Seth’s face was
infinitely sober as he gestured toward the railing of the balcony. “Shall we hurl
ourselves over the side?”
Torn between
panic and ridiculous laughter, Erin grabbed him by fistfuls of his shirt. “Seth,
help me. Do you want a story about us and Mackenzie to be plastered on her blog
tomorrow?”
“Maybe we can
be so lost in a passionate embrace that she can't see who we are. She’ll think
we're just a random, horny couple.”
“People aren’t
really hidden when they kiss, you know.” Peeking into the lobby again, Erin
gasped. “I think they’re coming out to the balcony. Seth, stop joking and help.”
His face grew
serious, and his mouth softened. “Erin, there’s nowhere we can go. If she comes
out here, she’s going to see us. Maybe we could—”
With a flash of
inspiration, she put her hands on his chest and pushed him backwards,
maneuvering him into the cluster of potted plants. They were so tall and thick
that they should effectively hide two people from the casual observer.
“Really?” Seth
began, his face torn between disbelief and amusement. “Are we actually going to
hide behind the plants?”
“Shh,” she
hissed, pushing him back into the farthest corner, where there was some added
shelter from the architecture of the building. Then Erin backed into him,
fitting her body against his to achieve the best concealment. She was just
adjusting one of the plants in front of them when the French doors opened and
voices moved out onto the balcony.
One of the
voices belonged to Mary Carlyle, commenting on what a nice night it was. The
couple moved toward the railing but didn’t even glance in Erin and Seth’s
direction.
Her heart beat
so frantically that it took her a minute to truly assess her position. She was
pressed back against Seth’s front, trapping him against the wall. One of his
arms had slipped around her waist, but she hadn’t even noticed when that had
happened.
But now she
could feel him. All of him. His heat, his strength, the lean lines of his body
behind her, his breath when he said almost soundlessly into her ear, “You’re out
of your mind.”
Once again, she
was torn between anxiety and involuntary amusement. She really didn’t want to
become Atlanta’s latest gossip—truly, it was one of her nightmares. But this
particular situation
was
rather ridiculous.
As Seth had
noticed earlier, Erin was starting to enjoy the subterfuge, especially now that
she was becoming more and more confident that they weren’t going to be caught.
But then the
whole situation changed in an instant. Everything transformed. Nothing was
funny anymore.
Because Erin felt
something else behind her.
Seth was hot
and solid and hard behind her.
Hard
in more than one way.
His pelvis pushed
into the top of her ass, and she was suddenly aware that he was aroused.
Really aroused.
She could feel
his erection.
Pushing into
the top of her ass.
She sucked in a
sudden breath and clutched at the arm that was wrapped around her waist. Part
of her wanted to pull away, wanted to flee from this confusion, from Seth and
his irresistibility and his rampant masculinity.
But part of her
really, really didn’t want to flee.
She tensed,
holding her breath and trying to deal with the waves of heat flooding through
her.
It shouldn’t be
this unsettling. She’d fucked Seth before. She’d felt his cock before. She’d taken
his semen inside her body.
But, for some
reason, this felt entirely different.
He wasn’t
pushing into her, but he wasn’t pushing her away either. She just kept feeling
it, feeling
him
, as Mary Carlyle and her husband made mundane
conversation on the balcony.
Implausibly
soon, her body started to respond. She’d been aroused only a few minutes ago,
and his proximity to her now and the hard evidence of his desire pushed her
arousal into new life.
She flushed,
from her cheeks down to her neck and then even farther down. Her breathing
started coming out in urgent little pants, and she felt a deepening ache grow
at her center.
Seth must have
noticed the change in her responses because he pressed his pelvis against her
in a small, experimental thrust.
Erin bit her
lip over a gasp and couldn’t stop herself from pushing back into him.
His arm
tightened around her waist, and his hand somehow slipped under the bottom edge
of her sweater until his fingers were touching the bare skin of her side.
