Into the Fury (BOSS, Inc. #1)(54)

Sensual heat slid through her, making her skin feel tight and her body overly warm. She needed to get out of there before her flushed cheeks and the way her gaze kept searching him out gave her away.

Setting her champagne flute down on the table, she started walking toward the door. She didn’t bother telling Ethan she was leaving. The way he’d been watching her, she was certain he knew.

She felt him behind her as she walked out of the ballroom, his long strides easily keeping pace with hers. Val kept walking, heading for the bank of elevators in the lobby and the safety of her suite.

Which wasn’t safe in the least, because Ethan would be spending the night there.

“Running away?” he asked as he moved up beside her.

She sighed. “I suppose in a way I am.”

“From me or just work?”

She stopped and turned. “I don’t think I could get away from you even if I tried. Could I?”

“No.”

He didn’t say more as they rode the elevator up to her floor. Ethan checked the suite, pronounced it clear, and left her. By the time he returned a few minutes later, using the passkey he carried, she had stripped out of her clothes and was just stepping into the shower.

Setting the temperature lower than normal in the hope of cooling her fevered skin, she ducked beneath the soothing spray and tried not to imagine him moving around in the living room. Beneath the water, her body felt hot and tight, her nipples stiff and achy.

By the time she turned off the water, her heart was beating too fast, her nerves more taut than when she’d come up to the suite. She pulled off the towel she’d wrapped around her hair, letting the heavy curls fall free, dried herself and reached for the white terry robe on the bathroom door.

Her hand paused inches away. Next to the thick hotel robe was the apricot satin she’d been wearing the morning Ethan had kissed her.

Every time she looked at it, she remembered that blazing kiss and thought how much she wanted him to do it again.

She heard him in the other room, making a place for himself on the sofa. Her hands shook as she reached for the apricot satin robe and slid it on, lifted her hair out of the way, then pulled the robe back into place and tied the sash.

With a calming breath, she walked out of the bathroom and continued on through the bedroom. She knew if she stopped, her courage would falter. When she reached the door and pulled it open, she saw him, his back to her as he prepared himself for bed. He’d stripped off his T-shirt, leaving him in just his black jeans, the snap undone, his feet bare.

She’d noticed more than once the way his jeans cupped his sex, drawing her attention there. Now she saw how perfectly they outlined his muscular behind.

When he turned to face her, she could barely breathe. “Ethan . . .” she managed to force out. He didn’t move, didn’t say a word, but seeing her in the satin robe, his dark eyes turned nearly black.

She imagined him rejecting her, telling her to go back into the bedroom, reminding her that they couldn’t break the rules. But for her there was no turning back.

She walked toward him, paused just a few feet away. “I know you want me.” There was no denying it. She could see it in his eyes. “I just . . . I need you to know that I want you, too.”

His jaw knotted. He still didn’t move.

“I thought that if . . . if—”

His low growl cut her off. In two long strides, he was there, hauling her into his arms, his mouth crashing down over hers. Her fingers dug into his powerful shoulders and she kissed him back, parted her lips and felt the hot sweep of his tongue.

A little sob escaped. She kissed him the way she had wanted to kiss him for days, the way she had never kissed a man before, kissed him with all the emotions roiling inside her. She felt his hands sliding into her hair, cupping the back of her head to hold her in place as he ravaged her mouth, plundered her lips again and again, kissed her until neither of them could breathe.

He bent his head and found her breasts, suckled her through the slick satin fabric, tongued her nipple, and she moaned. Heat and need tore through her, desire so hot and thick it was almost painful.

“Ethan,” she whispered as he lifted her into his arms and started striding toward the bedroom. She closed her eyes, enjoying his strength, the hard muscles flexing as he moved.

He set her on her feet beside the bed, cupped her face in his hands, tilted her head back and kissed her. A hot, wet, thorough kiss that set her mind to spinning and the blood rocketing through her veins.

“Jesus, I want you. I’ve never felt this kind of need before.”

She understood. That same need scorched like lightning through her blood. And yet when he reached for her robe, a moment of uncertainty slipped through her. She stepped back before he could strip the robe away and expose her completely.

“What is it?” The words came out harsh. The muscles across his shoulders vibrated with tension.

“There’s something. It’s nothing, really, just that . . .”

“Tell me.”

“I know you’re kind of old-fashioned.” She moistened her lips, growing more nervous. She wanted this to be perfect. Wanted to be perfect for Ethan. “La Belle has a rule . . . I mean, we model very skimpy lingerie.”

“Go on,” he said, impatience in his voice.

“It’s just . . . well, it’s company policy that all the girls . . . that we have to . . . we have to wax.”