Her mouth fell open.
Gratifying, he had to admit. “Not that I’m not enjoying the way you’re looking at me like I intend to look at my pizza when it arrives,” he said, “but what are you doing here?”
Her eyes were still locked on his torso, her teeth sinking into her lower lip.
“Bay,” he said.
Her eyes heated at the shortening of her name, and he let out a rough laugh and gripped the doorjamb at either side of him rather than reach for her. “You can’t look at me like that and tell me nothing’s happening.”
“Yeah, and while we’re on the subject…” She lifted her gaze to his and blushed. “I might have been… hasty in some of the things I said last time I saw you. That’s why I’m here. I came to retract part of it.”
He stilled. Or most of him did. One particular appendage did the opposite of being still. “Which part?”
She swallowed hard and stepped into him, setting her hands on his stomach. Head bent, she stared at her fingers on his bare skin, her brow furrowed in concentration.
Up or down, babe. Either way works, but I pick down…
She drew in a shaky breath. “The whole point of me even being here in Cedar Ridge was to gain experiences I couldn’t have before.” Her fingers shifted slightly, driving him crazy. “Things I thought I’d never get to do because my only focus was surviving.”
Aw, hell. “Bailey—”
“No, please, let me finish,” she rushed on. “I’m twenty-four and I’ve lived so damn sheltered that I didn’t even know some of what I was missing. But when I’m with you…” She smiled and bit her lip again. “I feel things. You make me feel things.”
“Like irritated? Annoyed?”
“Yes,” she agreed, and laughed. “But also warm. And…” Her fingers flexed and so did his libido. “Fuzzy.”
“Warm and fuzzy?” he repeated, running the unexpected adjectives through his brain. “I’m not a pair of slippers, Bailey.”
“No—I know that,” she said, and seemed to get flustered, lifting her hands from him and waving them around like that might help her find the words she was looking for.
Feeling his chest constrict, he caught her hands in his. “You’re trying to tell me something.”
“Yes!” She sucked in a breath. “I’ve never had a… fling.” She grimaced. “I bet people don’t even use that word anymore. But whatever they call it, hot, up-against-the-wall sex, or gorilla sex, or—” She broke off and stared up at him when he choked on his own breath of air. “What?”
He shook his head, not wanting to interrupt her, but God, she was the sweetest, sexiest thing he’d ever seen and she had no idea. Not a single one. “Are you a virgin, Bailey?”
She sighed. “No, but I can see why you’d ask me that. I don’t know how to say this, that’s all.”
“Just say it,” he said quietly. “You can say anything to me, anything at all.”
“Okay,” she said. “I’m having trouble finding words because I’ve never done this before. A one-night thing. I’ve been with someone. I was in a relationship with him for a long time. But this… me vocalizing it, that’s new to me.” She drew in a deep breath. “What I’m trying to say is that I want a one-night stand.” She met his gaze, clearly waiting for his reaction.
He opened his mouth and then closed it again. She’d been in a long-term relationship. That wasn’t what she wanted from him. What she wanted from him was just a fuck. He was trying to figure out why that bugged the shit out of him when she went on.
“With you,” she said. “In case I wasn’t clear. I want you.”
“For tonight,” he clarified.
“Yes.”
Ignoring the unmistakable flash of disappointment—What the hell is that about?—he pulled her inside, kicked his door shut, and gently pushed her up against the wood and cupped her face. “You need to be sure.”
“I am.” She blinked. “Are you? Because it’s okay if you’re not. I can find someone else. I can make a list.”
This stopped him. She could make a list? Of who? Not important, he told himself. Shake it off. “You’re not going to need a list for this, Bailey.”
She stared at him. “No?”
Hell no. “I already told you that I want you. Now I’m going to show you.” He gave her a few beats to absorb that before he leaned in and kissed her, putting every ounce of his want and need into it. In answer, she moaned and wound her arms around him.
Without breaking the kiss, he straightened and cupped the backs of her thighs, encouraging her to wrap her legs around his waist.
And then he carried her to his suite.