Erin arched her
neck to the left, and he bent his head forward until he was mouthing the side
of her throat. She could feel his lips, his tongue, his teeth. Could feel his
fingers on the sensitive skin of her belly. Could feel the bulge of his arousal
pushing into her from behind.
The last two
times they’d had sex, Seth had been spooning her from behind. And that’s what
it felt like right now. Like they were making love. Fully clothed, in the open
air, and hidden behind a cluster of potted plants.
Erin shook
helplessly, knew she was wet, felt like a lit fuse or a flame. One of her arms reached
up until her fingers dug into the back of his neck. And her intimate muscles
kept clenching every time he pushed into her from behind, as if some kind of primitive
instinct was trying to pull him back into her body.
She’d lost
track of the conversation between Mary Carlyle and her husband. She’d lost
track of everything except the feel, the touch, the scent of Seth behind her.
However, one
part of her mind realized when the voices on the balcony faded and the French doors
opened and closed again.
She and Seth
were once more alone on the balcony.
She stumbled
forward, barely missing one of the plants, but then she immediately turned
around and sank into his embrace again.
“Seth,” she
gasped, fumbling with one hand on his ass. She rubbed her pelvis against the
top of his thigh. Couldn't seem to stop.
His mouth was everywhere—all
over her face, her neck, her mouth. He spoke over her skin. “God, Erin. Please
don’t tell me you need to think about this some more.”
Thinking was an
impossibility. Erin couldn’t do anything but feel.
“I’ve thought
enough,” she mumbled, her hand moving from his ass to the front of his pants.
She palmed the hard bulge there. “Do you think you could get us a room?”
Seth didn’t
respond with words—just urged Erin over toward the French doors again. He
peered through the glass panes, searching for signs of Mary Carlyle. When he
saw no trace of her, he took her hand and pulled her through the lobby.
“Seth?” Erin
asked breathlessly, feeling rather overwhelmed with desire and disoriented by his
haste. “A room?”
He pulled her
toward the staircase at the far corner of the main hall. “We’re on our way.” His
hand tightened around hers as they started up the stairs.
Halfway up, Erin’s
lust-clouded mind finally closed around an explanation for his behavior. “You
already have a room?”
Seth met her
gaze, his own eyes hot and urgent, although his mouth tightened with suppressed
humor. “As a matter of fact...”
She sucked in
another indignant breath and stopped with her foot poised on the next stair. “Why
you smug, over-confident...” She narrowed her eyes and glared at his slightly
flushed face. “So you had this whole thing planned all along? Like I was just
some gullible, easily-seduced...” She almost sputtered as she searched for the
right word.
Seth froze for
a minute, a few steps above her, as if thinking through the best way to handle
the situation. Then he moved down to her level on the stairs. Closed the distance
between.
He backed her
into the wall with his body.
Leaning his
face toward hers, he captured her mouth again, his tongue sliding temptingly
along the inside of her lips. When he released her mouth, he didn't pull back
very far. “Erin, we haven’t had sex in six months. And we’ve had sex a grand total
of four times, despite my making it clear for at least a year that I’d be
willing any time you said the word. In what fantasy land would I be living if I
believed you were easy to seduce?”
Erin was flushed
and trembling, and the ache of arousal at her center was pulsing insistently. But,
incongruously, she choked on a laugh. “Good point.”
Then she
grabbed his shirt with one hand—it was already wrinkled from her clutching at
it earlier—and pulled him closer to her again. Faced no resistance when she
reached for the back of his head with her free hand to pull him down into
another kiss.
She felt
off-balanced, perched in the middle of a flight of stairs. But Seth’s hard body
trapped her against the wall, and she found herself rocking into the bulge of
his erection and clawing at the back of his neck.
Seth’s hand
tangled in her hair, holding her head steady as his firm mouth worked hers
over. When she finally jerked her mouth away, he nibbled a line along her jaw.
She was so hot
and wet between her legs that a spot on her panties must have been soaked—which
surprised her a little, since she’d been told that nursing mothers were
sometimes dryer than normal. Her breasts were throbbing, a sensation that sent
a jolt of recognition through her fuzzy mind.
