or . . . stuff.”

Her hands trembled and her knees shook. This was her last chance to back out. He leaned forward to punch the button to the top floor. The door was still open. It would be easy to walk out, say she’d changed her mind and slip into the cold night, embracing what was real.

Jace suddenly looked at her, his gaze seeking, almost as if she’d broadcast her thoughts in real time. He stared at her a long moment, his finger pressed against the button to the floor. When she made no move, he straightened and leaned against the far wall, still studying her as the doors closed.

“You’re nervous,” he said, still staring at her.

She gave him a duh look and he smiled again. He had a killer smile. It wasn’t easy and charming like Ash’s. Smiling seemed to come natural to Ash, like it was in his makeup to be this easygoing, flirtatious guy who women fell all over themselves for. Bethany didn’t get the impression that Jace was much of a smiler. He seemed way more serious than Ash. And if she was honest, that brooding, badass persona hit every single one of her buttons. Because this was a man she’d feel safe with for the night. He was a man a woman felt very secure around.

“Nothing to be nervous about,” he murmured as the elevator stopped.

As she started to step off, he put his arm out to stop her and then he pulled her into his arms. She landed against his chest and his head was angled so their mouths were close. So close she could feel the harsh exhalation of his breath.

“Bethany, there’s nothing to be nervous about,” he said again, that mouth hovering so temptingly over hers.

He trailed a finger down her cheek to the corner of her mouth just as the elevator started to squawk because the doors had been left open for so long. He ignored it, focused on her, watching and absorbing like he could reach into her thoughts. Or like he wanted to, at least.

“I’m okay,” she whispered.

And then he smiled. Really smiled. Not one of those twitch movements where it looked like he was about to smile or that he was fighting it. A full-on, teeth-flashing smile. And man, did he have beautiful teeth. Perfectly straight. Ultrawhite. Million-dollar smile. But then, everything about him was aces . . . right down to his shoes.