She and Seth
weren’t horny teenagers, although they were acting like it at the moment. And Erin
hadn’t nursed in several hours.
Which meant her
breasts were very full.
Which meant sex
was likely to be a little messy.
Which reminded
her they probably shouldn’t begin on a public staircase. Especially with Mary
Carlyle in the same building.
“Seth? The
room?”
“Right.” He
pulled away from her—as if he had to force himself to do so—and grabbed her
hand again. Led her all the way up the stairs and into the empty hallway.
He stopped in
front of the only door to the left of the stairs and pulled a key out of his
pocket. As he fumbled with the old-fashioned lock, Erin found her eyes crawling
over his long legs, trim hips, firm ass, and broad shoulders. Then her gaze
focused on the back of his head.
She wanted to
slurp him down, from his shiny shoes to the little kink he could never smooth
down at the back of his hair.
Unable to stop
herself, she pressed her body into his back, wrapping her arms around his waist
and rubbing her breasts against him. “God, you’re hot,” she murmured throatily,
not even embarrassed by her shamelessness.
One of her
hands slid down until she could massage his hard arousal through the front of
his pants.
Seth had almost
been at the point of turning the key in the lock, but at her touch he lost his
grip on it. He groaned helplessly, his whole body tensing and his hand
flattening against the closed door.
Erin was almost
high on having this visceral power over such a cool, controlled man. Felt wild
and wanton and as sexy as she’d ever felt in her life.
“Erin,” Seth
choked, fumbling with the key again. “If you keep it up, it will be over before
we get in the room.”
She made a
sound that was half purr, half husky laugh. “Really?” she asked, her hand
growing still although she couldn’t seem to move it away from the tight bulge
in his trousers. “Maybe I should test that theory.”
Seth finally
managed to get the door unlocked, and they fell into the entry of a lovely
suite filled with soothing colors and expensive antiques, the most obvious
being a huge, mahogany four-poster bed.
“Arrogant
bastard,” Erin muttered as she looked around the room, more out of principle
than out of any real resentment. “Reserving a room and assuming we’d end up
here, based on nothing more than—”
“Wishful
thinking,” he interrupted, pushing her back against the door he'd just closed
and locked. Instead of kissing her again, he met her eyes. “Really. I had no
real expectations, given our past. Just thought I’d be prepared.”
She grinned at
him, something warm in their shared gaze that wasn’t even sexual. “Always good
to be prepared. Just think of the inconvenience if there weren’t any rooms available.”
“I’d have had
to take you in the car.”
Erin shivered
at the erotic image his words conjured up and felt herself start to throb
again. “That would have been all right, but this is better. Especially since we
might need a towel.”
Seth blinked,
evidently taking a few moments before he realized what she referred to. Then,
“Right.” And he kissed her again.
The momentary
lull had done nothing to dampen their ardor. Soon Erin was moaning into his
mouth and tugging at his shirt in a clumsy effort to get it off. She managed to
at least untuck it, so she slid her hands under the fabric to rub the warm,
bare skin of his lower back.
Seth was
breathing so heavily that she could hear his intakes of breath—the sound of
which only fueled her desire even more. He made better headway in his assault
on her clothing than she had. He grabbed the bottom of her new sweater and
yanked it up over her head.
Their lips
jarred apart as he freed the expensive sweater from her head and arms and then
tossed it onto the floor, and Erin gasped as her exposed skin came into contact
with the polished wood of the old-fashioned door.
She’d been
lifting one leg in an involuntary attempt to wrap it around his legs, and her
position gave access to his hand as he slid it under her skirt, down the curve
of her ass, and then between her thighs.
He cupped her
over her panties, and Erin knew he must feel how wet she was, even through the
thin fabric.
Seth made an
appreciative sound at this discovery. The guttural sound sent jolts straight to
her arousal, and her hips started moving instinctively, trying to rub her
throbbing center against his hand, against his thigh.